Greenwald: U.S. should be ‘on its knees begging’ that nothing happens to Snowden
Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald said in an interview published Saturday that the U.S. should “be on its knees begging” that nothing bad happens to NSA leaker Edward Snowden because the information that would then be revealed would be the country’s “worst nightmare.” According to Reuters, Greenwald was speaking to the Argentinian newspaper La Nacion.
“Snowden has enough information to cause harm to the U.S. government in a single minute than any other person has ever had,” said Greenwald.
“The U.S. government should be on its knees every day begging that nothing happen to Snowden, because if something does happen to him, all the information will be revealed and it could be its worst nightmare.”
Snowden is currently working with Russian authorities to secure temporary asylum in that country. He said Fridaythat U.S. officials are blocking every effort he makes to seek safe passage to any place that will not extradite him into U.S. custody.
“(T)he government and intelligence services of the United States of America have attempted to make an example of me, a warning to all others who might speak out as I have. I have been made stateless and hounded for my act of political expression. The United States Government has placed me on no-fly lists. It demanded Hong Kong return me outside of the framework of its laws, in direct violation of the principle of non-refoulement – the Law of Nations. It has threatened with sanctions countries who would stand up for my human rights and the UN asylum system. It has even taken the unprecedented step of ordering military allies to ground a Latin American president’s plane in search for a political refugee. These dangerous escalations represent a threat not just to the dignity of Latin America, but to the basic rights shared by every person, every nation, to live free from persecution, and to seek and enjoy asylum.”
Greenwald told La Nacion that Snowden has stashed documents in physical locations around the world that reveal in detail a U.S. spying program carried out against Latin America. He said that one U.S. telecom corporation in particular is facilitating U.S. spying in the region, but declined to say which one.
