Skip to content
Home Menu

FREEING PRIVATE MANNING

Gary Aminoff in Politics January 17, 2017 554 Words

Search this site

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 10,520 other followers

MENU

  • HOME
  • ABOUT

Gary Aminoff

Gary Aminoff is the Chairman of the American Freedom Alliance. He served on the Executive Board of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County for 19 years and now lives in Indian Land, South Carolina.

The Most Viewed Posts

  • THE SOLUTION TO THE ISRAEL-PALESTINE ISSUE
    THE SOLUTION TO THE ISRAEL-PALESTINE ISSUE
  • The MLB Cancelled the All-Stars Game because of a voter integrity bill that they hadn't even read.
    The MLB Cancelled the All-Stars Game because of a voter integrity bill that they hadn't even read.

Like our Facebook Page

Like our Facebook Page

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Recent Posts

  • The MLB Cancelled the All-Stars Game because of a voter integrity bill that they hadn’t even read.
  • CALIFORNIA BALLOT MEASURES – NOVEMBER 3RD
  • Thoughts on Race
  • The Declaration of Independence
  • MARCH 3RD PRIMARY- VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION 13

Recent Comments

Propositions on the… on CALIFORNIA BALLOT MEASURES…
The Declaration of I… on The Declaration of Indepe…
hudincomeexclusions on MARCH 3RD PRIMARY- VOTE NO ON…
Harold chipp on MARCH 3RD PRIMARY- VOTE NO ON…
The Danger of the At… on The Danger of the Attacks on t…

Archives

  • April 2021
  • July 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • March 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • July 2018
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • September 2012
  • March 2012
  • September 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006
  • July 2006
  • June 2006
  • May 2006
  • April 2006
  • March 2006
  • February 2006
  • January 2006
  • December 2005
  • November 2005
  • October 2005
  • September 2005
  • August 2005
  • July 2005
  • June 2005
  • May 2005
  • April 2005

Social

  • View aminoff’s profile on Facebook
  • View aminoff’s profile on Twitter
  • View garyaminoff’s profile on Instagram
  • View gaminoff’s profile on Pinterest
  • View garyaminoff’s profile on LinkedIn
  • View gaminoff@gmail.com’s profile on YouTube

Editorial of The New York Sun | January 17, 2017

Shocking is the only word for President Obama’s decision to release Private Manning from prison after serving but six of the 35 years to which the disgraced soldier had been sentenced by a military court. We understand that it is fully within the President’s constitutional power. And that the private’s circumstances — as a transgender soldier being held largely in solitary at a prison for men — must be exceptionally excruciating. Yet what kind of signal does this commutation send when we are still in the middle of a war in which thousands of our GIs are in harm’s way?

 

No doubt the commutation will be hailed by the New York Times and the Guardian. But they went into a partnership with Julian Assange in disseminating the thousands of secret military and diplomatic documents that Manning was later convicted of uploading to Wikileaks. All newspapers, ourselves included, have been shown government secrets from time to time. But at the root of Manning’s crime was an astounding act of nihilism, one deserving of every year to which the private was sentenced by a fair and judicious court martial.

By the Times’ own account, Manning “copied hundreds of thousands of military incident logs from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, which, among other things, exposed abuses of detainees by Iraqi military officers working with American forces and showed that civilian deaths in the Iraq war were likely much higher than official estimates.” It puts at 250,000 the number of diplomatic cables Manning exposed, including, among other things, “dossiers detailing intelligence assessments of Guantánamo detainees held without trial” and a helicopter attack that killed two journalists.

Much has been made throughout this case of the notion that the prosecutors effectively accused Manning of “treason” for “aiding” the enemy. In fact, under our Constitution, merely “aiding” an enemy does not rise to treason. Treason shall consist, the Constitution warns, “only” in levying war against the United States or “adhering” to their enemies, giving them both aid and comfort. We have never felt, and don’t believe prosecutors contended, that Manning was actually “adhering” to our enemies. Aiding alone is not treason, and the private was acquitted even of aiding.

The six espionage counts on which Manning was convicted, though, are serious enough. The private was lucky to escape the death penalty. Manning claimed to be animated by high-minded motives and at trial sought sympathy for having been dealing with “all sorts of issues,” as the Times quoted the transgender private as saying. In pleading for commutation after conviction, however, the private claimed to have “never made any excuses for what I did.” Manning wrote of “believing the military justice system” would “sentence me fairly” and added: “I was wrong.”

Does Mr. Obama agree with that? His commutation certainly suggests so. The White House spokesman sought last week to draw a distinction between Manning and the fugitive spy Edward Snowden. The spokesman said that Manning “is somebody who went through the military criminal justice process, was exposed to due process, was found guilty, was sentenced” and “acknowledged wrongdoing.” All in sharp contradistinction to Mr. Snowden, who “fled into the arms of an adversary.” Had Mr. Snowden been captured and jailed, would Mr. Obama would have commuted his sentence, too?

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

  • Tagged
  • Communte
  • espionage
  • Private Manning
  • Sentence
  • spy
  • traitor
Gary Aminoff Commercial Director at KW Commercial Inglewood and Beverly Hills; Principal at Aminoff Realty Advisors.
Published January 17, 2017

Post navigation

THE U.N. AND OBAMA’S ACT OF AGGRESSION
A LIST OF DISGUSTING CONGRESS MEMBERS WHO WILL NOT ATTEND TRUMP INAUGURATION
Blog at WordPress.com.

Menu

  • HOME
  • ABOUT
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
%d bloggers like this: