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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
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3
(Score: 3, Informative) by Thexalon on Wednesday January 18 2017, @04:57PM
How exactly does imprisoning and torturing people who had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 hijackings or suicide bombings do anything useful to battle terrorism? Bear in mind that every serious study on the subject has determined that torture does not yield anything resembling useful intelligence [theweek.com], so even if you have the bad guys you'll learn exactly nothing from torturing them.
The pro-torture crowd generally likes to portray themselves as Tough Guys who are the only ones willing to do what is necessary, unlike the rest of us pansies. But the reality is that they are actually mostly idiots and sadists putting other people through the worst possible treatments imaginable for the fun of it. When civilians do that to their fellow citizens, we lock them up for a very long time. When these guys do that to what amount to randomly selected foreigners, we protect them from criminal prosecution and give them whatever equipment they want, and pay them handsomely for the job.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday January 18 2017, @05:34PM
You have to wonder where the CIA recruits torturers. They recruit heavily from the military and law enforcement, but institutionalized torture is not part of the culture at those places. Do they pull serial killers and such out of supermax prisons and give them the job? I would think that if you tell any normal person to torture others (despite the Milgram experiments) that eventually they would figure out what's happening and become very angry and likely to turn on the ones giving the orders. Even when the Nazis were murdering thousands of undesireables in Eastern Europe the officers in charge were constantly going crazy or committing suicide when confronted with the enormity of their crimes, and that was with the full faith and backing of the Nazi state telling them what they were doing was good.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday January 18 2017, @07:51PM
It isn't? OK, maybe not the "institutionalized" part, as in no commander is going to be caught giving orders for it to happen, but it definitely happens a lot. Also, those are the kinds of organizations and professions that attract those who want to cause pain and injury and death to others - I mean, what career would you choose if your primary skill is pushing nerds into the lockers?
And I should point out, in your Nazi comparison, that (a) the Milgram experiments were inspired by the behavior of Adolf Eichmann, and (b) the US torturers had the full faith and backing of the US government telling them what they were doing was good or at least necessary.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday January 18 2017, @09:12PM
I'd say that you recruit from the guys that apply for law enforcement jobs and fail the psych profiles in those specific areas. There are plenty of people in this world "looking for payback," it's more or less an animal instinct response to abuse, and plenty of people are abused as children in all sorts of ways.
Still, at the end of the day, why exactly do you torture? It's not to obtain accurate or useful information, I think it's more to strike fear in the minds of the enemy.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday January 18 2017, @09:26PM
I think you're probably right.
On the subject of torture it is one of the most repugnant developments of the last 20 years in the United States that people seriously discuss the efficacy of torture, as if it's a legitimate, normal practice. It's not. It's a war crime and utterly abhorrent. It is a profound disgrace and shame on a people who think they live in "the Land of the Free, the Home of the Brave," that they contemplate having anything to do with torture beyond shooting torturers dead on the spot.
Bringing the CIA and other 3-letter agencies to justice for their depravity is at the top of the list when the revolution comes.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday January 18 2017, @09:43PM
I normally don't credit our chief executive with much, but I will give W credit for this particular move. The lawyers he chose to back up his position should be taken out and shot in front of him, one by one, until he confesses that it was a bad idea to coerce them into rendering their opinion approving the operation.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday January 18 2017, @09:08PM
imprisoning and torturing people who had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 hijackings or suicide bombings
It's an easy criticism to level now. At the time they were imprisoned, the captors believed that they were preventing future attacks - I do believe that. Now, even if they were mistaken and got the wrong guys, I don't see any difference between that and bombing a village that's suspected of harboring an enemy sniper unit, killing innocents in the process of attempting to get the bad guys.
Torture, in my opinion, is always a mistake - but nobody asked me. Unfortunately, after capturing the wrong guys and torturing them, it appears that our guys weren't man enough to own up to the mistake and do what they could to make amends (never enough, but better than continued limbo...)
For the future, if we can accidentally capture and interrogate (not torture) one or two "wrong guys" instead of killing a dozen innocent people to attempt to meet the same goal, which is often to stop an attack that could kill thousands - I'd call that progress.
🌻🌻 [google.com]