Why should Snowden ever come back? Most Americans certainly support him being charged with a crime: http://www.statista.com/statistics/262560/opinion-of-americans-on-the-legal-charges-against-edward-snowden/
Even if some kind of amnesty is granted, it’ll still be extremely unsafe for him - quite a lot of people think his leaks have threatened/cost American lives.
Snowden is a hero, plain and simple. The people we SHOULD be putting in jail work at the NSA, and give them their orders.
I’m betting the amount of prison time he faces works out to a rough equivalence of “life.”
John, the Bradley Manning case shows that the US government tortures whistleblowers and gives them absurdly long prison sentences. This is a change from MLK’s time. You need to stay current. Snowden’s actions are a reasonable response to behavior of the Bush … er, Obama … administration.
He won’t be pardoned and he won’t come back, I hope he can find a country in Europe where he can live the very pleasant life he deserves to live, free from persecution.
If he’s not careful he’ll end up as a Mandela figure; terrorist and saviour of the nation.
Looks like we watched the same infomercial 
For me, the best part was when “60 Minutes” reporter (Miller, I think) said, matter-of-factly, that there’s nothing wrong with what NSA is doing and went on with TMZ part of the report.
Is there anybody disputing that he broke the law as written? I don’t think so.
That is the whole point. That when the system is corrupt and the law is being used for immoral ends then one is morally not obligated to follow it; in fact, I would argue one is obligated to not follow laws which are being used for immoral ends.
And it is quite indisputable that Snowden broke the law with the purpose of exposing the illegal and immoral things the government is doing.
That many Americans see him as a traitor rather than as a hero says a lot about the power of nationalism which puts “us” before “morally right”.
It is frightening that many Americans support the spying, the torture, the killing by the American government. Things which if done by any other government would be unanimously condemned but are supported in spite of their abusive and immoral nature only because America is doing them.
I believe Snowden will be recognised as a hero soon but if he is not it will be a bad reflection on the American people, not on him.
The world is a better place because of individuals who denounce the wrongs being done by governments.
I didn’t say he was a traitor. I said he was a criminal. He broke he law. If he was a hero, he’d stay here, face the music, and get the law changed. That’s what heroes do. Congress can change the law tomorrow if they think it needs changing. As it is, I’m not seeing a lot of movement in that direction.
Are you being serious? That’s a lot of hope heaped at bunch of people with lowest approval in long time.
What if they are collectively wrong?
Eh, I don’t think getting arrested is necessary to being a hero.
Plus, I don’t see how staying in the US would “get the law changed” any more then not being here would. Rather the opposite, he’d presumably be held incommunicado a la Bradley Manning if he had stayed to be arrested.
I find that to be nonsense. Congress for many years did not see the need to change slavery, racial segregation or other unjust laws. That did not make them right. It made Congress, and by extension the American people, wrong.
For decades Mandela was an incarcerated criminal and even the USA considered him a terrorist. He might have been a “criminal” but look how the world sees him today. Who were right then? Those who said he was a criminal or those who thought he was a hero?
And it has little to do with staying to suffer punishment. What would Snowden accomplish by that? Nothing other than demonstrate that his fellow Americans are wrong to the point of punishing him for doing good.
The notion that victims needs to stay and suffer to validate their reasons aor actions is just plain silly. Do you believe the USA should send Chinese dissidents back to China so they can validate their dissidence?
If he really think his cause is just, yes it is. That’s how you change the law. His trial would not be secret, and if he were incarcerated afterwards, that would be his rallying cry.
I went to jail to change the law- vs - I fled to Russia to avoid being charged with the crime I committed.
Forgot to add… And it’s not just the fleeing. It’s that he chose to break the law as his act of first resort. I’m not calling anyone who does that a “hero”.
Also, we’ve been over this exact same ground in at least one other thread. No point in doing it again here, as it’s a hijack of the thread’s original purpose.
You change the law by going to jail? I’m pretty sure laws have been changed without people going to jail.
It wouldn’t really address the issues he’s interested in either. The case against him is pretty open-and-shut, and it doesn’t really have anything to do with the laws he wants changed.
Not every cause requires a martyr to be successful.
Eh, either the info he released is enough to convince people to change the law or it isn’t. His being incarcerated doesn’t change what was in the documents he handed out one way or another. People will find it convincing or not.
True on Vulcan, but we’re on Earth.
I don’t recall any threats to have Ed Snowden tortured, either.
I think they’re referring to the treatment Bradley Manning received while in pre-trial detention. Honestly, I think it’s a reasonable fear.
For myself, I think Snowden acted as he should. But I’m in favor of disclosure and believe that government surveillance - at the level it’s being practiced - is out of control. Snowden acting as he did - taking the information, skipping the country, and then releasing it to the press - strikes me as a reasonable response for a person who has lost faith that his government will play by any consistent rules. Had he stayed here he’d get some action in the media, but he’s gotten a lot more attention to his concerns his way. Plus, it got the information outside the USA where there are limited things the government could do to retrieve it or even influence those who have it.
As for the deal? I’d say that’s sort of silly. Say he accepts and comes in from the cold…the best he could tell the NSA is WHAT he took and I’d be astonished if the
NSA doesn’t already know that. He can’t promise to bring it all back. It’s out in the world, now. The Guardian isn’t going to magically stop reporting on it on Snowden’s say-so. That’s just unreasonable. Once that info was out there, it’s out there.
Really? You never heard of physical violence up to and including lynchings for “uppity” Negroes?
But I think the use of “torture” wrt to Snowdon is overdone. He’ll be in the civilian court system-- he’s not going to be sent to Guantanamo.
Manning was in a military prison. Snowden, if he did his duty and turned himself in, would be detained in a civilian facility.