Former US army analyst turned whistleblower appears in red one-piece swimsuit, tweeting: ‘guess this is what freedom looks like’ 
 
 Chelsea Manning, the former US Army analyst turned whistleblower, has graced the pages of Vogue magazine’s September issue. 
 
 
 
 Manning was photographed in a red swimsuit on a beach by acclaimed photographer Annie Leibovitz for the magazine’s 125th anniversary September issue. 
 
 
 
 'Here I am!' Chelsea Manning shares first photo after prison Read more 
 
 The 29-year-old was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013 after one of the most high-profile intelligence leaks in modern times. In 2007, while on leave from service in Iraq, Manning sent hundreds of thousands of classified and sensitive documents to WikiLeaks, including the video known as Collateral Murder that showed US military killing dozens of unarmed Iraqi citizens. 
 
 Manning came out as transgender the day after she was sentenced. Lawyers successfully advocated for her to undergo hormone therapy while in prison. After six years behind bars, she was released from Fort Leavenworth prison on 17 May when, in one of his final acts as US president, Barack Obama commuted her sentence, saying “justice has been served.” Manning has been living in New York since her release. 
 
 Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea) guess this is what freedom looks like 😊👙💋🏊‍♀️🚣‍♀️⛴️🌅🏖️🏙️ @voguemagazine https://t.co/g7YYNkcd9l 😎🌈💕 https://t.co/nyAUje52bE pic.twitter.com/n4ixFkIdVn 
 
 In an interview with Vogue’s Nathan Heller, Manning spoke about her childhood in Oklahoma, her parents’ separation, her growing awareness and confusion around her sexuality and gender identity, and her decision to enter the military in 2007 in the hope that it would help her “figure [herself] out”. 
 
 
 
 She told Heller she accepted responsibility for her whistleblowing actions: “I think it’s important to remember that when somebody sees government wrongdoing – whether it’s illegal or immoral or unethical – there isn’t the means available to do something about it ... Everyone keeps saying: ‘You should have gone through the proper channels!’ But the proper channels don’t work.” 
 
 She also spoke about her time in prison, the psychological toll of which involved her making multiple suicide attempts and being shut away in solitary confinement. 
 
 Since her release from prison, however, Manning’s online persona has been a font of joy and positivity. In spite of relentless targeting by trolls and detractors, her tweets are frequently peppered with rainbows, hearts and smile emojis. 
 
 Manning is not the first trans woman to feature in Vogue’s pages, with models and trans women such as Hari Nef and Andreja Pejic having previously featuring in the fashion magazine. Earlier this year, French Vogue made headlines when Brazilian model Valentina Sampaio was revealed on the cover of their March issue – the first time the magazine had featured a transwoman on the cover. ||||| Chelsea Manning, the transgender soldier released in May after serving seven years in prison for leaking government documents to WikiLeaks, is featured in a bathing suit in the upcoming issue of Vogue. 
 
 "Guess this is what freedom feels like," Manning tweeted with an image, shot by Annie Leibovitz. 
 
 Manning, who was granted clemency in the final days of President Obama's presidency, has been living in New York City since her release. 
 
 The article details Manning's life in the army and after she was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison. She came out as transgender one day after the sentencing, and publicly came out to NBC's "Today." 
 
 "I was honestly a bit surprised by the outpouring of love and support that I got," she told Vogue. 
 
 Manning has become somewhat of a social-media celebrity since being released from prison. She told the magazine that she is not sure about her future career plans, but she said she is at work on a memoir. 
 
 The photos and accompanying article, unsurprisingly, lit up social media. Some praised Manning's photo shoot ("simply lovely" and "brave"), but others criticized the magazine for both featuring a trans woman and for featuring a person who was controversially released from prison early. 
 
 This @voguemagazine profile of Chelsea Manning is simply lovely https://t.co/pwbtBHd156 — Emma Gray (@emmaladyrose) August 10, 2017 
 
 Chelsea Manning Is A Hero, And We Don't Deserve Her — Avery Edison (@aedison) August 10, 2017 
 
 VILE: Vogue Magazine To Feature Transgender Traitor Chelsea Manning https://t.co/e8Upe29Ris #tcot — super czar (@Kristokoff) August 10, 2017 
 
 While the September issue of Vogue is traditionally one of the most ad-packed and profitable issues of the magazine, this year's issue was already creating controversy online the same day it was published. The cover featured Jennifer Lawrence by the Statue of Liberty, which some conservative activists took as a criticism of President Trump. In response, one of the editors tweeted that it was shot in June. ||||| If Bradley Manning had stayed Bradley Manning, would he still be in prison? If Bradley Manning had stayed Bradley Manning, would he be basking in celebrity, enjoying fawning photo shoots? Given the magnitude of his crimes, I dare say that he’d be in prison today if he still identified as a man. Then he’d be nothing but what he actually is, a garden-variety traitor — a faithless soldier who should count himself fortunate not to face capital punishment. 
 
