What is the definition of a patriot? According to WordNet, a lexical datebase for English provided online by Princeton University, it means this:
Patriot (Noun): One who loves and defends his or her country. (A synonym for the word is "nationalist.")
(Above: Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President of the United States from 1923-1929. He gained a reputation as a small-government conservative, and also as a man who said very little. Courtesy of Wikipedia)
Calvin Coolidge, one of the most unheralded in the history of the United States, was quoted as having said the following with regard to patriotism:
"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."
And this:
"Patriotism is easy to understand in America; it means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country."
And so it is, then, that history will describe and therefore know the great young patriot of our time, the brave young soul named Edward Snowden. He recognized the surveillance program conducted by the NSA known now to be PRISM violated the very spirit upon which this nation was founded and acted as a subversive for the cause of liberty of not merely the American people, but people from all walks of life. In the spirit of Thomas Jefferson, who authored the Declaration of Independence in 1776, he is pledging his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor. He is a freedom fighter, fighting against the rising red dragon as warned to us by God that seeks to subjugate the peoples of not just the United States of America, but the world. He will probably die a martyr's death at the hands of the Obama administration under mysterious circumstances, and under the pretense of his being a threat to the American people and to their security. What they really will be meaning is the sovereignty of the Obama administration.
In the words of Nathan Hale, the Connecticut state hero of the American Revolution who was captured by the British while, ironically enough, engaged in intelligence-gathering in New York City and hanged on September 22, 1776:
(Above to the Left: Picture/Drawing of Nathan Hale at his execution; to the Right: Picture/Drawing of Nathan Hale.)
"I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country."
He is the modern-day Nathan Hale, schooled in the operations of cyber security and computer surveillance, and endowed with a conscience so pure and a patriotism so rarely found in present-day America that such people as him are decried as as being "fascists," and furthermore, "threats to national security and the American institution of the democratic process." Such labels as those, as well as the oft-derided term "nationalist," are designated for people on the political Right, conservatives and civil libertarians, who demand accountability from their government. We have as a people so often relinquished our civil liberties, the liberties bequeathed us by our Creator, in the name of social progress through the creation of the welfare state and the implementation of democratic socialism. Yet Mr. Snowden realizes that to achieve liberty, a heavy price must be paid. It is, according to Jefferson, the one and only way one may achieve autonomy from an totalitarian entity such as the Obama administration:
(Above: Painting of Thomas Jefferson, circa 1800, by Rembrandt Peale. Courtesy of Wikipedia)
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."A worldwide blood bath is preparing to commence. This revelation by Snowden may be the contemporary "shot heard around the world."
That is all I will speak on the matter. The rest is up to you as to how you will interpret the times in which we live. I will part, then, with one of the most famous phrase with regard to patriotism in American history by the British-born philosophe of the 18th Century Enlightenment of Europe and the Americas:
(Above: Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense, The American Crisis, The Rights of Man, and The Age of Reason. Picture courtesy of Wikipedia.)
"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."
- Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, December 23, 1776
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Ex-CIA man says exposed spy scheme for better world
By Andrew Osborn and Peter Graff
LONDON |
(Reuters) - An ex-CIA employee working as a contractor at the U.S. National Security Agency said he was the man who had leaked details of a top secret U.S. surveillance program, acting out of conscience to protect "basic liberties for people around the world".
Holed up in a hotel room in Hong Kong, Edward Snowden, 29, said he had thought long and hard before publicizing details of an NSA program codenamed PRISM, saying he had done so because he felt his country was building an unaccountable and secret espionage machine that spied on every American.
Both the Washington Post and Britain's Guardian newspaper - to whom he gave the documents he had purloined - published his identity on Sunday.
"I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things ... I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under," he told the Guardian, which published a video interview with him on its website.
"The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your emails or your wife's phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards," he said.
The Guardian published revelations this week that U.S. security services monitored data about phone calls from Verizon and Internet data from large companies such as Google and Facebook.
