Will Obama pardon Bradley Manning?

Reports have surfaced the past couple of days that Manning has made Obama's short list for possible pardons/commutations.

Will Obama do it? Should he?

I think Snowden is more deserving, but I find the idea of him pardoning a whistle-blower somewhat surprising in any case given the stance he has shown on them thus far.

Snowden absolutely needs to be pardoned. What he did was unambiguously to the benefit of the American people, and to his own detriment.

What Manning did arguably was more in favour of the US' victims than the US. Frankly, looking at her case closely makes it seem more likely that her motive was about her own psychologically confused state rather than any political motivation one way or another. She might be be pardoned on those grounds, I guess, and moved to therapy instead.

Agreed on both accounts. Manning should have gotten booted from the Army in basic, but they didn't for some reason. She was a mental hot mess and the shitty leadership at her command didn't help.

I doubt if Obama will pardon either Manning or Snowden, but I think he'll take a page from Jimmy Carter's playbook and pardon Squeaky Fromme and John Hinkley.

They didn't boot Manning from basic because it's virtually impossible to get booted from basic, as long as you pass your PT test. That's the bottom line in the army. I've been through army basic (and air force basic) and my son has been through army basic and served four years honorably. Unless you flat out quit and say "I don't want to be in the army" you will make it through. If the drill sergeants don't feel that you are cut out to be in the army, they can't do shit about it. Now let's flash-forward to job training. Again, if you pass your PT test and pass all your tests in your job training (be it mechanic, clerk, grunt, whatever) you will advance to an actual "permanent party" position meaning you have made the big leagues and are not a trainee. That's what Manning did - he made it trough all his training and proved himself as a certified and qualified soldier.

This^ Manning is a deserter, Snowden exposed corruption within the NSA and violations of fundamental rights.

well that would make a good case since the particular psychology involved would manifestly get far worse when she considers the prospects for her under the next administration, bordering on cruel and unusual (and she's already attempted suicide a couple of times)

Way I see it, if Michael Flynn can be NSA, she can be pardoned.

Obama would likely enjoy nothing more than to pardon some weirdo who deserted his post. Snowden, not so much.

I don't think there's been anyone named Bradley Manning in Leavenworth since 2014. Just sayin'.

If he was only going to pardon one, I'd rather he pardon Snowden.

But considering he just issued an executive order allowing the NSA to give any data it collects to any other three-letter agency, legally collected or not, I doubt he'll pardon either.

Yeah I just heard about Obama doing this. Fuck if Bush or Trump did this they would be accused of being a fascist oppressive paranoid dictator. Obama fans will no doubt spin this as progressive, proactive genius strategery of the highest order. Is it too late for him to get yet another Nobel Prize?

That's horrifying. I want to say it's because the NSA picked up something related to the Russia and Trump bromance and Obama wants to make sure they can get it where it needs to be.... But it's probably just Obama being awful as usual when it comes to privacy.

Still, why issue an executive order he knows Trump is going to undo on the 20th, unless he expects it to bear fruit before then?

maybe Trump would want something like this, but Obama doesn't really want it! So Obama figures Trump will undo it because Trump could be seen as agreeing with any Obama decision!
It might be a "reverse psychology" game. Trump's handlers should advise him to not-say-a-word about the whole order. That way whether Trump keeps it or not he won't look indecisive.
Damn, do I need to fly to D.C. and teach Trump some street smarts?

a through and solid analysis of the case for releasing her
http://alexaobrien.com/archives/3521

Too long to do justice to by excerpting it

It makes a good case for commutation to the average incarceration for revealing classified information. I don't know about a full pardon.

Agreed with O2C.

which would be how long? I don't even advocate for her being pardoned (if that means her sentence is erased) but rather, reduced to time served (whatever the proper term for that would be)

Saw an item today that quoted Josh Ernest at the White House saying that they viewed Manning and Snowden as quite different cases because the former willingly submitted to the justice system and accepted the result rather than fleeing as Snowden did - which was read as a sign that she had a better chance then he of getting relief.

Neither should be pardoned IMO. While I appreciate that they thought what they were doing was right, and while both highlighted abuses of power, the fact is that being a rogue element creates danger for many in the military and intelligence communities, nor can they be sure they aren't damaging the interests of their country and it's people, and I am not sure whistleblowers think of that when they do what they do.

At least in Snowden's case, the continued damage to literally hundreds of millions of people if he had done nothing should rightly outweigh those concerns. We know he tried to work within the system for many years before he went public. What else was he supposed to do at that point?

What makes you think anything has changed?

I don't think a lot has changed. The one thing that has changed is that we know about the existing programs, i.e. the one thing Snowden did.

NYT is reporting that Obama has commuted Manning's sentence to be time served +5 more months.

Now we'll have to see if Assange keeps his promise to turn himself over to American authorities in return for Manning's release.

Yep

https://www.rt.com/usa/374010-obama-commute-manning-sentence/

That surprised me.

No. He'all just say there's no warrant from the US so his offer is void.

Not surprisingly he chose the desertering coward over the whistleblower who exposed him.

Why is Manning a "deserting coward" and Snowden not?

Ha ha ha ha.

Paging @RickDeckard ....