Chelsea Manning breaks her silence to reject 'pacifist' label
10 October 2013
Whistleblower Chelsea Manning, formerly known as Bradley Manning, has denied she leaked thousands of US classified documents to WikiLeaks in the name of peace – despite being awarded the Sean MacBride Peace Award last month.
Manning was left confused after discovering that Ann Wright, a retired colonel in the US Army, had accepted the award on her behalf. While collecting the prize, awarded annually by the International Peace Bureau, Wright claimed that Manning was "overwhelmed that such an organisation would recognise her actions as actions for peace". But Manning says she did not even know the award existed, let alone that she had received and accepted it, until after the event.
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In her first public remarks since being found guilty of spy charges, Manning issued a statement to The Guardian in a bid to rectify the public's understanding of her views.
Writing from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where she is serving a 35-year jail term, Manning says she was "flattered" that she had received the award but "shocked and frustrated" that her motivations might be misinterpreted.
"I simply don't know what's happened here," she writes. "I absolutely don't believe there is a conspiracy or any bad intentions on anyone's part. But, whatever has happened, I don't believe it is productive. And I believe it would be totally dishonest if I don't make the public aware of this disconnection."
She says, that from her perspective, it was "not terribly clear" that her actions were explicitly done in the name of peace. "I don't consider myself a 'pacifist', 'anti-war' or (especially) a 'conscientious objector'," she says. Instead, she describes herself as a "transparency advocate".
Manning accepts that there might be "peaceful" or "anti-war" implications to her actions but says this is based on a subjective interpretation of the documents released in 2010-11. It would be perfectly reasonable, she adds, to interpret the same documents and come to the opposite conclusion.
Bradley Manning: 'I'm a woman and my name is Chelsea Manning'
22 August 2013
Bradley manning has announced he wants to be identified as a woman and is changing his name to Chelsea Manning.
A day after the 25-year-old soldier was handed a 35-year jail term for passing thousands of classified documents to Wikileaks, he declared: "I am Chelsea Manning. I am female".
Manning made the announcement in a statement delivered to NBC's Today programme. "Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support me in this transition," he wrote.
Manning asked that he be referred to using the "female pronoun" and his new name, Chelsea E. Manning.
During his trial, Manning's defence lawyers indicated that his struggles with gender identity may have contributed to his decision to pass more than 700,000 classified documents to Wikileaks.
In addition, a military psychiatrist tendered a photograph to the court showing Manning wearing a blond wig and lipstick. The picture was sent to him by Manning accompanied by a letter headed: "My problem".
Manning's lawyer, David Coombs, told Today he hoped Fort Leavenworth – the military prison where Manning will serve his sentence – would "do the right thing" and provide hormone therapy.
"If Fort Leavenworth does not, then I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure they are forced to do so," Coombs said.
Coombs said he was not worried about Manning's safety in prison even though transgender prisoners in US facilities are generally assigned to live with male prisoners if they have not had genital surgery.
"Everyone that's in a military prison is a first-time offender," he said. "These are soldiers who have done something wrong, have gone to prison and are really just trying to do their time and then get out."
