Whistle Blowers

The recent release of classified information by, Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning has brought renewed interest in the Pentagon Papers. Back in the days of the Viet Nam War, then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara order a group of specialist in the Pentagon to write an extensive up to date report on the Viet Nam War. He was concerned about all the false information that the government was putting out and wanted and honest record for posterity. One of the specialist was Daniel Ellsberg and he was so concerned about the lies that the government was disseminating he decided to reveal the truth. Here is the part of which I was not aware. He said he tried many times to get someone in the government to listen to him but no one would. When I first heard about Snowden, I thought he should have gone to the authorities rather than leaving the country. Here is a quote from the Ellsberg interview: . "I wasted years trying to do it through channels, first within the executive branch and then with Congress." "During that time, more than 10,000 Americans died and probably more than a million Vietnamese," Ellsberg says."That was a fruitless effort, as it would have been for Manning and Snowden," he says. Perhaps the only course of action for Snowden was the way he chose. I may have to reconsider my first impressions of Snowden.