Lindsey Graham: ‘American City In Flames’ If Obama Doesn’t Go To War In Iraq
From the people who brought us the first Iraq war come dire warnings about how much jeopardy America will be in if we don’t start another one.
“Are you saying we should go back to war in Iraq?” Wallace wondered.
“I’m saying that Iraq and Syria combined represent a direct threat to our homeland,” he explained. “His responsibility as president is to defend this nation. If he does not go on the offensive against ISIS, ISIL — whatever you want to call these guys — they are coming here!”
“It is about our homeland, and if we get attacked because he has no strategy to protect us then he will have committed a blunder for the ages.”
D.B. Hirsch is a political activist, news junkie, and retired ad copy writer and spin doctor. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Eric Trommater August 10th, 2014 at 9:52 pm
Why aren’t the American people just fed up with this whole line of neo-cons who never met a war they didn’t like? Oh wait they are! If I was running against Graham I would make a comericial with this video clip spliced in the with hundreds of time the same thing was said about Iraq in 2003 and end it with Rice’s “mushroom cloud” statement just to put into perspective how stupid he thinks we all are.
Obewon August 10th, 2014 at 9:53 pm
Lets be honest Lindsey ‘It is about our defense contractor cutbacks from the sequester.’
Tommy6860 August 10th, 2014 at 10:02 pm
These are the same wingers who wanted to fund and arm rebels in Syria last year and before that. Obama was cautious because we didn’t know the make-up of these groups. Well, we did shovel a few hundred $million to them as well as small arms under pressure. Obama even tried going with congress’ claim that he abuses his authority, by getting them so authorize use of bombing and such with congressional approval, then they hid from that. We also have an Iraq that we left according to an agreement signed off on by W by which Obama stated he would abide, the SOFA. Even forgetful McCain called this a victory in 2010, only to deny that when reminded of that claim by Candy Crowley last March when he was war-hawking again.
GOP admins have funded bin Laden (when he was with the Mujahideen fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan) Saddam Hussein when he was fighting Iran, only to call them terrorists later on that needed to be eliminated. Let’s just wash, rinse and repeat this process all over again.
burqa August 10th, 2014 at 10:12 pm
We did not fund bin Laden.
We funded indigenous groups, but not the Arab volunteer ones. That was a completely separate revenue stream from Saudi Arabia we had nothing to do with.
Tommy6860 August 10th, 2014 at 10:27 pm
I didn’t say directly funded. Do you really think that funding those groups didn’t help the bin Laden and the radicals into power there? Hell, even W was pushing for a deal to help the Taliban fund a gas pipeline when he was Texas gov and when he became president (Unocal deal). http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=bf5_1174791262
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/MAD201A.html
burqa August 11th, 2014 at 12:10 am
Yes, funding the warlords I listed did not help bin Laden. You need to read the accounts by those who were there and Coll’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book instead of relying on the National Enquirer. When you find out the suspicion between the various warlords and especially directed towards the Arabs, and the way bin Laden and the Arabs relied on the Saudis, you’ll understand.
Eric Trommater August 11th, 2014 at 12:19 am
The Enron deal with the Taliban and various governement agencies involvement with it was huge news back when it happend. It’s not even debatable. It wasn’t even covert. It was widely covered and there was no attempt by the US governement to even cover it up until after 9-11.
burqa August 11th, 2014 at 11:31 pm
I agree with you on the oil deal. That had nothing to do with bin Laden and the Arab volunteers who went to fight the Soviet invasion. The pipeline deal was years later, also.
I also agree with you on unintended consequences, but I do not think our efforts helping the warlords fight the Soviets was a mistake. For one thing, it bled the Soviets, slowly in a way that would be debilitating. Second, it eliminated threats to our bases and Navy from the airfields the Soviets were building in the southwest of Afghanistan. I think where we dropped the ball was in not following through after the Soviets left. This is understandable, since whatever was going on in this far away corner of the world got far less of our attention than did the fall of the Soviet Union and developments in the former Soviet empire.
