Pentagon Papers leaker: DOD records show Ukraine at stalemate, ‘very similar to Vietn

[Boats]

Pentagon Papers leaker: DOD records show Ukraine at stalemate, ‘very similar to Vietnam’
By: Stephen Neukam - The Hill news 0 4-25-23
Re: https://thehill.com/policy/defense/3...ar-to-vietnam/

Daniel Ellsberg, the man behind the largest and perhaps most consequential disclosure in U.S. history, said the latest intelligence leaks show that the war between Russia and Ukraine is at a “stalemate,” drawing similarities to the Vietnam War.

Ellsberg, now 92, leaked the Pentagon Papers — a top-secret Defense study into the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War — to the New York Times in 1971. The leak was devastating to the American government, an indictment of U.S. policy and detailing the country’s decades-long involvement in Vietnam and validating many of the anti-war criticisms.

Now Ellsberg, who has terminal pancreatic cancer, told the Washington Post that the leaks of NATO intelligence on the war in Ukraine offer a look into the fighting that officials have not provided publicly.

“The war is stalemated, that seems so obvious now except for the fact that both sides totally deny it,” Ellsberg said to the Post. “What these new leaks show is what the Pentagon Papers showed, that the insiders all know that.”

A February document that was part of the leak and reviewed by The Hill details a U.S. conclusion that the conflict is headed to a stalemate beyond 2023.

Ellsberg said the war in Ukraine “feels very similar to Vietnam.” He cited Russia’s nuclear capabilities as one of the reasons the conflicts are connected, with a world power involved that has nuclear weapons.

“It’s not Iraq, Iran or Afghanistan,” Ellsberg said. “None of those had any real possibility of blowing up the world. This one really can.”

Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old Massachusetts National Air Guardsman who was arrested in connection with the most recent intelligence leaks, has faced intense scrutiny, with lawmakers and government officials criticizing him for putting U.S. foreign policy in danger. It is an argument Ellsberg pushed back against.

“There is no reason to believe that it harmed American national security in any measurable way,” Ellsberg said.

But Ellsberg disagreed with those who drew connections between Teixeira and himself, who at the time he leaked the Pentagon documents was a military analyst. Instead, he said the move by Teixeira to leak the intelligence seemed to be the man showing off to his peers, saying “look who I am, look what I have access to.”

TAGS: DANIEL ELLSBERG - JACK TEIXEIRA - NATO INTELLIGENCE - PENTAGON PAPERS
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Personal note: I do recall something like that just before the Viet Nam war was
nearing its end. I don't recall what was in them - but it was brought up just after
or before it ended. You just never know what deal's were made and signed off
to end these wars - or aka conflicts. And at what cost was it made is also is
another issue.
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It has the ear marking's of agreements to a resolve the fighting or to stop the
attacks at VN at that time. I don't recall all the details - but it worked whatever
it was?
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Also: All these special cease fire issues are costly as well. What did we offer
and at what cost? I have no love loss for the Cong - they killed many guys I
served with - and some who grew up in the same neighborhood. Two best
friends and several others from the neighborhood came home in boxes!
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Cease fires sounds good but at what cost! What re-ignites them at times!
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Some things never go away they remain engrained in your head and
every now and then - they pop up now and then and you reflect on those
that never made it home alive. This what many carry with them all their
remaining days - I have them in my mind many times & more-so when
we see them fight abroad in some of the worst hell holes!
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