Snowdon is a dummy

I hope that you and those like you get your wish and sever ties with the U S of A. I for one get tired of hearing countries around the world condeming the U S for doing what they have done for hundreds of years. And we could expend all that money we spend for defence of foreign countries here on our crumbling infrastructure. So keep on bitching.

We've been spying on Germany for hundreds of years?

True walter but if we hadent been drawn into them by our european friends we wouldent have been involved in quite so many.

You wrote,

Wrong assumption and conclusion. Just because spying went on for 100 years, it doesn't make it right. It's called TRUST THY NEIGHBOR/FRIEND/FAMILY.

Here are the reasons why spying is wrong.
http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2013/06/11/10-reasons-why-government-spying-is-a-bad-idea/

How precious! Walter is bitching about countries spying on Germany while admitting Germany spies on other countries.

Come on Edgar. Countries have spied on each other for thousands of years.

You wrote,

Please show me where Walter said this?

So you trust Russia, China, Iran, Israel, and every country in the world to not want us dead. Maybe you should reread some of Walters posts.

Walter wrote

It's not past tense, it's future tense.

I have nothing said like that nor do I wish such.
And whatever others say or said: I have just copied/pasted reports.

Well, since you have been colonies of European countries and most of the population is of European origin, it's nearly impossible not to have been "involved by European friends"

Is is now, not in the future.

I'm not sure what you imply with that.
But even today, media are still surprised that diplomatic step has been done - something that usually is only done to "rough countries".

Source

Source as above

CI, I get why youre frustrated, but you are cherry picking. It's wrong for me to attempt to put listening devices against my neighbors, and of course I don't spy on my family. Maybe this will help clarify what I was trying to say. People depend on their Government to protect them (ok everything is screwed up right now, hopefully not much longer). That's why we have military forces. But every country has a military in case of a national emergency.

We belong to NATO, so that member nations can help if a NATO country is threatened. And every country has an intelligence group that is not involved in following its citizens (can't speak for the Stan's or some Arab countries) but they read newspapers from everywhere, every country's embassy has diplomats ( honest to god diplomats) who absorb the host countries culture, have parties, where diplomats from all over the globe blab about 'stuff', and sometimes that's how countries come together to warn about things that could be harmful to the other countries. Intelligence mainly is about protecting its citizenship. Yes there are bad apples, they don't last long.

Oliver North springs to mind, and Pelton, Aldrich Ames, Pollard, and sadly many more who sold sensitive information and got people killed. Valerie Plame was outed during the Bush administration. Administrative Hacks like Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz pooh pooh'd the danger, but they've never identified the people in countries who may have had business dealings with her but were not spying on there own country, and what happened to them even if they were totally uninvolved in passing info to Plame. Want to guess, I was in the business too long to not know what would happen. You have to remember, even if you hate the US, if we catch real spies or Americans who thought they were involved in legitimate business with the recently discovered spy who was working for another country, we don't round them up and execute them just because they lived next door, or their kids had play dates. We still have a legal system that the constitution outlines and the military has to respect.

What do you think happened to anyone who had contact with Plame while she was in deep cover assigned in other countries? I have a pretty good idea, I'm astounded that other Americans don't realize the dangers involved for the innocents in other countries, or exactly how many Americans have stars carved on a wall in different agencies because they lost their lives serving their country. Do you know how many civilian deaths and injuries were inflicted during the Beirut Barracks bombing? Probably not, and worse yet, Americans don't care.
So spare me the big brother scenario, Facebook and retailers are much more invasive than the government. I don't want to see another 9/11, but I dread I might.

You can twist my words anyway you wish, but I love my country, Im not a pacifist, but I don't want more conflict that gets our young men and women killed. But I am confident that the people who followed me when i retired are doing everything humanly possible to protect and warn our troops of danger. I just want our country tovretreat from that cesspool of religious hatred, let them figure it out for themselves.

As for Snowden, the kid who only worked for Booze Allen for 10 weeks, if you want to believe he's the reincarnation of something, enjoy yourself, it's later than you think. I know he claims he was groomed for sensitive missions, if you are so paranoid, sure, buy into his bullshit. God knows he's not just another high school drop out who has an enormous ego. Send him money, but not dollars, thats an arrest-able offence in Russia. Don't believe me? OK, that's fine, log into the State Department Travel Advisory, you can't even have US currency in your shoe, they will arrest you for it.

It must be heaven to just sit back and expect the United States to become an island similar to Utopia. I wish you luck, but I don't do drugs.

One other thing, for Christ's sake leave Walter alone. This whole espionage thing has been in place since before the Second World War. Walter didn't do it neither did I or any of the other puffed up peacocks posting their disapproval. Most of us were born after the war. The Goal is to make sure it never happens again.

Hamas has been raising money in the US by trafficking in untaxed cigarettes, drugs and prostitutes. So the next time an American buys weed off the street, celebrate, you have just shoved a bunch of money into the pockets of Hamas, and the best way I can explain this is, they vow death to America, you should be proud.

It's not just America, many of our allies are victims as well. I hope the middlemen choose the correct form of Muslim affiliation. It would suck to be a Sunni trying to work for a Shiite, I believe that could involve being shot or beheaded on a roadside. That doesn't happen here in the US (the great satan) yet. But, by all means shove your head in the sand and pretend you are in paradise. I'm sure they won't come for you, because you are a good person.

The government can't protect us by spying on our allies/friends. That's the issue you and Frank seems to not understand. Even people in congress gets pissed when they find out they've been listened to by whatever means.

Remember J Edgar Hoover? Catch up on history.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/BlackHistory/story?id=1590700

Remember Joseph McArthy?
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/joseph-mccarthy-meets-his-match