Journalist Seymour Hersh Visits UC Berkeley

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh spoke to a packed Zellerbach Hall Tuesday night about various national security issues in the news, including the situations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran.

Hersh, who broke stories throughout his roughly 40-year career such as the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and the Abu Ghraib scandal, was invited to lecture as part of Cal Performances' Strictly Speaking series.

Gripping a podium and sipping from two bottles of water, he was very casual in his speech, straying often from the official topic of "Journalism and Human Rights."

Hersh's lecture mainly focused on the gruesome nature of war, both now and in the past.

"The violence is just horrendous. It just has to be. It's inevitable," he said.

One story concerned helicopter pilots during the Vietnam War who decapitated farmers for fun.

"That was an ugly, ugly, ugly war," he said. "And what's going on (now) is just as ugly."

Hersh put up no pretense of political neutrality in the upcoming election, speaking repeatedly about a presidency under Sen. Barack Obama and the candidates' performances in last night's debate.

"We are standing on the cusp of the most important decision since World War II," he said.

Famous for working with anonymous, highly placed sources inside the military and the government, he also spoke about what he called "the collapse of the American press in the face of George Bush."

Hersh's speech drew an enthusiastic response from the audience, who often filled the room with occasional whistles and scattered applause.

Despite the heavy subject matter of his speech, Hersh didn't fail to take a jab at his audience.

"All you hippies are going to go home and shoot up," he said.

Read The Daily Californian on Thursday for the full story.

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