If Snowden tortured people as a spy instead of whistle blowing

[think]

would the US Govt. still be interested in his prosecution?


Would the "Snowden broke the law" crowd still scream for justice then?


Will these same people demand the law be upheld for a CIA spy named Robert Lady who was convicted in Italy for kidnapping and involvement in torture who is still walking free with the help of Uncle Sam some where right fucking now?

Lessons from Edward Snowden and Robert Seldon Lady

—By Tom Engelhardt
| Mon Jul. 29, 2013 5:51 PM PDT

This story first appeared on the TomDispatch website.

~Snip~

Lady fled Italy, leaving behind a multimillion-dollar villa near Turin meant for his retirement. (It was later confiscated and sold to make restitution payments to Nasr.) Convicted in absentia in 2009, Lady received a nine-year sentence (later reduced to six). He had by then essentially vanished after admitting to an Italian newspaper, "Of course it was an illegal operation. But that's our job. We're at war against terrorism."

Last week, the Panamanians picked him up. It was the real world equivalent of a magician's trick. He was nowhere, then suddenly in custody and in the news, and then—poof again!—he wasn't. Just 24 hours after the retired CIA official found himself under lock and key, he was flown out of Panama, evidently under the protection of Washington, and in mid-air, heading back to the United States, vanished a second time.

State Department spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters on July 19th, "It's my understanding that he is in fact either en route or back in the United States." So there he was, possibly in mid-air heading for the homeland and, as far as we know, as far as reporting goes, nothing more. Consider it the CIA version of a miracle. Instead of landing, he just evaporated.

And that was that. Not another news story here in the US; no further information from government spokespeople on what happened to him, or why the administration decided to extricate him from Panama and protect him from Italian justice. Nor, as far as I can tell, were there any further questions from the media. When TomDispatch inquired of the State Department, all it got was this bit of stonewallese: "We understand that a U.S citizen was detained by Panamanian authorities, and that Panamanian immigration officials expelled him from Panama on July 19. Panama's actions are consistent with its rights to determine whether to admit or expel non-citizens from its territory."...

Full article:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/07/edward-snowden-robert-seldon-lady

[NoOneMan]

1. Depends on what the White House statement says on it

I'd hate to take a stance until Im told what to believe

[think]

2. I'm beginning to believe the White House doesn't have that level of clearance

If the congress select committee on intelligence has been told they don't have high enough
clearance to hear whistle blower Russ Tice's testimony perhaps the White House is just another low level employee in the govt....

Wikipedia:Russ Tice

~Snip~

In a letter dated January 10, 2006, Renee Seymour, Director of the NSA Special Access Programs Central Office, warned Tice that members of neither the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, nor of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence had clearance to receive the classified information about the SAP's that Tice was prepared to provide....

~Snip~

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russ_Tice

I think....

[sabrina 1]

6. Amazing, isn't it? Yet despite all the knowledge we have of the abusive treatment of Whistle .

Blowers, we are told that Snowden should come here and 'face the music'.

Those who followed all the rules ended up being prosecuted and having their lives and careers and reputations destroyed.

I am hoping this is just a temporary period where the Dark Side has taken over for a while, and that eventually we will crawl towards the light and people like Tice will be honored for their service to the country while War Criminals will be brought to justice.

Right now everything is upside down, but history shows that this is not unusual nor is it unusual for the people to finally wake up and begin the process of restoring justice and rights stolen from the people for a while.

I hope we don't have to fall any further before this correction takes place.

[Iliyah]

28. I donno sabrina1

the north pole is becoming a lake, climate change like the earth is flat, civil rights are being destroyed but alas . .

Vote!

[Fumesucker]

3. Must keep ear to the ground, eye on the ball, finger to the wind

If you want to stay abreast of what's afoot.

There are times it's like watching a murmuration of starlings as the talking points all shift in unison and the flock darts off in yet another direction.

[delrem]

4. sarcasm flag needed!

Yes, it's got to that point.

[NoOneMan]

5. Yes, it really has

For me it started with "Glen Greewald Democrats".

[delrem]

7. Sorry, where do you get "Glen Greewald Democrats"? nt

[NoOneMan]

8. Whoops, "Greenwald Left"was the slur for a day

[delrem]

9. yah, sorry, I figured that out after I responded.

