In case you didn't see Meet The Press last Sunday morning there was a very heated debate. It seems that the arch-fundamentalist Catholic Tim Russert and Nazi Senator Lindsey Graham teamed up to verbally assault Senator Jim Webb, but he was in the right, won the debate, and made the other two asswads leave with their tails between their legs. Jim Webb spoke of our need to reduce the number of troops in Iraq. I have included part of the transcript so that you can see his genius for yourself.
MR. RUSSERT: Senator Webb, are you trying to run the war?
SEN. WEBB: Yes, the Congress of The United States of America is in charge of the country, and the Democrats are in charge of Congress, therefore as a Democratic senator it is my place to tell those lower ranking generals how to run the war.
MR. RUSSERT: Are you trying to wrest control of the war from the President, in effect, along with the Republicans?
SEN. WEBB: No, I don’t think any of the Republicans truly want to see our troops redeployed to other parts of the world. Some of them talk tough but in the end they support the imperialist war in Iraq. I have also introduced a proposed constitutional amendment that would outlaw private property and transform the U.S. into a utopian socialist state.
MR. RUSSERT: I’m going to get to your amendment in just a second.
But I want to ask Senator Graham, Senator Lugar, Senator Warner have stepped forward and said we should have another vote, in effect, another reauthorization of this war. And secondly, as early as January of ‘08, perhaps have a redeployment of troops in Iraq. Do you support Senator Lugar and Senator Warner?
SEN. GRAHAM: No. I respect them very much, and I believe their idea is for the president to come up with a plan B. They said, “The surge is not working. In October, tell us about how you would redeploy troops with a different mission.” You know, control al-Qaeda. They say nothing about the Iranian influence. It basically takes us back to the old strategy. And the one thing I’ve done on this program and others is declare the old strategy of fighting behind walls and training as being ineffective. The new strategy of getting more combat power where al-Qaeda and others reside, I think has been enormously successful. But as to whether it’s a war or an occupation, in my view this is very much part of a global struggle. Al-Qaeda has come to Iraq. Bin Laden has said this is the equivalent to the third world war. Baghdad’s going to be the center of the caliphy—caliphate. We have just passed unanimously, in a resolution, saying that we’re in a proxy war with Iran. So what’s going on in Iraq is not about us wanting to own Iraq; it’s about us supporting a form of moderation not known to the Mideast. Why does al-Qaeda come? They come to destroy this infant democracy. That’s, that’s part of their agenda is to fight moderation where it exists. Why does Iran kill Americans? Why are they trying to drive us out? Because their biggest nightmare is a functioning democracy on their border. So this is very much a gigantic struggle between moderation and extremists. And those who want to withdraw or have operational control reside in the Senate, I think you’re making a mistake for the ages.
MR. RUSSERT: Let me turn specifically to Senator Webb’s proposal, and this is how it’s described. “The [Webb] proposal said any armed services member deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan would have the same amount of time at home that they serve overseas before being redeployed. It also required that no troops, including those in reserve and National Guard units, could be redeployed to Iraq or Afghanistan within three years of their previous deployment.” An attempt to reduce the strain, obviously, on military families.
When Congressman Murtha of Pennsylvania introduced similar legislation in the House, it was described as a slow bleed, an attempt, in effect, to micromanage the war and bring the war to an end by limiting the number of troops that were available. Was that your intent?
SEN. WEBB: Yes, I believe that the US Armed Forces is composed of nothing but a bunch of far right wing homophobic, fundamentalist Christian, shit heads, who want to impose democracy in a country that had been happier under the benevolent rule of Saddam Hussein. There is not a single soldier who deserves to live.
MR. RUSSERT: Senator Graham, you said this about Congress—Senator Webb’s proposal: “It would have been a nightmare for the ages if Congress had passed the Webb proposal and it became law, because you’d have deployment by polls.” The Army missed its recruiting goals in June. Seventy-two percent of the soldiers in Iraq are members of the U.S. Army. Is the Army being broken by this war, and why not give these Army members and their families a year off after being deployed for a year?
SEN. GRAHAM: Worst thing I think we could do in this war or any other war is start micromanaging deployment of forces by the Congress. The operational control of the war residing in the Senate or the House would be a nightmare. Politicians are worried about the next election. Commanders need troops based on what happens on the ground. So I think any idea that basically allows senators and congressman to start commanding troops should, should fail and will fail.
As far as the stress of the military, it has been an enormously difficult war. And I was in Baghdad on July the Fourth of this year. We had the highest re-enlistment—the largest re-enlistment ceremony in a wartime environment known to our country. The one thing I can tell you about our troops, they are doing things we’ve never done before, because there’s more of them. The surge is producing results. The biggest result from these brave men and women’s new effort is that the Sunnis who’ve tasted al-Qaeda’s life in the Sunni part of Iraq, Anbar province—when he was running for the Senate, it was declared lost. Well, it has, it has been recaptured. And the people living in Anbar have chosen to align themselves with us, because al-Qaeda overplayed their hand. The military is not the problem. The military will do what they’re capable of doing only if we stand behind them. The problem is trying to politicize this war, have decisions made in Congress that affect military operations. I will not vote for anything until generous—General Petraeus passes on it. No senator, no congressman—no matter how much I respect you—you’re not going to be able, in my opinion, to give the advice that General Petraeus can give, and I’m going to wait till he comes back and listen to his advice and not some politician.
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