RUSH: I’m not being critical. I’m telling you I’m fatigued. I didn’t remember talking about it and if you did it means I’m in worse shape than I think I am. It’s okay. Just fire away, man. Go for it.
CALLER: Did you see the article in the Wall Street Journal from Wednesday, the Capitol Journal article, “former general says staying the course in Iraq is untenable.”
RUSH: I have that article right here. I’m the host.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: I don’t have it, wait a second, now.
CALLER: This guy makes the point —
RUSH: Wait a minute. Look it, you’re going to get all the time you need here. Let’s have a conversation. I’m not trying to make you lose your place, but I’ve got the article, but I don’t have it from the Wall Street Journal. I want you to know where it’s now appeared. I have it in something called the Khaleej Times, and the logo for the Khaleej Times is a palm tree and an oil well. The Khaleej Times is somewhere in the United Arab Emirates. So this guy —
CALLER: Why do I care about this?
RUSH: It’s not why — you obviously don’t. It’s why should you. It’s that what this guy has said has reached our troops and it’s a demoralizing thing for him to say.
CALLER: Well, okay, so the Wall Street Journal shouldn’t have published the article originally.
RUSH: Didn’t say that. Didn’t say that. That’s not — how do you get that? What I’m saying is —
CALLER: What difference does it make where it is?
RUSH: No, no, no. The answer is Odom shouldn’t have said it publicly is what I’m saying, but did and the cat’s out of the bag. For people who haven’t seen this or heard about it and want to know what you’re talking about, let me read just a couple of quick graphs and you can tell me what you think about it. You already know but some people in the audience may not. “Former U.S. general says U.S. troops ought to get out of Iraq.” Odom is the former head of the National Security Agency, I believe during Reagan. And he has criticized George Bush’s Iraq policy, demanded the country’s forces return from Iraq as rapidly as possible for the sake of American security and economic power alike. “We have failed. The issue is how high the price we’re going to pay: less by getting out sooner or more by getting out later,” said William Odom in the Wall Street Journal. So that’s basically it. We’ve got a former NSA guy saying get out now, and you want to agree with him.
CALLER: No, I’m saying that his argument is one that needs to be taken seriously. I argue this. Here’s the way I’ve seen it from the beginning. The upside of going into Iraq and transforming Iraq into this representative democracy that’s an ally of ours, and it’s a beacon for hope in the Middle East, that’s an admirable upside. The downside is we’re going to end up destabilizing Iraq to the point where it’s going to become a fundamentalist Muslim state, we’re going to destabilize Saudi Arabia, we’re going to destabilize Egypt, we’re going to essentially end up destabilizing any allies we have in the region. That’s the downside. Now, well, it’s hard to argue with Dick Cheney and those guys, they’ve been right all along, right?
RUSH: No. It’s just I think you and retired general Odom have selected the wrong enemy here. Have you ever heard of a group called Al-Qaeda?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: Well, you know, Al-Qaeda is blowing up places all over the world, blowing up Saudi Arabia, they’re blowing up —
CALLER: But not in Iraq.
RUSH: The hell they aren’t. Who the hell do you think is there?
CALLER: The Pentagon just pronounced the other day that the resistance in Iraq is coming from former members of the Saddam regime.
RUSH: Sure. Of course they are.
CALLER: — these guys are doing. This has been all over the press.
RUSH: Joe, if it’s in the press, I know about it, I’m the host. I’m not disagreeing with that. But Al-Qaeda is there as well as all these other people. Al-Qaeda is blowing up the United States. Al-Qaeda is blowing up Saudi Arabia. Al-Qaeda is blowing up everything. We’re not destabilizing anything. We are the only chance to stabilize this region by taking these people on. It’s up to the rest of the world to join us. I respectfully disagree with general Odom about this. If we pull out now, it’s catastrophic to think what’s going to happen in the future —
CALLER: — this is what he does for a living, he belongs to the Hutchison Institute, a very conservative think tank.
RUSH: Yes.
CALLER: His opinion, after having done this his whole life is we are screwed if we stay in this. His opinion is it’s not a question of whether we’re going to pull out, it’s a question of how much we’re going to spend before we pull out. Read the article.
RUSH: I’ve got the article. The whole line of reasoning here is perplexing to me given that this man is a general, a retired general. You know, the World War II comparison has been made today. It was made by Ted Koppel on Good Morning, America. You know, as I said, there were more people that died in a training exercise for D-Day than have died so far in Iraq. They died in one day. I think this is the [noise interruption] go ahead. It’s Open Line Friday. Go right ahead. Yeah, go ahead.
