Chelsea Manning Thread

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Re: Bradley Manning Thread

Postby seemslikeadream » Thu Aug 22, 2013 9:34 am

Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers Whistleblower, Sees Bradley Manning's Conviction As The Beginning Of Police State

Posted: 08/22/2013 12:24 am EDT | Updated: 08/22/2013 9:11 am EDT

The NSA surveillance of millions of emails and phone calls. The dogged pursuit of whistleblower Edward Snowden across the globe, regardless of the diplomatic fallout. And the sentencing of Bradley Manning to 35 years in prison for giving a cache of government files to the website WikiLeaks. Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg sees these events as signs that the United States is becoming a police state.

"We have not only the capability of a police state, but certain beginnings of it right now," Ellsberg said. "And I absolutely agree with Edward Snowden. It's worth a person's life, prospect of assassination, or life in prison or life in exile -- it's worth that to try to restore our liberties and make this a democratic country."

Ellsberg was a military analyst with the RAND Corporation in 1969 when he secretly copied thousands of classified documents about U.S. decision-making during the Vietnam War. In 1971, he leaked the files (known as the Pentagon Papers) to The New York Times and 18 other newspapers.

Although the Nixon administration tried to prevent the publication of the files, the Supreme Court ruled in New York Times Co. v. United States that the newspaper could continue publishing the files.

Ellsberg was later tried on 12 felony counts under the Espionage Act of 1917, and faced a possible sentence of 115 years in prison. His case was dismissed in 1973 on the grounds of gross governmental misconduct.

As a candidate in 2008, Barack Obama praised instances of whistle-blowing as "acts of courage and patriotism." Since becoming president, however, his administration has charged more people under the Espionage Act than all other presidents combined.

Click above to watch a clip of Ellsberg's interview with HuffPost Live. The full interview is available here:
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: Bradley Manning Thread

Postby 8bitagent » Thu Aug 22, 2013 7:24 pm

FREE CHELSEA MANNING.

The silence among mainstream "liberals" and mainstream LGBT groups is defeaning.

The war criminals behind the illegal wars and torture continue on in the private/lecture/security circuit, the specific men in the video having a laughing ol time as they massacred journalists, dads and a van of children are all on facebook posting pictures of bar be ques and random slice of life thoughts.

Also, the way this fascist government treated Manning as a man in solitary....no fucking way "progressive Obama" or this system will provide needed transitionary steps for Manning as per his lawyer's request.
If there is ONE singular reason beyond the drones, the icing over Bush crimes, etc to hate this government and system: its the irony of Manning serving out most of his life behind bars for exposing THEIR war crimes. FUCK both this government AND the idiots silent on this issue. Real liberals vocally support Manning.
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Re: Bradley Manning Thread

Postby seemslikeadream » Thu Aug 22, 2013 7:42 pm

support all whistle blowers

they are our heros
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Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: Bradley Manning Thread

Postby KeenInsight » Thu Aug 22, 2013 11:38 pm

Hero


The text of U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning’s statement sent to president Obama. The text of this letter was read by defense attorney David Coombs following Manning’s sentencing on August 20

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.




Dear President Obama, You Failed to Silence and To Break The Spirit of Heroes. Obama knows the truth, but is too much of a fucking pussy after watching the Zapruder Film.

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A hero like all those people, Man and Woman, of conscience of the present, past, and future.
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Re: Bradley Manning Thread

Postby 82_28 » Fri Aug 23, 2013 1:55 am

Fuck these motherfuckers. We already knew everything the fucking leaks "revealed" just without detail -- war is a crime, period. To continue to intimidate and confine another innocent entity on Earth for the span of any amount of time is fucking bullshit. Is Manning gonna form some fucking posse and set shit straight should he be set "loose"? Hell no. Free the motherfucker and admit the "mistake" of killing other innocent entities which was, what I gather the whole point in this dog and pony show of the ethical legitimacy of him not informing other entities of the evil that some are free to be evil but others are not free to be good because the evil must be protected at all costs. Fuck this shit. Free Manning!

