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With recent news of Wikileaks and the case pending, I ran across this interview with a whistleblower from another time - Daniel Ellsberg and the now-famous Pentagon Papers. Much of the outrage and controversy surrounding Ellsberg at the time had to do with his releasing sensitive documents regarding secret meetings over the Vietnam War. How that was condemned by some to be a horrible betrayal of National Security, but it was supported by others as a means of ending an unjust and unjustifiable war. Release of the papers, and their subsequent printing in the New York Times focused attention on how corrupt our policy was and how blatant our government lied in order to maintain the status quo, at the expense of thousands of American lives.

It was thought by many to be the catalyst in ending the war sooner and, during the time of this interview (July 30, 1972) Ellsberg was in the midst of a trial, the conviction would have been a sentence of some 115 years.

Here is the complete appearance of Daniel Ellsberg, as interviewed by William F. Buckley on Buckley's Firing Line Program from July 30, 1972

It's interesting that, as we talk about the age-old subject of Defense Spending, and phrases like "Military-Industrial Complex" chime in, you often wonder where all this amped up spending got started.

I think it's a safe bet to say our increased Military spending came as the direct result of the Cold War. However, sixty+ years later, it hasn't changed at all - even though the landscape of our superpowers has changed and the nature of military engagement has changed significantly since even the Vietnam War period. The spending has, if anything, increased dramatically.

On April 10, 1948 the question was asked as part of a weekend panel show which ran on CBS Radio called Cross Section: USA. The question for this week was "How Much Defense Does The USA Need Now?". Answering the question were representatives of the AF of L, The U.S. Chamber Of Commerce, The International Association of Machinists and The Grange. Without much doubt, and with no argument, the universal answer was "spend as much as is necessary". Certainly a reaction to the threat of the Cold War.

But you can't help but wonder that the blank check handed the Defense Department laid the groundwork for what President Eisenhower would call some twelve years later the "Military-Industrial Complex".

War, it was discovered, was good for the economy.

It's a debate exactly when the turning point of the Vietnam War occurred. Some say it was around 1966 (the year of this broadcast) and others say it was in 1968 at the time of the Tet Offensive. My own feeling is that the writing was most certainly on the wall as early as 1965 as reports of escalation, draft calls and body counts became a daily segment on most every news program.

It was around 1966 that the mainstream news establishment began looking at the war and questioning its validity, as is evidenced by a special program from CBS Radio News which featured veteran correspondent Eric Sevareid reporting his impressions of that war in this June 21st broadcast.

Eric Sevareid: “We try to apply Western logic and experience to this Oriental land. So we encourage the elections, envisage a Parliament and eventual civilian rule representing groups and regions. My own guess is that this process of democratizing would produces years of political turmoil before stability is reached. It will probably, though not certainly open a whole new Pandora’s box, all the quarrels in the country bursting out into the open. Vietnam, I think myself, is not to be compared with Korea or Greece where we were successful in these respects. A strong national sense and strong leaders existed in those countries. If this proves to be the trend as we try to democratize government in Vietnam then the immediate consequence would be a nightmare for us, for we should then have to involve ourselves deeper and deeper into their politics, their economy and more and more of the fighting and dying will be done by Americans and less and less by the Vietnamese.”

It's interesting that Sevareid brings up the subject of Western logic with reference to establishing our brand of Democracy in other countries (in that case Southeast Asia). A subject being brought to the forefront again in the Middle East with the recent protest movements and overthrows underway and certainly our foray into Iraq. But in 1966 the concern was whether or not Vietnam was winable and what was in store for the future.

I guess the two parts to this post would be listening to a journalist like Sevareid and realizing how far we've gotten away from Journalistic integrity. And the other is how the lessons learned from Vietnam have somehow been forgotten.

We had no idea what the future would be like in 1966 and we certainly have no idea now.

Maybe that's just the way it's supposed to be.

The controversy surrounding the Pentagon Papers, and their release to the public was unprecedented in history. Putting it in contemporary perspective, it most closely rivaled that of Wikileaks and the release of sensitive and potentially embarrassing government documents to the public.

