Michael Hastings, Journalist and American Hero Dies at 33...

[volkov2006]

Snowden's no hero.
He sounds more and more like someone who wanted his moment of fame from the get go..only to escape through countries whose track records of personal privacy (and human rights) are more dismal than the country he's trying to expose.
He's a criminal.

Snowden did break the law yes, but he did it in order to let the American people that the government was spying on us. They have 4 programs 2 that look at phones and 2 that look at the internet. Two only look at metadata that tells what number called what number and what sites are being visited. The other 2 are collecting the details, what is said, what is typed(even if you never send it, it tracks keystrokes), and who is doing it. That is warrantless wiretapping, and is stating that we are all guilty of something unless proven innocent. Which if I am not mistaken goes against the US Justice code. This also infringes on the 1st and 4th amendment. So who is the bigger criminal here Snowden for letting us know or the government for spying on us?

You can not sacrifice freedoms for security. How many terrorist plots has this stopped, Boston, the Times Square car bomb attempt, the underwear bomber? The Times Square one was stopped because someone reported his activities and we got a warrant for taping his things.

Also Snowden probably went to those places because he knew the US could not bully them into giving him back. Also would you have liked him to have stayed and received the Bradley Manning treatment, 3 years in prison, 9 months of solitary confinement, and just now going to trial, for releasing only classified(NOT TOP SECRET) information to let the American people know what was being done in there name. Yet Geraldo can say on his program US troop positions in Afghanistan, and Bob Woodward can write a book that Osama Bin Laden said on many occasions that anyone who is against the US should read because of the info was good for attacks.

And at the same time Director of National Intelligence James Clapper can lie to a committee saying that the US government does not spy on the US people in March I think and is not charged with purgry.

[fred41]

Snowden did break the law yes, but he did it in order to let the American people that the government was spying on us. They have 4 programs 2 that look at phones and 2 that look at the internet. Two only look at metadata that tells what number called what number and what sites are being visited. The other 2 are collecting the details, what is said, what is typed(even if you never send it, it tracks keystrokes), and who is doing it. That is warrantless wiretapping, and is stating that we are all guilty of something unless proven innocent. Which if I am not mistaken goes against the US Justice code. This also infringes on the 1st and 4th amendment. So who is the bigger criminal here Snowden for letting us know or the government for spying on us?

Like you said...he broke the law. He signed a non disclosure agreement..knowing he was going to break it. We should trust his judgement as to what information might be too sensitive to disclose or what could hurt our national security? How noble of him. I'm pretty sure all that is secondary to hoisting himself on a pedestal for his larger than life ego.
None of this makes him a hero...he might better pass for one if he was willing to face the music here for it, but no...run like a rat.

You can not sacrifice freedoms for security.

that's a load of crap. We give up freedom for security all the time...every country does, at different levels. There are no absolutes in this.

Also Snowden probably went to those places because he knew the US could not bully them into giving him back.

Of course...again, how noble of our hero. ..and how two faced.


Yet Geraldo can say on his program US troop positions in Afghanistan, and Bob Woodward can write a book that Osama Bin Laden said on many occasions that anyone who is against the US should read because of the info was good for attacks.

going off on a tangent here..Snowden...not Geraldo or Woodward

[volkov2006]

going off on a tangent here..Snowden...not Geraldo or Woodward

Do you also think that Daniel Ellsberg should not have been considered a hero? He and with Anthony Russo, leaked the Pentagon Papers, a secret account of the Vietnam War and its pretexts to The New York Times, which revealed endemic practices of deception by previous administrations, and contributed to the erosion of public support for the war. They are both whistleblowers. What they want to charge Snowden with is treason which is punishable by death, that goes against the first amendment. Whistleblower laws state that is you release information that helps the general public without causing harm to the US as a whole you can not be charged with a crime. Snowden regardless if you consider him a hero or not a patriot or a traitor he is a whisleblower and should receive the same as every other citizen.

Yes he ran if he did not he may not have even gotten a trial with the NDAA, which give the government the authority to indefinably detain anyone with out even being charged with anything. He put everything on the line to help the American people how does that not make him a hero, regardless of whether he is cleared or convicted his life is destroyed and the American people now know what their government is up to.

Also Benjamin Franklin said "He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither." was he full of crap? Also the more freedoms we sacrifice the more we resemble these countries we claim to hate. And before anyone yells at me I am going to say something that no one wants to hear the terrorist have already won, the government is now starting to harm its own people.

Also Snowden has yet to harm the US where as Geraldo revealed troop positions in a combat zone live that is broadcast to the world how does that not hurt us? Bin Laden also said the Woodward's book helped him so how did that not hurt the US? Name one thins Snowden has done that has harmed the US?

Also if you don't know anything about Bradly Manning you should find out.
http://iam.bradleymanning.org/

[Rabbiteyes]

Alex Jones has noted this.... I don't know. I mean, it could've just been speeding:

hummm or

[Prospero]

NO Snowden is NOT a criminal. He is a patriotic guy who has exposed the snooping carried on against the American people (and their allies) by your intelligence agencies. The fact that Russia, Venezuela et are offering him sanctuary is really a shame - but where else can he go?

