White House: Snowden should return home and face trial

Jul 29, 2015 08:06 GMT  ·  By

Edward Snowden supporters will be sad to find out the White House doesn't plan to issue a full pardon for their hero.

US citizens have the rights to ask their current president to take various actions with the help of public petitions. The White House simplifies this process by allowing US residents to sign online petitions on its official website.

Back in June 2013 a petition was opened asking Barack Obama to pardon Edward Snowden, effectively allowing him to return to US soil after he was accused of treason and was forced to seek asylum in Russia.

With nearly 168,000 people signing this petition, and amidst a growing public interest that doesn't seem to die down even after all these years, the White House issued a public response on the subject.

According to Lisa Monaco, the President's Advisor on Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, "Mr. Snowden's dangerous decision to steal and disclose classified information had severe consequences for the security of our country and the people who work day in and day out to protect it."

Because of this, "He [Snowden] should come home to the United States, and be judged by a jury of his peers -- not hide behind the cover of an authoritarian regime."

No mercy for Snowden, at least not from the US government

It appears that most people in the US seem to have pardoned Edward Snowden in one way or another, except the US government.

While Hollywood is making one Edward Snowden movie after another, US officials are still harboring ill feelings towards the man that brought the entire NSA secret spying program down to its knees.

Snowden's actions led the US Senate to reform the famous Patriot Act approved after the 9/11 attacks, replacing some of its provisions with the US Freedom Act, a similar law, but with lesser intrusive powers.

This upset lots of high-ranking officials, especially in the military sector, seeing some of their God-like powers taken away, and being challenged by the public for some questionable decisions they have taken on various topics.

Many journalists and people with insights into the US government body are left to wonder if Snowden will ever be given a fair trial if he ever decides to return to the United States, and most see him as an already condemned man, with a ticker following him around until one of the US task forces manages to nab him from Russia's soil, or disposes of him in a Bin Laden-like operation.