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In reply to the discussion: Valerie Plame: Edward Snowden Deserves Thanks, 'Will Be Abused' [View all]kenny blankenship
(15,689 posts)Snowden would have been whisked to Gitmo or some other military brig within 24 hrs of his disclosures if he had remained within reach. There are very few places where he would be safe from immediate apprehension or assassination. Ellsberg remained free on bail during the course of his trial and was able to defend himself in the court of public opinion and could contest the things the government said about him. Compare that to Bradley Manning's 900 plus days kept in cruel and inhumane conditions before receiving a trial. We live in a completely different time.
According to Ellsberg, Snowden was smart to get out of the country. If he had leaked like Ellsberg did, his anonymity would have been blown instantly by the govt's review of Greenwald's contacts. It would not be a matter of a journalist or a newspaper being unable to hold out against the govt's demands for the leaker's identity. The government would not need their cooperation. Snowden would have been arrested immediately and he would be stashed somewhere out of the way where he'd be unable to tell his story. His revelations would be quickly buried, and his right to a fair and speedy legal process ignored. Anything he had on the NSA that he failed to dump on the public in his first batch of disclosures would never get out at all.