{"id":101186,"date":"2013-12-25T08:22:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-25T08:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?guid=c97ef2a9323f06e57a9b1d8d356d4510"},"modified":"2013-12-25T08:22:00","modified_gmt":"2013-12-25T08:22:00","slug":"mission-accomplished-says-snowden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/editorials\/mission-accomplished-says-snowden\/","title":{"rendered":"Mission Accomplished, Says Snowden"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\"><b>Mission Accomplished, Says Snowden<\/b><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">by Stephen Lendman<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">On December 23, he told the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/edward-snowden-after-months-of-nsa-revelations-says-his-missions-accomplished\/2013\/12\/23\/49fc36de-6c1c-11e3-a523-fe73f0ff6b8d_story.html\"><span style=\"color: #1255cc;\">Washington Post<\/span><\/a>:<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;For me, in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission\u2019s already accomplished. I already won.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;As soon as the journalists were able to work, everything that I had been trying to do was validated. Because, remember, I didn\u2019t want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;All I wanted was for the public to be able to have a say in how they are governed. That is a milestone we left a long time ago. Right now, all we are looking at are stretch goals.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">WaPo called Snowden &#8220;an orderly thinker, with an engineer&#8217;s approach to problem-solving.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;He had come to believe that a dangerous machine of mass surveillance was growing unchecked.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Woefully inadequate congressional oversight and rubber-stamp FISA court rulings reflect a &#8220;graveyard of judgment,&#8221; he said.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">NSA&#8217;s business is &#8220;information dominance,&#8221; he stressed. He didn&#8217;t know if others would share his views.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;But when you weigh that against the alternative, which is not to act, you realize that some analysis is better than&#8221; none, he said.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;Because even if your analysis proves to be wrong, the marketplace of ideas will bear that out.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;If you look at it from an engineering perspective, an iterative perspective, it&#8217;s clear that you have to try something rather than do nothing.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">He succeeded beyond anything he could have imagined. He captured world attention. Millions consider him heroic. There&#8217;s no turning back now.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">On June 22, a Justice Department<a href=\"http:\/\/apps.washingtonpost.com\/g\/documents\/world\/us-vs-edward-j-snowden-criminal-complaint\/496\/\"><span style=\"color: #1255cc;\"> criminal complaint<\/span><\/a> charged him with espionage and felony theft of government property.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">He signed NSA&#8217;s Standard Form 312. He called it a civil contract. &#8220;The oath of allegiance is not an oath of secrecy,&#8221; he said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;This is an oath to the Constitution. That is the oath that I kept that (NSA chief) Keith Alexander and (Director of National Intelligence) James Clapper did not.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">He&#8217;s irresponsibly accused of disloyalty. &#8220;I am not trying to bring down the NSA,&#8221; he stressed.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;I am working to improve&#8221; it. &#8220;I am still working for the NSA right now. They are the only ones who don&#8217;t realize it.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;The system failed comprehensively, and each level of oversight, each level of responsibility that should have addressed this, abdicated their responsibility,&#8221; he said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Some of his NSA colleagues feel the same way. They were &#8220;astonished to learn we are collecting more in the United States on Americans than we are on Russians in Russia.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;What the government wants is something they never had before,&#8221; he stressed.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;They want total awareness. The question is, is that something we should be allowing?&#8221; Does Washington have the right to invade everyone&#8217;s privacy?<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Should NSA be permitted to eliminate private spaces altogether? Do rule of law principles no longer matter? Is freedom a convenient illusion?<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Snowden dismisses disloyalty accusations. He didn&#8217;t pass on state secrets to Russia and China, he stressed.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;If I defected at all,&#8221; he said, &#8220;I defected from the government to the public.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">It bears repeating. Millions call him a hero. He connected important dots. He&#8217;s the gift that keeps on giving.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">On December 20, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spiegel.de\/international\/world\/snowden-documents-show-gchq-targeted-european-and-german-politicians-a-940135.html\"><span style=\"color: #1255cc;\">Der Spiegel<\/span><\/a> reported more. It headlined &#8220;How GCHQ Monitors Germany, Israel and the EU,&#8221; saying:<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Snowden documents &#8220;show that Britain&#8217;s GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) signals intelligence has targeted European, German and Israeli politicians for surveillance.