Manning trial to start

[Chas_svo]

That douchebag Obammy is just trying to see how badly he can piss off the right in his last few days.

...last 8 years?

Lamest lame duck in history.

[helosailor]

That douchebag Obammy is just trying to see how badly he can piss off the right in his last few days.

[SBFORDTECH]

Manning included in new list of prisoners to receive commuted sentences. May 2017 release.

[ceyko]

When you have the CnC pushing an agenda, career military will do what they have to to get by

Yeah, I understand the reasoning - which is a big reason for being bummed about it.

[Forever_frost]

I'm bummed how much the military pusses around when the media gets involved.

When you have the CnC pushing an agenda, career military will do what they have to to get by

[ceyko]

I'm bummed how much the military pusses around when the media gets involved.

[Forever_frost]

The U.S. Army will not pay for convicted spy Bradley Manning to undergo a gender change, a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday.

However, officials would not say whether Manning would be allowed to proceed with a sex change if he pays for it.

Manning was sentenced this week to 35 years in the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas on charges of espionage and theft for his role in leaking classified documents to Wikileaks.

In a letter read on the “Today” show, Manning said he identifies as a female and that he is already going through a hormone therapy process. He also asked that from now on he be referred to as “Chelsea Manning.”

The Army vowed to treat Manning fairly but insists it won't pay for his sex change.

“The Army does not provide hormone therapy or sex-reassignment surgery for gender identity disorder,” Army spokesman George Wright said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.

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“Inmates at the United States Disciplinary Barracks and Joint Regional Correctional Facility are treated equally regardless of race, rank, ethnicity or sexual orientation,” he said. “All inmates are considered soldiers and are treated as such with access to mental health professionals ... with experience in addressing the needs of military personnel in pre- and post-trial confinement.”

The Army, however, left unanswered the question of whether Manning would be allowed to proceed with a sex change if he paid for the process himself.

David Coombs, Manning’s lawyer, said he will fight for his client to receive the treatments at Fort Leavenworth. He promised that Manning would not request a transfer to a women's prison once he's completed the process.

“If Fort Leavenworth does not [provide the treatment], then I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that they are forced to do so,” Coombs said on the “Today” show. “The ultimate goal is to be comfortable in her skin, and to be the person that she’s never had an opportunity to be.”.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/army-wont-pay-for-bradley-mannings-sex-change-therapy/article/2534581

[Trip McNeely]

He's gonna love prison!

[YALE]

That dude has fried his beans.

[Frank]

I almost thought this was fake. I kinda think it is a publicity stunt to see if they will have some leniency since it seems fags get special treatment these days.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/u-soldier-manning-gets-35-years-passing-documents-103840620.html

WikiLeaker Manning says wants to live as a woman

By Susan Heavey and Ian Simpson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier sentenced to 35 years in military prison for the biggest breach of classified documents in the nation's history, said on Thursday he is female and wants to live as a woman named Chelsea.
Manning received the sentence on Wednesday for giving more than 700,000 secret files, videos and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks. His lawyers had argued the former Army intelligence analyst suffered a sexual identity crisis when he leaked the files while serving in Iraq in 2009 and 2010.
"As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning, I am a female," Manning, 25, said in the statement read by anchorwoman Savannah Guthrie on NBC News' "Today" show.
"Given the way that I feel and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible," Manning said. "I also request that starting today you refer to me by my new name and use the feminine pronoun."
Manning's lawyer David Coombs said on the TV program he expected his client to get a pardon from U.S. President Barack Obama.
Manning was convicted last month on 20 charges, including espionage and theft. He will serve his sentence at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Coombs has said Manning could be pardoned in seven years.
The Defense Department referred a call seeking comment to the U.S. Army, which did not respond immediately.
Coombs said Manning was seeking hormone therapy and not a sex-change operation.
"I'm hoping that Fort Leavenworth will do the right thing and provide that. If Fort Leavenworth does not, then I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that they are forced to do so," he said.
"COMFORTABLE IN HER SKIN"
Asked if Manning wanted to be sent to a women's prison, Coombs said no.
"I think the ultimate goal is to be comfortable in her skin and to be the person that she's never had an opportunity to be," he said.
Coombs said he was not worried about Manning's safety in a military prison since inmates there were first-time offenders who wanted to complete their sentences and get out.
Experts generally view military prisons as safer than civilian prisons since the inmates are accustomed to hierarchy and discipline.
Manning had not wanted his sexual identity issues to become public, but they did after his arrest in 2010, Coombs said.
"Now that it is (public), unfortunately you have to deal with it in a public manner," he said.
A psychiatrist, Navy Reserve Captain David Moulton, testified during Manning's trial that he suffered from gender dysphoria, or wanting to be the opposite sex, as well as narcissism and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Defense lawyers had argued that Manning had been increasingly isolated and under intense stress when he leaked the files, and that his superiors had ignored warning signs.
They cited erratic behavior, including sending a picture of himself dressed as a woman to a superior and punching another soldier.
In a related case involving sexual-identity issues in prisons, a federal judge last year ordered Massachusetts officials to pay for a convicted murderer's sex-change operation. The judge ruled the state had violated the inmate's constitutional rights in denying the procedure.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Ian Simpson; Editing by Scott Malone, Gerald E. McCormick and Jeffrey Benkoe)

[Forever_frost]

Pfc. Bradley Manning wants President Obama to pardon him after he was sentenced to prison today for leaking government secrets to Wikileaks.

Shortly after he was sentenced to 35 years in prison, Manning’s attorney David Coombs read aloud a statement from his client requesting a presidential pardon.

“When I chose to disclose classified information, I did so out of a love for my country and a sense of duty to others,” Manning’s statement to Obama read. “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 that we could have a country that is truly conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all women and men are created equal.”

During the announcement, Coombs was surrounded by Manning supporters wearing black T-shirts that displayed the text: “President Obama: Pardon Bradley.”

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Coombs said that he would file a pardon request to Obama through the Secretary of the Army for Manning.

“The time for our president to focus on protecting whistleblowers instead of punishing them is now,” Coombs said. “The time for our president to pardon Pfc. Manning is now.”

http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2534540

[Forever_frost]

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/08/bradley-manning-gets-35-years-in-prison/

US Army Private Bradley Manning was sentenced to 35 years in a military prison this morning after being convicted of 20 counts related to his leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks. (He escaped conviction on the most serious charge of "aiding the enemy.") In addition, he will also forfeit all of his pay and allowances and face a dishonorable discharge.

During closing arguments on Tuesday, prosecutors requested a sentence of at least 60 years. Prosecutor Capt. Joe Morrow told the court that "there may not be a soldier in the history of the Army who displayed such extreme disregard" for his mission during closing arguments.

Defense lawyer David Coombs requested a term of less than 25 years, arguing that Manning had "pure intentions" and "truly, genuinely believed that this information could make a difference."

[Forever_frost]

I want to know why Manning is still breathing. Once you put him in general population, he's toast so he's going to have to spend his life in solitary confinement. In the old days, if a soldier dishonored himself and his unit like this, he'd have shot himself with his service weapon

[racrguy]

If you were directing it at frost thwn why did you quote me?

It was used as a rhetorical device, methinks.

[LANTIRN]

I'll give you a pass, because I didn't spell it out like I was talking to a 4th grader. That said, the person I directed that at, knew exactly what I meant, and responded to it as such.


You're not quite understanding me yet.

If you were directing it at frost thwn why did you quote me?