Ellsberg shouting into the wind before the hurricane makes the dumb deaf as well
Daniel Ellsberg Today (8/8/06) From CommonDreams.org reprinted from the Philidelphia Inquirer
"Today, there must be, at the very least, hundreds of civilian and military officials in the Pentagon, CIA, State Department, National Security Agency and White House who have in their safes and computers comparable documentation of intense internal debates - so far carefully concealed from Congress and the public - about prospective or actual war crimes, reckless policies and domestic crimes: the Pentagon Papers of Iraq, Iran or the ongoing war on U.S. liberties. Some of those officials, I hope, will choose to accept the personal risks of revealing the truth - earlier than I did - before more lives are lost or a new war is launched."
sounds a bit like Ray McGovern in saying since 2003...
"Many former colleagues and successors are facing a dilemma all too familiar to intelligence veterans—the difficult choices that must be faced when the demands of good conscience butt up against deeply ingrained attitudes concerning secrecy, misguided notions of what is true patriotism, and understandable reluctance to put careers—and mortgages—on the line...We appeal to those still working inside the Intelligence Community to consider turning state’s evidence.”
But with the Supreme Court recently shooting down federal whistleblower protection against Bush, the Justice Department itself instead of investigating illegal programs, instead going after the reporters who print details of programs that go against the law and Constitution, Congress' idea of "oversight" is to pass any and all laws making all of Bush's violations of the law and Constitution retroactively "legal", and the Press itself willing to sit on stories for the benefit of the Adminstration, is there any reason for people to risk their lives and careers when no one has their back? What reason, besides that is the good of their country, the world, for the sake of their children growing up in by comparison relative safety and relatively free compared to the world dangers about to happen? Evidently that is not as attractive a payoff to them as getting that new sports car or vacation home. Yes, I purposely try to piss off people more respected and dangerous than myself. Maybe if they get pissed off enough, they will act as brave when going against the grain for what they know is right as they are, or think they are, when that bravery means also going along with it, and along with what they know is horribly, horribly, wrong.
"Today, there must be, at the very least, hundreds of civilian and military officials in the Pentagon, CIA, State Department, National Security Agency and White House who have in their safes and computers comparable documentation of intense internal debates - so far carefully concealed from Congress and the public - about prospective or actual war crimes, reckless policies and domestic crimes: the Pentagon Papers of Iraq, Iran or the ongoing war on U.S. liberties. Some of those officials, I hope, will choose to accept the personal risks of revealing the truth - earlier than I did - before more lives are lost or a new war is launched."
sounds a bit like Ray McGovern in saying since 2003...
"Many former colleagues and successors are facing a dilemma all too familiar to intelligence veterans—the difficult choices that must be faced when the demands of good conscience butt up against deeply ingrained attitudes concerning secrecy, misguided notions of what is true patriotism, and understandable reluctance to put careers—and mortgages—on the line...We appeal to those still working inside the Intelligence Community to consider turning state’s evidence.”
But with the Supreme Court recently shooting down federal whistleblower protection against Bush, the Justice Department itself instead of investigating illegal programs, instead going after the reporters who print details of programs that go against the law and Constitution, Congress' idea of "oversight" is to pass any and all laws making all of Bush's violations of the law and Constitution retroactively "legal", and the Press itself willing to sit on stories for the benefit of the Adminstration, is there any reason for people to risk their lives and careers when no one has their back? What reason, besides that is the good of their country, the world, for the sake of their children growing up in by comparison relative safety and relatively free compared to the world dangers about to happen? Evidently that is not as attractive a payoff to them as getting that new sports car or vacation home. Yes, I purposely try to piss off people more respected and dangerous than myself. Maybe if they get pissed off enough, they will act as brave when going against the grain for what they know is right as they are, or think they are, when that bravery means also going along with it, and along with what they know is horribly, horribly, wrong.
posted by Jared DuBois | 1:36 PM
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