Letter to Amnesty International: stop abetting the work of Edward Snowden

I sent a letter to Amnesty International yesterday, complaining of their uncritical support for the work of Edward Snowden, the former NSA programmer and contractor who revealed the workings of the NSA's surveillance programs and threatens to reveal thousands of secret files and protocols. You can read about Amnesty's efforts on their web site here.

I would support Amnesty's work if they protected Snowden's rights to a fair trial, to speak freely without fearing harm. But they've gone farther than that in this case -- they've glorified him and his actions. Here is the letter:

Dear Amnesty International,

As a longtime supporter of Amnesty International and your wonderful work, I am unhappy with your uncritical support for Edward Snowden, and AI's efforts to abet his work. Snowden's intentions are at best ambiguous, and he is quite possibly a traitor to the country he pledged to protect and that protected him for his entire life.

He has revealed the presence and details of secret surveillance programs run by the United States in its efforts to defend its people against enemies who have ruthlessly killed thousands of noncombatants, Americans and people from other nations. These programs are overseen by our elected representatives. He has threatened to reveal secret files, codes and protocols that will harm American intelligence agents and activities. And he has humiliated our country by placing himself and his document stash in the protection of Vladimir Putin's Russia (of all countries).

These are not the actions of a whistleblower. If he were a whistleblower, he could have quit his position and gone to the NY Times, Fox News, 60 Minutes -- or Amnesty International.

I don't know what Edward Snowden is. The issues of privacy and governmental intrusion (in an era when all our communications are stored on servers and networks around the world) are real. But his course of action has been to harm the United States.

Amnesty International has diluted its resources and moral effectiveness by forcefully supporting Snowden and lionizing him. Until this stops, I will not send any further financial support to AI, and will urge my friends to do likewise.

Sincerely,

John Melithoniotes

Watertown, MA

USA

 As I say, I don't yet know what Snowden is, whether he's a whistleblower genuinely interested in exposing a massive unnecessary surveillance into the lives of millions of people, or if he's an egotistical paranoid man who sees himself as a kind of savior and who became a traitor. I feel Amnesty International overstepped their mandate by abetting his work and flight from the American justice system.