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Suspicions surfaced last summer, said Der Spiegel. Snowden documents confirm them. They provide &#8220;concrete evidence.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">GCHQ and NSA operate jointly. They target UNICEF and other UN organizations. Medecins du Monde is a French organization. It sends doctors and other medical professions to conflict zones.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">It&#8217;s on NSA\/GCHQ&#8217;s target list. So is Economic Community of West African States&#8217; (ECOWAS) head Kadre Desire Ouedraogo. Communications with his colleagues are monitored.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Targeting Angela Merkel, Brazil&#8217;s Dilma Rousseff, and other world leaders was disclosed earlier. New revelations show Israeli officials are watched.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was targeted. So was former Defense Secretary Ehud Barak and his chief of staff, Yoni Koren. More on surveilling Israel below.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">European Commission Vice President Joaquin Almunia&#8217;s name showed up on NSA\/GCHQ&#8217;s target list.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Last October, UK Prime Minister David Cameron endorsed an EU statement. It condemned NSA\/GCHQ spying on world leaders.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">He did so knowing it was ongoing at the time. He lied claiming opposition. He could stop it through parliamentary action. Legislation could declare it illegal.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Political Britain is in bed with GCHQ the way Washington endorses unconstitutional NSA spying.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Disclosures show both agencies are rogue operations. They go way beyond what&#8217;s lawful. They do it with impunity.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Snowden documents provide no insight into why organizations and individuals unrelated to national security are targeted.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">He called doing so NSA&#8217;s &#8220;total awareness&#8221; obsession. It wants privacy entirely eliminated. It wants the ability to monitor everyone, everywhere, at all times. It wants no one escaping its dragnet.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">US law prohibits economic spying. NSA does it anyway.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Under Britain&#8217;s Intelligence and Security Act, GCHQ may work &#8220;in the interests of national security, with particular reference to the defence and foreign policies of Her Majesty&#8217;s government; in the interests of the economic wellbeing of the United Kingdom; and in support of the prevention and the detection of serious crime.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Critics raise serious questions. National security is left undefined. So is protecting economic well-being beyond helping UK companies defend themselves against intellectual property theft or cyber-attacks.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Earlier Snowden documents showed NSA and GCHQ conduct industrial espionage. They do so for economic advantage. They do it illegally. They do it anyway. They do it with impunity.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">When questioned, both agencies lie. They claim they operate lawfully. Clear evidence proves otherwise.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Documents show NSA\/GCHQ spying is remarkably comprehensive. No government or other officials of interest are left behind. Ordinary people are mass surveilled.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">According to Der Spiegel:<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;In addition to many political and &#8216;diplomatic targets,&#8217; (target) lists contain African leaders, their family members, ambassadors and businesspeople.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;They also include representatives of international organizations, such as those of United Nations agencies like the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Children&#8217;s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR).&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;A noticeably large number of diplomatic missions to the United Nations in Geneva are also listed.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;Even non-governmental organizations like Doctors of the World (Medicins du Monde) appear on the British intelligence agency lists, along with a representative of the Swiss IdeasCentre and others.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;Individual companies can also be found on the list, especially in the fields of telecommunications and banking.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;The partly government-owned French defense contractor Thales, along with Paris-based energy giant Total, is also mentioned.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">NSA and GCHQ constantly search for new targets. They want nothing of potential importance escaping their dragnet.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Netanyahu criticized NSA spying on Israel, saying:<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;With regard to things published in the past few days, I have asked for an examination of the matter.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;In the close ties between Israel and the United States, there are certain things friends mustn&#8217;t do to each other.&#8221; They&#8217;re &#8220;not acceptable to us.