"Sometimes you have to pay a heavy price to live in a free society. I will gladly pay that price"

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from TPM:


FULL TEXT: Bradley (Chelsea) Manning’s Letter To President Obama Requesting Pardon

____The decisions that I made in 2010 were made out of a concern for my country and the world that we live in. Since the tragic events of 9/11, our country has been at war. We’ve been at war with an enemy that chooses not to meet us on any traditional battlefield, and due to this fact we’ve had to alter our methods of combating the risks posed to us and our way of life.

I initially agreed with these methods and chose to volunteer to help defend my country. It was not until I was in Iraq and reading secret military reports on a daily basis that I started to question the morality of what we were doing. It was at this time I realized that (in) our efforts to meet the risk posed to us by the enemy, we have forgotten our humanity. We consciously elected to devalue human life both in Iraq and Afghanistan. When we engaged those that we perceived were the enemy, we sometimes killed innocent civilians. Whenever we killed innocent civilians, instead of accepting responsibility for our conduct, we elected to hide behind the veil of national security and classified information in order to avoid any public accountability.

In our zeal to kill the enemy, we internally debated the definition of torture. We held individuals at Guantanamo for years without due process. We inexplicably turned a blind eye to torture and executions by the Iraqi government. And we stomached countless other acts in the name of our war on terror.

Patriotism is often the cry extolled when morally questionable acts are advocated by those in power. When these cries of patriotism drown out any logically based dissension, it is usually the American soldier that is given the order to carry out some ill-conceived mission.

Our nation has had similar dark moments for the virtues of democracy — the Trail of Tears, the Dred Scott decision, McCarthyism, and the Japanese-American internment camps — to mention a few. I am confident that many of the actions since 9/11 will one day be viewed in a similar light.

As the late Howard Zinn once said, “There is not a flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.”

I understand that my actions violated the law; I regret if my actions hurt anyone or harmed the United States. It was never my intent to hurt anyone. I only wanted to help people. When I chose to disclose classified information, I did so out of a love for my country and a sense of duty to others.

If you deny my request for a pardon, I will serve my time knowing that sometimes you have to pay a heavy price to live in a free society. I will gladly pay that price if it means we could have a country that is truly conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all women and men are created equal.

read:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/text-of-bradley-mannings-letter-to-president-requesting-pardon/2013/08/21/b6ae28b4-0ab5-11e3-89fe-abb4a5067014_story.html

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/full-text-bradley-mannings-letter-obama-pardon.php


. . . pretty righteous stuff said here (whatever you believe about Chelsea).

[CBGLuthier]

1. Whuch is why this woman is more of a man than Snowden will ever be

[myrna minx]

3. Using Manning's trans status to take a swipe at Snoden's masculinity is rather disgusting.

You may think it clever, but it's misogynist and homophobic.

[Jackpine Radical]

5. Thanks, Myrna.

I was fumbling for a response when I saw yours, which does it so much better.

[myrna minx]

7. I was stunned, Jackpine. Just stunned.

Good to see you, friend.

[MADem]

6. Chelsea, I believe, is the middle name his mother gave him at birth.

I don't think it has any bearing on his "trans status."

I read somewhere (which, I acknowledge, means it could be bullshit) that he wants to change his name to Brianna. His father's name was Brian, for whatever that is worth.

EDIT--The Chelsea may not be a middle name, or maybe it just fits with his wish to change genders. See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23798253

As for the "more of a man" crap, I agree with you that this kind of comment is just not needed in the context of this discussion. Intestinal fortitude, bravery, courage under fire, all of those sorts of traits, are not masculine nor feminine, and it's just silly to try to paint them in that fashion.

[myrna minx]

9. My comment was toward the "more of a man" poster, which was totally uncalled for. n/t

[MADem]

10. I took your point, and I agree w/you. There was a bit of commentary in the OP about the

middle name, but that's not a "name change," I don't think. Thought I'd get it all out there in one fell swoop!

[Solly Mack]

17. Thank you!

[SwampG8r]

11. what the hell is wrong with you?

sick bigotry is sick

[myrna minx]

12. A jury allowed it to stand too. Disgusting. n/t

[SwampG8r]

14. i hope they included the tos violation so mirt can see it

[Oilwellian]

13. What a goddamned disgusting response

Absolutely DISGUSTING.

[myrna minx]

2. May your words move the President to do the right thing. K&R n.t

[MADem]

4. What's wrong with Chelsea? It's a pretty tough town, with resilient people!

I think this is a good letter, it follows his statement to the court.

That said, I think he needs to be prepared to stay positive, work on his college degree, maybe start in on a master's, and make use of the time he'll have while a guest of the government.

I would not be surprised at parole in ten to fifteen, I hope he does get paroled eventually. I would be surprised if he gets a pardon from Obama. The whole "distribution without vetting" business was reckless, and no administration wants to reward that kind of behavior.

[bigtree]

8. she's both courageous and vulnerable

. . . I wish her the best.

[Faryn Balyncd]

15. Powerful.

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16. .