Is Edward Snowden A Traitor?

[dolamite]

Doesn't matter. If he was naive enough to believe that he wouldn't be doing questionable things while working for the NSA then that's his own stupid fault. It's not his place to decide what is right and wrong. He could have compromised our country with his actions. What if what he was doing was something you morally disagreed with? Does that make it wrong then?

 

Depends on what it is. For coming out and saying, hey guys our government is totally spying on every move you make (illegally) I can't really hate him for that.

[BigVMan23]

Let me ask you this though. If he had stayed in the US and not leaked the documents to any other country do you think he would have avoided punishment? I highly doubt it. He done the American thing by sticking up for our freedoms, but then America would have done the American thing and executed him for it. It was a lose-lose for him IMO. No way he goes unpunished if he stays in the states, they have to sign confidentiality forms and everything so he was screwed. So with that in mind I find it hard to hate on him for getting the heck out of dodge. Sounded like a long stay down in Guantanamo to me.

 

There was another way to do it rather than turning traitor and feeling to Russia. Not saying he wouldn't have undergone some hardship, but he would have had lots of help to get him out of it.

[PurplePride92]

Depends on what it is. For coming out and saying, hey guys our government is totally spying on every move you make (illegally) I can't really hate him for that.

 

What if he is making it up and has an agenda? What if everything the government has said is true and Snowden is lying?

[dolamite]

There was another way to do it rather than turning traitor and feeling to Russia. Not saying he wouldn't have undergone some hardship, but he would have had lots of help to get him out of it.

 

It wasn't like he was Lee Harvey Oswald and was dying to be Russian. He didn't exactly go to Russia or China because he was in love with the place, it was really about the only places he could go that would give him some form of protection. The US tried to block every move he made and would have tracked him down and captured him in 98% of the world's countries. He ended up in Russia because they have a big enough pair and a long enough rocky history with the US to pretty much say, "you're not getting him here".

 

He didn't really have anywhere to go. If he stayed in the US he would have been screwed, if he went to Canada or Mexico he would have been screwed. If he went to the UK, France, Germany, Italy, etc. he would definitely be screwed. I mean what else did he have to do really other than die for his actions at the hands of the US government. In which he would have been martyr then.

 

Regardless of what you guys suggest, by him spilling the beans the US was going to get him no matter if he went to another country or not. He could have stayed here and begged for mercy and I would guarantee you we would have probabbly already been reading his obituary.

[dolamite]

What if he is making it up and has an agenda? What if everything the government has said is true and Snowden is lying?

 

:lol:

 

 

He's going to go through all this trouble and risk life and limb because he had a personal agenda and was making it all up?

[PurplePride92]

:lol:

 

 

He's going to go through all this trouble and risk life and limb because he had a personal agenda and was making it all up?

 

Who said his agenda had to be personal? Do you not think it is possible he is working for someone else? I think he's an idiot myself but that's my opinion. Why would any one person, right or wrong, go up against a government by themselves that he believes is doing wrong? That spells all kinds of stupid to me. That is also why I think there is way way more to Snowden than what meets the eye. For all we know the government could have been infiltrated. He could be a plant for all we know.

[Hellbird]

Here is my take, wether or not he is arreted for being a traitor or not, the bottomline is he is a theif. No matter if what the Govt was doing was right or wrong ins't an issue here. He stole documents from his workplace which makes him a theif. Put on top of that the fact that the documents were classified is what makes him a traitor.

 

Traitor or not, he is a theif and should be prosecuted. If he wanted to do the right thing he could have just made it known what the gov't was doing without stealing documents. Either way I hope he gets prosecuted.

[LIPTON BASH]

So if he did what he did (leaked the docs to reporter) but stayed in the US and was arrested then he's not a traitor?

 

I'd lean yes if it was proven the government was breaking the law.

[LIPTON BASH]

Doesn't matter. If he was naive enough to believe that he wouldn't be doing questionable things while working for the NSA then that's his own stupid fault. It's not his place to decide what is right and wrong. He could have compromised our country with his actions. What if what he was doing was something you morally disagreed with? Does that make it wrong then?

 

I just refuse to accept our government agencies should be doing shady things to its citizens. The scandal I thought was blown out proportion was our spies spying on other governments including our allies. That's what I expect them to do.

[LIPTON BASH]

Who said his agenda had to be personal? Do you not think it is possible he is working for someone else? I think he's an idiot myself but that's my opinion. Why would any one person, right or wrong, go up against a government by themselves that he believes is doing wrong? That spells all kinds of stupid to me. That is also why I think there is way way more to Snowden than what meets the eye. For all we know the government could have been infiltrated. He could be a plant for all we know.

 

Hasn't one Federal judge already ruled the government was wrong? NSA has come out this week and all but admitted it lied to congress under oath. I think Snowden deserves to be punished for how he went about this whole issue. Someone said earlier he could contacted member of congress and the more I think about it that would of been the right way and the legal way. There is a republican libertarin congressman in Michigan who would of told his story.

[PurplePride92]

I just refuse to accept our government agencies should be doing shady things to its citizens. The scandal I thought was blown out proportion was our spies spying on other governments including our allies. That's what I expect them to do.

 

 

Everybody is different. I'm not taking Snowden's words as the gospel anymore than the government's. I know the government didn't run and hide though. The government didn't go to another country begging for safe quarters in exchange for info. I also know that Mitch McConnell made perfect sense when he explained the situation. For me personally, I don't care if the government wants to waste their time looking at my dumb text messages between myself and my friends. I am doing nothing wrong and once they see that they'll move along. I have nothing to hide and neither should any other innocent citizen.

[PurplePride92]

Hasn't one Federal judge already ruled the government was wrong? NSA has come out this week and all but admitted it lied to congress under oath. I think Snowden deserves to be punished for how he went about this whole issue. Someone said earlier he could contacted member of congress and the more I think about it that would of been the right way and the legal way. There is a republican libertarin congressman in Michigan who would of told his story.

 

There are probably plenty of people who would have listened to his story. But he chose this way?

[Clyde]

He's sitting in Russia. Don't think for a second Putin isn't throwing back a shot of their best vodka every hour on the hour celebrating what he has in his hands.

 

Two people and two people only have access to the documents. Snowden is not one of them. He didn't want to allow any foreign country to have access so the two people, a reporter named Glenn Greenwald and another report last name Poitras. Snowden didn't take them with him to Russia. To remove that possibility of him being put in a bad position he does not know how to access the files now.

[Clyde]

What if he is making it up and has an agenda? What if everything the government has said is true and Snowden is lying?

 

Well so far the govt has said he's telling the truth. They admitted to the NSA search after he revealed it.

[LIPTON BASH]

Everybody is different. I'm not taking Snowden's words as the gospel anymore than the government's. I know the government didn't run and hide though. The government didn't go to another country begging for safe quarters in exchange for info. I also know that Mitch McConnell made perfect sense when he explained the situation. For me personally, I don't care if the government wants to waste their time looking at my dumb text messages between myself and my friends. I am doing nothing wrong and once they see that they'll move along. I have nothing to hide and neither should any other innocent citizen.

 

We both agree going to another country was the wrong move.