Q: Bradley Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking sensitive documents. Manning decided to live as a woman and be called Chelsea. Is she serving her sentence in a woman’s prison?
—Kathy McDonough, Peachtree Corners
A: Manning is serving her 35-year sentence at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, but the military is attempting to transfer her to a federal prison so she can receive hormone therapy and be treated for her gender disorder. Fort Leavenworth is a men's facility and Manning must dress as a man while serving her time there.
Manning’s attorney told the Associated Press that she would like to receive the treatment at Fort Leavenworth because the military prison provides more security than a federal facility. The Department of Defense doesn’t provide that treatment, but Manning would be able to receive the treatment in a federal prison. Manning was sentenced last August for providing WikiLeaks with more than 700,000 classified documents and battlefield video.
Q: I’ve heard that there are 10,000-16,000 U.S. citizens in Iraq. If we have no military there, why are they there and what are we doing to protect them?
—Brandt Ross, Atlanta
A: Thousands of U.S. citizens are in Iraq as diplomats and embassy personnel, private security contractors and private military advisers. Of these, many work in the U.S. embassy in Baghdad or at consulates in Basra and Irbil.
The embassy is heavily fortified and has been called the “mega-bunker of Baghdad.” It’s protected by a detachment of Marines that has been reinforced since recent violence.
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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