Daniel Ellsberg, the former Defense and State Department official who faced 115 years in prison for releasing the Pentagon Papers to the press in 1971, and the author of "Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers," opened up by predicting that all the problems we are facing now we will not be able to do anything about until 2009. He said that our priority right now has got to be trying to thwart an attack on Iran. He also fears the establishment of a total police state in the United States if there is another 9-11. He sees the potential for this coming together with an attack on Iran.
Although Ellsberg has little hope for changing anything prior to 2009, he believes we are essentially doomed if we do not. He predicted that a President Hillary Clinton would not shut down illegal NSA spying programs or deprive herself of other abusive powers. Ellsberg urged impeachment of Bush because, he said, no past president has ever been what this one is: "a domestic enemy of the Constitution." Ellsberg is confident that if we don't act in a dramatic way to change things, we will see an attack on Iran in the next 15 months.
Coleen Rowley told her story briefly following Ellsberg's speech. She was a special agent and staff attorney for the Minneapolis FBI when Zacarias Moussaoui came under suspicion there. In memoranda to FBI director Mueller, she decried Bureau ineptitude regarding 9/11 and warned of consequences of invading Iraq. She was one of three whistleblowers named Time Magazine’s Persons of the Year for 2002.
Ann Wright also spoke briefly. She is a former Acting Ambassador in Afghanistan who resigned from the Foreign Service the day the bombing began in Iraq to protest U.S. policy. She served 29 years in the Army before retiring as a colonel.
Wright and McGovern and Rowley presented Provance with the Corner Brightener Candlestick award, and Provance told his story, which was the most moving of the evening. He described his repeated attempts to see an honest investigation of Abu Ghraib, which he has not seen yet. Please watch the video of his speech at http://afterdowningstreet.org/whistleblowervideos
Provance was presented with this citation: http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/27029
In this photo, Ann Wright is at left, and Sam Provance is being handed the candlestick by Coleen Rowley.
Following the presentation, Ray McGovern asked me if I would come up on stage and suggest to people a few things they could do about the problems they'd just heard described for three hours. I suggested four things:
1. Do not give up on forcing Congress to end the occupation, which requires only 41 Senators, not the 60 or 67 your television and newspaper pretend. Start by urging your Congress Member and both of your Senators to sign a letter that 81 Congress Members have already signed committing them to NOT vote for any bills that fund the occupation without ending it: http://www.pdamerica.org
2. We absolutely need impeachment, and Nancy Pelosi is the roadblock. Call her and then call your own Congress Member. Urge them to support Kucinich's bill or a bill of their own or both: http://afterdowningstreet.org
3. Take part in the September 22-29 encampment in front of the US Capitol and especially the march on the 29th: http://www.troopsoutnow.org
4. If your fear of the catastrophes and total martial law Ellsberg and others warn of does not outweigh your fear of being teased for supporting a candidate whom CNN calls "non-viable" you've got a problem. If everyone who likes Dennis Kucinich but says he can't win were to give him $100 or more, he would not only win, but it would impact Congress right away. Hillary Clinton's influence on Pelosi is contributing to the destruction of our Constitution and must be diminished. Back Kucinich: http://www.kucinich.us
Here are all the videos: http://afterdowningstreet.org/whistleblowervideos
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