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Is Edward Snowden A Traitorous Coward Or An American Hero

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Is Edward Snowden A Traitorous Coward Or An American Hero
Rafael Cordero
Mr. Hull
U.S History
21 January 2015
Is Edward Snowden a Traitorous Coward? or an American Hero?
Edward Snowden has become one of the most popular whistleblowers in modern days. He did a great favor to the world by revealing many of the secrets that the U.S was keeping from the public. However the done deed may have gone too far because the toll it took on the United States was bigger than most imagined. Snowden was a simple employee at the NSA before his infamy overcame his position. He was generally content, a simple system administrator, making a fairly decent salary up until he was placed in a higher up position. He was given a lot of power in his position and he had access to so much personal information that it made him …show more content…
The reason Snowden should not be charged to the fullest extent of the law because it would be unconstitutional to charge someone who is revealing intelligence that compromises human rights issues. The NSA was knowingly using these unethical spy tactics and the people depend on organizations to keep them safe not invade their privacy; Snowden did the public a great favor because his actions were a prime example of how doing what is right to preserve the nation’s constitution is not treacherous (German). In addition to this the NSA was also using methods that allowed them to spy and hack into other countries, Iran and Pakistan were among the highest “spied-on” countries in the world. What’s more surprising is that allied countries like Jordan, India and Egypt have really high rates of U.S spying as well …show more content…
Many argue that Snowden is a criminal who chose to betray the U.S, and that his reasoning for revealing the secrets of the NSA weren’t strong enough to counteract the damage done.

Works Cited
Edwards-Levy, Ariel. "Americans Still Can't Decide Whether Edward Snowden Is A 'Traitor' Or A 'Hero,' Poll Finds." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 30 Oct. 2013. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.
German, Michael. "Edward Snowden Is a Whistleblower." American Civil Liberties Union. Https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech-national-security/edward-snowden-whistleblower, 1 Aug. 2013. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.
Kirchick, James. "Edward Snowden, Traitor." NY Daily News. Http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/edward-snowden-traitor-article-1.1811878, 1 June 2014. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.
Turley, Jonathan. "Whistleblower or Traitor." Alijazeera.com. Alijazeera.com, 9 June 2014. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.
Wood, Chip. "Edward Snowden: Traitor or Hero? - Personal Liberty." Personal Liberty. Personal Liberty, 25 July 2013. Web. 21 Jan.
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