Daniel Ellsberg: 'A Coup Has Occurred'

[zengrifter]

September 27, 2007

'A Coup Has Occurred'

by Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg, the former Defense Department analyst who leaked the secret Pentagon Papers history of the Vietnam War, offered insights into the looming war with Iran and the loss of liberty in the United States at an American University symposium on Sept. 20.

Below is an edited transcript of Ellsberg's remarkable speech:

I think nothing has higher priority than averting an attack on Iran, which I think will be accompanied by a further change in our way of governing here that in effect will convert us into what I would call a police state.

If there's another 9/11 under this regime ... it means that they switch on full extent all the apparatus of a police state that has been patiently constructed, largely secretly at first but eventually leaked out and known and accepted by the Democratic people in Congress, by the Republicans and so forth.

Will there be anything left for NSA to increase its surveillance of us? ... They may be to the limit of their technical capability now, or they may not. But if they're not now they will be after another 9/11.

And I would say after the Iranian retaliation to an American attack on Iran, you will then see an increased attack on Iran – an escalation – which will be also accompanied by a total suppression of dissent in this country, including detention camps.

...more - http://www.antiwar.com/orig/ellsberg...rticleid=11674



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See also -

Daniel Ellsberg Says Government May Have Carried Out 9/11

[zengrifter]

Originally Posted by zengrifter

Daniel Ellsberg, the former Defense Department analyst who leaked the secret Pentagon Papers history of the Vietnam War, offered insights into the looming war with Iran and the loss of liberty in the United States at an American University symposium on Sept. 20.

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About Ellsberg, from Wikipedia

The Pentagon Papers

After returning from Vietnam, Ellsberg went back to work at the Rand Corp. As a Vietnam expert, he was invited, in 1967, to contribute to a top-secret study of classified documents regarding the conduct of the Vietnam War that had been commissioned by Defense Secretary McNamara. These documents later became known collectively as the Pentagon Papers. Because he held an extremely high-level security clearance, Ellsberg was one of the very few individuals who were given access to the complete set of documents. They revealed that the government had knowledge, early on, that the war would not likely be won, and that continuing the war would lead to many times more casualties than was ever admitted publicly. Further, the papers showed that high-ranking officials had a deep cynicism towards the public as well as disregard for the loss of life and injury suffered by soldiers and civilians.

Ellsberg was appalled by the cynicism and hypocrisy reflected in these papers, and, after a period of soul-searching, became determined to make their contents public. He knew that releasing the papers would most likely result in a conviction and a lengthy prison sentence. In late 1969, with the assistance of his former Rand Corp. colleague, Anthony Russo, he secretly made several sets of photocopies of the papers (which was, in itself, a very difficult undertaking). Throughout 1970, Ellsberg covertly attempted to persuade a few sympathetic U.S. Senators — among them J. William Fulbright, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and George McGovern, a leading opponent of the war — to release the papers on the Senate floor, because a Senator could not be prosecuted for anything he said on-the-record before the Senate.

When these efforts came to naught, Ellsberg finally leaked the documents to New York Times correspondent Neil Sheehan. On Sunday, June 13, 1971, the Times published the first installment of the 7,000 page document. For 15 days, the Times was prevented from publishing its articles by court order requested by the Nixon administration. However, the Supreme Court soon ordered publication to resume freely. Although the Times did not reveal Ellsberg as their source, he knew that the FBI would soon determine that he was the source of the leak. Ellsberg went underground for sixteen days, living secretly among like-minded people until deciding to turn himself in on June 28. He was not caught by the FBI, even though it was under enormous pressure from the Nixon Administration to find him.

On June 29, 1971, U.S. SenatorMike Gravel of Alaska entered 4,100 pages of the Papers into the record of his Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds. These portions of the Papers were subsequently published by Beacon Press.[1]

Fallout

The Nixon administration also began a campaign to discredit Ellsberg. Nixon's plumbers broke into Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office in an attempt to find damaging information. When they failed to find Ellsberg's file, they made plans to break into the psychiatrist's home.

On June 28, Ellsberg publicly surrendered to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston, Massachusetts. He was taken into custody believing he would spend the rest of his life in prison; he was charged with theft, conspiracy, and espionage.

