Edward Snowden: US surveillance 'not something I'm willing to live under'

In second part of Glenn Greenwald interview, NSA whistleblower insists he is a patriot who regards the US as fundamentally good
Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Ewen MacAskill



Edward Snowden predicted more than a month ago while still in hiding in Hong Kong that the US government would seek to demonise him, telling the Guardian that he would be accused of aiding America's enemies.

In the second instalment of an interview carried out before he revealed himself as the NSA whistleblower, Snowden insisted that he was a patriot and that he regards the US as a fundamentally good country.

But he said he had chosen to release the highly classified information because freedoms were being undermined by intelligence agency "excesses".

Snowden has since fled Hong Kong for Moscow, where he is reportedly marooned while resisting US attempts to extradite him to face charges under the Espionage Act.

In the newly released interview excerpts, he predicted he would be portrayed not as a whistleblower but a spy.

"I think they are going to say I have committed grave crimes, I have violated the Espionage Act. They are going to say I have aided our enemies in making them aware of these systems. But this argument can be made against anyone who reveals information that points out mass surveillance systems," he said.

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