The former CIA/NSA employee, Edward Snowden, is now inside the whirling, cutting blades of the buzz saw: the media.
According to most media accounts he’s, at best, a nut: and at worst, a traitor.
In a playbook that shines best in wartime, the favored attack of the media is upon the target’s sanity. Now, Edward Snowden joins Kim Jong-Il, Saddam Hussein and Muammar Quaddafi, as, if not totally mad, at least he’s not all there.
I’m always amazed when they employ this tactic, one of the faves of the corporate/imperial press.
If one dares challenge the empire, well! – they’re mad!
(If I see another clip of his girlfriend, I’ll hurl)
Meanwhile, no serious examination –nor real challenge – to his essential charges – the fantastic scope of U.S. intelligence agencies, but perhaps more foreboding, the sheer power of private contractors – like Booz Allen Hamilton – where Snowden, until recent days, worked.
One of the primary underlying features of the Iraq War and its support services was the sheer explosion of contractors working for a plethora of private corporations.
The Iraq War may’ve been bad for the country’s image and prestige, but it was a gold mine for businesses.
The same could be said for Snowden’s former employer, Booz Allen, one of the leading employers of ex-CIA and NSA personnel, who can live like princes on private money generated by huge government contracts.
If Americans really listen to this young man, and begin to look deeply into this national security industry, perhaps that’ll change.
But I ain’t holdin’ my breath.
