In one of his last moves in office, President Obama has commuted the 35-year prison sentence of Chelsea Manning, the Army private who leaked a massive trove of military secrets to WikiLeaks.
The former intelligence analyst's prison sentence has been shortened to expire on May 17, 2017, according to a statement from the White House.
Her lawyers at the ACLU expressed relief after the decision, saying that Manning has already served more time behind bars than any other whistleblower in U.S. history, and under difficult conditions.
Also at the BBC and the New York Times.
Previously: Chelsea Manning Reportedly on Obama's Short List for Commutation; Assange Offers Himself in Trade
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(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday January 18 2017, @03:23PM
His revealing of sources and methods against foreign powers had nothing to do with domestic surveillance, and they should be treated and considered separate from his other actions.
But it still revealed some relevant information, such as Obama vowing [usatoday.com] that the US wasn't spying on Merkel while such spying, authorized [telegraph.co.uk] by him, was going on.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19 2017, @01:52AM
Relevant to whom? The argument is about the US and US interests. Your comment is irrelevant to the argument.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday January 19 2017, @07:41AM
Relevant to whom? The argument is about the US and US interests. Your comment is irrelevant to the argument.
Well, it's quite relevant to my interests when my president readily lies to another head of state without first figuring whether the lie could be easily revealed. Look at the dates of the denial and the reveal that I linked in my previous post. A mere four days later, Obama was shown to be a crass liar. Even for the notorious amorality of international politics, that was quite incompetent and unprofessional.
And what are "US and US interests", if not the interests of its citizens? The US is a democracy for a reason.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19 2017, @09:56AM
So, you're saying that we shouldn't be trying to get on friendly foot with our largest enemy, Europe, but keep focusing on our good old friend Russia?
Seems you elected the right guy for that.