Daniel Ellsberg, leaker of The Pentagon Papers, dies at 92

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
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Eric Hoffer is especially remember for writing "True Believer" -- a social and political analysis that today's Right-wingers should study and take to heart, until they see themselves in that book. He later predicted -- or his prediction coincided with events -- that the anti-war demonstrations and youth movement of the 60s and early 70s would lead to fascist inclinations a few generations later. Hoffer actually believed that it was better to pursue the Vietnam War to victory -- howsoever you might define victory -- even if it was a mistake.

I remember getting Pentagon Papers in paperback for a birthday present, and I threw it in a box of books in the trunk of my car after I finished graduate school and drove to Montana for a seasonal term in the USNPS. End of summer, I was on the road again headed for the Nation's capital. I didn't get around to reading Ellsberg's book until a couple decades later -- and I feel stupid for not reading it sooner. Later I would find myself going back to DC in 2004 to dig through documents at NARA-College-Park and Library of Congress, turning up many of the documents Ellsberg revealed 30 years earlier.

There is no doubt that Vietnam was a mistake, and cutting loose of it sooner would've resulted in the same and identical outcome.

Ellsberg took his document discoveries first to Alaska's US Senator Mike Gravel. I remember in 2003, when Bush pulled the string on the Iraq War, Gravel came out of retirement to criticize the move, saying that we'd never get out of Iraq once those businesses, like Haliburton, established themselves toward tapping the world's second largest oil supply known at the time. But the point here is simple: he didn't just go willy-nilly to Washington Post and NYT until he had Gravel behind him.

This is completely different than Trump's theft of the secret documents. Ellsberg was attempting to be responsible; and Trump has never much been responsible about anything.

And another difference: Ellsberg served in the military with a tour in Vietnam -- in combat zones. Trump just dreamed up some bone spurs and found an unscrupulous doctor to exempt him.
 

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
38,363
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And another difference: Ellsberg served in the military with a tour in Vietnam -- in combat zones. Trump just dreamed up some bone spurs and found an unscrupulous doctor to exempt him.
Doctor that rubber stamped Donald Trump's trumped up excuse to get out of the draft ("bone spurs") did it as a favor for his landlord, Donald Trump's father, Fred Trump:

 

sportage

Lifer
Feb 1, 2008
11,492
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Ellsberg was the first eye opener for the baby-boomers proving that the US government can and does indeed lie to the people. And presidents lie to the people and they know that they are lying as they continue to lie. And not just the simple lies but lies that result in thousands of American deaths. America soldiers, men and women, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters.
Yes, Ellsberg shocked the nation into questioning our leaders, their motives, and the cost in lives, plus the complete disregard for loss of life. Drafting kids off to war, and kids returning back in a wooden box.
Quite an eyeopener was Daniel Ellsberg.
Nixon freaked, the government freaked as their lies and deceit were exposed for everyone to see. Oh how I remember those Ellsberg days.

Yes... I believe the Ellsberg revelation so very long ago began the end of innocents. The end of believing in the government. The end of taking the government for its word. The end to believing that government always told the truth and always had our best interest at heart. All of it turned out to be complete baloney back then, and still today.

All of this was an indication for what was to come. Eventually leading to the birth of the THE ANTi WAR MOVEMENT, THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT, THE MAGA MOVEMENT, THE 99% MOVEMENT, and the birth of every anti government anti establishment movement we know today. Also, for enabling people like Donald Trump to come to power.
Yep, Daniel Ellsberg started all of this by exposing the deep dark secrets of government and of our leaders. And.... here we are today. Rampant government distrust up and down the line. And it just keeps on growing day by day, election after election.

Daniel Ellsberg was an American hero, and if not for Ellsberg we might be fighting the war in Vietnam still today.
 
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Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
38,363
8,675
136
Ellsberg was the first eye opener for the baby-boomers proving that the US government can and does indeed lie to the people. And presidents lie to the people and they know that they are lying as they continue to lie. And not just the simple lies but lies that result in thousands of American deaths. America soldiers, men and women, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters.
Yes, Ellsberg shocked the nation into questioning our leaders, their motives, and the cost in lives, plus the complete disregard for loss of life. Drafting kids off to war, and kids returning back in a wooden box.
Quite an eyeopener was Daniel Ellsberg.
Nixon freaked, the government freaked as their lies and deceit were exposed for everyone to see. Oh how I remember those Ellsberg days.

Yes... I believe the Ellsberg revelation so very long ago began the end of innocents. The end of believing in the government. The end of taking the government for its word. The end to believing that government always told the truth and always had our best interest at heart. All of it turned out to be complete baloney back then, and still today.

All of this was an indication for what was to come. Eventually leading to the birth of the THE ANTi WAR MOVEMENT, THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT, THE MAGA MOVEMENT, THE 99% MOVEMENT, and the birth of every anti government anti establishment movement we know today. Also, for enabling people like Donald Trump to come to power.
Yep, Daniel Ellsberg started all of this by exposing the deep dark secrets of government and of our leaders. And.... here we are today. Rampant government distrust up and down the line. And it just keeps on growing day by day, election after election.

Daniel Ellsberg was an American hero, and if not for Ellsberg we might be fighting the war in Vietnam still today.
The Vietnam war and the civil rights movement derailed my life in the 1960's. I knew a bunch of stuff I didn't want to do, e.g. boot camp, a rifle and fighting in the jungles of southeast Asia or working in the bowels of corporate Amerikkka. We, fighting for revolution in Berkeley and beyond knew before Ellsberg's revelations that the government was not to be trusted. He shoved the proof in people's faces, the people who were too stubborn to be convinced any other way. He died in Berkeley, a place where he knew his presence would never be resented.
 
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