Jimmy Carter: Snowden Disclosures Are 'Good For Americans To Know'

McGruber writes: "Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter defended the disclosures by fugitive NSA contractor Edward Snowden on Monday, saying revelations that U.S. intelligence agencies were collecting meta-data of Americans' phone calls and e-mails have been 'probably constructive in the long run.' 'I think it's wrong,' President Carter said of the NSA program. 'I think it's an intrusion on one of the basic human rights of Americans, is to have some degree of privacy if we don't want other people to read what we communicate.'" It's important to note that Carter doesn't believe Snowden should necessarily get a pass for his actions. Carter said, "I think it's inevitable that he should be prosecuted and I think he would be prosecuted, [if he comes back to the U.S.] But I don't think he ought to be executed as a traitor or any kind of extreme punishment like that." Nevertheless, Carter thinks NSA surveillance has gotten out of control. "We've gone a long way down the road of violating Americans' basic civil rights, as far as privacy is concerned." He added, "For the last two or three years, when I want to write a highly personal letter to a foreign leader, or even some American leaders, I hand-write it and mail it, because I feel that my telephone calls and my email are being monitored, and there are some things I just don’t want anybody to know except me and my wife."

Comments

Re:What does he have to hide?

[interkin3tic]

He said " I just don’t want anybody to know except me and my wife." And this is the president who openly admitted while in office to checking out a lot of women and imagining them naked.

The only logical conclusion is that the "highly personal" letters he sends to foreign leaders really dirty shocking details about kinky things he and Rosalynn get up to in bed.

Look in their eyes. They're clearly thinking of that time they had a threeway with Yeltsin.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement

[hessian]

If we'd left it up to Jimmy "Gentleman Red" Carter, the USSR would still be holding on to huge parts of Eastern Europe and murdering dissidents.

In leadership, a softy hand is often more destructive than a strong hand, which affirms which behaviors are good and which are bad. Reagan was able to implement a clear moral boundary and drive totalitarianism away.

Re:Oh, how cute

[cold fjord]

Carter condemning the surveillance, and calling the Snowden disclosures good for Americans, helps expose the "national security" lie.

No, it is just another example of the continued decline of a once mediocre president and a great former president. He has continually embarrassed himself for years now, and this is just one more example. And he wasn't that great on National Security when he was POTUS.