Ellsberg was interviewed by USA Today on the Wikileaks documents here:
Even Daniel Ellsberg said releasing the documents to anyone with a computer connection raised questions beyond those that faced him when he turned over most of the Pentagon Papers to congressional committees and then The NewYork Times in 1971.
“I had read all of those, of course, and I did make the judgment that there was nothing in there that was going to harm national security or individuals,” Ellsberg, now 79, said in a telephone interview from Mexico. He was there to attend a screening of a documentary about himself called The Most Dangerous Man in America. “With a vast amount of information like this, it’s hard to imagine that there was a very considered decision in releasing all of it.”
Assange’s judgment would be “tested,” he said.
On balance, though, Ellsberg said he supported the decision to put the documents in the public realm.
“To think that all the risks are only on the side of releasing it would be mistaken,” he said. “Continued secrecy does put a lot of American and Afghan lives at risk.”
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Dear Mr. Ellsberg,
I have just watched the movie “The Most Dangerous Man in America”. I was most deeply touched by it. Watching that I started questioning my values. Even though I consider myself to be very much socio-centric instead of ego-centric, I have been considering happiness to be my highest value because to my belief that true happiness cannot be achieved without service for the greater good. However, watching the film made question which one of the two values has higher priority to me. Seeing the scene where you made the decision that you were ready to go to jail and even further for you cause put tears to my eyes. I am starting to believe that I could also probably put my own happiness below a cause such as this.
I want to express my deep gratitude for what you did and for the inspiration that you have provided to us, inspiration that goes far beyond America as I come from Eastern Europe. From now on you are one of my key heroes.
Mr. Ellsberg,
I just finished watching “The Most Dangerous Man in America” and am moved to say what I wished I had said to you at the time: Thank you so much for what you did on behalf of your country.
Don Bishoff
Eugene, Oregon
Everytime I see some dacted document or hear the excuse of some bit of information being held back because of national security I can almost explode with fury. This national security excuse has become the magic cloak of invisibility. What a convenient way to conceal the shadowy practices of wicked twisted psychopaths. I now automatically translate whenever I hear from “to protect national security” to “protect bureaucratic misdeed security”. A government by the people which keeps secrets from those people? Can someone explain how that works? Isn’t that sort of like a blind man driving a car in the middle of rush hour?
Maybe the reason this stuff gets buried can be explained this way – Waste disposal is a fact of life. Even the Bible includes instructions for disposing of our excrement: “And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee.” Dueteronomy 23:13
And Yes I agree TOTALLY, Mr. Ellsberg diserves the medal of honor. What an amazing example of ethics and morality. Thank you so much Daniel Ellsberg.
Just looked online. It seems like the Wikileaks backlash continues.
First, it was other whistleblower sites. Now, it’s the corporate MSM. The other sites now see the benefits of trying to work with Assange. On the other hand, the corporate MSM heads are pissed off that Assange IS making them look bad.
So instead of actually doing their job, what do they do? Tactic #1: Publically humiliate your opponent. Attack his credibility. Exploit any possible weakness that can be spun out to the public (because, well most of them will believe anything you say if you repeat it enough).
Which means nobody wants to deal with the actual problem. Isntead, it’s all about profit, fame. Also, massive egos.
Welcome to August. Also known as the world’s slowest news cycle.
Since a lot of the powerful are out of Washington, the theories are everywhere regarding what’s next:
We will attack Iran sometime in August.
Assange and Wikileaks are still a CIA front.
The spin battles between the govt. and Assange will continue. Who can out psych who?
Also, have you heard of “Vigilant”? Think of it as a hacker’s version of Wikileaks. They say the follow current laws re: privacy. But one thing really bothers me.
So far, all of the MSM stuff about Vigilant is painting them as stopping us from “terrorists”. So obviously they’re good. Yet, Wikileaks is doing the same thing. Why?Because under current intl. law you can argue that from Obama on down, these wars are terrorist actions. That’s not a conspiracy theory or some abstract PHd. thesis.
Much of the rest of the world see this. They support Wikileaks and the States getting out of Afghanistan and Iraq. Despite that, the govt. is trying to spin a weak case that Wikileaks is a “threat”.
The threat isn’t to the troops. The threat (no surprise) is that some of these officials might end up part of the 20% unemployment rate. I’m sure that Inside the Beltway they can land some nice lobbyist gig and do quite nicely.
Meanwhile, it’s well known that many vets have a high rate of suicide, PTSD, sexual assault (both women and men). However, it seems at times it’s like people are “conditioned” to this (for lack of a better phrase).
Maybe Mr. Ellsberg was smart to go abroad right now. Best of luck with the documentary.