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said he assumes it&#8217;s spied on by allies. He stopped short of admitting Israel&#8217;s extensive spying operation.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Israeli MK Nachman Shai lied saying:<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;Israel is a friendly state to the US.&#8221; (It) stopped all espionage&#8221; on America 30 years ago.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">False! Israel spies aggressively. It does so on all allies. In 2011, former <span style=\"color: #323333;\">CIA counterintelligence specialist\/military intelligence officer<a href=\"http:\/\/www.intifada-palestine.com\/2011\/06\/latest-posts-phil-giraldi-spills-beans-on-israeli-espionage-in-america\/\"> <span style=\"color: #0044c3;\">Philip Giraldi<\/span><\/a><\/span><span style=\"color: #0044c3; text-decoration: underline;\"> <\/span>said Israel steals everything it gets its hands on. It includes military and industrial secrets.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;The reality of Israeli spying is indisputable. (It) always features prominently in annual FBI reports.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Washington&#8217;s Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Israel &#8220;conducts the most aggressive espionage operation against the United States of any US ally.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">The Pentagon accused Israel of &#8220;actively engag(ing) in military and industrial espionage in the United States.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;An Israeli citizen working in the US who has access to proprietary information is likely to be a target of such espionage.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">FBI whistleblower John Cole said Justice Department officials ordered dozens of Israeli espionage cases dropped. At issue was political pressure.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Despite longstanding ties, &#8220;US national security officials consider Israel to be, at times, a frustrating ally and a genuine counterintelligence threat,&#8221; he added.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">The CIA considers Israel its main Middle East counterintelligence threat. Its operations are highly sophisticated.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Netanyahu claiming allies don&#8217;t spy on us doesn&#8217;t wash. Israel violates fundamental rule of law principles. It does so as egregiously as America.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Obama exceeds the worst of his predecessors. So does Netanyahu. Both leaders threaten world peace and security. Lawless spying reflects the tip of their rogue governance.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">His new book is titled &#8220;Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">http:\/\/www.claritypress.com\/LendmanII.html<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">http:\/\/www.progressiveradionetwork.com\/the-progressive-news-hour<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; min-height: 22px;\"><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">http:\/\/www.dailycensored.com\/mission-accomplished-says-snowden\/<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div><b>Mission Accomplished, Says Snowden<\/b><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>by Stephen Lendman<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>On December 23, he told the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/edward-snowden-after-months-of-nsa-revelations-says-his-missions-accomplished\/2013\/12\/23\/49fc36de-6c1c-11e3-a523-fe73f0ff6b8d_story.html\"><span>Washington Post<\/span><\/a>:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;For me, in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission&rsquo;s already accomplished. I already won.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;As soon as the journalists were able to work, everything that I had been trying to do was validated. Because, remember, I didn&rsquo;t want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;All I wanted was for the public to be able to have a say in how they are governed. That is a milestone we left a long time ago. Right now, all we are looking at are stretch goals.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>WaPo called Snowden &#8220;an orderly thinker, with an engineer&#8217;s approach to problem-solving.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;He had come to believe that a dangerous machine of mass surveillance was growing unchecked.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Woefully inadequate congressional oversight and rubber-stamp FISA court rulings reflect a &#8220;graveyard of judgment,&#8221; he said.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>NSA&#8217;s business is &#8220;information dominance,&#8221; he stressed. He didn&#8217;t know if others would share his views.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;But when you weigh that against the alternative, which is not to act, you realize that some analysis is better than&#8221; none, he said.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Because even if your analysis proves to be wrong, the marketplace of ideas will bear that out.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;If you look at it from an engineering perspective, an iterative perspective, it&#8217;s clear that you have to try something rather than do nothing.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He succeeded beyond anything he could have imagined. He captured world attention. Millions consider him heroic. There&#8217;s no turning back now.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>On June 22, a Justice Department<a href=\"http:\/\/apps.washingtonpost.com\/g\/documents\/world\/us-vs-edward-j-snowden-criminal-complaint\/496\/\"><span> criminal complaint<\/span><\/a> charged him with espionage and felony theft of government property.