Open Letter to Ed Snowden: sticking it to the N.S.A.

Dear Ed Snowden,

     I was at the gym today and one of the news stations trotted out some news from last July. I remember when it first came out. Eric Holder "offering" you a guarantee of no death penalty if you will only come back and "plead guilty." Screw that. I hope that you don't come back here to the United States. Things have not gotten any better here. In my opinion, many of the politicians and the people talking about the N.S.A. are all bat-shit crazy. I don't think you can trust them. I certainly don't.

     The expectation of some minimal privacy here has pretty much gone down the toilet. The N.S.A. apparently has some land in Utah where the agency is planning to dump meta-data from all of our phone calls. Some court or other today said the N.S.A. surveillance program is illegal. I don't think that really matters. The N.S.A. will continue to do as it will, regardless of what any court or politician or president says. Don't come back here.

     I think they want you back here just so the publication of the leaks will [possibly] slow down or stop. I think the corporation referred to as the United States figures if you are imprisoned, then "we" will save face and not be embarrassed. Screw that. Those arguments do not impress me. They should not impress you either.
Even if you do come back and are given a lengthy prison sentence, I don't think you will get out of it alive.

     It has been said that some folks from the C.I.A. [or maybe other agencies, who really knows?] have gone to Mexico or South America and illegally kidnapped a king drug pin so he could stand trial in the U.S.A. and is now in prison somewhere. Maybe a super-max. And it has been said that some folks from the C.I.A. [ or...?] have gone down to Mexico or South America and killed off at least one problematic person. I think your idea about asking for personal protection from the Russian police force [or even if you have to pay for private bodyguards] is a wise one. Only I suspect the real danger is that some representatives from the C.I.A. [ or...?] will visit you in Russia and make you disappear or kidnap you. Our government has become the terrorist. Please be careful.

     I've never met you. I don't know you. But what you did has touched my life for sure and the lives of many other Americans. We are not the enemy here. I think the N.S.A. is pissed off because of all of the publicity. If you hadn't distributed the information, the N.S.A. would have been able to keep doing exactly what they want to do without the bother of publicity, transparency, or responsibility to the PEOPLE. Now they have to scramble a bit in order to cover their tracks. You did a noble and honorable thing. I want you to have a long and healthy and happy life. I beg you please don't come back here, regardless of any "assurances" from spokespeople who work for our government.

                    Sail Strong, Sail Safe,

                     radical sapphoq

Open Letter to Ed Snowden

Dear Ed Snowden,

     Although I'm pretty sure that you will never know the existence of this letter to you, I thought I would write it anyway.  There are some things in my heart of hearts that require communicating, even if only to the emptiness of the Internet.

     I am quite frankly appalled at the actions taken by our government since you came forward as the man who leaked information about the N.S.A. spying on all of us world-wide.  My country has proven to be a bully.  Quite a few of the politicians have publicly proven themselves [in my view] to be idiots with no spine.  It is obvious to me that the N.S.A. will continue to do what it is doing for as long as it can.  This is the danger in providing no meaningful oversight to any agency.  I watched what happened with the T.S.A. and I am now watching it again with the N.S.A.  That the F.I.S.A. court rubber-stamps anything that the N.S.A. wants to do is a mere formality-- a hideous kangaroo court-- and of little comfort to those of us who believe in "liberty and justice for all." 

     I was heartened to read that you do not have regrets about standing up for what is right.  You are the true patriot in this.  Not Obama or his ilk who want you brought back to the motherland as a condemned spy even before trial.  You are an hero.  You are my hero, Ed.  I think that if we had ever met, we would have been friends.

     I hope that you are able to leave Russia for a safer place soon.  Although Russia will not extradite [so far], the actions of their police regarding the throwing of dissidents and suspected dissidents into prisons which are basic torture chambers makes me wary of you living there for very long.  So even if you do wind up at the airport or a refugee camp or in an apartment somewhere for awhile out of necessity, I wish you safe passage to a country which will not kowtow to the wishes of the bossy United States.  And once you get there, I wish you both safety and happiness.

     President Obama, like many others who are not techies, confuses the words "safety" and "privacy."  It appears to me that he seems to believe that the more safety one has, the less privacy one is entitled to by necessity.  He doesn't know that safety which is not self-generated is a mere illusion.  He thinks-- I guess-- that destroying all anonymity and privacy will protect the American people from ourselves.  But we don't need surveillance.  Big Government is odious.  I don't want that.  Like you, I don't want to live in a country that polices every e-mail and communication for a list of suspect words.  But I am still here and you are not.  I watch what has happened to and what is happening to Bradley Manning and I know that Daniel Ellsberg has the right of it.  In order for you to have any chance at a life, you have had to sacrifice pretty much everything.  Thank you for not selling out, Ed.  The easier action would have been to shut up, stand down, say nothing.  You chose the rights of the people who inhabit this world over the directives of the government.  For that, I thank you.

     Although countries are caving left and right, I have to believe that there is a place for you and that you will get there.  Whether it is one of the three in South America or some other country, you deserve to be awarded asylum and hopefully citizenship someplace else.  Please know that there are bunches of us here in the United States who are rooting for you.  Be well, Ed.  

                                      Sail Strong!


                                       radical sapphoq