Pentagon Papers Quotes

“For when everything is classified, then nothing is classified, and the system becomes one to be disregarded by the cynical or the careless, and to be manipulated by those intent on self-protection or self-promotion."

[New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971) (concurring)]”
― Potter Stewart

“Deep down there is the feeling that what we participated in was morally wrong, and can never be looked upon as legitimate. We can make all kinds of excuses, but it can never justify the murder, the savagery and the barbarism that was inflicted on the Vietnamese people under the guise of saving the world from communism.”
― Terry Burstall, The Soldiers' Story: The Battle at Xa Long Tan Vietnam, 18 August 1966

“Vietnam was never a threat to America or Australia, but it was a threat to their perceived interests. For those selfish interests we fought and were maimed and died. It was not for patriotism, and not to save freedom or humanity: it was to save vested interests.”
― Terry Burstall, The Soldiers' Story: The Battle at Xa Long Tan Vietnam, 18 August 1966