You're parting hairs and completely missed Snowden's point: that the US government has slickly put him in limbo. He either turns himself in or ends up like the guy in the Tom Hanks movie, Terminal.
But clearly he did not stretch the truth, you just failed to understand the full meaning of exile. An accident, but easily remedied. Why are you so insistent that he is stretching the truth?
Your argument stems from an inability to check what "exile" is...
"Exile means to be away from one's home (i.e. city, state
or country), while either being explicitly refused
permission to return and/or being threatened with
imprisonment or death upon return." [0]
I think effectively it is a bad situation which has been created for him by the United States government. They are definitely manipulating his citizenship for their purposes whether you like the wording or not.
They revoked his passport because they needed time to negotiate with other countries to refuse him the right to asylum.
And this isn't about just being questioned. If he is extradited back to the US, expect a lot worse to happen to him...
What he has done is no doubt illegal, but it also strikes me as a positive thing. I disagree with people that say he is a fugitive from justice - I think it's very clear that he is a fugitive from injustice. He has shown us injustices from the US government - and now they wish to have him stand trial in order that they can lock him up for life, sentence him to death or torture him.
Is there a difference between Snowden and other criminals? Yes, Snowden has done the right thing.
