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Benton D Struckcheon

(2,347 posts)
32. No one has a problem with what he disclosed domestically.
Wed May 28, 2014, 05:28 PM
May 2014

It's what he disclosed to foreign countries that makes some of us uncomfortable.
And the timing of those disclosures.
And the implicit assumption on the part of his boosters that every act of spying by the US on foreign countries is immoral, an attitude that certainly was NOT shared by, say, Patrick Henry. George Washington was our first spymaster, and he considered spying to be extremely important. There's a statue by City Hall in NYC to Nathan Hale, who was a spy for the US in the Revolutionary War. Nathan Hale would certainly not have approved of Snowden.
There is a very deliberate conflation of what he revealed about domestic spying with what he revealed about our foreign intelligence and its capabilities, as if they are the same issue and as if both are unconstitutional. This betrays a bottomless ignorance or, more likely, a deliberate intention to disable the US's spying capabilities by people who think everything the US does is wrong. There is no question that what Snowden has done has accomplished the latter. He ran because he KNOWS that what he did was completely illegal and would land him in jail, and he is depending on people not being able to distinguish the one from the other.
The way the debate is framed in the tech world especially, which is infested with libertarians, is that everything the NSA is doing is wrong. This is plainly ridiculous. We would never have won WWII in the time it took without the ability to crack both German and Japanese codes. That's signals intelligence. That's what the NSA does. Distinguishing that from code-cracking to hack domestic transmissions over the Internet doesn't take a big intellectual effort, but it certainly takes a little more than that displayed by those who indiscriminately give Snowden and everything he has revealed a big fat endorsement.
I have said before and will say again: his domestic disclosures are a deliberate distraction from what he revealed about the US's foreign spying. The former are a cover for the latter, which was always the real point of what he did, and the reason he is now in Russia as a "guest" of the FSB.
He's a defector, pure and simple. If he is returned to the US it will be in handcuffs, and he will never spend another day of his life in freedom if he does. He knows it, and he knows why, and he knows it has precisely nothing to do with the NSA's domestic spying or its constitutionality.

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I wonder if people said that to Patrick Henry.. grasswire May 2014 #1
Oh yeah. Comrade Snowie's just like Patrick Henry. Tarheel_Dem May 2014 #3
......and John Adams and Thomas Jefferson...... Cali_Democrat May 2014 #6
and don't forget the bebe jesus.... Whisp May 2014 #7
lol treestar May 2014 #12
Can you say "Patrick Henry" in Russian? Tarheel_Dem May 2014 #15
History will tell the tale. grasswire May 2014 #14
You're right about one thing. We'll all be dead. Tarheel_Dem May 2014 #19
Snowden is no John Adams, Thomas Jefferson or Patrick Henry karynnj May 2014 #18
He didn't swear an oath. He signed an employment contract with Booz Allen Luminous Animal May 2014 #29
That was not his only job and he had a security clearance karynnj May 2014 #38
His oath was to Constitution. What he signed was an employment agreement. Luminous Animal May 2014 #62
Geez, man! Get a grip! Maedhros May 2014 #41
Indeed. Though FYI, I am a woman. Luminous Animal May 2014 #63
I was imagining that post in the voice of a crazed Scotsman. Maedhros May 2014 #64
I'm of a mind that crazed Scotswomen will save the world. Luminous Animal May 2014 #65
I would not doubt it! [n/t] Maedhros May 2014 #66
PAtrick Henry weren't no Double Naught Spy! MohRokTah May 2014 #34
Isn't he Paul Revere??? nt msanthrope May 2014 #47
Well we don't know what Greenwald is holding back el_bryanto May 2014 #2
You forget that it was a major issue from late 2007 until August 2008 karynnj May 2014 #21
Hurt us, by exposing our bad acts. Maedhros May 2014 #42
So good of you -- karynnj May 2014 #46
I'll buy the shift in foreign policy when I see it happen. Maedhros May 2014 #49
some people give up their lives Enrique May 2014 #4
That's my point though, the NSA thing just doesn't seem to have been worth it. nt ChisolmTrailDem May 2014 #9
The NSA disagrees with you. Tierra_y_Libertad May 2014 #5
I understand what you are saying. Skidmore May 2014 #8
Great comment, Skidmore. Thank you. nt ChisolmTrailDem May 2014 #11
I know the feeling. I don't trust any side on this topic. arcane1 May 2014 #28
The very reasons why I don't often respond to the Skidmore May 2014 #33
With no guarantee that the Russians will always let you live there treestar May 2014 #10
I'm guessing the backstory would do John Le Carre proud. ucrdem May 2014 #13
If Snowden accomplished anything it was to wake people up.......... wandy May 2014 #16
When it came out of the shadows it wasn't such a mess anymore ucrdem May 2014 #17
I don't think I understand how it isn't such a mess anymore......... wandy May 2014 #20
It is not every phone conversation --- it is the billing record of the call karynnj May 2014 #22
So I am told. Ho Hum.............. wandy May 2014 #24
rt.com -- reason enough not to click karynnj May 2014 #25
I could be snark and say something like Fox is the only reliable source of news....... wandy May 2014 #27
Or for that matter, why... Jamaal510 May 2014 #40
Ya know, I did forget to mention that............ wandy May 2014 #45
There's a reason rt.com ain't allowed in LBN. Just sayin' Tarheel_Dem May 2014 #35
LBN? OK, I give up, whats LBN? Other than that.............. wandy May 2014 #43
LBN = Late Breaking News. randome May 2014 #48
I can see why one would not want RT there......... wandy May 2014 #57
it's not a mess anymore Enrique May 2014 #36
Obama signed the legislation and pushed for it ucrdem May 2014 #56
Guy blows whistle ... GeorgeGist May 2014 #23
In his books Walter Lord noted that on the Titanic.... Pholus May 2014 #26
Excellent post. scarletwoman May 2014 #51
Quick, somebody call him a misogynist! mindwalker_i May 2014 #30
Greenwald is going to explicitly name names Aerows May 2014 #31
No one has a problem with what he disclosed domestically. Benton D Struckcheon May 2014 #32
You make up stories as well as any contributor to Faux News. BillZBubb May 2014 #37
I deal only in facts. Benton D Struckcheon May 2014 #39
I will feel free to ignore you, forever. Maedhros May 2014 #44
there was clearly an overwhelming benefit to russia pitohui May 2014 #50
He even hates leakers, as when he said they should be shot in the balls. randome May 2014 #52
his supporters dont want to visit the racist anti-liberal elephant in the room pitohui May 2014 #53
There was a benefit for Russia, but also to Glen Greenwald. Why he did not wait until he was in a lostincalifornia May 2014 #55
snowden is not as smart as many paint him. He should have secured an asylum in a country first that lostincalifornia May 2014 #54
how do you know he didn't pitohui May 2014 #58
That is possible lostincalifornia May 2014 #61
I will alert the media!!! nt Logical May 2014 #59
Please explain. Thank you. nt ChisolmTrailDem May 2014 #60
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