CALLER: No, I was listening to you. I think this comparison between this and World War II —
RUSH: Oh, I’m sorry, Joe, I thought — they tell me — I have a cochlear implant, it was your dog barking and I thought you were interrupting me trying to speak. I thought your dog was you.
CALLER: I had simply made some noise and I apologize if it was a distraction.
RUSH: You don’t need to apologize. I apologize to you. I’m sorry. I want to read you a quote from Winston Churchill, and you’ve got four more minutes here before we go to the break so don’t think I’m trying to shortchange you, okay?
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: This is a speech by Churchill, January 20, 1940. Now, this is before all the heavy action of World War II picked up. And I just want to quote you a paragraph, and it’s relevant, a lot of scholars around the world are citing this with respect to the March 11th attacks in Madrid. Here’s what Churchill said, 1940. “What would happen if all these neutral nations were with one spontaneous impulse to do their duty in accordance with the covenant of the league and were to stand together with the British and the French empires against aggression and wrong? At present their plight is lamentable and it will become much worse. They bow humbly and in fear to German threats of violence, comforting themselves meanwhile with the thought, the allies will win, each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last. All of them hope that the storm will pass before their turn comes to be devoured. But I fear and fear greatly, the storm won’t pass. It will rage and it will roar ever more loudly, ever more widely. It will spread to the south, it will spread to the north. There’s no chance of a speedy end except through united action.”
This is Churchill trying to warn the world about Hitler.
CALLER: And I know of the speech and I know of what you speak. But here’s the point. I think that’s — I think that’s beside the point, if you will. The point is this. Even using that.
RUSH: Hitler did not attack the United States.
CALLER: The only way we’re going to get other countries to support us —
RUSH: Hitler did not kill 3,000 Americans in one day. This is worse.
CALLER: Okay. The only way we’re going to get the rest of the world to support us is to show true leadership and not a “it’s our way or the highway attitude,” and that’s what we’re doing, and that’s largely what Odom says. Odom says we should pull out to force the Europeans to take ownership of what could happen there if we don’t do something.
RUSH: Joe. This really does pain me. We should pull out to force the Europeans to do their duty? Would somebody explain to me when was the last time the Europeans did their duty? I’m sure you’re aware, you sound like an informed guy, I’m sure you’re aware of the oil for food controversy that’s raging, I’m sure you’ve heard of all these European nations that were on the take from Saddam with oil futures contracts, millions of barrels, plus cash payments, in order so that they would oppose the United States at the United Nations, France, and Germany, and even Russia, which was giving Saddam arms. Europe can’t take care of Kosovo. Europe can’t defend — look at Madrid. You watch what happens, you watch what happens in Spain, Madrid has pulled out because of what happened on March the 11th, and the terrorists are going to go nuts, they’re going to be emboldened throughout Europe, it doesn’t happen overnight, but they’re going to increase their attacks because of this, because they’ve seen weakness. This is not the way you fight people such as Al-Qaeda. This is not how you fight evildoers, this is not how you fight people who are hell-bent on killing everybody they don’t like. You have to make a stand at some point.
You know, if we hadn’t gone, and the argument being we shouldn’t go, you know, that would be a different matter to a slightly less degree, but at this point I think pulling out of there would be tantamount to giving carte blanche — a little French lingo there — to Al-Qaeda and their buddies all over the world to just go crazy. Because let me tell you what they’re trying to do. Al-Qaeda’s objective is to get weapons of mass destruction into this country. Al-Qaeda’s objective is to get chemical, biological, and if they could get a nuke, they would do it. If they could get into this country they would. We can’t guard every port, we can’t guard all of our coastline, we can’t guard every airport. We can’t stop it unless we take them out. This is not difficult to understand, but the political disunity that exists here in a presidential campaign year is causing people to see this without the proper perspective. I think, you know, try this, folks. This thought of mine is, I think wars every 20 years are good so that every generation knows what the hell is at stake here. We are at a period of time where we have a lot of American generations who do not remember World War II, do not remember a truly difficult war that we won, do not have that perspective, do not remember an America victorious at war, other than the Gulf War which took a couple of months, which can create, by the way, and has, perhaps incorrect impression with too many people.
