CBS's Lara Logan Declares US Defeated In Iraq; General Abizaid Disputes Claim

http://newsbusters.org/ ^ | November 27, 2006 | Michael Rule

[lowbridge]

CBS's Lara Logan Declares US Defeated In Iraq; General Abizaid Disputes Claim

Posted by Michael Rule on November 27, 2006 - 16:09.

On Sunday’s "60 Minutes," CBS News Chief Foreign Correspondent Lara Logan insisted the US had been defeated in Iraq. During an interview with General John Abizaid, the top US Commander in Iraq, Logan asserted, "We hear very little about victory in Iraq these days. We hear a lot about how to manage the defeat." It appears Ms. Logan suffers from selective hearing. While many Democrats and some Republicans talk about Iraq as a lost cause, sources such as Senator John McCain and White House officials still insist victory is not only possible, it is imperative.

General Abizaid dismissed Logan’s claims, and maintained that "defeat" was her word not his. However, Logan persisted in proclaiming that the United States had been beaten.

The transcript of Logan’s exchange with General Abizaid follows:

Lara Logan: We hear very little about victory in Iraq these days. We hear a lot about how to manage the defeat. And a lot of Americans...

John Abizaid: What defeat?

Lara Logan: How we minimize the defeat.

John Abizaid: That's your word. Defeat is your word, not my word. Can Iraq stabilize? Yes, Iraq could stabilize.

Lara Logan: Is that what we--is that victory now? Is that what victory will look like in Iraq, just stability? That's what we're aiming for?

John Abizaid: Victory in Iraq is a nation at peace with its neighbors, and Iraq hasn't been at peace with its neighbors in a long time. It is a country that respects the rights of its citizens. It's a country that can defend itself. It's a country that's not a safe haven for terrorists.

Lara Logan: Increasingly in this country, people are talking about how to manage defeat in Iraq. There's a loss of support for the war, very clearly showing in the present. Not a loss of support for the military...

John Abizaid: Yeah.

Lara Logan: ...or for the soldiers which still remains strong.

John Abizaid: Well, Lara, again, let me say I don't think people in the country are trying to figure out how to manage defeat in Iraq. I think people in the country are trying to figure out how to manage our involvement in Iraq so that Iraq can stabilize. You just can't walk away from these problems of the Middle East and hope that things are going to get better. Look, many people have said we're already at the beginning of World War III.

Lara Logan: Are we?

John Abizaid: No. We're not, and our involvement in the region will prevent it.

[pcottraux]

CBS's Lara Logan Declares US Defeated In Iraq

Like that even means anything.

[My2Cents]

Lara Logan: We hear very little about victory in Iraq these days.

Thanks to people like Ms. Logan and her colleagues in the media.

[Txsleuth]

I saw that interview last night....through most of it...Abizaid looked at her like he was humoring her..

But, when she pronounced that we would lose the war...he was not so happy...he was really good through the whole thing, and she sounded like an airhead.

[Argus]

They think if they shout Defeat through their megaphone often and long enough, it will come true. The way things are going they might even be right.

[rocksblues]

Increasingly in this country, news people and Democrats are talking about how to manage defeat in Iraq.

There that's better.

[Wolverine]

CBS's Lara Logan's father Declares US Defeated In Iraq

[Grampa Dave]

Our recent election has made the Moon Bat Mediots bolder and ever crazier.

They are stabbing every warrior in Iraq in the back, and they know that.

[Recon Dad]

I heard her shoot this question out last night as I was trying to find the football game. I was stunned by her questioning. She didn't just slip it in once she tried a few times by saying "everyone agrees that we have lost the war".

The general was having none of it.

[lmr]

Once the Democrats came back into power in both houses, we were defeated. We lost the war here, not there. What should we have expected from a MSM that reported almost all the bad news from Iraq and almost none of the good and worked to beat their anti-war and anti-Bush drums until their crescendo on election day? Now, they say we should surrender, and surrender the American people will. They are right, we lost. Our soldiers didn't lose, WE DID.

