New York Times And Guardian Editorials Say Edward Snowden Deserves Clemency

[Purveyor]

By David Ferguson
Thursday, January 2, 2014 9:14 EST

Both the New York Times and U.K. paper the Guardian published editorials on New Year’s Day calling for clemency for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. The publications said that Snowden’s revelations may have revealed some state secrets as part of his mission to expose the National Security Agency’s massive spying apparatus, but that the revelations serve the greater need of informing the public that their privacy is being violated.

“Considering the enormous value of the information he has revealed, and the abuses he has exposed, Mr. Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear and flight,” wrote the Times editorial board.

“He may have committed a crime to do so, but he has done his country a great service,” the editorial continued. “It is time for the United States to offer Mr. Snowden a plea bargain or some form of clemency that would allow him to return home, face at least substantially reduced punishment in light of his role as a whistle-blower, and have the hope of a life advocating for greater privacy and far stronger oversight of the runaway intelligence community.”

The Guardian‘s editors, meanwhile, wrote, “Mr Snowden — through journalists, in the absence of meaningful, reliable democratic oversight — had given people enough knowledge about the nature of modern intelligence-gathering to allow an informed debate. Voters might, in fact, decide they were prepared to put privacy above security – but at least they could make that choice on the basis of information.”

Snowden declared in an interview with the Washington Post in December that he feels personally vindicated, in spite of the fact that he is currently living in exile and facing the possibility of spending a life on the run from U.S. agencies.

MORE...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/02/new-york-times-and-guardian-editorials-say-edward-snowden-deserves-clemency/

[bvar22]

1. This is looking better and better.

Rampant Government Secrecy and Democracy can not co-exist.

Persecution of Whistle Blowers and Democracy can not co-exist.

Government surveillance of the citizenry and Democracy can not co-exist.

Secret Laws/Secret Courts and Democracy can not co-exist.

Our Democracy depends on an informed electorate.

DURec!

[msanthrope]

6. Not really. A federal plea deal would be the most sensible thing for him to pursue, as

the NYT suggests, but both the plea and the clemency options require allocution that his allies would not support.

Hopefully, he has competent legal counsel. I wonder if he's been assigned a federal defender.

[bvar22]

8. The informing of the World about the "secret" activities of the NSA and US Government,

and the rising tide of public opinion against Government Spying on law abiding citizens and allied nations
IS, in fact, looking better and better for our Democracy.

[msanthrope]

11. Perhaps...but as the OP is about Snowden's limited legal options should he decide to come in from

the cold, I thought I'd stick with that. A federal plea deal would require his talking to the Feds...I can't see Greenwald, et al, supporting that.

[bvar22]

16. If it required a "Gag" for Snowden,

I don't think he would go for it either.

Rampant Government Secrecy and Democracy can not co-exist.

Persecution of Whistle Blowers and Democracy can not co-exist.

Government surveillance of the citizenry and Democracy can not co-exist.

Secret Laws and Democracy can not co-exist.

Secret Courts and Democracy can not co-exist.

Our Democracy depends on an informed electorate.

I salute the Whistle Blowers.
They ARE defenders of what is left of our Democracy.

[msanthrope]

18. Well...he's gagged now. Other than fairly incoherent Xmas messages, is Mr. Snowden

in direct contact with the world??? Able to give interviews, freely? I'd read his blog, if he had one. His twitter, or Facebook account???

A federal plea would not gag Snowden, but it would require allocution I am betting his allies would not approve of.

He needs competent legal counsel to return to the US. I hope he has it.

[George II]

10. Not many American attorneys or Public Defenders in Moscow

[msanthrope]

12. True...but as there is an extant federal case sitting in the rocket docket I suspect

that there's a file or two a federal defender might want to peruse.

I think the President gave away the farm last week, and there's a sealed indictment.

[riderinthestorm]

20. I also believe there's a sealed indictment against Snowden

I wouldn't have expected anything different from this Admin.

That said, you can understand how some of us would believe Snowden's greatest chance of participating/influencing the conversation about the NSA overreach meant that he had to be free to do so, unlike Manning.

So it becomes a stalemate.

The best thing for Obama at this point would be to let Snowden get to Ecuador or Brazil or wherever it was he thought he was going. Or negotiate with Putin and let him stay in Russia - I don't know what the end game is for Snowden's final landing spot. Honestly that probably matters less than that he's not imprisoned. He can even let the indictment stand so Snowden is effectively barred permanently from the US but Obama doesn't look like a vindictive asshole covering up NSA bullshit.

Snowden has all the cards really. Greenwald and him can continue to dribble out information on NSA crimes - forever probably. Embarrassing the administration weekly if they care to which only builds up more outrage amongst the American and global communities while damaging US tech companies permanently. Its already obvious the NSA is used almost exclusively as an economic spy agency to enhance American economic power. Unfortunately the tech companies weren't included in the "old boys" club of the MIC. Alas. A grave oversight on the part of the Obama Admin.

Obama needs to stop persecuting the messenger and start dealing with the NSA shenanigans. That would go a long way towards ameliorating this growing trainwreck that will most likely be THE blackest spot on his presidency.

[msanthrope]

23. But by running to Russia...he's not free to do so. Can you read his blog, twitter, or Facebook?

Snowden seems to have few cards. Greenwald has a few more, but I predict once FATCA hits him, he'll renounce citizenship unless Omidayar's money cleans him up.

Is Snowden free? Doesn't look like it to me.

[riderinthestorm]

24. My dad's an "Edward Snowden" - a math prodigy who was swooped up by the NSA of his day

Bell Labs. These types don't really understand or care for social media in my experience with him and his colleagues.

