Developing: Whistleblower Chelsea Manning Taken to Hospital

[portlander23]

Source: Common Dreams

U.S. military whistleblower Chelsea Manning was taken to the hospital on Wednesday. Though one reporter tweeted that it was a suspected suicide attempt, the reason for the medical visit is still unconfirmed.

Manning, who released a trove of government and military documents to WikiLeaks, is currently serving a 35-year sentence at the military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

CNN reporter Shimon Prokup tweeted just after 8 AM that Manning was suspected of attempting suicide:

Chelsea Manning suspected of attempting suicide. Was taken to a hospital Tuesday from Fort Leavenworth, CNN.

— Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) July 6, 2016



Read more: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/07/06/developing-whistleblower-chelsea-manning-taken-hospital

[Silver_Witch]

1. Poor Chelsea!

I wish President Obama would pardon her!

[Scuba]

3. Manning deserves a pardon and a medal and a statue on the Washington Mall.

She put herself in harms way for all of us. We owe her a great debt.

[840high]

13. ...!100++++

[Silver_Witch]

37. Scuba - I totally agree with you....

And I sincerely meant I wish President Obama would pardon her. She is a hero and I weep for her often.

[LuvNewcastle]

78. +1000

[1StrongBlackMan]

2. I wish her well; but/and ...

will someone tell me how anyone could be called a whistle-blower after dumping classified materials that the didn't read, or know what the documents contained?

Sadly, Chelsea got dupped and now is paying a price ... a price that the person that dupped her (and his like-minded compatriots), is/are unwilling to pay.

But that said ... this thread ought to be interesting for comparison reasons.

[OKNancy]

4. Manning is not a nice person

and it bugs me that she is being propped up as some sort of hero.

I know someone who is very close to my family who served with Manning in the Army.
What she tells me reassures me that Manning is where she belongs.

[Ilsa]

81. Details? I'm not always a nice person either,

but I don't belong in prison. I don't think saying she belongs there because "she's not a nice person" is relevant.

[NWCorona]

6. While I am grateful that I'm more aware of what we did because of the document dump

It was done in a very reckless manner. Not knowing what she was releasing was highly dangerous to say the least.

[1StrongBlackMan]

7. And I suspect that was the reason for the 35 year term. ...

I wonder if Greenwald and/or Assuange is putting money on her books ... lawyers and commissary don't pay themselves.

[MADem]

21. She was hiding her true self when she joined the military.

Like so many others, she thought a big change would "fix" things. When that big change, that new life, didn't do what she hoped it would, she started lashing out--at everyone and anyone who didn't understand her, and she sought "retribution" against an agency, the Army, that demands the conformity that didn't solve her problem as she hoped it would.

Instead, she was an extremely poor recruit, abusive to her supervisor (attempted to beat the woman up, but that didn't go well) and she ripped off, wholesale, classified material and dumped it on the wider world in a fit of pique. Those jerks who encouraged her to do this share some of the blame, but no one put a gun to her head and told her to do what she did--that was her choice, her actions. And actions have consequences.

I feel sorry for her personal issues, but a half century ago she would have gotten the death penalty for what she did. She got off light. I hope she gets better and makes the most of her time in Leavenworth--she is NOT doing "hard time" in the big picture--it would be a much rougher go in a civilian prison, and the longer she stays where she's at, the more she moves up the prisoner ladder, as it were.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

83. Are we sure we can attribute it to her being trans?

People should be judged by what they do and not who they are.

[MADem]

84. We are not sure of anything, really.

There's only one person who can decisively answer as to motivation, purpose or goal, and that's no one here~!

We do know one thing--she was miserable and in dire straits in terms of her mental health. That's pretty well documented.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

85. Whistle blowing is an honorable tradition

That being said a whistle blower should be willing to suffer the consequences of their actions and it is incumbent upon them to know what is in the material they are disseminating to the public.

[MADem]

86. I don't think she was whistle blowing.

Whistle blowing involves vetting the material one blows that whistle about. She didn't do that at ALL.

She just ripped off stuff wholesale and sent it to wikileaks, without a care for interpreters, civilian contract employees, and operatives named in the traffic.

She got an appropriate sentence. It's a shame her unhappiness caused her to act out in such a consequential way for her, but she's a cautionary tale.

When you join the military, you take an oath--and those orders are orders, they're not invitations and they sure as hell aren't suggestions. No one is drafted, it is their choice to serve--and if one makes the choice, one needs to take it seriously. This is pounded into recruits in boot camp and in advanced training, particularly to those in the intel-related fields.

