Thursday, August 22, 2013

A Brief Word on Manning

I'm going to keep this short & sweet:
  • Manning is a traitor.  
  • Being transgender did not make Manning into a traitor. After all,
    • 90+% of all traitors are cisgender.
    • There are plenty of non-treasonous transgender folk with security clearances out there. 
    • Former Navy SEAL Kristin Beck, for example. 
  • Manning is, however, pretty obviously unstable, as I'd like to think most folks wouldn't betray their country for attention. 
    • Pretty obviously, whomever investigated Manning for a security clearance did not dig nearly as deeply as was necessary. 
    • In Burospeak, "Mistakes were made."
  • I suppose it could be argued that this instability made Manning transgender. I admit this is possible. 
    • However, I do not accept the reverse -- that being transgender made Manning unstable. 
    • See, again, Kristin Beck. 
  • For all I know, this could be a ploy by Manning to get out of a harsh sentence. 
  • Regardless, I am in complete agreement with the Army that being transgender does not entitle him* to special treatment, because
    • Prisoners should't get special treatment, period;
    • Gender reassignment is an elective surgery, and you don't get those in prison; and
    • Fuck the fucking traitor right in his fucking treasonous ass. 
      • Roberta X has an interesting take on this subject, and I'm embarrassed that it never occurred to me. When I said "Fuck the fucking traitor right in his fucking treasonous ass,"  I meant it figuratively;  35 years in prison does not mean 35 years of rape. 
      • So okay, keep him in the "sexually different prisoner" wing. That's fine. 
      • But he still doesn't deserve surgery, which is where I think this is headed. 
      • He can pay for it on his own dime, when he gets out of prison. 
    • So can we just go back to loathing this traitor as a traitor and not bring the transgender issue into it?
      • It's about as relevant to his crime as his race, gender, or shoe size is. 
      • Before someone gets all uptight about "patriarchy" or "oppression", I'd like to tell them to check your respiratory privilege.  People died because of Manning. 
    • Thank you, and goodnight. 


    * I'm using this pronoun because he doesn't deserve my respect or courtesy. 

    26 comments:

    1. Maybe he doesnt like anal and the transgender ploy is just to get a vagina to make prison sex not mess with his pooping schedule?

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    2. LIttle to no chance of Manning facing prison rape.

      The Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth are not quite the same as your typical prison.

      Nor is it the same as Leavenworth Penitentiary. (Common mistake. The Disciplinary Barracks at Leavenworth is not even co-located with the federal pen, nor is it run by the Bureau of Prisons. It's four miles away and run by the United States Army.)

      MUCH lower risk to prisoners from other prisoners, and BONUS!

      Manning gets to deal with the stuff EVERY SINGLE DAY that made him throw his little temper tantrum. Because it's the "Disciplinary Barracks", not "Muscle Club for Murderers". Leavenworth was one of the few places you could actually be required to spitshine your boots, back when the Army still wore boots (the prisoners, I mean -- technically, the GUARDS couldn't be ordered to spitshine their boots, even though they generally did.) Still under military discipline, complete to daily cell inspections for neatness IAW regulation layout.

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    3. "If you want a vision of Manning's future, imagine a white-gloved hand checking for hospital corners - forever."

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    4. Being unstable wouldn't make Manning transgender. The stress of being transgender in the military, could make Manning unstable (but not being transgender by itself). The stress of being any sort of outsider/other in a group hostile to your otherness would make anyone unstable.

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    5. "For all I know, this could be a ploy by Manning to get out of a harsh sentence. "


      This is sure as hell what it seems like. Security clearances don't grow on trees, and I can't see any kind of review for such missing such an issue (yeah, they might have missed it, but I've heard security clearance checks get into parking tickets).


      Yeah, I think it's a pretty cynical ploy. The Army is not going to pick up his tab to shift his gender (I think they already stated as much), especially not for a guy who's spending the next 35 years in prison.

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    6. In which case, all he's done is make the TG community look like they're untrustworthy, imbalanced, and undependable.


      Fuck that fucker, HARD.

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    7. There are reports of Manning telling multiple people at least as early as 2009 that he considered himself a woman. He didn't begin leaking classified information until early 2010. It seems unlikely that if his gender dysphoria was a ruse to gain sympathy that he'd have begun establishing it a year before he became a traitor.

      Which also kind of raises a question in my mind: How long and how publicly does one have to self-identify as something one doesn't outwardly appear to be before at least people who are generally sympathetic to LGBT issues accept the self-identification rather than the appearance?

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    8. In my limited experience, about 3-5 years.

