Edward Snowden is not a patriot but a criminal hiding out in Moscow

Edward Snowden is not a patriot but a criminal hiding out in Moscow

By Norman Leach (originally run in the The Beacon on-line newspaper

One of the downsides to writing a weekly column is that every once in a while you have to admit you are wrong – very publicly. The case of Edward Snowden is a case in point.

When I first heard that the 29-year-old National Security agency contractor had gone public with the U.S. government surveillance program that was clearly out of control, I was there cheering Snowden on. I might have even used the word patriot.

Let’s be very clear. The National Security Agency in the United States has a program called Prism. On the surface, the program appears to be justifiable. Large computers are used to track inbound and outbound telephone calls trying to connect when terrorists talk to confederates around the world. The idea is forewarned is forearmed.

So far so good. In fact, the program was set up under President George Bush in response to the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. The idea was to try to identify foreign terrorists planning evil in the United States or against Americans living abroad. Under Bush the program was restrained by both the courts and the limits of the technology of the day.
However, then senator Barack Obama thought even the Bush program was too far reaching without adequate oversight. Obama went on to vote against a Bush candidate for CIA director because the candidate supported the NSA surveillance programs.

Enter Edward Snowden. Hired by an outside contractor serving the National Security Agency , Snowden appeared to have the best interests of the United States and its citizens at heart when he went public with how much further the Obama regime had pushed the old Bush surveillance program.

Had Snowden stopped there I might still be calling him a patriot. His initial revelations were worrisome to anyone who takes privacy and independence seriously. He claimed that under the Obama rules Snowden was able, by his own authority, to listen in to any conversation he chose to without the nicety of a warrant.

To that point it sounded like an overreaching government in Washington focused much more on its own survival than the ideal of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Then Snowden not only crossed the line he left it well behind in the rear-view mirror. After sneaking off to Hong Kong (the territory has notoriously difficult extradition laws) Snowden met with the media and explained in great detail how the United States was spying on China and other friendly nations. Snowden had gone from being a hero to a criminal in one short media conference.
Snowden was soon on the way to Moscow heading to, depending on the media story, Cuba, Venezuela or Ecuador – all countries that are far from friendly with United States.

Then the other shoe dropped. Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks who is hiding at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to avoid prosecution in his own messy case involving leaking US State secrets put his nose in. Now Assange is just a criminal – no different than the guy who robs a 7-11 except Assange uses a computer rather than a pistol or knife.

Hiding behind the rhetoric of freedom and openness Assange’s release of information put real human beings at risk – some at the risk of death. Not that he cared. His only interest was grabbing as much media as he could – and the donations that inevitably followed.

Snowden seemed different. That is, until he left Hong Kong for Moscow ducking the arrest warrant waiting for him in the US after advice from Assange lawyers. Were Snowden a real patriot he would have surrendered to US authorities relishing the chance to tell his story in front of the most aggressive media in the world. What better way to get the truth out?

Instead he is, tonight, hiding out in Moscow (or so we are told) waiting for an opportunity to head somewhere in Latin America. With both China and Moscow refusing to help arrest Snowden it will prove difficult to arrest and transport him to the United States. Justice could be a long way off.

In the end both Snowdenn and Assange are criminals who should be in a cage – if we could just get them out of the gilded Ecuadorian cage they are hiding in.