The Pentagon Papers basically exposed (or confirmed) a vast series of coverups, deceits and falsehoods during the Vietnam War. The papers were damning to our Foreign Policy, our Military complex and the White House.

Key to the release of those papers was a former Pentagon Official, Daniel Ellsberg, who presented them to The New York Times, where excerpts were published. The resulting storm brought under fire and repercussions, not only Ellsberg and The New York Times, but the whole question of censorship and National Security and the Public's right to know, especially where it concerned the lives of so many of its citizens.

In the end, The Supreme Court sided with Ellsberg and The New York Times. and this broadcast, aired shortly after the decision was given, attempts to cover those bases.

Here is the special program, originally aired on June 30, 1971 from NBC News "The Supreme Court And The Pentagon Papers"

Another day of contrasts, this February 27th in 1960. News of the day reported President Eisenhower arriving in Buenos Aires, Argentina on his tour of South America. Crowds were enthusiastic on the whole in Argentina, save for earlier incidents of riots and flag burning protests the night before. All was swept neatly under the carpet by parade time.

The big news from Buckingham Palace was Princess Margaret and photographer Anthony Armstrong-Jones were engaged to be married. Since Britain loves a good wedding, the whole country got excited when word got out.

Not such exciting upbeat news from the border of Lebanon and Israel where UAR troops were massed on the border and grumblings from Syria and Egypt that trouble was just hours away.

Meanwhile, back home. The Senate was heading into its 11th day of debate over the Civil Rights Bill with observations that the debate would go on continuously for weeks, only taking time out for Sundays.

Speaking of Civil Rights, Lunchcounter demonstrations were back in the news again in the South with promises of more on the way.

From the Red Scare/Cold War Department - Pentagon think tanks were reporting the possibility of a new more deadly missile system being developed by Moscow. The GRBM (Global Range Ballistic Missile) system was capable of a 10-15,000 mile range hitting just about anywhere in the world and that our defense system just wasn't up to the task of warning us in time. More nerves. Charges were also being leveled in some circles that Communism was rampant in U.S. Churches, particularly the Protestants. That one raise a few eyebrows.

And if all that weren't enough, Government buildings in Washington were the target of a veritable cloud of Pigeons and Starlings, bent on screeching and crapping on every ledge around Capitol Hill. The problem was so bad it prompted legislators to appropriate funds to install electric ledges to ward off the Aviary miscreants. All living things are capable of editorial opinions, it seems.

And so went this slice of life for February 27th 1960 as reported on the NBC World News Roundup

In setting the tone for what promised to be a contentious election year, February 6th 1948 fit in quite nicely.

With a call for Southern Democrats to bolt from the Party over President Truman's proposed Civil Rights legislation (which included an anti-lynching Law) and nominate their own Presidential candidate, got their first meeting together, headed by Mississippi Governor Fielding L. Wright. Far from a unified front, Governor Wright pledged to do anything possible to defeat Truman in 1948, including support the Republican nominee, whoever that was going to be.

Meanwhile, predictions were coming in that Truman would win re-election, if the current Economic climate kept up. Food prices were dropping considerably, even though it was too early to tell if the drop would be across the board. Republicans charged it was an election year gimmick. How things never change.

Further domestic news saw the Rent Control Bill on temporary hold, but did forecast an extension of controls through 1949 even though the extension would be in a greatly relaxed form. General Eisenhower stepped down on this day as Chief of Staff at the Pentagon with Gen. Omar Bradley taking over.

Overseas news saw trouble for Eamon de Valera in Ireland with election returns showing the Valera government now in a minority and in a definite lack-of-confidence mode. On the Foreign Aid front - an additional $250 million was seen to be needed as the slow process of rebuilding Europe continued.

And the last day of the 1948 Winter Olympics was bogged down with snowstorms putting a number of events on hold.

And that's what it looked and sounded like on this particular February 6th in 1948 via NBC's News Of The World with John Cameron Swayze and live reports from all over.

