NSA Groupie Rep. Mike Rogers Wants Edward Snowden Charged with Murder
My original headline described Republican Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers as an "NSA apologist," but then I realized that would indicate he thinks the National Security Agency might have ever done anything wrong. That is not the case, and he has outshown pretty much every other defender of the NSA in his strident attacks on Edward Snowden for leaking information about how the federal government has been spying on its own citizens to a massive, unheard-of degree.
Rogers, also the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, visited the House of Commons in England last night and took his anti-Snowden lecture even further; he says he wants the whistleblower charged with murder. From The Huffington Post:
"The [US] government has pressed charges on Mr Snowden," he said. "We are treating him, as I would argue, the traitor that he is." Rogers added: "And by the way, and this is important, I would charge him for murder." …
The explosive material provided by Snowden to The Guardian exposed the depth and breadth of US and UK global and domestic spying capabilities and activities. However the Michigan congressman said the leak had caused the deaths of American and British armed forces.
"He took information that allows force protection, not only for British soldiers, but for US soldiers, and made it more difficult for us to track those activities. Meaning it is more likely that one of those soldiers is going to get their legs blown off or killed because of his actions," he said. "Anybody that provides information to the enemy is a traitor, period, pure and simple."
At least Rogers has the good sense to realize the American public is not behind him:
Rogers admitted though that despite the fact both Republican and Democrat politicians had condemned Snowden, the public was not on the side of the authorities and believed their private lives were under surveillance. "We are just having a horrible time in the political narrative," he said.
You have to love how he makes all these outrageous, unsupported claims that people don't believe and then complains about not having any control over the political narrative.
Anyway, Rogers will not be a congressman for much longer, retiring after this term to apparently become a conservative talk radio show. I wrote about some of the lowlights of his career back in March, and Ed Krayewski identified him as a politician making fools of us all back in April.
