[From the diaries by susanhu w minor edits.] Last night Matthews had a segment with the parents of Lance Corporal Edward Schroeder, an Ohio Marine who was killed in Iraq. The transcript has been posted by MSNBC and if you haven’t seen the segment, please read the transcript. Crooks and Liars has the video online. Below, read statements that the amazing parents, Rosemary Palmer and Paul Schroeder, made to Matthews:
(Cross posted on DailyKos and My Left Wing.)
What is your feeling about that now?
PALMER: Well, I personally believe that, since it is not working, then we have to make a change, that it is not worth the sacrifice if it is just more bodies on to the heap.
Like President Bush said, he wanted to stay the course and honor the memory of the ones who died by continuing to fight. If it didn’t work before, why does fighting more–you know, you do the same thing over and over, that’s–expecting a different result is, I think, the explanation of insanity.
In another segment on the same show, Matthews interviews a military analyst and he has this to say:
ALLARD: I’ll give you an unalloyed answer. No, we do not right now.
And I will tell you that I’ve heard those kinds of comments from Mr. Rumsfeld before, because we’ve probably had more meaningful discussions on MSNBC about the right level of troops than on anyplace else. I remember specifically a comment the vice president made about retired military officers embedded in TV studios, going back two more years. So, it is a long overdue discussion.
But I have got to tell you that, when you’re involved in an insurgency, you have literally no choice but to make sure that you’ve got enough manpower to control that situation, because, if you don’t, you’re going to see lots more stories like we’ve been covering in the last 72 hour.
MATTHEWS: Do you believe that the military commanders throughout this campaign in Iraq have been able to tell honestly the civilian leadership if they need more troops?
ALLARD: I’m not really sure, because I’ve not been privy, obviously, to those discussions.
But there’s an enormous presumption that when the former Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki stood up and said, look, it’s going to take a couple hundred thousand troops to control that situation, and he was shouted down, because the deputy secretary of defense said, it’s unimaginable that we’re going to require more people to secure that country than it does to take it down.
That’s in fact turned out to be precisely the case. What we have not done is to figure out how we’re going to sustain that commitment over the long term. And even more than that, Chris, if you take a look right now, most of that burden is being born by a disproportionate few in American society today.
Perhaps one of the most serious questions is how Bush will “draw down” the troop levels, as the Pentagon claims it will do in 2006, and at the same time be able to protect those soldiers who remain in Iraq. If our soldiers are targets now, with 138,000 troops on the ground, reducing that number could clearly result in more attacks on those who remain.
I can only shake my head at the complete insanity of everything associated with Bush, this administration and those Americans who continue to support a failed, insane policy.
How can you ask someone to be the last man to die for a mistake?
I watched the show last night and the parents were quite wonderful from my perspective, probably not from the die hard reps. tho.
They were forthright in their comments, Chris gave them the chance to say it. I say enough of this nonsense of “I think we are doing the right thing over there”, as is often reported of parents and loved ones, how much does it take for this admin. to admit they were wrong and get the heck out of there.
Answer is: They just don’t care, the cronies are making the bucks, etc.
Noble endeavor, hell no.!
I thought their impact was even more powerful because they were such rational, thoughtful, informed, intelligent people. Both of them.
I also couldn’t believe how they could be rational and thoughtful at such a time… would I? I doubt it. I’d be ranting and crying and screaming. Maybe they have the capacity to do that when they’re alone.
Their loss is staggering š And to think they were getting dressed to go to the service for ANOTHER dead Marine when the Marines walked up their sidewalk!
I know I couldn’t have been as rational as they were. To know that they were able to speak as clearly as they did on Hardball gives me hope that maybe, just maybe Americans will wake up to the insane man in the WH.
Did you see the MSNBC picture of Bush? He is smiling from his truck…..if that doesn’t point out the absolute insanity of what he has done, and the price too many are paying, I don’t know what does.
Susan,
There’s a monster big dangling modifier at the end of the first sentence. Makes it sound as if Corporal Schroeder was killed on “Hardball” (which is sometimes deadly dull but not always a killer).
It was fixed in the orange version. Can you tinker with it?
I fixed it..sorry it was horrid….shame on me..am now going to the corner….
Come back, all is forgiven!
It’s a wonderful diary, thank you for doing it. I wouldn’t have quibbled about it, except that it did, well . . .
lolol..it bothered me as well, I was just in too much of a hurry to post, and then was trying to get the video link, and….guess unlike Bush..I DO make mistakes : ) I do appreciate the correction, thanks!
Didn’t see the show (don’t have cable) but just read the transcript. Piss or get off the pot!
When the parents of the military members are turning against the action and being so vocal about it, you know it’s getting bad.
Bush is showing no respect for the troops, and that’s going to catch up to him. Conservative former and current military members will start to turn against him…
Novakula got a silver bullet last night. May he rest in eternal CNN hell. Jon Stewart is sooooooooo good. That was a priceless clip as I missed it last night.
Any parent that can go on Hardball and be so calm is amazing. We applaud them for speaking the TRUTH! Hey Karl are you reading this? The polls ain’t looking too good right now. What distraction do you have up your slimey sleeve now? Running out of tricks from the play book? Oh Goody!
Very hard to watch, but SJLady and Susan you’re right. These two parents are extremely well spoken. They appeared very contained, despite the recentness of their loss. It’s a shame that a death must be the tipping point for people to stop and consider the realities of this war. It’s a shame that it’s only the death of our own that makes us stop and consider the rightness of this war. And it’s a shame that I’ve shed more tears for your countrymen than their own president. It’s a goddamned shame all around.
What struck me was the perception I had that there was a deep seething anger, just below the surface. The father seemed as if he was very close to letting it fly. The way they expressed themselves in a quiet and dignified manner was very powerful and brought home the realization that there is a deep undercurrent beginning to show more in the population outside of the regular opposition and activist groups that we expect to hear from, and the clear call to the American people to stand up and say what needs to be said.
supersoling, with the father. I think you’ve identified an important aspect here. That deep seething anger – not towards Iraqis but towards the administration and those pushing this war forward – that’s different.
Yeah. The father seems a practical man. He said the Admin. needed to put in enough troops to do the job right, his opinion, or get out. I’m assume he also understands that the Iraqi’s are defending themselves, even though they (the Iraqi’s) are on the “other side”. It was pretty plain that his anger is with the American policy.