Lawmakers Upset Snowden Received Temporary Asylum in Russia
Call the waaambulance
The White House and U.S. lawmakers fumed Thursday after NSA leaker Edward Snowden apparently was allowed to leave the Moscow airport and enter Russian territory on temporary refugee status.
"If these reports are accurate, Americans in Washington should consider this a game changer in our relationship with Russia," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a statement, calling Russia's decision "provocative" and "a sign of Vladimir Putin's clear lack of respect for President Obama." Graham called for the U.S. government to meet the decision with a "firm response," which he did not describe.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called it a "slap in the face of all Americans."
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
It IS a slap in the face to all Americans, but not the way McCain meant it.
The slap in the face is that our leaders have turned the world on its head, where RUSSIA of all places is truer to our founding principles and freedom than we are. Considering what else Russia has been up to of late, I know MY face is stinging right now...