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    9. It's been over 4, although he couldn't very well announce it to the world since at the time he wanted to keep his job.


      Personally I think we should just hang traitors, although I'd be perfectly comfortable with his estate insisting that his headstone read Chelsea Manning.

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    10. Traitors don't get marked graves.

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    11. Agreed. To be fair, as a transwoman with a security clearance, who routinely handled sensitive material, I can tell you there is no oversight there. I never brought it up during my service, as it wasn't relevant to my job (obviously) and its not like there's a litmus test. Saved my money and I'm doing everything on my on time and own dime.
      Yeah it sucked, but I dealt with it, like everyone else in my unit dealt with all their personsal garbage deployments made worse, doesn't equate to a free pass. Doesn't factor into Manning deciding to go all Anon for funsies, at the expense of people I deployed with getting mission info on missions that still had to be run being posted on the net.

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    12. Well, he's apparently an untrustworthy and undependable individual in general. What did you expect?

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    13. I don't expect anything from him. I'm just irritated how everyone is jumping on the TG issue, as if it's relevant to his crime.

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    14. Oh wow! Jennifer, may I ask you some questions? Because you are exactly the demographic in question and I'd love to get your opinion on things.

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    15. Here's the point I'm making: someone really, really goofed in letting this guy have access to sensitive material. To make matters worse, he was accessing it through a system that could generate external output (burning CD-ROMs). So they're going to seize on the TG aspect to avoid having to admit that their internal security was flawed.

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    16. Um, sure, what's up?

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    17. You said you are a transwoman who has/had a security clearance. My questions, and I hope you won't think me rude for asking them, are:

      * Were you pre- or post-op when you were interviewed for your clearance?

      * To what degree did the investigators delve into your psychology?

      * To the best of your knowledge, if a transgender with a security clearance decided to start transitioning, would that be cause for revoking said clearance?

      Thank you in advance.

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    18. * I wasn't interviewed, but some of my friends were, and at the time I was completely pre-transition, the army has pretty concrete views on transgender people, in that we're the last group not allowed to serve in any capacity, I waited until I honorably fufilled my contract before I pursued anything.

      * As far as my friends told me, the interviewer was mostly concerned about debt problems and drug use, nothing else really came up.

      * As far as I know I still have my clearance, but its entirely possible changing my name invalidatesit

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    19. Thank you so much for answering my questions! We are all now better informed because of you. :)

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    20. No problem. The point here is there's been plenty of trans people in the military, we go in, work hard, keep our heads down and wait until we're using our GI Bill to remedy personal issues that would conflict with work, I'm not an anomaly, the military is appealing to the trans community, it gets you away from a home life that might well be a disaster, and sets you up to transition in college rather well. But noone with an ounce of sense does what Manning did, on several accounts. The whole thing reeks of "attention-seeking Anon who got nabbed". Taxes don't pay for my treatment, and damn sure shouldn't pay for Manning's.

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    21. The whole thing reeks of "attention-seeking Anon who got nabbed"

      That's what I and a lot of others think, but it's good to hear you say that too.

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    22. Given his discipline history IN TRAINING, he should have had his clearance pulled and been transferred to a non-cleared MOS before he ever got to his first unit.

      Sadly, I suspect this didn't happen because of a misplaced concern that DADT (in effect at the time, recall) would preclude doing anything about his histrionic personality disorder (as well as a misconception that his HPD was "part" of his sexuality.)

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    23. I wonder about how many people died because of Manning and your sources for making such a statement.

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    24. I wonder about how many people died because of Manning


      Me too. I have a friend in the intelligence community who was part of the task force that, for six months, analyzed all the documents Manning leaked. According to my friend, there were names of sources and assets listed with the phrase "(Please protect)" after them. They've all been put in danger, as well as their families.


      and your sources for making such a statement.


      This confuses me. I have sources? People died because I made a statement? I'd appreciate it if you'd please clarify this.

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    25. Oh, I only thought there might have been something I've missed on this issue, like a report of some kind detailing the people who ended up dead because of Manning's leaks.

      To the contrary, I've been reading about the court testimony of a key official saying the opposite: http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/07/31/59869.htm

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    26. Ah, I see. I was parsing your statement incorrectly. An Oxford Comma after "Manning" would have helped a great deal.


      My thoughts on the statement above are this: You realize the the government and/or the military making these statements, yes? The people who routinely lie as part of their jobs? Of COURSE they're not going to admit that the leaked cables hurt anyone, because that would encourage people to go through them to look for information to use against the USA. Far easier & more effective to deny that they were of harm in the hopes that those inclined to snoop would forget about them.

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