We did not fund bin Laden in Afghanistan or otherwise support him or the Arab volunteers.
burqa August 11th, 2014 at 12:29 am
You didn’t say indirectly funded, either.
Funding the groups I mentioned did not help the Arab volunteers or bin Laden. You are unaware of how those groups got along, or didn’t. You are unaware of what those who were there have said.
I’ll take Coll’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Ghost Wars” over the National Enquirer any day.
Learn to go to the best sources.
On this one, there are the authors I listed, above. Right with them would also be Peter Bergen. I have studied all his books and he never says we funded bin Laden or the Arabs in Afghanistan. Another of the most highly regarded authors on al Qaeda is Rohan Gunaratna, who wrote “Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror.” He, too, never says such a thing.
You guys have conflated bin Laden’s prominence in the 21st century to his prominence in the 1980s. The first report filed by the CIA on bin Laden was about 1993, several years after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan.
burqa August 11th, 2014 at 11:50 pm
It just isn’t true that we funded bin Laden, directly or indirectly. We sent more in aid in the form of materiel, rather than cash, and among the weaponry we sent were Stinger and British Blowpipe anti-aircraft missiles. Can you cite any source that states bin Laden got even one of these things out of the thousands we sent there?
You’ve bought a story built on thinking that is superficial, in that it figures we flung money and arms around to one and all when we did not.
This is something I have researched.
You will search in vain for this story from former NSC counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke’s “Against All Enemies,” no luck in former CIA counterterrorism Center deputy chief Paul Pillar’s “Terrorism and U.S. Foreign Policy, zippy skippy in Tim Weiner’s “Legacy of Ashes.” Look in Benjamin and Simon’s “The Age of Sacred Terror” and all you’ll come away with is a 5-gallon bucket of squadoosh. George Crile wrote a fine account of the U.S. effort in Afghanistan. Crile extensively interviewed Rep. Charlie Wilson and his sidekick, Gust Avrakatos, but your story is nowhere to be seen in “Charlie Wilson’s War.” You will not find it in books on the CIA by Ronald Kessler, or Joseph J. Trento.
So far, the sources I have checked for this story are:
* “Ghost Wars” – the Pulitzer Prize-winning best history book on the CIA, Afghanistan and bin Laden,
* Milt Bearden – a CIA chief of station who ran the operation from Pakistan,
* Gary Schroen – a senior CIA case officer who was also directly involved,
* Gust Avrakatos – the CIA officer who ran the overall program,
* Steve Simon and Daniel Benjamin – 2 former national Security Council directors of counterterrorism,
* Peter Bergen – he best author on bin Laden,
* Paul Pilar – the former deputy chief of the CIA Counterterrorism Center,
* Charlie Wilson – the representative in Congress who not only spearheaded the program, but closely rode herd on it,
* the more highly regarded authors on bin Laden and al Qaeda; as well as the CIA.
Eric Trommater August 10th, 2014 at 10:37 pm
There was an ongoing revenue stream between the US Government and the Taliban. I think what you meant to say is that we weren’t the significant percentage of there ability to arm themselves. That is very true and also our military training was almost negligible by the time they were able to sieze power. What @Tommy6860:disqus and many others point out time and time again is that the law of unintended consequences makes our tempory allies our future enemies and repeating this proccess as if we learned nothing from our past mistakes is simply asking for the same results.
burqa August 10th, 2014 at 11:55 pm
What I meant to say is what I said. We did not fund bin Laden or any of the Arab volunteers who went to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets.
We funded the warlords I listed and perhaps a few others. A first hand account of their meeting with the CIA is described in Bearden’s book, pages 228-236.
I have never read an account of us having any contact with the Taliban, either.
I suggest you and Tommy6860 read the sources I provided for first hand accounts as to what happened.
The Taliban was not bin Laden’s outfit, sorry. The Arabs were resented to a large degree and kept to themselves much of the time. The Arabs did not receive the funding or arms we supplied.
