Daniel Ellsberg: US Will Repeat Old Mistakes and It's 'Not Going to Eliminate ISIS

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In this chapter, Ellsberg compares America’s military strategy in the Middle East to its strategy during the Vietnam War, illustrating how imperial ambition and “hubris” lead the United States to repeat the same mistakes time and again.

During the Vietnam War, he said, the U.S. removed most South Vietnamese generals and government officials from power. While their replacements were more loyal to America and could be trusted not to negotiate with communist forces, they were far less experienced than their predecessors.

“They really were absolutely terrible,” Ellsberg emphasized. “They had no ability to run a country or a military campaign.”

Similarly, he said, when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 and deposed the country’s president, Saddam Hussein, the military also eliminated the Sunni-dominated Baath party, which had run most of Hussein’s government. This not only created a power vacuum in the country, but also contributed significantly to the rise of Daesh (an Arabic acronym for the terrorist group commonly known in the West as ISIS or ISIL) by forcing moderate Sunnis into alliances with extremists to better oppose the U.S.

Ellsberg also pointed out another similarity between the wars in Vietnam and Iraq: both were based on lies. The whistleblower said that when the Bush administration claimed to have absolute proof of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, “[t]hat was as much of a lie as the alleged evidence of an attack on our ships in the Tonkin Gulf.”

In the Gulf of Tonkin incident, the U.S. fabricated claims that the USS Maddox had been attacked by North Vietnamese forces. The claimed attacks were later used to justify putting boots on the ground.