Here is part of the story first interview with David Miranda and the Guardian, you recall, Glenn Greewald's partner who has been so much in the news of late:
He was on his way back from Berlin, where he was ferrying materials between Greenwald and Laura Poitras, the US film-maker who has also been working on stories related to the NSA files released by US whistle-blower Edward Snowden.
Miranda was seized almost as soon as his British Airways flight touched down on Sunday morning. "There was an announcement on the plane that everyone had to show their passports. The minute I stepped out of the plane they took me away to a small room with four chairs and a machine for taking fingerprints," he recalled.
His carry-on bags were searched and, he says, police confiscated a computer, two pen drives, an external hard drive and several other electronic items, including a games console, as well two newly bought watches and phones that were packaged and boxed in his stowed luggage.
"They got me to tell them the passwords for my computer and mobile phone," Miranda said. "They said I was obliged to answer all their questions and used the words 'prison' and 'station' all the time."
I'll pause right here and note how they really put the thumb screws on the guy, detaining him for nine whole hours and using the word "prison" and "station" finally forcing him to crack to tell them the passwords to his computer and mobile phone. And him facing the horrific prospect of facing the British justice system under the charges they could conceivably have brought and sustained, with media oversight. And we're supposed to imagine this entire time that Edward Snowden didn't break under the resources available to Chinese intelligence and then Russian intelligence with many more than nine hours and the conditions that are entirely permitted to those governments and their security services. If the Chinese or Russian governments said, "We don't know where Snowden is," while knowing exactly where he was, do you think their domestic media would find out where he was? And do you think that, stupid as he was to go to China, that Snowden wasn't made aware of what could happen to him if he didn't "answer all their questions"? I'd imagine that "prison" and "station" would have been the least of it.
The story said:
He was offered a lawyer and a cup of water, but he refused both because he did not trust the authorities. The questions, he said, were relentless – about Greenwald, Snowden, Poitras and a host of other apparently random subjects.
Oh, the horror, being offered a lawyer. I'm sure that Snowden was threatened with at least that much in Hong Kong, but, in his situation, I would suspect a cup of water might have been a bit more of a danger. Though I'd guess tea or coffee would have hidden the taste of any drugs more effectively. I somehow, doubt that Snowden managed to go without liquids for the more than nine hours that was the length of his stay there or at the Airport in Moscow. Even his most ridiculous fans wouldn't believe that Snowden Man could hold out that long. Though they obviously believe he has other super-powers which are almost as absurd.
Back to the interview:
"It is clear why they took me. It's because I'm Glenn's partner. Because I went to Berlin. Because Laura lives there. So they think I have a big connection," he said. "But I don't have a role. I don't look at documents. I don't even know if it was documents that I was carrying. It could have been for the movie that Laura is working on."
Well, perhaps by now Miranda will have read the New York times stories that appeared roughly while he was in transit where both Poitras and Greenwald bragged about using their friends and associates as mules to carry stuff across borders for them. Not that I'd imagine British intelligence was unaware that Miranda, going from a week with Poitras in Berlin back to Greenwald might just have a large cache of material that British intelligence was able to want all on their own without the U.S. requesting it. After all, some of the material that Greenwald used to embarass the United States government was of interest to the British government. Who knows what else in that line Poitras and Greenwald were ferrying back and forth with their human mules.
And there was this:
Speaking by phone from the couple's home in the Tijuca forest, Miranda said it felt "awesome" to be back. "It's really good to be here. I felt the weight lift off my shoulders as soon I got back. Brazil feels very secure, very safe," he said. "I knew my country would protect me, and I believe in my husband and knew that he would do anything to help me."
Because, as everyone knows Rio de Janeiro is so crime free with no presence of organized criminals, at all. Perhaps, with their obsession about the United States government being out to get them, it hasn't occurred to Greenwald and Miranda that by announcing to the world that he's sitting on lots and lots of U.S. classified intelligence, that their home has become a repository of some very valuable material, which many governments and non-governmental groups would love to have. When their home was broken into in early July and only a lap top was taken, all of their adoring fans assumed it was the U.S. who took it. Why they'd want to steal information they already had is a bit more problematic than why organized criminals would want to steal it to sell it on the black market or hold it for ransom. Or some other intelligence service of some other country, friendly or hostile to the United States government might want it. Perhaps the Brazilian security services would like to know what Greenwald had gotten from Snowden. They should hope that someone who gets that doesn't want the key to any encryption enough to force it out of them. A lawyer and a cup of water would probably look really good to them before nine hours are up. And The Guardian will not be there to protect them if that should happen.
These guys are amateurs who have gotten in far, far over their head in an extremely dangerous game. Only it's not a game, the people and organizations they face are all business.
The cult of the new holy trinity, Snowden, Greenwald and Poitras is going to blow up in the face of the left and this leftist doesn't intend to go down with the idiots who are ignoring that what is already known about it indicates that it was based in either Snowden's idiocy or criminality in going to China with lots of stolen U.S. intelligence. That's the key to decrypt the real nature of this disaster. What followed was just more evidence that it is an impending disaster for the left which has taken him and Greenwald - a man who has spent many words supporting such well known leftists as Rand Paul - to their bosom.
Update: As RMJ points out today, the original assertion that the British officials who detained Miranda had denied him a lawyer is contradicted by him saying he was offered a lawyer and that he refused one. Which is an excellent point. I'm going to predict that sooner or later The Guardian will rue the day it took on Greenwald.
No comments:
Post a Comment