Think Progress has the transcript of warmonger William Kristol’s appearance on Fox News this morning. Kristol continued his calls for attacking Iran. Then he was asked a question.
QUESTION: You know, the down side, though, you know very well, to all of that being that we’re involved in Iraq and Afganistan. Also that Iran is much different than Iraq. It’s huge and more formidable.
KRISTOL: It is, but also the Iranian people dislike their regime. I think they would be – the right use of targeted military force — but especially if political pressure before we use military force – could cause them to reconsider whether they really want to have this regime in power. There are even moderates – they are not wonderful people — but people in the government itself who are probably nervous about Ahmadinejad’s recklessness.
This is why standing up to Iran right now is so important. They’re overreached. They and Hezbollah have recklessly overreached. They got cocky. This is the moment to set them back. I think a setback to Hezbollah could trigger changes in Iran. People can say, wait a second, what is Ahmadinejad doing to us. We’re alone. The Arab world is even against us. The Muslim world is against us. Let’s reconsider this reckless path that we’re on.
It’s not entirely clear what path Iran is on. They’ve been accused of pursuing nuclear weapons, but we have absolutely no proof that they doing anything the violates the nuclear anti-proliferation treaty. They’ve been accused of giving the orders to Hezbollah to attack an Israeli outpost and kidnap some soldiers. But there is no proof of that either. It’s hard to say who is more reckless, William Kristol or Ahmadinejad. And it should be remembered that Ahmadinejad has no power. He’s like the Dan Quayle of Iran. He makes idiotic comments that make people feel uncomfortable, but no one fears him.
But Kristol is someone people actually listen to. I mean, he was Dan Quayle’s chief-of-staff. He helped gin up the war in Iraq. And he and his bloodthristy cohorts told us back in 2002-2003 that the Iraqis hated their regime, and that there were moderates that could take over and govern. He was wrong back then and he is almost certainly wrong today.
If anyone in Washington that matters is still taking Bill Kristol seriously, we are in real trouble. His ideas are bankrupt. They’re based on lies and delusions. His ideas have already cost tens of thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars. And they have made America much less safe, much less respected, and much less powerful militarily, morally, and economically.
When people call for war based on unsubstantiated facts and terrible predictions they should be treated like pariahs. Bill Kristol is no better than David Duke. In fact, he’s worse. He’s worse because important and powerful people take his jive talk seriously. But, really, there’s an old saying down in Tennessee, about fool me once, Fool me once… Shame on…Shame on you…Ifulmuh can’t be fooled again.
Kristol’s primary job is to give the clarion call to his delusional cohorts, the PNAC true believers, and as many of the ignorati as they can weaponize, to press the war forward as quickly and as forcefully as possible. The noecons know this is theirlast chance to expand their deadly agenda by a quantum leap and have even a remote chance of retaining power and credibilty moving forward into the future. If they can spread and intensify the war to a dimension so huge that no one will dare stand against it politically, they see this as their best shot to pursue their masd dreams of empire and global hegemony.
For lunatics like Kristol and Cheney and Krauthammer and Gerecht, even “winning” this war they are so enamored of is secondary to their aim of “perpetuating” it. They assume, (due to their belief in their own infallibility), that the war itself, once it assumes the all encompasing dimension they envision, will automatically result in victory for them, so perfect do they regard their own vision. Of course any rationalist, any first year student of hostory knows such a belief is so absurd as to be beyond insane, but this is where these nuts are at in their own deluded minds.
His father, Irving Kristol was a neo-con advisor to Reagan, and has some of the same kooky ideas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Kristol
Irving started out life as a Trotskyist, and later became disillusioned with the political left and then went over to the dark side.
You can download and watch “The Power of Nightmares”:
http://www.archive.org/details/ThePowerOfNightmares
Both Kristols are interviewed for this show.
Sometime earlier this week kristol stated during a fox interview (and for the life of me I can’t remember when esactly) that the Iranian problem arose during the late 70’s or early 80’s. the commentator accepted that. Then kristol went on in response to a followup re the 20 yrs or so of the shahs’ rule that that period was probably one of the most productive periods in Iranian history.