[Nomorjer Kinov]

"People are talking about how to manage defeat in Iraq."

I wish Abizaid have replied, "Aside from the people in your newsroom, tell me the names of other prople who make the claim that we are defeated."

[rhombus]

OK whose opinion about war am I going to believe? Abizaid or some news person named Lara Logan? Be serious. I'll stick with the General and pass on the Lois Lane wannabe.

[Wolverine]

   CBS USEFUL IDIOT

[kitkat]

The liberal media said the same thing about VietNam. They were lying then, and they're lying now. It worked then. We can't let it work now.

[elcid1970]

Yeah, just what other geostrategic advice did "General Logan" have to offer?

Insufferable reporterette infobabe airhead!

[samm1148]

From Wikepedia:

William Joyce (April 24, 1906 – January 3, 1946), known as Lord Haw-Haw, was a fascist politician and Nazi propaganda broadcaster to the United Kingdom during World War II. Controversially, he was executed for treason by the British as a result of his wartime activities.

[moose2004]

"I wish Abizaid have replied, "Aside from the people in your newsroom, tell me the names of other prople who make the claim that we are defeated.""

Cindy Sheehan, Jack Murtha, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Hollywood, the Upper West Side of Manhattan, NBC, ABC, CNN, PMSNBC, The NYT, The LAT, WaPo, Time, Newsweek, PBS, NPR. Should I continue?

[fishergirl]

It's got to be one of the harder parts of Abizaid's job to have to talk to idiots like Lara Logan with a straight face.

[Nasty McPhilthy]

She's not worth the powder to.......

If you havn't been here, it's time you did.

http://www.defenselink.mil/home/dodupdate/index-b.html

[True Republican Patriot]

Just Remember Chris Matthews said months ago that if President Bush wins victory in Iraq, that he deserves to be memorialized on Mt. Rushmore. Lets work even harder for that to happen and General Abizaid and all of Our Brave Troops and Citizens are accomplishing truly remarkable and Great results.The Democrats are desperate now for defeat andd they are loosing. Go back to Our Freep poll today. 80% want to do whatever it takes to Win in Iraq. The Dims won their few seat of majority by running fake horses and the trash of the DBM!

[muawiyah]

knowing just a little about Iraq and the history of that region for the last 5,000 or so years, I've noticed that those who speak of "defeat" or "civil war" reveal themselves as little more than Ba'athist lackeys or people Saddam Hussein's confederates hae paid off to say such things.

[RightWhale]

Let's take a poll of the 172nd Stryker Brigade that is arriving back in Fairbanks every day for the next week.

[He Rides A White Horse]

Like that even means anything.

She's as qualified as Oprah.....what branch of the armed forces did they serve in?

[LibWhacker]

Who?

And I'm not just saying that; I never heard of her.

[edcoil]

This is why successful nations never let women in war.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Lara Logan sounds like a real ditzy broad. I don't watch SeeBS due to my excessively high Common Sense Quotient (CSQ) so I really wouldn't know for sure. I do know what a DITZY BROAD sounds like though when she starts flapping her gums about something she really hasn't got a clue about.

[ridge]

How does a source for news hire someone like Ingram? What an embarrassment?

[visualops]

That was purposeful.
They state what they want the facts to be, and if it isn't specifically denied, then they'll run it as truth.
Same as press conferences- they don't ask questions, they make statements to put you on the defensive.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Lara "I'm pretty, so my opinion counts at least as much as any other actress's!" Logan ;)

[freekitty]

We haven't lost any war. Now that the dimwits think they are in control; be prepared to hear more of this slop. It's a fantasy. Who won WWI and II. We did and I believe America to still have that spirit we prize.

[IronJack]

You don't mean THE Laura Logan?? The world-renowned expert on foreign policy and military strategy? The one Von Clausewitz refused to invite to his dinner parties because she'd outshine him? The one Sun Tzu had on his Christmas card list? The one who singlehandedly architected Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz as well as the Athenian triumph at Salamis? You mean THAT Laura Logan????

