Snowden's Dad SCHOOLS Obama, Pelosi, and Holder in Open Letter

I'll quote the entire letter because it just needs it. It will probably disappear soon so I'm posting it in its entirety so that ATS can grab hold and own it.

No holds barred and a slap to the guilty.

www.activistpost.com...

Dear Mr. President:

You are acutely aware that the history of liberty is a history of civil disobedience to unjust laws or practices. As Edmund Burke sermonized, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

Civil disobedience is not the first, but the last option. Henry David Thoreau wrote with profound restraint in Civil Disobedience: “If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth certainly the machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine.”

Thoreau’s moral philosophy found expression during the Nuremburg trials in which “following orders” was rejected as a defense. Indeed, military law requires disobedience to clearly illegal orders.

A dark chapter in America’s World War II history would not have been written if the then United States Attorney General had resigned rather than participate in racist concentration camps imprisoning 120,000 Japanese American citizens and resident aliens.

Civil disobedience to the Fugitive Slave Act and Jim Crow laws provoked the end of slavery and the modern civil rights revolution.


We submit that Edward J. Snowden’s disclosures of dragnet surveillance of Americans under § 215 of the Patriot Act, § 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments, or otherwise were sanctioned by Thoreau’s time-honored moral philosophy and justifications for civil disobedience. Since 2005, Mr. Snowden had been employed by the intelligence community. He found himself complicit in secret, indiscriminate spying on millions of innocent citizens contrary to the spirit if not the letter of the First and Fourth Amendments and the transparency indispensable to self-government. Members of Congress entrusted with oversight remained silent or Delphic. Mr. Snowden confronted a choice between civic duty and passivity. He may have recalled the injunction of Martin Luther King, Jr.: “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.” Mr. Snowden chose duty. Your administration vindictively responded with a criminal complaint alleging violations of the Espionage Act.

From the commencement of your administration, your secrecy of the National Security Agency’s Orwellian surveillance programs had frustrated a national conversation over their legality, necessity, or morality. That secrecy (combined with congressional nonfeasance) provoked Edward’s disclosures, which sparked a national conversation which you have belatedly and cynically embraced. Legislation has been introduced in both the House of Representatives and Senate to curtail or terminate the NSA’s programs, and the American people are being educated to the public policy choices at hand. A commanding majority now voice concerns over the dragnet surveillance of Americans that Edward exposed and you concealed. It seems mystifying to us that you are prosecuting Edward for accomplishing what you have said urgently needed to be done!

The right to be left alone from government snooping–the most cherished right among civilized people—is the cornerstone of liberty. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson served as Chief Prosecutor at Nuremburg. He came to learn of the dynamics of the Third Reich that crushed a free society, and which have lessons for the United States today.

Writing in Brinegar v. United States, Justice Jackson elaborated:

The Fourth Amendment states: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

These, I protest, are not mere second-class rights but belong in the catalog of indispensable freedoms. Among deprivations of rights, none is so effective in cowing a population, crushing the spirit of the individual and putting terror in every heart. Uncontrolled search and seizure is one of the first and most effective weapons in the arsenal of every arbitrary government. And one need only briefly to have dwelt and worked among a people possessed of many admirable qualities but deprived of these rights to know that the human personality deteriorates and dignity and self-reliance disappear where homes, persons and possessions are subject at any hour to unheralded search and seizure by the police.

We thus find your administration’s zeal to punish Mr. Snowden’s discharge of civic duty to protect democratic processes and to safeguard liberty to be unconscionable and indefensible.

We are also appalled at your administration’s scorn for due process, the rule of law, fairness, and the presumption of innocence as regards Edward.

On June 27, 2013, Mr. Fein wrote a letter to the Attorney General stating that Edward’s father was substantially convinced that he would return to the United States to confront the charges that have been lodged against him if three cornerstones of due process were guaranteed. The letter was not an ultimatum, but an invitation to discuss fair trial imperatives. The Attorney General has sneered at the overture with studied silence.

