Snowden, Manning, Abdulelah Hider Shaea and American Justice

Dear Mr. President,

Here’s still more news the NYT thinks not fit to print: on Friday, Col. Denise Lind permitted the prosecution to “rebut” the defense in the Bradley Manning trial and call back a witness who suddenly “remembered” Manning tell her the “flag means nothing to me.” A new rule you and Eric cooked up? If prosecutors blow the case against a whistleblower, even after they’ve rested, they get another shot? Even if the allegation is undocumented and no other witnesses? Here’s how my dictionary defines kangaroo court “1. A mock court set up in violation of established legal procedures. 2. A court characterized by dishonesty or incompetence.” Why not fly Manning directly to Guantanamo and put him with the other 166 indefinitely detained men you deem enemies of the state and stop the charade? CNN reported today that an NSA source (leaker?) said Edward Snowden didn’t get the “crown jewels.” Well, that’s reassuring. Also disconcerting. What else are they doing that we don’t know about? What other violations of law? What other criminal activity? And late today, one of Snowden’s Russian lawyers believes he’ll be able to leave the airport by Wednesday. I hope so. I hope he didn’t have to pay too high a price to the devil to get sprung. And I hope he finds safe refuge and stays out of the hands of America’s assassins and kidnappers, although the odds aren’t in his favor. As he said in that first interview, “If they want to get you they’ll get you.” And here’s something you said in Dreams from My Father: “But power was patient and knew what it wanted; power could outwait slogans and prayers and candlelight vigils.” That knowledge is useful now in your pursuit of Edward Snowden. Patience. Assure everyone that he didn’t get the “crown jewels” then, when everyone relaxes and the TV cameras no longer follow him, make him suddenly disappear, silence him forever; show all other would-be whistleblower what happens when you expose high crimes and misdemeanors. Kill them, imprison them, at the very least ruin their lives. Not only here but anywhere. I think of Abdulelah Haider Shaea, the Yemeni journalist who reported that the U.S. launched Tomahawk cruise missiles armed with cluster bombs against the village of al-Majalah in Yemen on Dec. 17, 2009, killing 21 women, 14 children and 7 men. He is still in prison because you personally called Saleh and threatened to cut off American counter-terrorism funds if he was released.* American Justice. A travesty. A tragedy.

* See my letter of April 11, 2011