SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
A campaign to pardon NSA leaker Edward Snowden, launched in combination with a fawning Oliver Stone film about him, hasn't made any headway. The request spurred the entire membership of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, 13 Republicans and 9 Democrats, to send a letter to President Barack Obama urging against a pardon. "He is a criminal," they stated flatly.
Obama weighed in on the matter on Friday. During his European tour, he was interviewed by Der Spiegel—the largest newspaper in Germany, a country where Snowden is particularly popular. After discussing a wide range of issues, he was asked: Are you going to pardon Edward Snowden?
Obama replied: "I can't pardon somebody who hasn't gone before a court and presented themselves, so that's not something that I would comment on at this point."
Will the NSA's spying and Snowden's actions come to define Obama's legacy?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday November 22 2016, @09:04AM
Obama is an excellent geopolitical strategic thinker, probably the best in the WH since Richard Nixon.
The current messes in the Middle East and Ukraine are obvious rebuttals to that comment as is the continued nuclear proliferation (Iran and North Korea). Iraq in particular was an owned goal driven by Obama's vapid promise to completely pull out of Iraq. That promise lasted a bit over two years until the ISIS invasion forced his hand.
And if you're looking for an excellent geopolitical strategic thinker, you need look no further than Bush elder. Obama isn't even close.