You've heard about the Pentagon Papers and they were a big deal.
But what were the Pentagon Papers really all about?
Assassinations, torture, drug dealing, money laundering - by the CIA.
You never heard that part, did you?
Here's the story:
While Eisenhower played golf (and recovered from a heart attack), the fledgling CIA grew fangs.
Maybe it was his exposure to the mass slaughter of WW II, but whatever the reason Eisenhower was a big fan of covert - and illegal - operations.
The CIA succeeded in using illegal, covert operations to remove the secular and popularly-elected Mossadegeh from power in Iran in 1953 and did the same thing in Guatemala in 1954.
In 1954, something called NSC 5412 was written to set up to give the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State and the President oversight over this secret, un-elected new branch of government.
The so called "Pentagon Papers" were the first public look into the operations of the 5412 committee.
But there's more to the story than that.
Under the conniving of Allen Dulles, the 5412 committee soon calcified into a weak review board and the real action of the CIA was carried out "off the books" and away from the oversight of the 5412 committee.
That's how the Vietnam war really started. It had little to do with the Pentagon at all.
Confused yet?
Good.
Now to go deeper down the rabbit hole...
Who exactly was Daniel Ellsberg?
For starters, he was a war hawk.
Then after proving his bona fides as a Marine Lieutenant he was loaned by the Pentagon to the CIA's proto-Phoenix Program where he engaged in the "pacification" of the Vietnamese people under the direction of none other than CIA officer/Air Force General and overall maniac Edward Landsdale.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Long story short: The Pentagon Papers were released by a CIA operative who managed to keep the attention OFF the CIA and on the Pentagon.
