What's your opinion on Edward Snowden?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If he'd had the courage of his convictions to stay here and face the consequences of his behavior, I'd probably view him as a hero and hope that he would be pardoned. That he instead hightailed it out of the country and then decided to stay in Russia, a place that should be so deeply antithetical to his beliefs about transparency, privacy and freedom, completely destroyed his credibility in my mind. He's an opportunist.

You may be right but in my mind his motivations and what he released are separate. His motivations may go toward whether or not he should be pardoned. But at bottom if what he released demonstrated illegal activity by the government, then it was a moral act to release it regardless of why he released it.

I will freely admit I likely would not have had the courage to release it no matter what. I like to think I would, but deep down I know I would not. And I likely would have fled too. It's the rare person who has the courage to stick around to be jailed and possibly tried for treason. This isn't Hollywood. Most people are not heroes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He can't be pardoned, since he's not been convicted. Wouldn't he need to go through due process before getting pardoned?

Obama would have to direct his law enforcement agencies to look the other way, and fortunately, we know he'd never do that to an existing law.

I don't know that's true. Nixon was pardoned without a conviction.

[Anonymous]

US Veteran and Obama Supporter.

Hell no on a pardon. I think he's full of shit but I do know someone who thinks he's a mole. Not so sure about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hero. He unmasked the police state we live in

+ 1

I think what he did was REALLY brave. I honestly don't know if I could be that brave and self sacrificing. I'd like to think so but I'd probably chicken out.

If you know anything about counter-intelligence, you would know that he did more damage to our national security that some of the spies that have been caught in recent years. Aldrich Ames.... Robert Hanssen......John Walker.... all spies that caused incredible damage to our national security and because of the information they passed, people were killed.

This guy is worse. He is no hero. He is a coward. He revealed information than ran to Russia for protection. He couldn’t even stay in the US to defend himself.
He is a treasonous coward.

This is inaccurate. Every study that has been done shows little to no effect on national security. Even his detractors concede that. Go ahead and google it. Anyway, that actually makes sense when you consider that the main point of his leak was data on the US program to spy on Americans in bulk (not targeted).

[Anonymous]

Cowardly, treasonous little weasel with grandiose personality disorder. I'm a democrat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If he'd had the courage of his convictions to stay here and face the consequences of his behavior, I'd probably view him as a hero and hope that he would be pardoned. That he instead hightailed it out of the country and then decided to stay in Russia, a place that should be so deeply antithetical to his beliefs about transparency, privacy and freedom, completely destroyed his credibility in my mind. He's an opportunist.

He fled because he has no defense is under the Espionage Act, which makes no exemptions for whistle blowers or bungles. He knew that going into it (which is what makes his actions brave).

Anyway, if you're going to prosecute whistle blowers who actually do the public a huge favor like Snowden then you should also prosecute bungles like HRC. She also passed along classified into to people she shouldn't have (supposedly through carelessness and on accident by why should that matter?). Bother or neither.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think he did the right thing exposing spying on us. But I don't see him ever getting pardoned.

He released millions and millions of pages that he never even read.

[Anonymous]

If he'd done this when Bush was President he'd be a national hero. He had the misfortune of making the federal government look bad at the wrong time.

[Anonymous]

He should be stripped of his citizenship and remain in Russia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he'd had the courage of his convictions to stay here and face the consequences of his behavior, I'd probably view him as a hero and hope that he would be pardoned. That he instead hightailed it out of the country and then decided to stay in Russia, a place that should be so deeply antithetical to his beliefs about transparency, privacy and freedom, completely destroyed his credibility in my mind. He's an opportunist.

You may be right but in my mind his motivations and what he released are separate. His motivations may go toward whether or not he should be pardoned. But at bottom if what he released demonstrated illegal activity by the government, then it was a moral act to release it regardless of why he released it.

I will freely admit I likely would not have had the courage to release it no matter what. I like to think I would, but deep down I know I would not. And I likely would have fled too. It's the rare person who has the courage to stick around to be jailed and possibly tried for treason. This isn't Hollywood. Most people are not heroes.

For me, it isn't about motivations or courage - but actions. He released documents that had nothing to do with what he stated he was "uncovering". He did not read what he released. If he had released a handful of documents that exposed domestic spying - that would be brave. But to download tens of thousands of top secret documents and "releasing" them to the world - without looking at the consequences - life and death to real people - is the opposite of brave. I do not care about his motivations. But the consequences of his actions - he placed people in real danger by irresponsibly putting documents on the public domain without even LOOKING at them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hero. He unmasked the police state we live in

+ 1

I think what he did was REALLY brave. I honestly don't know if I could be that brave and self sacrificing. I'd like to think so but I'd probably chicken out.

If you know anything about counter-intelligence, you would know that he did more damage to our national security that some of the spies that have been caught in recent years. Aldrich Ames.... Robert Hanssen......John Walker.... all spies that caused incredible damage to our national security and because of the information they passed, people were killed.

This guy is worse. He is no hero. He is a coward. He revealed information than ran to Russia for protection. He couldn’t even stay in the US to defend himself.
He is a treasonous coward.

This is inaccurate. Every study that has been done shows little to no effect on national security. Even his detractors concede that. Go ahead and google it. Anyway, that actually makes sense when you consider that the main point of his leak was data on the US program to spy on Americans in bulk (not targeted).