She knew what she was doing was wrong, she knew her actions had extreme repercussions, particularly during wartime, yet she did it anyway--it's almost like she was knowingly committing suicide-by-cop, but in her case, it was suicide-by-UCMJ. JMO, of course, YMMV.

[Ash_F]

63. She did read some of it and claimed to sickened by it

Some of it was really disturbing:

Texas Company Helped Pimp Little Boys To Stoned Afghan Cops
http://www.houstonpress.com/news/wikileaks-texas-company-helped-pimp-little-boys-to-stoned-afghan-cops-6718414

And the State Department knew and covered it up:
US diplomats cautioned against an "overreaction" and said that approaching the journalist involved would only make the story worse.

Is it a wonder why they gave her 35 years?

[yurbud]

90. there was no evidence presented at her trial that anyone was harmed and

Our government has lied so extensively about our foreign policy that the public right to know outweighed the law in this case.

If we prosecuted the politicians who lied us into war, and committed war crimes like torture, prosecution of whistleblowers like Manning would be slightly more palatable.

[1StrongBlackMan]

91. The crime she was convicted of was not ...

that her release of classified information caused someone to be harmed; but, rather, that she released the classified information. And, there is/was plenty of evidence presented at her trial to support those charges.

[yurbud]

92. her crime was against those with financial power not us

[1StrongBlackMan]

95. Okay ... unresponsive; but, okay.

[askeptic]

5. to the hypocrites:  The General Who Lost 2 Wars, Leaked Classified Information to His Lover—

https://www.thenation.com/article/the-general-who-lost-2-wars-leaked-classified-information-to-his-lover-and-retired-with-a-220000-pension/
The General Who Lost 2 Wars, Leaked Classified Information to His Lover—and Retired With a $220,000 Pension
 Why hasn’t David Petraeus faced the same career-ending consequences as other leakers?

 Watching the retired general in action, I was reminded of the peculiarity of this peculiar era—an age of generals whose careers are made in winless wars; years in which such high-ranking, mission-unaccomplished officers rotate through revolving doors that lead not only to top posts with major weapons merchants, but also too-big-to-fail banks, top universities, cutting-edge tech companies, healthcare firms, and other corporate behemoths. Hardly a soul, it seems, cares that these generals and admirals have had leading roles in quagmire wars or even, in two prominent cases, saw their government service cease as a result of career-ending scandal. And Citizen David Petraeus is undoubtedly the epitome of this phenomenon.

Celebrated as the most cerebral of generals, the West Point grad and Princeton PhD rose to stardom during the Iraq War—credited with pacifying the restive city of Mosul before becoming one of the architects of the new Iraqi Army. Petraeus would then return to the United States where he revamped and revived the Army’s failed counterinsurgency doctrine from the Vietnam War, before being tapped to lead the “Surge” of US forces in Iraq—an effort to turn around the foundering conflict. Through it all, Petraeus waged one of the most deft self-promotion campaigns in recent memory, cultivating politicians, academics, and especially fawning journalists who reported on his running stamina, his penchant for push-ups, and even—I kid you not—how he woke a lieutenant from what was thought to be an irreversible coma by shouting the battle cry of his unit.

 He retired from the Army in 2011 to take a job as director of the CIA, only to resign in disgrace a year later when it was revealed that he had leaked classified information to his biographer and one-time lover Paula Broadwell and then lied about it to the FBI. Thanks to a deal with federal prosecutors, Petraeus pled guilty to just a single misdemeanor and served no jail time, allowing him, as The New York Times reported last year, “to focus on his lucrative post-government career as a partner in a private equity firm and a worldwide speaker on national security issues.”

[1StrongBlackMan]

9. I know this will ring hollow, as most of reality does ...

the difference between Chelsea and Petraeus is found in leverage ... Petraeus had far more leverage, which gave hime negotiating space.

[forest444]

12. True.

But that makes it doubly reprehensible doesn't it.

[1StrongBlackMan]

24. Yes ... The way the world actually works can be reprehensible at times.

[MADem]

22. He provided his biographer--a LCOL in the Army--with material to which she

had clearance but not access.

He did not provide material to Julian Assange and the world wide web.

What Petreus did was reprehensible--he violated his oath in a number of ways, from his adulterous relationship with a subordinate to his failure to get his girlfriend-biographer access to his classified material (this would not have been that hard). He also stored the material improperly, but, if his quarters were laid out the way most flag/general quarters are, he had a secure room and a secure storage place for his material, as well as a classified STU phone.

