The New York Times Pushes For Clemency For Snowden

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "The Editorial Board of the New York Times has weighed in on the criminal charges facing Edward Snowden and writes that 'Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear and flight..' 'He may have committed a crime to do so, but he has done his country a great service. 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 president said in August that Snowden should come home to face charges in court and suggested that if Snowden had wanted to avoid criminal charges he could have simply told his superiors about the abuses, acting, in other words, as a whistle-blower. In fact, notes the editorial board, the executive order regarding whistleblowers did not apply to contractors, only to intelligence employees, rendering its protections useless to Snowden. More important, Snowden told The Washington Post that he did report his misgivings to two superiors at the agency, showing them the volume of data collected by the NSA, and that they took no action. 'Snowden was clearly justified in believing that the only way to blow the whistle on this kind of intelligence-gathering was to expose it to the public and let the resulting furor do the work his superiors would not. ... When someone reveals that government officials have routinely and deliberately broken the law, that person should not face life in prison at the hands of the same government,' concludes the editorial. 'President Obama should tell his aides to begin finding a way to end Mr. Snowden's vilification and give him an incentive to return home.'"

Comments

Incentive?

[Calydor]

give him an incentive to return home.

"Gee, that's a nice family you have here. Would be a shame if something ... happened ... to it."

Re:Incentive?

[cold fjord]

And if you think that CIA doesn't use the "lest something happens to your family" just as much as other intelligence agencies, I have land on the moon to sell you.

The CIA is an intelligence agency, not the secret police in a Soviet block country. (In Soviet times.)

Proof, or it doesn't happen.

And the opinon of the NY Times matters because???

[johnlcallaway]

Why??? Snowden did far more harm than good. Nothing has been done about anything he revealed, courts have been ruling it's legal. Our allies have gotten pissed at us for doing something they already do, and have done for decades, just no one reports.

All he did was confirm what everyone already knew, that the NSA was spying on everything.

Stay in exile you spineless criminal, living in fear the black helicopters will come. Stay in exile in a country with far more privacy issues than the US will ever have, and far more intrusions into your personal liberties.

It's exactly what you deserve.

Re:And the opinon of the NY Times matters because?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ooooh, just wait until the hive mentality reads this! Didn't you know that we're supposed to only state the established fact that Snowden is a hero around here? He is a hero; just ask him.

Re:And the opinon of the NY Times matters because?

[cold fjord]

So you are totally skipping over the whole "lying to congress" thing as if its inconsequential?

That wasn't "lying to Congress," that was a stunt by a Senator Wyden . The record is clear that Congress was informed.

Wyden’s Stunt Was Congress at its Worst

Snowden may have pulled the curtain away to reveal what was suspected with regards to who spies on who, but in doing so he also showed that the intelligence services were out of control and arrogant in their stance.

The intelligence agencies are performing the mission given to them by Congress & the President, and are seeking information requested by other parts of the government. At best Snowden is a vigilante that overthrows the rule of law governing the intelligence agencies and has already caused immense damage to the US intelligence effort. At worst he may be the most damaging spy ever in US history.

General Benedict Arnold only offered to give away one fort, Snowden has stolen the "keys to the kingdom" and is on track to severely damage US intelligence for decades to come. The view of Britain's spymaster in the colonies, Major Beckwith, was that ''Washington did not really outfight the British; he simply outspied us!'' Had Snowden acted in the 1770s Washington would not have been able to outspy the British, the practically certain outcome of that would have been for the Colonists to lose their fight. Had the Colonists lost their fight it is quite likely that Washington, Franklin, Madison, Jefferson, et. al would have been hung, and the Constitution of the United States with the Bill of Rights would never have been written. Make your choice, cheer Snowden, or cheer the Constitution, you can't cheer both. Snowden's very acts strike against the Constitution itself and the principles of democratic, representative government.
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