Quote from: http://www.trueactivist.com/recently-declassified-house-intel-report-accidentally-exonerates-edward-snowden/
After spending three years investigating the NSA whistleblower and spending millions of dollars, the House Intelligence Committee produced a report "rifled with obvious falsehoods".
The US government often wastes little time in demonizing whistleblowers who speak out against its practices. Whistleblowers, particularly Chelsea Manning, have often been denied their constitutional rights and basic freedoms as the state seeks to make examples of those who dare to break rank by exposing illegal, criminal government practices. One of the more recent instances of the state-sanctioned character assassination of whistleblowers is that of Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA). According to the federal government, Snowden "perpetrated the largest and most damaging public release of classified information in US intelligence history," an act which exposed the massive and illegal nature of the NSA's dragnet surveillance programs. Instead of reforming the system, which stands in stark violation of the 4th amendment, officials have called for ways to lock down state secrets even tighter, effectively snuffing out any hopes of transparency.
The character assassination of Edward Snowden has been long in the making as politicians and state officials were quick to condemn him as a "traitor" and "potentially a Chinese spy" as soon as the information began to ciruculate. Earlier this year in September, the House Intelligence Committee published an unclassified and "highly acerbic" summary of the group's findings regarding Snowden's actions, which was then promptly and thoroughly discredited by critics and respected journalists alike. Now, this past Thursday, the House Intelligence Committee released an extended version of its findings – the culmination of three years and millions of dollars spent investigating Edward Snowden. The report was released prior to Christmas weekend, perhaps with the hopes that it would slip under the radar considering that Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists among others have already slammed it for being "aggressively dishonest."
The US government often wastes little time in demonizing whistleblowers who speak out against its practices. Whistleblowers, particularly Chelsea Manning, have often been denied their constitutional rights and basic freedoms as the state seeks to make examples of those who dare to break rank by exposing illegal, criminal government practices. One of the more recent instances of the state-sanctioned character assassination of whistleblowers is that of Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA). According to the federal government, Snowden "perpetrated the largest and most damaging public release of classified information in US intelligence history," an act which exposed the massive and illegal nature of the NSA's dragnet surveillance programs. Instead of reforming the system, which stands in stark violation of the 4th amendment, officials have called for ways to lock down state secrets even tighter, effectively snuffing out any hopes of transparency.
The character assassination of Edward Snowden has been long in the making as politicians and state officials were quick to condemn him as a "traitor" and "potentially a Chinese spy" as soon as the information began to ciruculate. Earlier this year in September, the House Intelligence Committee published an unclassified and "highly acerbic" summary of the group's findings regarding Snowden's actions, which was then promptly and thoroughly discredited by critics and respected journalists alike. Now, this past Thursday, the House Intelligence Committee released an extended version of its findings – the culmination of three years and millions of dollars spent investigating Edward Snowden. The report was released prior to Christmas weekend, perhaps with the hopes that it would slip under the radar considering that Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists among others have already slammed it for being "aggressively dishonest."
Read more and check all the links at http://www.trueactivist.com/recently-declassified-house-intel-report-accidentally-exonerates-edward-snowden/.
