Tim Lee asks the question:
Has the U.S. become the type of nation from which you have to seek asylum?
National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden
has fled to Hong Kong. He plans to seek asylum in a nation with a strong civil liberties record, such as Iceland.
What if he would have surrendered to the government?
If Snowden had surrendered himself to U.S. authorities, he almost certainly would have faced charges that carry penalties of decades in prison. He might have rationally feared being subject to years of pretrial detention and the kind of degrading treatment Manning faced. And if he had chosen to fight the charges, he would have risked spending decades in prison if he lost.
on a link from Instapundit
1 comment:
Give me a break, the guy broke the law. You call facing just criminal charges "persecution"? I've never had much doubt that everything we do, read, and write these days is recorded, not only by the gov't but by businesses. Anyone who didn't already suspect PRISM was going on before last week was only kidding themselves. He certainly didn't have to release confidential documents to convince me or any half-wit that this stuff is going on. Should we not punish those who release secure documents? If not, what will reign them in? I'm not sure why no one is talking about it, but almost every cell phone has a GPS unit in it, and a front-side camera, which means the NSA also knows where every American is, every moment of the day, and could potentially snap photos of us without us even knowing. Did someone say "1984"?
Post a Comment