U.S. to World: Give Us Edward Snowden—or Else!
August 4, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
Ever since whistleblower Edward Snowden publicly exposed to the world the massive spying that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) is carrying out on the phone and Internet communications of vast numbers of people around the world, the Obama regime has been pursuing him relentlessly and trying to get him in their clutches. And in the course of this, the U.S. has been carrying out thuggery on a global scale. The U.S. has openly threatened retaliation against any country that gives Snowden asylum status or safe passage. The U.S. Senate is considering imposing sanctions on any government that helps Snowden.
Snowden has reportedly filed for temporary political asylum status in Russia. On July 23, Obama's Attorney General, Eric Holder, sent an official letter to his counterpart in the Russian government, pressing the Russians to not grant Snowden asylum status. Holder's letter said that if Snowden were returned to the U.S., the government would not seek the death penalty, and he "would not be tortured." Holder claimed that "torture is illegal in the United States." Several things stand out: 1) Why should we believe anything that these imperialist gangsters claim or promise, including in relation to Snowden? 2) The whole world knows that the U.S. has tortured prisoners—at Abu Ghraib, at Guantánamo, at secret CIA prisons. And U.S. prisons hold tens of thousands of people in extended isolation—which, to be clear, is torture. 3) The actions of Obama and Company reveal how deeply stung the U.S is by Snowden's leaks, and how worried they are about further revelations Snowden may have in store (or leaks by other whistleblowers who may be inspired by what Snowden did).
Here's a question everyone must confront: Who is the real criminal? The man who, fully aware of how viciously other whistleblowers like Bradley Manning have been persecuted, acted on his conscience and stepped forward to let the world know about the vast use of repressive technology by the U.S.? The man who has dared to speak the truth, as when he ridiculed the NSA rationale for surveillance of everyone by sharply posing, "So we can potentially reveal a potential terrorist with the potential to kill fewer Americans than our own police do every year?" Or is it the government, and the system behind it, that exploits, represses, murders, and tortures people all over the world—and comes down brutally on those who courageously speak out and act against these crimes against humanity?
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