MyDD:: Edwards on MTP: No Combat Troops in Iraq (Video and Transcript)

[Catchawave]

Nice diary by an Edwards supporter and a good friend I met at YKos (disclosure!) on JRE's appearance today on MTP. Link includes transcript and video. Enjoy :D


http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/10/7/134019/078

Update with Video: Edwards on MTP: No Combat Troops in Iraq
by TomP, Sun Oct 07, 2007 at 01:40:19 PM EST

John Edwards again stood strong in his opposition to the Iraq war on Meet the Press today. He drew sharp distinctions between Clinton's plan to stay in Iraq indefinetely and his plan to bring our troops home.

Today, John Edwards explained to Timmy how to bring the trooops home:



If I were president, I would've already been bringing the troops out. If George Bush is still president, then he'll be in the position of either having to sign the legislation, which means he'll have to meet the timetable for withdrawal, or the money will dry up and he'll have to start withdrawing troops out of Iraq. Either way, the Congress has done exactly what the American people asked them to do in November of 2006, which is what they should do.



`Meet the Press' transcript for Oct. 7, 2007

[Lucinda]

1. Thanks for the transcript!

I'm on really flaky dial-up, and videos are often impossible for me to load.

[Catchawave]

3. I'm on flaky dial-up too, that's why I always try to include

the transcript :D I always appreciate that when other DUers do it. I see transcript requests in the Political Video forums too.

Sigh, DU's "other America" heh.

[Lucinda]

23. I can see the cable lines from my door

They just don't quite come up my section of the hill. :banghead:

[pretty_lies]

2. "Combat Troops" - Keep Spinning, John Edwards!

Edwards REALLY WANTS to persuade people who aren't listening closely that he's going to end the war. But he's plain lying. Less than half the troops in Iraq are combat troops. And there are 200,000 mercenaries that none of them will talk about.

None of the Democratic frontrunners will end the war. It's that simple!!!

Who will? Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, Bill Richardson, and Ron Paul.




http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iySWjciIrjB8hbu450lIABfnYcjw

HANOVER, N.H. (AP) — The leading Democratic White House hopefuls conceded Wednesday night they cannot guarantee to pull all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the end of the next presidential term in 2013.

“I think it’s hard to project four years from now,” said Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois in the opening moments of a campaign debate in the nation’s first primary state.

“It is very difficult to know what we’re going to be inheriting,” added Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

“I cannot make that commitment,” said former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

[benny05]

4. And their chances of winning the primaries?

Not too good.

I like the idea of rapid response in Kuwait. That's prudent.

[Catchawave]

5. It makes good sense too.....

There's a huge difference between "combat" and "security" troops, not many who argue on lefty blog boards understand that.

Good point, benny, it would be political suicide to insist ALL TROOPS ARE REMOVED, and the transcript clearly explains JRE's position on that.

[Cameron27]

9. Let me ask you something then,

because I thought Richardson made a good point. Has the military ever left non-combat troops behind in a civil war and what kind of risk would they be in, if the closest combat support was in another country?

[jsamuel]

16. Richardson is going to do the same thing.

That is the hilarity in his criticism.

He will leave non-combat troops at the embassy as well.

[Cameron27]

18. Do you have a link to that?

I can't believe that anyone with a brain would leave non-combat troops behind for any purpose, even guarding the embassy. Not in a war-zone.

[jsamuel]

20. He has said it repeatedly.

Richardson would leave a small Marine contingent behind in Iraq to protect the U.S. Embassy.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19307110/

Richardson's criticisms are a joke.

[MH1]

21. I watched Richardson on Snuffy this morning and he said

that if the embassy contingent wouldn't be safe he would pull them out too.

Anyone know if there's a transcript for Snuffy's show? I admit, I'm too lazy to look for it, but I watched it and that is what Richardson said.

[Cameron27]

22. I've looked, but I don't think the transcripts are available yet.

[Adelante]

25. I thought I understood Richardson to be saying

In the event the embassy would not be safe without combat troops, he would close the embassy and take everybody out.

[MontanaMaven]

6. Bill Richardson stikes me as an opportunist. And talk about "lies" or "fibs"?

It took him 40 years to admit that he had not been drafted by the Kansas City "A's". He makes stuff up.
He also made sure, as Chairman of the last Democratic Convention, that a peace plank was NOT in the platform.
Minions ran around the convention center ordering peace delegates to remove their peace scarves as it wouldn't
play well on national TV with the militaristic theme of the Richardson's convention.

Cross him off your list.