We thus suspect your administration wishes to avoid a trial because of constitutional doubts about application of the Espionage Act in these circumstances, and obligations to disclose to the public potentially embarrassing classified information under the Classified Information Procedures Act.

Cont...

Your decision to force down a civilian airliner carrying Bolivian President Eva Morales in hopes of kidnapping Edward also does not inspire confidence that you are committed to providing him a fair trial. Neither does your refusal to remind the American people and prominent Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate like House Speaker John Boehner, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann,and Senator Dianne Feinstein that Edward enjoys a presumption of innocence. He should not be convicted before trial. Yet Speaker Boehner has denounced Edward as a “traitor.”

Ms. Pelosi has pontificated that Edward “did violate the law in terms of releasing those documents.” Ms. Bachmann has pronounced that, “This was not the act of a patriot; this was an act of a traitor.” And Ms. Feinstein has decreed that Edward was guilty of “treason,” which is defined in Article III of the Constitution as “levying war” against the United States, “or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.”

You have let those quadruple affronts to due process pass unrebuked, while you have disparaged Edward as a “hacker” to cast aspersion on his motivations and talents. Have you forgotten the Supreme Court’s gospel in Berger v. United States that the interests of the government “in a criminal prosecution is not that it shall win a case, but that justice shall be done?”

We also find reprehensible your administration’s Espionage Act prosecution of Edward for disclosures indistinguishable from those which routinely find their way into the public domain via your high level appointees for partisan political advantage. Classified details of your predator drone protocols, for instance, were shared with the New York Times with impunity to bolster your national security credentials. Justice Jackson observed in Railway Express Agency, Inc. v. New York: “The framers of the Constitution knew, and we should not forget today, that there is no more effective practical guaranty against arbitrary and unreasonable government than to require that the principles of law which officials would impose upon a minority must be imposed generally.”

In light of the circumstances amplified above, we urge you to order the Attorney General to move to dismiss the outstanding criminal complaint against Edward, and to support legislation to remedy the NSA surveillance abuses he revealed. Such presidential directives would mark your finest constitutional and moral hour.

Sincerely,
Bruce Fein
Counsel for Lon Snowden
Lon Snowden

Bruce Fein & Associates, Inc.
722 12th Street, N.W., 4th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20005
Phone: 703-963-4968
[email protected]

I sincerely hope that more people are starting to see the truth for what it is.

Peace

Thanks, the letter explains it very clearly for people who have a foggy memory of freedom.

My goodness. This man raised a fine son with morals. Now we know where he got it from. Much respect to you, Mr. Snowden.

The slap would be too hard on Obama's face, that is sadly, if he cared for it.

Great letter. And, lest we forget, those are the same sort of sentiments that Obama himself loved to pretend to before he was elected. Before he showed himself a coward, a sociopath, and a splendidly useful tool of the Elites.

Naturally I don't expect a response from our now-revealed Dear Leader--except perhaps even more reckless and cynical attempts to capture this dangerous "Enemy of the State...."

The harder they purse Snowden, the worst the US looks, its a damn shame.

Foolish arrogant tyrannical behavior.

I never once thought I would be looking at Russia as the heroes in a situation like this against the US.

How far have we fallen.

Obama has not kept any promises, so why is anyone surprised? You got what you wanted America. For those that voted for Ron Paul, at least you tried. For those that voted for Obama and his "transparent government", his "whistleblower protecting" policies. You only failed yourself.

Originally posted by darkbake
Thanks, the letter explains it very clearly for people who have a foggy memory of freedom.

Unfortunately there are a lot of foggy memories out there.

But we're gaining ground and helping to clear that fog for all to see.

Peace

Originally posted by benrl
The harder they purse Snowden, the worst the US looks, its a damn shame.

Foolish arrogant tyrannical behavior.

I never once thought I would be looking at Russia as the heroes in a situation like this against the US.

How far have we fallen.

And it only took one generation.

Peace

Originally posted by Ex_CT2
Great letter. And, lest we forget, those are the same sort of sentiments that Obama himself loved to pretend to before he was elected. Before he showed himself a coward, a sociopath, and a splendidly useful tool of the Elites.

