Well…no… First, it wasn’t Snowden’s former employers who outed him, it was in fact Snowden himself, by considered choice, through The Guardian. Second, I have seen zero evidence that Snowden was ever an “anonymous” source. Snowden made contact with Greenwald, Gellman and Poitras, told them he had something, spoke in broad strokes about what that might be and then set about doing what was necessary to establish secure connections, prove his bona fides and gain some credibility with the journalists he was working with. Your entire premise is wrong.
As far as who The Independent was trying to smear, again you’re on the wrong premise. This wasn’t aimed at Greenwald. This was aimed at Snowden. It was an attempt by someone to plant the idea that Snowden was now releasing specific operational and location information which would directly put lives in danger. It was all in all a terrible article, spending many words saying essentially…nothing. Smears are often that way.
