REUTERS-President
Barack Obama on Tuesday shortened the prison sentence of Chelsea Manning, the
former U.S. military intelligence analyst who was responsible
for a 2010 leak
of classified materials to anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, the biggest such
breach in U.S. history.
A White
House official said there was no connection between Manning's commutation and
renewed U.S. government concern about WikiLeaks' actions during last year's
presidential election, or a promise by founder Julian Assange to accept
extradition if Manning was freed.
Manning has
been a focus of a worldwide debate on government secrecy since she provided
more than 700,000 documents, videos, diplomatic cables and battlefield accounts
to WikiLeaks - a leak for which she was sentenced to serve 35 years in prison.
Obama, in
one of his final acts before leaving office, reduced her sentence to seven
years, angering some Republicans.
"This
is just outrageous," House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said in a
statement. Ryan, a Republican, said the decision was a "dangerous
precedent" for those who leak materials about national security.
"Chelsea
Manning's treachery put American lives at risk and exposed some of our nation's
most sensitive secrets," Ryan said.
Manning was
working as an intelligence analyst in Baghdad in 2010 when she gave WikiLeaks a
trove of diplomatic cables and battlefield accounts that included a 2007
gunsight video of a U.S. Apache helicopter firing at suspected insurgents in
Iraq, killing a dozen people including two Reuters news staff.
Republican
Senator Tom Cotton said the leak endangered troops, intelligence officers,
diplomats and allies.
"We
ought not treat a traitor like a martyr," Cotton said.
TOOK
RESPONSIBILITY
Manning,
formerly known as U.S. Army Private First Class Bradley Manning, was born male
but revealed after being convicted of espionage that she identifies as a woman.
The White House said her sentence would end on May 17 this year.
Manning, who
twice tried to kill herself last year and has struggled to cope as a
transgender woman in the Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, men's military prison,
accepted responsibility for leaking the material -- a factor that fed into
Obama's decision, a White House official told reporters, speaking on condition
of anonymity.
The official
said Obama's decision was rooted in Manning's sentence being longer than
sentences given to others who had committed comparable crimes. Obama, who
leaves office on Friday and is scheduled to give his final news conference on
Wednesday, is expected to discuss his decision then.
WikiLeaks
also published emails in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 8 presidential
election that U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russian intelligence
agencies hacked the Democratic National Committee and the accounts of leading
Democrats, part of a campaign by Moscow to influence the election.
But Obama's
decision had nothing to do with the latest WikiLeaks controversy, the White
House official said.
"The
president's decision to grant clemency and offer commutation to Chelsea Manning
was not influenced in any way by public comments from Assange or the WikiLeaks
organization," a White House official said on a conference call with
reporters.
Assange has
been holed up at Ecuador's London embassy since 2012 to avoid extradition to
Sweden for the investigation of allegations, which he denies, that he committed
rape there in 2010. He has said he fears Sweden would extradite him to the
United States, where there is an open criminal investigation into the
activities of WikiLeaks.
WikiLeaks
sent a tweet quoting Assange's attorney, Melinda Taylor, saying he would abide
by his promise to accept extradition if Manning was freed. "Everything
that he has said he's standing by," Taylor said, according to the tweet.
Civil rights
groups praised the move, calling it overdue.
"Chelsea
Manning exposed serious abuses, and as a result her own human rights have been
violated by the U.S. government for years," said Margaret Huang, executive
director of Amnesty International USA.
STUXNET
Obama also
pardoned retired U.S. Marine Corps General James Cartwright who pleaded guilty
in October to making false statements to the FBI during an investigation into
leaks of classified information.
The
aggressive prosecution of Cartwright, who last served as vice chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, sent shockwaves through the Pentagon.
He lied
during questioning by the FBI over a book written by a New York Times reporter
that exposed a malicious computer software program known as "Stuxnet"
designed to disrupt Iran's nuclear program. Cartwright denied being the source
of the leak.
Obama weighed
Cartwright's service along with his motive when making the decision, the White
House official said, noting Cartwright had not divulged material that the
journalist was not already aware of, and that his conversations were focused on
preventing the publication of material that could hurt national security.
"It's
clear in this case ... that General Cartwright's motive was different than most
people who are facing charges of leaking classified information to a
journalist," the official said.
PUERTO RICAN
MILITANT
Also on the
pardon list: Oscar Lopez Rivera, who was sentenced in 1981 to 55 years in
prison for his involvement with Puerto Rican militant group FALN, which claimed
responsibility for dozens of bombings in the 1970s and 1980s.
Lopez Rivera
-- who turned down a similar offer from President Bill Clinton in 1999 -- was
the last remaining member of FALN still in prison.
"Mr.
Lopez Rivera is now in his 70s. He has served 35 years, nearly half of his life
in prison," a White House official said. "The president determined
that was sufficient amount of time to serve, although the president certainly
believes that the crimes that were committed were serious."
U.S. Senator
Bernie Sanders campaigned for the release of Lopez Rivera during his unsuccessful
campaign against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Manning and
Lopez Rivera were among 209 commutations granted by Obama on Tuesday and
Cartwright was among 64 pardons.
In total,
Obama has commuted sentences for 1,385 federal prisoners -- a total greater
than that of the 12 previous presidents combined -- and he is expected to
announce more on Thursday, the White House official said.
Most of the
commutations were a part of Obama's effort to reduce the number of people serving
long sentences for non-violent drug offenses.
REUTERS
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