United States of Hypocrisy

United States of Hypocrisy ■ I expected Obama to be a terrible president, but I thought he’d be less outrageous on civil liberties than he is, and I thought his administration might turn down the hypocrisy a notch. Not only has the US charged Edward Snowden, like Bradley Manning, with offences not resembling what they actually did, in both cases to cover up embarrassing and illegal activities by government personnel high to low. But in the case of Robert Seldon Lady we have an American convicted in an Italian court of kidnapping. Unlike the situation with Russia, we have an extradition treaty with Italy, and we generally take their legal system to be legitimate. Yet when Italy demands the extradition of Lady, and he is temporarily detained by Panama, the US government exerts tremendous pressure to get him released before he can face the legal version of the extraordinary renditions he was involved in. So Lady has been convicted of an actual and obvious crime by a legitimate court in a country we have an extradition treaty with, but we refuse to extradite him. In the very same week we demand that Russia hand over Snowden who hasn’t been convicted, hasn’t obviously damaged anything but reputations, and we don’t have an extradition treaty with Russia. Everyone else in the world sees this and understands the meaning. Only Americans who watch American television miss it. [H/T: xymphora]

AG Holder promises Russia not to torture Snowden - A Shameful Day to Be a US Citizen ■ So it has come to this: That the United States has to promise (to Russia!) that it will not torture a prisoner in its control -- a US citizen at that -- and so therefore that person, Edward Snowden, has no basis for claiming that he should be “treated as a refugee or granted asylum.” Why does Holder have to make these pathetic representations to his counterpart in Russia? Because Snowden has applied for asylum saying that he is at risk of torture or execution if returned to the US to face charges for leaking documents showing that the US government is massively violating the civil liberties and privacy of every American by monitoring every American’s electronic communications. [...] This country’s “justice” system has become so perverted and politically tainted that the rest of the world, including Russia, knows that Snowden is telling the truth when he says he cannot hope to receive a fair trial here. Indeed, Congress has passed laws, and the President has signed laws, giving this government the power to lock someone like Snowden up indefinitely without trial, to torture him, and even to kill him, not through a jury decision on capital punishment, but simply on the basis of a secret “finding” by the President that he has aided or abetted terrorism.

Snowden Case Reveals Obama's Personal Arrogance ■ What does it say about a country when it has to assure another country that it will not torture a fugitive should he be returned? [Who] will believe anything Holder promises? Wasn't it the U.S. which redefined torture into "enhanced interrogation"? Is that the plan for Snowden? Wasn't it the Obama administration and Holden who refused to prosecute anyone but the victims over torture? Isn't the Obama administration accused by the UN special rapporteur on torture of cruel, inhuman and degrading treating of a prisoner in a case similar to Snowden's? By writing that Holden letter the U.S. has publicly humiliated itself. It is a total embarrassment. Putin has made it clear from the very beginning that any extradition of Snowden is not going to happen. Fullstop. [...] It seems that this an Obama personality issue. He personally asked Putin to extradite Snowden even after Putin had publicly (thereby leaving zero chance to later change that decision) said he would not. Now Obama is miffed. How can HE get rebuked by country like Russia?