21st CENTURY ELLSBERG

Back in 1971, the rest of America learned what we in the anti Vietnam War movement knew for years; the US government lied endlessly to us to avoid admitting defeat in Vietnam. America learned that because a true patriot, Daniel Ellsberg, leaked the classified documents, famously known as the Pentagon Papers, which proved just that.

Since the endless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq due to more endless government lying and delusion, we grizzled anti war activists have been waiting for a 21st century version of Ellsberg to appear to again right the American ship of state. It took nearly a decade, but he has arrived in the form of Australian journalist Julian Assange, founder and editor of Wikileaks, which just dumped 90,000 verified documents on our lost and possibly criminal Afghan war into Uncle Sam's lap.

Assange, born the same year Ellsberg outed the Johnson and Nixon administrations, appeared with Ellsberg on Larry King Live last night and their combined passion and eloquence demolished the former Generals who argued against this latest version of the Pentagon Papers. But the real question to be answered as Congress gets ready to squander another 33 billion on a lost and needless cause while America crumbles is: "Anyone listening?"

Also published in Chicago Tribune, August 1, 2010