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Home Front: Politix

Should Snowden and Assange Pardon the U.S. Government?

2020-08-21

[FFF] President Trump is saying that he might issue a pardon to Edward Snowden. For some reason, he hasn’t said the same thing about Julian Assange.

Mr. Snowden was a Russian spy. Mr. Assange happily published the intelligence thievings of a Russian spy. As a result lots of sources were murdered. And Mr. Assange has published the intelligence thievings of a great many others, resulting in more ruined lives and murders.

But a pardon suggests that the person being pardoned has done something wrong. Neither Snowden and Assange has done anything wrong — at least not in a moral sense.

Unmitigated bullshit.

It is the U.S. government — and specifically the national-security state branch of the federal government — that has engaged in terrible wrongdoing — wrongdoing that Snowden and Assange revealed to the American people and the people of the world.

Therefore, the real question is: Should Snowden and Assange pardon the U.S. for having destroyed a large part of their lives and liberty?

Neither man has been horribly murdered, so they’re doing better than most captured spies. They really have nothing to complain about.

Oh, sure, the two of them technically violated the federal government’s national-security laws, rules, and regulations against revealing the dark-side, sordid policies and practices of the national-security establishment. Big deal. Those laws, rules, and regulations are illegitimate, at least in a moral sense. Why should the dark-side, sordid policies and practices of a government be immune from disclosure?

Clearly the writer hasn't heard Winston Churchill’s dictum on truth.

Posted by:Clem

#7 Poor security?

Posted by: Clem 2020-08-21 23:59

#6 Y’all have forgotten all the local employees and confidential informants in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere whose names and information were leaked along with the embarrassing stuff. And how many of them were murdered as a result, and how afterward others would not come forward because we had been proved untrustworthy.

It would have been easy for Mr. Assange’s team to strip that information out of what was released, but they did not care that what they saw as mere puckish misbehaviour — or speaking truth to power — would have permanent, EVIL impacts on very good people.

Posted by: trailing wife 2020-08-21 23:56

#5 @ #3 & #4 - Absolutely.

Posted by: Clem 2020-08-21 21:45

#4 #3: Embarrassing the state is the worst crime ever. You can't do anything worse than embarrass the state, never mind how illegal their actions. So just shaddup, you little nothing person, and follow the orders of your betters and don't embarrass them. /Sarc

Posted by: Canuckistan sniper 2020-08-21 21:18

#3 How come Australian Assange publishing Secrets about an illegal system run by the US state while not in the US, is a crime?

The only crime was to embarrass the state.

Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2020-08-21 13:37

#2 All the stuff Snowden and Wikileaks leaked could have been leaked anonymously thru a string of cutouts. They both wanted the publicity.

Posted by: M. Murcek 2020-08-21 12:10

#1 Maybe I missed something, but 1) the premise of the article's incredibly stupid and 2) Assange is Australian - I'm pretty sure Trump can't pardon a non-US citizen.

Posted by: Raj 2020-08-21 10:07

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