It is a fact that the greater your contribution to the nation, the more likely factors in mitigation will be considered if a service member commits a crime or an indiscretion. If everyone got a pass, even without that great contribution, what would be the motivation to follow the rules?

Petraeus has decades of honorable service behind him, which is why he gets a bit of consideration. I don't think Manning made it through her first enlistment.

He keeps the pension because after a 20 year MINIMUM of service, he earned it. The longer he served and the more senior he became, the more he got. It is "deferred compensation" for work he has already done from the day he graduated from West Point, until he retired, in essence. They can shave a bit off if they determine that he didn't serve "honorably" at one of his later paygrades, but in general, they do not go back and do that if the person is RETIRED by the time they figure out what he was up to.


The most memorable, and frankly, mockworthy aspect of that whole sad 'affair' was the title of that fawning, stupid book:




The photoshops done on that cover were nothing short of hilarious.

That said, I don't think his post military career should be "lucrative," and he should retire in shame. Unfortunately, that's not the way America does things, nowadays. There is no shame, anymore. It is a quaint 20th century notion, apparently.

[Ilsa]

82. Comey said the materials were in his desk at home, BTW. nt

[Dustlawyer]

76. More evidence that we have a class of people virtually above the law!

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. 35 years is ridiculous

[1StrongBlackMan]

10. No. It isn't/wasn't.

[askeptic]

11. Explain yourself - this is a discussion board.

Please make an argument as to the rational for such a completely unsupported and bold declaration.

[MADem]

16. Tone matters, you know. Demands are unlikely to produce civil conversation.

Just a friendly suggestion.

The sentence is supported, because it was imposed. There's nothing "bold" about it, either--it is par for the course, and much more humane than the sentence meted out to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who received a rather final judgment for giving nuclear secrets to the Russians.

It is not dissimilar to other cases--Jonathan Pollard comes to mind. Robert Hanssen and Aldrich Ames are two others. The Walker family changed security procedures for the entire DoD.

Google can help identify other, similar cases--and the imposed sentences, which will prove the point and provide the rationale you seek that the sentence was a) supported, and b) not out of the norm for the level of offense.

[christx30]

25. What does that mean?

The sentence is supported, because it was imposed.

The sentence is good because that's what they gave her? Hell, you could say that about any sentence. "Death by hanging for stealing that candy bar is supported because it was imposed."

I'd say a maximum of 2 years would be good. She did the right thing when so many people were doing wrong.

[MADem]

26. The sentence was imposed. That means it is supported.

It wasn't unprecedented or unheard of, because it happened. And it wasn't the first time such a sentence was imposed, either.

It's right along the lines of others who have stolen American secrets and handed them off to adversaries.

She did not do the right thing and her reasoning for doing what she did had more to do with her personal misery than her political mindset. She disobeyed direct orders, she endangered her fellow servicemembers, and she released sensitive material that could have gotten US assets killed.

She was a deeply troubled, depressed, and unhappy individual, unfit for military service, and I blame the Army for their bottom of the barrel recruiting process. Under a vigorous physical exam, she never would have made it through MEPS, and if by some miracle she did, she would have been caught in boot camp. I also blame the desperate manpower realities that made it clear that if you gave up an asset, you didn't get a replacement until that asset's tour of duty was up--if you were lucky. There was insufficient end strength to fill all the billets that needed to be filled, which is why people put up with poor performance--lousy was regarded as better than none.

[MohRokTah]

40. ^^^ This, right here

Sentencing under the UCMJ is harsh because it has to be.

[metalbot]

79. She did not do "the right thing"

The right thing would have been to leak documents that were directly related to the abuses/problems that she saw. That would earn a "whistleblower" title in my book.

Dumping sensitive documents that you haven't read to the press so that they can read through them to look for wrongdoing is NOT "the right thing". It was insanely reckless, and damaging to US interests in ways that were totally unrelated to any abuses she wanted to report.

[msanthrope]

18. It is a harsh sentence. Is it unmerited? I'm of two minds on this. nt

[Ash_F]

65. Counterpoint: Yes it is

[840high]

14. Yes it is.

[MADem]

15. Military Times is calling it a suicide attempt.

http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/2016/07/06/reports-chelsea-manning-hospitalized-after-apparent-suicide-attempt/86751690/

Chelsea Manning, who is serving a 35-year prison sentence for providing classified information to WikiLeaks, attempted suicide in her Fort Leavenworth cell earlier this week, according to multiple media reports.

