U.S. Pens Letter To Russia Promising Protections For Snowden
Source: REUTERS
WASHINGTON | Fri Jul 26, 2013 10:35am EDT
(Reuters) - Former U.S. security contractor Edward Snowden would not face the death penalty or be tortured and would have all the protections of the U.S. civilian court system if he were sent home, the chief U.S. prosecutor wrote in a letter to his Russian counterpart this week.
In the letter dated July 23 and released on Friday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder wrote that he sought to dispel claims about what would happen to Snowden if Russia handed him over to face charges of illegally disclosing government secrets about surveillance programs.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/26/us-usa-security-letter-idUSBRE96P0NV20130726
atreides1
(16,093 posts)Poll_Blind
(23,864 posts)Next up: "He will be served lemon chicken at least once a week and be allowed to keep his subscription to Wired while in prison."
PB
Newsjock
(11,733 posts)The U.S. would never, ever lie to Russia about anything.
Response to Purveyor (Original post)
dipsydoodle This message was self-deleted by its author.
alp227
(32,052 posts)dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)the accurate message was that he lies.
think
(11,641 posts)hlthe2b
(102,360 posts)Yet, Holden had to declare in writing to Putin that the US would NOT pursue the DP (whether or not his fingers were crossed behind is back is another issue)...
I'm not a Snowden defender, but the hyperbolic declarations and excoriations have gotten nutsy.
struggle4progress
(118,341 posts)if he were returned to the United States, he would be tortured and would face the death penalty. These claims are entirely without merit," Holder wrote ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/26/us-usa-security-letter-idUSBRE96P0NV20130726
hlthe2b
(102,360 posts)Any charges to date, are subject to change--as anyone in the human rights field knows. Regardless how one feels about Snowden that ought to be at least a small area of concern or at least, interest.
How "proud" we should all be that we know have to vow ahead of time not to torture in order for an extradition to take place.
earthside
(6,960 posts)'We' now have to promise publicly that 'we' won't torture a person if they are extradited to the U.S.
Frankly, Snowden would have to be an idiot to come back to this country if he can avoid it in any way.
It is obvious that the 'government' has decided he is guilty of something, no matter what.
The legacy of our defeat on 9-11 still looms large in the good ol' U.S. of A.
hueymahl
(2,510 posts)What have we come to.
really don't believe them. And I would not be surprised to see Putin turn him over to the U.S. if he stays there.
Swede Atlanta
(3,596 posts)they lie, lie and lie again. Holder would gleefully watch some torture or seeing Snowden executed if he got the chance and, sadly, I think the President would as well.
They are drunk on power. As has been stated before, power corrupts.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)and I also know bushmonkey and cheneyvadar would have got to him by now. Snowden would be dead, cold and in the ground. Unless this Snowden incident was just designed to make Obama look bad and he wouldn't have done it to bushhmonkey? In this society one cannot be sure of any motive by any individual at any time anymore. This society went off the rails in 2009 solely because of the election of a man of color and that family occupying the white house. And has been off since then, that's a quote from an associate. Makes one think! In my book, more true than not.
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)We now have to promise to Russia that we won't torture!!
At one time, it was implied without having to set it forth expressly.
PSPS
(13,614 posts)bahrbearian
(13,466 posts)Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)The government would go into an even greater frenzy defaming Snowden in the media if he were to return, and I wouldn't be surprised if Congress did the same given their statements to-date. Snowden would have no privacy, and I am confident his attorney client privilege would be violated by government spying since nothing is sacred anymore with our own government, Constitutional protections and the rule of law are only present at the convenience of the corporations when and if they choose to exercise them in their own interests.
Peace Patriot
(24,010 posts)...like snowboarding or water polo.
Oh, our rulers can think up all kinds of things that are "not torture," in their own opinion, to do to Snowden. They can always find a Gonzalez or a Holder to write up the "legal memo." What a crock!
But I was thinking more of the irony that Russia HAS NO DEATH PENALTY--a legacy from communism--and all the hay that the U.S. State Department and the corporate media make over "human rights violations" in Russia. THEY have no death penalty. We DO. The death penalty is THE most inhumane of state powers, and has not only been proven to be applied to people later proven innocent, but creates a whole system and culture of brutality that infects every police department, every prison, every prosecution office, every courtroom, every public official and office holder and every community in the United States.
