Good NYT editorial on Snowden

So the NYT editorial board finally came down on the side of Edward Snowden. Better late than never. The editorial is called, appropriately, "Edward Snowden: Whistle-Blower".

Considering the enormous value of the information he has revealed, and the abuses he has exposed, Mr. Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear and flight. He may have committed a crime to do so, but he has done his country a great service. It is time for the United States to offer Mr. Snowden a plea bargain or some form of clemency that would allow him to return home, face at least substantially reduced punishment in light of his role as a whistle-blower, and have the hope of a life advocating for greater privacy and far stronger oversight of the runaway intelligence community. 

Later in the editorial, they quote our president's hollow words:

“If the concern was that somehow this was the only way to get this information out to the public, I signed an executive order well before Mr. Snowden leaked this information that provided whistle-blower protection to the intelligence community for the first time,” Mr. Obama said at a news conference. “So there were other avenues available for somebody whose conscience was stirred and thought that they needed to question government actions."

In fact, that executive order did not apply to contractors, only to intelligence employees, rendering its protections useless to Mr. Snowden.

Nice of them to make that final catch. The president has been a monster to whistleblowers throughout his presidency. And his statement with regard to Snowden is an outright lie. 

Maybe 2014 will be the year of Snowden's vindication in America. He is already a hero to so many. This editorial gives me hope that the bravery and loyalty of his actions will finally be recognized in his home country. 

Wouldn't that be nice? 

Snowden says he already won. I agree.

Raw Story (which is a great web site, BTW) has a story about Edward Snowden today. In it, Snowden says he's already won. And he is so right.

“For me, in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission’s already accomplished,” Snowden told the Post. “I already won. As soon as the journalists were able to work, everything that I had been trying to do was validated. Because, remember, I didn’t want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself.”

I find him consistently well-spoken and sensible. He is the perfect emissary for this mission, a man who can state clearly what he did, and why. The man always says the right thing.

And as for critics who question his loyalty to the US:

“There is no evidence at all for the claim that I have loyalties to Russia or China or any country other than the United States,” Snowden told the Post. “I have no relationship with the Russian government. I have not entered into any agreements with them. If I defected at all, I defected from the government to the public.”

He revealed the extent of the US surveillance apparatus because he's a good and brave American. It's that simple. One day he'll receive a major American award for this. He single-handedly turned the tide on U.S. surveillance. Now, that's something to be proud of. We will reap the benefits of Edward Snowden's bravery for many decades.