Did you hear that the NSA allegedly monitored the communications of German Chancellor Angela Merkel? That darn Obama won’t leave anyone alone, will he?
Actually, by The Guardian’s own account, the alleged monitoring occurred all the way back in 2006 under President Bush.
The National Security Agency monitored the phone conversations of 35 world leaders after being given the numbers by an official in another US government department, according to a classified document provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden. [...]
The memo, dated October 2006 and which was issued to staff in the agency’s Signals Intelligence Directorate (SID), was titled “Customers Can Help SID Obtain Targetable Phone Numbers.”
Here’s part of the memo Edward Snowden provided to The Guardian. (emphasis mine)
Not only was this issued in 2006 under President Bush; 157 of the 200 numbers the program allegedly gathered were already a matter of public record.
This would be a good time to point out that Edward Snowden was a member of the intelligence community he now despises until May of this year. He spontaneously developed a conscience after President Obama was reelected.
Whether it’s intended or not, these 7-year-old documents — which are practically ancient given how far we’ve come in such a short period of time — will have the effect of tarnishing the current administration overseas.
Taking everything into account, I’d say that’s the idea.