Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Glenn Greenwald :The Lie of MP Julian Smith And EX-CIA Director Woolsey & John Bolton Call For Snowden's Execution


When it comes to Snowden, Greenwald and NSA revelations it appears Obama and Fox News and Neocons are on the same page demanding that heads literally roll.


First Glenn Greenwald on " The Lie of MP Julian Smith " at http://utdocuments.blogspot.com.br/2013/12/the-lie-of-mp-julian-smith.html


Wednesday, December 18, 2013

The lie of MP Julian Smith
Earlier today, I testified before the EU Parliament's Committee Inquiry on Mass Surveillance of EU Citizens. After my opening remarks, I was asked numerous questions by Committee members. One of them, British Tory MP Timothy Kirkhope, exploited the hearing to ask not about surveillance, but about the journalistic process in which I and the Guardian engaged when reporting on the Snowden documents. Kirkhope specifically tried to advance the ongoing Tory attack on the Guardian that the paper shipped sensitive GCHQ documents outside of the country and should thus be criminally prosecuted.

About this exchange, Kirkhope's Tory colleague in Parliament, Julian Smith, who has been repeatedly calling for criminal prosecution of the Guardian, publicly claimed that - in response to Kirkhope's questions - I "confirmed" that the Guardian had indeed given me files that I did not previously have:

This statement is a lie. It's the exact opposite of reality. Rather than "confirm" any of that, I expressly refused to answer Kirkhope's questions about those matters, explaining that journalistic freedom means that journalists do not have to answer to political officials about the sources of their reporting or their journalistic process. The EU Parliament has posted the full video of my testimony (embedded below); here is the relevant exchange proving that Smith lied (beginning at roughly 46:00):

"Glenn Greenwald: Part of freedom of the press - an important part of freedom of the press that we've been talking about this morning - is that fortunately journalists don't have to answer to government officials about what their sources gave them, or how it is that they got their material. They're allowed to protect their sources and protect their journalistic materials from invasions by questions from the government like some of the ones you just asked."

and further developments include : Awards They Couldn’t Accept: The Tragic Irony of Greenwald, Poitras and Snowden
When I was honored as a top global thinker last week, 3 of my co-recipients didn't come. The reason why is chilling By Jesselyn Radack December 17, 2013 "Information Clearing House - "Salon" - I was humbled to have dinner in Washington, D.C., last week with an incredible group of my co-recipients recognized in Foreign Policy magazine’s 2013 list of leading global thinkers. Conspicuously absent in the category of “The Surveillance State and Its Discontents” were the discontents: Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Edward Snowden — not because they did not want to attend but because these three American global thinkers are unwelcome in the United States. Greenwald has been accused of being a co-conspirator to break the law. The U.S. government has regularly harassed, searched and intimidated documentary filmmaker Poitras at the border. And the U.S. government revoked Edward Snowden’s passport. Greenwald, Poitras and Snowden are on a growing list of journalists, activists and whistle-blowers who are unable to travel freely because of their First Amendment-protected activities. Their fears of persecution are sadly not exaggerated. The United Kingdom detained Greenwald’s husband, Brazilian David Miranda, for nine hours and charged him with violating an anti-terrorism law because he had met with Poitras and carried information (not some illegal substance or terrorist plans) for Greenwald. WikiLeaks journalist Sarah Harrison, who literally rescued whistle-blower Snowden from Hong Kong, has been advised by her attorneys not to return home to the U.K. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has long been the target of a U.S. criminal investigation, and was forced to seek asylum from Ecuador, but cannot get there. The U.S. has promised not to torture Snowden, but such a “promise” only raises the question: Is that how low a democracy should set the bar — at not torturing someone — rather than providing due process and abiding by international humanitarian standards? The Obama administration’s aggressive prosecution of whistle-blowers under the Espionage Act and willingness to embroil journalists in “leak” investigations and prosecutions casts doubt on the legitimacy of the criminal justice system...
and commentary from Jonathan Turley : Ex-CIA Director Calls For Snowden To Be “Hanged By His Neck Until He Is Dead” Dec. 18, 2013, Jonathan Turley.org
After the Snowden disclosures, Congress has pledged reforms. The White House has admitted abuses. Now a federal judge has declared the entire program to be unconstitutional. Yet, Woolsey wants Snowden dead. Welcome back to America’s Animal Farm.
Meanwhile one of the members of the former Bush administration who ought to be behind bars John Bolton condemns Snowden and warns Obama not to go easy on Snowden. John Bolton: Edward Snowden 'Ought To Swing From A Tall Oak Tree' by Mollie Reilly at Huff Post, Dec. 17, 2013 NSA Puff Piece Is ‘60 Minutes’ Latest Shame, Truthdig, Dec. 16, 2013
Rather than address the many disturbing revelations that have come from the leaks of Edward Snowden—intercepting voice, data and video communications by tapping fiber optic lines, actively working to compromise the security protocols used by online bankers, spying on lovers and world leaders—this report fixates instead on how Snowden pulled off the caper. In fact, Miller frames Snowden’s principled whistle-blowing as, “the most damaging breach of secrets in U.S. history.” The word damaging assumes the United States has been put in danger by Snowden’s leaks, but we know that actually it’s the intelligence establishment, and more specifically the rogue operations at the NSA, that have been endangered by Snowden’s leaks—not American safety.
'60 Minutes' Trashed For NSA Piece The Huffington Post,By Jack Mirkinson , Dec. 16, 2013 "60 Minutes" was trashed all over Twitter on Sunday night for a two-part story on the NSA which critics dubbed obsequious at best.
The piece was fronted by reporter John Miller, who had to tell viewers this at the top of the segment: "Full disclosure: I once worked in the office of the director of National Intelligence, where I saw firsthand how secretly the NSA operates." Miller is also likely set to leave CBS soon to work for the NYPD. Miller also said that the NSA agreed to speak to "60 Minutes" because it believes it has "not told its story well." It certainly found a comfortable place to do that on CBS News. The 25-minute segment consisted mostly of NSA officials dismissing concerns that their surveillance has gotten out of hand and showing off their gadgetry to the CBS cameras. There were no anti-NSA advocates or civil libertarians interviewed on-camera for the piece. The last words in the segment came from NSA chief Keith Alexander: "This is precisely the time that we should not step back from the tools that we've given our analysts to detect these types of attacks."

Meanwhile CBS wins dubious award for botched piece on Benghazi. '60 Minutes' Benghazi Debacle Named 'Error Of The Year'HuffPost, By Jack Mirkinson, Dec. 18, 2013
As if things weren't bad enough for "60 Minutes," the newsmagazine has now been given a prize nobody wants: Poynter's "Error of the Year" award, which it won for its disastrously botched story on the Benghazi attacks.

and so it goes,
GORD.


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