Wikileaks is important because mainstream press and media no longer report the war in all in its horror and daily squalor, unlike in Vietnam. Now they have “imbedded” journalists who are told what to report and where to go with troops: that is a sanitized joke. The mainstream press is now a sycophantic puppet of official policy rather than an independent voice that keeps an eye on the activities of governments. Whatever happened to the “fourth estate”? This is why Wikileaks is needed.
Listening online to a theory that Wikileaks is a CIA front. Let’s look at this for a second.
Intelligence agencies manipulate the angles and repeats the same stuff. Eventually they think that the public will buy it.
If it’s true that Assange is on the CIA payroll, why would he do it?
Everybody has a price
Fame and fortune
Nobody travels around the world strictly from “investments”
Gates criticizes him. He criticizes Gates. If they’re both on the same side, what does that accomplish?
Now, another view. These illegal and immoral wars are putting people in danger. Which means now let’s publically release more so more get killed. Meanwhile Pakistan is funding the Taliban. This is perfectly ok to some “govt. experts” because that’s the way global strategic politics is done.
You’re right. None of this makes any sense. Instead of opening debating these wars, do we really need to read “Julian Assange’s Poetry”? Come on MSM. You can do better than that.
The whole spin this week was on Wikileaks and it’s founder Assange rather than on the contents. I think Mr. Ellsberg experienced this at first when the public’s focus was on him rather than the contents of the Pentagon Papers.
From this story and the comments I’ve seen, Mr. Ellsberg and the public seem to be making the error of associating Wikileaks only with Assange. Wikileaks is a whole network of people all over the world. One or more of this network is obviously a snitch since Wikileaks has done a miserable job at protecting their sources.
Any modern day Ellsberg should just put it up on their own website and bit torrents immediately and face the music just like Daniel did. World public opinion would be on their side for that courage.
Dear Mr. Ellsberg:
Having just finished reading “Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers” in June this year, I was immediately struck by the similarities between the recent release on Wikileaks and your actions. I greatly enjoyed the book and have the utmost admiration for what you did, and may I offer a sincere Thank You. You are in my mind a true American Hero. It took another hero (or heroes) to expose some of the current war’s dirty secrets. I’ve also just read your interview with the Christian Science Monitor regarding the Wikilieaks papers and enjoyed that as well, agreeing with all you’ve stated. One can only hope the present administration can learn from past administration’s mistakes, but as history has shown us (and YOU helped to illuminate with the Pentagon Papers), the likelihood of that is nil. As longs as there are those willing to give up their liberty to preserve it, we stand a chance. Good luck to you sir!
Mr. Elsberg,
I am not sure if you read this or not but I would like to leave you a small comment. I have recently studied your actions involving the Pentagon Papers and would like to thank you. I am a former Marine Infantry squad leader and have been struggling with the powers that be up on the hill in D.C. for some time. I would simple like to extend my gratification for your actions in exposing the massive deception that took place for over 30 years in south indo china. You deserve the medal of honor for your actions and I feel that thank you is the least that I could do. Thank you again sir, you are an inspiration to more than you know.
Sgt. Canaga
Just read online about someone in the Australia govt. who’s trying to go after Assange.
Their argument: his work is endangering ” Australian national secuirty”. He’s putting Australian troops (ADF) in danger. Therefore, arrest and prosecute him.
The new PM already told the States they won’t do that. So will a local politician convince them otherwise? I don’t know.
Just thought of a possibly new angle to this.
If you’re Obama, what do you do next? :
Assange isn’t an American citizen.
The Australian gov. turned down a request for surveillance/a joint investigation with Stateside intelligence.
Some legal experts say that Assange can’t be touched. Wikileaks was given these documents. There’s a difference between solicitation and being given something legally.
Obama can try to exploit the “terrorist” angle. We must do everything to stop “terrorism”. Say it about 25 times in a sondbite for maximum effect.
He could have Assange rendered abroad. Next question: how do you keep word of that leaking ?
If Assange was arrested, it would be a massive spin battle. Would Obama invoke severe controls on this case (solitary confinement, etc. that’s been used on others)?
If he sent a secret hit squad to kill him, it could be kept secret for a while. On the other hand, if word got out, what good would a global martyr be? “The President that Killed the Truth”. And lots of other headlines.
A prediction. Since the Australian govt. won’t help, they’ll just outspin Wikileaks. Totally discredit Assange and everything he’s doing. The rest of the world is growing more pissed off at this all the time. Then again Obama’s continuing the previous guy’s “we don’t give a damn what the hell you think” approach.
Since every sane person knows that the Iraq and Afghan wars are illegal and immoral (under intl. law), can everyone in Congress who voted for it be impeached for war crimes?
Wikileaks does one release. And nothing happens.
Wilileaks does a second release. And again, nothing happens.
I wish I had a brilliant, in-depth answer. But I don’t. Can you explain this?