OpsLens

Harvard Cancels Chelsea Manning Following Severe Backlash

“Honored to be 1st disinvited trans woman visiting Harvard fellow.  They chill marginalized voices under CIA pressure.”….Chelsea Manning

Facing mounting criticism, Harvard University came to its senses and rescinded the invitation to convicted felon Chelsea Manning to be a visiting fellow.  The university named Manning a visiting fellow on Wednesday, and the amount of backlash that rained down on Harvard sent social media roaring.

The announcement prompted former deputy director of the CIA Michael Morell to resign from Harvard, citing his inability to “be part of an organization—The Kennedy School—that honors a convicted felon and leaker of classified information.”  He continued to point out that, “Senior leaders in our military have stated publicly that the leaks by Ms. Manning put the lives of US soldiers at risk.” CIA director Mike Pompeo also canceled his own scheduled appearance at Harvard over the university’s decision to honor Chelsea Manning.

As a response, Manning retweeted the letter written by Pompeo with the statement, “Honored to be 1st disinvited trans woman visiting Harvard fellow.  They chill marginalized voices under CIA pressure.”  Since it’s apparent that Manning is still suffering from delusions of grandeur, allow me to remind the public of a few things.

Dishonorable Military Service

Bradley Manning was a subpar soldier.  He came out of the gate struggling and was delayed passing basic combat training.  During his time in service, he was reprimanded several times for various offenses.  He was deployed to Iraq only because the Army couldn’t afford to lose him at that moment.  While I do believe he should have been separated from the Army right away, it’s understandable that Manning would be given a chance to rehabilitate—at that point his actions didn’t seem serious enough to warrant his immediate separation from the military.

While deployed to Iraq, Bradley Manning’s performance continued to suck.  He was constantly showing up to work late and crying about his “horrible” work conditions of 14-hour shifts in a crowded room.  It remains unclear if the former intel analyst thought war would be an all-inclusive stay featuring broadway musicals and an endless supply of bad wigs.  Bradley Manning became so distraught that he punched a female soldier in the face.  Can we rally some of our feminists to speak on this?  All I’m hearing are crickets and unconditional support for Chelsea’s “marginalized” voice.  Give me a break, Manning.

Let’s top this hot mess sundae off with the cherry.  Chelsea Manning is a convicted felon.  She violated the Espionage Act.  The former soldier methodically copied, downloaded, and disseminated classified information.  This person was in possession of a Top Secret security clearance and betrayed not only her position within the Army, but duty to her country.  She compromised national security and reached out to any media outlet that would listen, even approaching the New York Times with classified information—to which the Times didn’t dignify with a response.

Manning handed the information over to Wikileaks, before even receiving a response to her inquiry.  She then developed a weird relationship with Julian Assange.  This is a person looking for fame at any cost.  Then has the nerve to be shocked that people associated with the Central Intelligence Agency remove themselves from her presence.