Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission’s accomplished

[alp227]

Source: Washington Post

MOSCOW — The familiar voice on the hotel room phone did not waste words.

“What time does your clock say, exactly?” he asked.

He checked the reply against his watch and described a place to meet.

“I’ll see you there,” he said.

Edward Joseph Snowden emerged at the appointed hour, alone, blending into a light crowd of locals and tourists. He cocked his arm for a handshake, then turned his shoulder to indicate a path. Before long he had guided his visitor to a secure space out of public view.

During more than 14 hours of interviews, the first he has conducted in person since arriving here in June, Snowden did not part the curtains or step outside. Russia granted him temporary asylum on Aug. 1, but Snowden remains a target of surpassing interest to the intelligence services whose secrets he spilled on an epic scale.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/edward-snowden-after-months-of-nsa-revelations-says-his-missions-accomplished/2013/12/23/49fc36de-6c1c-11e3-a523-fe73f0ff6b8d_story.html

[NYtoBush-Drop Dead]

1. He'll be droned....

[dawn frenzy adams]

2. Mmm!

I was hoping for a polonium sandwich.

[treestar]

27. Not in Russia

[penndragon69]

3. Burn in HELL traitor !

You stole national security secrets, sold them to China and Russia and now you
work for the Russians.

You are an ENEMY of America and should be hunted down like the
treasonous bastard you are.

Thanks for selling out our country.

FUCK YOU !

[xocet]

4. Does patriotism mean that one should support unconstitutional programs?

President Obama would never have had a discussion about any of this if his hand had not been forced.

Do you have proof that Snowden sold secrets to the Russians and to the Chinese? If so, please provide a link, I missed that revelation.

Also, please recall that DNI Clapper has still not been fired by President Obama in spite of his lying to Congress. Do you support DNI Clapper?


Here is the part in which the Obama administration has been lying to you followed by the part in which a US District Judge indicates that the NSA spying is to some extent unconstitutional.

...

For months, Obama administration officials attacked Snowden’s motives and said the work of the NSA was distorted by selective leaks and misinterpretations.

On Dec. 16, in a lawsuit that could not have gone forward without the disclosures made possible by Snowden, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon described the NSA’s capabilities as “almost Orwellian” and said its bulk collection of U.S. domestic telephone records was probably unconstitutional.

...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/edward-snowden-after-months-of-nsa-revelations-says-his-missions-accomplished/2013/12/23/49fc36de-6c1c-11e3-a523-fe73f0ff6b8d_story.html

[treestar]

28. No it means using the Whistleblower Protection Act

Staying here to face the consequences in the trial here, which would get much more attention to the issues than Eddie's actions have given it. It means not going to China and Russia.

[xocet]

44. WPA likely means nothing to this administration. Who has benefited from it?

There may be good reason for him to stand trial here, but such a trial clearly would have no connection to any form of justice.

However, President Obama's administration tends to support the status quo; i.e., get back to me when Bush et al are prosecuted for their war crimes.

If and only if Bush et al are prosecuted will that mean that the USA supports the rule of law, until then the rule of law here is at best a bad joke if the rule of law is somehow to correlate with any idea of justice.

[SoapBox]

5. penndragon69....Ditto!

I absolutely agree.

[JDPriestly]

8. You accuse:

You stole national security secrets, sold them to China and Russia and now you
work for the Russians.

What is your evidence for these accusations?

[George II]

24. Who is paying his living expenses?

[Titonwan]

34. Activists and journalists

and anyone who wants to contribute. Russia wasn't his final destination- that's where his passport expired (illegally by U.N. standards/law).

[JoeyT]

10. He didn't sell out my country.

I'm proud of the lad. The people I'm disgusted with are the ones supporting spying on American citizens. They're the ones taking a massive shit all over the Constitution. THEY sold out the country.

[Mojorabbit]

38. + a gazillion. nt

[dawn frenzy adams]

11. Yep.

My sentiments exactly.

[woo me with science]

18. The influx of corporate propaganda-spouting personas is steady and unnatural.

States that build surveillance machines also build propaganda machines.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4216987
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3189367

[cosmicone]

19. +1,000,000 n/t

[Titonwan]

35. We know what time it is.

Asstro-turfing. Authoritarians veiled as 'progressives'.

[olddad56]

13. How about you and the NSA burning in hell. Edward Snowden is a hero not a traitor.

He didn't sell out our country, he blew whistle on on our government's spying on it's citizens. If you think he is a traitor, you have drunken the purple kool-aid.

[blkmusclmachine]

15. Welcome to my Ignore List, pd69.

[woo me with science]

17. And the influx continues...

States that build surveillance machines also build propaganda machines.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4216987
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3189367

[carla]

21. You are so rabid

and totally wrong! Mr. Edward Snowden just saved your country from a fate worse than war, a totalitarian government that uses your nation for it's evil. So, who's the traitor, you or the man who did what was necessary AND right? I laugh at your rage and bile, you know so little about life it is a surprise you can actually form an opinion let alone spout such utter garbage on a forum. Same sentiments to you from those who consider Mr. Snowden a TRUE PATRIOT. People like you are the real sell outs, troll.

[treestar]

29. Have you really convinced yourself of your first sentence?

[xocet]

45. Clearly, you cannot support your claim with facts. Your entire post falls apart without them.

It is purely an emotional rant that is tangential to reality.

I have to apologize though if you meant this as sarcasm. You have the Fox-News-actor persona down cold. Bravo!

