Chelsea E. Manning 89289
1300 N. Warehouse Road
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 5 66027-2304

Kevin Gosztola

Chicago, IL 60613-8328

September 10. 2015

Dear Chelsea,

As you may know, I am a journalist, who has covered your case quite
extensively. I became interested in covering each development afler
writing several stories on the U.S. Embassy cables you released. I
recognized the importance of covering the source of incredible
information, which had made it possible for me to write stories that
helped establish my name in media.

Well after you were mistreated at the Marine Corps Base Quantico brig
and transferred to Fort Leavenworth, I joined Firedoglake and
committed myself to reporting on each stage of your court-martial.
Firedoglake has since shut down, and I have joined some of its alumni
to co-found a new organization called Shadowproof, which is where our
correspondence will be published.

I read a number of interviews you have done, as well as columns you
have written for The Guardian, in order to prepare this letter.

What I am immediately struck by when I read your statements or
columns is how your life has been a constant struggle to be yourself.

The United States military, in particular, is an institution that breaks
down individuals and then builds them back up so they may fit into a
unit. However, cultural doctrines of masculinity, which have dominated
the military, did not allow you to be the trans woman you are, and you
had to hide your true self to a degree that was damaging to your
health.

On August 22, 2013, in what you have described as a moment of
empowerment, you came out to the world as a trans woman right afler
a military judge sentenced you to 35 years in prison. "Nobody can
control or define our identities unless we let them, and so I chose to
come out and to define myself--nothing more," you wrote.

However, the struggle continues from within the walls of a military
prison. Though you successfully won the right to gender-confirming
health care, the Army will not let you grow out your hair. In what other
ways does this lifelong struggle continue in prison? And how have you
sought out additional moments of empowerment in order to manage
this struggle?
The U.S. government generally disapproves of prisoners, who seek to
become or remain empowered individuals while serving sentences.
This is especially the case when prisoners engage in hunger strikes to
protest their confinement conditions.
I wonder if some of the Army’s opposition to granting you hormone
treatment goes beyond policies, which force trans persons into being
straight men or women. Even though hormone treatment is health care
that should not be withheld from anyone and you clearly needed it,
maybe the Army interpreted your request as an act of resistance and
did not want to let you have greater ability to define yourself.
The punishment you experienced for possessing an expired tube of
toothpaste and LGBTQ/political literature seemed like a decision by
officers at Leavenworth to push back against your continued efforts to
define yourself. Whether it is your speech on Twitter or in The Guardian
or what you choose to read in prison, the Army found an opportunity to
add what they construed as misconduct to your permanent record and
hopefully use that to further control you.
In current news, former high-ranking CIA officials have released a book
called Rebuttal, which purports to respond to the Senate intelligence
committee report and defends CIA torture. One of the pieces of
literature, which led to your punishment, was the torture report
released last December. What do you think about the irony of having
your copy of the torture report confiscated while former officials are
able to talk openly about their involvement in torture without any
reasonable fear of prosecution?
Shifting to your court-martial, you wrote in your column on the years
since you were jailed that you were convinced the U.S. Army
prosecutors “did not believe the treason arguments they made”
against you, even as the prosecutors spoke them. Why do you think
that?
Some of the worst statements made about you were related to the
“aiding the enemy” charge. During closing argument, prosecutors said
you were an “anarchist,” “hacker,” and a “traitor.” The prosecutors

 directly challenged your patriotism by twisting an exchange between
you and a superior officer about the flag into an example of antiAmericanism.
The prosecutors accused you of breaking ranks with your nation. That
said, do you believe the aggressive nature of these statements in
military court were made to compensate for the fact that they
recognized, on some level, there was some merit to the widespread
criticism against the “aiding the enemy” charge?
I will end on a lighter note. Even though I made the decision to focus
on journalism, I graduated from college with a Film/Video degree. I
spend a lot of time following film.
What, if you have any, are your favorite movies? Is there anything you
watched when you were growing up that had an impact on you? And,
out of sheer curiosity, have you not had the joy of watching a movie
since you were deployed in Baghdad?
I appreciate you taking the time to correspond with me, and I will
anxiously await your reply.
Best,
Kevin Gosztola