[Peace-discuss] Daniel Ellsberg (1931-2023)

[J.B. Nicholson]

‘Pentagon Papers’ whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg dies at 92
https://www.rt.com/news/578179-daniel-ellsberg-whistleblower-dead/

> A tireless campaigner against nuclear weapons, Ellsberg was diagnosed with
> pancreatic cancer earlier this year
> 
> ‘Pentagon Papers’ whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg dies at 92‘Pentagon Papers’
> whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg dies at 92
> 
> Daniel Ellsberg, a former US military analyst who revealed a years-long campaign
> by Washington to hide the true scale of the Vietnam War, has died. Ellsberg passed
> away after a short battle with pancreatic cancer, but continued his anti-war
> activism until his final days.
> 
> Ellsberg died at his home in Kensington, California, on Friday, according to a
> statement from his family. Ellsberg died painlessly, surrounded by his entire
> family, his son Robert said.
> 
> Back in March, Ellsberg announced that he had been diagnosed with inoperable
> pancreatic cancer, and had been given between three and six months to live.
> Ellsberg refused to undergo chemotherapy, and in a final statement to the press
> and his supporters, warned that “the current risk of nuclear war, over Ukraine, is
> as great as the world has ever seen.”
> 
> Ellsberg condemned both the US and Russia for maintaining “first-use” nuclear
> doctrines, and called nuclear war plans and drills by both sides “immoral and
> insane.”
> 
> “Dan Ellsberg was a true American hero,” journalist Glenn Greenwald wrote on
> Twitter, pointing out that he “knowingly risked life in prison to show his fellow
> citizens that the US government was lying about the war in Vietnam.” Former CIA
> agent and fellow whistleblower John Kiriakou described Ellsberg as a “giant of
> modern American history, of transparency, truth, and human rights,” adding “we
> need more Americans like him.”
> 
> Before he was an anti-nuclear campaigner, Ellsberg was a military analyst with the
> RAND Corporation and a committed Cold Warrior. In 1969, while participating in a
> government-ordered study on the runup to the Vietnam War, Ellsberg copied
> thousands of classified documents detailing the US’ deepening involvement in the
> conflict long before it openly entered in 1964.
> 
> The papers, which were published in part by the New York Times, also showed how
> multiple US administrations lied to the American public about battlefield losses
> in Vietnam, while enlarging the scope of the war without public discussion.
> 
> Ellsberg was prosecuted for espionage by the Nixon administration, but the charges
> against him were dropped following a mistrial in 1972. Members of Nixon’s White
> House Special Investigations Unit illegally wiretapped Ellsberg, before going on
> to commit the Watergate break-in that ultimately resulted in Nixon’s resignation
> that same year.
> 
> “When I spoke with Dan one month ago – who knew well how few grains of sand
> remained in his glass – he assessed the risk of a nuclear exchange to be
> escalating beyond 10%,” NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden wrote on Twitter. “He had
> hoped to dedicate his final hours to reducing it, for all those he would leave
> behind. A hero to the end.”

Glenn Greenwald is about to do a show on "The Greatness of Daniel Ellsberg" -- a 
great title -- https://rumble.com/v2un1x6-system-update-show-101.html -- it's sure to 
be well worth watching.