Secretary of State John Kerry said that Edward Snowden should “return home and come back here and stand in our system of justice and make his case.” Kerry seems to have a high opinion of the Department of Justice and the US courts when it comes to national security issues. I can’t imagine for the life of me why. Kerry is either amazingly ignorant or being disingenuous when he suggests that Snowden would be allowed to “make his case” if he returned to the US. No one outside the penal justice system would ever see him again, the moment he set foot here, assuming he was not given a prior deal. He could maybe try to explain himself to the prison guards, assuming they didn’t stick him in solitary. Here are some reasons Mr. Snowden would be unwise to trust himself to that system, given the charges against him:
1. L' Relatore Speciale di l'ONU truvò chì i Stati Uniti era culpèvule di trattamentu crudeli è inumani di Chelsea (Bradley) Manning, chì era rispunsevuli di u Wikileaks è di e rivelazioni di l'uccisione di i ghjurnalisti disarmati in Iraq. Manning hè statu tenutu in isolamentu è isolatu 23 ore à ghjornu per mesi à a fine, hè statu tenutu nudu è incatenatu à un lettu, è hè statu sottumessu à tecniche di privazione di u sonnu, tutte e trè forme ben cunnisciute di tortura, cù u pretestu trumped chì era suicidiu (u so psichiatru ùn hè micca d'accordu).
2. L' L'attu di spionamentu sottu à quale Snowden puderia esse pruvatu hè una lege fascista da u tempu quandu u presidente Woodrow Wilson (like Obama a scholar of the constitution) was trying to take the US into the war, and was used to repeal the First Amendment right of Americans to protest this action. It was used to arbitrarily imprison thousands and is full of unconstitutional provisions. In recent decades the act was used against whistleblowers only three times, but Barack Obama loves it to death. It is an embarrassment that it is still on the books and it reflects extremely badly on Obama and on Eric Holder that they have revived it as a tool against whistleblowing (which is most often a public service).
3. John Kiriakou, chì hà revelatu a tortura di a CIA sottu Bush-Cheney, hè statu impeditu da a Legge di Spionaggio from addressing the jury to explain the intentions behind his actions and therefore forced into a plea bargain. None of the CIA officers who perpetrated the torture or their superiors, who ordered it, have been punished, but Kiriakou is in prison and his family is in danger of losing the house because of the lack of income. U publicu di i Stati Uniti meritava di cunnosce a tortura piuttostu chè d'avè Obama intarratu cum'è ellu hà intarratu tante altre cose sbagliate cù u sistema.
4. National security official such as Snowden ùn sò micca cuparti da prutezzione per i whistleblowers in u guvernu federale, cum'è Thomas Drake hà scupertu.Drake hà aiutatu à purtà à l'attenzione publica l'abusi di l'Agenzia di Sicurezza Naziunale chì Snowden hà eventualmente fattu più trasparenti. Ma hè statu custrettu à chjappà à l'accusazione di abusu di l'urdinatori di u guvernu. Hà persu a so carriera è a so ritirata, per avè pruvatu à fà sapè chì quandu si face à una scelta trà un sistema di surviglianza chì era indiscriminatu è quellu chì era destinatu, u guvernu US hè andatu indiscriminatu. Indiscriminate hè inconstituziunale.
5. Ùn solu l'US tortura Manning, i funzionari di i Stati Uniti anu in parechje occasioni praticatu l'arrestu arbitrariu è l'incarcerazione è a tortura. A maiò spessu queste pulitiche sò state promulgate à l'esteru, cum'è à Abu Ghraib, Bagram, Guantanamo, è siti neri in paesi cum'è Pulonia. Ma l'arrestu arbitrariu, l'omicidi di scatula felice è l'isolamentu allargatu sò tutti praticati ancu in u paese, nantu à i Stati Uniti. vastu gulag di 2.4 milioni di prigiuneri, 4/5 di elli neri o marroni. Un quartu di tutti i prigiuneri in prigiò in u mondu sanu di 7 miliardi di persone sò in i Stati Uniti. In ogni mumentu 80,000 prigiuneri americani sò in isolamentu 23 ore à ghjornu. Abu Ghraib wasn’t a low-level military excess. It was simply the transposition to Iraq of the ideals of an incarcerating society, dedicating to disciplining and interrogating those who fall into the system’s hands. You don’t get these outcomes– a fourth of the world’s prisoners and a small city worth people in solitary confinement by accident. These abuses are systemic, and worsened by the privatization of prisons. John Kerry’s notion that there is a fair trial to be had for Snowden in this cruelly flawed system is bizarre.
Kerry is a bright and informed man and knows all this. I vote for disingenuous. He is just trying to deflect Snowden’s obvious popularity with the public and is trying desperately to keep the NSA warrantless dragnet on us all in place. I remember when he compared the US military in Vietnam to the Mongol hordes. He should take off those big black expensive shiny shoes once in a while. He’d find feet of clay there now.
ZNetwork hè finanzatu solu da a generosità di i so lettori.
Donate
1 Comment
When I saw Kerry in the NBC interview I saw a bully. Wealth and power, no surprise, nothing new here. Another symptom of systemic cancer requiring a complete treatment and rehabilitation.