4 Americans meet Snowden to give him award

[Indi Guy]

Source: AP via USA Today

MOSCOW (AP) — Four former U.S. government officials who met with former National Security Agency systems analyst Edward Snowden said Thursday that he is adjusting to life in Russia and expresses no regrets about leaking highly classified information. Separately, Snowden's father arrived to see his son.

The Americans, who once worked for the CIA, FBI, Justice Department and NSA, have criticized the U.S. government and in some cases exposed what they believed was wrongdoing in the its security agencies. They are the first Americans known to have met with Snowden since he was granted asylum in Russia in August.

In interviews with The Associated Press, they described spending the previous evening with Snowden to present him with the Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence...



Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/10/10/edward-snowdens-father-arrives-in-moscow/2957557/

[idwiyo]

1. k&r

[Cooley Hurd]

2. I recognize Colleen Rowley and Ray McGovern - both are Great Americans!

Not sure how the Snowden-haters will feel about this. Wait... I do know how they will react:

[Indi Guy]

3. I'm waiting too... (can you hear the Jeopardy theme right now?)

[2banon]

13. indeed...

[KurtNYC]

15. "A liar can be discredited but a truth teller must be destroyed."

[bvar22]

4. Congratulation, Ed Snowden. You deserve this award!

You WILL know them by their [font size=3]WORKS![/font]

[Agony]

5. Thank You! Thomas Drake,Raymond McGovern,Jesselyn Radack and Coleen Rowley

for doing the right thing.

[BelgianMadCow]

14. +1

This is gonna make it just that wee bit harder to demonize Snowden.

[Ash_F]

6. Oh you know the NSA will be up in their business now.

Probably already were.

[AverageJoe90]

7. What a damn shame.

And I used to like Ray McGovern, too. But the fact he came out in support of a man who gave classified info to two of our biggest rivals.....that, that is just tragic.
I'm not exaggerating, believe me.....Snowden should be rotting in federal prison right now, dammit. At least Chelsea Manning truly believed she was doing good.....but Eddie Snowden? Fuck no, he had ulterior motives from the beginning, and didn't give a damn as to who got hurt in the process.

Fuck you, Edward Snowden. Fuck you.

[Ash_F]

9. Ray McGovern is right.

This republican toady is wrong.

The FICA court, stacked with republicans, is wrong.

Stand with real Democrats. Quit kissing up to republicans. Look at what decades of servility and weakness has wrought upon the Democrats and this country. The government is shut down and they are laughing at us.

[AverageJoe90]

10. "Quit kissing up to republicans." Isn't that what Snowden did, basically?

Guy was a Paulite,after all. They claim not to be like the Teabaggers, but in reality, many of them are; and there's no doubt Snowden was amongst these.

[Ash_F]

11. The NSA is a largely a Republican construct and remains well funded

Meanwhile, Democratic initiatives like Meals-On-Wheels and WIC have already been defunded.

Kissy kissy. They will never respect you.

[AverageJoe90]

19. And Snowden would have had a problem with this?

Given that he's a Paulite Rethug, I suspect he wouldn't.

They will never respect you.

Neither will Fast Eddie. He and his handlers played us big time.

[Ash_F]

23. I think Republicans should have less power. Not more.

Democrats should push to defund the NSA like the Republicans pushed to defund Acorn, and won. Of course the Republicans get what they want.

[Peace Patriot]

16. "Our" biggest rivals? Whom do you think the NSA works for? You?

I respect your passion--and I am not laughing at that or you--but your statement struck me as funny. "We" and "our"--as in "we americans" or "our country"--doesn't really apply to a top secret agency that is spying on all of us, as well as the president, the state oil company and the entirety of the population other democratic countries such Brazil.

Whom does the NSA work for? You? Me?

The NSA has eliminated the "we" in "we the people." THEY and those whom they serve are now "the people"--the only ones with rights, the only ones who count. We are nothing. We are that which must be surveilled, monitored, closely watched and controlled.

"We," the actual people of "the people," need to figure out who our "rivals" really are. Who is gobbling up our money and stuffing it into the pockets of private Pentagon and secret government contractors? Who is promoting militarism and war, and a police state? Who is killing people around the world in operations we know nothing about, in countries against whom there has been no declaration of war, with no public discussion? Killing them without trial, with no appeal. And killing anybody else who might be standing around including children. Who is benefiting from the corrupt, murderous, failed U.S. "war on drugs"--in Colombia, in Honduras, in Mexico, here? Who is outsourcing jobs? Who is hiding their wealth off-shore and not paying their share of taxes? Who gets bailed out for major fraud and who gets buried in our nightmare prisons for having a marijuana joint in their pocket? WHO is counting our votes? (--the most important question of all!)

Who is rivaling our interests, our needs, our common good, with secret plans of their own, to loot and plunder us some more?

When you say "our rivals," who do you mean by "our"? That is what I'm getting at. The "rivals" of the banksters? The "rivals" of U.S.-based--or formerly U.S.-based--transglobal corporations? The "rivals" of U.S. war profiteers? The "rivals" of corporate lobbyists? The "rivals" of the uber-rich?

They are spying on US. So, if you identify with any of the above--if you are one of the few beneficiaries of corporate/war profiteer rule--then, to you, WE are one of your "rivals"--we, the people who want our country back, who want our democracy restored, who want our "commons" reclaimed and repaired, who want our country's environment and the planetary environment protected, who want the corporations out of our elections, who want transparent vote counting.

Be careful who you identify with--who you include in "we." It is one of the tactics of the corporate/war profiteer rulers to cozy up to "the people," to demand "civil rights" just like "the people," to wrap themselves in the flag in order to FOOL "the people." And, when someone like Snowden exposes them, to get "the people" to react as if he is the traitor and not them. You are in great danger of being fooled by this tactic, in your apparent belief that the NSA is spying for "us."

[AverageJoe90]

18. I'm afraid "passion" isn't the right word. "Pissed off" is more accurate.

Believe me, I know how fucked up the NSA is, and frankly, I don't really trust any of the people running it(even if many of the middle and low-level people may not be crooked)

But it sure as hell doesn't discount the fact that Snowden still took classified information to both the Chinese and Russian governments, and some sources have indicated that there is information included, that, if leaked, could have put U.S. personnel at risk. And yet, people on this board still (wrongly) laud him as a hero, even despite his rather well-publicized(even if not by the MSM) ulterior motives(at least Chelsea Manning actually believed she was going about things the right way).....and his Paulite fanaticism. How's that for irony?

[Psephos]

24. wow...excellent n/t

[JonLP24]

20. Is there proof of this?

Giving info to Russia & China?

[AverageJoe90]

21. It's only been reported on for the past few months now. nt

[JonLP24]

22. So it should be easy to show me

[reddread]

25. China is no rival, they own you and MFN status.

Thanks to Poppy and Willie, ever since they mowed down the democracy movement
and Wal-Mart rose to power distributing their petrochemical products.
Cold war is over. We lost, big time.
you should probably put up.

[DeSwiss]

8. K&R

[center]Winston Smith: Does Big Brother exist?

O'Brien: Of course he exists.

Winston Smith: Does he exist like you or me?

O'Brien: You do not exist.

~George Orwell, 1984[/center]

- http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017151095

[GliderGuider]

12. Well deserved recognition from the right people. K&R

Edward Snowden

[bobthedrummer]

17. K&R-Thank you all (Hi Ray) n/t

[annm4peace]

26. MN real progressives

very proud of Coleen Rowley meeting with Snowden and can't wait to hear stories when she gets back.