Should President Obama pardon Chelsea Manning?

Does Manning deserve a pardon?
Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, now Chelsea, (right) is escorted out of a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., on June 25, 2012.

"The U.S. soldier convicted of providing secret files to WikiLeaks in the biggest breach of classified materials in the nation's history has asked for a presidential pardon, supporters said on Wednesday," writes Reuters reporter Ian Simpson.

The request for Chelsea, formerly known as Bradley, Manning, was filed by attorney David Coombs on Tuesday, according to a statement on the Pardon Private Manning website.

"I urge you to consider this matter closely and to take a positive step towards protecting whistleblowers who release information to the media for the public good by either reducing Private Manning's sentence to time served, or by granting him a full pardon," Coombs said in a letter to President Barack Obama via the Justice Department and to Army Secretary John McHugh carried on the website.

The application includes a supporting letter from Amnesty International. ... A court-martial convicted Manning, 25, in July of 20 charges, including espionage and theft, for providing more than 700,000 classified files, videos and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks, a pro-transparency website.

Today's Question: Should President Obama pardon Bradley Manning (now known as Chelsea) the U.S. soldier convicted of providing secret files to WikiLeaks, in the biggest breach of classified materials in the nation’s history?

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