But her legal team claims that the Army is keeping them in the dark about her condition and prohibiting contact with Manning for at least another day.

Manning was taken to a hospital after the alleged attempt Tuesday morning, according to TMZ.com and a tweet from CNN law enforcement reporter Shimon Prokupecz:

Follow
Shimon Prokupecz ✔ @ShimonPro
Chelsea Manning suspected of attempting suicide. Was taken to a hospital Tuesday from Fort Leavenworth, CNN.
8:04 AM - 6 Jul 2016
223 223 Retweets 49 49 likes

She's since been released from the hospital but is being "monitored," an official with the Kansas prison told TMZ.

[msanthrope]

19. That is extremely sad. I do remember the restrictions imposed in the Quantico

brig when there was a prior attempt/ideation.

[MADem]

20. Leavenworth is accustomed to hospitalizing individuals if needs must.

If there is a psychiatric hospitalization, she will not be placed in solitary but she will be on a standard locked ward in a (military) hospital setting. If she's able to be rotated back to her regular prison setting with medication, they'll do that.

Her incarceration hasn't been without a few hiccups, but it's entirely possible that some of her issues might be to do with her hormone therapy--perhaps her dosage is off. I'm not going to make any assumptions about her state of mind until I hear more. Meds and/or hormones can be powerful influencers (remember Patrick Kennedy racing to get to the House and driving his car up the stairs at two in the morning for a vote? Ambien and booze did that) and they can impact perspective.

I am sure we will learn more as time passes and she speaks to friends about the incident.

[msanthrope]

27. My understanding is that she is currently involved in attempting

to get gender reassignment therapy. The stumbling block seems to be that surgery, and other later stages of this are not offered in military prison....they are offered in the federal system, which Ms. Manning is loath to transfer to (don't blame her.) I hope she stabilizes soon.

[MADem]

36. Not sure what the protocol is, but she is receiving the hormones, from what I understand.

I think that has to go on for a while before any surgery happens, anyway.

She has to be 'stable' in her identity, I think is what they call it.

New rules allow vets to get surgery--not sure how that applies to prisoners with a dishonorable discharge, though.

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/veterans/2016/06/02/va-rule-sex-reassignment-surgery/85326564/

Also, if she has the surgery, she can't stay where she's at.

That is going to be an issue for her. If she wanted to stay in the military correctional system, she'd end up at Miramar:


http://www.correctionalnews.com/articles/2011/12/14/model-female-correctional-design

[jberryhill]

61. Remember the complaints about that?

As if keeping someone with suicidal ideation away from potential garottes is some kind of torture.

[msanthrope]

80. Yes....I remember the complaints about her not having a pillow. nt

[B2G]

17. The Network that Must Not be Named

is saying she attempted to hang herself.

No link because I'll get eviscerated. Google it yourself.

[MADem]

29. They all have it--print and video outlets. nt

[Rex]

23. And yet General Petraeus is a free man, even though he gave classified documents

to his mistress! Must be nice to be government C-level employees, get all kinds of benefits.

[MADem]

28. His mistress had clearance (though she wasn't on the access list).

She was a military officer, and she didn't send the stuff he gave her to Assange.

Trying to compare the two situations is a non-starter. He behaved like a despicable ass, he disrespected his position, to say nothing of his wife, but he wasn't releasing military secrets to the world--and neither was his paramour.

[Rex]

31. But they could have released secrets to the world, that is the point.

And she was his mistress, I guess family values are just nice words from the good general.

[MADem]

34. They were both career military, engaged in a clandestine relationship.

Anyone able to put their hands on classified material "could release it to the world." Thing is, when people do that, they go to jail for thirty years.

They both had clearances, and though they "mishandled" the classified material, neither of them released it to anyone outside the military sphere.

No one was EVER being accused, charged, tried or convicted on their lack of "Family Values." Not Petraeus, not Broadwell, not Manning. All that stuff happened in the court of public opinion, not the court of law.

Petraeus avoided the biggest (adultery) hammer because he was RETIRED when it happened. Broadwell avoided the worst result (though she got bagged for classified mishandling, too) because her paramour, though ostensibly retired, was senior to her (the senior is always at fault). She had the requisite clearance, she simply didn't have access, which is a technicality, a paperwork drill, pretty much. Had she (and he) behaved more professionally (i.e. not become involved in a personal romance), it wouldn't have been an issue. At all.

It was the fooling around--and the nasty catfight emails between Paula and the "Florida socialite -- that brought him (and her) down.