Again, fuck you, motherfuckers. A soul is in pain and is scared. It is time to help this soul/entity, not antagonize him for the rest of his life. This is no way to conduct yourself as an authority with promises of freedom and doing good deeds.

I thought it was "an Army of ONE". Well, WTF? He was one. A singular being doing what was right. Fuck this fucking country is fucked up.

Just go the kind route. God bless you Mr. Manning. I don't give a shit what you "leaked". War is crime. There are always other solutions.
There is no me. There is no you. There is all. There is no you. There is no me. And that is all. A profound acceptance of an enormous pageantry. A haunting certainty that the unifying principle of this universe is love. -- Propagandhi
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Re: Bradley Manning Thread

Postby stefano » Fri Aug 23, 2013 5:17 am

I was hoping to see more about this 'Chelsea E. Manning' vibe here... What the fuck!? Surely this will make it easier still for those who don't want to hear, to dismiss Manning as a freak, at best more to be pitied than censured, but evidently not quite compos mentis, and by extension to regard his whistleblowing as a strange and deviant thing to do? And, that being the case, could he have been nudged in this direction? And his request, in the letter, that "you refer to me by my new name and use the feminine pronoun (except in official mail to the confinement facility)" could have been calculated (and I use the word advisedly) to associate him with the kind of over-the-top campus liberal social justice activist that much of America loves to hate. Could it have been part of a deal for him to be released sooner? His defence liked the idea of his sexuality playing a role in what he did, maybe they took the lead?

Weirdness. His girl name earlier was Breanna, why pick Chelsea? Chelsea Clinton is the only Chelsea I could think of (and, when I looked it up as a name now I saw that Manning's Wikipedia entry is now titled Chelsea Manning.

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Re: Bradley Manning Thread

Postby 8bitagent » Fri Aug 23, 2013 5:41 am

82_28 » Fri Aug 23, 2013 12:55 am wrote:Fuck these motherfuckers. We already knew everything the fucking leaks "revealed" just without detail -- war is a crime, period. To continue to intimidate and confine another innocent entity on Earth for the span of any amount of time is fucking bullshit. Is Manning gonna form some fucking posse and set shit straight should he be set "loose"? Hell no. Free the motherfucker and admit the "mistake" of killing other innocent entities which was, what I gather the whole point in this dog and pony show of the ethical legitimacy of him not informing other entities of the evil that some are free to be evil but others are not free to be good because the evil must be protected at all costs. Fuck this shit. Free Manning!

Again, fuck you, motherfuckers. A soul is in pain and is scared. It is time to help this soul/entity, not antagonize him for the rest of his life. This is no way to conduct yourself as an authority with promises of freedom and doing good deeds.

I thought it was "an Army of ONE". Well, WTF? He was one. A singular being doing what was right. Fuck this fucking country is fucked up.

Just go the kind route. God bless you Mr. Manning. I don't give a shit what you "leaked". War is crime. There are always other solutions.



Pretty much.

At the end of the day, I don't care if people bring up supposed things we have to be grateful for in this country.
The presiding authority in America repeatedly lied, faked intel and tortured to get the war apparatus into what turned out to be a multi-trillion dollar war that got
millions of innocents either killed, maimed, displaced or psychologically scarred. Where's the fucking Nuremberg trials? Even more bizarre is the ONE oerson who found video and other
evidence of endless war crimes(including laughing soldiers massacring journalists and kids) is now pretty much having to forfeit their life for going with their conscience.
Even crazy cray cray still is that the majority of the college type of crowd that in UNISON was against Bush and the Iraq war, are almost uniformly SILENT on this issue. Even the LGBT main groups seem silent.