[grasswire]

6. standing o nt

[Indi Guy]

7. Bravo!

From the OP article:

[font color="darkblue"]“For me, in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission’s already accomplished,” he said. “I already won. As soon as the journalists were able to work, everything that I had been trying to do was validated. Because, remember, I didn’t want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself.”

“All I wanted was for the public to be able to have a say in how they are governed,” he said. “That is a milestone we left a long time ago. Right now, all we are looking at are stretch goals.”[/font]

[font color="darkred"]There's your "traitor" for you.[/font]

[treestar]

30. We do have a say in how we are governed

We elect the people who make the laws.

Eddie stands for doing what he wants, not what our laws provide. He's full of shit.

[Indi Guy]

32. That argument would make sense if...

...the government he worked for obeyed its own laws.

Honestly, how far do you think he would have gotten if he'd tried to blow the whistle through conventional channels? If you're honest, in this scenario I think you'd be inclined to admit that you never would have known of Edward or the vast extent of the NSA's abuses of power. ...And I'm sure that Mr. Snowden made the same calculus.

[TroglodyteScholar]

41. Bingo...

If we're a nation of laws, They can't be applied/enforced inconsistently. If govt is "we the people," govt must play by the rules, too. When they fail to do that, their legitimacy is compromised and everyone loses out.

[Spider Jerusalem]

46. We elect people who pass secret laws, convene secret courts...

and use "terrorism" as an excuse for indefinite detention. This seriously undermines accountability and any pretence of democracy and causes people to quite justifiably distrust their government, especially when their elected leaders continue to spout empty platitudes about "freedom" and "democracy" and "the rule of law".

[JDPriestly]

9. Thanks for starting the conversation, Mr. Snowden.

Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Thomas Paine and all who struggled to make this a free nation are looking down and thanking you with me.

[BluegrassDem]

12. Drone him

He's an arrogant, pompous prick and traitor. Fuck Edward Snowden!

[blkmusclmachine]

14. Welcome to my Ignore List.

[cosmicone]

22. You belong to "government can do nothing wrong" party. n/t

[wildbilln864]

42. pardon him and give him a medal of freedom! eom.

[blkmusclmachine]

16. Thx for exposing the abuses. I can see their sock puppets are very, very MAD.

[bemildred]

20. The best revenge is living well. nt

[cosmicone]

23. I wish he would release the whole 1.5 million pages

and we'll see what sort of slime comes out from so-called democratic governments and their military machines to hold on to power at any cost; against the best interests of its citizens.

I wish there were transcripts of GWB and Tony Blair phone calls pre-Iraq war for example.

[Titonwan]

36. Patience

You really don't want all this information dumped at one time. A) It's not been vetted (to secure individuals from harm) and B) if you did, the MSM would gloss over it and show great 'concern' and then smoothly segue to Miley's latest sex act. And then, it will be forgotten by the propagandists. On purpose. Most people have the attention span of mosquitos. This is why tiny bits on a regular basis will be more digestible (understood).

Ed's quite the genius in how this expose is being executed and it's pissing this corrupt government off to no end. By doling the bad news out incrementally, it makes it seem like chinese water torture to them- drip by aching drop. And the media is forced to cover it whether they like it or not. The burn!

[mitty14u2]

25. European Parliament Hearing on NSA Surveillance and EU Citizens NSA Surveillance in Europe C-Span

Journalist Glenn Greenwald testifies before a European Parliamentary Committee about National Security Agency surveillance practices, civil liberties of European citizens, and privacy concerns. 1 hour, 3 minutes

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/316863-1

This is riveting with true concerns for all, reminding us all how the head of the FBI back in the day, J Edger Hoover had Scandalizing information on anyone they wanted and used it to control power.

[ucrdem]

26. Eddie sends us this musical Christmas message:

?t=35s

[solarhydrocan]

31. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Mr. Ed Snowden, Patriot

Thanks Ed for following your oath





Many fought and died for our Bill of Rights.

Clapper needs a trial and a cell.

[cosmicone]

37. +1,000,000 n/t

[wildbilln864]

43. saw that posted over a gas pump...

here saying report suspicious behavior. Like the way it's been edited. Needs to be posted far and wide IMHO.

[jsr]

33. Recommend

[mitty14u2]

39. John Roberts Packed ‘Independent’ FISA Court With Republicans, Former Federal Employees

President Obama defended the government surveillance programs exposed by Edward Snowden, telling Charlie Rose, "It is transparent. That's why we set up the FISA court." He added that in addition to Congress, "you've got a federal court with independent federal judges overseeing the entire program."

That's true, but he failed to mention that the judges approve nearly every government request, their decisions are classified, and they're all appointed by the Supreme Court's chief justice.

For the first time, the New York Times has published a list of every judge to serve on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court since it was created in 1978. Their analysis reveals that compared to his predecessors, Chief Justice John Roberts's picks are far more likely to be Republicans, and to have worked in the executive branch.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/07/roberts-packed-fisa-court-with-republicans.html

Chief Justice Roberts Is Awesome Power Behind FISA Court

Chief justice of the U.S. is a pretty big job. You lead the Supreme Court conferences where cases are discussed and voted on. You preside over oral arguments. When in the majority, you decide who writes the opinion. You get a cool robe that you can decorate with gold stripes.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-02/chief-justice-roberts-is-awesome-power-behind-fisa-court.html

[DCBob]

40. bad choice of words considering that last moron that used it in such a high profile way.