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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGlenn Greenwald to Pete King: Bring it on
By Greg Sargent
A number of commentators have already suggested that Edwards Snowden should be prosecuted for leaking explosive details about the NSA programs. But today, for the first time, a member of Congress called for prosecution of Glenn Greenwald over his role in disclosing these details as a journalist, when GOP Rep. Pete King called for legal action to be taken against him:
Greenwald, not only did he disclose this information, he has said he has names of CIA agents and assets around the world and theyre threatening to disclose that. The last time that was done we saw the murder of a station chief in Greece. No right is absolute. And even the press has certain restrictions. I think it should be very targeted, very selective, and certainly a very rare exception, but in this case, when you have someone who has disclosed secrets like this and threatens to release more, then to me, yes, there has to be, there should be legal action taken against him. This is a very unusual case with life and death implications for Americans.
On Twitter today Greenwald flatly denied that he is threatening to disclose the names of CIA agents and assets around the world, as King put it And in a phone interview with me today, he went significantly further in defending himself, arguing that his intentions and those of his source are being completely misrepresented.
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Greenwald said he has spoken with lawyers about whether he is at legal risk. I have spoken with lawyers about representing me in the event that I need one, he said. He added he has not dismissed the possibility that he really may face prosecution, given the Obama administrations aggressive prosecution of leak cases, and given the targeting of Fox News James Rosen, who was named a co-conspirator in a legal brief. It would be irrational for me to dismiss the possibility, he said.
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I would think that even the most extremist Democrats on national security would be offended at the idea that journalists would be threatened with prosecution for doing their jobs, Greenwald said. If Democrats dont stand for the principle that journalists cant be prosecuted for doing this, then what do they stand for?
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/06/12/glenn-greenwald-to-pete-king-bring-it-on/
Interesting. Greenwald is being attacked by Republicans and he's calling out Democrats while asking them to come to his aid.
still_one
(92,233 posts)limpyhobbler
(8,244 posts)hmmmmm.................
............................
ProSense
(116,464 posts)The fucking obfuscations and personal attacks are becoming ridiculous.
If you have no comment on the piece keep the drivel to yourself.
I made a single comment in the OP. It's my opinion. You focused on my opinion to declare the piece a "smear."
limpyhobbler
(8,244 posts)But there have been plenty of things posted here trying to smear Greenwald and Snowden. I'm sure you know that.
But you did say this:
railsback
(1,881 posts)You're safe.
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)expecting Democrats to object on his behalf is kind of rich, considering his constant demonization of them.
usGovOwesUs3Trillion
(2,022 posts)It's online lackies
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Some people are so humble.
usGovOwesUs3Trillion
(2,022 posts)Shooter
Monkie
(1,301 posts)philip agee was the first person to whistleblow against the CIA due to the horrors that the USA was inflicting in south-america.
he kept a diary when he was in the cia, a diary that spelled out exactly how the CIA would sabotage civil society by infiltrating every civic organisation in a county, every political party, the army, the police, the unions, and would play them against each other to destabilize whole nations. he saw the destruction that the US caused, he couldnt take it any more, and he named names, every traitor, every collaborator, every spy he knew, he did not pull punches or redact in the way snowdon seems to have done.
and that is why the cia station chief in greece was killed, because greece was a military dictatorship, supported and armed by the US, infiltrated from top to bottom in the same way as every country in the world was during the cold war. the coup in greece is a forgot piece of history, but parallels what was done by the US in turkey and iran, and all of south america, much of asia, where they also installed/enabled dictatorships.
a quote from the time illustrates the cia's thinking
Phillips Talbot, the U.S. ambassador in Athens, disapproved of the coup, complaining that it represented "a rape of democracy", to which Jack Maury, the CIA station chief in Athens, answered, "How can you rape a whore?"
this is the society that the US installed and supported out of fear of the left
Under the junta, torture became a deliberate practice carried out both by the Security Police and the Greek Military Police,[33][34] with an estimated 3,500 people detained in torture centres run by ESA.[31][32] Examples of the types of torture commonly used include (amongst others):
Beating the soles of people's feet with sticks and pieces of metal pipe
Sexual torture such as shoving objects into people's vagina/anus and twisting them violently, or hoses shoved into the anus and forcing water in at high pressure
Choking people and shoving rags soaked in urine and excrement down their throats
Ripping out hair from the head and pubic regions
Jumping on people's stomachs
Pulling out toenails and fingernails
remind anyone of abu ghraib?
this is what philip agee exposed, and this is why the cia station chief was killed in greece by greek people.