Chelsea Manning

[Black Orchid]

In August 2013, when military judge Colonel Denise Lind sentenced Private First Class Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning to 35 years in jail, she never described Ms Manning as a whistleblower.

In fact, she said Ms Manning's conduct "was of a heedless nature that made it actually and imminently dangerous to others" and was "both wanton and reckless".

So, let's get a few facts inserted in the Chelsea Manning debate about whether or not to allow her a visa to enter Australia.

Despite the media describing Ms Manning as a whistleblower, she is far from that.

Who is Chelsea Manning?

Here's what we know about the woman responsible for the largest breach of classified information in America's history.
In fact, if she thought she was a whistleblower she could have availed herself of the 1988 Military Whistleblowers Protection Act.

Under Section 501 of Australia's Migration Act, the Minister can refuse a person a visa on character grounds if they have been sentenced to prison for one year or longer; in Ms Manning's case it was 35 years.

And remember that as president, Barack Obama simply commuted Ms Manning's sentence; the punishment remains on her record.

Ms Manning was not some battle-scarred veteran sickened by the violence they had seen through too many operational tours.

She was a volunteer who joined the army, was assigned to be an intelligence analyst (what a mistake that was) and, as the prosecution established, underwent all the appropriate training regarding information security for classified material.

In fact it was a base skill for her employment.

Manning is someone convicted of espionage. The prosecution argued that within two weeks of her first deployment, Ms Manning was downloading material from the classified system for onforwarding to WikiLeaks.

Not only that, but evidence was also presented that Ms Manning actively sought out the type of classified information that WikiLeaks requested as part of its "Most Wanted List".

Little wonder she was convicted of six breaches of the Espionage Act.

The Australian Government is well within its rights to question whether someone convicted of espionage, dishonourably discharged from the US military and whose reckless actions while deployed on operations were described by a judge as dangerous to others should enter the country, let alone be paid for her appearance.

Ms Manning is not, and never has been, a whistleblower.

She is someone convicted of espionage who was given a long prison sentence

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-30/c ... a/10182838

This thing released over 750,000 top secret military documents to Wikileaks. It is not a whisleblower. It is a traitor who has been charged with espionage and is now trying to line its pockets with the spoils of its traitorous behaviour.

Obama showed his own true colours in commuting its sentence.

Why do the left insist on wanting to welcome a traitor?

I hope New Zealand decide to ban it too.

[brian ross]

She had her sentence commuted. She has served her time and her ability to reveal secret information curtailed. Why stop her coming here, except perhaps out of a desire to kowtow to Washington?

[Black Orchid]

She had her sentence commuted ... not overturned. Why stop her coming here? Put your thinking cap on Brian.

Why should we help a traitor line its pockets? It put many thousands of lives at risk including Australian aid workers and you want to reward it? Tsk tsk.

[Bobby]

She had her sentence commuted ... not overturned. Why stop her coming here? Put your thinking cap on Brian.

Why should we help a traitor line its pockets? It put many thousands of lives at risk including Australian aid workers and you want to reward it? Tsk tsk.

And what should happen to traitors in a time of war?

[Black Orchid]

The very least ... Gitmo!

[Bobby]

The very least ... Gitmo!

They should be put against a wall and shot.
That homo creep risked the lives of Australian soldiers by releasing 750,000
classified documents to Wiki Leaks.

[brian ross]

Chelsea Manning is not a threat to Australia. She has committed no reasonous acts against Australia, that I am aware of and, anyway, is not an Australian citizen or permanent resident. So, again, it appears that the only reason why the present Tory Government wants to deny her a visa is because it wants to kowtow to Washington. I note that the Kiwis are being much more sensible about her visit to their nation.

[Black Orchid]

It's a convicted traitor to its country Brian and yet you just try to excuse that, even though you claim to have been in the military. Combined military from the US, Australia and elsewhere were put at risk from its duplicitous treasonous behaviour. Personally, I don't know anyone who has ever been in the military who would condone what it did. It put lives at risk!

What normal person would even want to hear it speak?

BTW those eyes are EVIL!!

[sprintcyclist]

It's a convicted traitor to its country Brian and yet you just try to excuse that, even though you claim to have been in the military. Combined military from the US, Australia and elsewhere were put at risk from its duplicitous treasonous behaviour. Personally, I don't know anyone who has ever been in the military who would condone what it did. It put lives at risk!

What normal person would even want to hear it speak?

BTW those eyes are EVIL!!

yes

[brian ross]

It's a convicted traitor to its country Brian and yet you just try to excuse that, even though you claim to have been in the military. Combined military from the US, Australia and elsewhere were put at risk from its duplicitous treasonous behaviour. Personally, I don't know anyone who has ever been in the military who would condone what it did. It put lives at risk!

What normal person would even want to hear it speak?

BTW those eyes are EVIL!!

yes

Nope. Most of what Manning revealed was diplomatic in nature plus a little bit of the truth behind the lies claimed by the US military. Australian services do not all that often engage in outright lies about operations. They usually just state, "No Comment" if it is something embarrassing (at least initially). US services seek to justify their killing of innocent people as "Collateral Damage".