The exposure of the secret programs has triggered widespread debate within the United States and abroad about the vast reach of the NSA, which has expanded its surveillance programs dramatically in the last decade. U.S. officials say the agency operates within the law.
Snowden's decision to reveal his identity and whereabouts lifts the lid on one of the biggest security leaks in U.S. history and escalates a story that has embarrassed the administration of President Barack Obama.
His decision to go public also potentially exposes him to the wrath of the U.S. authorities. The Guardian compared him to Bradley Manning, a soldier now on trial for aiding the enemy, for passing classified military and state department files to anti-secrecy website Wikileaks.
SLEEPLESS NIGHTS
Snowden, who said he had left his girlfriend in Hawaii without telling her where he was going, said he knew the risk he was taking, but thought the publicity his revelations had garnered in the past few days had made it worth it.
"My primary fear is that they will come after my family, my friends, my partner. Anyone I have a relationship with," he said. "I will have to live with that for the rest of my life. I am not going to be able to communicate with them. They (the authorities) will act aggressively against anyone who has known me. That keeps me up at night."
He spoke of his willingness to give up a comfortable life in Hawaii, where he earned about $200,000 a year: "I'm willing to sacrifice all of that because I can't in good conscience allow the U.S. government to destroy privacy, Internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building."
Within minutes of Snowden's name being revealed by the Guardian he had become an instant folk hero.
At left-leaning U.S. blog The Daily Kos, contributor "Corvo" wrote "It's a shame that Edward Snowden won't be 36 years of age on 20 January 2017; otherwise I should want to vote for him to be our next president."
Snowden, a former CIA technical assistant, said he had been working at the super-secret NSA as an employee of defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton and decided to break his silence after becoming disenchanted with Obama whom he said had continued the policies of predecessor George W. Bush.
"My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which was done in their name and that which is done against them," he said. "I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions. I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant."
The Guardian said Snowden had been working at the NSA for four years as a contractor for outside companies including Booz Hamilton and Dell.
Three weeks ago, he copied the secret documents at the NSA office in Hawaii where he works and told his supervisor he needed "a couple of weeks" off for treatment for epilepsy, the paper said. On May 20 he flew to Hong Kong, which he said he chose because "they have a spirited commitment to free speech and the right of political dissent".
In the video interview he looked relaxed, bespectacled and wearing a light beard and a dark grey shirt. The newspaper said he had only ventured outside three times since his arrival in Hong Kong and was fearful the CIA was going to come for him.
He said he was ultimately hoping that Iceland, which values Internet freedom, might grant him asylum.
The Guardian said he had stuffed pillows beneath his hotel room door to ward off snoopers and that he cloaked himself beneath a red hood when using his computer to try to keep his passwords safe.
(Reporting by Andrew Osborn and Peter Graff; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Peter Graff)
(Courtesy of Reuters)
***
Here is another article, detailing the fate of which will be of the most sinister in nature (Courtesy of Reuters):
In Hong Kong, ex-CIA man may not escape
By David Ingram and James Pomfret
WASHINGTON/HONG KONG |
(Reuters) - Edward Snowden's decision to flee to Hong Kong as he prepared to expose the U.S. government's secret surveillance programs may not save him from prosecution due to an extradition treaty in force since 1998.
A 29-year-old former CIA employee, Snowden has identified himself as the person who gave the Guardian and the Washington Post classified documents about how the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) obtained data from U.S. telecom and Internet companies.
While preparing his leaks, Snowden left Hawaii for Hong Kong on May 20 so he would be in a place that might be able to resist U.S. prosecution attempts, he told the Guardian.
"Mainland China does have significant restrictions on free speech but the people of Hong Kong have a long tradition of protesting in the streets, making their views known," Snowden, a U.S. citizen, said in a video interview posted on the Guardian's website.
The NSA has requested a criminal probe into the leaks and, on Sunday, the U.S. Justice Department said it was in the initial stages of a criminal investigation.
