Edward Snowden says he’s in no rush to leave Vladimir Putin’s Russia, despite a public offer by Attorney General Eric Holder to “engage in conversation” if Snowden would return home and plead guilty to unspecified federal charges.
“We would do the same with any defendant who wanted to enter a plea of guilty,” the attorney general added.
But Snowden is not just any defendant. Michael Hayden, former NSA director, describes him this way: “Edward Snowden will likely prove to be the most costly leaker of American secrets in the history of the republic.”
In sharp contrast, President Obama suggested Snowden wasn’t worth the bother, saying he “was not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker.”
We can’t help comparing the liberal reaction to Ed Snowden with the reaction to I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby. While Snowden has exposed tens of thousands of secrets, Libby was the aide to Dick Cheney whom Democrats and the media wanted pursued to the ends of the earth for having leaked the name of a single CIA agent, Valerie Plame, to columnist Robert Novak.
When it turned out this wasn’t true, Libby was still prosecuted and convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice. The man who had in fact leaked Plame’s name, Richard Armitage at State, was never charged.
So, Mr. President, we have a deal for you: Before your administration offers new deals to Edward Snowden — a man who admits to having intentionally exposed tens of thousands of secrets, how about a full pardon for Scooter Libby, who was accused — falsely — of leaking just one?