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Daniel Ellsberg: Im sure that President Obama would have sought a life sentence in my case
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Washington Post
Posted: June 18th, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/06/05/d...
[Daniel] Ellsberg is one of the most outspoken critics of the Obama administrations prosecution of leakers. Under President Obamas tenure, the government has prosecuted six individuals for releasing classified information to media organizations. Ellsberg is particularly fierce in his support of Bradley Manning, a young soldier who released a large amount of classified information to WikiLeaks. Manning was arrested in 2010, and his military court-martial began this week. Ellsberg considers Manning a hero, and he argues that there is little difference between what Manning did in 2010 and what Ellsberg did four decades earlier. [Q.}: In a 1973 interview, you said that a secondary objective of releasing the Pentagon Papers was the hope of changing the tolerance of Executive secrecy that had grown up over the last quarter of a century both in Congress and the courts and in the public at large. How has that tolerance of secrecy changed over the last four decades? DE: Theres been very great tolerance that if the magic words national security, or the new words homeland security are invoked, Congress has given the president virtually a free hand in deciding what information they will know as well as the public. I wouldnt count on the current court with its current makeup making the same ruling with the Pentagon Papers as they did 40 years ago. Im sure that President Obama would have sought a life sentence in my case. Various things that were counted as unconstitutional then have been put in the presidents hands now. Hes become an elected monarch. Nixons slogan, when the president does it, its not illegal, is pretty much endorsed now.
Note: To see key quotes showing the amazing courage and dedication of Snowden, click here. For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the realities of intelligence agency activity, click here.
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