Cut and run as fast as we can
If you know who Hugh Hewitt is you know he is, in the words of Andrew Sullivan an "empty gas-bag of ideology." Imagine the self-importance and pompousness of William Buckley crossed with the anti-intellectual vaudeville qualities of Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh and that's Hewitt. Another thing Hannity, Rush, and Hewitt have in common is that none of then have ever served in the military but lecture people on military affairs. Hewitt has a long resume. Among his positions was executive director from groundbreaking through dedication of the Nixon Library. In 1990 Hewitt proposed ideological screening of researchers wishing to use the library resources; for example, Hewitt said Bob Woodward would not be admitted because he was "not a responsible journalist."
Here, again in the words of Andrew Sullivan, is a "priceless" interview on Hewitt's radio show. He tries to pick apart Lt. General William Odom (ret.) on Iraq and Iran. Let's just say it doesn't go so well for Hewitt. It's hilarious to hear another mighty chickenhawk try to go toe-to-toe with a Lt. Gen. and one who headed the NSA under President Reagan. Take a few minutes and listen to the interview or read the transcript. It's well worth it if you want to hear why we should cut-and-run as fast as we can out of Iraq. And this from a three-star general who is an America first hardliner.
Some of the better parts of the interview:
Lt. Gen. Odom: We have made [Iraq] much worse.
Hewitt:: Much worse than Saddam?
Odom: Yeah.
...
Lt. Gen: Odom: Look, I mean, I…this a kind of a pointless argument. I mean, the issues…all of your things can be true. They don’t make it any better for us. We are on a path to suffer every month we stay. The defeat we face will be larger, and we will put off the time at which…and where we will have even less resources to recover. If you remember the Second World War, Hitler had 600,000 troops thrown into Stalingrad, refused over four, five months to withdraw them, at the plea by, from his generals, and he ends up losing them all. If he had withdrawn them as they said, asked him to do, and let Stalingrad go, he could have shortened his lines by seven or eight hundred kilometers, and had nearly, had over 600,000 troops survive. Now that’s…a military commander that doesn’t know when to retire from one area so he can approach the conflict from another area, is not a smart commander. And it seems to you’re advocating a kind of policy where you have a president who jumps off the Empire State Building, and he goes by the 50th floor, and he says I’m on course. Well, I want a president who knows how to change course.
Hewitt: I’m actually just trying to figure out what you think Iraq would look like if after four months hence, we leave, what it would look like in a year?
Odom: It’s going to look worse if we stay.
Hewitt: I know that, but what do you think it will look like? I know you believe that…
Odom: I don’t know. I don’t know. You don’t know, and it’s just a guess. And I don’t see killing more Americans based on your guess.
...
Lt. Gen Odom: ...I'm saying the big scare in Southeast Asia was that there will be a whole group of countries that became pro-Soviet bloc, and pro-Chinese. Well, two more went communist, but they were not pro-Chinese. We were pursuing a war to contain China, the Soviet policy had become containing China. We were presenting a half a million U.S. troops in pursuit of Soviet foreign policy objectives. Right now, we are pursuing al Qaeda and Iranian foreign policy objectives in Iraq.
...
Hewitt: Would Libya have disarmed its nukes and chemical weaponry, General, if we…
Lt. Gen Odom: It’s not analogous. If you are trying to [apply] a general rule to cause something to happen in all countries, that is…you know, I’d flunk you on a sophomore international relations course.
Hewitt: I’m asking whether or not you thought the Libyan disarmament had anything to do with our invasion of Iraq?
Odom: None.
...
Hewitt: Are you gambling with Israel’s future, then, to allow a radical regime…
Lt. Gen. Odom: No, Israel’s gambling with its future by encouraging us to pursue this policy.
Hewitt: So Israel should not take unilateral action, either?
Odom: That’s up to them, but I think it’ll make it worse for them. Israel’s policies thus far have made its situation much worse. If you read all of the Israel press, you’ll find a lot of them there are firmly in my camp on this issue. And I’ve talked to many Israelis who are very sympathetic with the view I have on it. You’re making it much, much worse for Israel.
