Daniel Ellsberg: "Snowden right to flee U.S."

[Cyrano]

In an op-ed column in today's Washington Post, Daniel Ellsberg says that we live in a different era than that in which he released the Pentagon Papers.

"I hope Snowden’s revelations will spark a movement to rescue our democracy, but he could not be part of that movement had he stayed here. There is zero chance that he would be allowed out on bail if he returned now and close to no chance that, had he not left the country, he would have been granted bail. Instead, he would be in a prison cell like Bradley Manning, incommunicado.

He would almost certainly be confined in total isolation, even longer than the more than eight months Manning suffered during his three years of imprisonment before his trial began recently. The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Torture described Manning’s conditions as “cruel, inhuman and degrading.” (That realistic prospect, by itself, is grounds for most countries granting Snowden asylum, if they could withstand bullying and bribery from the United States.)

Snowden believes that he has done nothing wrong. I agree wholeheartedly. More than 40 years after my unauthorized disclosure of the Pentagon Papers, such leaks remain the lifeblood of a free press and our republic. One lesson of the Pentagon Papers and Snowden’s leaks is simple: secrecy corrupts, just as power corrupts."

Well worth reading. Click on link below to WP.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/daniel-ellsberg-nsa-leaker-snowden-made-the-right-call/2013/07/07/0b46d96c-e5b7-11e2-aef3-339619eab080_story.html

[frazzled]

1. The glory days of yore

when the White House could break into your psychiatrist's office to steal your records and discuss having you killed:

Kinda Curious What That Means

Many critics have unfavorably compared Edward Snowden to Daniel Ellsberg because he fled the country rather than stand trial. But Ellsberg now says that’s not a fair comparison because “The country I stayed in was a different America, a long time ago.”

Both as a rhetorical question and a real question I’m curious just what Ellsberg means by that. His basic argument is that he was able to stay out on bail and that wouldn’t have been an option for Snowden. On the other hand, the White House at the time was running a special operations team against Ellsberg out of the White House, including breaking into his psychiatrist’s office and at least some discussions of having him killed. So I’m not sure we can call those the glory days.

http://editors.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/07/kinda_curious_what_that_means_1.php?ref=fpblg

[Cyrano]

2. I've got to disagree with Josh Marshall at TPM

The Nixon years weren't "the good old days." But today's America is a far, far more dangerous place for whistle blowers.

Ellsberg knew that he'd be able to keep speaking, even from jail. My guess is that Snowden will be thrown into the deepest pit that can be found and we'll never hear from him again.

[frazzled]

3. "Your guess"

That's great. You've got that kind of "gut instinct" that Bush was so fond of.

My gut tells me that any prosecution and incarceration here would be held to the utmost standards of civilian jurisprudence, if for nothing else than the optics. Of course, once you've fled the country, you ARE considered a risk for flight, so the normal consequences of that would hold. (Ellsberg never fled, so he didn't face that problem; it's one that Snowden brought totally on himself.)

[Cyrano]

5. Actually, what Snowden brought on all of us was

truths that we are entitled to know.

(Also, there's no need for snideness in a response. I always try to be polite to everyone on DU and I expect the same in return.)

[Th1onein]

7. Actually, Ellsberg was, for three days, a "fugitive from justice."

So, that argument doesn't hold water.

[frazzled]

8. Did not flee the country

A huge difference, my friend.

[Harmony Blue]

4. Not only that but Manning was tortured

that pretty much sums up what is happening with America.

[Cyrano]

6. Yep. And our non-reaction is disgraceful.

We've been sliding down that "slippery slope" for a long time now. I can't believe how docile Americans have become. (Except for the tea baggers, of course.) I wonder whether the sane majority will ever start fighting back.