Edward Snowden fears foul trial in USA
-DR. ABDUL RUFF COLACHAL
_______________
America, claiming to
be the largest democracy on earth
is threatening with murder of Edward
Snowden for his bold action.
Both USA and Russia
have established worldwide spy networks and they also try to steal intelligence
from each other.
I
Edward Snowden,
former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, who served USA by maintaining
all secret deals of Washington worldwide, has now leaked intelligence to
Russians,
thereby committing treason against USA, according to
the US officials who now want to just get him killed.
But by
doing so, Edward Snowden has done a yeomen service
to the humanity as the world today has become fully aware of all
hidden agendas of USA even before they perpetrated the
Sept-11 crime in order to obtain legitimacy to invade
Muslim nations one by one. Snowden has exposed only US crimes on average Americans and people all over the world but could
do more shocking revelations in future.
For this
very reason, American officials just want to remove him
from the world.
Liquidation of foes has been a major US-CIA
policy pursued for decades now especially after the World War two. While
no American officials could be punished for their crimes, their foes do not get
a fair chance for explanation- they are just eliminated.
USA wants to eliminate an American here.
Edward Snowden is facing similar situation when
US officials have threatened kill him for revealing the
US state secrets about crimes against people.
Fair trials and
trust worthy judgments can build up healthy systems.
Generally,
both fair trial and genuine justice
are denied to people, resulting
in systemic paralysis, leading to distrust in the
judiciary and system. .
II
The
NSA's mass surveillance program, revealed by Snowden has caused widespread
anger after they were leaked by Snowden. Since the Privacy and Civil
Liberties Oversight Board advised by a 3-2 majority that the program should
end, White House officials are annoyed, they want his blood. .
Edward
Snowden, formerly linked to CIA, left the US in late May after leaking to the
media details of extensive internet and phone surveillance by American
intelligence. Snowden, who has been granted temporary asylum in Russia, faces
espionage charges over his actions.
Two
of the charges laid against him by the Obama administration are felony counts
under the Espionage Act, which carry the death penalty. And the record of
American imperialism in assassinating figures it deems politically undesirable
is well established—from the days when the CIA earned the title Murder Inc. to
Obama’s drone strikes.
In December Snowden
delivered an "alternative" Christmas message to Britain's Channel 4
TV, in which he called for an end to mass surveillance. Earlier an independent
US privacy watchdog ruled that the bulk collection of phone call data by US
intelligence agencies is illegal and has had only, if at all,
"minimal" benefits in preventing terrorism.
Snowden
has said he has "no chance" of a fair trial in the USA and so he has
no plans to return there. The 30-year-old has temporary asylum in Russia
after leaking details of US electronic surveillance programs. He said
that his predicament over not having a fair trial was "especially
frustrating". Snowden reiterated that the 100-year-old law under
which he has been charged "forbids a public interest defense. There's no
way I can come home and make my case to a jury," he said.
Snowden said:"Returning to the
US, I think, is the best resolution for the government, the public, and myself,
but it's unfortunately not possible in the face of current whistleblower
protection laws, which, through a failure in law, did not cover national
security contractors. . Maybe when Congress comes together to end the programs...
They'll reform the Whistleblower Protection Act, and we'll see a mechanism for
all Americans, no matter who they work for, to get a fair trial."
US Attorney General
Eric Holder insists that Snowden must accept responsibility for leaking government
secrets. Snowden said that any proceeding
against him would be a show trial, with the 1917 Espionage Act employed to
preclude his putting up a defense of his actions based on their exposure of a
secretive and illegal police state apparatus. Documents supporting his defense
would be deemed classified and ruled out as evidence, and he would have no
opportunity to appeal to the democratic sensibilities of the jury.
The
political witch-hunt that the US establishment is whipping up against Snowden
demonstrates that it has no intention of offering any trial.
The
deal is merely political cover for the plans of the US government to use
extra-judicial means to bring a halt to the exposure of its illegal spying
operations.
The
proposal that Snowden return to the US and quietly accept imprisonment boils
down to the ultimatum: If Snowden were to set foot on US soil, no one would
ever see him again.
USA, unlike its strategic partners like
India that shield their citizens in all possible ways, no matter what crime
they have committed, USA does not want to defend its own citizen
Snowden.
III
Snowden
is now living as a stateless refugee in Russia, and the threat of state murder
is very real whether or not he returns to the USA.
The
Obama regime, like those before him, has already carried out
extra-judicial murders not only in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but even of four
US citizens with Hellfire missiles. The desire to end the revelations of
US spying on people all over the world quickly is shared by the agents of the
NSA, CIA and Pentagon all the way up to the White House.
All
of them have got a common stakes.
Clearly,
the US government has no intention of offering Snowden a fair trial. Snowden
and his attorney have made this clear.
The
Obama regime fears that “a trial could potentially bring
further disclosures and—from the governments point of view —risks
galvanizing even more popular support for Snowden. In an interview yesterday
with the German television network ARD, Snowden warned that US government
officials want to kill him. “These government officials, have said they would
love to put a bullet in my head or poison me when I come out of the
supermarket, and then watch as I die in the shower," Snowden said.
Washington
can justify any official murders as they are entirely consistent with the
political gangsterism being employed to prepare Snowden’s liquidation. It is
quite likely that US officials would authorize criminal gangs across the globe
to target him, just by casually being poked by a passerby. He would think
nothing of it at the time and starts to feel a little woozy and thinks it’s a
parasite from the local water. He goes home very innocently and next thing you
know he is dead in the shower.”
Snowden’s
warning that the US government wants him dead to suppress his revelations of
illegal NSA spying must be taken with the utmost seriousness. It raises the
urgency of developing a global mass movement to defend him, end illegal spy
mechanisms, and oppose the destruction of democratic rights.
Snowden’s
revelations are exposing those in power as the real criminals, making them all
the more determined to physically shut him up and make an example of him.
White
House has devised, authorized and implemented mass spying programs, a system of
total control over the population, in brazen violation of both the law and the
fundamental rights spelled out in the US Constitution.
The
US police state apparatus that has been exposed by Snowden’s revelations has
been built up to defend the interests of the financial oligarchy that controls
the US government. Its totalitarian operations are aimed not at foiling
terrorist plots, but at furthering American capitalism’s predatory aims.
Abroad,
these entail preparing wars, also spying on supposed allies and carrying out
industrial espionage against rival corporations. At home, they mean spying and
collecting dossiers on American working people, who are seen as an increasingly
hostile and dangerous enemy.
The
corporate media funded by arms lobbies among other gangs, as usual, have
smeared Snowden as a traitor and spy.
Polls
show global mass support for Snowden. There is growing anxiety within the
ruling establishment that Snowden’s courageous actions express not just his own
opposition to the criminal activities of the government, but sentiments
building up among the population at large, and particularly among workers,
students and youth. These layers are increasingly fed up with a government of
the rich, by the rich and for the rich that destroys democratic rights as it
transfers the social wealth to the financial aristocracy and wages wars of
aggression.
Edward
Snowden must be defended by all means so that democracy is saved and secret
diplomacy and polices, police state operations end.
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