This is — I don’t say this lightly — deadly serious stuff. And pulling out is the same as conceding defeat. And especially if the objective is to pull out so Europeans take over, there is absolutely no way that that is going to happen. And if the Europeans don’t join us here pretty soon, the Europeans don’t get serious, it’s London that’s going to go up, and then it’s Paris that’s going to go up. Just like all these other countries have had cities around the world go up because of Al-Qaeda attacks. It’s not going to stop unless they are made to stop. It’s not going to stop by us pulling out and saying, “okay, sorry, we’re going to turn this over to the international community now, we’ll work with you on putting together an Iraq like you want it to be.” It’s not going to work. The vision that we have is the correct one. It’s the virtuous one. To me it’s not even arguable. And to do all this talking and have all this stuff published over there in publications where the troops can read it, not helpful. Free country, deal with it, but it’s not helpful.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
RUSH: This is Mike in Holly Spring, North Carolina. Welcome to the program.
CALLER: Thanks, Rush, appreciate it.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: The guy that was on just a moment ago was quoting Odom as saying that we need to get out of there and it’s based on his expert opinion and the fact that he’s been doing this his entire life so he really knows what he’s talking about. My point would be if you were to sit down and talk to the commanders that are out there in the theater right now commanding our troops and ask them, I would guarantee that they would come back and say that we definitely need to be there. The point here is that here’s Odom saying essentially what the liberals want to hear.
RUSH: Well, they’re latching onto one guy who says it, but you can understand that. That’s a question of what they’re made of.
CALLER: Of course you do because you’re all-knowledgeable. But the point here is they’ve got one guy quoting and saying this, and they’re saying that it’s gospel, but take a look at all the other people that are saying the direct opposite–
RUSH: Right.
CALLER: — yet they’re going to believe this one guy is the truth.
RUSH: Well, look, it’s just predictable that okay, here you’ve got a guy, doesn’t hurt, all of a sudden the liberals are quoting a Reagan guy, you know, I mean this Reagan guy comes and says we’ve got to get outta there, and the liberals focus on this one guy. They hate the military anyway. Liberals don’t trust the military, don’t think the military is any good, and when a military guy comes along and says something they expect or like, of course this guy is the smartest guy in the country, this Odom guy. Let me get rid of this. I’ve never met general Odom and I have all respect for people in the military, but ? [tearing paper] — I normally throw things away but I don’t want to be able to find this and read it again if I have to do it. [Still ripping paper.] Thanks very much.
Fred in McAllen, Texas, welcome to the EIB Network. Hi.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. How are you?
RUSH: Fine, thank you, sir.
CALLER: You were talking about the destabilizing in the Middle East, what we are doing, and I clearly have to call in and say when it comes to the Middle East, it shouldn’t be like the liberals and conservatives, it should be the educated ones that they know and the ones who are ignorant. Joe doesn’t know anything about geopolitical or what’s going on in the Middle East. Middle Eastern governments are the destabilizing force for themselves.
RUSH: Exactly. And you’re from Iran, right?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: Okay, you can tell me if I’m right or wrong about this because I’ve heard it from so many people, that Iran is really, when it comes to even the pre-Al-Qaeda days, Iran was the destabilizing force utilizing terrorism for that express purpose.
CALLER: It has always been that way. And it’s always been in the other countries also, because none of those governments are Democratic governments, they’re a bunch of diaper heads and goat herders who have come to power one way or another and they have the guns and they are ruling.
RUSH: Now, you’re talking about the uneducated class, the diaper heads or goat herders?
CALLER: The uneducated, geopolitically uneducated Americans here who have no idea what goes on in the Middle East.
RUSH: No, that’s —
CALLER: — destabilizing them, and we are not destabilizing them, we trying to destabilize that region —
RUSH: I know, but of course we’re dealing with the uninformed here in this country, but let me tell you something. He’s exactly right. The way these Middle Eastern monarchies function is to keep their populations as dumb as possible. You would not believe, if you were to learn what little young kids, primarily boys, are taught starting at age five, even earlier. They go to the mosque. They don’t go to school. And they are filled morning to night with lies and BS about the United States, about the West, about Israel, they are raised, they are brought up on pure, unadulterated hatred. They are not educated. They are not informed. They are not taught about the world. They are lied to about it. And these are the people that end up becoming the worker bees, the suicide bombers, what have you, of Al-Qaeda. And it is these mullahs and the sheiks and the Imams in these mosques. Egypt is a hotbed of this. Every time I see Hosni Mubarak I say, “What the hell are we even talking to him for?’ What we need to do is get hold of him and say, “Straighten out your education system.” If that doesn’t happen, folks, and that’s a long part of this process, too, because what is really going on with the uneducated class in these Arab countries is criminal.
END TRANSCRIPT
<*ICON*>Your Resource for Combating the Partisan Media, Liberals and Bush-Haters…
<a target=new href=”/home/menu/fstack.guest.html”>(…Rush’s John F. Kerry Stack of Stuff packed with quotes, flips & audio!)</a></span>