 It’s worth remembering what he did. He disclosed, in a gigantic document dump, more than a million pages of classified information, including information about American military operations, American diplomacy, and American allies. The Obama administration was forced to rush to safety foreign friends whom Manning had outed as helping Americans. He broke faith with every relevant provision of the Army’s warrior ethos — he abandoned his mission, he actively aided the enemy, and he acted with stunning disregard for the lives of his comrades. He did so because, acting on his own authority, he decided he wanted to stimulate “worldwide discussion, debate, and reforms.” 
 
 To be clear, this wasn’t whistleblowing. He didn’t identify a specific wrong and expose it responsibly while taking care to minimize the harm of disclosure. He just disclosed documents without regard for their contents. He didn’t know if anyone would die because of his actions. He didn’t know to what extent vital missions or programs would be compromised. He just did what he wanted to do. There was no honor in his action. None. 
 
 And now look at him. He’s the subject of a fawning Vogue profile and photo shoot: 
 
 Chelsea Manning will be featured in Vogue magazine’s September issue https://t.co/zARmVhCca5 pic.twitter.com/SMRR2EAhLT — CNN (@CNN) August 10, 2017 
 
 In fact, he’s an LGBT celebrity now, swarmed at public events and even featured at New York’s Pride March, where he waved “from a drop-top Nissan alongside Gavin Grimm.” When Trump issued a series of tweets declaring a ban on transgender soldiers in the military, media outlets flocked to cover Manning’s response. But one wonders, do the transgender soldiers actually serving look at Chelsea Manning as a poster child for trans service? 
 
 But no matter. For many leftists, Manning offers the irresistible combination — radical criminal acts combined with revolutionary identity. It’s “Radical Chic” all over again, this time through the lens of latest civil-rights fashion, transgender rights 
 
 The radical quarters of the Left have a long history of excusing and celebrating even the most vile of criminals so long as they have the right revolutionary politics. Disturbingly, that celebration leaks even into organizations that are billed as “meanstream.” Recall, it was just last month the Women’s March tweeted its appreciation for convicted cop-killer and FBI most-wanted terrorist Assata Shakur: 
 
 Earlier this summer, New York’s Puerto Rican Day Parade sought to honor convicted terrorist Oscar Lopez Rivera as a “National Freedom Hero.” Under pressure, he decided to “forgo” that honor, but he was featured in a float anyway — and parts of the crowd gave him a “hero’s welcome.” 
 
 This is what radical identity politics does. 
 
 These kinds of celebrations are not just morally abhorrent; they’re deeply polarizing. They represent the idea that the rule of law — even when the subject is murder or treason — is contingent upon the politics and racial or gender identity of the lawbreaker. Americans on opposing sides of the ideological divide are given a signal — that when it comes to advancing the radical cause, not even human life or national security can stand in the way. There are no lines that can’t be crossed. 
 
 This is what radical identity politics does. It twists and distorts normal moral analysis. It declares that the ends justify the means, and then goes even farther to say, “By any means necessary.” This is an unacceptable ethic not just for a constitutional republic but for any form of civil society. Allegedly “mainstream” media outlets, politicians, or organizations that honor or respect the likes of Manning, Rivera, or Shakur cover themselves in shame. 
 
 READ MORE: 
 
 NR Editorial: The Injustice of Commuting Manning’s Sentence 
 
 Chelsea Manning Is Not a Whistleblower 
 
 Chelsea Manning and the Problem with Pronouns 
 
 — David French is a senior writer for National Review, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, and an attorney.
– If you've ever wanted to know the effect that liberation has on a person, Chelsea Manning is glad to show you. ABC News reports that the transgender soldier released from prison earlier this year posted a photo Thursday to her social media accounts that shows her smiling at the beach in a red one-piece swimsuit, with the caption, "Guess this is what freedom looks like." The picture was taken by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz, who documented Manning for an article appearing in the September issue of Vogue. In that interview, Manning talks about how she's adjusting to being out of jail, her regrets that she didn't come out as transgender earlier in her life, and her future plans, which may or may not include running for political office. "My goal is to use these next six months to figure out where I want to go," she notes. Online reaction to the Vogue coverage has been mixed, CBS News notes, with some offering support and others blasting the magazine for highlighting both a transgender woman and someone who many believe should still be behind bars. "This ugly whatever should be in prison, forever," one non-fan tweeted, to which Manning replied, "And here I am," accompanied by her trademark slew of positive emojis. The conservative National Review also weighed in, with a column by David French that asks: "If Bradley Manning had stayed Bradley Manning, would he be basking in celebrity, enjoying fawning photo shoots?" The Guardian notes that Manning's appearance in Vogue isn't the magazine's first transgender presence: Models Hari Nef and Andreja Pejic have both appeared in its pages, and model Valentina Sampaio has graced the cover of the publication's French version.