RUSH: We’re gonna start in Melrose Park, Pennsylvania, on the phones. This is Mark, and it’s great to have you here, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Hello. Thanks for taking my call this afternoon, Rush.

RUSH: I appreciate that, sir. Thank you.

CALLER: All this weekend I’ve been thinking about this, and I when I heard your opening monologue about this monumentally bad plan to pull US troops, the remaining US troops out of Iraq, one of the things that I have not heard mentioned but I think is a really significant issue to consider is the US embassy that we have built in Iraq. The Iraqi embassy right now, as far as I know, is our largest. And if we have a huge embassy in a unstable part of the world with no troops nearby, we are courting disaster.

RUSH: Well, you know what? I actually don’t know what we’re gonna do with that embassy. I’m just assuming we’re gonna keep diplomatic staff there and I’m assuming that there will be Marine guards like there are at all the other embassies. Beyond that, I don’t know.

CALLER: Yeah. Without having a footprint nearby though, I really have a bad feeling that this could really be a kind of low hanging fruit for someone to give the United States a black eye and we have to really be careful —

RUSH: What do you mean? By overrunning the embassy with defenseless, innocent US State Department people in there?

CALLER: Yes. That’s exactly it. Islamic terrorists or militias could see that as a real opportunity to kick the United States where it hurts the worst.

RUSH: Well, that’s a good point, maybe Obama will close the embassy so that that won’t happen.

CALLER: Well, that would be a great way of making use of our investment that we’ve put there.

RUSH: Well, it is our largest. It’s the largest, most expensive. Our embassy in Iraq cost a billion.

CALLER: Yeah. So there would be a good use of taxpayer money to let just disappear if he chose to do that. But, you know, our presence in that area —

RUSH: You really think the Al-Qaeda guys would attack our embassy? You don’t think they would respect the whole notion of diplomatic immunity and leave it alone?

CALLER: Right, right, right. Well, if the Iranian government, which is a sovereign government can’t quite figure that out, I have even less hope for anybody else that is not a sovereign government —

RUSH: Wait, wait, wait. If the Iranian government can’t figure what out?

CALLER: Well, they tried to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington, DC, did they not?

RUSH: Well, that’s what the regime tells us.

CALLER: Okay. Well, I’m going on that being true. But if it’s not, it’s still a dangerous roll of the dice for the United States to leave our embassy in such a weakened environment over there without having a footprint nearby to protect ourselves.

RUSH: We’re gonna have some kind of a footprint. I just don’t think it’s gonna be combat troops.

CALLER: All right.

RUSH: But the Marines traditionally guard the embassies, and I don’t know what the numbers are, and I don’t know if it’s sufficient to oppose a massive attack from Al-Qaeda.
I’m gonna find out. We’re dealing here now, don’t forget, with a story that I don’t think we have all the details. The thrust of the story is that Obama is keeping a campaign promise and withdrawing troops from Iraq at the end of the year, and that’s it. So, all right, Barry coming through, right on, right on, base is happy, hunky-dory, goody, goody. But are we really doing that? How many support troops will be left at the embassy? Are we keeping the embassy open or closing it? Seriously. At one point I do know that we were hoping to turn a couple of aviation outposts over there into bases for the express purpose of having launch capability for any action that might take place in the region should we have to be able to deploy quickly.

But right now we’re just dealing with the surface aspects of the announcement, and I don’t really know about the military support staff that would remain. It could well be that we’re gonna hire Blackwater types. We’re gonna outsource the security, which is being done in Afghanistan, that’s being done in Iraq, so a number of ways you could do that without having to say you’ve got military personnel there. (interruption) No, I don’t have doubts about Iran. I just think the timing of it’s pretty strange that all of a sudden this mild-mannered Abdel-Jalil, I know this guy, seen this guy, why wipe this guy out? I mean take out Bandar bin Sultan or somebody, take out somebody big. But, no, I don’t have any doubts about it. I just don’t think there are any coincidences in politics, that’s all. Pure and simple. Appreciate the call out there very much.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Luke in Savannah, Georgia. Great to have you with us, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Hey, Rush. How you doing?

