Posted on 01/02/2014 4:45:08 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
The editorial board of The New York Times is urging the Obama administration to grant Edward Snowden clemency.
“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,” an editorial published Wednesday said.
The paper argues Snowden blew the whistle on National Security Agency activities that have “exceeded its mandate and abused its authority.
A few federal judge has ruled that the NSA's phone metadata collection program is "likely unconstitutional," and a panel tasked with reviewing the agency presented a report to President Obama that’s said to contain reforms.
“Mr. 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,” the editorial said.
Snowden has been living in Russia since August, when its government granted him temporary asylum. He faces multiple espionage charges in the United States.
In December, the White House downplayed rumors that it would consider granting Snowden amnesty.
The Times board wrote that many in the Obama administration have accused Snowden of damaging U.S. national security, but no one has provided evidence that that has happened.
“It’s why 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.”
Wasn’t it the Times that worked with Dan Ellsburg releasing the Pentagon Papers? And Ellsburg was never prosecuted.
Snowden must have something else to reveal that is worrisome to the left. But in the spirit of Ellsburg the Times must view Snowden as their type of guy.
Count me among them please. I don't give a damn about his motivations. The fact is, he has brought to light some very important things that needed to see daylight. The surveillance state is not your friend.
Add me to your list as well. As I see it the real problem is that there are a lot of short sighted people here. They can't seem to see that under Obama the NSA’s mission has evolved from National Security to collecting vast amounts of information on absolutely everyone to be used by the left for nefarious political purposes. Every totalitarian regime collects as much information as possible on its own citizens to control them. This is the path we are currently going down. If Snowden’s disclosures somehow derail this then he is a patriot not a traitor.
There are a number of left wing political types who might be persuaded to hang around to "keep things running".
/s
“Combined with a Jonathan Pollard release, would cause everyone at the NSA and CIA to resign.”
I agree. Just as of late, it is being reported that the NSA has been intercepting pc/elect. device shipments in order to plant spy apps on them before delivery.
Report that Apple products have been compromised by NSA apps.
This is getting out of hand. I don't give a crap about Snowden’s political viewpoints. Snowden’s not a traitor, he’z an American hero as far as I'm concerned.
The gubbamint is acting outside the bounds of the law. It is ILLEGAL what they are doing. So what if they've been outted.
Hey, play it the way they tell citizens...If you have nothing to hide, then what's the worry?
I'm one of them. Really the problem is all of the fake patriots who are just fine with the police state because they think they have nothing to hide.
He initially wasn’t a traitor, then he talked to Red China and Putin. Telling the commies how we are and have been spying on them is treason. Had he not done that, ran rather to a friendly country to talk and limited what he said to the NSA’s domestic spy program I’d have considered him a hero.
But the story wasn’t that the NSA was spying on China and Russia; everyone knew that, and the methods weren’t any surprise either.
The news was the extent to which our government is spying on US citizens, in direct violation of the 4th Amendment.
I’m glad that Snowden released the information. It took the Stasi-like domestic surveillance programs from the realm of conspiratorial speculation to established fact.
The accusations of Snowden committing treason by government officials is nothing more than a distraction from their own crimes. If anything, it is they who should be convicted of treason.
Our domestic enemies are far more dangerous than our foreign ones at this point.
Our domestic enemies are far more dangerous than our foreign ones at this point.
I agree with that, but only at the moment. Our methods of spying on the commies (non-US) were secret. Now they are exposed and we are blind to what may be coming our way. This is NOT the act of a patriot.
traitor? how is he a traitor for exposing treason? The nsa is violating the forth amendment and snowden exposed it, that makes him the antithesis of a traitor
A broken clock is right two times a day and this is case about this article by new york times
Our methods of spying on the commies (non-US) were secret. Now they are exposed
Does that answer your question? Hopefully this domestic enemy will go away someday; our external enemies will still be there and now we don’t know what they are up to!
His initial actions were VERY honorable; his later actions are treasonous. I WAS in your camp until he started telling the world our other secrets. How many CIA assets are now at risk or dead? Not just our guys but the guys who were talking to our guys? Our info sources? Why not just expose the names of our special ops guys? Yes I know this administration did that, and it is treasonous. Snowden did the same thing.
Russia is more rightwing then usa, they are far more consertive on the homosexual agenda and taxes in russia are lower then in usa
So? Under Putin they still want to destroy us.
the cold war is over, russia is not communist anymore, usa is far more to the left then russia
So you are saying that Putin is our friend? And so are the Red Chinese?
Putin is a nationalist for his own country, he takes decisions that benefit his nation the most, a quality obongo surly lacks , weather the decisions harm usa or not is not Putin priority his priority is the welfare of his own nation and i admire that.
infarct Obama has insulting Putin by putting a gay delegate to protest Putin opposition to the homosexual agenda,
Putin had a good relationship with George Bush but Obama seems hellbent on destroying that, Putin hates obama
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.