Daniel Ellsberg, a Pentagon analyst who in 1971 revealed deceptive US policies in Vietnam, has praised American whistleblowers Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning.
He told NPRâ„¢s Weekend Edition Saturday that unlike the two leakers, he Å“did it the wrong way” by trying first to go through proper channels – a delay that cost more than a million lives.
“I wasted years trying to do it through channels, first within the executive branch and then with Congress,” Ellsberg said. “During that time, more than 10,000 Americans died and probably more than a million Vietnamese.”
Back in 1971, Ellsberg leaked a study of US-Vietnam relations from 1945-1967, known colloquially as the Pentagon Papers, which eventually led to resignation of former US president Richard Nixon.
He was originally charged with espionage and theft of US property though the charges were later dismissed.
In a recent court-martial, Army Private Bradley Manning, who released secret diplomatic cables to Wikileaks last year, was convicted on similar charges.
Edward Snowden, the leaker of US government surveillance programs, is also charged with espionage and theft of government property but he is now in Russia, where he has been granted temporary asylum.
Ellsberg also said that since the revelation of the National Security Agencyâ„¢s spying programs in June, “the whole focus has been on the risks of truth telling, the risks of openness, which are the risks of democracy, of separation of powers.” “I’ve really heard nothing at all about the risks of a closed society, of silence, of lies.”
Ellsberg disclosed a pattern of deception regarding Vietnam and the Vietnam War that spanned several presidential administrations at the time.
ARA/ARA
Republished from: Press TV