OH....OH, but Ben Affleck is the new Batman? HOLY SHIT YELL FROM THE ROOFTOP!
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Re: Bradley Manning Thread

Postby 8bitagent » Fri Aug 23, 2013 5:53 am

stefano » Fri Aug 23, 2013 4:17 am wrote:I was hoping to see more about this 'Chelsea E. Manning' vibe here... What the fuck!? Surely this will make it easier still for those who don't want to hear, to dismiss Manning as a freak, at best more to be pitied than censured, but evidently not quite compos mentis, and by extension to regard his whistleblowing as a strange and deviant thing to do? And, that being the case, could he have been nudged in this direction? And his request, in the letter, that "you refer to me by my new name and use the feminine pronoun (except in official mail to the confinement facility)" could have been calculated (and I use the word advisedly) to associate him with the kind of over-the-top campus liberal social justice activist that much of America loves to hate. Could it have been part of a deal for him to be released sooner? His defence liked the idea of his sexuality playing a role in what he did, maybe they took the lead?

Weirdness. His girl name earlier was Breanna, why pick Chelsea? Chelsea Clinton is the only Chelsea I could think of (and, when I looked it up as a name now I saw that Manning's Wikipedia entry is now titled Chelsea Manning.

Image


While it's easy to speculate as to the timing of the release of Manning's true gender identification(starting with the photo and the transitioning announcement), astute observers of the case beginning in 2010 could pretty clearly tell
Manning did not identify with the usual binary gender. Some speculated early on if he was gay, but everything about him to me pointed toward's transgendered. I mean look at that picture of those gargantuan asshole military creeps taking him to trial, and here Manning is this lithe little person with the biggest heart in the world.

That said, the "he did this because he is mentally ill" meme was planted a long time ago. From the PBS special to Alex Gibney's We Steal Secrets film. And yes, now it'll be easy to dismiss the cause and case in some people's minds with that photo and the announcement. But I've no doubt that Manning has long felt this way, and it must have been extra torture to have to keep this inside. People can think the cause and case is now easily dismissed in the public mind, but those people who would laugh or belittle Manning because of this revelation probably didn't truly support Manning's plight. Again, the overall silence re: manning by the bulk of the anti Bush college crowd is defeaning.

As America's most visionary thinker alive today said;
My dear brother Bradley Manning – and from now on sister Chelsea Manning – I still salute your courage, honesty and decency. Morality is always deeper than the law. My presence at your trial yesterday inspires me even more!
- Dr Cornel West
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Re: Bradley Manning Thread

Postby seemslikeadream » Fri Aug 23, 2013 8:28 am

If You Love Pfc. Manning, Help Set Her Free
Posted on Aug 22, 2013
AP/U.S. Army, File

Pfc. Chelsea Manning, seen in this undated photo wearing a wig and lipstick, was sentenced to prison for 35 years for leaking classified U.S. documents.

By Bill Blum

Now that Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning has been sentenced to serve 35 years behind bars, her backers face the very practical question of how they can best continue their support and show their love for the diminutive, bespectacled 25-year-old soldier whose cause they have so long championed. The answer may seem like a no-brainer, but in truth it’s only partly so.

The no-brainer aspect is that Manning needs political, legal, monetary and moral support as much if not more than ever. According to Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program, the prison term handed down by military judge Col. Denise Lind was “dramatically longer than the longest sentence ever [imposed] for disclosing classified information to the media. ...” The government meant to make a cruel example of Manning, and by any standard of decency it has.

Under military law, Manning will be confined at the United States Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Once there, as reported by Reuters, she’ll face years of monotony, housed as a man in a tiny cell appointed with a bed, toilet and desk. She’ll be permitted to read a limited number of preapproved library books but will be deprived of Internet access, although she’ll be allowed to use an electronic word processor for typing and mailing communications to the outside world.

Day by day, she’ll be assigned to tightly structured work details doing chores like catering, laundry, cleaning and yard maintenance. And while Leavenworth is generally regarded as safer than many civilian prisons, some inmates, according to Reuters, have described the environment as a “tinderbox” where tempers often flare. In short, until her ultimate release, Manning’s existence will be only slightly better than a living hell.

That brings me to the second and less obvious aspect of the future support she will need. With her trial in the rearview mirror, Manning could benefit from a tactical pivot by at least some of her ardent supporters, redirecting their efforts to doing whatever is practically necessary to secure her release from prison rather than simply promoting her case as a vehicle for fighting the wider and very dangerous crackdown on whistle-blowers.

