There seems
to be a crisp dichotomy between the opinions regarding Edward Snowden’s leaking
of National Security Agency (NSA) secrets.
Many, like Daniel Ellsberg and the New York Times view him as a patriot
and Dick Chaney (among many others) think him a callous traitor. Snowden himself says, “I’m neither traitor
nor hero. I’m an American.” The Diplomad
blog, which I often read, views him as treasonous … but many of the comments
therein disagree … see: The Diplomad Blog … and please read through the many thoughtful comments.
Now comes my opinion -- there
is a law in logic that deals with such a situation, namely that most opiners
are ignoring that both possibilities might be true … or the “excluded middle”
(see: Princeton Comments ). And so, I believe that Snowden is both a patriot and a traitor. He has opened up the debate about what
exactly the intelligence operations in this country should be permitted to do
without destroying our fundamental freedoms.
For this he is a hero. But he has
also a turncoat … and, through fuzzy thinking and media grandstanding, is
revealing many national security secrets that are doing great damage to our
counter-terrorism efforts and embarrassing us with our allies. Unlike many Americans, I don’t think that one
conclusion mitigates the other one.
For this latter gross
malfeasance, I think he should be extradited and tried for treason. If he is found guilty, I would have no
problem with his being executed. Such a
punishment would clear the minds of other potential Benedict Arnold's before
they are duped and try to grab international headlines with such dangerous revelations.