Also Snowden obviously isn't interested in creating a "persona" via Twitter or Facebook. I don't blame him honestly. He's got Greenwald, the NY Times, Der Spiegel, the Guardian etc to get his message out. He appears for an interview when he wants and that's probably far more effective, along with the slow release of damaging NSA stuff, than an ongoing Twitter account.

Lastly, my 80 year old dad is extremely wary of social media sites - even blogs can be hacked he believes - says none of them are "secure". LOL how's that for irony.... Regardless of my dad, I'm sure Snowden understands that even more acutely. You don't think the NSA wouldn't love to hack into Snowden's twitter account and send bogus messages?! I can think of a hundred malicious uses for social media, none of them in Snowden's favor. He's wise to stay away.

We'll just have to agree to disagree about how many cards Snowden has - by last count even the NSA was numbering them at over a million.

I will agree though that he's effectively physically "imprisoned", the same as Julian Assange. Neither are free to move out of their narrow zones. But their influence isn't "imprisoned". Unlike Manning they are still able to influence the narrative. At this stage of the game Snowden just has to wait as the world's outrage grows with every bit of NSA shit that's released, and his safety becomes more assured imho.

Obama's on the wrong side of this and since I voted for him, and want him to succeed, I do hope he gets better advice asap.

[msanthrope]

25. That you would compare Snowden to a rapist on the run isn't to his advantage. nt

[riderinthestorm]

26. Nice way to dodge the point. Okay so that's all you got. Good luck with that nt

[msanthrope]

28. What is your point? That the reason Snowden has no access to the outside world directly is because

of your octogenarian father's fears of hacking? Why does Greenwald maintain a Twitter account, then????

[riderinthestorm]

29. You know, I guess I gave you too much credit. I thought you were an honest poster.

I guess you're not. Live and learn.

I listed 3 reasons why I believe Snowden isn't on social media. 1. He's probably not "into it" - like most math/computer science prodigies I know. 2. He already has much better and more effective ways to get his message out, and have "access" to the outside world. 3. They may be hacked.

But you knew all that - or should have if you'd spent even one single second doing me the courtesy of actually READING my post. Snowden isn't Greenwald. My dad was an example of the Snowden type I know well.

Clearly you're only interested in distorting people's posts when it comes to Snowden. Okay. Have at it. I don't play those games.

[rhett o rick]

19. Dont get your hopes up. The authoritarians must severely punish whistle-blowers, protestors,

dissident, investigative journalists, and liberals. You notice that it's the conservatives that hate Snowden.

[Purveyor]

27. Indeed and it looks as though a handful of 'them' are checking in on this thread. At least we

now know of 'them'...

[rhett o rick]

31. Yes we have our own Conservative Group. nm

[woo me with science]

2. He deserves the Medal of Freedom.

K&R

[rhett o rick]

3. But, But they challenged the authoritarian leaders. They must be sacrificed to

save the rest of us.

The local haters are going to be spinning at this news.

[LiberalLovinLug]

4. so right

And if ever, I'm not holding my breath, he is granted clemency by said authorities, we will see the usual gnashers of teeth Snowdon/Assange/Manning haters suddenly have a change of mind. Because, well, if their dear authorities have no problem with him, then they don't either. I can't wait to hear their stumbling retractions.

[msanthrope]

7. A federal plea deal isn't clemency and I do hate to see the terms conflated. A federal plea would

not be supported by Snowden's allies since it would require he talk.

[msanthrope]

5. The NYT is right...Snowden should take a plea. He should talk to an attorney about obtaining one.

[stonecutter357]

9. Bull

James O'Keefe 1.2

[SaveOurDemocracy]

14. LOL @ comparing Snowden to that pissant O'Keefe. F A I L !

[Javaman]

15. Apples and oranges, my friend. Try again. nt

[stonecutter357]

32. just my opinion

i think he is a libertarian shill.

[Javaman]

33. That's fine, but use a better analogy next time. nt

[Cali_Democrat]

13. There's a reason why a corporate media outfit like the NY Times wants clemency for Snowden. nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

17. Meanwhile, the torturers, kidnappers, drone pilots, don't even get indicted.

[bvar22]

22. ..nor do criminal Wall Street Bankers who crashed the Economy for personal gain,

nor the co-conspirators who "bailed them out",
nor the War Criminals and War Profiteers & "Contractors" from the Bush/Obama administrations.

...but [font size=7]SNOWDEN!!!![/font]
OMG.
Someone telling the TRUTH is a THREAT to our country!!!!
He's a traitor and a coward!!!!!

[struggle4progress]

21. Well, it's an improvement on The Times' earlier claim that Snowden faced the death penalty

which (as far as I can tell) The Times never retracted

[lovuian]

30. Some people have read Orwell

George Orwell published in 1949. The novel is set in Airstrip One (formerly known as Great Britain), a province of the superstate Oceania in a world of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, and public mind control


How long has America been at war?

the Patriot Act goes on and on and on
Orwell's invented language, Newspeak, satirises hypocrisy and evasion by the state: for example, the Ministry of Love (Miniluv) oversees torture and brainwashing, the Ministry of Plenty (Miniplenty) oversees shortage and famine, the Ministry of Peace (Minipax) oversees war and atrocity, and the Ministry of Truth (Minitrue) oversees propaganda and historical revisionism.

lets take the words Patriot Act
it sounds Patriotic but in reality it is not

The US declared War on Iraq and ordered a preemptive strike on a country
for the reason of "Weapons of Mass destruction" .....when there was no evidence of any....America has gone into a phase of perpetual war of which her resources are being used instead of using these resources for the benefit of its nation and people

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four

"Big Brother" is watching and taping and listening