CNN's Henry and Malveaux: Does John Edwards want to "give up" in Iraq?
On the December 29 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, CNN chief White House correspondent Ed Henry and White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux asked whether former senator and presidential candidate John Edwards (D-NC) "want[s] to give up" on the Iraq war, referring to Edwards' call to withdraw significant numbers of U.S. troops from Iraq. Neither Henry nor Malveaux explained how withdrawing 40,000 troops from Iraq, as Edwards has called for, constitutes "giving up" on Iraq. Edwards said, as he has previously, that shifting more responsibility to the Iraqi government is the best way to achieve long-term stability in that country.
On the December 29 edition of The Situation Room, Malveaux teased her and Henry's interview with Edwards, saying: "Also this hour, tough questions for a presidential candidate. Is Democrat John Edwards ready to give up on Iraq? We'll talk at length with the former senator about his change of heart on the war and his White House prospects." During the actual interview, Henry asked Edwards: "You want to give up?":
MALVEAUX: Also this hour, tough questions for a presidential candidate. Is Democrat John Edwards ready to give up on Iraq? We'll talk at length with the former senator about his change of heart on the war and his White House prospects.
[...]
EDWARDS: Here's what I believe: I believe that an escalation of our presence in Iraq is an enormous mistake. I think this [Sen. John] McCain [R-AZ] doctrine doesn't make any sense. There is no military solution to what's happening in Iraq. Everyone knows that. The only solution -- potential solution -- is a political solution. I mean, the Iraqis are going to have to decide whether they're actually going to have a representative government that includes everybody, including the Sunnis. And that's the only way to ultimately tamp down this violence.
If the idea is that we put more troops there and we stay there over an extended period of time for years, and somehow that's going to solve this underlying political problem, it's just not reality.
HENRY: But, Senator, I wanted to ask about you, not about Senator McCain.
You want to pull 40 to 50,000 U.S. troops out of Iraq. Do you just want to give up?
EDWARDS: Yes.
HENRY: You want to give up?
EDWARDS: No. I think it's -- no, sir. I think we have two choices. And it's basically one -- they're bad and worse. We're in a very difficult situation. Nobody can say -- certainly with not any honesty -- that they -- the path that they're proposing will be successful in Iraq. We're in a very difficult situation.
Here's what I believe: I believe that the smartest and best thing for America to do is to make it clear that we're not going to stay in Iraq forever, that we're going to leave. I think that's the way to shift the responsibility to the Iraqis, to have the kind of political solution that they need. And I think the best way to signal that we're going to leave is to actually start leaving.
And there are a large number of provinces in Iraq that are, in fact, secure -- obviously not Baghdad, not the Sunni Triangle -- but there are places from which we could remove troops.
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Who will be first with the balls to call this what it is? Puddinhead George and his junta committed a war crime, and nothing we do from this point forward will make it right. Iraq is FUBAR...it's the Bush administration's fault, and he should be held accountable. When someone is murdered, you don't stand around and try to figure out how to resurrect the victim; you seek out and punish the perpetrator. Iraq is dead...the only question left is which maggots will consume the corpse.
THEY ASKED EDWARDS THE WRONG QUESTION: Do you just want to give up? At first Edwards said, "Yes". Then he corrected himself by saying "No" and explained his exit plan. YES was the correct (Freudian Slip) answer, because Bush has totally bungled this war. It's over, lost, and 3000 troops have died in vain. We all know the only solution now is a political one.
THE CORRECT QUESTION IS: Now that Bush has lost the war, what is your plan going forward? EDWARDS answer is the correct solution. Don't escalate. Don't offer the enemy more targets to kill. Begin pulling the troops out to force the Iraqis to take charge of their country. The Generals have this same view.
Former President Ford has spoken from his casket, loud and clearly. He denounces the Bush war and said he would not have invaded Iraq. Gerald R. Ford also said he does not believe we should be running around the world hellfire bent on freeing people from different governments. He was denouncing the Bush Doctrine to spread Democracy to the region. Ford should have shared his vision years before he died.
I'm thinking of all the lives saved if Ford was our current President instead of George. If he’d have made his views known years ago, thousands of lives might have been spared.
We all know now that George lies every time his lips start moving. His newest lie is that all hell will break loose if we re-deploy our troops out of Iraq to the Real War on Terror.
We pulled out of Vietnam and it was correct and good. We must now pull out of Iraq. It will be correct and it will not transfer the war to our country. His statement is absurd and insults our intelligence. He’s been lying about everything for a long time now. Even his wife is busy explaining how great things are going in Iraq. Even Conservatives discount her statements as being totally untrue and out of touch with reality.
With our votes in November, we made a huge statement and George has ignored us. Our only remaining option now, is to cut the War Budget, and Impeach George. We must do it NOW before any more of our troops die in vain. Read the Book “State of Denial”. George is in total Denial. IT'S ALL ABOUT HIS LEGACY AND HIS NEW WORLD ORDER.
It will be the same as when we left Vietnam. We had the same scare tactic consequences of leaving Vietnam. I’m a Vietnam Veteran and in those days it was called the Communist domino theory. If we didn’t win in Vietnam the whole world would become Communistic. It was BS then and it’s BS now as applied to Iraq.
We would not be in this Bush orchestrated mess if the main produce of Iraq
We would not be in this Bush orchestrated mess if the main produce of Iraq was Bananas or Watermelons.