What an idiotic phrase.

[backscatter712]

10. The contractors operating the persona-management software posting here wouldn't be smearing him...nt

[think]

11. You can say that again

[backscatter712]

15. I'll drink to that!

[RetroLounge]

12. That makes sense

ALmost as if they are pros.

RL

[backscatter712]

14. I see the sheer volume of posts coming from them as evidence they do this for a living.

Also you notice that in between the swarms, at times they disappear entirely? Like they've all gone home from work.

That was just a comment at randome...

[reformist2]

13. Does anyone in the sockpuppet army ever go rogue? That would be fun to see.

[backscatter712]

16. I do wonder if any of the operators have a conscience.

Conscience is certainly strongly discouraged - look how the intel-industrial complex reacted to Snowden.

[reformist2]

17. In a frank moment over a beer, they'd probably confess, "hey, it's a living."

[think]

22. To be fair some probably do need the money....

And their repetitive distracting posts are fairly transparent so they aren't really effective as their company overlords hoped them to be.

So perhaps that is the electroplated silver lining of corporate welfare.

[think]

18. If they are just party loyalists and NOT sock puppets

they are certainly doing their party a disservice by cheer leading the prosecution of whistleblowers and ignoring the crimes of those involved with kidnapping and torture....

[AnotherMcIntosh]

20. Because it has to be obvious even to them that they are doing harm to the Democratic Party,

they can't be "just party loyalists."

[rhett o rick]

19. Interesting for someone who sides with Republians Clapper, Mueller, Alexander and Comey.

If anyone is paid here, most likely they would be the ones that support the big corporations like Booz-Allen.

[backscatter712]

23. What?

I was under the impression I was on Team Snowden here.

Did you reply to the right post?

[rhett o rick]

24. Sorry I replied to the wrong post. I am easily confused and vodka doesnt help. Sorry again. nm

[backscatter712]

26. No problem. n/t

[totodeinhere]

31. Can we assume it's not Russian vodka? n/t

[rhett o rick]

32. LOL. With a little tonic I dont give a damn. Nm

[think]

25. You been posting without a sarcasm thingy again?

[Dragonfli]

27. Obama answered this question directly on his first visit to the CIA in 2009

He reassured them that any and all torturing and torturers would not be prosecuted because they were "following orders in good faith". He used the Nuremberg defense in other words to declare torturing and torturers above the law and he did so publicly and unilaterally without defending them before any court, it was an "above the law Executive decree", a power I did not realize he had.

Perhaps that power to place torturers above the law by mere decree can be used to help cancer patients that smoke MM to relieve symptoms and allow them to eat?

[rhett o rick]

29. Well said. I am disgusted. nm

[Iliyah]

30. Bring the whole statement over

written as well as on tape, video. . .please

[Dragonfli]

34. Do your own research, it is well known, was quite public and all of that was posted here

and other places including print news media at the time. It was also thoroughly discussed here, at Kos and at several University blogs.

I am not mistaken and most news aware posters here know it.

On Edit Here's a primer for lazy folks with a very poor memory

"Don't be discouraged by what's happened the last few weeks. Don't be discouraged that we have to acknowledge potentially we have made some mistakes - that's how we learn," Mr Obama said in a speech at the agency's headquarters.
"So I want to make a point that...I understand that it's hard when you are asked to protect the American people against people who have no scruples and would willingly and gladly kill innocents."
His visit came as it emerged that the highly controversial technique of "water-boarding", a type of simulated drowning, was used 266 times on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah, two senior al-Qaeda prisoners.
Last week, Mr Obama released documents written by officials in President George W. Bush's administration that contained details of the CIA's methods of extracting information from al-Qaeda suspects between 2002 and 2005.
Although Mr Obama said that neither CIA interrogators nor the authors of the memos should be prosecuted, civil liberties groups have demanded that torture charges be brought, arguing that the "Nuremberg defence" of following orders is unacceptable.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/5190504/Barack-Obama-visits-CIA-to-calm-uproar-over-release-of-secret-memos.html

[Iliyah]

35. OK

Kos will check.

Meanwhile, vote.

[99th_Monkey]

33. K & R ~ nt