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Update: DannyB adds: United States Files Civil Lawsuit Against Edward Snowden
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/edward-snowden-nsa-cbs-this-morning-interview-today-2019-09-16/
When pressed on whether he considers what he did unlawful, Snowden refused to take a position but said "it's not hard to make the argument that I broke the law." He went on to say that the government continues to allege that his disclosures caused harm but, according to Snowden, has yet to show evidence of that harm.
"They never show evidence for it even though we're now more than 6 years on, it would be the easiest thing in the world to show. We've never heard that story," he said. "If they had some classified evidence that a hair on a single person's head was harmed, you know as well as I do, it would be on the front page of The New York Times by the end of the day."
Snowden also took issue with the common refrain that leaking classified documents violated the oath of secrecy he took upon entering the CIA. He said an oath of secrecy does not exist.
"One of the common misconceptions in one of the earlier attacks, that we heard in 2015, that we don't hear of so much anymore is that I violated this oath of secrecy. That does not exist. There is a secrecy agreement, but there is also an oath of service. An oath of service is to support and defend, not an agency, not even the president, it is to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies – direct quote – foreign and domestic. And this begs the question, what happens when our obligations come into conflict."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 18 2019, @12:48AM (4 children)
People need to stop rehabilitating war criminals like George Bush just because Trump looks bad. Trump is a typical Republican, plus mean tweets and noticeable cognitive decline. That's it. His policies are corporatist, pro-war, and anti-freedom, just like other Republicans.
Bush got us into Iraq based on false pretenses (which weren't a valid reason to invade a country even if they were true), which was an illegal war against a country that didn't attack us, and as a result, hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed. Then we also had the Unpatriotic Act, torture (thanks Barack 'Look forward, not back!' Obama!), gitmo, mass surveillance, and so on. Do you really think that Trump is much worse than that? Really?
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Wednesday September 18 2019, @01:55AM (3 children)
Citation needed. He has initiated less conflicts than anyone going back to Carter.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday September 19 2019, @02:14AM (2 children)
"Locked and loaded."
"Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!"
Military parade for Independence Day.
“I’m the most militaristic person there is.”
That's enough so far. Hopefully the rest of the world keeps seeing him as a clown before he accidentally starts a shooting war. Most wars only need a pretext to set off.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Thursday September 19 2019, @03:42AM (1 child)
Lots of shitty words but less killing than any president since Carter, what actual ACTIONS have occured?
Hell, Bolton is now running around freaking out because Trump isnt a warmonger and upset that Trump doesnt want to bomb Venezuela, wanted to not kill more Afghanis, didn't want to kill more Yemenese, or Syrians, and called off killing 40-400 Iranians.
Ill take Bolton, a self-professed warmonger, than fake news media trying to strum up conflict with Russia because they can't handle losing an election.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday September 19 2019, @04:04PM
I could look at a few things like...
Raid on Yalka [wikipedia.org], and when was the last time overt military action was approved in Yemen?
Bombing Syria [thehill.com].
Extreme vetting [cbsnews.com], which has the net effect of showing America as having sticks and not olive branches.
A failure to pull out of Afghanistan so far [nbcnews.com], he's had three years. Maybe he'll make it yet, we'll see. But allowance of this to continue is acquiescence to what has been happening whether he started it or not. Ditto for all the other conflicts he hasn't gotten us out of. Not exactly a peacemaker, unless you have evidence to the contrary?
Using Military funds for his beautiful Wall, therefore the ethics of which suggest he sees little difference between the two.
And now we have a deteriorating situation in Iran. Let's see where this one goes.
In any event, he's talking the talk [rt.com]. When somebody walks the walk on him, because his gut call was wrong, that will be on his watch. And it will be his fault.
This sig for rent.