Why Did Donald Trump Not Pardon Assange and Snowden? by Jacob G. Hornberger
(2022-04-13 at 01:24:43 )

Why Did Donald Trump Not Pardon Assange and Snowden? by Jacob G. Hornberger

In his waning days as president, Donald Trump saw fit to pardon four former Blackwater guards who had been convicted of killing 14 Iraqi civilians and injuring 17 others in an ambush in Baghdad. The guards were in Iraq as part of the United States governments deadly and destructive invasion, war of aggression, and long-term occupation of a country whose government had never attacked the United States.

Yet, before he left office, Donald Trump could not bring himself to issue pardons for Julian Assange and Edward Snowden, who were far more deserving of them than those Blackwater killers.

What is up with that?

When Donald Trump was running for president, he made pointed critiques against the United States national-security establishment, especially its policy of permanently embroiling the United States in foreign wars.

In the process of doing that, Donald Trump was immediately perceived to be a threat to the Pentagon, the vast military-industrial complex and its army of "defense" contractors, the CIA, and the NSA. No person running for president is supposed to do what Donald Trump was doing. Presidential candidates are expected to show respect for the national-security establishment and its foreign policy.

Donald Trumps pre-election lack of deference to the national-security establishment brought to mind the administration of President John F. Kennedy. As I detail in my new book An Encounter with Evil: The Abraham Zapruder Story, President Kennedy is the only president in the post-World War II period to take on the military-intelligence establishment in a direct way.

All other United States presidents - both before and after Kennedy, including Joe Biden - have fallen into line and essentially become spokesmen and deferential agents for the Pentagon, the military-industrial complex, the CIA, and the NSA.

As I detail in two chapters in my new book, almost throughout his presidency JFK was embroiled in a vicious war against the United States military-intelligence establishment.

After President Kennedy realized that the CIA had played him and manipulated him with lies and deception with respect to the CIAs invasion at Cubas Bay of Pigs, President Kennedy angrily embarked on a course of action intended to destroy the agency. His actions included firing Allen Dulles, the much-revered director of the CIA. Dulles would later be appointed to the Warren Commission, where, not surprisingly, he tightly controlled the official "investigation" into the assassination.

After the Cuban Missile Crisis, during which the Joint Chiefs of Staff were exerting extreme pressure on JFK to invade Cuba, Kennedy also went to war against them. In his famous Peace Speech at American University, he announced that the United States would henceforth abandon the fierce anti-Russia, anti-Soviet animus that was driving the Pentagons Cold War and anti-communist crusade. For their part, the Joint Chiefs of Staff angrily called Kennedys resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis the biggest defeat in United States history and compared his handling of the crisis to Neville Chamberlains appeasement of Adolf Hitler at Munich.

As I explain in my new book, JFKs war was quite similar to the war that would break out ten years later in Chile between that countrys democratically elected president, Salvador Allende, and the Chilean military-intelligence establishment. Like Kennedy, Allende sought to establish a peaceful and friendly relationship with Russia, Cuba, and the rest of the communist world. Mr. Allendes actions, like those of Kennedy, obviously went against the United States national-security establishments fierce anti-Russia, anti-Cuba, anti-communist animus.

In the end, the national-security branch of the United States government proved to be too powerful for President Kennedy, just as the national-security branch of the Chilean government proved to be too powerful for Mr. Allende. At the end of both political wars, the two presidents were left dead, and both nations carried on with their fierce anti-Russia, anti-Cuba, anti-communist crusades.

The John F. Kennedy assassination sent a powerful message throughout the other three branches of the federal governments.

From that day forward, the message was: "We are now in charge of the governments operations with respect to foreign affairs and you will defer to our decisions and judgments." From that day forward, clearly understanding the new order of things in Washington,D.C., the other three branches of the federal government - legislative, executive, and judicial - deferred to the national-security branch of the government with respect to foreign policy as well as with respect to budget requests.

That is why Donald Trumps candidacy came as such an enormous shock to official Washington,D.C. Presidential candidates were expected to show respect and deference to the national-security branch. Candidate Donald Trump was ridiculing and mocking them.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a member of the legislative branch, pointed out the danger that Donald Trump was facing. He called Donald Trump "really dumb" because when "you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you."

Donald Trump presented an enormous threat to the new order of things that was firmly ensconced after John F. Kennedy was eliminated. Thus, the national-security establishment, fully supported by its vast assets within the federal government and the mainstream press, went after Donald Trump with extreme viciousness, both before and after his election.

That is what accusing Donald Trump of being a Russian agent was all about.

That is what the much-ballyhooed Robert Mueller investigation was all about.

That is what the impeachment attempts against Donald Trump were all about.

They had to do everything they could to stymie and destroy his presidency to remind everyone of their post-Kennedy message: "We are in charge and you will defer to us."

Unlike John F. Kennedy, however, Donald Trump surrendered early in his presidency. The initial indication of his surrender was when he surrounded himself with generals and civilian warmongers whose loyalty was clearly to the Pentagon.

He then ginned up a big crisis with North Korea, started a vicious trade war against Red China, and periodically expressed standard anti-Russia animus, all of which undoubtedly pleased the Pentagon. Then, when it came time to release the decades-old records relating to the Kennedy assassination, Trump caved in to the CIAs demands to continue keeping the records secret.

At the end of his presidency, Donald Trumps surrender to the national-security establishment was reflected by his steadfast refusal to pardon Assange and Snowden.

After all, here was his opportunity to send a message back to the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA, one that said, "Julian Assange and Edward Snowden exemplified untold courage and integrity by revealing evil, dark-side activities of the United States national-security establishment. They deserve to be honored and praised, not jailed or exiled. I am hereby pardoning both of them and inviting them to the White House for a dinner so that I can thank them personally for what they have done for our country."

As he departed his failed presidency that clearly failed to make America great again, Donald Trump chose to pardon those Blackwater guards who killed and injured defenseless Iraqis in the United States governments war of aggression against Iraq, while leaving Julian Assange and Edward Snowden twisting in the wind. Clearly Donald Trump was no John Kennedy.

Reprinted here with permission from Mr. Jacob G. Hornberger of The Future of Freedom Foundation!! Their Libertarian Website!!