Day #7 of Desert Storm, this January 23rd in 1991. The news of the day was predominated by war reports and air attacks, as the full-on invasion hadn't yet begun. Scud Missile attacks in Tel-Aviv. Sporadic ground skirmishes around the Saudi-Kuwait border. Coalition fighters ran some 12,000 sorties so far. Iraq claiming one raid scored a direct hit on a "baby formula factory" - the "factory" in question was well-guarded at the time. Vice-President Dan Quayle was busy decrying anti-war protesters, saying they were getting too much media coverage. The Pentagon was being criticized by the media for being too slow in giving updates on progress. And nobody knew exactly how long this thing was going to last.

And that's what was going on this day in 1991 from the CBS World News Roundup and News Updates for January 23rd.

Nothing much can be added that hasn't already been said and repeated hundreds if not thousands of times since that morning in 2001. The world indeed changed and it's become a place where everyone remembers exactly where they were and exactly what they were doing when the unbelievable news broke. And now we reflect on that ancient Chinese Curse that we are indeed living in interesting times.

So my two cents, as way of memorial and witness to history comes in the form of an excerpt from NPR's Morning Edition broadcast of September 11th, with a shocked and dismayed Bob Edwards fielding reports from an equally shocked and dismayed staff.

Nothing more can be added. History has done the rest.

(Daniel Elssberg - the shadow of Nixon was everywhere)

With today's revelations over the Wikileaked "Afghanistan Papers", it brings to mind another famous set of papers that proved an embarrassment to U.S. Foreign Policy. The infamous Pentagon Papers and the subsequent trial of Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo. The Pentagon Papers were a huge thorn in the side of the Nixon White House, made worse by illegal wiretaps and break-ins having to do with Ellsberg, all leading to the bigger picture which was Watergate.

Some say the disclosure of those papers, which outlined details of our failed excursion in Vietnam may have brought the war to a conclusion quicker. And had there not been the Pentagon Papers would there have been break ins and wiretaps of Daniel Ellsberg and others leading to the Watergate break in. It's a thought.

In any event, Ellsberg and Russo were jubilant as they held a press conference shortly after the acquittal was announced on May 12, 1973.

Daniel Ellsberg: “It’s a dramatic confirmation of the kinds of lessons that we read and that I first read in the Pentagon papers. And that I wanted to share with the American people lessons that were very painful for me as someone who had worked for the Executive Branch for all my professional life. For fifteen years including the Marine Corps, twelve years at the Department of Defense, White House, others. Those were lessons that the people that I had worked for had been corrupted by the absolute, enormous, unchallenged power that they’d come to exert in the last generation, the last thirty years or so, as any humans would be. That they were acting arrogantly, and ultimately that meant ignorantly and wrongly. And that the papers, of course, don’t tell the solution to that any more than Watergate tells the solution. I think the people of this country are more prepared to learn those same lessons in the domestic context than they were fully ready to learn about the Pentagon papers when the only victims were foreigners.”

Stop me if you're thinking what I'm thinking - but there's an eerie similarity here. The only difference is - Nixon was still in office when these revelations came to light. Bush isn't.

(What got Kent and Jackson State started - Invasion of Cambodia, 1970)

When Richard Nixon campaigned for President in 1968, he loudly and repeatedly asserted he had a plan to end the war in Vietnam. When news came out that we had invaded Cambodia, with no warning, no knowledge and no press on April 29th of 1970, it was largely seen as a betrayal of a pledge to end the war in Southeast Asia (they didn't call him Tricky Dick for nothing) and we were doomed to stay in an endless war forever.

It was, for all intents and purposes, the straw that broke the camel's back. We were lied to again, and it wasn't going to wash.

Read statement from The Pentagon: “The action is a necessary and effective measure to save American and other free world lives and to strengthen the Vietnamization program”.

This clip comes from the initial news reports of the invasion on the 29th. Nixon's statement would come a day later on the 30th.

But by that time the damage had been done and the series of events that led to Kent State (and Jackson State a week later), would begin their inevitable gallop towards destiny. Contrary to what revisionists may say, this was an act of anger from betrayal by people, for whom it was the majority, wanted a pointless war to end.