Ten years after exposing war crimes, Chealsea Manning released from prison

One day in 2010 I was walking in downtown Berkeley and came across a group of people projecting a video on the wall of a building. The footage was low-quality and colorless, but the subject - radio chatter voice-over and an exploding van, bodies flying - was arresting.

"Just fuckin,' once you get on him just open up - Roger that... - Let me know when you've got them. Let's shoot."

"Light 'em all up. Come on, fire!"

"Keep shoot'n, keep shoot'n'"

"Got a bunch of bodies layin' here."

"Yeah, we got one guy crawling around down there, but, uh, you know, we got, definitely got something."

I later learned this was footage of US airstrikes in Baghad on July 12, 2007. The video, Collateral Murder, was published by Wikileaks and shows a live feed from Apache helicopters gunning down 16 people, including two journalists, and injuring two children. Chelsea Manning (then Bradley Manning), a 22-year-old American Army intelligence analyst, had leaked the war crime footage, along with hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables that included dossiers on the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, and footage of another airstrike in 2009 that killed over 100 Afghan civilians. For the crime of exposing U.S. war crimes, lies, torture, and the general brutality of imperialism, Manning was sentenced by the U.S. military under the Obama administration to 35 years in prison. Seven years later - despite torture to the point of attempted suicide (and then being tortured again for the attempt), and zero help from "Gay, Inc." - Chelsea Manning will be released on July 17, 2017.

In the land of the free and home of the brave, it's a crime to expose the crimes waged by the state for the benefit of the capitalist class. If there was any justice in America, then George W. Bush, Dick Chenney, Barrack Obama (prosecutor of more whistle-blowers than all previous presidents combined - times three), David Petraeusand, and Co. would be in prison. Instead, Chelsea Manning is tortured, John Kiriakou 'served' two years, and Edward Snowden and Julian Assange rightfully fear for their respective lives.

The fact that Chelsea Manning is being released many years early is not because the state has a soft spot or moral compass. Instead, all credit goes to activists on the ground who rallied in her defense. And still this is not yet a completed story, as Manning will continue to appeal her case and remains under the disciplinary jurisdiction of the military.

A transgender heroine who threatens the capitalist war machine, Chelsea drew international support.