Just googled.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/amp/house-committee-blasts-edward-snowden-n649146?client=safari

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/intel-heads-edward-snowden-profound-damage-us-security/story?id=22285388

https://www.google.com/amp/www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/dont-listen-to-edward-snowdens-supporters-his-leaks-have-been-a-gift-to-terrorists-10307959.html%3famp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he'd had the courage of his convictions to stay here and face the consequences of his behavior, I'd probably view him as a hero and hope that he would be pardoned. That he instead hightailed it out of the country and then decided to stay in Russia, a place that should be so deeply antithetical to his beliefs about transparency, privacy and freedom, completely destroyed his credibility in my mind. He's an opportunist.

You may be right but in my mind his motivations and what he released are separate. His motivations may go toward whether or not he should be pardoned. But at bottom if what he released demonstrated illegal activity by the government, then it was a moral act to release it regardless of why he released it.

I will freely admit I likely would not have had the courage to release it no matter what. I like to think I would, but deep down I know I would not. And I likely would have fled too. It's the rare person who has the courage to stick around to be jailed and possibly tried for treason. This isn't Hollywood. Most people are not heroes.

For me, it isn't about motivations or courage - but actions. He released documents that had nothing to do with what he stated he was "uncovering". He did not read what he released. If he had released a handful of documents that exposed domestic spying - that would be brave. But to download tens of thousands of top secret documents and "releasing" them to the world - without looking at the consequences - life and death to real people - is the opposite of brave. I do not care about his motivations. But the consequences of his actions - he placed people in real danger by irresponsibly putting documents on the public domain without even LOOKING at them.

PP you are quoting. That's fair and I don't know enough about the nitty-gritty details to debate one way or the other. To me the important stuff he released was the spying stuff. If he was overinclusive, as it sounds he may have been, that is certainly a fair criticism. I just disagree with those who think that release of any classified info automatically renders him a traitor. I think it depends on the content.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hero. He unmasked the police state we live in

+ 1

I think what he did was REALLY brave. I honestly don't know if I could be that brave and self sacrificing. I'd like to think so but I'd probably chicken out.

If you know anything about counter-intelligence, you would know that he did more damage to our national security that some of the spies that have been caught in recent years. Aldrich Ames.... Robert Hanssen......John Walker.... all spies that caused incredible damage to our national security and because of the information they passed, people were killed.

This guy is worse. He is no hero. He is a coward. He revealed information than ran to Russia for protection. He couldn’t even stay in the US to defend himself.
He is a treasonous coward.

This is inaccurate. Every study that has been done shows little to no effect on national security. Even his detractors concede that. Go ahead and google it. Anyway, that actually makes sense when you consider that the main point of his leak was data on the US program to spy on Americans in bulk (not targeted).

Just googled.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/amp/house-committee-blasts-edward-snowden-n649146?client=safari

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/intel-heads-edward-snowden-profound-damage-us-security/story?id=22285388

https://www.google.com/amp/www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/dont-listen-to-edward-snowdens-supporters-his-leaks-have-been-a-gift-to-terrorists-10307959.html%3famp

Thank you. I am the pp who considers him a treasonous coward.
Now, I would like the pp to share the links where his detractors say he did not do serious damage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hero. He unmasked the police state we live in

+ 1

I think what he did was REALLY brave. I honestly don't know if I could be that brave and self sacrificing. I'd like to think so but I'd probably chicken out.

If you know anything about counter-intelligence, you would know that he did more damage to our national security that some of the spies that have been caught in recent years. Aldrich Ames.... Robert Hanssen......John Walker.... all spies that caused incredible damage to our national security and because of the information they passed, people were killed.

This guy is worse. He is no hero. He is a coward. He revealed information than ran to Russia for protection. He couldn’t even stay in the US to defend himself.
He is a treasonous coward.

This is inaccurate. Every study that has been done shows little to no effect on national security. Even his detractors concede that. Go ahead and google it. Anyway, that actually makes sense when you consider that the main point of his leak was data on the US program to spy on Americans in bulk (not targeted).

Just googled.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/amp/house-committee-blasts-edward-snowden-n649146?client=safari

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/intel-heads-edward-snowden-profound-damage-us-security/story?id=22285388

https://www.google.com/amp/www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/dont-listen-to-edward-snowdens-supporters-his-leaks-have-been-a-gift-to-terrorists-10307959.html%3famp

Thank you. I am the pp who considers him a treasonous coward.
Now, I would like the pp to share the links where his detractors say he did not do serious damage.

Silence...........

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hero. He unmasked the police state we live in

+ 1

I think what he did was REALLY brave. I honestly don't know if I could be that brave and self sacrificing. I'd like to think so but I'd probably chicken out.

If you know anything about counter-intelligence, you would know that he did more damage to our national security that some of the spies that have been caught in recent years. Aldrich Ames.... Robert Hanssen......John Walker.... all spies that caused incredible damage to our national security and because of the information they passed, people were killed.

This guy is worse. He is no hero. He is a coward. He revealed information than ran to Russia for protection. He couldn’t even stay in the US to defend himself.
He is a treasonous coward.

+1