The Associated Press IHT 12/6/06

STOCKHOLM, Sweden: Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked secret Pentagon documents during the Vietnam war, said Wednesday that he believed the U.S. would attack Iran before 2008 and urged Washington insiders to make new disclosures to prevent a new war.

Ellsberg, who is one of four recipients of this year’s Right Livelihood Award – often dubbed the “Alternative Nobels” – being presented in Stockholm this week, also urged U.S. allies to threaten to withdraw from the NATO alliance if nuclear weapons are used against Iran.

“It is more likely than not, in the next two years, that President Bush and Vice President Cheney will direct an attack on Iran,” Ellsberg said at a news conference for the Right Livelihood laureates. “Such an attack … might escalate too, to the use of nuclear weapons against underground installations in Iran, with incalculable consequences.”

But, he added: “Of the various disastrous policies of their administration, this one is the most susceptible to being changed and averted by public pressure.”

Full article: International Herald Tribune