All too frequently, on DKos and elsewhere in the liberal blogosphere, Edward Snowden is condemned for not remaining in America to face trial. He's compared to deeply principled practitioners of civil disobedience like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King; unsurprisingly, Snowden doesn't fare well in these comparisons.
Conveniently forgotten or ignored is the fact that Snowden himself has never claimed to be engaging in civil disobedience. That's a phrase and concept his detractors have thrown into the mix, as a way of "proving" he isn't Gandhi or Thoreau. It's a silly red herring, since Snowden has never compared himself to either man... or to Dr. King.
This notion that only civil disobedience ala Gandhi and King is a morally acceptable form of extra-legal dissent is bizarre and counter-factual. Civil disobedience can be an effective tactic under some circumstances, but it's hardly the only one possible. The history of speaking out from political exile--as opposed to speaking out from prison--is also a long and honorable one. Daniel Ellsberg, who surely has standing to weigh in on this, strongly believes that Snowden was right to go into exile rather than face trial. It's ironic that many of the same Kossacks who blithely brand Snowden as a "traitor" would without hesitation extol Ellsberg as an American hero. For them, "hero" or "traitor" is seemingly determined not by the actions involved or the crimes revealed... but solely by the party in power when the action took place.
Daniel Ellsberg himself could hardly disagree more strongly. He's spoken out frequently about Snowden, clearly, fervidly and on the record, lauding his courage and fully supporting Snowden's decision to go into exile rather than remaining in America to defend his actions in court. An op-ed by Ellsberg in the Washington Post last July fully explains his position on Snowden. Some samples:
Many people compare Edward Snowden to me unfavorably for leaving the country and seeking asylum, rather than facing trial as I did. I don’t agree. The country I stayed in was a different America, a long time ago... When I surrendered to arrest in Boston, having given out my last copies of the papers the night before, I was released on personal recognizance bond the same day... There is no chance that experience could be reproduced today.
The entire editorial is passionate and eloquent and well worth reading. Any remaining doubts about Daniel Ellberg's wholehearted support of Edward Snowden were put to rest earlier this year when
Snowden was added to the board of Ellsberg's Freedom of the Press Foundation.
There were--and are--those who derided Ellsberg and the Media, PA burglars as un-American "traitors" as well, but history has, by and large, concluded otherwise. I stand with Daniel Ellsberg in lauding Edward Snowden as an American patriot and hero, worthy of being spoken of in the same breath as other women and men of principle and conscience. I'm confident that, in the fullness of time, that will become accepted wisdom...
unless the intelligence community is permitted to write the history books.