Who cares if virtually the entire world views Obama’s drone attacks as unjustified and wrong? Who cares if the Muslim world continues to seethe with anti-American animus as a result of this aggression? Empires do what they want. – Glenn Greenwald
The purpose of whistleblowing is to expose secret and wrongful acts by those in power in order to enable reform. – Glenn Greenwald
I have nothing but the highest regard for ‘Salon’ and its commitment to independent and provocative journalism. – Glenn Greenwald
Even when influential political and media figures vehemently complained about the criticisms I wrote, Salon’s editors unfailingly stood behind my work. – Glenn Greenwald
We know that U.S. voters, and world leaders, allow Obama extraordinary leeway when it comes to deadly drone strikes, precisely because of his politics, character and background. (We are talking about a man, after all, who won the Nobel Peace Prize while ordering the automated killing of suspected Muslim terrorists around the world). – Glenn Greenwald
To me, it’s a heroic attribute to be so committed to a principle that you apply it, not when it’s easy, not when it supports your position, not when it protects people you like, but when it defends and protects people that you hate. – Glenn Greenwald
A key purpose of journalism is to provide an adversarial check on those who wield the greatest power by shining a light on what they do in the dark, and informing the public about those acts. – Glenn Greenwald
A common criticism of establishment journalists entails comparing them to stenographers, on the ground that most of them do little more than mindlessly write down and uncritically repeat what government officials say. – Glenn Greenwald
An elite class that is free to operate without limits – whether limits imposed by the rule of law or fear of the responses from those harmed by their behavior – is an elite class that will plunder, degrade, and cheat at will, and act endlessly to fortify its own power. – Glenn Greenwald
The definition of an extreme authoritarian is one who is willing blindly to assume that government accusations are true without any evidence presented or opportunity to contest those accusations. – Glenn Greenwald
There’s a huge dichotomy between people who grow up with alienation, which, for me, was invaluable, and people who grow up so completely privileged that it breeds this complacency and lack of desire to question or challenge or do anything significant. Those are the types of people who become partners at the corporate law firms. – Glenn Greenwald
It’s hardly news that the Obama administration is intensely and, in many respects, unprecedentedly hostile toward the news-gathering process. – Glenn Greenwald
I’ve praised Obama’s record on same-sex equality as enthusiastically as anyone: it’s one area where his record has been impressive. I understand, and have expressed, the emotional importance for LGBT Americans of his marriage announcement as well as its political significance. – Glenn Greenwald
Many of the benefits from keeping terrorism fear levels high are obvious. Private corporations suck up massive amounts of Homeland Security cash as long as that fear persists, while government officials in the National Security and Surveillance State can claim unlimited powers and operate with unlimited secrecy and no accountability. – Glenn Greenwald
The Obama administration does not hate unauthorized leaks of classified information. They are more responsible for such leaks than anyone. What they hate are leaks that embarrass them or expose their wrongdoing. Those are the only kinds of leaks that are prosecuted. – Glenn Greenwald
Free speech rights means that government officials are barred from creating lists of approved and disapproved political ideas and then using the power of the state to enforce those preferences. – Glenn Greenwald
If establishment journalists were to replicate actual stenography, it would be an improvement on most of the work they produce. – Glenn Greenwald
Obama supporters pretended that his 2008 campaign was some sort of populist uprising even as Wall Street overwhelmingly supported his candidacy. – Glenn Greenwald
What made Guantanamo such a travesty – and what still makes it such – is that it is a system of indefinite detention whereby human beings are put in cages for years and years without ever being charged with a crime. – Glenn Greenwald
There are few things more dangerous in a democracy than allowing a President to wage secret wars without the knowledge of the country. – Glenn Greenwald
Long before, and fully independent of, anything Congress did, President Obama made clear that he was going to preserve the indefinite detention system at Guantanamo even once he closed the camp. President Obama fully embraced indefinite detention – the defining injustice of Guantanamo – as his own policy. – Glenn Greenwald