Daniel Ellsberg Defends Julian Assange, Bradley Manning

WASHINGTON — The man who famously leaked the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War defended both WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the Army private suspected of providing the site with thousands of sensitive government documents.

Daniel Ellsberg said Thursday that Wikileaks' disclosure of government secrets on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and thousands of diplomatic cables was "exactly the right thing" to do.

"I think they provided a very valuable service," Ellsberg said, also referring to man suspected of leaking the documents, Pvt. Bradley Manning. "To call them terrorists is not only mistaken, it's absurd."

Ellsberg said he frequently hears people praise his 1971 leak of the Pentagon's secret history of the Vietnam War while condemning the WikiLeaks disclosures. The 79-year-old former military analyst rejected that argument, calling Manning a "brother" who, if he indeed provided the documents to WikiLeaks, committed "a very admirable act."

And he said the government is wrong to pursue criminal charges against Assange, comparing him to New York Times and Washington Post journalists who have published information from classified documents.

"Anybody who believes Julian Assange can be distinguished from The New York Times ... is on a fool's errand," Ellsberg said.

Ellsberg once faced criminal charges over his leak, but they were thrown out by a judge.

While generally praising Assange, Ellsberg said Assange should have done a better job in his initial document releases of redacting names of people and sources who could be subject to violence if their names were discovered, such as Afghans who could be targeted by extremists for helping the U.S. He said WikiLeaks has modified its policies to release only documents that are also released by mainstream news outlets.

Ellsberg acknowledged that the government needs to keep some secrets, but said the WikiLeaks documents expose information that the public needs to know, including cables showing that U.S. special forces are engaged in operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

Ellsberg's comments came as a House committee held a hearing on what laws could be used to prosecute Assange. Attorney General Eric Holder has said a criminal investigation of WikiLeaks is ongoing.

After his news conference – sponsored by the Australian activist group GetUp!, which released a petition with more than 90,000 Australian signatures supporting Assange – Ellsberg joined hundreds of protesters at an anti-war rally in Lafayette Park. He was one of dozens of demonstrators arrested in front of the White House for failing to obey police orders to clear the sidewalk. Ellsberg said it was the 80th time he was arrested.

Comments

[SGK12]

09:36 PM on 12/23/2010

PFC Manning had no idea about the context in which this information was utilized, interpreted or employed. There is no way to estimate the extent to which he has set back diplomatic efforts and foreign relations. His behavior was truly outrageous!

He broke several laws. He and Assange have no appreciation whatever regarding sensitive information used to develop relationships. Simply put, it’s impossible to measure the damage. In fact, we will never know entirely the political harm, not to mention the likelihood that individual lives were ruined if not destroyed altogether. I’ll never understand how someone could be admired or applauded for such a heinous act.

He has released the names of enemy informants, people who are helping us to defeat an enemy and bring stability to a region. Think those people are going to stay alive? Think that anyone else is going to trust us to keep informants safe? What about information concerning a bribe our country paid to an Afghan warlord? Might look like a nasty scandal from the outside, of course, but these relationships prevent a LOT of bloodshed -- until it becomes public knowledge and the whole cycle starts up again.

We give our military and diplomats some freedom to keep secrets. Without some level of secrecy, they simply cannot do their jobs. Assange, in his quest to bring governmental transparency (i.e., make himself famous), will forget that information can be a deadly and unpredictable weapon.

I realize these things are wasted on all you radicals.

[Bill Bushing]

12:07 AM on 12/19/2010

It is interesting to note that Ellsberg released documents which were apparently classified "Top Secret" whereas WikiLeaks has released documents with oinly a "Secret" level classification.

[xdiesp]

11:21 PM on 12/18/2010

Fundamentally, people still want to believe in truth, justice and democracy. It's the politicians murking everything into a mess of personal interests and bitter hatred. Without them, we wouldn't be fighting this web civil war out of perceived allegiances since we all share the same beliefs.

[IMeMine]

08:49 PM on 12/17/2010

Anytime Dr. Ellsberg speaks, I listen.

[nogimmicks]

05:57 PM on 12/17/2010

Holder wants to prosecute Manning for reporting the truth and does not want to prosecute Bernanke for hiding the truth about insider transactions of the public money (a.k.a. the missing 9 trillion dollars).

[bikerdude]

08:50 AM on 12/17/2010

The truth will set us free....

