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Civil Resistance to Wars at the White House on 12-16-10 - ellen.rachel.davidson - Picasa Web Albums

Great photo of my friend Pat Scanlon, Vietnam veteran, yoga teacher, and peace and environmental activist extraordinaire, with Daniel Ellsberg, who released the Pentagon Papers, on the occasion of the latter’s 80th arrest in advance of his 80th birthday.

There are more photos of the Veterans for Peace civil disobedience at the White House on Ellen Rachel Davidson’s Picassa site. As the parallels between Vietnam and Afghanistan mount, so do the calls of the Veterans for Peace for withdrawal from this monstrous, pointless, and costly war. (Tip ‘o’ the hat to a friend from Merrimack Valley People for Peace for circulating the link to the photo on the listserv.)

EVERY attack now made on WikiLeaks and Julian Assange was made against me and the release of the Pentagon Papers at the time.

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—	Daniel Ellsberg: “EVERY attack now made on WikiLeaks and Julian Assange was made against me and the release of the Pentagon Papers at the time.” by Michael Ellsberg, 12/8/10 via Institute for Public Accuracy

Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the Government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fever and foreign shot and shell. In my view, far from deserving condemnation for their courageous reporting, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other newspapers should be commended for serving the purpose that the Founding Fathers saw so clearly. In revealing the workings of government that led to the Vietnam war, the newspapers nobly did precisely that which the founders hoped and trusted they would do.

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From Justice Hugo L. Black’s concurring opinion in the Supreme Court’s historic decision in favor of the New York Times.

Just now I pulled down my paperback copy of The Pentagon Papers (1971), (blew off the dust,) and found this quote on the inside front cover. Critics of WikiLeaks should take heed.