Ellsburg Redux

The VietNam War and the Iraq War bear striking similarities. Both were begun under highly questionable pretexts (as many wars are - e.g. the sinking of the USS Maine, which led to the Spanish American War in 1898; Nazi Germany's efforts to "liberate East Prussia from Poland) with the Gulf of Tonkin incident used by President Johnson, in 1964, to authorize the use of American forces against North Vietnam; and a claim that Saddam Hussein's government (first) had ties to AlQaeda, later replaced by claims of evidence of WMD's leading to the invasion that began in March, 2003.

Both were incredibly costly. Nearly 7 years later - at a cost in excess of $700 billion* and between 100,000 and 150,000 dead - the Iraqi conflict remains unending, Iraq a shambles, anti-American extremists invigorated, and the reputation of the U.S. at historical lows. In the 9 years between its outbreak and the Paris Peace Accord of January, 1973, the VietNam War's cost was also in the hundreds-of-billions, and casualties at approximately 2 million. America suffered its first war time defeat.

On June 13, 1971, the NY Times published its first excerpts from The Pentagon Papers. These were a set of documents leaked by Daniel Ellsburg, who had high-level access to the complete set of documents under study by a commission appointed by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. Ellsburg went into hiding after their release. The Nixon Administration tried a number of strategies - court orders¹; a direct request from the President; and repeated attacks on his character - including a break-in at his psychiatrist's office by the same group, The White House Plumbers, who were later convicted of the break-in to DNS Headquarters - i.e. Watergate. When Ellsburg eventually surrendered to authorities, he had this to say:

I felt that as an American citizen,  as a responsible citizen,  I could no longer cooperate in concealing this information from the American public. I did this clearly at my own jeopardy and I am prepared to answer to all the consequences of this decision.

The Pentagon Papers fed anti-war sentiment by showing that the US government deliberately misled its citizens in regard to expectations of costs and casualties of the war. Evidence of covert actions - including massive bombing campaign of Laos and Cambodia - also came to light later. It may be stated with some assurance that his actions helped reduce the damage and duration of the War; Ellsburg has since received the Ron Ridenhour Courage Prize,  the Gandhi Peace Award from Promoting Enduring Peace, and the Right Livelihood Award.

Without the full evidence, it's impossible to determine the guilt or innocence of Julian Assange, who was today arrested after his court hearing in the UK. The press seems to have riveted its attention on the allegations of  sexual misconduct - perhaps under pressure from those governments (most notably the US) who have suffered extreme embarrassment with the disclosure of diplomatic cables. While Assange's character may not stand up to that of Ellsburg's, it seems important to remember that Wikileaks is not Julian Assange but is an organization whose actions - while endangering some lives may save many more lives by bringing the actions of governments (and, one hopes, corporations) into the light of day where they can be scrutinized by the public. For that reason I nominated Assange - i.e. Wikileaks - for Time Magazine's Man of the Year Award today.

About the image: This is a heavily-Photoshopped photograph taken in 2007 at the Papal Palace in Avignon - a seat of corruption if ever there was one. I picked it because it suggests a "halls of power" feel, along with the feel of a lurking unknown - i.e. secrets. The white text is a descriptive of Wikileaks most recent document release, while the orange is extracted from an article published today about Assange's arrest.

*Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz estimates the overall cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan War at $3 trillion, taking into account diversion of funds from infrastructure investments, long-term health care cost to the injured, etc. Bush Administration officials insisted that the costs would be more like $50 billion to $60 billion.

¹ The first successful attempt by the federal government to restrain the publication of a major newspaper since the presidency of Abraham Lincoln during the US Civil War [wikipedia]