The Exquisite Corpse of Chelsea Manning

By revealing truths (or by reflecting back to us truths that we largely suspected), Chelsea Manning has become a figure of so much projected anxiety and judgement. As representatives of specific state interests could subjectively convey interpretations of cryptic messages of the Delphic Oracles, so have those in power manipulated the information that Manning has revealed, while attempting to discredit her. The documents that Manning courageously leaked in 2010 reveal still-startling truths, including information on the targeted and publicly unacknowledged deaths of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan by US forces and the ongoing torture of prisoners or detainees by Iraqi security forces. I can't speak to Chelsea Manning's specific experiences or understand what she has been subjected to in the name of protecting us, but it seems appropriate that she be granted the prestige and authority that a Delphic Oracle once held in the classical world.—Valerie Imus