Reading succinct verbiage from unofficial transcript provided in Clark Stoeckley’s essential work, The United States Vs. Pvt. Chelsea Manning, I was struck by the extraordinary violence encapsulated in this grotesquely disproportional, premeditated sentence uttered in the service of empire. Several months later the very same words, with only some minor adjustments, would be uttered by Loretta A. Preska, Chief Judge in the case of another political prisoner; Jeremy Hammond.

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