Earlier this month, while writing for Slate Magazine, journalist William Saletan posted an important question to his audience: “Snowden, Manning, and Miranda leaked government secrets. Does that make them traitors and terrorists?” For Saletan, the prosecution of these three whistleblowers is but an extension of the policy Bush revealed shortly after the September 11 attacks, “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.”
Saleton concludes:
In none of these cases has the government presented any evidence that the leaker intended to aid, or had any contact with, our adversaries. The rationale is simply that our adversaries benefit from disclosures of classified information. That argument is true, but it’s far too broad. It defines all leaking not simply as a crime, but as treason. It insults the meanings of espionage and terrorism. It endangers us all.
Read his full article here.
While a number of intellectuals may recognize the importance of government transparency and whistleblowing, the jury is still out in the court of public opinion. According to Russia Today, however, Germans firmly support Edward Snowden, with 60 percent of those polled saying they consider him a hero. Additionally, half of Germans say they would support providing him asylum. The popularity of Edward Snowden, unsurprisingly, corresponds with less favorable feelings toward the US government:
Only 35 percent still see Washington as a reliable partner – a drop of 14 percent since July, according to a survey conducted by public broadcaster ARD and Die Welt daily. This year’s figures are a massive drop from the situation at the start of President Barack Obama’s presidency, when he was given an enthusiastic welcome on his first official visit to Berlin, and 76 percent of Germans said they trusted the US government in a Nov. 2009 poll.
The revelations about US spying hit especially close to home for the Germans, as one news story that broke recently was how American security services bugged German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s private mobile phone. Full article.
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Finally, in a guest column for Technician Online, Justine Schnitzler urges people to considers Private Manning’s whistleblowing and her gender as two separate topics. Schnitzler points out that many people falsely assume Manning’s transgender identity caused her whistleblowing, or vice versa. However, she thinks this obsession with Manning’s identity stems more from transphobia in America than anything else:
Transphobia in this country has alienated the nation from her identity as a human being. We attempt to blame her decision to release classified documents as part of her falsely perceived psychosis, rather than understanding that what she did for the U.S. and what she is doing for herself are two separate spheres… Most of us will never struggle with the overwhelming sense that something about our physical body is very, very wrong — and as such, we should not be allowed to pass judgment regarding Manning’s request.
Read her full article.