Daniel Ellsberg Quotes
The courage we need is not the fortitude to be obedient in the service of an unjust war, to help conceal lies, to do our job for a boss who has usurped power and is acting as an outlaw government. It is the courage at last to face honestly the truth and reality of what we are doing in the world and act responsibly to change it.
Ellsberg, Daniel. Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers. Viking Penguin, 2002, p. 433.
This is an amazing speech which illustrated the best of the development and growth of Islam. Note that: The ruler who has just been given ALL secular AND religious power admits candidly that he may not be the best qualified. This would not happen for over another 1000 years and even today is very rare in any society. In addition, he invites the citizens to correct him when he is wrong. Later, Calihs would, like the Christian kings and popes claim infallibiity and kill any who suggested otherwise. And daring to correct the ruler was capital offence for most of history and is even dangerous in some Muslim countries today. Last and perhaps most amazing, the new Caliph called for an affirmative leveling of the inequality of rights and power and announces it asa one of his major responsiblities. It is this kind of vision so unheard of at the time which shows us why so many flocked to Islam at the time. From a fairness, human rights, and accoutabiity of the ruler point of view Islam was the most modern of the religions then. Tragically, other forces shaped Islam for the next 1500 years and most Muslim countries become the least modern and its rulers are least accountable to the citizenry with none of the other rights and concept of fairness that Abu Bakr and other early Islamic leaders brought.
That was the position that candidates from both parties took as judged from their reactions to the other leaving out important information. While to most Americans, this is lying, it has become a political norm with the exception of a few politicians.
Daniel Ellsberg is an American economist, political activist, and former United States military analyst. While employed by the RAND Corporation, Ellsberg precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of the U.S. government decision-making in relation to the Vietnam War, to The New York Times, The Washington Post and other newspapers.