Hewitt: Are you familiar…
Odom: If I were an Israeli right now, given Olmert’s policies and Bush’s policies, I would fear for my life.
Hewitt: Are you familiar with…
Odom: So I would say the policy you’re advocating is a very serious threat to Israel.
Take a listen and see if you can hear the difference between the Moe, Larry and Curlys who run this country and pontificate from behind a microphone and a former head of the National Security Agency, a Lt. General with a PhD and a few strategic and historical thoughts in his head. It's like listening to the Daily Curmudgeon and everyone else. Does that make me Curly or the other guy?
Here, again in the words of Andrew Sullivan, is a "priceless" interview on Hewitt's radio show. He tries to pick apart Lt. General William Odom (ret.) on Iraq and Iran. Let's just say it doesn't go so well for Hewitt. It's hilarious to hear another mighty chickenhawk try to go toe-to-toe with a Lt. Gen. and one who headed the NSA under President Reagan. Take a few minutes and listen to the interview or read the transcript. It's well worth it if you want to hear why we should cut-and-run as fast as we can out of Iraq. And this from a three-star general who is an America first hardliner.
Some of the better parts of the interview:
Lt. Gen. Odom: We have made [Iraq] much worse.
Hewitt:: Much worse than Saddam?
Odom: Yeah.
...
Lt. Gen: Odom: Look, I mean, I…this a kind of a pointless argument. I mean, the issues…all of your things can be true. They don’t make it any better for us. We are on a path to suffer every month we stay. The defeat we face will be larger, and we will put off the time at which…and where we will have even less resources to recover. If you remember the Second World War, Hitler had 600,000 troops thrown into Stalingrad, refused over four, five months to withdraw them, at the plea by, from his generals, and he ends up losing them all. If he had withdrawn them as they said, asked him to do, and let Stalingrad go, he could have shortened his lines by seven or eight hundred kilometers, and had nearly, had over 600,000 troops survive. Now that’s…a military commander that doesn’t know when to retire from one area so he can approach the conflict from another area, is not a smart commander. And it seems to you’re advocating a kind of policy where you have a president who jumps off the Empire State Building, and he goes by the 50th floor, and he says I’m on course. Well, I want a president who knows how to change course.
Hewitt: I’m actually just trying to figure out what you think Iraq would look like if after four months hence, we leave, what it would look like in a year?
Odom: It’s going to look worse if we stay.
Hewitt: I know that, but what do you think it will look like? I know you believe that…
Odom: I don’t know. I don’t know. You don’t know, and it’s just a guess. And I don’t see killing more Americans based on your guess.
...
Lt. Gen Odom: ...I'm saying the big scare in Southeast Asia was that there will be a whole group of countries that became pro-Soviet bloc, and pro-Chinese. Well, two more went communist, but they were not pro-Chinese. We were pursuing a war to contain China, the Soviet policy had become containing China. We were presenting a half a million U.S. troops in pursuit of Soviet foreign policy objectives. Right now, we are pursuing al Qaeda and Iranian foreign policy objectives in Iraq.
...
Hewitt: Would Libya have disarmed its nukes and chemical weaponry, General, if we…
Lt. Gen Odom: It’s not analogous. If you are trying to [apply] a general rule to cause something to happen in all countries, that is…you know, I’d flunk you on a sophomore international relations course.
Hewitt: I’m asking whether or not you thought the Libyan disarmament had anything to do with our invasion of Iraq?
Odom: None.
...
Hewitt: Are you gambling with Israel’s future, then, to allow a radical regime…
Lt. Gen. Odom: No, Israel’s gambling with its future by encouraging us to pursue this policy.
Hewitt: So Israel should not take unilateral action, either?
Odom: That’s up to them, but I think it’ll make it worse for them. Israel’s policies thus far have made its situation much worse. If you read all of the Israel press, you’ll find a lot of them there are firmly in my camp on this issue. And I’ve talked to many Israelis who are very sympathetic with the view I have on it. You’re making it much, much worse for Israel.
Hewitt: Are you familiar…
Odom: If I were an Israeli right now, given Olmert’s policies and Bush’s policies, I would fear for my life.
