I think it’s safe to say that things are not going exactly
as Edward Snowden had hoped when he revealed that America’s top spy agency
spies ... on everyone ... everywhere ... around the world. I don't understand what he hoped to accomplish when he broke the terms of his
employment contract, a job he apparently accepted for the sole purpose of
stealing classified information. He clearly didn’t
anticipate having his passport revoked. I guess he assumed our government would
be okay with him traipsing off to wherever he pleased with stolen laptops full of
top secret information in his backpack. Perhaps he envisioned a multi-continent
chase worthy of a Brad Thor novel where he cleverly eludes top government agents again
and again, cackling gleefully at the thought of making fools out of his former
employers. Perhaps he believed that public outrage over the revelation that our
spies actually spy would protect him from prosecution. Maybe he believed the American
people would stand up as one, carrying him on their shoulders, holding him up
as a new icon of freedom – a brave voice in the fight for privacy.
I’d wager good money he did NOT expect to be stuck at the
Moscow Airport. It’s a limbo worse than hell, like the punishment of Tantalus. Imagine the
frustration he must feel to be in a place where so many people come and go day and night, and he has no recourse to do the same. The roar of the
departures and arrivals lulls him to sleep in a chair designed to prohibit one from
lying down. Daily he must face the reality of nothing but airport food to eat,
airport facilities to freshen up in, rows of televisions with no remotes –
endless CNN and TWC, or their Russian equivalents, and no ability to change the
channel. How often is it his face on
the screen?
When he makes it back to the USA to stand trial for
espionage, I think a halfway decent lawyer could possibly persuade a judge to
let the time spent in the Moscow Airport be applied as time served. I’d have no
qualms with this. I’ve been stuck at an airport before (because of weather),
and it really sucks. I doubt it will make much of a dent in the life sentence
he’s bound to receive, but it would be a friendly gesture. In the meantime, his
choices for where to seek asylum fascinate me. Most of his early picks have
been countries with notoriously bad track records for respecting human rights
or privacy. (This Vanity Fair piece about Eddie’s global
“hypocrisy tour” is a good read.)
I’m flummoxed, really. Our NSA may be spy-crazy, but surely Snowden’s
heard about China’s position on privacy and free speech for its people? And Russia’s? He knows
about Pussy Riot, doesn’t he? Average citizens of both of those countries would
probably challenge Snowden’s assertion that they share with him, “...a
basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek asylum.” Venezuela’s
looking like a promising refuge as I write this. That country’s human rights
track record is also pretty abysmal, but the presidential jet is already at the
Moscow Airport, which is handy. Snowden’s message to us all must be this then:
It is better to sacrifice your way of life and live in exile in an oppressive
totalitarian state than put up with the government tracking your phone call habits at home. Wait
a minute. How’s that?
Either Snowden did this for the greater good and really
thinks he can garner sympathy from Americans by cozying up to the countries, repressive or otherwise, that
blatantly dislike us, or he had his own reasons for deliberately taking a job
so he could steal classified information -- reasons that have nothing to do
with protecting the civil liberties of America. We may never know. Mr. Snowden
has sacrificed much for his principles, but he is now a man compromised. Eddie
has nowhere to go and no way to get there. His credibility is shot; he has lost a chance at whatever
life he dreamed for himself. He lambasts the Obama
administration for, “using
citizenship as a weapon,” but isn’t it interesting how he had already
decided he could not be treated fairly here and fled the country before he fenced his stolen goods to the
Guardian? He never gave his country
the chance. As far as I’m concerned, his “extralegal
penalty of exile” is self-imposed.
I can’t help feeling that Eddie Snowden’s sacrifices have
been for naught. The outrage he counted on when he leaked the PRISM information
has pretty much failed to materialize (well, except with our EU allies who have
demanded an explanation). I’ve
already given my opinion of the folks who actually believe they have privacy
in this or any country, and apparently I am not alone in my attitude of “yeah,
so what?” Even if the NSA and our government went on record to say they are
never ever ever again going to spy on us or our allies inappropriately, I would
assume otherwise.
Look, I’m not saying I like the idea of all this data
mining. I actually hate like hell that my government feels it’s needed. I hate
like hell that I feel it’s needed;
the September 11 attacks changed me that way. I don’t know that this spying
actually makes us any safer as a country, but I feel pretty confident that
doing nothing is the wrong approach. Spying on our allies may seem unnecessary,
but you can’t tell me they aren’t spying on us too; I won’t believe you. Nations
have played the game of Spy vs. Spy for longer than America has existed. That
isn’t going to change.
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| Spy vs. Spy was created by Antionio ProhÃas, who fled Cuba to the United States in 1961 after being threatened for lampooning Fidel Castro. |
I’m sure Snowden will get out of the Moscow Airport
eventually, but it’s likely a less odious place to be than a Russian Gulag or a
Chinese labor camp. Without ever having been in either, I can’t say how the
Moscow Airport stacks up against a US prison. But at least in a US prison, Snowden has a shot at being allowed to change the channel on the TV.