[fred41]

NO Snowden is NOT a criminal. He is a patriotic guy who has exposed the snooping carried on against the American people (and their allies) by your intelligence agencies. The fact that Russia, Venezuela et are offering him sanctuary is really a shame - but where else can he go?

I don't want to belabor the point, that's not what this thread is for- so this will be the last I say in this thread (there is a thread for this already in the political section)....but, at the very least, Snowden stole property. Last time I checked - stealing is a crime. Committing a crime makes one a criminal. It's kind of one of the definitions.

So.., in your heart he may be a hero, or a patriot, or a freedom fighter or a masked avenger.
but he's also a criminal.

[notdrunk]

NO Snowden is NOT a criminal. He is a patriotic guy who has exposed the snooping carried on against the American people (and their allies) by your intelligence agencies. The fact that Russia, Venezuela et are offering him sanctuary is really a shame - but where else can he go?

Snowden isn't a patriotic guy. He only became a contractor to snoop around and steal documents from the NSA. He then runs to countries that would benefit from any disclosures about operations against them. He additionally shows classified documents to one country's newspapers showing NSA operations against the newspaper's country even though everybody knows that country is doing the same thing against the US.

Some people including you are forgetting (or, dont' care?) he didn't just leak information about domestic spying.

[volkov2006]

Snowden isn't a patriotic guy. He only became a contractor to snoop around and steal documents from the NSA. He then runs to countries that would benefit from any disclosures about operations against them. He additionally shows classified documents to one country's newspapers showing NSA operations against the newspaper's country even though everybody knows that country is doing the same thing against the US.

Some people including you are forgetting (or, dont' care?) he didn't just leak information about domestic spying.

He said nothing they already knew, unless you think that these countries are to stupid to think that we are not spying or hacking them.

How is he not a patriot, he released info to us that helped the people of the US that the government is taking our freedoms in the form of the First and Fourth amendments. He also showed that the government was lying for years to the public and under oath. Yes he is a criminal and should face justice but he should not be considered a political prisoner that the government is calling him now. Also there is NO evidence that he told them anything, and who has been hurt, I have not seen any terrorist attacks, we have not been hacked since this came out, no one has declared war on us, and no one has attacked us.

Also Russia is our ALLY, even if we disagree about things we are allies. China does not need to actually attack us to cause damage whether it is cyber or physical, they can just stop our imports and in one week we would collapse. So I think we should worry more about other things rather than what he may or may not have told ONE of our enemies and ONE of our ALLIES.

[notdrunk]

He said nothing they already knew, unless you think that these countries are to stupid to think that we are not spying or hacking them.

How is he not a patriot, he released info to us that helped the people of the US that the government is taking our freedoms in the form of the First and Fourth amendments. He also showed that the government was lying for years to the public and under oath. Yes he is a criminal and should face justice but he should not be considered a political prisoner that the government is calling him now. Also there is NO evidence that he told them anything, and who has been hurt, I have not seen any terrorist attacks, we have not been hacked since this came out, no one has declared war on us, and no one has attacked us.

Also Russia is our ALLY, even if we disagree about things we are allies. China does not need to actually attack us to cause damage whether it is cyber or physical, they can just stop our imports and in one week we would collapse. So I think we should worry more about other things rather than what he may or may not have told ONE of our enemies and ONE of our ALLIES.

Actually, he has other documents that he hasn't released. He released some documents to the newspapers but they wouldn't publish them due to national security. He showed documents that laid out specifics about NSA ops against China. No Chinese documents have been released that are similar. The Chinese economy would be hit badly if they stopped imports to the US. Russia isn't our ally. No reason to explain it because it is commonly known.

[volkov2006]

Actually, he has other documents that he hasn't released. He released some documents to the newspapers but they wouldn't publish them due to national security. He showed documents that laid out specifics about NSA ops against China. No Chinese documents have been released that are similar. The Chinese economy would be hit badly if they stopped imports to the US. Russia isn't our ally. No reason to explain it because it is commonly known.

He may or may not have these documents, but the question is has he released them yet, he probably has not released them because they are a bargaining chip for him. And if they were for China specifically he probably did it to show us the hypocrisy of the US government for condemning other countries for cyber attacks when we do the exact same thing.

Our economy would be destroyed if China stopped imports to the US how much do we get from China, and how much do we get from other countries. Could we replace the 50% or so total imports we get from China within the span of a week probably not. China on the other hand ships to many other countries than the US so yes their economy will suffer but not as much as ours. Also they would just set a due date for the loans we have gotten for them, how will that affect our economy?

How is Russia not our ally, are we at war? No. Are we currently at each others necks? No. And Syria does not count that is Russia's ally they are defending them, and we are trying to defend our ally Israel. If we are not enemies, and are not at war then at least we are friends, even if we are on other sides of an issue. Britain, France, Germany, and Japan are our allies and our friends but we don't always see eye to eye. Pakistan is our ally and how do we treat them buy using drones to kill their civilian populace. So even if we are not allies with Russia we are their friend and whatever anyone else says they should be considered a form of ally. And if any one wants to not be their friend or ally, and would rather be their enemy they are touched in the head, they are still a super power and their army is still a force to be weary about.

And apologies to the OP for inadvertently highjacking this thread to a great man, and a great journalist. May he Rest in Peace.