Or are you referring to some bubbleheaded news mannequin with delusions of adequacy?

[jwalsh07]

Lara Logan: Is that what we--is that victory now? Is that what victory will look like in Iraq, just stability? That's what we're aiming for?

What Abizaid should have said:

Not until this moment did I give any credence to the myth that blondes were stupid.

[villagerjoel]

Is Lara the one that set themself on fire in Chicago? /s

[cajungirl]

I wish I knew the answer. I think it is multilayereed. There are some people, anarchists, who want this country laid low. They are very vicious and I suspect the heart of the antiwar movement.

Then the politicians. What I wonder about them, do they feel the fear of what will happen if we withdraw. I shiver at the thought. The world is a very dangerous place now, not time for weakness.

do they not have the ability to know this? It amazes me.

[ridge]

I get it now. CBS gave a swimsuit model a $1M contract to spout out a safe story. She's like a eigth-grader re-inventing a Time Warner story on Global Warming except she essentially espouses a Western European set of beliefs on the Iraqi War after reporting and living in England. She wanted to re-invent Vietnam before the war even started. Logan should go where she fits, a local news job, like Las Vegas, where under her standard the nightly news is a defeat and civil war.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,721104,00.html

[ozzymandus]

I saw the intro. Very annoying to see a reporterette with a British accent trying to get a US general to proclaim the US "losing" a war.

[cajungirl]

From the beginning I said all these savages understand is brute force, death and lack of mercy. I wanted a full scale invasion, shoot anyone who looks even vaguely threatening, bomb entire cities if they sheltered the enemy. Total war.

We didn't do it and this is the price to pay. Israel didn't do it with Hezbollah either.

You cannot have a half war with savages. And there has to be severe collateral damage. Clean war only works against smart people.

[Bullish]

Note to Lara Logan:

GO POUND SAND!

[proust]

I don't find her useful on any level.

[beelzepug]

60 Minutes? Is that still on?

[LdSentinal]

60 Minutes, the anti-American leftist pile of crap program. What else would a person expect?

[Freedom4US]

I bet I know how she got where she is...

[muawiyah]

This is probably the Lara who offered herself as the sacrificial virgin to be burned on Ba'al's altar.

Everyone laughed.

[CaptRon]

Who?

[Positive]

"Lara Logan: How we minimize the defeat."

I find General Abizaid impressive and support him.

I think we do need to consider that the position he holds and the Generals in positions above his have a very large political component. That said, he/they cannot answer certain assertions and questions the way they would in speaking to each other.

Before the Lame Stream Media of today started messing with the english language "victory" would not be a discussion it would be an accepted fact.

The Allies in WWII attacked Germany, deposed, killed or arrested its leadership and occupied its land. We are still there. May 8 is V-E day, but it wasn't until 1985 that the Chanceller of Germany called that date "the day of liberation...a mere 40 years.

In OIF, we attacked Iraq, deposed, killed or arrested its leadership and occupied its land. We are still there. The Constitutionally elected government of Iraq in an election voted in by millions of Iraqis, considers our action that of liberation.

When was the last day that we faced an Iraqi military unit? Was it killed or captured, did it surrender? That day should be V-I day and Logan should be invited to the ceremony.

In what meaningful ways are these two examples different?

[ArrogantBustard]

CBS's Walter "commie bastard" Cronkite snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in 1968. Lara "lying fraud" Logan is just trying to emulate her hero.

[Positive]

"This is why successful nations never let women in war."

This reminds me of a cartoon I saw of three American Soldiers in a foxhole. One looked like a Soldier. One looked like a gay guy in a soldier's uniform. The third was an obese woman in a soldier's uniform.

The Soldier was writing a letter home...the caption was: "we have met the enemy, and he is not Bruce or Lerline."

[ArrogantBustard]

The liberal communist media said the same thing about VietNam.

Absolutely. Several generations of them have made careeres of $#!++!ng on us honest patriotic citizens, our military, and our country in general. The Radio and TV media, and the major newspapers lie about almost everything.