Edward Snowden’s story of being kicked out the U.S. Army for breaking his legs is a lie, a new report from the House Intelligence committee notes.
“He claimed to have left Army basic training because of broken legs when in fact he washed out because of shin splints,” a damning sentence in the committee report notes. The committee report has an entire paragraph dedicated to Snowden’s lies, literally titled “Snowden was, and remains, a serial exaggerator and fabricator.”
The report further notes:
He claimed to have obtained a high school degree equivalent when in fact he never did. He claimed to have worked for the CIA as a senior advisor,” which was a gross exaggeration of his entry-level duties as a computer technician. He also doctored his performance evaluations and obtained new positions at NSA by exaggerating his resume and stealing the answers to an employment test. In May 2013, Snowden informed his supervisor that he would be out of the office to receive treatment for worsening epilepsy. In reality, he was on his way to Hong Kong with stolen secrets.
Snowden’s fabricated story of a training injury is used to portray his supposed patriotism in Oliver Stone’s new, worshipful biopic ‘Snowden.’
To be clear, shin splints are a legitimate injury, but also quite common in military ranks. Describing shin splints as “broken legs” could be misleading to anyone who doesn’t understand the injury. Countless active duty servicemembers cope with stress fractures and shin splints and remain in the service.
The report was attached to a letter signed by 23 U.S. Representatives urging President Obama not to pardon Snowden for his crime of leaking immense amounts of classified information. The letter states unequivocally “Mr. Snowden is not a patriot. He is not a whistleblower. He is a criminal.”
Snowden currently lives a comfortable life in Russia, with the auspices of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Snowden has expressed a desire to return to the U.S. but does not believe he should face any real punishment. “I’ve told the government I would return if they would guarantee a fair trial where I can make a public interest defense of why this was done and allow a jury to decide,” Snowden told an audience in February 2016.
Reports indicate Snowden made over 200,000 dollars in speaking fees in the last year alone, guaranteeing him quite a nice life in Moscow.
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