[Catchawave]

7. When he went after Edwards, I'm convinced

He's running for Hillary's V.P. Too bad, he was my pick for JE's VP :(

[MontanaMaven]

10. Good thing you dropped that idea

Perhaps I've studied him more than most because he is a Western governor. I've had a crash course in what it means to be a Democrat in the Rocky Mountain West. Often not pretty. Richardson is more of a business opportunist as Ezra Klein pointed out. He was also a big promoter of NAFTA and still is a supporter. Elizabeth Edwards said that JRE would pick someone with his same philosophy. That's smart. Otherwise, I'd watch my back. He needs somebody like an LBJ who could really work Congress. Bob Graham would be a great choice, in my opinion. Or Gary Hart. There's some great people out there.

[Catchawave]

11. Guess I'll cross Obama off my VP list too :)

...and LBJ who can really work Congress, he's not. Biden's the only one who does that now.....hmmmmm, there's the V.P. candidate! I always thought it would have to be a Gov/CEO type for the Top 3.

[seasat]

15. You mean the Kerry/Edwards team had the peace platform axed.

From the New York Times:

Senator John Kerry's representatives avoided a Democratic Party platform fight over Iraq on Saturday by persuading platform committee delegates supporting Representative Dennis J. Kucinich to withdraw their proposals for a quick withdrawal of United States combat troops from Iraq.

Instead, the committee agreed to present a platform to the Democratic convention in Boston this month that reflects Mr. Kerry's position. The statement of party principles promises to seek help from Western allies and Arab countries in bringing Iraq under control but says nothing about how to accomplish that goal.

The critical paragraph was worked out in negotiations between Mr. Kucinich's delegates and Mr. Kerry's supporters, led by Samuel R. Berger, who was President Bill Clinton's national security adviser.

It pledges to remove American troops ''when appropriate so that the military support needed by a sovereign Iraqi government will no longer be seen as the direct continuation of an American military presence.''

[MontanaMaven]

8. I think a "Rapid Response Team" in Kuwait is a great idea

Also, in the debate I heard him say that he would already have a multi national force in place in case genocide broke out. It's a great idea to have us leave Iraq except for the embassy. Then we have ended the war/occupation. If trouble breaks out again, the international community must step up. But we should also spend big bucks on real reparations for reconstruction.

Plus his idea of the Counter Intelligence Treaty Organization to fight terrorism is smart. http://johnedwards.com/news/speeches/a-new-strategy-against-terrorism/

[Cameron27]

12. Well Bill Richardson seems to be right about this

and Edwards' "rapid reponse team in another country" idea isn't something that the military has ever recommended for withdrawal:

“…chapter eight of the U.S. Army Field Manual, as noted in the Center for American Progress report “How to Redeploy: Implementing a Responsible Drawdown of U.S. Forces from Iraq," to support that "standard military procedure calls for non-combat troops to withdraw first, so they can be protected by combat forces.”

http://richardsonforpresident.com/newsroom/pressreleases?id=0289

[Catchawave]

13. LOL...

Good luck with that argument.

[Cameron27]

14. So you don't see any problem

with leaving non-combat troops behind in an Iraqi civil war, with their closest support outside the country. I'd have a problem with it if my son was the one left behind.

[Catchawave]

17. What do you do with the embassy?

Leave them unprotected? Leave a combat battalion of peacekeepers? How did that work out for Reagan? Remember 1st Battalion, 8th Marines?

[Cameron27]

19. Yes, as long as there's armed combat going on,

in a civil war, you leave combat troops to guard the embassy. What do you think will happen otherwise?

What are the total number of troops Edwards' is planning on leaving behind btw.

[Catchawave]

24. Embassy guards are armed.

Marine security forces are probably more lethal than Blackwater :evilgrin: And that's a good thing.

But to be fair, I think it stinks that Russert wanted the candidates to take a stupid "pledge". Most not knowing what Bush knows. I don't think they're privvy to that kind of intelligence until they're officially the nominee.

Remember the Beirut Barracks bombing? They were peacekeepers and politics dictated to them....do not put rounds in your chambers. Then what happened when the guard shack was overrun that morning?

My husband took his battalion in next to "guard the embassy", but he disobeyed the order, and let the men put bullets in their weapons. The U.S. Ambassador in Beirut was PISSED, so REagan brought the Marines home, my husband didn't make General, and no American lives were lost.

The rest is history in that region.

[Cameron27]

26. You're right,

I forgot about the Marines, so I was wrong about keeping combat troops to support the embassy, and it looks like Richardson was unfair to target Edwards about this.

[Catchawave]

27. Whew, thanks.....

Too much politics in this "war" not enough common sense. Read up on the Beirut Barracks fiasco, and how nicely it was swept under Reagan's carpet.

What have we learned? :hi:

[Cameron27]

28. I should have remembered

the marines actually are the combat troops guarding embassies. That was a really stupid mistake. Back at ya :hi: