Stevens stands by war decision
Originally published Thursday, March 20, 2008 at 12:00 a.m.
Updated Thursday, March 20, 2008 at 10:22 a.m.
Sen. Ted Stevens defended his vote to authorize the war in Iraq and America’s continued military presence in the Mideast nation on the fifth anniversary of the conflict.
“I think history will show that we took the battle to the people that caused our problems with 9/11, that if we had not developed the abilities to keep them there overseas, they would have come here,” Stevens said during a 30-minute interview with local media outlets Tuesday afternoon.
The 84-year-old senator stopped short of directly tying the regime of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to al-Qaida, the group believed to have committed the 9/11 terror attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. Claims of a connection between the two have long been disputed by official government reports.
However, Stevens said that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have kept al-Qaida too occupied with ground forces to stage another terror attack on U.S. soil. He also said that taking Hussein out of power was good for the future of the Mideast.
“In Saddam Hussein we had a potential Hitler,” he said. “He massacred people just like Hitler did.”
Stevens praised Gen. David Petraeus' handling of the war in Iraq since he was selected to lead the multinational force there in 2007, calling him a military man on par with former President Dwight Eisenhower, the supreme commander of Allied Forces in Europe during World War II.
“If we give him enough time and support I think he will arrange that we will get the Afghans and Iraqis to defend themselves as Israel has done now for 50 years,” he said.
Alaska’s senator flatly rejected the idea of setting timetables for withdrawing from Iraq, saying that doing so would be harmful to troops and give insurgents a tactical advantage, but he was confident that fewer troops would remain on the ground there in the future as more of the country’s security is turned over to Iraqis.
“This is not something that’s easily done to finish the job in Iraq,” he said. “The only way to finish the job in Iraq is to get (Iraqis) to where they can defend themselves and pull back, and I think Petraeus can accomplish that. Just give him time.”
Comments
The key word here is STAND Sen. Stevens is standing for something ; the security of the Usa and Iraq, Which will greatly enhance the security of the world. Defacing war memorials,undermining what our troops are doing with the anti everything ;that makes this country the greatest on the planet;attitude ,is just a conveinant jesture/sewer rite at best cause WE happen to be doing something about the sucess & survival of the Usa's and many other country's future.
Speaking of the Anchorage war memorial, I'll bet that the vandals that poured red paint on it are adament that they support the troops. Just being patriotic.
Yea same mentality as Charles Manson.
I meant to say------- Yeah them kinda people have the same mentailty as Charles Manson.
"I think history will show that we took the battle to the people that caused our problems with 9/11..."
Someone should remind Uncle Ted that none of the 9/11 hijackers was an Iraqi...Yawn! Same old tired rhetoric!
Yeah, we took the battle to the people who caused our problems on 9/11... in Afghanistan. Then we got distracted in Iraq and lost a trillion dollars and more American lives than we lost on 9/11, and for what? Bin Laden got away, there are more terrorists now than there were before we started, and our economy's tanking. How can Ted Stevens continue to think this was a good idea?
Be a man, Ted. Admit to a mistake for once.
Guess again , Iraq was a hub,a staging area,for their cohort's, etc. for them.''Uncle Ted'' aint that brainless.
That's completely a unsubstantiated statement, and has been refuted time and time again.
you all that would step on the graves of all that died to keep this americann land free, all that would backstab the boys gettin harms way for you, back off, your right to live free was payed for, but that dont meen its free ,you that cut down ted stevens should think befor you open that trap you call a right ,it was payed for by the lives of a lot the usa, would you have more 911,s ? would you have it like bagdad in the usa ? i dont think youd like it one bit, if your going to cut down , backstab my love,ed ones, go live in the ussr, low life,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Iraq was not a hub or a staging area for al Qaeda or their "cohorts." If any country in that region could claim that title, it's Saudi Arabia, although al Qaeda was present there against the wishes of their government -- just as they were present here as they prepared for their attack. Saddam and al Qaeda had no working relationship. Saddam was a secular dictator who believed that radical religious jihadists like al Qaeda threatened to undermine his power. They're all bad guys from our perspective, but that doesn't make them friends, any more than it makes those notorious street gangs, the Crips and the Bloods, best buddies.
These are simple factual matters that it's every American's responsibility to understand. This is the largest, and saddest, gap between moderates and conservatives right now. Pro-war conservatives are clinging to a large set of assertions that just flat out aren't true.
I don't think "Uncle Ted" is brainless enough to believe the nonsense about Iraq being tied to al Qaeda. But he is plenty comfortable with the standard Washington dishonesty of sticking to party talking points because they're politically useful, even if they're false.
To paradox44: The truth needs no defense. And as an FYI: The USSR fell in 1991.
amgray19 your wrong about one thing, that is persons in the ussr free ? not theyer called subjects,they are not free like you or me,,thank you,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
i fear my government more than some terrorists.
Nobody's arguing that our soldiers haven't done a great job -- they have. But it's insulting to them if we don't make sure politicians are using their service responsibly, sending them only into wars that are necessary to make America safer. The Iraq war was destined to make us less safe no matter how well our troops do their jobs. The problem was never with the troops, but with the civilian chickenhawks sitting in Washington think tanks and indulging in ideological delusions at the expense of ordinary American citizens and soldiers.
SETEC-Their theHE same religion as their ''cohort's in Iran who also have and contiue to be and always have been ''cohort's''with their religious fanatic ''cohort's'' in Iraq and all over Southeast Asia.Youre ignoring the fact that al qaeda is using their religious affiliations all or s.e. asia as well as many other part's of the world as they always have,long before 84 year old ''uncle ted'' fought in world war 2 ;not so you could exercie the sewer rite to badmouth him though.
SETEC-Their the same religion as their ''cohort's in Iran who also have and contiue to be and always have been ''cohort's''with their religious fanatic ''cohort's'' in Iraq and all over Southeast Asia.Youre ignoring the fact that al qaeda is using their religious affiliations all or s.e. asia as well as many other part's of the world as they always have,long before 84 year old ''uncle ted'' fought in world war 2 ;not so you could exercie the sewer rite to badmouth him though.
I'm having a hard time following the "logic" in these posts...
Some seem to argue like this: If you criticize the government, you're ungrateful for the service of our men and women in the military.
Huh? I don't think so. War doesn't suspend the responsibility of those that disagree with the government. The government works for the people, not the other way around. We're founded on the very idea of dissent! What a concept!
To bad the government isn't actually working for the people but only for their own personal pocket book.
There were no WMDs in Iraq. There is no proof that Hussein backed Al Queda. None of the 9/11 hijakcers were Iraqi.
The "war" in Iraq is a sham to steal more middle east oil, to make the Bush illuminati and their cohorts even more wealthy. And, it is all shrouded under the pretenses of one religious fundamentalist group (Christians) fighting another religious fundamentalist group (Islamics) for power (oil) and control (territory). Just like the vast majority of death and wars have been ever since man invented religion.
The concept of agreeing with the government just because it's the government is the position of subjects, not citizens. How many agreed with Clinton's sending troops to Yugoslavia? Unlike the situtation in Iraq at the time of our attack (Saddam had already put down his opponents), there was actually genocide happening in the breakup of Yugoslavia. Most Republicans were opposed to our intervention and restricted the options of the president. Bush ran opposed to that kind of 'world police' action. We have done nothing with Dalfur in the Sudan. Now the idea of linking Osama with Iraq is simular to linking Jerry Falwell with the Pope. That idea was considered so unbelievable that orignally it was only put forward by talk radio. One fact we often forget: Before the 2000 election, the position of Cheney and the group, the New American Century, was to do something about Iraq. That was before 9-11 and tales of weapons of mass destruction. This has never been explained. Flying flags is not as patriotic as questioning authority.
Ellen - can we be friends? I really like your style.
paradox44, what's this love affair with commas?
"There was genocide happening in the breakup of Yugoslavia." Saddam didn't take part in any genocide in his country?
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2002/03/22/i...
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/articl...
http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/wmdqu...
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/1271
As a vet with a year in Saudi Arabia prior to us "being" there, I must say. I support our troops 1000%, they do what their superiors tell them to do. With that said, we are in the WRONG COUNTRY!!! We should have attacked Saudi along with Afghanistan! The terrorist were Saudi, not Iraqi. There were few if maybe no Al Quaida in Iraq until we invaded them. We went to war to remove Sadam Hussien. He was a HUGE A-hole, but we have supported so many of them over the years that the list would not even fit on this forum!! We need to get out of Iraq and re-evaluate what we are doing with foreign policy. Maybe we can correct the ignorant policies of this current administration.
Ted Stevens is just another crook in Washington among the Republican and Democratic Legislators selling their votes to the highest bidder.
Common sense dictates that we take care of the immediate threat to the USA. Bin Laden and al-Qaeda attacked us. The murdering scumbags were from Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Iraq had nothing to do withg 9/11.
King Pinocchio's grade "C" mind and lies half truths and manipulated intelligence(Downing Street Memos) have hurt us financially and security wise. Bin Laden was right when he said the only way to hurt us was financially. and he did.
The only ones profitting off the Iraqi Civil War Debacle is the Bush Administration, their Family members, Friends and Political Cronies.
Lie after lie is spewed from the Neo Con Parasites infesting the Executive Branch. And Americans are too scared to say anything about it.
No justice for the 3,000 murdered American Citizens on 9/11 because we quit looking for Bin Laden and al-Qaeda.
No justice for the over 4,000 dead American Soldiers, Marines and Sailors killed in Iraq because they died in a country with no connections to 9/11 on a everchanging basis built on lies.
If my kid were killed in Iraq, I'd be pissed.. At whoever sent them there.
Like I said before.. Look at who profitted off the Iraqi Civil War Quagmire.. King Pinocchio, Shotgun Cheney, their families.. The Republican and Democratic Legislators..See if they have any holdings in any company making a profit off the Iraqi Civil War.
Vietnam ring a bell? When the Americans go to an area, the insurgents hide out until after we leave. They pop back up after we leave and begin the assassinations, murder and mayhem against any collaborators and any one in any position.. Government officials, doctors, and teachers. Terror. Call me a liar but this is another Vietnam. or they quit teaching history.. Or what passes for history.
Vietnam
The Iraq war has been going on for over five years now so every person in the U.S. military either enlisted or reenlisted knowing that they would be going to war. They are not stupid victims, they are heroes.
Sorry boys and girls but there is in fact evidence that Saddam was playing with Al-Qaeda. In fact here is an article from TODAY referring to the documents that were found in Iraq that are still being translated.
http://www.newsmax.com/timmerman/iraq_al...
BTW: Barack and Billary are also aware of them. So please tell them to lay off the parlor tricks.
NEWSMAX!!! You are kidding right?!!! How about the 911 Commission! I beg of you people, Stupid is as Stupid does!!
Sorry I beleive the documents were found after the 911 commission report.
Furthermore, just because the 911 report concludes Saddam had no ties to 911 doesn't mean he had no ties with Al Qaeda.
An exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network.
The Pentagon-sponsored study, scheduled for release later this week, did confirm that Saddam's regime provided some support to other terrorist groups, particularly in the Middle East, U.S. officials told McClatchy. However, his security services were directed primarily against Iraqi exiles, Shiite Muslims, Kurds and others he considered enemies of his regime.
The new study of the Iraqi regime's archives found no documents indicating a "direct operational link" between Hussein's Iraq and al Qaida before the invasion, according to a U.S. official familiar with the report.
Those Commie's over at the Pentagon with their Liberal Agenda's!!
And then there was silence....
Yeah , if there's ever a case of you are what you say, it's you and you and youre user name Y M B C -- You should campaign for AL- SADR.
Do these anti-war talking points come with your breakfast cereal? Or do you read them in Newsweek, Time, or Rolling Stone? Oh, I know, you have secret access to confidential security information. That explains how you know that there were no WMDs (news to the Kurds), and no Al Qaida (news to those killed or captured so far). Oh, and the one I really love is that Bush and his cronies only did this to enrich themselves. I mean, heck, the president has just done fabulously by conducting an unpopular (yet stategic) war. And Cheney, why that sly fox gave up a multi million dollar job to make a couple of hundred thousand, and be spit on by the likes of you. He's got gall.
I wonder if it is possible that greater minds than yours are at work, thinking about strategic interests beyond what Rolling Stone reports. I dont know, just a thought. It would be kind of smart to have a strong ally in the region, besides our great friends in Israel. Oh, would you like to sell them out too. Yea, life is cheap, when it is so easy, and so cool, to protest.
Whoa! Dont get excited! Protest is cool. Sometimes it's right. Not always.
AKNufsaid, glaciatis, both of you are what this administration counts on. Go read the Penatagon's report. Please dont take my word for it. Its not my word it is our military and our government. YouMustBConfused
Once again people are lossing their perspective. After five years if the truth of Iraq can not be discussed without retreating into fanatic vs fanatic we have larger problems than Iraq, health care, and the economy.
Answer the question: Do we want to be the World's Policeman?
For all of you questioning our involvement in Iraq and slamming Stevens’ statements:
Summarized from http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/storie...
1980s: Hussein terrorizes (including persecutions and executions) thousands of Fayli Kurds in an effort to ethnically cleanse Iraq.
1982: After an assassination attempt, Hussein ordered 1500 Dujail men, women, and children corralled and detained. 143 men and boys were later hung.
1983: Too horrible to even summarize: “…Saddam decided to punish Kurdish clan leader Masoud Barzani… Saddam ordered his troops to abduct as many as 8,000 men and boys from the Barzani clan... Troops sealed off villages, went house to house and took away every Barzani male older than 10 that they could find. The abducted Barzanis were never seen again…”
1988: Hussein orders strikes against Northern Iraq’s Kurds killing between 50,000 and 182,000 people during the Anfal campaign. This is the first recorded instance of any government attacking its own citizens with chemical weapons.