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This isn’t to say that Manning’s supporters should abandon or diminish their engagement in the bigger struggle, but to emphasize that a real live human being requires their aid to set her free. To accomplish that goal, Manning’s supporters will have to separate the myth from the woman, to realize and accept the fact that despite the impact of her disclosures, Manning is not the second coming of Daniel Ellsberg or another Nelson Mandela. She’s a unique human being, like the rest of us, with a unique set of personal issues, the first and foremost of which is to get out of Leavenworth.

A good way to begin the pivot would be to review the final argument made by David Coombs, Manning’s very able civilian lawyer, at her sentencing hearing. As Coombs told Lind, the “over-generalizations” about Manning in the press and at times in court as either a traitor or a super-hero ignored the multifaceted and vulnerable person Manning actually is.

Without abandoning his defense of Manning as a whistle-blower, Coombs portrayed his client as very intelligent and caring but also damaged and confused, and subject to extraordinary stress as a result of a highly troubled upbringing, gender-identity issues and her combat deployment to Iraq. Manning echoed many of the same themes in a personal statement to the court, accepting responsibility for her actions and even apologizing for any harm that her release of classified documents may have caused.

Coombs’ approach was both standard practice for a defense attorney attempting to humanize his client and mitigate punishment at the conclusion of a long trial and a preface to the legal and political work that remains to be done post-trial on Manning’s behalf. In the coming weeks, Coombs will begin the long process of seeking a presidential pardon and clemency from military authorities, preparing a series of legal appeals, and failing such remedies, pursuing parole. He’ll also represent Manning in her efforts to obtain gender-reassignment treatment while in prison.

It’s always possible that some of Manning’s convictions will be reversed on appeal, but she was found guilty of no less than 20 offenses, including six violations of the Espionage Act. She also pleaded guilty to 10 lesser offenses, which will not be subject to appellate review and by themselves carry a potential prison term of 20 years. Given President Obama’s dismal record on pardons, it’s also unlikely that Manning will achieve any success in that department.
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: Bradley Manning Thread

Postby Project Willow » Fri Aug 23, 2013 10:09 pm

Rather revealing piece on Chelsea Manning.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/who-is-bradley-manning

Father was naval intelligence, abusive.
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She struggled for years with issues related to her sexuality, especially within the confines of the military. The article had me wondering what else she was struggling with.

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Re: Bradley Manning Thread

Postby 8bitagent » Fri Aug 23, 2013 10:24 pm

Manning just doesn't seem male at all. Not from the photos of her growing up or after enlisting. Why did it come as such a shock to people when this was announced?
Manning seems beyond Snowden. An extrordinarily brave, yet fragile and real person who did what very few people would have the guts to do.
As American accuses Syria of killing 1400 people with chemical weapons in its thirst to topple yet another country in the Muslim world, we must never forget
that countless more died as a result of the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. I can only imagine the bullying Manning endured in the military, but I don't
think this at all was the reason behind the leaks. Alex Gibney's propaganda film against Manning may imply that sexual orientation/mental illness was a factor, but
I doubt it.

Prison for a lithe, small transitioning transgendered person; especially a really kind one, is going to very tough. We're talking a prison filled with amped up ex soldiers who
would love to really do harm to someone like manning just for the transgender issue alone. The FIRST priority beyond the exoneration is to ensure Manning's safety.
Even under the best conditions Manning will be extremely lonely. It will be important for her lawyers and others to come in to show evidence of all the outpouring and support.
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Re: Bradley Manning Thread

Postby KeenInsight » Fri Aug 23, 2013 10:54 pm

8bitagent » 23 Aug 2013 20:24 wrote: The FIRST priority beyond the exoneration is to ensure Manning's safety.
Even under the best conditions Manning will be extremely lonely. It will be important for her lawyers and others to come in to show evidence of all the outpouring and support.


