Daniel Ellsberg urges whistle-blowing: "Go to the press and reveal''

[kpete]

Posted on Sat, Jan. 14, 2006



Ellsberg urges whistle-blowing
Reveal secrets to save lives, he says



PALM DESERT (AP) - Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers 35 years ago, said Friday that whistle-blowers shouldn't be afraid to reveal government secrets in an effort to save people's lives, even if it means going to jail.

''Don't do what I did,'' Ellsberg said. ''Don't wait until the bombs are falling in Iran. Don't wait until people are dying. Go to the press and reveal''

Ellsberg told the American Bar Association's Forum on Communications Law that he waited nearly two years before handing over the top secret study of the Vietnam War to The New York Times in 1971.

''I wasted 22 months,'' he said, advising others planning to leak materials to ''take your risks and go to prison if it means saving lives.''

He compared the Pentagon Papers revelations to the recent New York Times disclosures that President Bush had authorized wiretapping the phone conversations of U.S. citizens without court authorization. He also noted that the Times has acknowledged holding that story for a year at the White House's request.

In an interview following his talk, Ellsberg said he believes that by withholding the story the Times played a role in Bush's re-election.

''We had a lawbreaking president here and they helped to re-elect him,'' he said.

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