Edward Snowden: Whistleblowing Patriot or TRAITOR to the USA?

[Rmplstlskn]

Edward Snowden, the "Boos Allen Hamilton" NSA operative who leaked to the media the details of many USA intelligence services DOMESTIC spying operations...

Whistleblowing PATRIOT or "deserves to be hanged" TRAITOR?


How I see it, wrong is wrong, if even legal by "in the bag" legal courts... The expansive, unprecedented snooping and data collection DOMESTICALLY an ALL AMERICANS is WRONG, and our Founding Fathers were clear on this fact...

I say he is a PATRIOT! Someone finally woke the "low information voter" up to what has been going on for years, and decades in some arenas...

To those who say TRAITOR, I wonder if a Nazi SS operative who leaked info about the Jewish genocide by Hitler would also be a TRAITOR to his country? It was legal sanctioned by the German government... It was a SECRET program to rid Germany of "parasites...", which could also be terrorists... What is the difference? None...

He is a PATRIOT with guts and huge kahunas...

[WiseOwl]

He signed up to keep his mouth shut..... thats their requirements.
Good friend of mine was NSA for quite a while.....hoping when he gets older and senile, he will lay those secrets on me....he says not a chance.
I bet a dollar this dude ends up swimming with the fishies before he hits a courtroom.


I will agree, he does have some huge juevos

[rockriver]

i have a number of military associates.
i don't know all info that he exposed..
if one sentence caused one soldier, sailor, or candle stick maker to be injured or compromised,
then he needs to be swimming with the fishes.. and quickly..
no long trial..

[rockriver]

by the way... i voted traitor.. to clarify any question..
snowden is not invited to my campfire.
he's had a lot of time to
think up nicee things to say to make himself look all sweet and honorable.
--
i had trouble voting... just clearing any queston...

[jimmycthemd]

Let me preface this with the knowledge that, when I was in the military and for several years after, I had a Top Secret + (add-ons classified) security clearance. So, I know what 'oaths to secrecy' are. No, I've never worked with the alphabet soup organisations.

I see a potential issue with conflicting oaths. When you sign up you take an oath to the Constitution...to defend it against all enemies, domestic and foreign. You also have taken an oath of secrecy. I don't know what his motivations were/are. I know that, if you TRULY believe that the government agency is violating the Constitution, you have the duty to correct that situation. I believe the oath to the Constitution trumps all other oaths to the government.

Now, did he do it the correct way? I don't know what he tried before he went public so I cannot answer that question and, unless someone here knows something I don't, then none of us should judge him out of hand as either a hero or villian. I suspect we'll never know the whole truth.

my 2 cents.

[Grand58742]

I think Jimmy has the best answer. Pretty much spot on.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

A great man like some nazi who was innocent of everything? The theoretical fictional nazi was still a nazi and was not welcome with open arms I'm sure in his "own" country, not sure which country cause hilter wasn't even german. The holocost info came from the people in the underground channel not the war machine fictional hero SS.
So how many have been compromised by the release of said heroic info such as this and wikileaks and what did they do to deserve life and limb loss? Ahh yes they did their jobs.
Speaking of jobs it bothers me as much if not more that a flunkie of many things, a private contractor not actual real agency intel with almost no time on the job walked with documents clear out the country and now is MIA and yet he can find the press.

[Lowdown3]

I don't know enough yet, therefore haven't "voted" on it.

The real question is: what will become of this?

I traveled through several small cities yesterday and into one larger one. I saw no demonstrations, no riots, not even one lone man in the wilderness holding up a placard complaining about what the gubmints been doing relating to this. I have to think that some of us (myself included years and years ago) that had the misconception that their would come a time when "all good men would come to the aid of their country", are getting a wake up that their will be no assembling on the Lexington green in large numbers...

[SeldomSeenSlim]

The real question is: what will become of this?

At most someone high level bureaucrat will resign his/her position and take a fat job in the private sector as consultant. Which will somehow be translated into "problem solved".

[justanothergunnut]

I agree that we simply don't know enough and probably never will. However I whole heartedly disagree with the statement that if he put into jeopardy any us service member or operative that he should be killed. WHY????? WHY is the argument more about what Snowden may have done and the "oath" he violated by divulging states secrets than what our ENTIRE government is guilty of. Is their betrayal to their oath and the US Constitution any less despicable to us then his betrayal to them??? If he deserves to be hunted down and killed then so does EVERY SINGLE politician, alphabet agency employee, service member or janitor who new about or took part in the crime committed against the American people. IF and thats a big if he has released or is going to release info that truly would impact our national security then sure go after him. HOWEVER, stating that the US is hacking computers in CHINA, NOT NEWS! Letting the sheep know that their gov is shredding their rights not just those of evil conservatives.. that's news. And letting the cat out of the bag that our gov is spying on ALL of us does not threaten national security. Unless the gov is worried that this may be the one that upsets the apple cart, thus threatening "national security" If all he has done is inform the American people that they are having their communications intercepted by the gov then he is no more of a traitor than any of us who make public statements that the time for force of arms against the gov may be here. That talk could be considered treason!!!! Are we all traitors as well?? worthy of being hunted down and killed for being disloyal to the crown?????

[tarheelsman71]

Vince Foster said...

[Grand58742]

Vince Foster said...

I see what you did there lol

[WiseOwl]

BOOOOOM!!!!!

[miked2345]

I think if he gave out info that compromised national security, the military, or U.S. citizens, he's a traitor... But it looks like he didn't give out specific details about the info being collected, just that info is being collected, and it appears to be un-constitutional to do so.

And is any of this REALLY news?? The massive data collection NSA complex being built in Utah has been known about for quite a while... Did people think they were just collecting fried chicken recipes???

[rockriver]

hmm. some good. some bad seems to be winning.
---
what if..
we were in the paw.. the shtf.
there is a bad a@@ group of muslim zombie bkers using the local farm as a base of operations.
3 old boys from S+P are stationed on a hilltop with some low tech listening devices.
the mzb (muslim zombie bikers) are making raids on homesteads in the area. killing folks dead. trying to get a few of them shaved up and cleaned up so that they can infiltrate the S+P headquarters, the local bapt. church, and the town council, and the local patriot defense force.
the 3 listeners have been successful in stopping some attacks and some infiltrations.
yahoo.
the 3 listeners use a runner to relay info back to headquarters... just in case the mzb's have their own listening devices.
the runner realizes that some mzb's have been killed because of the listeners and his efforts doing the running... and some of the S+P folks had teased him about being little and skinny and pimply. and some villagers ragged him for being "just a runner"
and not adding any real value to the village.
so.
runner decides to post on trees around the area... signs.. that say
WARNING.
S-P IS LISTENING TO EVERYBODY
THEY ARE MONITORING MZB
THEY ARE ON THE BIG HILL OVER THE MZB BASE.
THEY ARE USING WHAT YOU SAY OVER YOUR WALKIE TALKIES
THEY ARE READING YOUR LIPS USING BIG BINOCULARS.

the mzb's see the signs and go oops...
so they quit using the kmart walkie talkies and pull their hoodies up when they
talk their attack plans.

then 2 S+P houses get hit that night... women raped then killed.
all men are beheaded and their bodies burnt...

well... you know ole runner did a little good and a little bad.

sorry!! just had to rant a little.
got to do a "what if" too!
rr
oops... i read it wrong...
patriots are winning. ok.... buy him a bicycle. get him some clearasil, have a parade!