WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning released from jail

Leavenworth, Kansas, early Wednesday morning after serving seven years on an espionage sentence, and will already star in her own documentary film about her return to civilian life. In that status she will be unpaid but will be legally entitled to military medical care.

Those leaks revealed abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan by the United States military, the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, killings by military contractors in Iraq, Afghan civilian deaths and other incidents.

Greenwald explains that after top US officials condemned, denounced and deemed Manning as a traitor, living in this country will be an uphill battle for the 29-year-old soldier.

Manning was pardoned by former U.S. President Barack Obama shortly before he left office. She also was allowed counseling sessions and treatment doctors for her gender dysphoria following a lawsuit filed by Strangio. The transgender army private was called a hero among some, but others denounced her leaks and called her a traitor.

After leaving Fort Leavenworth, a military prison in Kansas, Manning has clearly been making the most of her freedom – posting a picture of herself enjoying a slice of pizza.

A significant cache of documents, 91,731 in total, leaked by Manning were published by WikiLeaks and news outlets including the New York Times, the Guardian and German newspaper Der Spiegel.

The possibility that Manning could become a new, prominent face in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights movement has sparked concern among some, however.

“She’s ready to finally be able to live as the woman that she is”, Nancy Hollander said. “There are far better representatives of the LGBT community”.

Read: What Will Chelsea Manning Do After Former Whistle-Blower Is Released Today?

Otherwise, she looks forward to growing out her hair and discovering “what will make her feel like she can embody womanhood” without the government’s interference, he said. One day after sentencing, she came out as a transgender woman, but still had to serve her sentence at the all-male army prison. “I have never made any excuses for what I did”, Manning wrote in her petition in November to have her sentence commuted.

Manning twice attempted suicide past year at Fort Leavenworth, a male military prison. Her sentence was commuted before that surgery could take place.

Manning, of whom few photographs are publicly available, could find refuge at an aunt’s home in the Washington region. And just Monday was the message, “Two more days until the freedom of civilian life”.