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1 of 1- TheLagerLad
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Chelsea Manning jail sentence commuted by President Obama
Earlier this week,the president commuted the jail sentence of Chelsea Manning, the leader of classified information to Wiki-Leaks in the late 2000's.
What are your thoughts. Is there any hypocrisy in decrying Wiki-Leaks' influence on the 2016 presidential election, but then turning around a couple of months later and freeing the person who basically put Wiki-Leaks on the map?
My two cents -- The president has a right to pardon or commute the sentences of anyone he wants and if he feels Manning did her time, then so be it. But I'm not sure it was the right thing to do and I'm not sure it would have been the decision I would have made.
I think you're going to see a lot of different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. - President Donald J. Trump
- Goose
- Cogito ergo sum
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Re: Chelsea Manning jail sentence commuted by President Obama
I would not have done it.
Manning released a video of a gunship firing on Iraqi civilians. That was good whistle blowing. But after that he released pretty much anything he could get his hands on, endangering American lives.
IMO the pardon was a mistake.
Assange should be in jail as well.
And yes, there will be hypocrisy enough to go around.
Last edited by Goose (1/19/2017 8:52 am)
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.
- tennyson
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Re: Chelsea Manning jail sentence commuted by President Obama
I likely would not have done it either.
Manning did a "massive dump" of information with NO thought to limiting the information disseminated to just a specific issue. We will never know what was compromised by the information thus dumped into hands that even by peoples admission such as Assange who doctored the information sent to create a certain effect (he even admitted this). THAT is NOT openess either as WikiLeaks promotes but rather a targeted news using just selected info.
The above is why I would not have pardoned Manning. That said, it is not as if Manning had not paid any price. Being incarcerated for 7 years is not something anyone would likely want to endure. For sure Manning had/has many problems outside of just the charges against him/her.
Last edited by tennyson (1/19/2017 8:55 am)
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- Just Fred
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Re: Chelsea Manning jail sentence commuted by President Obama
I would have done it. It was not a pardon, but a commuted sentence. There's a big difference. She served 7 years for leaking info that paled in content to what General Patreus did, and he got a slap on the wrist.
Last edited by Just Fred (1/19/2017 10:37 am)
- Goose
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Re: Chelsea Manning jail sentence commuted by President Obama
Interesting side story.
Assange said he would agree to extradition if Manning received clemency.
Assange has, of course, backed out of the promise. Shows what his word is worth
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.
- TheLagerLad
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Re: Chelsea Manning jail sentence commuted by President Obama
Goose wrote:
Interesting side story.
Assange said he would agree to extradition if Manning received clemency.
Assange has, of course, backed out of the promise. Shows what his word is worth
Assange saying he would allow himself to be extradited to the U.S. was total BS from the beginning. To the best of my knowledge, he wasn't under any U.S. criminal charges.
It was Sweden that wants him to face rape charges.
I think you're going to see a lot of different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. - President Donald J. Trump
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Thread Starter- Goose
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Re: Chelsea Manning jail sentence commuted by President Obama
No charges, but Assange's lawyers claim that he is the subject of an ongoing FBI investigation.
The FBI won't confirm that.
They have a policy of not publicly discussing ongoing investigations or even if an investigation is occurring.
Unless the subject is Hillary Clinton. 
Last edited by Goose (1/19/2017 12:18 pm)
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.