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This interview is from the KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles broadcast of August 5th, available here.

Daniel Ellsberg, author of Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers, discusses his articles “A Hundred Holocausts: An Insider’s Window Into U.S. Nuclear Policy” and “Hiroshima Day: America Has Been Asleep at the Wheel for 64 Years;” the “cultural lag” phenomenon wherein the technology of mass destruction overtakes mankind’s moral capacity; the objections within the military to dropping the atomic bombs (because firebombing Japanese cities had been devastating enough and surrender was imminent); the H-bomb’s staggering destructive force as compared to an A-bomb; how the Russian and US “hair trigger doomsday machines” put us at perpetual risk of annihilation; how the relatively cool-headed George W. Bush (as compared to Cheney and McCain) kept the US out of potential nuclear wars; and the stagnant pace of disarmament, even though it could be done quickly and is absolutely essential.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:23 — 6.7MB)