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Snowden Says He Took No Secret Files To Russia
mspohr writes "There's an interesting interview with Edward Snowden in the NY Times. He talks freely about his decision to start collecting documents. His experience in reporting problems and abuse convinced him he would be discredited. He also states he didn't take any of the documents to Russia and that the Chinese don't have them either. 'What would be the unique value of personally carrying another copy of the materials onward? There's a zero percent chance the Russians or Chinese have received any documents,' he said. Snowden turned them all over to the journalists. He also corrects last week's NY Times story about the derogatory comment in his personnel file; it was due to him discovering and trying to report a vulnerability in the CIA's internal software."
Once again our heroic leakers foil the bumbling Russkies!
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
Turning documents over to journalists, or anybody employed in any other profession, does not make them magically uninterceptable, unreadable, or unposessable by Russians, Chinese, or anybody else. He has no control over the distribution after he hands it off to anybody, and the people who have the stuff might not even know if someone else is reading it.
Time Bomber the Book coming soon.
Stabbing who in the back, exactly?
He's blown a whole lot of trust as it is, by stabbing his country in the back so spectacularly.
Precisely. Nonsensical things such as freedom and the constitution are overshadowed by the threat of the bogeymen who are out to get us.
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
1. He has done the US a great service in the long run.
2. He is personally more trustworthy than the people in the US government and the intelligence community who have been caught lying already.
My 2 cents.
The important thing to remember is that if it was so easy for him to get these documents, then that also means that there are about a million other people with the same clearance level as him who would find it equally easy. What's the betting that none of those are Chinese agents? Especially given how many Russian agents we've learned were working for the NSA and CIA during the cold war.
People focus on Snowden's disclosure as if it's possibly giving information to America's enemies (or, at least, not-so-friendly friends), but any of them that doesn't have a completely inept intelligence agency of their own will already have the information he's released. It was only secret from the people to whom these agencies should be accountable.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
I dunno....I'd say he stabbed his country's _government_ in the back. I wouldn't say he stabbed his country in the back though. So far I haven't heard anything that would indicate that Snowden hates America.
He does not need to remain relevant. I think he just wants a boring life now, possibly including some potatoes. He already knows that "May you live in interesting times" is a curse. And as long as he remains in a country that is willing to stick up a finger to the USA, he is probably safe.
Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
There has been various accusations that Snowden leaked the documents to Russia, willingly or unwillingly. This should (in a perfect world) make those accusations less valid. Also, this shows against that Snowden is damn brave and clever - it must have been very tempting to hold on to the documents, which he paid so dearly for.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/174983/did-russia-china-harvest-snowdens-secrets#
He's only "stabbed you in the back" if you're a bootlicker. Not all of us piss ourselves over "teh terrists" and need Big Brother to monitor our lives 24/7 "for our safety". He's no more stabbed anyone in the back than the persons who leaked the Pentagon Papers and the information on the Watergate scandal. Stop being a compliant ninny.
What makes him think that everyone should believe him now?
Because he's been telling the truth and the NSA definitely haven't?
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
He's blown a whole lot of trust as it is, by stabbing his country in the back so spectacularly.
The government and the NSA are NOT the Country. The PEOPLE are the Country.
What makes him think that everyone should believe him now?
Wrong question.
The correct question is- WHO should we believe MORE, Snowden or the NSA? We know Snowden scooped up docs and turned them over to journalists in a responsible fashion. We also know the NSA has been lying to Congress and the Courts as well as the American People, violating their own policies and violating Court orders.
Given their respective track records, only a complete fool would take the side of the NSA in this.
The Russians have taken in traitors/defectors from the West;
He's neither a traitor nor is he a defector. He has made absolutely no efforts or claims to renounce his citizenship, he has not taken up arms or given aid or succor to an Enemy of the State. Thus, he is also not a Traitor.
If you have evidence otherwise, I'm sure the NSA in particular would love to hear about it.
Funny, as one of his countrymen, I don't feel stabbed in the back at all, at least, not by him. I feel more like....I thought there was a knife in myback, I wasn't sure exactly how big or how far it was in, or what it looked like, but I felt it was likely there.
What I see him having done is tell me about that knife, exactly whose hand was on it, and how deep it was into my back.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Snowden will and does lie & bend his tale to justify his acts
That's why we look at evidence and not just make up shit. The Obama administration has vast resources at its disposal with which to disprove Snowden assertions. It hasn't chosen to do so for some reason. I wager it is because Snowden's assertions and accompanying evidence are close enough to truth.