1988: Again, better quoted: “An estimated 5,000 people died in Halabja from the lethal mix of mustard gas, sarin and VX nerve agent dropped on the town. Thousands of others have died from long–term medical complications from the bombings… The attacks, which were ordered by “Chemical” Ali Hassan al–Majid, [Saddam’s cousin] mark the only time since the Holocaust that poison gas has been used to kill women and children. Photographs document the slaughter…. Experts have referred to Halabja as a war crime and a crime against humanity.”
1990: Motivated by oil greed, Hussein orders 100,000 troops into Kuwait where “[t]he Iraqi military allegedly committed crimes while [there]. Evidence suggests that it tortured and killed hundreds of Kuwaiti nationals and people from other nations. Foreign hostages were taken, Kuwaiti properties were looted, and Iraqi forces set fire to more than 700 Kuwaiti oil wells and opened pipelines to let oil pour into the Gulf."
And guess what guys, there’s more. But you’re right, Saddam probably wasn’t harboring terrorist, even though “…we know that Saddam Hussein’s government supported terrorism by paying "bonuses" of up to $25,000 to the families of Palestinian homicide bombers. How do we know this? Tariq Aziz, Hussein's own deputy prime minister, was stunningly candid about the Baathist government’s underwriting of terrorist killings in Israel.” http://www.husseinandterror.com/
And you’re right, there’s absolutely no proof that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, even though he used them on his own people. The proof exists forensically in Iraq’s soil.
DITTO -- Y M B C -- One name for your reasoning or what ever it is YOU throw out there Mr innocent- -------------------- Muqtada al-Sadr------------
--------- AND IF THEIR ''COMMIES WITH LIBERAL AGENDA'S '' WHY YOU BELEIVE THEM
and then there was silence....
Dana, YOU I love.
The question is: Do we want to be the world's policeman? It that simple. There are always rotten people. Do we want our sons and daughters to die saving people who may not even want us there except so that they can switch places with whomever we overthrow? Do we want to pay for it? This is an important question. The list of places to police can start with Tibet (wouldn't that be fun). There several nice locations to chose from in sunny Africa. Is our welcome worn out in Latin America yet? Then there is the unfinished work on the Axis of Evil, Iran and Korea. Our military exists to defend THIS country. Does anyone think that is happening? If so why are our borders not secure. Why were those planes not shot down on 9-11.
For all of you NOT questioning our involvement in Iraq and NOT slamming Stevens’ statements --
December 1982. Hughes Aircraft ships 60 Defender helicopters to Iraq.
November 1983. Banca Nazionale del Lavoro of Italy and its Branch in Atlanta begin to funnel $5 billion in unreported loans to Iraq. Iraq, with the blessing and official approval of the US government, purchased computer controlled machine tools, computers, scientific instruments, special alloy steel and aluminum, chemicals, and other industrial goods for Iraq's missile, chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs.
October 1983. The Reagan Administration begins secretly allowing Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Egypt to transfer United States weapons, including Howitzers, Huey helicopters, and bombs to Iraq. These shipments violated the Arms Export Control Act.
November 1983. George Schultz, the Secretary of State, is given intelligence reports showing that Iraqi troops are daily using chemical weapons against the Iranians.
December 20, 1983. Donald Rumsfeld , then a civilian and now Defense Secretary, meets with Saddam Hussein to assure him of US friendship and materials support.
March 1986. The United States with Great Britain block all Security Council resolutions condemning Iraq's use of chemical weapons, and on March 21 the US becomes the only country refusing to sign a Security Council statement recognizing Iraq's use of these weapons.
May 1986. The US Department of Commerce licenses 70 biological exports ot Iraq between May of 1985 and 1989, including at least 21 batches of lethal strains of anthrax.
May 1986. US Department of Commerce approves shipment of weapons grade botulin poison to Iraq.
April 1988. US Department of Commerce approves shipment of chemicals used in manufacture of mustard gas.
August 1988. Iraq and Iran declare a cease fire.
August 1988. Five days after the cease fire Saddam Hussein sends his planes and Hughes helicopters to northern Iraq to begin massive chemical attacks against the Kurds.
September 1988. US Senate Foreign Relations Committee summarizes their knowledge of the victims of the chemical attacks: "Those who were very close to the bombs died instantly. Those who did not die instantly found it difficult to breathe and began to vomit. The gas stung the eyes, skin, and lungs of the villagers exposed to it. Many suffered temporary blindness. Those who could not run from the growing smell, mostly the very old and the very young, died."
September 1988. US Department of Commerce approves shipment of weapons grade anthrax to Iraq.
September 1988. US Department of Commerce approves shipment of weapons grade botulinum toxin to Iraq.
December 1988. Dow chemical sells $1.5 million in pesticides to Iraq despite knowledge that these would be used in chemical weapons.
etc... Just write it off as propaganda if it doesn't fit with your world view.
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