Rest in Peace Daniel Ellsberg
OBITUARIES, 19 Jun 2023
Consortium News - TRANSCEND Media Service
One of US’ most courageous men, who took on the most powerful government in the world to expose its lies about the Vietnam war, has died at 92.
Daniel Ellsberg on March 19, 2011, speaking at a rally near the White House to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other potential fronts, such as Libya.
(Photo courtesy of Ben Schuman/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)
16 Jun 2023 – Daniel Ellsberg died at 92 today in hospice care after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Ellsberg was considered the greatest whistleblower of certainly his generation if not in U.S. history. His decision to leak the top-secret government study of the Vietnam war to the press was clearly one of the most courageous acts in the nation’s history.
The decision by the Nixon administration’s Department of Justice to order the press to stop publishing the Pentagon Papers led to a landmark Supreme Court decision against the government’s use of prior restraint.
Then President Richard Nixon had Ellsberg charged under the Espionage Act nonetheless. Ellsberg gained his freedom only after gross prosecutorial misconduct was revealed.
In his later years, Ellsberg continued to speak out against injustices and supported a new generation of whistleblowers such as Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning.
He was also a fearless advocate for WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange as he battles against his own Espionage Act case.
Dan was a friend of Consortium News, served on our board and appeared on many of our CN Live! webcasts. We extend our condolences to his family and his many friends.
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Daniel Ellsberg was a former US military analyst who in 1971 leaked the Pentagon Papers, which revealed how the US public had been misled about the Vietnam War. He passed away on 16 Jun 2023. RIP
Go to Original – consortiumnews.com
Tags: Activism, Anti-war, Daniel Ellsberg, Engaged Journalism, Investigative Journalism, Media, Obituary, Pentagon Papers, USA, Vietnam War, Whistleblowing
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