Edward Snowden makes ‘moral’ case for presidential pardon

Written on September 15th, 2016 in politics Comments Off

Published on The Guardian, by Ewen Mac Askill, Sept 13, 2016.

… The US whistleblower’s comments, made in an interview with the Guardian, came as supporters, including his US lawyer, stepped up a campaign for a presidential pardon. Snowden is wanted in the US, where he is accused of violating the Espionage Act and faces at least 30 years in jail.  

Speaking on Monday via a video link from Moscow, where he is in exile, Snowden said any evaluation of the consequences of his leak of tens of thousands of National Security Agency and GCHQ documents in 2013 would show clearly that people had benefited.

“Yes, there are laws on the books that say one thing, but that is perhaps why the pardon power exists – for the exceptions, for the things that may seem unlawful in letters on a page but when we look at them morally, when we look at them ethically, when we look at the results, it seems these were necessary things, these were vital things,” he said … //

… Snowden has toyed with writing his memoirs but has not made much progress. There are at least three books about him on the way; an extensively researched one by the Washington Post’s Bart Gellman and two others thought to be hostile.

Asked if he was the source for the Panama Papers – the comments by the source sound like Snowden – he laughed. He praised the biggest data leak in history, adding that he would normally be happy to cloak other whistleblowers by neither denying nor confirming he was a source. But he would make an exception in the case of the Panama Papers. “I would not claim any credit for that.”

For someone who has spent his life trying to keep out of the public eye, he has now appeared in a Hollywood movie and an Oscar-winning documentary, and several plays, including Privacy, which just ended a run in New York and in which he has a part alongside Daniel Radcliffe.

“It was an alarming experience for me. I am not an actor. I have been told I am not very good at it. But you know if I can, I can try and maybe it will help, I will give it my best shot” … //

… (full text, 2 Videos, more related links).

Related Links:

Links:

What did we buy with the $5 Trillion that the Iraq & Afghanistan Wars have cost us? on Informed Comment, by Juan Cole, Sept 13, 2016 … when we consider the human cost: some 7,000 US troops dead, 52,000 wounded in action; hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead who wouldn’t otherwise be, 4 million displaced and made homeless, … etc.
(see also: US Budgetary Costs of Wars through 2016, on Watson Institute, Brown University.edu, by Neta C. Crawford, Sept 2016: $4.79 Trillion and Counting Summary of Costs of the US Wars in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan and Homeland Security);

Merkel’s Challenge – Navigating the Post-Fact Era, on Spiegel Online International, by Klaus Brinkbäumer, Sept 13. 2016: Angela Merkel used to be celebrated for her composed determination and sober analysis of the facts. Now, though, her refusal to own up to her mistakes makes her alook stubborn… and facts have lost their importance. A SPIEGEL Editorial;
(see also: The September 4 state election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania …, on Spiegel Online International, by Sebastian Fischer, Sept 5. 2016);

So much fat – the cruel autopsy of a 17-stone woman on the BBC, on The Guardian, by Helen Archer, Sept 13, 2016: in Obesity – the Post Mortem, pathologists cut open an anonymous woman’s body, exclaiming that her liver is like pate as their knives become slippery. Even in death, people can be horribly, gratuitously fat-shamed;

76% Want Four-Person Debates, Why Are Establishment Elites Preventing It, on The Real News, Kevin Zeese, Sept 12, 2016: a recent USA Today poll found 76% of voters want debates with four candidates including not just the two most hated candidates in history, the Republican and Democratic nominees and their vice presidential running mates, but Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka of the Greens, and Gary Johnson and Bill Weld of the Libertarians …;

The Israel Factor in the Syrian Ceasefire, on The Real News, Sept 12, 2016 … a result of several weeks’ worth of negotiations between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov …;

Das Finanzsystem von morgen, 70.35 min, von Andreas Popp am 1. Sept 2016 … mit Andreas Popp und Franz Hörmann am Querdenken Kongreß 2016 HD;

SURVIVAL OUT OF THE GRID:

Conrad Novak, Survivors Fortress, on Google Web-search;

read again from April 24, 2016 on this blog: prepare to survive the next total crash:

… and this:

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