Reuters – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has hit back at President Barack Obama's announcement that he plans to curtail U.S. spying programs. Assange said Obama 's coming out and making statements is a victory for fugitive Edward Snowden .
“Today, the President of the United States validated the role played by Edward Snowden, announcing plans to overhaul America’s global surveillance program,” Assange said.
“Today we had a victory for Edward Snowden and his many supporters,” Assange said in his statement, which was published on the WikiLeaks website on Saturday.
“As Snowden had announced, his biggest concern was whether he would be able to change things. Today, the reforms are taking shape, and for that, the President, the citizens of the United States, and the citizens of the whole world, we owe Edward Snowden our gratitude.”.
Assange, who has taken refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for more than a year, fearing extradition to the United States for publishing classified US documents, rejected Obama's claim that his reforms were planned before the Snowden revelations about US surveillance activities.
Assange went on to accuse the US government of "astonishing" hypocrisy in its treatment of Snowden while granting asylum to thousands of dissident whistleblowers and political refugees from countries such as Russia and Venezuela.
Assange's statements, although they are statements that certainly anger Washington officials, are very optimistic. The secret services will continue their work despite Obama's statements, who as head of state had to take a position on everything that has been heard recently. This does not mean, of course, that the NSA, the CIA and the FBI will be left without work.
