Posted on 01/19/2014 4:50:07 PM PST by Greetings_Puny_Humans
He is now.
Honestly I doubt it was that hard for him to do.
It's far more likely that it was Obama who wanted to protect Snowden. Consider the following:
- Snowden leaves HK and takes a flight to Latin America. He has a layover in Moscow.
- At exactly that moment his passport gets cancelled by Obama. Why would Obama do that? It was in NSA's interest to let Snowden continue to Venezuela, or anywhere else except Russia. It would be imperative to remove him from Russian territory. Snowden would have been accessible anywhere else; even in China, if it had to come to that. But TLAs do not operate freely in Russia; Snowden is safe there. If only he made it to Caracas, he could have been just shot dead in the street, or abducted.
- Further, Obama makes several very specific moves designed to support Snowden's asylum request. Per UN rules, an applicant has to prove that his government is after him for political activity. Obama promptly gave a speech, and then they diverted an airplane of a foreign diplomat. Asylum case open and shut.
This leads us to an obvious conclusion: Obama cancelled Snowden's passport at a carefully calculated moment, to make sure he remains in Russia, away from reach of the USA. As an alternative, we can think that Obama is just so incompetent that even his mistakes are lining up in such way as to cause the most damage.
Putin is doing all he can to keep conservatives from seeing this.
Without Snowden’s actions, far fewer people would have been awakened to the reality of the police state that America has morphed into, over the past two decades, “patriot” act, et al.
“Without Snowden’s actions,”
Then he should have just reported on domestic spying, rather than undermining our national security by releasing a huge amount of data that has nothing whatever to do with that, and handing it straight to our enemies in Russia, China and other anti-American countries.
“It’s far more likely that it was Obama who wanted to protect Snowden. Consider the following:”
Incredibly unlikely, considering how much damage it has done to his credibility. Though, there are those who say that Obama has always been a stooge of the Russkies.
The people who’re undermining national security are in high office in Washington.
He probably needed to throw a bone at Rissia and China, as the only entities capable of protecting him from the machinery of a rogue US government.
Yeah, because the people recording all of your phone calls, texts and emails are true patriots, loyal to their oaths to protect and defend the constitution. No...it’s the 29 year old kid who exposed all of these wholesale black letter violations of our rights who should be put against the wall and shot.
“He probably needed to throw a bone at Rissia and China”
At the expense of American security? You guys need to seriously research this stuff before saying stuff like this. You’re defending treason and espionage that puts us all in danger.
Conservatives need to remember that they’re still Americans, something I’m not sure the people on the Putin-Snowden bandwagon seem to remember.
It’s the PEOPLE magazine thinking - personalities, and inability to think of ideas. An American disease.
You think that’s all the NSA and CIA does? Do you have a problem with the CIA recording all the calls of our enemies across the seas, and keeping tabs on every country in the world, in the same way every nation does (just not publicly)?
You need a dose of realisim, and to see the big picture. There’s more at stake here than domestic spying, which, certainly, cannot be tolerated willy-nilly. But undermining our efforts againgst terrorists, letting our enemies know how we’re spying on them, and demonizing the United States within countries like Russia and China which are the worst human rights offeners in the world, is something foul and horrible, and anyone who defends that should be ashamed of themselves.
The NSA revelations throwing light on the Enemy Within was worth whatever risk, real or imagined, the “bone” caused. The Enemy Within is far more dangerous. National security is meaningless when the enemy IS the State.
Because they didn't know already.
Welcome to Free Republic.
/johnny
“Because they didn’t know already.”
They already know all the CIA METHODS of how we are keeping track of them? I said “how.”
That is foul and horrible.
Your overseas adventures can pound sand.
/johnny
“. The Enemy Within is far more dangerous. National security is meaningless when the enemy IS the State.”
Glad you hear you say you apparently have common cause with the Cubans, Chicoms, Russkies, North Koreans, and so on and so forth. Putting this country into danger and undermining our long term survival doesn’t put you on the side of any other group than these guys.
Our federal Constitution was designed to limit severely the power of the federal government.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Stay within the bounds of the Constitution, or face the consequences.
/johnny
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.