Reply #5: a lot, actually...

[mike_c]

...and I've only scanned the published high points yet.

I see your point-- many of us on the left already knew the U.S. conduct of the war was immoral and reprehensible. That certainly didn't change. But there were in fact MANY specific pieces of information that none of us knew before they were posted in the daylight. I think it will take some weeks or months of analysis to reveal them all.

But beyond that, what I "knew" was at least partly a reflection of my cynicism about the war and U.S. foreign policy. We both know that. Neither you nor I actually had any access to many of the records that confirm that understanding. Now we do.

More to the point, future historians will have it. It won't be shredded, deleted, or burned. It won't be hidden. It won't be speculation. That's the real value of the Pentagon Papers, and it's the real, lasting value of what WikiLeaks has been doing since its inception.