Brutal attitudes toward prisoners. Brutal attitudes toward civilians as well (we're all "perps" or "potential perps," in their view). Brutal attitudes toward other countries and other cultures. The death penalty both reflects and helps create this brutal fascist attitude throughout the criminal justice system and from there into society. Our rulers hold death over our heads. That is the reality. And if YOU get accused of a death penalty offense, and you are innocent, and you DON'T HAVE LOTS OF MONEY, your chances of proving your innocence are just about nil. That is the reality--into the slammer with you, scheduled for death if it's a capital offense, or facing long, long prison terms in wretched and brutal conditions that induce numerous suicides, even for minor offenses like drug possession.
The rot in our civilization has direct connections to the death penalty. Death penalty = life is cheap and yours doesn't matter if you are poor. And Russia, for all their difficulties, still holds to the HUMANE communist idea that the state should not have this power.
Yeah, Stalin killed A LOT of people, and now the mafia's doing the killing--but, a) these crimes were/are not legal, and b) we don't judge our own country entirely on the crimes of a few. We also include--or should include--the lawfulness and even goodness of most people and the better ideals of our history and tradition. So, yeah, this is an irony and an interesting fact--no death penalty in Russia, of all places, and, of course, no death penalty throughout the western world, except here.
Ergo, Mr. Eric Holder--defender of Chiquita's death squads in Colombia--has to apologize for our death penalty to Russia and promise not to inflict it on Mr. Snowden for his whistleblowing.
Daniel Ellsberg recently said that this (the U.S.) is a different country from the one in which he released the Pentagon Papers. He was exonerated. That was still possible, then. (This was in answer to a question about Snowden fleeing the U.S.) It's different now. There is no safety for whistleblowers. The state has too much power--grabbed with both hands by Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, and--tragically--confirmed and/or expanded by the Obama administration. Among these UNCONSTITUTIONAL powers is the infliction of death on ANYONE, at home or abroad, by presidential fiat, currently exercised by anonymous drone bombings in foreign countries, with no accusation, no trial, no appeal, and, if your kids or your neighbors happen to be standing around, to hell with them, too. Hundreds of kids murdered by U.S. drone bombings!
That says it all about "the rule of law" here and what the death penalty has done to it. It starts with executions for crimes, determined by trials that are egregiously unfair to the poor. It gets worse. Bush Jr. got his taste for blood in Texas, happily executing human being after human being, even in questionable cases, even with overwhelming evidence that mercy should be shown. War, torture, egregious looting of the public coffers, are NEXT. When you give the government the idea that it can kill people, fascism and all of its horrors are NEXT.
That is where we are--having to lie to Russia that we won't torture or murder Snowden--a man who has HURT NO ONE, and who in fact has helped our democracy (such as it is) with his disclosures.
"The land of the free/ the home of the brave."
Tragic.
Peace
msongs
(67,441 posts)forestpath
(3,102 posts)totodeinhere
(13,059 posts)torture. It should be a given that we would not torture especially with a Democrat in the White House.
N_E_1 for Tennis
(9,778 posts)Yeah sure.
Locrian
(4,522 posts)I'm sure he'll be treated perfectly fine. Just ask Bradley Manning.... oh, wait...
Jerry442
(1,265 posts)Response to Purveyor (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
Purveyor
(29,876 posts)bemildred
(90,061 posts)MOSCOW, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Russia is preparing a reply to the U.S. Attorney General's letter over the return of fugitive intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden, the Justice Ministry's press service said Sunday.
Noting the ministry received the letter from Eric Holder "on July 24," it stopped short of specifying the nature of the reply and the exact date it would be ready.
Holder assured to his Russian counterpart Alexander Konovalov that "the United States would not seek the death penalty even if Mr. Snowden were charged with additional, death penalty-eligible crimes."
His letter came amid media reports that Snowden had applied for political asylum in Russia "on the grounds that if he were returned to the United States, he would be tortured and would face the death penalty."
http://english.cntv.cn/20130728/103979.shtml