What Daniel Ellsberg Says about Iraq War/Vietnam

[NJCher]

Daniel Ellsberg spoke at a soup luncheon in the town next to mine, Maplewood, NJ. He was sponsored by NJ Peace Action, a group with many members around here. All over thia area you will see white signs on the lawns of many of the houses. The signs have a print background and the words "Be About Peace" stand out.

Please note the comments I've highlighted in red. Same old same old. Why do we keep repeating our mistakes?

His talk received good press coverage. Here's the AP story:

Vietnam war critic warns of similarities with Iraq conflict

11/12/2005, 6:26 p.m. ET

By ROSA CIRIANNI

The Associated Press


MAPLEWOOD, N.J. (AP) — The man who leaked secret documents about the Vietnam war indicating the federal government had deceived the public, said he sees a lot of similarities between that war and the one being waged in Iraq.

Daniel Ellsberg, who became famous for his release of what became known as the "Pentagon Papers," spoke to a crowd of more than 400 people Saturday at a local high school in Maplewood.

In 1971, Ellsberg, who had worked at both the U.S. departments of state and defense, leaked 7,000 pages of classified documents to the press — documents that detailed U.S. involvement in Vietnam and indicated that the federal government had deceived the public about whether the war could be won and the extent of casualties.

During the Watergate scandal, it was revealed that supporters of then Pres. Richard Nixon had broken into Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office to find information with which to discredit him.

Ellsberg was put on trial on twelve felony counts that could have earned him 115 years in prison for releasing the top secret documents. The charges where dismissed in 1973 on grounds of governmental misconduct against him, but led to the convictions of several White House aides and figured into the impeachment proceedings against Nixon.

During Saturday's talk, Ellsberg said both the Vietnam war and the war in Iraq were based on lies, referring to the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Ellsberg also sent out a special message to people working in the federal government today, urging them to speak up now about possible government misconduct they witness relating to the Iraq war.

The Harvard graduate, who has praised government whistleblowers who leak information about the Iraq war, said he wishes he had leaked the Pentagon Papers earlier, possibly ending the war sooner.

"I still wish I had done it," he said.

Ellsberg also criticized todays media for its coverage of the war in Iraq, particularly for not keeping tabs of the Iraqi casualties since the conflict began two years ago. Just focusing on the lost American lives is not enough, he said, pointing to a headline in a newspaper about four U.S. soldiers who died.

The author also rallied peace activists to stay vigilant in their cause, saying "It all depends on you."

Ellsberg said Democratic leadership in Washington is essential for the nation to get out of Iraq, but according to Ellsberg, Democratic politicians are worried about the Bush administration labeling them as unpatriotic, weak on terrorism, or traitors — something he said happened during the Vietnam era as well.

Ellsberg, who read from his book "Secrets A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers" that was published in 2002, predicted that Bush would want to push through a new Patriot Act that would make the existing one look "like the Bill of Rights."

He also said that he could see Bush wanting to have military control over certain areas of the country and start a military draft. The 74-year-old urged the crowd to remain active to see that the U.S. does not invade more countries such as Iran and Syria.

Maplewood resident Paul Surovell, 59, who was wearing a white T-shirt and giving out lawn signs that read "Be About Peace," attended the event.

"I think Daniel Ellsberg can play an important role in having people understand the parallels between Vietnam and Iraq," said Surovell, chairman of South Mountain Peace Action community group.

Westfield resident, Diane Beeny, 48, came to the event wearing a black beret and several anti-war pins with mottos such as : "No War!," and "Military Spending is Killing Us! "

Beeny said she hopes Ellsberg's message will raise peace consciousness in the U.S. and allow people to see the nations unilateral approach to foreign policy as a "big problem."

New Jersey Peace Action president, Madelyn Hoffman, from Flanders, whose group sponsored Ellsberg's lecture, said she hoped the event would inspire and motivate others to realize that Ellsberg is speaking the truth about the U.S. government.

"People who are trying to speak out (against the war) are branded as traitorous or a threat to national security," Hoffman said. "We are the ones who care most about this country, its security, its role in the world and its responsibilities at home."




Cher

[izzie]

1. Interesting. Lets cut in the DOD. They have money we need.

It would be good for us and the world.

[arewenotdemo]

2. Amazing. Haldeman spoke truth to power!

Well, sort of.

(snip)

The publication of the papers greatly detracted from public support for the war in Vietnam. This was a primary reason that President Nixon decided to make discrediting Ellsberg a high priority. Nixon's Oval Office tape from June 14 shows H. R. Haldeman describing the situation to Nixon.

To the ordinary guy, all this is a bunch of gobbledygook. But out of the gobbledygook comes a very clear thing: you can't trust the government; you can't believe what they say; and you can't rely on their judgment. And the implicit infallibility of presidents, which has been an accepted thing in America, is badly hurt by this, because it shows that people do things the president wants to do even though it's wrong, and the president can be wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ellsberg

So many similarities to Nixon's war crimes...