Manning still on active duty
UNITED STATES: Army Private. Chelsea Manning walked out of the Fort Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks at 2am Wednesday (local time), freed from seven years of confinement but still an activeduty soldier.
That means an indefinite period of military-provided health benefits for Manning, the convicted intelligence leaker and transgender woman known as Bradley Manning when arrested May 2010.
After struggling to secure medical help for gender dysphoria while imprisoned at the facility for male inmates, Manning’s health needs could be substantial, say military and legal experts.
They contend the army is merely following rules in extending to Manning, 29, activeduty benefits as it would any courtmartialed service member returning to society.
Her attorney, Nancy Holland, recently declined to comment on Manning’s immediate plans or destination. Another lawyer representing her, Chase Strangio of the American Civil Liberties Union, told CNN that Manning is ‘‘very committed to living her life as free from the government as possible and taking care of her own health benefits and financial needs.’’
A GoFundMe web page created in February by Strangio to ‘‘welcome home’’ Manning has raised more than US$157,000.
With appeals of her 2013 conviction still unresolved in military court, ‘‘the army has no choice but to wait’’ before officially cutting Manning from the ranks, said Eric L. Mayer, who practices military law in Overland Park, Kansas, but is not connected to the Manning case.
Only after final judgments are rendered - which may take a few years if the US Supreme Court is petitioned - can military command ‘‘approve what I suspect will be a dishonourable discharge,’’ Mayer said. Such action would end army privileges and prevent Manning from drawing on future veterans’ benefits.
The military court imposed a 35-year sentence on the former intelligence analyst after Manning’s trial on espionage charges of providing the website WikiLeaks more than 700,000 confidential documents pertaining to the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.
President Barack Obama in January commuted the Oklahoma native’s sentence to seven years since her arrest. Noting that she already had served more time than other government leakers, Obama told reporters he chose not to grant Manning a pardon because he was not forgiving her for the crime.
In a tweet early this week, Manning said she was anticipating ‘‘the freedom of civilian life . ... Now hunting for private #healthcare like millions of Americans.’’
But the Army followed with a statement indicating that she for now would remain an uncompensated soldier ‘‘statutorily entitled to medical care while on excess leave in an active duty status.’’
A Defence Department official said that ‘‘excess leave’’ means being assigned to a military installation as an unpaid service member pending the processing of final disposition papers.
Typically, those people aren’t stationed on base, the official said. - TNS