Eric Trommater August 11th, 2014 at 12:16 am
I think we agree on much more than you think. My point was the idea of the enemy of my enemy is my friend hasn’t served us well in the past and seems likely to backfire if we make a similar stratagy with Iran against ISIS. As far as contact with the Taliban and the US Governement that is very well documented and @Tommy6860:disqus gave a couple links out of thousands that speak more to what really went on than a few agents covering their behinds. I also add to that the fact that I was alive and read the news everyday while this was going on and saw it happen in real time.
burqa August 11th, 2014 at 11:39 pm
I think you are right about agreement. I covered some you mention, below.
I was responding to one point, a bogus story people believe that we funded or otherwise supported bin Laden when he was in Afghanistan.
We did not.
Bringing in the Taliban and the pipeline deal merely clouds the issue.
Since we are just now getting acquainted, I should tell you that since the later days of the Clinton administration, I have been working on a research project on terrorism and espionage. The database I have built is considerable. In the course of this work, I have assembled a decent library of sources.
On this issue, the sources I have checked are:
* the Pulitzer Prize-winning best history book on the CIA, Afghanistan and bin Laden,
* a CIA chief of station who ran the operation from Pakistan,
* a senior CIA case officer who was also directly involved,
* the CIA officer who ran the overall program,
* 2 former national Security Council directors of counterterrorism,
* The best author on bin Laden,
* the former deputy chief of the CIA Counterterrorism Center,
* the representative in Congress who not only spearheaded the program, but closely rode herd on it,
* the more highly regarded authors on bin Laden and al Qaeda.
Eric Trommater August 10th, 2014 at 10:45 pm
“Of course history repeats itself. Motherf*ckers don’t listen,” Howard Zinn.
R J August 10th, 2014 at 10:20 pm
What more can I say
Suzanne McFly August 11th, 2014 at 9:38 am
This ad is so plausible it is almost perverse
tiredoftea August 10th, 2014 at 11:35 pm
“…he will have committed a blunder for the ages.” Yes, Lindsey, the blunder was your support of W and Darth Cheney and their holy war against Iraq. Oh, drawing back when they had OBL under the gun counts, too. But, hey, you just keep blowing that smoke.
peacedreamer August 11th, 2014 at 12:24 am
Deception & lies …all is deception & lies.
Lindsay is just another mouthpiece for the war profiteers who sacrifice anything to control humanity across our beloved earth. While he & his cronies park their arrogant butts behind a mic millions suffer starvation, homelessness, violent attacks, disease, dismemberment & premature death. Nothing satisfies their lust for power. I hope God has a “delete key” & is willing to use it against those who will not surrender their insanity.
If there is a “recycle bin” in the matrix (until humans such as he learn otherwise) maybe you could go to an alternate planet for rehab?
Wallace are you a clone? Did they place you in a mind altering chamber for a warp? (your bias is so obvious) Have you just sold your soul for money? Maybe it’s just me but years back you seemed to be a more heart-centered man? My mistake for thinking so?
Herb Sarge Phelps August 11th, 2014 at 1:04 am
Watch out Lindsey pretty soon someone is going to think you and Sarah Palin have an affair going and boy will John McCain be angry.
bhil August 11th, 2014 at 8:49 am
You first Lindsay right to the head of the line!
linann.singh@yahoo.com August 11th, 2014 at 9:16 am
If you want to go back and protect Hollowburton, go! Leave our Sons and Daughters here!!!!
Towanda August 12th, 2014 at 11:03 am
As a military mother of TWO, I agree 1000%
Suzanne McFly August 11th, 2014 at 9:36 am
These bastards will not be satisfied unless we have another Nagasaki or Hiroshima tragedy on our hands again.
Jake August 11th, 2014 at 10:36 am
Is there anything this lizard won’t say to get his hands on a fat paycheck from the military suppliers?
Jack Tafoya August 11th, 2014 at 12:13 pm
Kill ’em all!! Let God sort it out! Is that the STUPID THINKING Lindsey the Chicken Hawk is using!!?? We cannot protect ourselves from every crazy group or individual. Security is a word you think in your head to save your stomach lining! Security does not exist and never did! If you want to invite more hate for America, start another war!
Charles Rowin August 11th, 2014 at 1:35 pm
Just because she said so? Better wake up.