The Commutation of Chelsea Manning

After 8 years of systematic prosecution and persecution of whistleblowers and journalists who expose governmental, corporate, and military wrongdoing, Barack Obama has commuted the sentence of Chelsea (Bradley) Manning who had been serving 7 of an inordinate 35 year sentence for her role in revealing, among other things, the massacres committed in Fallujah and Haditha during the Iraq War and the government's efforts to hide these events from the American people. This is only slight atonement for the outgoing president who has presided over the incarceration and torture (brutal solitary confinement in forced positions) of an American who sought only to bring to light military and governmental transgressions heretofore kept secret from its own people and the international community. In spite of an orchestrated campaign to discredit and demonize this loyal service member, it should be noted that her revelations were vetted in advance so as not to endanger American personnel or to comprise vital intelligence (none of the documents released were classified as top secret). As he steps away from office, Obama is to be given faint praise for the long overdue rectification of at least one case of injustice.