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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol. 34, No. 18. October 6 1971

All About Ellsberg

All About Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg has spent much effort in the last year trying to bring the import of the Pentagon papers to the attention of both the public and many government officials. He considers the papers to be "the U.S. equivalent of the Nuremberg war-crimes documents" and hopes that "now those responsible for the escalation of the war will be held to account for the papers they signed."

After serving as a lieutenant in the Korean War, Dan worked with the Rand Corporation, a government think-tank where he performed defense and foreign policy consultant work under Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson. In 1965 he was sent to Vietnam. Working on pacification studies, he was first with the Defense Department as a GS 18 (highest civilian grade—equivalent to Lt. General) and then with the State Department as FSR I (highest grade—Just below ambassador). He returned to the U.S. as an Increasingly outspoken dove. He worked with Henry Kissinger for a number of weeks in late '68 and early '69, and was with Rand until April, 1970. Dan is now with the Center for International Studies at M.I.T.

The Pentagon Papers provide documentary evidence for something that radicals have been saying for a number of years—that the Vietnam War was no mistake; rather it was a deliberate calculated maneuver to assure U.S. hegemony in Southeast Asia and the Asian Pacific.

Despite platitudes to the contrary, U.S. objectives in that part of the world remain unchanged. Therefore, the death and destruction In Vietnam will continue unabated. We hope that the lesson of the Pentagon Papers and the following interview will generate a new sense of urgency in the American people to stop the insanity of their government.

The interview is from Hundred Mowers/UPS in Minneapolis via Freeway/UPS.