Hewitt: Are you familiar with…
Odom: So I would say the policy you’re advocating is a very serious threat to Israel.
Take a listen and see if you can hear the difference between the Moe, Larry and Curlys who run this country and pontificate from behind a microphone and a former head of the National Security Agency, a Lt. General with a PhD and a few strategic and historical thoughts in his head. It's like listening to the Daily Curmudgeon and everyone else. Does that make me Curly or the other guy?
posted by Crankyboy at 2:33 AM
18 Comments:
Shemp? Is that you?
I just don't know what all of the fuss is about. Most of the coalition of the willing has left. The Brits are doing likewise.
Bush already has the party money set aside. So lets declare victory, saunter out of the country with our middle fingers held high. And PARTY!!!!
I thought the CUR-UDG-ON would be opining like O'whatshisname about Libby-ouchie today. What happened to my predictive skills?
Something similar to what happened to your English skills?
Looks like you "cut and ran" Cranky. Our loss.
Listen dude - vacation's over. You've let the anonymassholes take the place over and you need to get back to work.
Oh where oh where did cranky boy go? Oh where oh where could he be. He stopped his blog when the democrats won and then he decided to flee.
He's still angry because he knows the Democrats cannot end the war to protect his "native" Israel either, and he's too scared to admit it. How about Sheryl Crow and one square of toilet paper? Unrealistic when's you have huge, messy shit or worse, diarrhea. Of course, Sheryl probably hired an A-Rab to lick her ass clean, thus saving on TP!
Cranky please come back to your loyal fans and tell your detractors where to shove it - and by the way anonymous your guess is way off. Nice language, too.
Sorry about the language, but we ALL know Crankyboy is scared to death that Israel will get wiped off the planet. Americans and Jews - that's who the Muslims hate, but ANY Jewish Democrat (or Republican certainly)knows(even if they hate Bush and the Iraq War) that something has got to be done about these terrorists. Israel is the ONLY stable democracy in the Middele East - hardly surprising given the Muslim mentality. Rudy's got the guts to keep on the offensive. So does McCain, and so would Lieberman. Remember, he did NOT abandon the Democrats; the Democrats abandoned him. He's a hell of a lot more loyal than Jumpin' Jim Jeffords who caucused with the Dems after becoming an independent. Lieberman considers himself a lifelong Democrat, but keep being obnoxious to him and the Republicans would be glad to have him caucus with them and regain all the chairmanships.
Yes they can all shove it. It's hard to waste my time debating mental midgets like "Anonymous" even though there seems to be a few. Just another coward with zero intellect arguing what a tough guy Rudy is. Take 5 minutes and watch this and tell me what you think of Rudy. Really hard to waste my time with mentally ill people like Anon who think (I think) that I'm somehow against Israel (beyond completely absurd and wrong) or that Democrats are terrorist lovers and hate America, etc. Anon and his Anon gang of cowards are the reason this country is run by idiots and incompetents.
Don't group us gentle, caring anon's with the rest of them. We're not all bad people, you know.
Well, at least we woke you up, but accusations of mental midgetry against those who disagree with you serve no purpose other than to divert the argument. On the other hand, you're doubtless the type who's always thought he was right.
As to Olbermann, nice rant! If Giuliani is really fear-mongering, the American people will reject him. But everyone's got something on everybody. Actually, during most of Giuiliani's tenure as Mayor, Bill Clinton was President, but this "clarification" makes me no wiser than you or Olbermann, so I'll refrain from going down that road.
I don't think Democrats love terrorists or hate America any more than I think that Neville Chamberlain loved Hitler or hated England.
What I would be more interested in, and I mean this seriously, not as some sort of sarcastic comment, is what ARE the Democrats alternative plans for Iraq and/or the so called "war on terrorism?" I'm particulalrly interested in the candidates for President, but also Pelosi and Reid. I know Joe Biden wants to divide Iraq into three countries, which actually a good Republican friend of mine has advocated.
