(ANSA) - NEW YORK, MARCH 03 - Daniel Ellsberg, the mole of the Pentagon Papers, is ill with terminal cancer.
This was announced by the former US military analyst himself on his Facebook profile.
Ellsberg, 91, was diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer.
He has chosen not to undergo chemotherapy and, according to the doctors, he has three to six months to live.
The Pentagon Papers are top-secret 7,000-page documents from the US Department of Defense that present an in-depth study of the federal government's strategies and relations with Vietnam in the period from 1945 to 1967. They were collected in 1967 , at the behest of then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.
The papers revealed that the US government had extended its role in the conflict with bombing and airstrikes into Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam and had taken warlike action before the Americans were notified.
From October 1969 Ellsberg and the researcher Anthony Russo began copying the documents with the
intention to disseminate them to reveal the lies and mass murders committed in the Vietnam War in the 23 years covered by the study.
In February 1971, Ellsberg gave the papers to Neil Sheehan of The New York Times, which began publication on June 13 of that year.
A few days later the documents also began to be published by the Washington Post.
In 1973 Ellsberg was charged with espionage by the Nixon administration, however the charges were dismissed by a judge the same year.
The whole story of the publication of the cards also became a film, 'The Post' (2017), directed by Steven Spielberg starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks.
(HANDLE).
A few days later the documents also began to be published by the Washington Post.
In 1973 Ellsberg was charged with espionage by the Nixon administration, however the charges were dismissed by a judge the same year.
The whole story of the publication of the cards also became a film, 'The Post' (2017), directed by Steven Spielberg starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks.
(HANDLE).
A few days later the documents also began to be published by the Washington Post.
In 1973 Ellsberg was accused of espionage by the Nixon administration, however the charges were dismissed by a judge the same year.
The whole story of the publication of the cards also became a film, 'The Post' (2017), directed by Steven Spielberg starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks.
(HANDLE).