
I Never Said Snowden Is a Hero; He Should Be Tried - aburan28
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304347904579310463077857076
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throwaway420
The biggest problem I have with his statement is that it would be almost
impossible for Snowden to receive what most people would consider a fair
trial.

He likely wouldn't be allowed to argue his motivation and intention for the
leaks, make the case that his actions contributed significantly to vital
public knowledge about government activity, or that his leaks didn't result in
any harm to the US.

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malandrew
Furthermore, AFAIK he wouldn't be tried in the jurisdiction in which he
committed the crimes (Hawaii) and instead would be tried in the backyard of
the intelligence community (Virginia), where the makeup of any jury would
likely be members of the IC community or greatly sympathetic to the IC way of
doing things.

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dmfdmf
> I have not argued, as you allege, that Mr. Snowden is a hero. I have stated
> that history will decide.

This is moral cowardice and political pragmatism at its finest [1]. There is
no "history" to decide anything only people who live in the future, far
removed from the consequences of making a stand or judgement now. You know how
the saying goes... with friends like this...

In my judgement, not only is Snowden a hero but he was wise to leave the
country as a fair trial seems hopeless, as throwaway420 points out. Given the
lack of support for Snowden and the general apathy toward dangerous NSA and
other govt programs I am not optimistic.

[1] To be clear, I do not consider pragmatism to be a virtue. Political
pragmatism means acting without reference or guide to any principles
whatsoever and acting on the range of the moment. There is a distinction
between being politically _practical_ , i.e. accepting what is and is not
politically feasible, and jettisoning your principles when confronted with a
threat to those principles. What does Rand Paul stand for? Nothing.