The United States and Hong Kong signed their extradition treaty in 1996, a year before the former British colony was returned to China. It allows for the exchange of criminal suspects in a formal process that may also involve the Chinese government.
The treaty went into force in 1998 and provides that Hong Kong authorities can hold Snowden for 60 days, following a U.S. request that includes probable cause, while Washington prepares a formal extradition request. Some lawyers with expertise in extraditions said it would be a challenge for Snowden to circumvent the treaty if the U.S. government decides to prosecute him.
"They're not going to put at risk their relationship with the U.S. over Mr. Snowden, and very few people have found that they have the clout to persuade another country to go out of their way for them," said Robert Anello, a New York lawyer who has handled extradition cases.
However, under Hong Kong's Fugitives Offenders Ordinance, Beijing can issue an "instruction" to the city's leader to take or not take action on extraditions where the interests of China "in matters of defense or foreign affairs would be significantly affected."
Hong Kong was returned to Chinese rule amid constitutional guarantees for a high degree of autonomy. China, however, has responsibility over defense and foreign affairs and has exerted considerable behind-the-scenes influence over the financial hub's political, financial, legal and academic spheres.
"We've never seen the Chinese government interfere in these sorts of decisions before," said Patricia Ho, a lawyer with Daly & Associates in Hong Kong, who has dealt extensively with refugees and asylum claims in the city.
The U.S. consulate in Hong Kong wouldn't comment when asked if an extradition claim would be made for Snowden. Nor would it confirm if he was still in the city. Hong Kong's Security Bureau and Justice Department also gave no immediate comment.
PAST CASES
In March, a former equities research analyst, Trent Martin, was extradited from Hong Kong to New York to face charges of insider trading. He had been arrested in Hong Kong in December and has pleaded not guilty.
Other suspects were extradited for smuggling charges, suspicion of violating controls on military exports, investment fraud charges and the alleged sale of illegal prescription drugs, according to U.S. prosecutor statements at the time.
But Hong Kong has not agreed to every U.S. request for a prisoner transfer. In 2008, Hong Kong released without explanation an Iranian operative whom Washington had accused of trying to obtain embargoed airplane parts. Yousef Boushvash was in custody with a criminal complaint on file in New York, so his release angered U.S. officials.
Douglas McNabb, a Houston lawyer who specializes in extradition, said he was surprised to hear that Snowden had chosen Hong Kong as a safe haven given the existing treaty.
"Probable cause won't be hard," McNabb said. "This guy came out and said, 'I did it.' His best defense would probably be that this is a political case instead of a criminal one." The treaty prohibits extradition for political cases.
Another defense for Snowden, lawyers said, would be to argue a lack of "dual-criminality" - for a person to be extradited, the alleged act must be a crime in both countries. While that will be for a Hong Kong court to decide, it might be a long shot, Anello said. "My guess is they will be able to find a law in Hong Kong that is very similar" to the U.S. Espionage Act, he said.
It was not immediately clear whether Snowden had a lawyer.
Jesselyn Radack, a former Justice Department lawyer who represents whistleblowers, said she expected prosecutors would "try to indict him as soon as possible" with "voluminous" Espionage Act charges followed by Interpol warrants for his arrest. But she said Snowden fit the profile and legal definition of a whistleblower and should be entitled to protection under a federal law passed to protect people who reveal waste and abuse.
"He said very clearly in statements that he's given that he was doing this to serve a public purpose," Radack said.
Asked if he had a plan in place, Snowden told the Guardian: "The only thing I can do is sit here and hope the Hong Kong government does not deport me ... My predisposition is to seek asylum in a country with shared values. The nation that most encompasses this is Iceland. They stood up for people over Internet freedom. I have no idea what my future is going to be."
(Additional reporting by David Ingram, Mark Hosenball, John Shiffman, Joseph Ax, Andrew Longstreth and Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Ian Geoghegan)
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