{"id":144078,"date":"2015-03-03T22:29:41","date_gmt":"2015-03-03T22:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=144078"},"modified":"2015-03-03T22:29:41","modified_gmt":"2015-03-03T22:29:41","slug":"noam-chomsky-edward-snowden-true-patriot-honored","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/noam-chomsky-edward-snowden-true-patriot-honored\/","title":{"rendered":"Noam Chomsky: Edward Snowden a True Patriot Who Should be Honored"},"content":{"rendered":"

Noted linguist also says ‘global assassination program’ is\u00a0fuelling\u00a0terrorism.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Andrea Germanos<\/em><\/p>\n

Noam Chomsky said that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden<\/a> is a true patriot who revealed vast surveillance programs that have nothing to do with combating terrorism.<\/p>\n

The noted intellectual made the comment in an extended interview<\/a> with Democracy Now!<\/em>‘s Amy Goodman which aired Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Chomsky said Snowden should be welcomed back to the country from Russia, where he has received asylum, with honors because he “carried out the obligations of a citizen.”<\/p>\n

Snowden “informed American citizens of what their government is doing to them. That\u2019s exactly what a person who has real patriotism, not the flag-waving type, but real patriotism, would do. So he should be honored, not just allowed back,” Chomsky said.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s the people in the government who should be on trial, not him,” he continued.<\/p>\n

Chomsky added that neither the surveillance system Snowden exposed nor the drone program\u2013despite claims by officials\u2013have combating terrorism as their goals.<\/p>\n

NSA programs are “intended to control the population,” he said. As for Obama’s drone program, Chomsky called it “a global assassination program [that is] far and away the worst act of terror in the world.”<\/p>\n

Echoing comments many, including Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai<\/a> and even the CIA<\/a>have made, he said the drone program is also counter-productive.<\/p>\n

It’s “a terror-generating program” that has helped fueled the rise of al-Qaeda.<\/p>\n

“There was a small group up in the tribal areas of mostly Pakistan and Afghanistan, al-Qaeda, and we have succeeded in spreading it over the whole world. Now they\u2019re all everywhere\u2013you know, West Africa, Southeast Asia\u2013simply generating more and more terror. And I think it\u2019s\u2013you know, it\u2019s not that the U.S. is trying to generate terror. It\u2019s simply that it doesn\u2019t care,” Chomsky said.<\/p>\n

Watch the interview below:<\/p>\n