Golden Gate Express
Pentagon Papers leaker decries Iraq war
Daniel Ellsburg calls President Bush a war criminal
by Justin Hughes, staff writer
About 100 people came to see anti-war activist Daniel Ellsberg speak at the Unitarian Universalist Church in San Francisco on March 30 as he condemned the war in Iraq as a “supreme war crime” and warned about the dangers of a future war in Iran.
In 1971 Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers, a classified study of U.S. policy in Vietnam, to The New York Times and other major American media sources. Ellsberg was a consultant to the Defense Department at the time, risking possible life imprisonment because he felt that the classified information was of great importance to the American public.
Since then Ellsberg has worked as an anti-war activist, establishing the Truth-Telling Project which is intended to expose government corruption and lies and encourage “patriotic whistle-blowing.”
Ellsberg’s talk was a celebration of the 10th year anniversary of the War and Law League (WALL), a non-profit San Francisco-based organization working to ensure that the U.S. government follows the Constitution, treaties, and international laws in times of war and peace.
Ellsberg condemned Bush and Cheney as war criminals and “domestic enemies of the constitution,” an accusation that brought the entire crowd of people””a vast majority of whom were from the Vietnam War era””to a loud standing applause.
He explained that the invasion and occupation of Iraq was illegal, clearly violating the UN charter. “It was a war of aggression without approval from the U.N. security council,” he said.
WALL coordinator Jeannette Hassberg agreed that the initial attack on Iraq was a pre-emptive act of aggression that violates the U.N. and international law.
“The scourge of war is what the U.N. was founded to prevent,” she said. “This is the very crime that Japanese and Germans were hung for at Nuremberg.
A major theme of the talk was the importance of staying true to constitutional principals. Ellsberg specifically mentioned Article 1, section 8 of the Constitution””which gives congress the exclusive power to declare war ““ explaining that this is essential for limiting the powers of the president.
“That was a brilliant and profound invention in world history,” said Ellsberg. “It deserves for us to struggle preserve it.”
While congress did vote to go to war in October 2002, they gave absolute power to the president to declare war on anyone he determined was responsible for the September 11 attacks, according to WALL.
“The Constitution never assigned to the president the power to police the world,” wrote the organization in an official statement.
Ellsberg said that this resolution from Congress basically gave Bush absolute power to engage in unprovoked war, which is unconstitutional. He added that there was no serious question into the legality of the Iraq invasion.
“We have gone far from the constitution,” he said.
“As a constitutional matter, Bush does not decide,” added Hassberg. “He doesn’t decide that we will do a regime change in another country.”
She added that the administration manipulated the public into supporting the war through twisting of information and irrational appeals to hate and fear.
“The justification for the war were clear lies,” she said. “The reasons they gave for the war were false.”
In addition, the conduct of the Iraq war has been highly illegal, she added.
She listed a multitude of criminal offenses committed by American troops since the 2003 Iraq invasion, such as the killing of innocent civilians, the bombing of weddings, the killing of journalists, firing into protests, detentions and interrogations without fair trial and search and destroy missions without a clear purpose.
“We made enemies out of the Iraqis,” she said. “We came in as murderers and created more hate in the Iraqis by the conduct of the war.”
Weapons used by American troops in the Iraq war, including deadly chemicals such as depleted uranium and white phosphorous, which causes a severe burning of the flesh, are severely damaging to civilians as well as the environment, said added.
These weapons have caused a dramatic increase in leukemia and birth defects in the civilian population and induced cancer in American veterans ever since the Gulf War, she said.
“These weapons are dumped in people’s neighborhood and people are being exposed to radiation,” said Students Against War member Matt Collado, 20. “It is not acknowledged in mainstream media and it is ignored in public discourse. Whether or not it is legal, it is deeply immoral.”
Ellsberg added that the Bush administration’s use of torture is clearly illegal under international law and “not just waterboarding, but the whole slew of inhumane procedures that has gone on for seven years now.”
Hassberg is frustrated that the mainstream media often overlooks the human cost of the war, especially the psychological and emotional toll taken on Iraq veterans.
“Young people are used like meat to do the dirty work of this heartless, ruthless administration,” she said. “It’s been worse than abusing the troops. It’s been taking their lives and wasting it.”
She credited the Iraq Veterans Against the War and KPFA March 2008 project “Winter Soldier,” which features firsthand testimonies from Veterans who speak openly about their experiences on the battlefield, and their subsequent challenges adjusting to life after the traumas of war.
Ellsberg added that the Bush administration’s warrant-less wiretapping of American citizens is a total violation of the fourth amendment of the constitution.
He compared this domestic monitoring to corrupt tactics used in the Nixon administration. After Ellsberg leaked the classified Pentagon Papers to The New York Times, Nixon’s administration spied on him and broke into his private records in attempts to blackmail him, he said.
He was tried for 12 felonies and a possible 115 years in prison, but all charges were dropped because of government misconduct against him, which eventually contributed to Nixon’s impeachment.
Ellsberg stressed the importance of dissent, explaining that acting in the best interest of the country and staying true to constitutional values is “not synonymous with obeying the president.”
He praised Lt. Ehren Watada, who refused to deploy to Iraq in 2006 because of moral opposition to the war. Watada was the first commissioned officer in the U.S. armed forces to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq.
“Watada is the only officer in the U.S. armed forces who has taken seriously his oath to uphold the Constitution,” said Ellsberg.
It is absolutely necessary to impeach a president who has violated the constitution as well as the U.N. charter and other international laws, argued Ellsberg.
“To rule impeachment off the table is very much like ruling the constitution off the table,” he said.
Even as a symbolic gesture, impeachment would hold the administration accountable for its crimes and demonstrate that the law applies equally to the president as it does to American citizens, said Hassberg. She sees this as part of a process of “truth and reconciliation.”
“It would restore our honor worldwide and show that we believe in our laws,” she said. “Impeachment is a disgrace and the Bush presidency has been worse than a disgrace.”
Although Ellsberg showed concern that an exit from Iraq is unlikely””even as a potential plan among Democratic candidates””he expressed hope that there is a possibility for averting a war against Iran.
“Iran has not attacked us, and does not have a nuclear weapon,” he said, adding that a pre-emptive attack on Iran would be “nothing but a crime against humanity and a crime against the people.”
“If anything can be more tragic than the war against Iraq, it would be attacking Iran,” agreed Hassberg.
“My hope is that with the War and Law League we can have an impact and we can raise our voices and show our dissatisfaction with the never-ending war policy.”
Sidebar: The “Winter Soldier” broadcast can be accessed at:
http://www.warcomeshome.org/wintersoldier2008audioarchive___
» E-mail Justin Hughes @ [email protected]