Whistleblowing: Exemplary Patriotism

Stephen Lendman

America's dark side threatens everyone.

Whistleblowing reflects doing the right thing. It exposes wrongdoing. It does so because it matters. Edward Joseph Snowden follows a noble tradition. Others before him established it. Daniel Ellsberg called his NSA leak the most important in US history. More on him below.

Expressions of patriotism can reflect good or ill. Samuel Johnson said it’s the last refuge of a scoundrel. Thomas Paine called dissent its highest form. So did Howard Zinn. According to Machiavelli:

"When the safety of one's country wholly depends on the decision to be taken, no attention should be paid either to justice or injustice, to kindness or cruelty, or to its being praiseworthy or ignominious."

Tolstoy said:

"In our day the feeling of patriotism is an unnatural, irrational, and harmful feeling, and a cause of a great part of the ills from which mankind is suffering; and…consequently, this feeling should not be cultivated, as is now being done, but should, on the contrary, be suppressed and eradicated by all means available to rational men."

Philosophy Professor Stephen Nathanson believes patriotism involves:

• special affection for one's own country;
• a sense of personal identification with the country;
• special concern for the well-being of the country; and
• willingness to sacrifice to promote the country's good.

Socrates once said:

"Patriotism does not require one to agree with everything that his country does, and would actually promote analytical questioning in a quest to make the country the best it possibly can be."

The best involves strict adherence to the highest legal, ethical and moral standards. Upholding universal civil and human rights is fundamental. So is government of, by and for everyone equitably. Openness, accountability and candor can't be compromised. When governments ill-serve, exposing wrongdoing is vital. It takes courage to do so. It involves sacrificing for the greater good. It includes risking personal harm and welfare. It means doing what's right because it matters. It reflects patriotism's highest form.

Daniel Ellsberg, Bradley Manning and Julian Assange are best known. So is Mordechai Vanunu. More on him below. Few remember Peter Buxtun. He's a former US Public Health Service employee. He exposed the Tuskegee syphilis experiment. About 200 Black men were infected. It was done to watch their progression. They were left to die untreated. Whistleblowing stopped further harm.

A. Ernest Fitzgerald held senior government positions. In 1968, he exposed a $2.3 billion Lockheed C-5 cost overrun. At issue was fraud and grand theft. Nixon told aides to "get rid of that son of a bitch." Defense Secretary Melvin Laird fired him. Fitzgerald was a driving force for whistleblower protections. He fought for decades against fraud, waste and abuse. He helped get the 1978 Civil Reform Act and 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act enacted.

Gregory Minor, Richard Hubbard and Dale Bridenbaugh are called the GE three. They revealed nuclear safety concerns. So did Arnold Gundersen, David Lochbaum and others. At issue then and now is public safety over profits.

Mordechai Vanunu was an Israeli nuclear technician. He exposed Israel's secret nuclear weapons program. He paid dearly for doing so. He was charged with espionage and treason. In 1986/87, he was secretly tried and sentenced. He was imprisoned for 18 years. He was confined in brutalizing isolation. He's been harassed and deprived of most rights since. Daniel Ellsberg called him "the preeminent hero of the nuclear era." In July 2007, Amnesty International (AI) named him "a prisoner of conscience." He received multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominations. Vanunu said "I am neither a traitor nor a spy. I only wanted the world to know what was happening." People have every right to know.

Mark Whitacre was an Archer Daniels Midland senior executive. He exposed price-fixing, wire and tax fraud, as well as money laundering. He had his own cross to bear. He was prosecuted and imprisoned. He lost his whistleblower immunity. After eight and a half years, he was released on good behavior.

Jeffrey Wigand was Brown & Williamson's research and development vice president. He went public on 60 Minutes. He exposed deceptive company practices. He was fired for doing so. B & W enhanced cigarette nicotine content. It was done without public knowledge. At issue was increasing addiction. Wigand told all. He received death threats for doing so. He now lectures worldwide and consults on tobacco control policies.

Gary Webb was an award-winning American journalist. His investigative work exposed CIA involvement in drugs trafficking. His book "Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion" told what he knew. New York Times, Washington Post, and other media scoundrels assailed him. They did so wrongfully and viciously. Then and now they support CIA crimes. They abhor truth and full disclosure. They ruined Webb's career. They did so maliciously. In December 2004, Webb was found dead at home. He died of two gunshot wounds to the head. Reports called it suicide. Critics believe otherwise. Two wounds suggest murder. Doing the right thing involves great risks. Webb paid with his life.

Swiss lawyer Marc Hodler was International Ski Federation president and International Olympic Committee member. In 1998, he exposed 2002 Salt Lake City winter games bid-rigging. Olympism profiteering, exploitation and corruption is longstanding. Deceptive hyperbole promotes good will, open competition, and fair play. Olympism's dark side reflects marginalizing poor and other disenfranchised groups, exploiting athletes and communities, as well as sticking taxpayers with the bill for profit.

Harry Markopolos exposed Bernie Madoff's hedge fund operations. He called them fraudulent. He obtained information firsthand. He got them from fund-of-fund Madoff investors and heads of Wall Street equity derivative trading desks. He accused Madoff of operating "the world's largest Ponzi scheme." Large perhaps but not the largest. Wall Street firms make money the old fashioned way. They steal it. They do so through fraud, grand theft, market manipulation and front-running. They scam investors unaccountably. They bribe corrupt political officials. In return, they turn a blind eye. Compared to major Wall Street crooks, Madoff was small-time. Others mattering most control America's money. They manipulate it fraudulently for profit.

