Daniel Ellsberg: whistle blower must come out before we strike Iran

[sabra]

http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003122216

<snip>

Ellsberg's challenge is found in the October issue of Harper's magazine, to appear next week. E&P has obtained an advance copy.

The article is titled, "The Next War," with the conflict in question a possible face-off between the U.S. and Iran. Ellsberg, based on unconfirmed reporting by Seymour Hersh and others, believes there is a "hidden crisis," with government insiders aware of "serious plans for war with Iran" while "congress and the public remain largely in the dark."

His remedy: "Conscientious insiders" need to leak hard evidence to the press and public, while risking their current and future employment, as he did in the early 1970s.

But Ellsberg is hardly the hero of his own story. While proud of what he did, he faults himself for waiting far too long in thed 1960s. If he had leaked in 1964, it might have halted the entire enterprise in its tracks, he feels. In the same way, he hails former Clinton and Bush terrorism expert Richard Clarke for blowing the whistle on trumped-up evidence used to support the invasion of Iraq -- but as in his case, this came after the Iraq adventure had already come to fruition.

[Chef]

1. Numb

While I agree with his suggestion, I am concerned that we are so numbed at the abuses carried out by the Bush government that are publicly known and that the press is so cowed that even if the whistle blower came forward, nothing would come of it.