"And I think the best way to signal that we're going to leave is to actually start leaving."
As opposed to Bush's plan (that was apparently pulled out of Rumsfeld's garbage after he left) which signals we're going to be there forever, and if those dang Eyerackees keep it up, we'll send more troops until everyone flees and the U.S. is stuck there by itself with all that oil.
It seems that Henry is trying to fit Edwards into one of two groups. Some want victory, the rest want to give up. Simply bad reporting. I think we all realize that we are going to be in Iraq a long time and that sectarian violence is going to plague the country for years. How about pointing out that withdrawing troops may increase sectarian violence or hasten the break up of Iraq. I would have no problem with that. Would more troops tamp down violence or would more troops actually add to the problem. Now that would be worth discussing, an interesting question. What Casey and others are pointing out is that a surge in troops maybe counterproductive. From NYT Jan 2 article "Chaos overran Iraq..."- Casey states “The longer we in the U.S. forces continue to bear the main burden of Iraq’s security, it lengthens the time that the government of Iraq has to take the hard decisions about reconciliation and dealing with the militias,” he said. “And the other thing is that they can continue to blame us for all of Iraq’s problems, which are at base their problems.”
..is how this is what happens when you have a war based on lies and there was no reason for it to happen.
After Pearl Harbor the U.S. attacked Korea.
Right?
Edwards makes strong statements against McCain's proposals and these "reporters" try to trip him up by reframing the issue with this devious question of "giving up". Did the election tell them nothing about the wishes of the public? I don't think the voters had escalation of troops in mind.
Of the phony macho crap that Bush and his lapdog press have been peddling for 4 years. Staying in Iraq is not a demonstration of honor or courage, it is a display of stupidity. Invading Iraq was stupid, staying there is even more stupid. When you jump into a river and discover that piranhas are chewing off your legs, do you stay there and let them chew off your arms, so that your legs weren't sacrificed in vane?
You're the kind of appeaser who would drag yourself out of the water with your bloody stumps trailing behind.
Then the pirhanas would have won!
HENRY: Do you just want to give up?
EDWARDS: Yes.
Me too.
the fine Americans who brought us countless hours of Swift Boat coverage and the recent "Kerry thinks the troops are idiots" assault will be clipping Edwards' obviouly taped-delay answer at "Yes" for tomorrow's hate-a-thon.
That behind the scenes, the administration is defining " victory ", according to the following:
a) assuming a Republican win in the '08 election, an announcement of " troop withdrawals" will be made to make GOPers look good for "winning the war" . And ....
b) making sure that access to Iraqi oil fields is secure.
As for a "stable, democratic Iraq", I don't think the Bush team is as concerned about that as they are about the president's "place in history", which they will try to slant in his favor.
but on the subject of Bush's legacy, I was listening to local news radio the other day and they quoted a part of Bush's initial statement on the passing of Gerald Ford. The Bush team wrote something to the effect that Ford was derided at first for his actions (pardoning Nixon I believe was the inference) but history has shown Ford to be a great leader with vision.
Now nothing there is an exact quote for sure, but jeez. Even the passing of a President is seen as a open door for Bush to polish his image with the public.
If your interest is in gaining clarity on an individual's position, you can ask hard questions simply and directly. If your interest is in making a name for yourself or your "show", you ask the kind of push-poll questions you did about "giving up on Iraq". Whether you're putting words in someone's mouth or sensationalizing something to give you better "teasers" for the bottom of the hour, it's better to leave that kind of 'yellow dog' journalism to the folks at Fox. They're quite comfortable with it. In fact, they couldn't imagine life without it, which is why I don't watch Fox news any more . I count on you at CNN to do a bit better. This bit with Edwards was weak. Henry and Malveaux know better. And, if they don't, they shouldn't be given those journalistic responsibilities. Please, stop it. Sincerely, E. Fry Katonah, NY
saddam is gone.
there are no wmd's. (if you exclude the 1000's of ton of explosives our soldiers were ordered to ignore, which subsequently disappeared into the hands of insurgents.)
they have a democratically elected gov't.
their nuclear program is dead in it's tracks.
the only americans they have the ability to hurt are the ones our president has sent there.
the only thing left is control of the oil.
oh, wait! that's right. the oil spigot is almost off. (anyone thinking supply and demand?)
why not 20,000 troops to protect the oil lines and start pumping that oil to fund an economy in iraq?
put people to work. most iraqis would rather make a living than make ied's. if you don't think so, then explain why those that can leave the country are, and why so many iraqi polled say we should leave.
as for the question posed to sen. edwards- it's just another example of how the entertainment industry has pushed the "suspension of disbelief" into the arena of news.
they seem only to hire people that are willing to display their elementary school level skills of critical thinking.
that, and they treat the audience as idiots with no ability to understand anything but the most remedial ideas.
it's no wonder education and intelligence hold little appeal to the public at large. everyone talks down to us. the newspeople, the politicians. intellectuals are derided and ridiculed. complex ideas simplified until they express only "you are on our side, or their side".
we should not give up on the hope that iraq can become a free society, and a country that exemplifies the best of who the people are, and can be.
what we should "give up on" is pres. bush's self-glorifying quest to be the new saviour for mankind.
that, and his cronies goal of owning the iraqi national economy.