White House Tap Dances Around UK Intimidation of The Guardian

Personally, I find it some what hard to believe that the British government would have sought to threaten the UK newspaper The Guardian and demand all data in the paper's possession relating to the leaks by Edward Snowden without the knowledge of or a request from the U.S. Government/White House.  After all, the materials involved cam from America's spy system, not the UK's.  Yet the White House is trying to feign surprise and claim that nothing like that could happen here in America.  I for one don't believe it and Barack Obama is continuing to sully his reputation and integrity (or what integrity any politician has nowadays).  Raw Story looks at the White House's tap dancing routine.  Here are excerpts:

The White House distanced itself from Britain’s handling of the leaked NSA documents when representatives said it would be difficult to imagine the US authorities following the example of Whitehall in demanding the destruction of media hard drives.

As a former lord chancellor said the Metropolitan police had no legal right to detain the partner of a Guardian journalist at Heathrow airport under anti-terror laws, the White House suggested it would be inappropriate for US authorities to enter a media organisation’s offices to oversee the destruction of hard drives.

The White House – which on Monday distanced Washington from the detention of David Miranda – intervened for the second time in 24 hours after the Guardian revealed that senior Whitehall figures had demanded the destruction or surrender of hard drives containing some of the secret files leaked by the US whistle blower Edward Snowden.

Asked at his daily briefing on Tuesday whether President Obama’s administration would enter a US media company and destroy media hard drives – even to protect national security – the White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, said: “That’s very difficult to imagine a scenario in which that would be appropriate.”

The intervention by the White House came after the British government embarked on an aggressive offensive to justify the treatment at Heathrow of the partner of the Guardian journalist Greenwald.  Theresa May, the home secretary, confirmed that she was given advance notice of Miranda’s detention as she praised the police action on the grounds that he possessed sensitive documents that could help terrorists and “lead to a loss of lives”.

But May received a setback when Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the former Labour lord chancellor who was involved in introducing the anti-terror legislation used to detain Miranda, said the police had no right to detain him under the Terrorism Act 2000. Miranda was held for nine hours at Heathrow on Sunday under schedule 7 of the act, which allows police to detain people at ports and airports even if they are not acting suspiciously.

Falconer added: “What schedule 7 allows an examining officer to do is to question somebody in order to determine whether he is somebody who is preparing, instigating or commissioning terrorism. Plainly Mr Miranda is not such a person.”

Former shadow home secretary David Davis said No 10′s confirmation that David Cameron was given notice of the detention of Miranda meant that ministers had, in effect, approved of his treatment. 

It is no coincidence that both America and the UK alone of western democracies have police state-like domestic surveillance and spying operations that are on a level equal to Russia and China.  Apparently, the U.S. Constitution's protections for the citizenry mean nothing to Obama and others in Washington.  The ruse of fighting terrorist and national security needs have been used before to usher in dictatorship.  One need only look at 1930's Germany.

Do Snowden Charges Show Obama’s ‘Vindictive Mentality’?

One of my biggest disappointments with Barack Obama is that he has continued some of the worse practices of the Bush/Cheney regime when it comes to spying on Americans and other police state tactics.  Now, apparently greatly peeved that Edward Snowden showed just how pervasive domestic surveillance has become, the Obama administration has filed criminal charges against Snowden and seemingly wants to make an example of him as is being done with Bradley Manning.   Or at least that's the view of gay journalist Glen Greenwald who helped break the story of what has really been going on in an article last month in The Guardian, a British newspaper.  Talking Points Memo looks at Greenwald's assessment of Obama and what Greenwald calls a "vindictive mentality."  Here are highlights:

The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald on Friday blasted President Barack Obama for filing espionage charges against National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, saying it reflects the administration's "vindictive mentality."

Greenwald, who broke the stories on the NSA's surveillance programs based on information provided by Snowden, told MSNBC's Chris Hayes that while the response was par for the course for an Obama administration that has aggressively pursued leakers, he rejected the notion that the 29-year-old former government contractor engaged in espionage.

“I think it’s very surprising to accuse somebody of espionage who hasn’t worked for a foreign government, who didn’t covertly pass information to an adversary-enemy of the United States, who didn’t sell any top secret information, who simply went to newspapers, asked newspapers to very carefully vet the information to make sure that the only thing  being published are things that inform his fellow citizens but doesn’t harm national security," Greenwald said in a phone interview. "That is not espionage in any real sense of the word.”

Greenwald argued that the Obama administration is notorious for "overcharging," and that the charges filed against Snowden reveal an "extreme zealousness" and "vindictive mentality."

Sadly, I am inclined to agree with Greenwald.  In the case of Bradley Manning, huge efforts have been made to punish Manning while little or nothing has ever been done to hold those accountable who engaged in the murder of civilians and other atrocities.  Obama seems obsessed with keeping the truth about American misdeeds and government actions that may well be unconstitutional hidden from view.   It's very, very disappointing.