Author: Eric Garris

Virtually every story on the death of Lloyd Bentsen has focused on the quote most people remember him for in his debate with Dan Quayle: “Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”

I remember Lloyd Bentsen for another quote – older and I think more significant: “I propose the president of the United States advise the commander of the North Korean troops to withdraw his forces beyond the 38th parallel within one week or use that week to evacuate civilians from a specified list of North Korean cities that will be subjected to atomic attack by the United States Air Force.”

Congressman Lloyd Bentsen, 1950
Here is an audio clip of the quote. (thanks to Scott Horton)

This quote is featured in the great movie, The Atomic Cafe.

On May 11, 1973, charges against Daniel Ellsberg for his role in the Pentagon Papers case were dismissed by Judge William M. Byrne, who cited government misconduct.

The “misconduct” was revealed by White House Counsel John Dean (under questioning in the Senate Watergate Hearings) that White House operatives had broken into Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office as part of a plan to blackmail Ellsberg. Nixon Special Counsel Charles Colson went to prison for his involvement in the break-in.

Ellsberg worked on the Top Secret McNamara study of U.S. Decision-making in Vietnam, 1945-68, which later came to be known as the Pentagon Papers. In 1969, he photocopied the 7,000 page study and gave it to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; in 1971 he gave it to the New York Times, Washington Post and 17 other newspapers. Before the dismissal, he faced twelve felony counts posing a possible sentence of 115 years. The events led to the convictions of several White House aides and figured in the impeachment proceedings against President Nixon.

A few years ago, Pat Buchanan blamed (credited?) Ellsberg for America’s loss in Vietnam.

Thanks to Jack Dean for pointing this out.

John Haag, co-founder and long-time leader of the California Peace and Freedom Party, died March 29 after a brief illness. He was 75.

John was my mentor in my early days of politics. He taught me the basic skills of political organizing and strategy that have been essential to me over the last 35 years. John was a good friend who taught me a lot about life.

He was also a poet, proprietor of the Beat generation Venice West Cafe and a founder of the Free Venice (California) movement. He was an early state chairperson of P&F and a candidate for office, including controller and lieutenant governor, a number of times. He was the California campaign chair for Dr. Benjamin Spock’s president candidacy on the Peoples Party in 1972, in which P&F participated.

Here is an article he wrote about the history of P&F.

Here is an in-depth obituary from a local newspaper.

No date has yet been set for a memorial service. Please send letters – and photos – to the Free Venice Beachhead about John for the next issue. Contact: 310-399-2215 or Beachhead@freevenice.org. Thanks to Irv Sutley for letting me know this sad news.

This comes from Antiwar.com columnist Aaron Glantz:

Dear Friends,

I’m proud to report that my book, How America Lost Iraq, is now available in paperback!

How America Lost Iraq a first person account of an unembedded journalist that shows how the United States went from being seen as liberators when we first got rid of Saddam to brutal occupiers just a year later. The book was a San Francisco Chronicle bestseller when it came out in hardback last year. The Seattle Times review called the book “an important first-person document historians will look to in the future as they draw a more complete picture of America’s catastrophic victory in Iraq.”

How America Lost Iraq is the story of how the Bush Administration turned victory into defeat in Iraq. More than that, though, it is a book about what it’s like to be a regular Iraqi person under U.S. occupation. The story isn’t pretty and, unfortunately, it remains as current as ever.

Peace,
Aaron Glantz

Harry Browne died last night.

Harry was one of the leading antiwar voices within the libertarian movement. The author of 12 books, he was the Libertarian Party’s presidential candidate in 1996 and 2000.

Harry was one of the first libertarians to speak out after 9/11, taking a strong anti-intervention position at a time when virtually all that could be heard were calls for bombing everyone back into the stone age. He showed a direction to libertarians on the proper post-9/11 response with his strident op-eds (see more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and still more.)

Harry had been suffering a painful illness for the past year.

We at Antiwar.com will miss his presence and his insightful thoughts.

The DownsizeDC.org blog is posting memorial messages.

The Washington Post reports that Iraqi morgues have revised the number of those killed in last week’s sectarian attacks to 1,300.

What a mess we have helped to make. It is no wonder that 48% of Americans want US troops pulled out of Iraq now.

Even William F. Buckley now says “It Didn’t Work,” and that it is time to leave.