On Monday, Fox News Analyst, Ralph Peters boldly declared that the death penalty should be brought back for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Last week, the 29 year old leaked a host of documents to The Guardian depicting the NSA’s massive spy apparatus in the United States. This comes during the first week of Bradley Manning’s trial.

On Fox and Friends, Peters makes a rhetorical statement regarding the NSA’s secret metadata gathering program and the PRISM program, “Show me one law abiding citizen which has been hurt by this program?” The answer clearly is none, now the question that someone should ask Mr. Peters is how many American citizens have been hurt by the leaks of Manning or Snowden? The answer, too, would be none. Peters continues on by asserting that committing treason has become cool and Snowden has become the Kim Kardashian of leaks.

Asserting that whistleblowers should receive the death penalty contradicts international law and America’s supposed dedication to transparency. There is a difference between an individual who leaks information and a whistleblower. A whistleblower’s mission revolves around justice and righting wrongs he or she perceives the government is taking part in. Leakers are self-interested and usually the information leaked doesn’t lead to severe scrutiny. We can use two famous examples, Bradley Manning whistle blowing by releasing millions of documents depicting a plethora of war crimes compared to the premeditated leaking of President Obama’s “kill list.”

For Mr. Peters to assert that Snowden and Manning are committing acts of treason is terrifying. These individuals had access to the most delicate information and chose to release them to media outlets instead of given them to foreign enemies or spies. They could’ve received plenty of money for the amount of information that was at their fingertips. Peters needs to understand the definition of treason. Treason is defined as the offense of acting to overthrow one’s government or to harm or kill its sovereign. By this definition Snowden didn’t even come close to treason.

To close out this Fox and Friends segment the announcer smugly says that Snowden is thinking of defecting to Iceland or China. Defecting would require Snowden to renounce his citizenship to the United States and pledge allegiance to any of these two countries. Instead he most like will be seeking political asylum because Iceland has a long history and respect for freedom of speech and information. Fox News strikes out again when it comes to fear mongering and inaccurate reporting.

Here’s the video:

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