RUSH: Very good, sir. Thank you.

CALLER: Well, I think I feel like I should preface this by saying that I do believe President Obama is a very dangerous man.

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: I believe that another four years will be detrimental to the country’s health. But I also think that we forget a lot of times just how politically savvy he is and the entire Democratic Party. And you notice that right after Moammar Khadafy, who, you know, his death is considered one of Obama’s victories, we find a small opening and an opportunity to pull the troops out of Iraq, and we do it kind of as an afterthought. And earlier in your segment you said that he’s willing, just to get his base back or support from his base back, he’s willing to associate defeat in Iraq with the Democrats. But I don’t think that’s the case. I think that what he’s doing is people will say, he started Libya, he ended it successfully, you know, obviously it’s more complicated than that. And Bush is responsible for Iraq, and if there’s any defeat there, it’s on him, but the ultimate victory is, you know, we got our precious troops back.

RUSH: Right. No, I don’t disagree with that. What I’m saying is the absence of US troops is going to make it easier for Iran or any outside insurgents to recapture the country, which would equal a defeat.

CALLER: Yeah, but here’s what I got. I deployed to Iraq twice, and I was with the special operations community both times, so I wasn’t over there in an office. We were participating in direct action raids. We were killing plenty of people that needed to be killed. But even I recognize, you know, yes, 4,500 troops, that’s a tragedy, but you also said that Obama’s pandering to this fringe group that is sadistic and wants to pull everybody out of Iraq and accept defeat. I’m as far right as you can get, and I believe that the Founding Fathers envisioned neutrality for the nation and preservation of our nation. I don’t give Obama any credit; I want him to get defeated. But I’m having a problem saying anything negative about bringing troops back. And this is coming from, I did serve, because I’m telling you right now, it’s corrupt over there. Any government that we emplace is gonna be corrupt —

RUSH: So your thought is even if Iraq is toppled and even if Iran takes it over or Al-Qaeda, it becomes a new outpost, the American people aren’t gonna care, there’s no way anybody will chalk whatever happens in Iraq to a defeat because nobody cares, they already think —

CALLER: No, no. I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is based upon principle, if we are leaning as far right as possible, we agree with neutrality as a nation, not policing of every country. ‘Cause I understand strategically why Iraq is beneficial —

RUSH: Well, now, wait, it’s too late for that, though. I mean we’re there. We went there. We conducted an operation. We liberated the place. We toppled the leader. It’s moot now to discuss whether or not we as conservatives believe in neutrality. We went there. We took care of it. We had an amazing victory in two to three days, we got rid of Saddam Hussein. Now the theory is that we’re trying to make sure that Iraq stays what it is because Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations love to take root in stateless territories. That’s what the Taliban did in Afghanistan. It’s one of the reasons we’re still in Afghanistan, by the way, is to make sure —

CALLER: Right, right, right. Apart from the aggressiveness that we showed at the beginning, I do believe that they’ve already kind of emasculated our forces. I mean, I got guys that are still going over there and they complain that they can’t do anything now. And somehow political correctness has managed to make its way into the troops. One last thing before I leave, you said what would Sharia law do to rape, and I think I got your answer here. I’m looking at this one article, and apparently there is no rape in Sharia law. It’s actually the girl’s fault for —

RUSH: That’s exactly right, they can be beheaded, they can be stoned or what have you.

CALLER: No such thing as rape.

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: No such thing as rape under Sharia law.

RUSH: Right. Okay.

CALLER: So Biden should be pleased.

RUSH: Yeah, it’s even worse than that.

CALLER: Yeah.

RUSH: Those are all true statements that you’ve made. I’m glad you called, Luke. Thanks much.