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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGuardian UK: Dear Chelsea Manning: birthday messages from Edward Snowden, Terry Gilliam and more
On Wednesday, Chelsea Manning heroine, whistleblower and inmate turns 27. She has been behind bars for four years and eight months, ever since her arrest for leaking classified US documents. There isnt much prospect that she will be released any time soon. Manning is serving a 35-year sentence, with the earliest possibility of parole being in 2021. She has appealed to Barack Obama for a pardon. It seems unlikely he will grant it.
It is against this gloomy and unpropitious backdrop that leading writers, artists and public figures from around the world are today sending Chelsea birthday greetings. Their contributions include letters, poems, drawings and original paintings. Some are philosophical yes, thats you, Slavoj iek others brief messages of goodwill. A few are movingly confessional.
All send a powerful reminder: that for millions in the US and beyond, Chelsea Manning is an inspiring moral figure who deserves our continued support. Her leaks, published in 2010, at a time when Manning was unhappily stationed with the US military in Baghdad, revealed the true nature of Americas twin wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They also illuminated the gulf between Washingtons private thinking and its public diplomacy.
Edward Snowden sums up the mood of collective gratitude: I thank you now and forever for your extraordinary act of service and I am sorry that it has come with such an unbelievable personal cost. As a result of your courageous act, the American people are more informed about the workings of our government as it positions itself for endless war ... For this we all thank you. Happy birthday, Chelsea. ......................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/16/-sp-dear-chelsea-manning-birthday-messages-from-edward-snowden-terry-gilliam-and-more
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Guardian UK: Dear Chelsea Manning: birthday messages from Edward Snowden, Terry Gilliam and more (Original Post)
marmar
Dec 2014
OP
She is an inspiring and courageous figure. She Reported TORTURE because she is a moral
sabrina 1
Dec 2014
#5
WillyT
(72,631 posts)1. K & R !!!
SamKnause
(13,088 posts)2. Happy Birthday Chelsea Manning !!!!!!!
Thank you !!!!!!!!!!
In a just and Democratic Republic you would be viewed as a hero.
Unfortunately, the United States of America is not a Democratic Republic.
The criminals are walking around free and the hero is imprisoned.
The United States of America is a rogue nation that tortures.
Initech
(100,043 posts)3. Dick Cheney is the one who should be rotting in prison.
Instead the whistleblower is the one put in prison.
Purveyor
(29,876 posts)4. kick. Thanks for posting. +1 eom
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)5. She is an inspiring and courageous figure. She Reported TORTURE because she is a moral
person. But she didn't know that our nation is far from moral at that time.
Happy Birthday Chelsea.
The wrong people are in Prison.
This truly is a dark period in America's history.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)6. Figures that Snowden would try to steal the spotlight...
Hissyspit
(45,788 posts)7. And that Terry Gilliam! What an asshole!
Seriously?