Thread: Pentagon Papers' Ellsberg Says Snowden Saves Us From The "United Stasi Of America"

Pentagon Papers' Ellsberg Says Snowden Saves Us From The "United Stasi Of America"


Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/10/2013 08:45 -0400

It is perhaps too early to judge the impact of Edward Snowden's confirmation of conspiracy fact, but in Pentagon Papers' Daniel Ellsberg opinion in today's Guardian, there has not been a more important leak in American history. The "executive coup" against the US constitution that has, at first sercretly but increasingly openly, been under way since 9/11 could finally be stalled by the Whistleblower's efforts. Ellsberg notes Senator Frank Church's 1975 comments on the NSA warning of the dangerous prospect that America's intelligence gathering capability "at any time could be turned around on the American people and no American would have any privacy left," noting 'that has now happened'. That is what Snowden has exposed, with official, secret documents. The NSA, FBI and CIA have, with the new digital technology, surveillance powers over our own citizens that the Stasi – the secret police in the former "democratic republic" of East Germany – could scarcely have dreamed of.

Via The Guardian,

...

Snowden's whistleblowing gives us the possibility to roll back a key part of what has amounted to an "executive coup" against the US constitution.

Since 9/11, there has been, at first secretly but increasingly openly, a revocation of the bill of rights for which this country fought over 200 years ago. In particular, the fourth and fifth amendments of the US constitution, which safeguard citizens from unwarranted intrusion by the government into their private lives, have been virtually suspended.

...

The fact that congressional leaders were "briefed" on this and went along with it, without any open debate, hearings, staff analysis, or any real chance for effective dissent, only shows how broken the system of checks and balances is in this country.

...

In 1975, Senator Frank Church spoke of the National Security Agency in these terms:

"I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision, so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return."

The dangerous prospect of which he warned was that America's intelligence gathering capability "at any time could be turned around on the American people and no American would have any privacy left."

...

That has now happened. That is what Snowden has exposed, with official, secret documents. The NSA, FBI and CIA have, with the new digital technology, surveillance powers over our own citizens that the Stasi – the secret police in the former "democratic republic" of East Germany – could scarcely have dreamed of. Snowden reveals that the so-called intelligence community has become the United Stasi of America.

...

So we have fallen into Senator Church's abyss.

...

Snowden did what he did because he recognised the NSA's surveillance programs for what they are: dangerous, unconstitutional activity. This wholesale invasion of Americans' and foreign citizens' privacy does not contribute to our security; it puts in danger the very liberties we're trying to protect.

Read more at The Guardian...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-0...-stasi-america

Stasi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It has been described as one of the most effective and repressive intelligence and secret policeagencies in the world.<sup>[2][3][4][5][6][7]

The Stasi motto was "Schild und Schwert der Partei" (Shield and Sword of the Party), that is the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). Several Stasi officials were prosecuted for their crimes after 1990.</sup>

Between 1950 and 1989, the Stasi employed a total of 274,000 people in an effort to root out the class enemy.^[12][13] In 1989, the Stasi employed 91,015 persons full-time, including 2,000 fully employed unofficial collaborators, 13,073 soldiers and 2,232 officers of GDR army,^[14] along with 173,081 unofficial informants inside GDR^[15] and 1,553 informants inWest Germany.^[16] In terms of the identity of inoffizielle Mitarbeiter (IMs) Stasi informants, by 1995, 174,000 had been identified, which approximated 2.5% of East Germany's population between the ages of 18 and 60.^[12] 10,000 IMs were under 18 years of age.^[12]

While these calculations were from official records, according to the federal commissioner in charge of the Stasi archives in Berlin, because many such records were destroyed, there were likely closer to 500,000 Stasi informers.^[12] A former Stasi colonel who served in the counterintelligence directorate estimated that the figure could be as high as 2 million if occasional informants were included.<sup>[12]

More at the page Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasi</sup>

This guy is a hero to me!
One of few who wasn't afraid of the Obama Administration.