Kind of a interesting take on the shah don’t ya think. And whaddya know- wasn’t the good ol US of A that helped to overthrow the “Democratically” elected Mossedegh(spelling)? kristol is pure evil and he will suffer at some time- if there is a sometime as a result of his evil!
billjpa
Dear Booman . . .
I thank you for this, a warning worth heeding.
Someone please tell me; how did the Project for a New American Century become our government. Why is our current administration filled with its founders? I witnessed the process, though I was never able to comprehend how the neoconservatives swayed an apathetic public. Wow, I just answered my own question. Scary stuff!
made sure elections were sufficiently stolen and poisoned us with 911 so that we remain properly apathetic.
Dear fourtytwo . . .
To think they planned this take over for decades!
Everybody’s emotions are raw right now, so how can I put this gently? You’re answering, so I guess you’re curious at some level. There are many very strong indications that 9-11 was an inside job. The indications are of various nature. I am a physicist and can provide you with at least five ‘proofs’ (to my expert mind) if you so wish. Sure 9-11 was a gigantic operation needing a lot of preparation time. That in itself points to a huge organization and/or powerful people being involved. The time they needed for preparation is pure speculation. My feeling is that the ’93(or’94?) bombing of the WTC could have provided a ‘natural’ start, by giving people access to the inner ‘workings’ of the buildings.
that the only way out for our PNAC boys is the flight forward. And escalation is so much more manly! Consider this:
It’s 100% right.
their regime. I bet they wouldnt like to be bombed, tortured, murdered and raped back into the stone age even more, which is all we offer them in place of their regime judging by Iraq.
I’d much rather see him hung. But if I say that everybody’s gonna get aggravated.
So I won’t.
After all, we would be hailed as LIBERATORS, dontcha know.
If it weren’t so fucking obscene, it’d be funny.
“I mean, he was Dan Quayle’s chief-of-staff.”
So how come nobody’s calling him “Mr. Potatoe-head”?
If I may paraphrase Mr. Kristol:
The American people dislike their regime. I think they would be – the right use of targeted military force — but especially if political pressure before we use military force – could cause them to reconsider whether they really want to have this regime in power. There are even moderates – they are not wonderful people — but people in the government itself who are probably nervous about Bush’s recklessness.
This is why standing up to America right now is so important. They’re overreached. They and their allies have recklessly overreached. They got cocky. This is the moment to set them back. I think a setback in Iraq could trigger changes in America. People can say, wait a second, what is Bush doing to us. We’re alone. The Western world is even against us. The Christian world is against us. Let’s reconsider this reckless path that we’re on.
Kristol is reading from Tom Tommorow’s script.
Two observations,and a personal interaction:
U.S. citizens need to remember that Iranians are not Arabs, at least not in the main. They are Persians, and should not be lumped together with the Arab world so easily as many in and out of the administration do. Second, as noted above, Western intervention in Iranian affairs goes back many years before the fall of the Shah. The dissatisfaction with the religious rulers – and it certainly exists inside and outside of Iran – should not be taken as a sign that the U.S. would be welcomed with flowers and candy. Doesn’t that sound like a familiar prediction? (It’s as if Kristol’s understanding of U.S. history skips right from Manifest Destiny to about 1975, with a few brief touch-downs here and there.)
The interaction: I have had many students who are from Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, etc. Many of their families fled their homes for various reasons related to past and current conflicts.
One such recent student is a young man, Iranian by heritage and family. Though he has resided for many years here in North America, he has close family in Iran. He is quite proud of his Persian/Iranian heritage. He was explicit about his fears for American involvement in Iran. He spoke of the growing opposition to the existing government in Iran.
I asked him what the reaction would be to U.S. intervention. He stated very forcefully that this would be the single thing that would unite the opposition with the clerics: Pride in their country and their heritage would call them together to defend their nation. The result, he said, would be to end the opposition to the current government. It would also end what he saw as a generally positive view that most Iranians have for America and Americans. He said what I have heard from many students from outside North America: We love Americans, we like America. We detest your leaders and do not understand how they came to be elected.
Here’s how:
The Weekly Standard
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