Edward Snowden is a man without honor.

[steve2470]

39. my view is a bit different than yours

1- Under "normal circumstances", yes, of course he should have upheld his oaths.

2- By disobeying his oaths, he has benefited the country long-term by forcing the public to confront the secrecy debate but destroyed his own life, to the point where he may be captured, arrested, tried, convicted and even put to death. He will never be able to rest, knowing the CIA is after him, perhaps. The chance of getting a Presidential pardon is slim to none. Sizable numbers of the American public will always hate him. If he's lucky, he may eventually come to be regarded as Ellsberg-like, but Ellsberg did not flee the country to Hong Kong, Russia and possibly Cuba, Venezuela and Ecuador.

3- He should have pursued the same path Thomas Drake did. Drake did it perfectly, yet Drake's life has been destroyed to a large extent. Last time I read, he has been reduced to working at an Apple store for survival. Hopefully Drake is much happier now than he was years ago burdened with what he knew.

4- I'm not thrilled that he didn't stop at talking solely about the USA and ventured into talking about Great Britain and China.

In a perverse and non-traditional way, he has had honor. He has sacrificed himself for the greater good of the country. I'm not sure I would have done the same. I'm not sure I would have even gone Drake's route, because even that was extremely difficult.

YMMV.

signed, loyal Democrat since 1976