Chelsea Manning Clemency: Did Obama Do The Right Thing?

President Obama’s surprise move to grant clemency to whistleblower Chelsea Manning yesterday was cheered by those who support transparency for government and jeered by those who support the national security state. What did Manning reveal? Thousands of instances of the US government breaking the law and acting against the interests of its own citizens in its activities overseas. He revealed the astronomical amount of “collateral damage,” i.e. killing of civilians, as a result of the US war on Iraq. And more. Manning is blamed for costing American lives with her leaks, but not even the prosecution would make that assertion. What about those like Cheney, Rumsfeld, and “journalist” Judith Miller, whose lies and “fake news” push an Iraq war that killed thousands of Americans and likely more than a million overseas? That’s OK?