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.

[hardworking]

And the first thing I thought is how unfortunate it is that we do not have a president articulate enough to explain it to the American people the way Koppel did.

I couldn't agree with you more! I will never understand how GW never learned to quietly think clearly, and formulate his thoughts into words, BEFORE opening his mouth. This is such a fundavmental skill for any successful individual. There is no doubt in my mind that if the man could have communicated clearly, and had the ability to think on his feet, during the past few years the American public would have been behind him all the way.

[LdSentinal]

Actually he is. At least that what he claims to be. And from what I've read about him and by him, he does seem to possess libertarian qualities. The fact that he supported Kerry in the '04 election doesn't turn him into a flaming liberal. I know several Libertarians who didn't vote simply due to the fact that they didn't want Bush for another four years and couldn't bring themselves to vote for Kerry. Let's face it, Bush has turned out to be another big government spender hell bent on expanding the federal bureaucracy.

Cute. Chris Matthews also claims he's not a Democrat, but an independent. Ted Koppel is no libertarian considering his praise of FDR's presidency. He's a Kerry supporter by his distortion of the truth. He went on a "fact-finding information" trip to Vietnam to interview VietCong veterans in an attempt to destroy the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth. His memorium for those service members killed aired on May 1, 2004 and did not include those who lost their lives in Afghanistan.

Oh, and Bush Sr. was nothing to write home about. Hence, we had Bubba for eight years. "Read my lips.." Puleezze.

Please yourself. It's due to people like Ted Koppel who used his media distortion center to help elect Clinton.

Just because he says the truth doesn't mean he's not a liberal media shill. His comments during Reagan's funeral should have proved that.

[M Kehoe]

If one has lived with, studied, or generally observed the current Islamic movement, nothing Ted said is amazing or shocking. Then again, maybe to democRATs/liberals/socialists it would be both amazing and shocking given their collective open minds...where their brains have fallen out.

5.56mm

[Hawthorn]

> Time to head over to the DummieUnderground and watch the heads exlode! <


They'll discover very quickly that Ted is Jewish. So in the DU mind, TK's "right wing rantings" will be easily dismissed.

[SuziQ]

Considering the fact that Ted's career was made on the back of the Iranian hostage taking, it's surprising that he didn't mention THAT event! His "Nightline" show began as a counting of the days of the Hostage Crisis. No one had any idea that it would go on for over a year! When it was over, he simply sequed into other subjects for his show, and his career was solid.

Granted, no hostage was killed, but it sure emboldened the enemies of America to start attacking us in more deadly ways, beginning with the attack on the Marines in Lebanon, the continual hostage taking and killing in Lebanon in the 80's, the brutal cold blooded killing of Leon Klinghoffer on the Achille Lauro, and the dumping overboard of his body, and on and on, up to today.

[fifthestate]

Koppel?....I guess even a broken clock is right twice a day

[Torie]

bump

[angcat]

Someone should have suffered for the death of Robert Stedham also. That went unpunished.

[Current Occupant]

OT but anyone listen to Rob Nelson the last hr.? His guest (Dan Sheahy(sp)) is talking about the coming North American Union by 2010. He'll be on next hr. as well.

[PogySailor]

Strange that Koppel didn't place the Iranian embassy seizure as the opening shot in the war. That's were he became a national level broadcaster. I remember his nightly "America Held Hostage, Day XXX".

[bnelson44]

This is on now on the East Coast on the Discovery Channel

[DCPatriot]

IMO, he's merely positioning himself to me more marketable during the upcoming presidential campaign as a moderator and/or expert pundit.

Gain the trust of the Right and then stab them in the back again.

[Marine_Uncle]

Unfortunatly Koppel is one of few (in his proffesion) that would be willing to make such statements let alone have the common sense wisdom to understand the underlining need to continue the GWOT. At least some people heard him. Wonder if it will give them pause in what they have been thinking about the Iraqi/Afghanistan wars on terror.

[Sally'sConcerns]

What about Jimmy Carter's Iran Hostage Crisis...which is where Nightline got started???

While you and I, as well as most FReepers can point back to the hostage crisis as part of the WOT, there are a number of people who don't see that equation. It took place during a 'coup' and the US was specifically targeted simply because we supported the Shah. Any ideology could have been prevalent on the opposing side. In this case though, it happened to be Islam and the Ayatollah, other people would point out it could just as easily have been a situation with any dictator.

[Sender]

The Long War. Our Children's Children's War. The War On Terror. The War On Al-Qaeda. The War Of Generations.

Someone just needs to say it; it's The War With Islam. Why can't anyone say it?

[Covenantor]

Those two, Russert and Koppel need a history lesson. Both communism and Islam were antagonists of the west from their inceptions. Islam since 700 AD and Communism since 1917. Destruction or assimilation of the Judeo-Christian west was the key stated objective of both. That the west had been blind on both assaults doesn't mean that they were not at war with us.

These two asshats continue to believe that the world came into existence the moment they opened their eyes.Ted the dwarf was at his most unctious groveling before East Germany's espionage chief Marcus Wolf. It was enbarassing to watch an American do that.

[somemoreequalthanothers]

Canada remained the largest exporter of total petroleum products

I think it's important to point out that the largest supplier of crude oil to the United States is......the United States.

Most of the information quickly available online deals with imports, but seldom mentions our percentage of supply as a whole.

The average citizen, I believe, is unaware of this fact.

[muawiyah]

Maybe we are starting to get through to some of the leftwingnuts that they are engaging in the engineering of yet another genocide that will slaughter millions of innocent people.

We need laws against precipitating genocide ~ something tough that would allow "W", nay, REQUIRE "W" to pick these pukes up and incarcerate them for the duration of the war.

[pollyannaish]

What? I am stunned. Where is this coming from?

If it is a genuine understanding of what is happening, I don't care were it is coming from, actually. This kind of thing could be an absolute turning point in our chance for victory, both in Iraq and on militant Islam.

And now, credit where credit is due:

Welcome Ted. We're glad to have ya on the team. :-D

[Yossarian]

Koppel got the go-ahead from Hillary...

"Exactamundo."