Daniel Ellsberg is a lot like Lincoln

[David Lockmiller]

The Man Who Leaked the Pentagon Papers Is Scared
New York Times – March 25, 2023

Alex Kingsbury (a member of the editorial board of the New York Times)

Question. Why aren’t there more people who, when presented with evidence of something that they find morally objectionable, disclose it?

Daniel Ellsberg (the Man Who Leaked the Pentagon Papers)

Answer. Why aren’t there more? It’s a question I’ve often asked myself. Many of the people whistle-blowers work with know the same things and actually regard the information in the same way — that it’s wrong — but they keep their mouths shut. As Snowden said to me and others, “Everybody I dealt with said that what we were doing was wrong. It’s unconstitutional. We’re getting information here about Americans that we shouldn’t be collecting.” The same thing was true for many of my colleagues in government who opposed the war. Of course, people are worried about the consequences.

They fear losing their jobs, their careers, risking the clearances on which their jobs depend. People who have these clearances have often invested a lifetime in demonstrating that they can be entrusted to keep secrets. That trust becomes a part of your identity, which it is difficult to sacrifice, so that one loses track of a sense of higher responsibility — as a citizen, as a human being. (Emphasis added.)

[David Lockmiller]

More from New York Times – March 25, 2023 Interview with Daniel Ellsberg (the Man Who Leaked the Pentagon Papers):

Q. Robert McNamara, who was secretary of defense during the Cuban missile crisis, once said, “The indefinite combination of human fallibility and nuclear weapons will destroy nations.” Why haven’t we seen nuclear weapons used since 1945?

A. We have seen nuclear weapons used many times. And they’re being used right now by both sides in Ukraine. They’re being used as threats, just as a bank robber uses a gun, even if he doesn’t pull the trigger. You’re lucky if you can get your way in some part without pulling the trigger. And we’ve done that dozens of times. But eventually, as any gambler knows, your luck runs out.

For 70 years, the U.S. has frequently made the kind of wrongful first-use threats of nuclear weapons that Putin is making now in Ukraine. We should never have done that, nor should Putin be doing it now. I’m worried that his monstrous threat of nuclear war to retain Russian control of Crimea is not a bluff. President Biden campaigned in 2020 on a promise to declare a policy of no first use of nuclear weapons. He should keep that promise, and the world should demand the same commitment from Putin.

Today's (March 27, 2023) Washington Post story on this subject: "Russia says Western sanctions won’t stop it from moving tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus"

[David Lockmiller]

Soldiers Massing Near Ukrainian Nuclear Plant, U.N. Official Warns

(Headline, New York Times, March 30, 2023)

Amid signs of offensives and counteroffensives, concern is rekindling about what it will mean for the biggest nuclear plant in Europe.