It's obviously why they are putting him there. They want to disappear him. I guarantee they want nothing more for him to be killed or commit suicide.

Manning can be what he wants and people can live how they want. I fear the timing seems to be a bargaining so the secret military tribunal can further humiliate a Human Being of Conscience. And the mass media is already have their usual circle jerk to further propagandize koolaid drinking Americans sitting in front of the Tee-Vee.

People of "law," the leaders, and the military ought to be ashamed of themselves. What this trial has done is further send a message to anyone in the Military (the good people) that if they speak out or dissent, there will be consequences. This is bad, very bad...
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Re: Bradley Manning Thread

Postby 8bitagent » Sat Aug 24, 2013 12:41 am

I agree with you 100% regarding the issue of safety and intent.

If Manning is in the general prison population for any length of time, there's a severe risk of assault or worse.
If Manning is kept completely isolated, it will only amp up the suicide possibilities and madness. The PTB wouldnt even have to pull a Trudeaux.

If the government was serious about committing to Manning's safety, a minimum/medium security prison for white collar financial crime types would be ideal.
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Re: Bradley Manning Thread

Postby Project Willow » Sat Aug 24, 2013 1:57 am

It's probably because of the circles I travel in, but every transgendered person I've ever met was an extreme abuse survivor, then they have to deal with all of the other issues on top of that.

Another thing that worried me about that article was Chelsea resigning herself to life in prison.
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Re: Bradley Manning Thread

Postby Luther Blissett » Thu May 28, 2015 3:53 pm

Can a moderator change the thread title? This really is the best place for this piece:

The years since I was jailed for releasing the 'war diaries' have been a rollercoaster
Chelsea E Manning


It can be difficult, sometimes, to make sense of all the things that have happened to me in the last five years

Today marks five years since I was ordered into military confinement while deployed to Iraq in 2010. I find it difficult to believe, at times, just how long I have been in prison. Throughout this time, there have been so many ups and downs – it often feels like a physical and emotional roller coaster.

It all began in the first few weeks of 2010, when I made the life-changing decision to release to the public a repository of classified (and unclassified but “sensitive” ) documents that provided a simultaneously horrific and beautiful outlook on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. After spending months preparing to deploy to Afghanistan in 2008, switching to Iraq in 2009 and actually staying in Iraq from 2009-10, I quickly and fully recognized the importance of these documents to the world at large.

I felt that the Iraq and Afghanistan “war diaries” (as they have been dubbed) were vital to the public’s understanding of the two interconnected counter-insurgency conflicts from a real-time and on-the-ground perspective. In the years before these documents were collected, the public likely never had such a complete record of the chaotic nature of modern warfare. Once you come to realize that the co-ordinates in these records represent real places, that the dates are our recent history and that the numbers represent actual human lives – with all of the love, hope, dreams, hate, fear and nightmares with which we all live – then you cannot help but be reminded just how important it is for us to understand and, hopefully, prevent such tragedies in the future.

A few months later, after spending months poring over at least a few thousand classified US diplomatic cables, I moved to also have these documents released to the public in the “cablegate” archive. After reading so many of these documents – detailing an exhaustive list of public interest issues, from the conduct of the “global war on terrorism” to the deliberate diplomatic and economic exploitation of developing countries – I felt that they, too, belonged in the public domain.

In 2010, I was considerably less mature than I am now, and the potential consequences and outcomes of my actions seemed vague and very surreal to me. I certainly expected the worst possible outcome, but I lacked a strong sense of what “the worst” would entail. I did expect to be demonized and targeted, to have every moment of my life re-examined and analyzed for every possible personal flaw and blemish, and to have them used against me in the court of public opinion or against transgender people as a whole.

When the military ordered me into confinement, I was escorted (by two of the friendliest guys in my unit) to Kuwait, first by helicopter to Baghdad and finally by cargo plane. It was not until I arrived at the prison camp in Kuwait that I actually felt like I was a prisoner. Over the succeeding days, it only got worse as the public and the media began to seek and learn more about what happened to me. After living in a communal setting for about a week, I was transferred to what amounted to a “cage” in a large tent.

