I see what you are saying, but if you felt like your nation was so corrupt that it was willing to spy on every American citizen and would most certainly throw you to the wolves once they realize you revealed it and paint you as a traitor to the public, why wouldn't YOU leave so you could continue to speak out and have a platform until the country you love comes to its senses and realizes it was wrong and can understand why you did what you did and accept your return?
He was going at this war alone against the most powerful nation in the history of the earth....if he stayed, he risked being silenced and as we know, possibly being killed. Sure, he could have stayed and been a martyr, but soon lost to time and possibly forgotten entirely, and the overreaches would continue largely un-noticed with Snowden's revelations relegated to conspiracy theory types bringing them up in small circles. He bet that if was able to maintain a voice elsewhere, over time his actions would be understood by most Americans who could then join him in his efforts to expose the wrongs thereby making his efforts larger and stronger and therefore less likely to die a quiet death at the hands of time and eventually could return to the country he loves with a government that has been held accountable by not just him but the public at large.
Thank you for taking the time to explain all that. We agree on more than I thought we would. I think following the course of action you described would've made him even more of a hero, but considering the virtual certainty and magnitude of the
railroading you mentioned, I can sympathize with path he chose. Now if he'd gone to Russia to work with them against the U.S. rather than just to hide, I'd see it differently. Either way, thanks again, I appreciate your time.
AGREE FIRING SQUAD FOR SNOWDEN, however he was not just a "lowly" systems admin" but a self proclaimed "computer wizard". He dropped out of Cyber Operations Special Forces school and was employed as a high-level security clearance guard at University of Maryland (CASL) a NSA covert facility.
Worked for the CIA considered the top technical and cybersecurity expert in Switzerland (WHERE HE WAS LIKELY CONTACTED BY RUSSIAN GRU AGENT AND TURNED DOUBLE-AGENT)
Worked for DELL. Assigned to an NSA facility at Yokota Air Base. Instructed top officials and military officers on how to defend their networks from Chinese hackers. During his four years with Dell, he rose from supervising NSA computer system upgrades to working as what his résumé termed a "cyberstrategist" and an "expert in cyber counterintelligence" at several U.S. locations. He spent a year as lead technologist on Dell's CIA account.
Investigators estimated that of the 50,000 to 200,000 documents Snowden gave to Greenwald and Poitras, most were copied by Snowden while working at Dell. Snowden said he took a pay cut to work at consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, where he sought employment in order to gather data and then release details of the NSA's worldwide surveillance activity.
Why? I tend to agree with a pardon for both, but would be interested to read your reasoning.
I see what you are saying, but if you felt like your nation was so corrupt that it was willing to spy on every American citizen and would most certainly throw you to the wolves once they realize you revealed it and paint you as a traitor to the public, why wouldn't YOU leave so you could continue to speak out and have a platform until the country you love comes to its senses and realizes it was wrong and can understand why you did what you did and accept your return?
He was going at this war alone against the most powerful nation in the history of the earth....if he stayed, he risked being silenced and as we know, possibly being killed. Sure, he could have stayed and been a martyr, but soon lost to time and possibly forgotten entirely, and the overreaches would continue largely un-noticed with Snowden's revelations relegated to conspiracy theory types bringing them up in small circles. He bet that if was able to maintain a voice elsewhere, over time his actions would be understood by most Americans who could then join him in his efforts to expose the wrongs thereby making his efforts larger and stronger and therefore less likely to die a quiet death at the hands of time and eventually could return to the country he loves with a government that has been held accountable by not just him but the public at large.
Let’s be real, Obama would have sent Snowden to Gitmo to be tortured to death. I can forgive him for running.
Exactly
Plus he wouldn’t have been around to CORROBORATE THE FUCKING STORY AND PUT A FACE ON IT
I swear some of you new guys have no sense of strategy, and it’s worrying
Thank you for taking the time to explain all that. We agree on more than I thought we would. I think following the course of action you described would've made him even more of a hero, but considering the virtual certainty and magnitude of the railroading you mentioned, I can sympathize with path he chose. Now if he'd gone to Russia to work with them against the U.S. rather than just to hide, I'd see it differently. Either way, thanks again, I appreciate your time.
edit: PS I'm not the downvote.
AGREE FIRING SQUAD FOR SNOWDEN, however he was not just a "lowly" systems admin" but a self proclaimed "computer wizard". He dropped out of Cyber Operations Special Forces school and was employed as a high-level security clearance guard at University of Maryland (CASL) a NSA covert facility.
Worked for the CIA considered the top technical and cybersecurity expert in Switzerland (WHERE HE WAS LIKELY CONTACTED BY RUSSIAN GRU AGENT AND TURNED DOUBLE-AGENT)
Worked for DELL. Assigned to an NSA facility at Yokota Air Base. Instructed top officials and military officers on how to defend their networks from Chinese hackers. During his four years with Dell, he rose from supervising NSA computer system upgrades to working as what his résumé termed a "cyberstrategist" and an "expert in cyber counterintelligence" at several U.S. locations. He spent a year as lead technologist on Dell's CIA account.
Investigators estimated that of the 50,000 to 200,000 documents Snowden gave to Greenwald and Poitras, most were copied by Snowden while working at Dell. Snowden said he took a pay cut to work at consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, where he sought employment in order to gather data and then release details of the NSA's worldwide surveillance activity.