[murphthesurf3]

08:17 AM on 12/17/2010

Watergate and Pentagon Papers NOT the Same as the Wikileaks


Watergate. Deep Throat gave the Washington Post the into that broke open Watergte turned out to be Federal Bureau of Investigat­­ion Associate Director Mark Felt. The Post created a team with broad and vast expertise to review every bit of data before it ever saw the light of day.

The Pentagon Papers. Daniel Ellsberg is a former United States military analyst who, while employed by the RAND Corporatio­­n, precipitat­­ed a national political controvers­­y in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of US government decision-m­­aking about the Vietnam War, to The New York Times and other newspapers­­.

The Papers were a completed document thoroughly examined by experts both inside and outside of the government­­.

What wikileaks does is pull together unconnecte­­d materials, without sorting, without verificati­­on, without examinatio­­n, without considerat­­ion of impact....­­..and then releases them into the public forum without proper vetting. Dangerous and foolish.
 

[Deparis]

12:59 PM on 12/17/2010

Mr. Obama lies, orders indiscriminate drones attacks and thousands of babies, pregnant women and seniors die. Dangerous and foolish indeed!

[Craig Lane]

02:27 PM on 12/17/2010

Think that all you like but you really need to take it up with Mr. Ellsberg. And you need to check your facts as far as how Wikileaks works.

[NC2]

07:31 AM on 12/17/2010

Oh, Danny Boy. Go back to sleep.

[SocratesFan]

05:08 AM on 12/18/2010

Why should he go back to sleep? What's the problem? How is your comment helpful?

[Sleepers Awake]

07:03 AM on 12/17/2010

I do not see how it is possible to engage in an informed discussion about Wikileaks, Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, or even Daniel Ellsberg without having watched Daniel Ellsberg, the Most Dangerous Man in America. The full documentary is here: http://vimeo.com/10540038 .

To hear none other than Henry Kissinger call Ellsberg "...the most dangerous man in America" or to hear Nixon telling Kissinger of the nuclear option in Vietnam "you have to think big, Henry" or to see an Ellsberg interview with "the most trusted man in America," Walter Cronkite, allows the viewer to see high-level decision making in a new light.

It is unfortunate that this documentary cannot and will not be seen by every man, woman, and (school) child in America.

[BraveWarrior]

04:32 AM on 12/18/2010

I caught a showing on PBS recently. Like the Wikileaks cables, information overload allows one to miss important facts. What was most striking was the repeated dishonest, disingenuous statements from Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon about the reasons and threats that justified the Vietnam War. I didn't know that Truman had financed the French effort to restore their colonial occupation after WWII. The 'Viet Minh' was the resistance movement, headed by Ho Chi Minh, that had fought against French colonial occupation. Their liberation struggle was interrupted by the Japanese conquest of Asia. The US provided arms and coordinated operations with the VM with the promise and understanding that Vietnam would gain independence after the defeat of the Axis. The guerrilla cells of the VM that had fought the French, and then the Japanese evolved into the Viet Cong, after the US reneged on their deal, after the war, while secretly financing the French. We think that only Iraq was a war that started on lies, but apparently most of our wars are started by lies. The same lies repeated generation after generation. Imagine the hours of xeroxing page after page without being detected. It was an eye opening look with the words of the real life actors, revealing the deceitful cynicism of our respected leaders. An angry and vindictive Nixon, unhappy that Ellsberg escapes legal charges in the SC ruling- sets in motion his 'Plumbers' to get dirt on Ellsberg. I intend to give my nieces the DVD.

[Sleepers Awake]

08:39 PM on 12/18/2010

Thanks for the response. As a university teacher, I, too, will see to it that any students who get involved in the current Wikileaks discussions at least know of this important movie, Daniel Ellsberg, The Most Dangerous Man in America.

I, too, was surprised to hear of the deceptions going all the way back to Truman.

The problem, and it is huge, is there is no longer "a most trusted man" reporting the news today in America today, a trusted man the likes of Walter Cronkite. Not even a Roger Mudd, or a young Dan Rather. Who do we have who we can trust today? Lou Dobs? Glenn Beck? MSM? They're jokes. The best source we have now is Julian Assange and Wikileaks, both under assault.

One fact about Daniel Elsberg, The Most Dangerous Man in America is discussed by Daniel Ellsberg himself. He thought that once the papers were leaked, once main street learned the truth about the deceptions leading to the war, popular sentiment in support of the war would change drastically, but support changed not much at all. I am guilty there as I was a university student in those days, sleepwalking basically, and those things didn't register at all.

