“Pentagon Papers” whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg’s last message to us
Democracy Now! remembered Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, who died last week at the age of 92, just months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
While employed by the RAND Corporation, he precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of U.S. government decision-making in relation to the Vietnam War, to The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other newspapers.
His actions helped take down President Nixon, end the War in Vietnam, lead to a major victory for press freedom. Over the past half-century, Ellsberg remained an antiwar and anti-nuclear activist who inspired a new generation of whistleblowers.
In his last interview with Democracy Now! in April, he spoke about the war in Ukraine and why it required a diplomatic solution, and about the latest leak of Pentagon documents by Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira, who has been indicted on six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information.
(Cover: Political activist, Daniel Ellsberg, speaking at rally, Washington D.C. Via Shutterstock.)
Funny that Ellsberg didn’t just call for a war crimes trial against Putin. It seems he thought both sides were at fault. How realistic — and out of step with mainstream Western punditry.