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He signed NSA&#8217;s Standard Form 312. He called it a civil contract. &#8220;The oath of allegiance is not an oath of secrecy,&#8221; he said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;This is an oath to the Constitution. That is the oath that I kept that (NSA chief) Keith Alexander and (Director of National Intelligence) James Clapper did not.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He&#8217;s irresponsibly accused of disloyalty. &#8220;I am not trying to bring down the NSA,&#8221; he stressed.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;I am working to improve&#8221; it. &#8220;I am still working for the NSA right now. They are the only ones who don&#8217;t realize it.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;The system failed comprehensively, and each level of oversight, each level of responsibility that should have addressed this, abdicated their responsibility,&#8221; he said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Some of his NSA colleagues feel the same way. They were &#8220;astonished to learn we are collecting more in the United States on Americans than we are on Russians in Russia.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;What the government wants is something they never had before,&#8221; he stressed.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;They want total awareness. The question is, is that something we should be allowing?&#8221; Does Washington have the right to invade everyone&#8217;s privacy?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Should NSA be permitted to eliminate private spaces altogether? Do rule of law principles no longer matter? Is freedom a convenient illusion?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Snowden dismisses disloyalty accusations. He didn&#8217;t pass on state secrets to Russia and China, he stressed.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;If I defected at all,&#8221; he said, &#8220;I defected from the government to the public.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It bears repeating. Millions call him a hero. He connected important dots. He&#8217;s the gift that keeps on giving.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>On December 20, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spiegel.de\/international\/world\/snowden-documents-show-gchq-targeted-european-and-german-politicians-a-940135.html\"><span>Der Spiegel<\/span><\/a> reported more. It headlined &#8220;How GCHQ Monitors Germany, Israel and the EU,&#8221; saying:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Snowden documents &#8220;show that Britain&#8217;s GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) signals intelligence has targeted European, German and Israeli politicians for surveillance.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Suspicions surfaced last summer, said Der Spiegel. Snowden documents confirm them. They provide &#8220;concrete evidence.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>GCHQ and NSA operate jointly. They target UNICEF and other UN organizations. Medecins du Monde is a French organization. It sends doctors and other medical professions to conflict zones.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It&#8217;s on NSA\/GCHQ&#8217;s target list. So is Economic Community of West African States&#8217; (ECOWAS) head Kadre Desire Ouedraogo. Communications with his colleagues are monitored.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Targeting Angela Merkel, Brazil&#8217;s Dilma Rousseff, and other world leaders was disclosed earlier. New revelations show Israeli officials are watched.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was targeted. So was former Defense Secretary Ehud Barak and his chief of staff, Yoni Koren. More on surveilling Israel below.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>European Commission Vice President Joaquin Almunia&#8217;s name showed up on NSA\/GCHQ&#8217;s target list.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Last October, UK Prime Minister David Cameron endorsed an EU statement. It condemned NSA\/GCHQ spying on world leaders.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He did so knowing it was ongoing at the time. He lied claiming opposition. He could stop it through parliamentary action. Legislation could declare it illegal.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Political Britain is in bed with GCHQ the way Washington endorses unconstitutional NSA spying.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Disclosures show both agencies are rogue operations. They go way beyond what&#8217;s lawful. They do it with impunity.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Snowden documents provide no insight into why organizations and individuals unrelated to national security are targeted.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He called doing so NSA&#8217;s &#8220;total awareness&#8221; obsession. It wants privacy entirely eliminated. It wants the ability to monitor everyone, everywhere, at all times. It wants no one escaping its dragnet.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>US law prohibits economic spying. NSA does it anyway.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Under Britain&#8217;s Intelligence and Security Act, GCHQ may work &#8220;in the interests of national security, with particular reference to the defence and foreign policies of Her Majesty&#8217;s government; in the interests of the economic wellbeing of the United Kingdom; and in support of the prevention and the detection of serious crime.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Critics raise serious questions. National security is left undefined. So is protecting economic well-being beyond helping UK companies defend themselves against intellectual property theft or cyber-attacks.