[Rex]

38. They kept and passed along classified information that they had no business having.

Yet because of their status in society, they got off easy. Easy peasy.

[MohRokTah]

41. That is simply not true. eom

[Rex]

42. Wrong.

That is exactly what happened. And now how do we know he didn't pass along other information over his long career? Of course you are not even curious right?

[MohRokTah]

43. I'm sorry, but you are just plain wrong.

Your opinion on this matter bears absolutely no resemblance to the facts of the case.

[Rex]

44. So that is a no, who cares what harm he might have done?

You don't have to answer, it doesn't really matter what your opinion is.

[MohRokTah]

45. The actions were full adjudicated.

The harm was minimal as proved in a court.

[Rex]

46. Right you buy that I don't. He is a traitor to his country, proven in court.

He should be stripped of all military benefits.

[MohRokTah]

48. Again, you put forth an opinion unsupported by both the facts...

and the results of the court proceedings.

[Rex]

50. Wrong the court proved he was a traitor, make up whatever you want to.

In a court of law, it was a proven fact - he broke the law and passed along classified information. Sorry if reality makes you mad, it works out that way sometimes. So, c-level employees get away with too much, I don't care if you don't think so...your opinion has no merit in fact or reality.

He is a traitor, but you don't care about that. Fine. I can live with that.

See post #23.

[MohRokTah]

51. There was no finding of treason

You are simply making this up. No court ever convicted Patreus of treason.

[Rex]

52. See post #23.

He is a traitor and gave away who knows what. Shame you don't care.

[MohRokTah]

54. See post #51. eom

[Rex]

55. See post #23.

[MohRokTah]

56. See post #51

[Rex]

57. Glad you agree with me now.

Good to know.

[MohRokTah]

58. Post #51 stands completely in opposition to your invalid opinion. eom

[Rex]

59. See post #23.

[MohRokTah]

60. Buh bye.

[Rex]

62. Right.

[uhnope]

89. I read all your replies

and they are an embarrassment to rationality and sense.

You don't get to make up stuff that's not true and then just insist it's true. And then think you win the argument?

I.C.B.S. (Internet Confusion Behavior Syndrome)

[MADem]

49. No, they did not. That book she wrote was scrubbed before it was published.

She used the classified briefs to help write the book, but not everything in those briefs was classified.

Because the publication got a full vetting, you can be assured that no classified information was included in the book or released to the public.

As for the briefs, given that they were prepared FOR Petraeus, he had all sorts of "business" having them. His error was sharing them with his galpal - biographer without first getting her approved to see them. She had the proper clearance, but not the access authorization.

You do understand that as a LCOL she understood what classification markings meant, and she didn't include any classified material in her book. And--since it can't be repeated too often, the book, with its amusing title, was vetted before publication.

Her career is ruined. He got off easy--she's having to find her place all over again. And she was one of the earlier female WP grads, too.

[Rex]

53. Exactly see post #23, glad people get it now.

[MADem]

69. The only thing Petraeus and Manning have in common is as follows.

They both served in the Army.

They both mishandled classified material.

One allowed a military officer with a clearance but without access to his material to look at his, the other sent reams of TS/NOFORN out to all and sundry, endangering operations and personnel.

One was careless, the other was criminal.

I'm afraid you're not understanding the difference between a moron (Petraeus) and a criminal (Manning), but, no matter how often you spam the board with repeated, hapless requests to view post 23, that does not change reality.


Now, you can keep referencing said post, in a rather uncivil and repetitive way (once you get past five repetitions one might regard the habit as an obsession), or you can accept the fact that your point is not taken and never will be--not just by me, but by others who have repudiated your thesis.

[Rex]

71. Oh right all two of you.

I don't care if you believe it or not, your opinion like the other persons does not matter at all. Fact is he betrayed his country, I don't care if you and one other person defend him

Now you can keep on bothering me with your uninformed opinion or not, nobody really cares.

[Travis_0004]

32. Its ok to be careless with classified info if you are a general or running for president.

[Rex]

33. How do we know what he and his mistress released into the world? We have their word for it?

The Haves got away with it and the Have Not got 35 years in prison.

[Eugene]

30. Chelsea Manning cut off from lawyers amid hospitalization rumors

Source: The Guardian

Chelsea Manning cut off from lawyers amid hospitalization rumors

Ed Pilkington in New York
Wednesday 6 July 2016 22.23 BST

Lawyers acting for Chelsea Manning, the army soldier who passed US state secrets to WikiLeaks, have expressed fury at military authorities’ handling of the prisoner’s medical status amid a swirl of media speculation.

