I’ve put off blogging my remarks about “The Pentagon Papers” (2002, starring James Spader) because I’m torn abt what to say. I’ve commented in other posts and papers that the problem with challenges to the First Amendment is application and enforcement. What’s good for the goose must be good for the gander; it can’t be picked apart.

I struggle with my opinion on this true-to-life cinematic story for several reasons:

• I believe that security clearances are granted for a darn good reason and not everyone should have one;
• I think it is unethical for a paper to publish classified information;
• I don’t think the general public needs to know every detail about a war effort (as much as we’d like to think we’re capable of running the country, sometimes we need to accept that we don’t have the same access to global information that the President has);
• In a democracy that is supposed to have open channels of communication and checks & balances across all branches of gov’t, I don’t like the idea of being lied to, especially about something as serious as war.
• Part of the function of a free press is to challenge the status quo.

The movie portrayed that Ellsberg did not share portions of the papers that pertained to troop locations/movements or anything else that would jeopardize our armed forces in Vietnam at the time. I haven’t done the research to know if this is true or not, but it does seem to indicate that he had some scruples. He obviously struggled over his convictions. I do think that he would have been convicted of treason if the judge had not declared a mistrial. This was a scenario he was apparently willing to accept.

War is never pretty. I don’t believe there is a “good” way to conduct a war that will please everyone, because you can’t please everyone. Thankfully, we have better technology today than we had back then, and we can use more sophisticated equipment in place of so many troops on the ground, but the fact remains that in war — people die. The bad guys die, the good guys die and unfortunately, innocent civilians die. Could we — should we — have operated differently in Vietnam? Probably. Can we rewrite the past? No.

While I’m on my soapbox, I will add one more comment. Reporters who are embedded with our armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan right now should know that people back home actually DO want to read and hear positive stories about our military successes. Instead of seeking out the rogue nutjobs for the latest scandal, why not tell us about the new schools, water treatment facilities, hospitals and businesses that have been built and are operational … thanks to our military?