Clemency for Snowden / NYTimes via Richard Sher
Hi Richard, though some may disapprove of NSA policy, it is not illegal, though certain aspects may be questionable.
Years ago, I read a piece saying that in the future, we'd be trading our freedoms for security. The attacks of September 11, 2001 brought that reality to life.
Back in the late 1990’s, I saw a program that talked of the disappearance of weapons grade uranium after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. One segment, probably filmed in Chechnya, show a military base under attack, the intent being the seizure of nuclear material.
I saw another after 9/11, that talked about the disastrous effects our whole nation, possibly the world, would experience even if just one dirty bomb were to be detonated in the United States.
NSA’s job is to protect this nation from such terrorist attacks. Not to do so is to invite disaster. The film, “Sum of All Fears,” is just a glimpse of what could happen.
Snowden labors under the delusion that he is somehow a hero, a savior of the “people,” protecting them from the “evil” government. He probably feels that the “Us vs. Them” fantasies in plots like “Avatar” reflects the real world.
Rather then having an objective view of the issue, because of his egotistical self-absorption, he has no concern about the lives of people who would be affected by terrorist attacks. It is impossible for him to conceive how they would suffer.
Snowden could have made the decision to release just a few select documents to make his case. We will never fully know how many terrorist operations were compromised, how many lives were lost, because of his actions.
If anything, Snowden should be tried for gross naivety.
As it is, his is the act of a traitor. His crime is treason. There can be no clemency.
And with regard to the New York Times, it is the print equivalent of FOX news, though of course the adherents of either can see them only in terms of black and white.
01/02/2014
Hi Richard, though some may disapprove of NSA policy, it is not illegal, though certain aspects may be questionable.
Years ago, I read a piece saying that in the future, we'd be trading our freedoms for security. The attacks of September 11, 2001 brought that reality to life.
Back in the late 1990’s, I saw a program that talked of the disappearance of weapons grade uranium after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. One segment, probably filmed in Chechnya, show a military base under attack, the intent being the seizure of nuclear material.
I saw another after 9/11, that talked about the disastrous effects our whole nation, possibly the world, would experience even if just one dirty bomb were to be detonated in the United States.
NSA’s job is to protect this nation from such terrorist attacks. Not to do so is to invite disaster. The film, “Sum of All Fears,” is just a glimpse of what could happen.
Snowden labors under the delusion that he is somehow a hero, a savior of the “people,” protecting them from the “evil” government. He probably feels that the “Us vs. Them” fantasies in plots like “Avatar” reflects the real world.
Rather then having an objective view of the issue, because of his egotistical self-absorption, he has no concern about the lives of people who would be affected by terrorist attacks. It is impossible for him to conceive how they would suffer.
Snowden could have made the decision to release just a few select documents to make his case. We will never fully know how many terrorist operations were compromised, how many lives were lost, because of his actions.
If anything, Snowden should be tried for gross naivety.
As it is, his is the act of a traitor. His crime is treason. There can be no clemency.
And with regard to the New York Times, it is the print equivalent of FOX news, though of course the adherents of either can see them only in terms of black and white.
01/02/2014