Whistleblowers: Daniel Ellsberg on Bradley Manning and WikiLeaks December 14, 2010

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/09/29/The_Bomb_Daniel_Ellsberg

"Pentagon Papers" whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg weighs in on the case of U.S. Army P.F.C. Bradley Manning, who currently stands accused of leaking over 260,000 secret U.S. diplomatic cables to the website WikiLeaks. "I recognized someone who was in the same spirit as I was forty years ago," says Ellsberg. "He's a hero of mine."

For related videos, visit WikiLeaks: Security Threat or Media Savior? A FORA.tv Series: http://fora.tv/series/wikileaks

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This excerpt is taken from a program featuring Daniel Ellsberg discussing Howard Zinn's final original book, "The Bomb." It was recorded in collaboration with City Lights Bookstore, on September 29, 2010.

During the war, Howard Zinn had taken part in the aerial bombing of Royan, France, and in 1966, he went to Hiroshima, where he was invited to a "house of rest" where survivors of the bombing gathered. In this short and powerful book, the backstory of the making and use of the bomb, Zinn offers his deep personal reflections and political analysis of these events, and the profound influence they had in transforming him from an order-taking combat soldier to one of our greatest anti-authoritarian, anti-war historians. - City Lights Bookstore

Daniel Ellsberg, a former U.S. military analyst employed by the RAND Corporation, sparked a national controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times.

The Pentagon Papers revealed that the government knew early on that the Vietnam War was not likely winnable and would lead to many times more casualties than ever admitted. After failing to persuade a few U.S. Senators to release the papers on the Senate floor, Ellsberg decided to risk prison and leaked the documents to the New York Times. Ellsberg went underground for 16 days before turning himself in. Fortunately, the charges against him were eventually dropped due to gross government misconduct and illegal evidence gathering by the Nixon administration and the notorious White House "Plumbers Unit."

These efforts included breaking into Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office and were undertaken directly by the Nixon White House to smear and discredit Ellsberg in the news media in retaliation for his Pentagon Papers whistleblowing.