I’m sure we all heard that President Obama commuted Private Manning’s sentence yesterday, despite Manning stealing and divulging thousands of documents detailing secret military actions and confidential sources, putting lives in danger–in other words committing treason. Private Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison but will be released in May after serving only seven years. Is it treasonous to commute the sentence of a traitor?
Kristian Saucier, a sailor, was not so lucky and will serve his entire sentence. Saucier was the sailor sentenced to prison for taking pictures of a classified area while on a nuclear submarine, and storing them on his computer. He shared them with no one. (By the way, I agree with punishing the sailor.)
Kind of makes you wonder what criteria Obama uses to make these decisions. Would Mr. Saucier’s sentence have been commuted if he had decided to mutilate himself? I guess we’ll never know.
**To date, President Obama has commuted 1,385 sentences and granted 212 pardons.
