As National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden contemplates his future in Hong Kong former congressman Ron Paul has expressed worries that the U.S. government might assassinate the former NSA contractor, according to CBS News.
Paul, a former presidential candidate from Texas, spoke with Fox Business Network about what he fears may happen to Snowden for crossing the NSA.
"I'm worried about, somebody in our government might kill him with a cruise missile or a drone missile," Paul said. "I mean, we live in a bad time where American citizens don't even have rights and that they can be killed, but the gentleman is trying to tell the truth about what's going on."
If Snowden stays where he is chances are very unlikely that the scenario Paul described would occur, the U.S. would not want to start a war with China. In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong's English-language newspaper, Snowden explained that he intended to stay in Hong Kong for the time being.
"My intention is to ask the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate," Snowden said. "I have been given no reason to doubt your system. I am not here to hide from justice; I am here to reveal criminality."
Paul has a history of vehemently defending individual civil liberties and showed dismay that whistle-blowers like Snowden are being vilified by the government instead of embraced.
"It's a shame that we are in an age where people who tell the truth about what the government is doing gets into trouble," Paul said. "What about the people who destroy our Constitution? What do we think about people who assassinate American citizens without trials and assume that that's the law of the land? That's where our problem is. Our problem isn't with people who are trying to tell us the truth about what's happening."
Snowden has yet to be charged with a crime by the U.S. government and they have not submitted an extradition request. Kevin Egan, a lawyer who has dealt with extradition cases in Hong Kong suggests that Snowden might want to flee elsewhere if he plans on avoiding being shipped back to the U.S., according to Reuters.
"If I was him, I'd be getting out of here and heading to a sympathetic jurisdiction as fast as possible and certainly before the United States issues a request for his extradition," Egan told Reuters. "The attitude of the judiciary here seems to be if Uncle Sam wants you, Uncle Sam will get you."
