> Why does he deserve special treatment?

First, a fair trial is not "special treatment". Second, because every U.S. citizen is protected by the Bill of Rights. There was a non-zero chance that had Snowden not fled the country he'd be quietly moved to Gitmo and never heard from again.

I may be reading this wrong, but, it sounds like you're not in favor of the actions Snowden took. I couldn't disagree more. He tried to raise the illegal operation he was a part of to the higher-ups, through the chain-of-command, and he was ignored. The public deserves to know that the U.S. Government was blantly breaking the law and spying on everyone, everywhere, all the time.