Manning, who is serving a 35-year sentence for leaking secret diplomatic cables and other official documents, has been cut off from contact with her lawyers and all other outside connections for more than 36 hours, causing alarm among those closest to her. The sudden severing of contact follows a rash of media reports based on unconfirmed rumors about her medical condition.

The army is refusing to give details about what has happened. Persistent inquiries by the Guardian have produced only a statement from the Department of Defense that said the soldier was taken to hospital in the early hours of Tuesday and has now been returned to barracks.

Officials “continue to monitor the inmate’s condition”, the statement said.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/06/chelsea-manning-lawyers-hospital-rumors

[MADem]

35. If the prison didn't allow access to Manning, I would suggest the reason for that was MEDICAL.

The prison commander isn't going to deny an inmate contact with their attorney on a previously arranged call or contact unless the prisoner was in a bad state--like, say, sedated or heavily medicated following a suicide attempt, on a suicide watch and receiving intensive therapy, or something on those lines.

No one's doing anything to be "mean." No one's trying to prevent Manning from meeting with attorneys. And the Army isn't releasing her info to anyone without authority, even though someone (at the prison? at the hospital? My money is on the latter) tipped off TMZ and maybe even got paid for it.

Too many eyes on this case, for a variety of reasons. They'll cross every t, dot every i, at Leavenworth.

I think we're pretty confident at this point that she did try to kill herself, she did not succeed, fortunately; she was briefly hospitalized and now she is back in her unit. And I think we know this because of an informant (paid or otherwise), not because someone "tattled" officially.

[4Q2u2]

75. Good On you

I know trying to teach Civilians Military Culture and Laws is exhausting.
All your points in this thread were spot on perfect and totally ignored, but you kept Soldiering on, not missing the
opportunity of a teaching moment.
Funny how most people in the Military know that the junior guys are going to get fucked, (Different Spanks for Different Ranks),
and we know and accept it. That is just part of the deal. Right, Wrong or indifferent, "it is what it is."
Get over it, move forward, we have a job to do.

Military Service; A Career you love, a job you hate. Loved every second of it, Hated every minute.

[MohRokTah]

39. Developing: Convicted Spy Chelsea Manning Taken to Hospital

FIFY

[Ash_F]

66. WikiLeaks: Texas Company Helped Pimp Little Boys To Stoned Afghan Cops

http://www.houstonpress.com/news/wikileaks-texas-company-helped-pimp-little-boys-to-stoned-afghan-cops-6718414

[struggle4progress]

47. ... Chelsea Manning was taken to a hospital near Fort Leavenworth early Tuesday and returned

to the Kansas military base’s prison later in the day, Army spokesman Wayne Hall said. He said the 28-year-old transgender soldier, who is appealing her 2013 conviction and 35-year prison sentence, was being monitored. Hall and other Pentagon officials declined to say why the Army private was hospitalized. Fort Leavenworth spokeswoman Denise Haeussler said federal privacy laws precluded her from commenting without Manning’s consent ...

Transgender Pvt. Chelsea Manning quietly taken from prison for brief hospital stay
JUL 7, 2016

[G_j]

64. Reading this thread

Last edited Thu Jul 7, 2016, 12:55 AM - Edit history (1)

is a bitter reminder to me of how DU has disintegrated into right leaning/shifting, status quo embracing ..what?
With no acknowledgment of the horrendous war crimes exposed (would you prefer they remained hidden? ever hear of Mai Lai?) ...and empassioned defense of Mr. Petraeus. I could go to CNN and hear this in abrieviated form, any day of the week.

alert!

[LostOne4Ever]

68. Agreed. nt

[Rex]

72. Must be nice to be government C-level employees, get all kinds of benefits.

[bananas]

73. And it's a clear message that the war on whistleblowers will get worse under the next president. nt

[Hell Hath No Fury]

88. With all the Liberals gone to Greener pastures --

you will see MUCH more of this.

[Ken Burch]

67. Just release her already.

All she did was give us the truth. She had no alternative but to work with Assange.

[hack89]

74. She had a legal alternative

Which was to go to any member of Congress . It is written into law.

[merrily]

77. Suicide attempt or not, the timing is interesting.

[NobodyHere]

87. Why is the timing interesting?

[NaturalHigh]

94. I hate it when people try to prop Manning up as some sort of hero.

A thirty-five year sentence is appropriate, maybe even somewhat lenient, for knowingly passing out classified documents for anyone (including our enemies) to read. It's one step short of treason.