Naturally I don't expect a response from our now-revealed Dear Leader--except perhaps even more reckless and cynical attempts to capture this dangerous "Enemy of the State...."

He won't reply and that will show his true nature.

Peace

US folk should ask themselves who the real traitor to the peoples of the US is!!!

Judging a book by its cover and listening to promisses of delivering the most difficult in a 2 party system (i.e. effective change) was a serious and foolish mistake of the US electorate!!

Time to arise from your blind slumber and do the obvious (vote for ???? dare I say it???) Who walked away from political power/office!! Or an indep!!

Change, change, protection, change, protection, change, promiss everything = no intention of delivering jack!!!

Good luck USA folk!

reply to post by jude11


If they allow snowden to succeed and be viewed as a hero.. it will give courage for more to come forward.. since he was able to avoid the wrath of a renegade government.

Snowden will be made an example.. and hey will try to destroy his character if not kill him in the end.

Originally posted by Ex_CT2
Great letter. And, lest we forget, those are the same sort of sentiments that Obama himself loved to pretend to before he was elected. Before he showed himself a coward, a sociopath, and a splendidly useful tool of the Elites.

Naturally I don't expect a response from our now-revealed Dear Leader--except perhaps even more reckless and cynical attempts to capture this dangerous "Enemy of the State...."

Mr Snowden should come back to the US and should be defended by citizens legally.

There is no benefit of him staying in Russia.

This fight should be fought on US soil, whatever the price.

We thus suspect your administration wishes to avoid a trial because of constitutional doubts about application of the Espionage Act in these circumstances, and obligations to disclose to the public potentially embarrassing classified information under the Classified Information Procedures Act.

I wonder what embarrassing information they are alluding to with this quote? I believe beezer had stated in another thread that the reaction of outright condemnation might suggest that the administration might be worried about what damaging information Snowden may be sitting on with regards to illegal actions from congress and the administration. The information is coming and can't be stopped. Your move Obama.

We are also appalled at your administration’s scorn for due process, the rule of law, fairness, and the presumption of innocence as regards Edward.

As is the rest of the world, Mr. Snowden.

Any traitor of this Fascist American Empire is a patriot for humanity. God bless Edward. Any who oppose his actions need to spend a great deal of time in introspection and decide what kind of world they and their children really want to live in.

Wow, he really does water all the nonsense down to a straight forward, fair complaint.

I hope his words are well received and the government chooses to do the right thing for the people and not the right thing for 'the law'.

When it comes to people vs the law its the same as a customer to a business, the people are always right. Ignore them at your peril.

Wow ,a very eloquent well put together letter. It makes me happy to know some out there will read this letter with true appreciation.

I wish this could could go on the front page of every national paper, or at least one. This would make a great new york times front page.

Its a message that can and should be appreciated by the american public.

reply to post by jude11

S+F for posting.

I first read about this last saturday when it was reported in the online issue of the German "Zeit"-Magazine and wondered how it was received by the US public?

Originally posted by jude11
I'll quote the entire letter because it just needs it. It will probably disappear soon so I'm posting it in its entirety so that ATS can grab hold and own it.

How will it disappear? Isn't this story reported by the US-MSM?
Sorry, it feels weird to even ask, but I guess its appropriate in the current US Zeitgeist.

Originally posted by GargIndia

Originally posted by Ex_CT2
Great letter. And, lest we forget, those are the same sort of sentiments that Obama himself loved to pretend to before he was elected. Before he showed himself a coward, a sociopath, and a splendidly useful tool of the Elites.

Naturally I don't expect a response from our now-revealed Dear Leader--except perhaps even more reckless and cynical attempts to capture this dangerous "Enemy of the State...."

Mr Snowden should come back to the US and should be defended by citizens legally.

There is no benefit of him staying in Russia.

This fight should be fought on US soil, whatever the price.

Tell that to Michael Hastings. Oh wait, you can't. He's dead!!

reply to post by votan


He is more than a hero!! And could be a catalyst for change! Only if US folk support him! Afterall he has spoken in their interest has he not!