"Because his actions have had serious consequences for our national security.." Errr, really? What exactly are those consequences? Not a single person was hurt or injured as a result of the revelations. On the other hand, American people have learned a lot about their Government spying on their own citizens.
A Response to Your Petition on Edward Snowden
91–100 of 157 posts
Re: A Response to Your Petition on Edward Snowden
#92The story this tells is so stark, I don't know what else there is left to say on it. They guy sealed his own fate when he made himself an enemy of the state, and I fear he will never get to set foot on his homeland again. One day, I hope he will be nationally recognized for his service to his people. In the meantime, the drastic divide between the aims of the government and the aims of the governed makes me grow ever…
He will be on the run for the rest of his life, until he's caught or assassinated.
If it's the former, we have a responsibility as citizens to have affected enough of a change in our government to see to it that he is given a truly fair trial.
If it's the latter, we'll probably never hear of it, or know the truth of it.
Re: A Response to Your Petition on Edward Snowden
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
And neither is Snowden. After you grab a million files constituting nearly half a terabyte of top secret data and abscond with it to China (and then Russia), despite what your very best intentions may be, I don't think the title "whisteblower" is still applicable.
First - no one has quantified what exactly Snowden has. Second so far only the western media have had access to the files. Third there was not any proof that he had copy of the information while he was in Hong Kong.
If you think the Chinese/Russian intelligence services haven't managed to get their hands on the entirety of what Snowden took I think you underestimate their prowess.
A few Western journalists in their flats and offices does not a secure facility for storing highly classified information make.
Re: A Response to Your Petition on Edward Snowden
#94An interesting take, what about the thousands of people working with or at the NSA who broke the law and probably committed treason? Should they also face a firing squad as the penalty for treason?
Re: A Response to Your Petition on Edward Snowden
#95Interesting messaging about Russia; that's probably the most interesting thing about the whole note to me. Russia = authoritarian regime. I wonder when the US state department started approving messaging like that about Russia.
There are a whole bunch of recent US geopolitical actions that are interesting to look at through the lens of lessening Russian influence. When US national policy is pretty much to undermine the Russian economy I'm not sure how worried the White House should be about how a particular statement gets parsed.
Re: A Response to Your Petition on Edward Snowden
#96I think Snowden is a traitor. Not for releasing the information, but for going to Hong Kong (China), and then to Russia. Snowden had access to a lot more information than was released. I do not honestly think Russia would have let him stay without requiring something from him. Taking classified/secret information to a hostile country is treason. If he had done what Ellsburg did and stayed in the United States and fac…
Last time I checked, China and Russia weren't "enemies" of the US, which is a necessary prerequisite to a treason charge. So, no, he didn't commit treason. He certainly broke laws protecting secrets - but the NSA was arguably abusing those very laws to hide their illegal activities - so who's in the wrong?
Re: A Response to Your Petition on Edward Snowden
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is my understanding that the Espionage Act does not allow for an affirmative defense -- so Snowden can't claim that he was justified in releasing the materials, rather he can only dispute the facts as presented by the prosecution. But since we all pretty much agree about the facts of the case, the outcome is predictable. It would be "fair and open" in some sense, I guess, but the game is rigged. (Not to say that h…
As I tried to point out below, this is exactly the situation jury nullification was designed for. Guilty under the law, but pardoned by a jury of his peers.
Even so, few people know that jury notification is an option (and promoting it is actively discouraged by the legal community), and it would be hard to convince a jury that he was justified because he wouldn't even be allowed to claim or present evidence that it was justified. He would just have to hope that his jury knew about nullification, and that they knew enough about the case beforehand to believe he was justified despite the prosecution presenting evidence that he willingly broke the law. Those are long odds.
Re: A Response to Your Petition on Edward Snowden
#98Re: A Response to Your Petition on Edward Snowden
#99I think Snowden is a traitor. Not for releasing the information, but for going to Hong Kong (China), and then to Russia. Snowden had access to a lot more information than was released. I do not honestly think Russia would have let him stay without requiring something from him. Taking classified/secret information to a hostile country is treason. If he had done what Ellsburg did and stayed in the United States and fac…
I think you're skipping the part where he gave the information to respected Western journalistic organizations and didn't actually have it on his person when he went overseas. Because frankly, that would be an incomprehensibly stupid move on his part.
According to Wikipedia
"he gave all the classified documents he had obtained to journalists he met in Hong Kong"
Therefor, he must have had access to the documents after he left the USA since it seems he gave them to journalists while he was in Hong Kong.
Re: A Response to Your Petition on Edward Snowden
#100I have doubts whether Edward Snowden would get a fair open trial, with a jury of his peers. Serious doubts. The entire Snowden affair reminds me very much of Daniel Ellsberg. At the time Ellsberg was condemed by many (especially in the military industrial complex) as a traitor but now I think that just about everyone believes that Ellsberg did a good thing for our country and society. I think that history will look k…
Chelsea Manning was basically driven insane before even getting to trial. Held naked in solitary confinement, in a cell not much bigger than a closet, and forced to stand for most of the day as to not be able to sleep. That prosecutors would stack the jury is almost immaterial - life changing punishment would be inflicted before even getting to that point.