Some Lessons from the Pentagon Papers

Last Saturday I was running some Valentines Day errands. On the radio was the Bob Edwards Weekend program. Bob's focus for the first hour of his program was Daniel Ellsberg and the documents that came to be known as "The Pentagon Papers" as they The occassion for the interview was the debut of a new documentary film called "The Most Dangerous Man in America."

The program took me back to my college days and the satisfaction I felt when the world was introduced to the Pentagon Papers and learned the facts that folks inside the government already knew: the war was a disaster and essentially unwinable.

My satisfaction was tempered, however by some words from the Edwards interview with Ellsberg that are not included in the film. Those words concern the threats posed by our new national security state.

After Ellsberg released the Papers to the New York Times and a handful of other major US newspapers, the Nixon administration went after him with the aim of blackmailing him with the threat of revealing secrets that might be obtained by breaking into the office of Ellsber's psychiatrist (and via other dirty tricks).

The break in and the other smear efforts were of course illegal...at least at the time. When they came to light, criminal charges against Ellsberg were dropped.

But the interesting thing I learned only by listening to the interview was that the illegal actions taken agains Ellsberg nearly 40 years ago would be perfectly legal today after the passage of laws aimed at protecting us from terrorists.
Here's a link to the Edwards interview: http://www.bobedwardsradio.com/bob-edwards-weekend/

Take a listen...then go see the film. Decide for yourself what freedom means today. Think about whether it's time for a new version of "The Pentagon Papers."

Heres a brief description of the film from the imdb web site:

"The Most Dangerous Man in America" is the story of what happens when a former Pentagon insider, armed only with his conscience, steadfast determination, and a file cabinet full of classified documents, decides to challenge an "Imperial" Presidency-answerable to neither Congress, the press, nor the people-in order to help end the Vietnam War. In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg shook America to its foundations when he smuggled a top-secret Pentagon study to the New York Times that showed how five Presidents consistently lied to the American people about the Vietnam War that was killing millions and tearing America apart. President Nixon's National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger called Ellsberg "the most dangerous man in America," who "had to be stopped at all costs." But Ellsberg wasn't stopped. Facing 115 years in prison on espionage and conspiracy charges, he fought back. Ensuing events surrounding the so-called Pentagon Papers led directly to Watergate and the downfall of President Nixon, and hastened the end of the Vietnam War. Ellsberg's relentless telling of truth to power, which exposed the secret deeds of an "Imperial Presidency," inspired Americans of all walks of life to forever question the previously-unchallenged pronouncements of its leaders. "The Most Dangerous Man in America" tells the inside story, for the first time on film, of this pivotal event that changed history and transformed our nation's political discourse. It is told largely by the players of that dramatic episode-Ellsberg, his colleagues, family and critics; Pentagon Papers authors and government officials; Vietnam veterans and anti-war activists; Watergate principals, attorneys and the journalists who both covered the story and were an integral part of it; and finally-through White House audiotapes-President Nixon and his inner circle of advisors.

Here's a link to the web site for the documentary:

http://www.mostdangerousman.org/