Odd Timing: As State Department Condemns Wikileaks, It's Promoting A Movie Celebrating Daniel Ellsberg & The Pentagon Papers

from the mass-confusion dept

Last month, we noted the hilarious timing in which the State Department announced it was hosting world press freedom day, at the same time it was screaming about the evils of the press in revealing the leaked State Department cables. It appears that the State Department still hasn't quite figured out how to be consistent on these issues. As it continues to slam Wikileaks... it's also promoting a new documentary celebrating Daniel Ellsberg for leaking the Pentagon Papers:
Amid its struggle to contain damage from the WikiLeaks revelations, the State Department announced Saturday that "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers" has been selected as one of 18 films that will tour the world this year as part of its "American Documentary Showcase" program.

Ellsberg, whom the film portrays as a whistleblower of conscience, has been a champion of Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, the alleged leaker of the documents who is currently jailed. He has also spoken in defence of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who may also face charges for publishing classified information.
I'd argue that the left-hand at the State Department isn't talking to the right-hand very much, but perhaps that's just because of the new policies put in place to keep all State Department communications more secret to avoid future leaks.
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Filed Under: culture, daniel ellsberg, documentary, movies, state department, wikileaks
Companies: wikileaks


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  • icon
    Hephaestus (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 9:37am

    One Word I Think It Is ....

    IRONY

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      :Lobo Santo (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 9:44am

      Re: One Word I Think It Is ....

      Iron's cool and all, but I always kinda liked

      BRASSY!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Dark Helmet (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 9:50am

        Re: Re: One Word I Think It Is ....

        Yeah, graphitey would have been cool, except that for some reason it conjures the image of a sly and incredibly whorish Greek Goddess....

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Hephaestus (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 10:12am

          Re: Re: Re: One Word I Think It Is ....

          Yeah, she does sleep around quite a bit ... I should know ;) Give me a muse any day of the week.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 21 Jan 2011 @ 10:00am

    Of course, history is retrospective. These State Department officials are celebrating what was certifiably a turning point in history.

    They won't stop condemning Wikileaks until it and its culture become enshrined in popular media like the Pentagon Papers did.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 21 Jan 2011 @ 10:01am

    Perhaps that Ellsberg's situation was focuses, rather than just being a massive dump of data out of frustration?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Rose M. Welch (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 12:23pm

      Re:

      Perhaps that Ellsberg's situation was focuses...

      So far as we can tell, this leak has been focused, as well. Specifically, on government corruption and censorship.

      ...rather than just being a massive dump of data...

      As I pointed out to someone else yesterday, the Pentagon Papers consist of 47 volumes, all of which are still classified. The size of the leak doesn't invalidate it.

      ...out of frustration?

      Right now, we don't even have confirmation of who leaked those documents, so how do you know what their intent was?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      techflaws.org (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 10:18pm

      Re:

      out of frustration?

      Are you a robot or what other reaction than frustration do you have concerning a government that's constantly been lying to everyone and abusing it's power?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 21 Jan 2011 @ 10:02am

    yes folks right this way

    we have in this corner a leaked buch of pentagon papers that changed a war, and in this other corner we have the man that exposed the continuation of said corruption pissing off the powers that be.

    DING DING DING.
    haha....
    the referee will be president obama ( and hollywood )
    and the coaches respectfully are the corpses of Nixon and mister Kennedy. TWO fine examples of American politics.

    NO ONE trusts YOU EVER AGAIN and now YOU CANT even pretend like you can be.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Rose M. Welch (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 12:20pm

    Ironically, the Pentagon Papers are still classified.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Bruce Ediger (profile), 21 Jan 2011 @ 3:30pm

    Where are the Trolls!?!?

    Why no trolls on this subject?

    We get all those Anonymous Coward and average_joe trolls on music industry articles, but none on articles about the potentially game changing Wikileaks.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 21 Jan 2011 @ 10:45pm

      Re: Where are the Trolls!?!?

      Maybe they're suffering from Wikileaks fatigue and have yet to settle in for the long haul.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Rose M. Welch (profile), 22 Jan 2011 @ 1:08am

      Re: Where are the Trolls!?!?

      I don't think that average_joe is a troll. I think he honestly disagrees.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Jose_X, 21 Jan 2011 @ 3:54pm

    Super Top Secret Tripply Classified: Access Denied

    Outsourcing to wikileaks, our government finally came up with an efficient method of having the right hand communicate with the left hand.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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