[Imc-dc-editorial] Ellsberg Feature

[Chuck0]

old school wrote:
> I don't agree with the historical assessment being
> made here re the Pentagon Papers.
> As I recall, the fight over publishing them was a Huge
> deal, mirrored a Huge fight within the rulers over
> whether or not Vietnam, including "Vietnamization" or
> Any plan would work, because the documents proved
> there was no end-game, or something along those lines,
> all of which we can read ourselves as a link to the
> Papers....previous feature did this.  

No, Ellsberg shopped the papers around to several news organizations over the 
course of many months. There was no fight over them. The NY Times moved ahead 
with publication after they secretly copied one collection of the papers 
under Ellsberg's nose. Many newspapers were reluctant to publish the papers, 
because of legal questions. After the NY Times started publishing the papers, 
they got a restraining order from the Feds. That prompted other media outlets 
to publish excerpts from the papers until each of them was threatened by the 
government.

If anything, Ellsberg should have released the papers sooner, but he was 
being overly cautious because he feared treason or espionage charges.

> The numbers of protesters reached critical mass after
> the Tet Offensive of Jan 1968.  

True, but the anti-war movement died out in 1971 and the war ended in 1974. 
The common myth is that the anti-war movement stopped the Vietnam War. It had 
a significant effect, but many other factors ultimately ended that war.


Chuck0

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