Coleen Rowley's a former FBI agent. She documented pre-9/11 Agency failures. She addressed them to Director Robert Mueller. She explained in Senate Judiciary Committee testimony. She now writes and lectures on ethical decision-making, civil liberty concerns, and effective investigative practices.

Joseph Wilson's a former US ambassador. He exposed Bush administration lies. He headlined a New York Times op-ed "What I Didn't Find in Africa."

"Did the Bush administration manipulate intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs to justify an invasion of Iraq," he asked? "Based on my experience with the administration in the months leading up to the war, I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat."

Bush administration officials accused Wilson of twisting the truth. So did Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and other scoundrel media editors. They front for power. Wilson explained what people have a right to know. He was unjustifiably pilloried for doing so.

Wendell Potter was a senior CIGNA insurance company executive. He explained how heathcare insurers scam policyholders. They shift costs to consumers, offer inadequate or unaffordable access, and force Americans to pay higher deductibles for less coverage.

Sibel Edmonds is a former FBI translator. She founded the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC). She did so to aid "national security whistleblowers through a variety of methods." The ACLU called her "the most gagged person in the history of the United States." She knows firsthand the consequences of secret, unaccountable government operations. Her memoir is titled "Classified Woman: the Sibel Edmonds Story."

Previous articles discussed Mark Klein. He's a former AT&T employee turned whistleblower. He revealed blueprints and photographs of NSA's secret room inside the company's San Francisco facility. It permits spying on AT&T customers.

Karen Kwiatkowski's a retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel. She exposed Defense Department misinformation and lies. She discussed how doing so drove America to war.

Ann Wright's a former US Army colonel/State Department official. In 1997, she won an agency award for heroism. She's more anti-war/human rights activist/person of conscience than whistleblower. In 2003, she resigned from government service. She did so in protest against war on Iraq.

Edward Joseph Snowden continues a noble tradition. On June 8, London's Guardian headlined "Edward Snowden, NSA whistleblower: 'I do not expect to see home again.'" He leaked information to The Guardian and Washington Post. He exposed unconstitutional NSA spying. He served as an undercover intelligence employee. Asked why he turned whistleblower, he said:

"The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting." "If I wanted to see your emails or your wife's phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards." "I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things." "I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under."

NSA spies globally, he said. Claims about only doing it abroad don't wash. "We collect more digital communications from America than we do from the Russians," he said.

Previous articles said NSA works with all major US telecom companies. They do so with nine or more major online ones. They spy on virtually all Americans. They target everyone they want to globally. NSA capabilities are "horrifying," said Snowden.

"You are not even aware of what is possible." "We can plant bugs in machines. Once you go on the network, I can identify (it). You will never be safe whatever protections you put in place."

Asked what he thought might happen to him, he said "Nothing good." He left America. He moved to Hong Kong. He fled for his safety. He knows he can't hide. If US authorities want him targeted, they'll act no-holds-barred. If they want him arrested, they'll find him. If they want him disappeared, imprisoned and tortured, he's defenseless to stop them. It they want him dead, they'll murder him. Rogue states operate that way. America's by far the worst.

DNI head James Clapper accused Snowden of "violat(ing) a sacred trust for this country….I hope we're able to track whoever is doing this," he said. These type comments expose America's dark side. So does unconstitutional NSA spying and much more. Washington flagrantly violates fundamental rule of law principles. It does so ruthlessly. At stake is humanity's survival.

Snowden fears recrimination against his family, friends and partner. He'll "have to live with that for the rest of (his) life," he said.

"I am not going to be able to communicate with them. (US authorities) will act aggressively against anyone who has known me. That keeps me up at night."

Asked what leaked NSA documents reveal, he said:

"That the NSA routinely lies in response to congressional inquiries about the scope of surveillance in America." "America hacks everyone everywhere." "(W)e are in almost every country in the world." "Everyone, everywhere now understands how bad things have gotten - and they're talking about it."

On June 9, London Guardian editors headlined "Edward Snowden: more conscientious objector than common thief," saying:

What's next is certain. US authorities "will pursue Snowden to the ends of the earth." America's "legal and diplomatic machinery is probably unstoppable." Congress should eagerly want to hear what Snowden has to say, said Guardian editors. They should "test the truth of what he is saying."

They know full well. Many or perhaps most congressional members are fully briefed on what goes on. They're condone it. So do administration and judicial officials. Obama could stop it with a stroke of his pen. So can congressional lawmakers. Supreme Court justices could uphold the law. Lawlessness persists. Moral cowardice pervades Washington. America's dark side threatens everyone. There's no place to hide.
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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He has devoted his time and efforts to progressive causes and organizations, all involved in working for a more humane and just world for all people everywhere, but especially for the most needy, disadvantaged and oppressed. His efforts since summer 2005 have included writing on a broad range of vital topics ranging from war and peace; social, economic and political equity for all; and justice for all the oppressed peoples of the world like the long-suffering people of Haiti and the Palestinians. He also co-hosts The Global Research News Hour, gives occasional public talks, and appears frequently on radio and at times television. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. Also visit his blog and listen to The Lendman News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday - Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national issues. All programs are archived for easy listening. His new book "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War" can be ordered HERE. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
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