50th Anniversary of The Pentagon Papers
I missed the anniversary by a day. Sorry folks. This was, and still is, a monumental testimony to freedom of the press, whistleblowing, and the bravery of some people. Like Edward Snowden, Ellsberg was persecuted for revealing government lies.
You have to ask yourself one thing: In a democracy, what right does the government have to lie to its citizens? The answer is not "security," since Vietnam (or Iran, Guatemala, Nicaragua, or Iraq) never posed a threat to us in the first place.
"Fifty years ago today, on 6/13/71, the first set of excerpts from the Pentagon Papers was published in the New York Times: Vietnam Archive: Pentagon Study Traces 3 Decades of Growing U. S. Involvement. Leaked by Daniel Ellsberg, the 42-volume top-secret study revealed the history of Vietnam decision-making and the lies that were told by four U.S. presidents to cultivate public support for the war."