Likewise, even now, not many folks really know about the Pentagon Papers or what they were, and not many people really care either.

Same with Wikileaks, Julian Assange, and Bradley Manning.

Not many care, and the juggernaut is nourished by crushing all that is good.

[Macready]

05:58 AM on 12/17/2010

Thank you Daniel Ellsberg . . you are stil my hero!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tronhome]

05:16 AM on 12/17/2010

Not exactly news, though. He's been defending them for half a year on Democracy Now.

[snow49]

05:12 AM on 12/17/2010

The treatment of Bradley Manning is inexcusable “Another demonstration of American justice in action......under American law, you are considered innocent until proven guilty. At present he hasn't been found guilty of anything yet the conditions this young man is enduring at the moment are similar to what the 'worst of the worst' could expect. Echoes of Gitmo...you remember, an American Army base considered to be on American soil yet exempt from any form of legal or moral control, a place where torture ( water-boarding ) was allowed against international law, imprisonment without trial, amongst other infringements of basic human rights. I am pleased that this young man has the guts to stand up and be counted, not one of the 'I was following orders' drones. There are a few rays of hope, but all are being attacked. America...the land of the free......you decide”

[Macready]

05:56 AM on 12/17/2010

fanned and fav'd snow49 . . .

[Gperky]

08:46 AM on 12/17/2010

The man is a criminal and should be tried as a traitor. We are supposed to defend America, not try to bring it down to rubble.

[logicalchoice]

01:15 PM on 12/17/2010

What a shame that simply telling the truth about our country will bring it down to rubble.

[SocratesFan]

05:07 AM on 12/18/2010

Sometimes the barbarians are at the head of state. Had you learned any history past the beginning of America, you would have learned this.

When barbarians are the head of state, protesting is not treason but an ethical act. Had you learned any history past the beginning of America, you would have learned this too.

If calling injustice for what it is can bring a civilization down to rubble, it DESERVES to be brought down to rubble, so that a more civilized civilization can take its place. Ancient Rome collapsed when it became an overly-militarized, violent state. Aztec civilization collapsed when its conquered states, tired of being treated like dirt by the Aztecs, collaborated with the invading Spaniards to fight the Aztecs. The British empire collapsed after successive revolutions by the United States, India, etc. The Japanese empire collapsed after they became a warmongering state, abusing the Ainu in Hokkaido, raping Nanking in China, oppressing the Koreans, and did not give up their warlike mentality until they saw themselves reflected in our OWN "slaughter of the innocent" by bombing innocent civilians in their city.

Now WE have become a warlike, conquering state. If we do not change this course we'll collapse too. But in a globalized world, if we collapse, we'll bring down everyone ELSE with us.

This man cannot bring us down to rubble. We will bring us down to rubble if we insist on money and power as the only values that matter.

[mirabay]

05:10 AM on 12/17/2010

Thank you Daniel for all you have done for the country and for standing again and again for the truth, justice and the amerikan way.....................go wiki

[Regenleif Ali]

04:51 AM on 12/17/2010

Is Manning really worth defending?? He didn't leak only information regarding the war, but also other non-relevant matter as well..

[Bill Bushing]

11:04 AM on 12/17/2010

Personally I think all actions of the government established to represent "we the people" are relevant for us.

[Regenleif Ali]

02:19 AM on 12/19/2010

sorry for being late at getting back to you... well actually, what I'm saying is that Manning beleived the information he was leaking would help stop the war... He lost his initiative and for that matter ended up in jail... I'll not say that it wasn't an admirable act...however, he should have seen what he was leaking before letting it loose in the world where tensions are running high... he may be the one responsible for a new war, rather than ending it...

[esin]

03:07 AM on 12/17/2010

Ellsberg is a man of character who should be commended for what he did during the Vietnam war and the way he has openly defended Assange. Imagine a world with many more Ellsbergs and Assange and less of Cheneys, Roves, Bushes, Palins, Becks, Hannitys, Limbaughs just to name a few (so many more to name). What a wonderful world it would be.... A girl can dream..

[EthicalJournalist]

05:07 AM on 12/17/2010

Agreed. Fanned and faved.

[Macready]

05:57 AM on 12/17/2010

fanned and fav'd esin . . ditto