Should it be illegal to expose illegal activity? It sounds like a silly question, however this is the exact question we find ourselves asking. When President Obama was elected he promised his administration would be the most transparent in history, it turned out to be the opposite. Obama has prosecuted 6 whistleblowers in the past 5 years, this is more than all past presidents combined. The formal definition of whistleblower is someone who informs on a person or organization of illicit activity. Could it just be patriotism? It is essential for us to know what our government is up to. The only reason the U.S Government would prosecute someone of whistleblowing on the government is because they are guilty and they want to scare others from coming forward as well. Our government is supposed to be "we the people", this means we are the government. At some point this changed and the government became a separate entity. They follow their own rules, laws and apparently no longer accountable to us. The President is not a king and he needs to stop acting like it. He is our employee and works for us. Here are a few examples of cases President Obama and "his" Justice Department has prosecuted or is pursuing prosecution on.
Edward Snowden- Is currently in sanctuary overseas and is wanted for revealing that the U.S. Government is engaged in illegal spying and mass surveillance of innocent American citizens with no probable cause and no warrants.
John Kiriakou- Is currently serving a 30 month prison sentence for revealing to the public that the C.I.A has a policy for torture and is often involved in "water boarding" suspected terrorists.
Bradley Manning- Is awaiting trial for leaking thousands of documents to Wikileaks including a video showing a U.S. Military helicopter firing on Iraqi civilians.
Thomas Drake- Was sentenced to one year in prison and community service for leaking classified information that exposed waste and mismanagement in the N.S.A.
Are these men criminals or heroes? This is an important question we should all ponder. For more examples of whistleblowing visit the link below- BDB
Sources - (Google Images)
http://www.mediaite.com/online/traitors-or-heroes-all-of-the-whistleblowers-whove-been-prosecuted-by-obama-administration/#4-
http://www.thenation.com/blog/174916/war-whistleblowers-sin-being-correct
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