The Curious Case of PFC Manning

Slowly but surely we learned the real reason PFC Bradley Manning betrayed his country by providing highly sensitive classified information to the Wikileaks website. It started out that Manning was distraught after his female impersonator boyfriend broke up with him. Perfectly understandable! Divulging secrets that damage national security and jeopardize people's lives is the natural response to a failed personal relationship. As time went on, we also learned that there was more to the story. The Army wasn't sensitive to Manning's gender identity issues and didn't help him with his feelings of not belonging. It is shocking that the military didn't jump to transform itself to make a maladjusted soldier more comfortable. After all, the military is well known for being accepting of those who don’t or can’t fit in, right? After being sentenced to 35 years in prison for providing classified information to the Wikileaks website, Manning’s attorney began to discuss the possibility that his client may appeal to President Obama for a pardon. Really? On what grounds? Apparently, Manning and his lawyer quickly realized that, even under this Administration that never ceases to amaze by making decisions contrary to what the average American would consider reasonable, a pardon was unlikely. Suddenly, Manning declared that he is a woman and wants to be called Chelsea. His/”her” lawyer says that “Chelsea” wants to begin hormone therapy paid for by, you guessed it, the military! A military spokesman released a statement almost immediately saying that the US military does not pay for hormone therapy or gender re-assignment surgery to treat sexual identity issues. If you think that is the end of the story, I predict you will be proven wrong. Expect Manning and his lawyer to take legal action to force the military to pay for his/”her” sex-change operation that will cost the very citizens he/”she” betrayed as much as $100,000. And if you think that the chances that a judge would rule in Manning’s favor are unlikely, consider the following. In 2012, a federal judge in Boston ruled that Massachusetts prison officials must provide a publicly funded sex reassignment surgery to an inmate serving a life sentence for killing his wife. This is what things have come to in America in the 21st century! Madness I tell you! Madness!!!