In one of Nixon's actions against Ellsberg, G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt, members of the White House Special Investigation Unit (also called the "White House Plumbers") broke into Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office in September 1971, hoping to find information they could use to discredit him. The revelation of the break-in became part of the Watergate scandal. Due to the gross governmental misconduct, all charges against Ellsberg were eventually dropped. White House counsel Charles Colson was later prosecuted and pled no contest for obstruction of justice in the burglary of Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office.

The Pentagon Papers is a 2003 movie documenting Ellsberg's life starting with his work for RAND Corp and ending with the day on which the judge declared his espionage trial a mistrial.[1]

Later life

Since the end of the Vietnam War, Ellsberg has continued his political activism, giving lecture tours and speaking out about current events. During the runup to the 2003 invasion of Iraq he warned of a possible "Tonkin Gulf scenario" that could be used to justify going to war, and called on government "insiders" to go public with information to counter the Bush administration'spro-war propaganda campaign, praising Scott Ritter for his efforts in that regard. He later provoked criticism from the Bush administration for supporting British GCHQ translator Katharine Gun and calling on others to leak any papers that reveal government deception about the invasion. Ellsberg also testified at the 2004 conscientious objector hearing of Camilo Mejia at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

In 2004, Ellsberg signed the 9/11 Truth Statement along with 99 other prominent Americans and 40 family members of victims killed in the attacks of September 11th. The statement is a public appeal for a new inquiry into the attacks of September 11th, with an explicit call to examine evidence that suggests high-level government officials purposely allowed the attacks to occur. In July 2006, Ellsberg was interviewed on the Alex Jones radio show where he discussed his opinions on US Government involvement in the September 11 terrorist attacks. Interview available in MP3 format. 10 minute segment starts at 23:55

Ellsberg was arrested, in November 2005, for violating a county ordinance for trespassing while protesting against George W. Bush's conduct of the Iraq War. [2]

In September 2006, Ellsberg wrote in Harper's Magazine that he hoped someone would leak information about a U.S. invasion of Iran before the invasion happened, to stop the war. [3] He reiterated this in a September 21, 2006 interview on The Colbert Report.

Ellsberg is the recipient of the Inaugural Ron Ridenhour Courage Award; a prize established by The Nation Institute and The Fertel Foundation. On September 28, 2006 he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award.

[zengrifter]

Originally Posted by zengrifter

And I would say after the Iranian retaliation to an American attack on Iran, you will then see an increased attack on Iran –
an escalation – which will be also accompanied by a total suppression of dissent in this country, including detention camps.

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See - FEMA's Blueprint for Martial Law

[zengrifter]

YES - 'A Coup Has Occurred'

And 'The Answer Is Blowin' In The Wind'

Jim Kirwan | 9-29-7

In his clearly written article, Daniel Ellsberg points out many of the obvious things that others have been trying to unscramble now for at least the last six years. Line by line he wrestles with the reality of the facts as most have come to see them in this situation. What seems to be missing here is the poverty of both attitudes and motives that allowed this to happen in the first instance. With every passing moment these differences become more necessary, to any possible solution, to all that the Ellsberg article so clearly delineates.

For generations now people with real experience, individuals that have actually lived their lives in that crucible that molds experience and courage have been missing-in-action when it counts the most. These traits are necessary, not because they are exceptional: but because only with these capacities can this nation or any person in it-- even begin to overturn--not only the nightmare we are living but the one to come as well.

What is needed now are people that understand the determination necessary to exhibit the strength of character that can change the course of history. This nation has become a place of bureaucrats and opportunists that speak in riddles to confuse the actual issues. These carpetbaggers exist to frustrate actual solutions in the predetermined outcomes that created the walls of our nightmares, and so far they've remained 'in-charge.' The opportunity to shut down the war exists in congress - now. Many have written about it, and yet this seemingly simple proposal is not taken seriously--even though it is the only thing that will work right now. In yesterday's democratic debates an obscure candidate, Senator Mike Gravel, outlined this option, in the 1st video, right after Kucinich. (1)

The proposal is simple. The congress needs to resubmit their vetoed legislation on the war to the president every working day - until the country begins to understand that nothing is going to go forward until this issue is settled.

...more - http://rense.com/general78/yes.htm

[zengrifter]

See also - Owning the World – The Great Illusion