Edward Snowden's jihad

Let us assume, for the moment, that National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden is the person he's portraying himself to be: not merely a patriot, but a humanitarian who's given up all the trappings of a successful life to ensure that "the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant". The 29-year-old Snowden, who leaked information on secret US government surveillance programmes such as PRISM and "Boundless Informant" to the Guardian, is certainly right to focus on the danger posed by the Obama administration's surveillance policies, and the "global war on terror" they serve, not merely...