The US government, abetted by the media, is intensifying its campaign against former intelligence employee Edward Snowden for leaking evidence of massive and illegal spying.<\/p>\n
The Obama administration is preparing to file criminal charges and is pushing for Snowden\u2019s extradition from Hong Kong. Snowden has said that he fears for his safety and has fled his hotel for an undisclosed location.<\/p>\n
On Friday, US Attorney General Eric Holder vowed that the US government would punish those responsible for leaks relating to government surveillance programs, which he characterized as \u201cextremely damaging.\u201d At a news conference in Dublin, he said he was \u201cconfident that the person who is responsible will be held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe safety of the American people and the safety of people who reside in allied nations have been put at risk as a result of these leaks,\u201d Holder claimed. In fact, Snowden has revealed spying operations that target both the American people and the population of the entire world.<\/p>\n
The more that is revealed about government criminality, the more determined is the insistence from leading officials that Snowden himself, the one revealing this criminality, should be subject to criminal prosecution. As Trotsky put it, \u201cthe real criminals hide under the cloak of the accusers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The spying programs revealed so far include one that gathers the phone records of nearly every person living in the United States. Another monitors Internet activity, emails and other electronic communications from people all over the world. Snowden has also provided information related to US government hacking, over a period of several years, of Chinese universities, public officials, businesses and students.<\/p>\n
In response to these revelations, the media, in close coordination with the government, is leveling ever more hysterical and unsubstantiated charges against Snowden. An article posted Friday by Fox News asked the question, \u201cEdward Snowden: Whistleblower or foreign agent?\u201d suggesting that Snowden was working with the Chinese government.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the story unfolds, one key question stands out: is Snowden the heroic whistleblower he claims to be or something more sinister?\u201d The article claimed that \u201csome\u201d are \u201cquestioning his motives and wondering whether claims that he wanted to right a perceived wrong are true\u2013or whether he could be a modern-day double agent, cleverly hiding his actions and painting himself as a victim of the US government while working as an agent for the Chinese.\u201d<\/p>\n
Democrats are leading the campaign against Snowden. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called for the prosecution of Snowden on Thursday, saying, \u201cI think on three scores\u2013that is leaking the Patriot Act section 215, FISA 702, and the president\u2019s classified cyber operations\u2019 directive\u2013on the strength of leaking that, yes, that would be a prosecutable offense,\u201d Pelosi told reporters at her Capitol Hill news briefing. \u201cI think that he should be prosecuted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pelosi expressed anxiety that the program could be so easily brought under public scrutiny: \u201cHow on earth can we have a situation where we are so vulnerable, so exposed, with so much information about how we acquire intelligence, to the point that the [Director of National Intelligence] is saying that it seriously hurt our national security?\u201d she fretted.<\/p>\n
This week, US intelligence officials briefed members of the House of Representatives and Senate in secret meetings hidden from public view. Lawmakers were informed that the spying programs are far more expansive than what has been so far revealed.<\/p>\n
Speaking after a classified briefing on the NSA surveillance, US Representative Loretta Sanchez acknowledged, \u201cWhat we learned in there is significantly more than what is out in the media today\u2026 I can\u2019t speak to what we learned in there\u2026 I think it\u2019s just broader than most people even realize, and I think that\u2019s, in one way, what astounded most of us, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe federal surveillance programs revealed in media reports are just \u2018the tip of the iceberg,\u2019\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
In a column published on Friday, Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian<\/em> journalist who has published the leaks from Snowden, confirmed that Sanchez is \u201cabsolutely right\u201d in her assertion that what has been revealed thus far is \u201cthe tip of the iceberg,\u201d adding that he will soon publish \u201csignificant revelations that have not yet been heard.\u201d<\/p>\n