Daniel Ellsberg on holding governments accountable

Amanpour

CNN

News

4.1 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The 20th anniversary of the Iraq War this week reminds us of the critical importance of holding governments to account. Whistleblowing plays a crucial role in this pursuit. Daniel Ellsberg is probably the patron saint of modern-day whistleblowers thanks to one giant leap of courage and conscience. Leaking the Pentagon Papers in 1971, at great personal risk, changed the course of history, and revealed America secretly knew the war was unwinnable. 50 years later, Ellsberg is still deeply committed to peace and transparency, but this month – at almost 92 – he revealed his latest personal battle, after being diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer. He speaks with Christiane from his home in California to discuss his life, this farewell moment, and how to save lives by speaking out. Also on today's show: Musician Yusuf/Cat Stevens; Eric Schmidt, former CEO & chairman of Google To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome to Amunpur. Here's what's coming up.
0:07.0	One thing I've learned in my long life is if a policy looks crazy, it probably is.
0:15.0	The patron saint of whistleblowers, I speak to the man who blew the lid on the Vietnam War.
0:21.0	At almost 92, Daniel Ellsberg joins me on the life and death
0:25.4	lessons he's learned holding government to account. And... I'll take the world
0:30.8	apart to find a place for a peaceful heart I know
0:36.2	Legendary singer-songwriter Yousaf cat Stevens comes to the studio to talk about his
0:42.1	new album and getting the legend slot at Glastonbury this summer.
0:46.0	Thus, we don't know what happens to our identity, how we communicate, how we think about ourselves
0:54.3	when these things arrive.
0:56.2	How worried should we be about artificial intelligence?
0:59.8	Walter Isakson talks to former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Welcome to the program everyone. I'm Christina Mont Manpur in London. The 20th anniversary of the
1:24.4	Iraq war this week reminds us all of the critical importance of holding governments
1:29.2	to account. Fast forward to today and autocrats are waging wars around the world from Russia's latest year-long
1:36.8	invasion of Ukraine to Iran's battle with its own people the brave women and men taking to the streets there remind us of the power and value of speaking truth to power.
1:47.0	Whistleblowing plays a crucial role in this pursuit. Without it, unjust wars begin and injustices go unchecked. Daniel
1:56.6	Ellsberg is probably the patron saint of them all. Anyone who knows anything
2:01.3	about America's misguided war in Vietnam
2:04.2	knows his name to this day
2:06.5	because of one giant leap of courage and conscience
2:09.9	leaking the Pentagon Papers in 1971 at great personal risk changed the course of that history
2:17.0	by revealing America secretly knew the war was unwinnable.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from CNN, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of CNN and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.