After a few weeks of living in the cage and tent – not knowing what my charges were, having very limited access to my attorney and having absolutely no idea of the media firestorm that was beginning to swirl in the world outside – I became extremely depressed. I was terrified that I was not going to be treated in the dignified way that I had expected. I also began to fear that I was forever going to be living in a hot, desert cage, living as and being treated as a male, disappearing from the world into a secret prison and never facing a public trial.

It didn’t help that a few of the Navy guards delivering meals would tell me that I was was waiting for interrogation on a brig on a US cruiser off the coast of the horn of Africa, or being sent to the prison camps of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. At the very lowest point, I contemplated castrating myself, and even – in what seemed a pointless and tragicomic exercise, given the physical impossibility of having nothing stable to hang from – contemplated suicide with a tattered blanket, which I tried to choke myself with. After getting caught, I was placed on suicide watch in Kuwait.

After being transferred back to the US, I was confined at the now-closed military brig at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia. This time was the most difficult for me overall, and felt like the longest. I was not allowed to have any items in my cell – no toothbrushes, soap, toilet paper, books, paper and on a few occasions even my glasses – unless I was given permission to use them under close supervision. When I was finished, I had to return these items. At night, I had to surrender my clothing and, despite recommendations by several psychiatrists that I was not deemed suicidal), wear a “suicide prevention” smock – a single-piece, padded, tear-proof garment.

Eventually, after public outcry regarding the conditions of my confinement at Quantico and the resignation of PJ Crowley, the former press secretary of the Department of State, I was transferred to medium custody and the general population at an Army prison. It was a high point in my incarcerated life: after nearly a year of constantly being watched by guards with clipboards and having my movements controlled by groups of three-to-six guards while in hand irons and chains and limited contact with other humans, I was finally able to walk around and have normal conversations with human beings again.

The government pressed forward with charges of “aiding the enemy” – a treasonable offense under the US constitution – and various charges under the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Over nearly two years of hearings, I witnessed firsthand just how much the the government was willing to invest in my prosecution: the stacks of money spent; the gallons of fuel burned; the reams of paper printed; and the lengthy rolls of personnel, lawyers and experts.

For over 100 days, I watched the lawyers who prosecuted my case present me as a “traitor” and “enemy of state” in court and then become friendly people giving greetings and making chit-chat out of court. It became clear to me that they were basically just decent people doing their jobs. I am convinced that they did not believe the treason arguments they made against me – and was, even as they spoke them.

The verdict and sentencing at the end of my court-martial was difficult to predict. The defense team seriously worried about the aiding the enemy charge and the very wide range for a sentence, which was anything between “time served” and life without parole. After the judge announced my 35-year sentence, I had to console my attorneys who, after years of hard work and effort, looked worn out and dejected. It was a low-point for all of us.

After years of hiding and holding off because of the trial, I finally announced my intent to change my name and transition to living as woman on 22 August 2013 – the day following my sentencing – a personal high point for me, despite my other circumstances. However, the military initially declined my request to receive the medically-mandated treatment for my diagnosed gender dysphoria, which is to live as a woman and receiving a regular regiment of estrogen and androgen blockers. Just like during my time at Quantico and during my court-martial, I was subjected to a laborious and time consuming legal process. Finally, just under four months ago – but nearly a year and a half after my initial request – I began my hormone treatment. I am still fighting for the right to grow out my hair to the military’s standard for women, but being able to transition remains one of the highest points for me in my entire life.

It can be hard, sometimes, to make sense of all the things that have happened to me in the last five years (let alone my entire life). The things that seem consistent and clear to me are the support that I receive from my friends, my family and the millions of people all over the world. Through every struggle that I have been confronted with, and have been subjected to – solitary confinement, long legal battles and physically transitioning to the woman I have always been – I manage not only to survive, but to grow, learn, mature and thrive as a better, more confident person.
The Rich and the Corporate remain in their hundred-year fever visions of Bolsheviks taking their stuff - JackRiddler
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