Ted Koppel Tells Shocking Truth About Iraq and War on Terror (Updated w-videos)

NewsBusters.org ^ | Noel Sheppard

[SandRat]

Former “Nightline” anchor Ted Koppel was one of Tim Russert’s guests on Sunday’s “Meet the Press.” As amazing as it might seem, he made some truly shocking and compelling statements about the Iraq war and the war on terror that virtually no Democrat or media member is willing to accept or report:

• First, Koppel made it clear that America’s premature departure from Iraq would turn the entire Persian Gulf region into a battlefield between Sunnis and Shia, “something the United States cannot allow to happen”
• Second, he said the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are part of the war on terror that “has been going on for the past 24 years” starting when “the precursors of Hezbollah blew up the U.S. marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon” in 1983 
• Finally, he stated that America’s departure from Iraq and Afghanistan, regardless of when it occurs, will not represent the end of this battle, but, instead, that it is just “going to be a different war” after that point. 

Here are the shocking excerpts (MSN video available here with segment 1 at minute 14:10, segment 2 at minute 19:00, and segment 3 here):

Koppel: I made a little note here of something that Ambassador Khalilzad said to you a moment ago. He said, “The region will not be stable until Iraq is stabilized.” It’s the one thing nobody talks about. Everyone is concerned about the United States being in the middle of a civil war inside Iraq. But they forget about the fact that if U.S. troops were to pull out of Iraq, that civil war could become a regional war between Sunnis and Shia. And the region, just in case anyone has forgotten, is the Persian Gulf, where we get most of our oil, and, I’ve talked about this before, natural gas. So, the idea of pulling out of there and letting the region, letting the national civil war expand into a regional civil war, something the United States cannot allow to happen.   

Amazing. For those interested, I wrote an article about this very subject in November. I must say I find it extraordinary that any major media figure is coming out so strongly and making such a declaration, especially on such a popular Sunday talk show.

Yet, the best was still to come, as a little later on in the discussion, Russert asked Koppel a very telling question:

Ted Koppel, you are tonight airing on the Discover Channel a special called “Our Children’s Children’s War,” the “long war” as you call it repeatedly, that this war on terror is much more than just Iraq, and it’s going to go on for a long time.

Amazing. Did Tim Russert just accidentally admit that the war in Iraq is indeed a part of the war on terror? Shocking. Yet, not close to as shocking as Koppel’s answer:

It could go on, I mean, Gen. Abizaid with whom I spoke talked into terms of generations. And, if you think about two things, that’s not so hard to imagine. Number one, the Cold War after all, lasted 50 years. Uh, we didn’t know it when we began it. We didn’t know it, we didn’t know how long it was going to be when we were in the middle of it. But, it lasted half a century.

If you look back at the elements of the war against terrorism, that war was going on, and has been going on for the past 24 years. We just didn’t connect the dots. 24 years ago, the precursors of Hezbollah blew up the U.S. marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. That was 1983, 241 Americans killed. In the interim between then and now you had two attacks on the World Trade Center, you had the blowing up of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, you had the attempt to blow up the U.S.S. Cole, you had the bombing of the two U.S. embassies in East Africa. This war’s already been going on for 24 years; we were just a little bit slow to recognize it.   

Amazing. How many members of the Democrat Party or their media minions are willing to make such a claim? While you ponder that question, here was the third extraordinary statement by Koppel:

I see a lot of wishful thinking going on here in Washington right now. I mean when Congress talks about, first of all, setting these these milestones. And, the irony is if the Iraqis successfully meet the milestones, the implication is we stay. If they fail to meet the milestones we leave. That doesn’t make any sense at all. It ought to be the other way around. If they fail, we stay because they need us. If they succeed, we can start to pull out again.

So, I, I have this feeling that on the one hand, the Democrats are making a great deal of hay out of saying we have to get out of Iraq, and indeed we do at some point or another. But the notion that the war will be over when we pull out of Iraq, and even when we pull out of Afghanistan, you heard what Gen. Abizaid had to say, it’s not going to be over. It’s going to be a different war, but the war continues.

Wow. Shocking stuff that you won’t hear from most of the left, and virtually all of the media who are calling for troop withdrawals.

Bravo, Ted. Nicely done.

