Bradley Manning, whose biography is described in this article, served in the US Army. In 2010, he was arrested due to a video from 2007, which shows how the military fired on journalists in Baghdad (Iraq). Bradley was accused not only of transmitting this material to the WikiLeaks website, but also of involvement in many other leaks of classified information regarding military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Where and when was Manning born?
Bradley Manning, whose photo you can see in this article, was born on December 17, 1987 in the small town of Crisant, in Oklahoma. My father's name was Brian. He was a military man all his life and married a girl named Susan, who was born in Haverfordwest, and subsequently emigrated from Wales to the United States. Bradley's parents divorced when he was thirteen years old. Mother took her son to her homeland, in Wales, in 2001. There he studied at a school in Haverfordwest. After graduation, Bradley returned to his father in the United States.
Bradley Manning's Sexual Orientation
Bradley was a homosexual from childhood. But being a little did not understand this yet. He was shy and hid that he felt more like a woman than a man. People around him who knew him noted that Bradley was always very withdrawn and irritable, computers became his passion. And when he grew up, he no longer hid his homosexual orientation from anyone. But is Bradley Manning a woman? So he, at least, considered and called himself Chelsea.
Army years
Manning since childhood dreamed of becoming a secret agent. Therefore, after graduation, in 2007, he joined the US Army. At first he served in intelligence, then as a military analyst under a contract signed for 4 years. He went through physical training in Arizona and in 2010 was elevated by the leadership to the rank of specialist. He continued to serve in a new capacity in Iraq, at the Hammer base.
But in the same year, Bradley Manning was demoted to private 1st class. Because of a fight with a colleague. Bradley was openly embarrassed to declare his political views, as he was against the negative attitude of society towards homosexuality. He did not like the war in Iraq and the actions of the Prime Minister of this state, Nuri al-Maliki. On top of that, Manning thought he was being ignored in the service.
Video Scandal
In April 2010, a big scandal erupted in the United States because of a video posted on the WikiLeaks website with the heading "secret." It showed how, in the vicinity of Baghdad, a group of journalists was being fired at, which American soldiers mistook for terrorists.
Eighteen civilians died that day. On May 21, Bradley had a conversation with Adrian Lamo (a former hacker). Manning said that he gave the site WikiLeaks scandalous video footage, as well as another 260 thousand classified materials. Communication took place in the chat, and subsequently their conversation was posted on the Internet.
Bradley's arrest
Lamo reported back to the authorities, and on May twenty-ninth Bradley Manning was arrested. He was first placed in the Camp-Arifjan American Prison in Kuwait. In July, Manning was transferred to another, which was located in Virginia, at the military base.
As the investigation showed, Bradley installed a special program on his computer, with the help of which he hacked the classified networks of the Department of Defense and the US Department of State. Manning downloaded files that were closed to the public. Most of the classified information and diplomatic negotiations were transferred to the WikiLeaks website.
Bradley Manning indicted
In July 2010, the Bradley investigation charged with storing classified state information on a personal computer and transferring it to unauthorized persons. In a conversation with Lama, Manning made it clear that computer data protection was very weak.
WikiLeaks has not confirmed that Bradley is a site informant. The company claimed that data was collected in such a way that even the editor did not know the names of those who provided it. And the sources from which the classified information appeared, which Bradley was accused of embezzlement, were on the site even before Manning appeared in the US Army.
The WikiLeaks website offered legal advice to a young hacker and hired three lawyers. Manning Bradley could contact only with them, and he was forbidden to communicate directly with the management of the site.
In July 2010, WikiLeaks published seventy-seven secret bulletins. Manning began to be suspected of this huge leak of information. The military decided whether there was strong evidence of his guilt in order to bring the Bradley case to court. The decision was to be taken by a special commission in August 2010.
Sentence
The maximum term for which Manning could be sentenced could be ninety years or be commuted to death. The first Bradley trial was held on February 24, 2012. Manning refused to answer questions about his guilty plea. The trial lasted until March 15, 2013. The prosecution demanded that Manning be sentenced to 60 years in prison for transferring classified data to third parties. But the support of lawyers and many public organizations insisted on a softening of the term, appealing that even thanks to published secret data, the accused did not cause serious damage to either US citizens or the country as a whole.
As a result, Bradley Manning, whose verdict was announced by an American court, received thirty-five years. The convicted person will be able to obtain the right to early release only nine years after the start of serving the term. Manning was demoted to rank and dismissed from the US Army. He wrote to the president of America, Barack Obama, a petition for clemency. It is now known that Bradley Manning will be able to get out of prison before his sixtieth birthday if his request for early release is granted.
Detention and public reaction
The Bradley Manning case provoked different reactions in society. Moreover, information often leaked to the press that his detention was far from civilized. Those who saw Bradley after his arrest claim that his mental health is impaired. He suffers constant humiliation, and pressure is exerted on him.
Manning told his lawyer about his conditions of detention. According to Bradley, he is kept in solitary confinement daily, supposedly to prevent a suicide attempt. Security conducts checks without any reason several times a day. Bradley Manning is without clothes during routine examinations. In response, Barack Obama objected that the conditions of detention of Bradley comply with the rules and standards adopted in the United States.
Quite a few different human rights organizations came out in defense of Bradley, as well as Michael Moore (cinematographer) and Daniel Ellsberg, who is called the "Pentagon whistleblower." Even a separate network has been created to support Manning. And near the prison where he was held, protest rallies were constantly held in his honor. Already more than twelve thousand people have made their donations to the fund created for Bradley. And this amount has already amounted to 650 thousand dollars. Of these, 15 thousand came from the WikiLeaks website.
Bradley wants to change sex
After the court verdict, Bradley Manning announced his desire to change the male gender to female. And he voiced the name that he chose for himself - Chelsea Elizabeth. He said that since childhood he felt like not a man, but a woman, but believed that this was not normal. Therefore, he joined the army to prove his belonging to the stronger sex. But I realized that he still feels like a woman, and nature played a cruel joke with him, placing him in the body of a man.
Lawyers argue that Manning suffers from gender identity and is not homosexual. Bradley announced his desire to change sex on the American television show, of which he was a participant. He asked immediately to begin a course of hormone therapy. When the New York Times and Associated newspapers found out that Bradley Manning wants to become a woman, they decided to now call him Chelsea Elizabeth - the name he chose for himself.
He asked his supporters to no longer consider him a man. And now turn to him as a woman. As well as writing letters, already in a new name. In a written appeal to his supporters, Bradley already signed up as Chelsea Manning.
