Los Angeles, Aug 18

Director Oliver Stone, known to be outspoken, has criticised US President Barack Obama for the National Security Agency spying controversy.

“Obama is a snake,” Stone told the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan Monday. “He’s a snake. And we have to turn on him,” he added.

According to huffingtonpost.com, Stone claimed that Obama's much-maligned NSA programmes, which collect phone and other electronic data from millions of Americans daily, help more to stifle protesters than they do to track down terrorists. 

The director cited the Boston Marathon as a chief example.

“The Boston Marathon, they were so busy tracking down potential protestors … that they missed the bombers,” Stone said. 

“It’s never about terrorists. It always becomes about the way J. Edgar Hoover did it; he brought all the weight of government to bear against protesters. He didn’t like protesters. He thought they were left-wing communists. He never could find the proof, but by the time the Vietnam War came around, as you know, 500,000 people were on the list, and they were being eavesdropped on. And where are we now? Same place,” added Stone.

Stone, who himself served as an infantry soldier in the Vietnam War, has spent much of his career announcing his liberal viewpoints and making political films like "JFK," "Nixon" and "W." 

Continuing to punctuate his anti-Obama stance, the Oscar winner commended Russia on granting asylum to Snowden.

“I’m proud of him for doing it,” Stone said of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We need more countries to stand up to the US.”

By:IANS

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