[IncPen]

ping

[Doctor Raoul]

That's not the real Ted Kopel. Look for a pod in the basement of his home...

[Jet Jaguar]

LOL!

[kitkat]

Oh, BUMP THIS ONE. Thanks SandRat

[Just sayin]

Maybe when he was talking about "us" he was meaning Europe? I'm just poking fun, don't mind me. I watched him talk this morning and I think the Democrats and the media (redundant) are starting to get the reality check they are in such a need of.

I suspect there will be more and more of this over the next few months. After all, Hillary needs some help.

It is my prediction that alot of 'about faces' are going to be taking place in the coming months and it is going to be so much fun to use that copy and paste function when talking with supporters of the Democratic Party.

Democrats and the media( again redundant) are so painted in a corner with their anti Bush and anti Republican rants that they have no choice but to walk on wet paint seeking an exit. Their tracks are going to be fun to point out in this campaign season. I sense hundreds and hundreds of 'voting for it it before voting against it's'. ;)

[TrollBridge]

Ted Koppel is Libertarian. I never understood the hatred spewed forth towards him on FR. Other than the fact that he worked for ABC. BTW, does NewsBusters.org only support the Republican Party agenda or do they occasionally branch out?

[Incorrigible]

where we get most of our oil, and, I’ve talked about this before, natural gas

Who's this "we?"

If Koppel's referring to the United States he'd be wrong on both counts.  However, if the Persian Gulf did become destabilized, it would certainly affect the world-wide price of oil and natural gas and that would certainly impact the US economy.

 

[Theresawithanh]

Awesome post! Koppel gets it! BUMP!

The program is on at 9:00 here in SE Washington where I live, for anybody wanting to watch.

[rlmorel]

Ping for later read of superlative SandRat analysis...:)

[SandRat]

...walk on wet paint seeking an exit. Their tracks are going to be fun to point out ...

Wet Paint??? I didn't know wet paint smelled that odoriferous.

[Dallas59]

But what about Global Warming???.../s

[SandRat]

They do branch out.

[True Republican Patriot]

Thank you Sand Rat, I still can't believe he is stating that, and it's the Truth!!!! What was Russert's reactions, he must have been freaking out!!

[ConservativeStatement]

There is an accompanying chart with the link.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/company_level_imports/current/import.html

December 2006 Import Highlights: Released on March 5, 2007
Monthly data on the origins of crude oil imports in December 2006 has been released and it shows that three countries have each exported more than 1.20 million barrels per day to the United States. Including those countries, a total of five countries exported over 1.00 million barrels per day of crude oil to the United States (see table below). The top five exporting countries accounted for 69 percent of United States crude oil imports in December while the top ten sources accounted for approximately 88 percent of all U.S. crude oil imports. The top sources of US crude oil imports for December were Canada (1.829 million barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (1.471 million barrels per day), Mexico (1.245 million barrels per day), Venezuela (1.045 million barrels per day), and Nigeria (1.010 million barrels per day). The rest of the top ten sources, in order, were Angola (0.610 million barrels per day), Algeria (0.421 million barrels per day), Iraq (0.419 million barrels per day), Ecuador (0.254 million barrels per day), and Kuwait (0.163 million barrels per day). Total crude oil imports averaged 9.584 million barrels per day in December, which is a decrease of 0.253 million barrels per day from November 2006.

Canada remained the largest exporter of total petroleum products in December, exporting 2.412 million barrels per day to the United States, which was a slight decrease from last month (2.598 thousand barrels per day). The second largest exporter of total petroleum products was Saudi Arabia with 1.491 million barrels per day.

[potlatch]

Wow, Ted Koppel dancing to 'our' tune for a change!!

[speekinout]

I thought I was hallucinating when I watched Koppel this am. Not only was he clear about the war in Iraq, he also pointed out what a farce the "Walter Reed" scandal is. That is, vets always get great medical care on the battlefield and immediately after, but then they disappear in the morass of gov't paperwork. It's always been that way. (Not that it should be, but it's been that way forever).

I guess that's Koppel's last appearance on Russert!

[SandRat]

Yep and his face contorted terribly.

[potlatch]

LOL!

[WestVirginiaRebel]

It must be that kind of day:

[WOSG]

Ted Koppel 'gets it' wrt Iraq. wow!