If the general attorney has to step up to the podium and assure an American public that a whistleblower won't be killed or tortured you've got a country in dire straits.<p>Especially since it seems that not all Americans believe him.
Considering that the US Government no longer considers things like waterboarding and sleep depravation to be torture, I take little comfort in Holder's statements.
It would be really nice to know how they legally interpret "torture" and "kill" since so many other common English words often mean completely different things to the U.S. Government.
Snowden is charged [1] with:<p><pre><code> * 18 USC 641 - Theft of government property
* 18 USC 793(d) - Unauthorized communication of national defense information
* 18 USC 798(a)(3) - Willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person
</code></pre>
None carry the death penalty. All carry a prison sentence of "not more than ten years."<p>[1] <a href="http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/world/us-vs-edward-j-snowden-criminal-complaint/496/" rel="nofollow">http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/world/us-vs-edwar...</a><p>[EDIT formatting]
Unfortunately, there is basically no trust left in the US Government. They've used it all up. Why would Snowden believe proven-to-be pathological liars?<p>The US Government will put you in solitary confinement for years and waterboard you and it's not considered 'torture.'
Holder pretty much <i>has</i> to say this (because seriously, what is he going to say? "Go ahead and give him asylum, we'd just torture and execute him if we got him back."), but it's abundantly clear what the US Govt thinks of Snowden and his Constitutional rights (which, mind you, supersede any other part of the USC) [1][2].<p>This is an administration that has killed US citizens without due process, tortured prisoners, and deeply extended the grasp of the police state. We're supposed to trust that they'll just be nice guys and do the right and legal thing now?<p>[1] <a href="http://www.tubechop.com/watch/1318893" rel="nofollow">http://www.tubechop.com/watch/1318893</a><p>[2] <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130714/00393923792/white-house-believes-ed-snowden-shouldnt-have-any-free-speech-rights-attacks-russia-letting-him-speak.shtml" rel="nofollow">http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130714/00393923792/white-...</a>
Don't they realize how weird it is for them to have to be spelling it out like this? There's a bigger problem when it's just assumed by everyone the government is going to do this...
>Wyden then asked Director Clapper, "Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?" He responded, "No, sir." Wyden asked "It does not?" and Clapper said "Not wittingly. There are cases where they could inadvertantly perhaps collect, but not wittingly."<p>>On July 1, 2013, Clapper issued an apology, saying that "My response was clearly erroneous – for which I apologize."
BBC version of the news available here: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23468459" rel="nofollow">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23468459</a>.<p>Link to actual letter:
<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/26_07_13_attorney_general_letter_to_russian_justice_minister.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/26_07_13_attorney...</a><p>Edit: fixed typo
Just like how Bradley Manning was treated totally legally and torture-free <a href="http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/07/26/eric-holder-well-maybe-just-a-little-forced-nudity-and-solitary-confinement/" rel="nofollow">http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/07/26/eric-holder-well-maybe-...</a>
I wonder if this constitutes the administration's promised response to the Snowden pardon petition[1]<p>[1]: <a href="https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pardon-edward-snowden/Dp03vGYD" rel="nofollow">https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pardon-edward-snow...</a>
What a ridiculous statement for a government official to make in a country that has sentences determined by a democratic court system.<p>How can Holder know what the punishment will be on top of what the jury will decide?
Even if we believed him, it doesn't matter. Sending him to prison forever is still unacceptable. Ask me again when you're ready to give him a full pardon.