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Earlier Snowden documents showed NSA and GCHQ conduct industrial espionage. They do so for economic advantage. They do it illegally. They do it anyway. They do it with impunity.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>When questioned, both agencies lie. They claim they operate lawfully. Clear evidence proves otherwise.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Documents show NSA\/GCHQ spying is remarkably comprehensive. No government or other officials of interest are left behind. Ordinary people are mass surveilled.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>According to Der Spiegel:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;In addition to many political and &#8216;diplomatic targets,&#8217; (target) lists contain African leaders, their family members, ambassadors and businesspeople.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;They also include representatives of international organizations, such as those of United Nations agencies like the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Children&#8217;s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR).&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;A noticeably large number of diplomatic missions to the United Nations in Geneva are also listed.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Even non-governmental organizations like Doctors of the World (Medicins du Monde) appear on the British intelligence agency lists, along with a representative of the Swiss IdeasCentre and others.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Individual companies can also be found on the list, especially in the fields of telecommunications and banking.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;The partly government-owned French defense contractor Thales, along with Paris-based energy giant Total, is also mentioned.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>NSA and GCHQ constantly search for new targets. They want nothing of potential importance escaping their dragnet.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Netanyahu criticized NSA spying on Israel, saying:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;With regard to things published in the past few days, I have asked for an examination of the matter.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;In the close ties between Israel and the United States, there are certain things friends mustn&#8217;t do to each other.&#8221; They&#8217;re &#8220;not acceptable to us.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said he assumes it&#8217;s spied on by allies. He stopped short of admitting Israel&#8217;s extensive spying operation.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Israeli MK Nachman Shai lied saying:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Israel is a friendly state to the US.&#8221; (It) stopped all espionage&#8221; on America 30 years ago.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>False! Israel spies aggressively. It does so on all allies. In 2011, former <span>CIA counterintelligence specialist\/military intelligence officer<a href=\"http:\/\/www.intifada-palestine.com\/2011\/06\/latest-posts-phil-giraldi-spills-beans-on-israeli-espionage-in-america\/\"> <span>Philip Giraldi<\/span><\/a><\/span><span> <\/span>said Israel steals everything it gets its hands on. It includes military and industrial secrets.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;The reality of Israeli spying is indisputable. (It) always features prominently in annual FBI reports.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Washington&#8217;s Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Israel &#8220;conducts the most aggressive espionage operation against the United States of any US ally.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Pentagon accused Israel of &#8220;actively engag(ing) in military and industrial espionage in the United States.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;An Israeli citizen working in the US who has access to proprietary information is likely to be a target of such espionage.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>FBI whistleblower John Cole said Justice Department officials ordered dozens of Israeli espionage cases dropped. At issue was political pressure.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Despite longstanding ties, &#8220;US national security officials consider Israel to be, at times, a frustrating ally and a genuine counterintelligence threat,&#8221; he added.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The CIA considers Israel its main Middle East counterintelligence threat. Its operations are highly sophisticated.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Netanyahu claiming allies don&#8217;t spy on us doesn&#8217;t wash. Israel violates fundamental rule of law principles. It does so as egregiously as America.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Obama exceeds the worst of his predecessors. So does Netanyahu. Both leaders threaten world peace and security. Lawless spying reflects the tip of their rogue governance.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>His new book is titled &#8220;Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>http:\/\/www.claritypress.com\/LendmanII.html<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>http:\/\/www.progressiveradionetwork.com\/the-progressive-news-hour<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>http:\/\/www.dailycensored.com\/mission-accomplished-says-snowden\/<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[461],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-101186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-editorials"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101186\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}