WHY IS FOX NEWS PROMOTING EDWARD SNOWDEN?
By Cliff
Kincaid
November 3, 2013
NewsWithViews.com
Eric Bolling said last Saturday that the Fox News Channel is eager to provide a “platform” for further criminal disclosures from defector Edward Snowden about the surveillance programs of the National Security Agency (NSA). The remarks came during Bolling’s latest interview of Snowden’s former handler, anti-American journalist Glenn Greenwald.
Bolling, who hosts the “Cashin’ In” program and is a co-host of “The Five,” also suggested that Snowden, under indictment for espionage and theft of government property, be brought back to the U.S. to help fix the Obamacare website. This comment was apparently made in jest.
Greenwald functioned for a while as Snowden’s handler and conduit for leaks to the media, but has also become known for making speaking appearances to such groups as the International Socialist Organization (ISO) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
The ISO is an openly Marxist-Leninist organization where people chant such things as “Palestine will be free,” and “Wars of occupation will never bring liberation.” CAIR is a front group of the Muslim Brotherhood.
“Always great having you on, and again, if you ever want that platform, ‘Cashing In’s’ waiting, ready, willing and able to hear what you’re ready to break,” Bolling said to Greenwald. “So generous of you Eric—I really appreciate that,” replied Greenwald.
The warm exchange with a dedicated enemy of the United States, who has said the weakening of America is “a very good thing,” is not something that many conservatives have come to expect from the Fox News Channel.
Snowden, based in Moscow, talks about American “democracy” and has just issued a “Manifesto of Truth,” even though he is under the surveillance and perhaps control of the Russian intelligence service, the FSB, the successor to the KGB.
Indeed, Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa, the highest-ranking Soviet bloc intelligence official ever to defect to the West, says he believes that Snowden “is an agent of the Russian foreign intelligence service.”
House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program that Snowden’s disclosures have allowed three different terrorist organizations, affiliates of al Qaeda, “to change the way they communicate” to avoid detection and plot terrorism against the American people.
Rogers said the Snowden disclosures have diverted attention from what America’s enemies and adversaries are doing. “Who is using U.S. networks right now to steal intellectual property, like the Chinese, the Russians and others?” he said. “We’ve had cyber-attacks against the United States this year from a nation state that exceeds over 300 different attempts to destroy some financial services networks that affects every American. We haven’t talked about those things. We’ve got al Qaeda spreading around the world in a way that is frightening. Think about it. Last year alone, some 15,000 terrorist-related deaths. It is the NSA, the CIA and others’ charge to make sure that zero of them happen here. Zero.”
But Eric Bollingof Fox News doesn’t seem interested in exploring the issue of the disclosures making it easier to kill Americans. Instead, he has become a cheerleader for leftist writer and Snowden associate Glenn Greenwald, the guest on his Saturday “Cashin’ In” show.
The Daily Caller has run an article suggesting that Greenwald’s scheduled November 16 CAIR appearance “is sure to raise further charges from critics that he is more interested in providing comfort to American enemies than he is of doing legitimate journalism.”
The on-line publication also suggested that Greenwald, who is based in Brazil, could be arrested on espionage charges when he comes to the U.S. because of his key role in facilitating Snowden’s illegal activities.
Snowden has been described as “this generation’s Alger Hiss” by former Republican Senator Jon Kyl (AZ), while former Ambassador John Bolton has said Snowden is guilty of “the worst form of treason.”
Snowden is now living in Moscow under the protection of the Putin regime, having fled the U.S. with stolen documents that he provided to Glenn Greenwald and a few other journalists. He fled to Chinese Hong Kong before going to Moscow.
But this pattern of hostility to the United States is not something that seems to bother Bolling, who has provided a platform to Greenwald in the past and previously urged the anti-American writer to use the conservative-oriented cable channel to make his criminal disclosures.
The comment about Snowden working on the Obamacare website was made to Greenwald when he was a guest on Bolling’s “Cashin’ In” program on the Fox News Channel. “Why not bring him back here? Maybe he could help fix the Obamacare website,” he said to Greenwald.
While this apparently humorous comment brought a slight chuckle from Greenwald and a line about Snowden having the ability to fix the website problems, Bolling was being completely serious in pleading for Greenwald to come back on the Fox News Channel to release more of Snowden’s information about the NSA’s secret surveillance programs.
This was not new. Last July, Greenwald paid a visit to the “Fox & Friends” morning program for an interview with Bolling and was urged on that occasion to use the appearance to release more classified information about the NSA.
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Bolling then asked Greenwald if David Gregory of NBC News had “apologized” for suggesting that Greenwald could be prosecuted for his role in helping Snowden make his criminal disclosures. Gregory had said to Greenwald, “To the extent that you have aided and abetted Snowden, even in his current movements, why shouldn’t you, Mr. Greenwald, be charged with a crime?”
As we pointed out at the time, Gregory’s question was entirely legitimate. Section 798 of the Espionage Act absolutely prohibits the publication of classified information in the area of communications intelligence. That would include programs of the NSA.
Appearing on “The Five,” Bolling said it was “absolutely insane” to suggest that Greenwald be prosecuted. He added, “We need more Glenn Greenwalds. We don’t need fewer of them.”
© 2013 Cliff Kincaid - All Rights Reserved
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This ArticleCliff Kincaid, a veteran journalist and media critic, Cliff concentrated in journalism and communications at the University of Toledo, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Cliff has written or co-authored nine books on media and cultural affairs and foreign policy issues. One of Cliff's books, "Global Bondage: The UN Plan to Rule the World" is still awailable.
Cliff has appeared on Hannity & Colmes, The O�Reilly Factor, Crossfire and has been published in the Washington Post, Washington Times, Chronicles, Human Events and Insight.
Cliff Kincaid is president of America’s
Survival, Inc.
E-Mail: cliff.kincaid@aim.org