Also, please give a PERSONAL example of the last time your civil rights have been violated since 9/11/01, and try not to give me a story of the old man who had the Secret Service knock on his door because of his anti-Bush letter to the editor. Even if that was a gross overreaction, you know Bush and Cheney didn't personally order it, and more importantly, you leave no room for the possibility that there's more to the story.
Oh, here's some arrogance for you -more than Giuliani's - Hillary naming Bill Ambassador to the World. What WOULD we do without those two? God forbid if the Democrats could only choose between Obama and Edwards!
And now, for our illegal immigrant friends:
Bien, por lo menos le despertamos para arriba, pero las acusaciones de midgetry mental contra los que discrepen con usted no responden a ningún propósito con excepción de de divertir la discusión. Por otra parte, usted es sin duda alguna el tipo que ha pensado siempre que él tenía razón. ¡En cuanto a Olbermann, rant agradable! Si Giuliani es realmente miedo-mongering, la gente americana lo rechazará. Pero cada uno consiguió algo en todos. Realmente, durante la mayoría del arrendamiento de Giuiliani como alcalde, Bill Clinton era presidente, pero esta "clarificación" me hace no más sabio que usted u Olbermann, así que me refrenaré de ir abajo de ese camino. No pienso que los terroristas u odio América del amor de los demócratas más que mí piensan que Neville Chamberlain amó Hitler u odió Inglaterra. Cuál estaría más interesado adentro, y significo esto seriamente, no como cierta clase de comentario sarcástico, es cuáles SON los planes alternativos de los demócratas para Iraq y/o la "guerra supuesta en terrorismo?" Estoy particulalrly interesado en los candidatos a presidente, pero también Pelosi y Reid. Sé que Joe Biden desea dividir Iraq en tres países, que un buen amigo el mío republicano ha abogado realmente. También, dé por favor un ejemplo PERSONAL de la vez última que las sus derechas civiles se han violado desde 9/11/01, e intente no darme una historia del viejo hombre que tenía los golpes secretos del servicio en su puerta debido a su letra de contra-Bush al redactor. Incluso si eso era un overreaction grueso, usted sabe que Bush y Cheney no lo pidieron personalmente, y más importantemente, usted no sale de ningún sitio para la posibilidad que hay más a la historia. El Oh, aquí es una cierta arrogancia para usted - más que Giuliani - Hillary que nombra a embajador de la cuenta al mundo. ¿Qué haríamos sin esos dos? ¡El dios prohíbe si los demócratas podrían elegir solamente entre Obama y Edwards!
טוב, לפחות הערנו אותך. מצד שני, אתה בלי ספק הסוג השתמיד מחשבה שהוא היה נכון.
באשר לולבארמאן, נחמד מדקלם! אם גיאליאני באמת פוחד ממונגארינג, האנשים האמריקאיים ידחו אותו. אבל הכל אחד השיג משהו בכל אחד. למעשה, במשך רוב הקביעות של גיאיליאני כ/כפי שראש עיר, ביל קלינטון היה נשיא, אבל זה " הבהרה " עושה לי לא יותר חכמה ממך או ולבארמאן, לכן אני אתאפק מלרדת בדרך הזאת.
אני לא חושב שדמוקרטים אוהבים מחבלים או שנאה אמריקה עוד משאני חושב שזה נאויל צ'אמבארלאין אהב את היטלר או אנגליה שנואה.
איזה אני אהיה יותר עיניינתי ב, ואני אומר זה ברצינות, לא כ/כפי שאיזה מין הערה סרקסטית, מה הדמוקרטים תוכניות אלטרנטיביות לעיראק ו\ או הכביכול " מלחמה בחבלה?" אני פארטיכאלאלרלי עיניין במועמדים לנשיא, אבל גם פאלוסי וזהות מחדש. אני
Tibi soli tacebunt homines? et cum ceteros inriseris a nullo confutaberis?
בַּ֭דֶּיךָ מְתִ֣ים יַחֲרִ֑ישׁו וַ֝תִּלְעַ֗ג וְאֵ֣ין מַכְלִֽם
Müssen Männer zu deinem leeren Gerede schweigen, daß du spottest und niemand dich beschämt?
Post a Comment
<< Home