An interview with Alexander Haig, a true Cold Warrior

Washington Post ^ | February 28, 2010 | James Rosen

[re_tail20]

After eight years of refusing my requests for an interview about the Nixon presidency, retired Gen. Alexander M. Haig Jr., accosted in the Fox News green room, finally relented. Our tape-recorded session -- held in Haig's downtown office on July 27, 2000 -- lasted nearly three hours. I published some portions in a book I wrote on Watergate but decided to keep the vast majority private until Haig's death.

Haig, who served as secretary of state under Reagan and chief of staff in Nixon's White House, died Feb. 20 at age 85. In the interview, he was in rare form: sharp of memory, combative in tone, unsparing in recounting the famous and obscure, civilian and military. Below are excerpts from the conversation:

On his worldview:

I started out as a Cold Warrior, even my last years in grade school. I used to read everything I could get on communism. In fact, the first paper I wrote as a plebe at West Point caused a major upheaval in the faculty, because I predicted that our next enemy was the Soviet Union. . . . It was during the war [World War II], when we were allies. . . . I was viewed with some suspicion by the social sciences department. And I'd always been that way. And I stayed that way, rather consistently. I had a great interest in the subject and I really did have a concern about it. . . .

[Bean Counter]

bookmarked

[HokieMom]

His services are tomorrow and Tuesday:

HAIG ALEXANDER M. HAIG, JR. On February 20, 2010, ALEXANDER M. HAIG JR., of Florida. Beloved husband of Patricia Fox Haig; devoted father of Alexander P. Haig, Brian F. Haig and Barbara E. Haig; brother of Reverend Francis R. Haig, S.J.; grandfather of Alexander P. Haig Jr., William F. Haig, Peter J. Haig, Patrick J. Haig, Anne Marie Haig, Christopher C. Haig, Brian D. Haig and Donnie A. Haig. Relatives and friends are invited to call at JOSEPH GAWLERS SONS, 5130 Wisconsin Ave., NW, Washington, DC, on Monday, March 1, 2010 from 3 to 9 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial will be held at Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, 400 Michigan Ave., NE, Washington, DC on Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 10 a.m. Interment at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Wounded Warrior Project, 7020 AC Skinner Parkway, Suite 100, Jackson, FL 32256.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/washingtonpost/obituary.aspx?n=alexander-m-haig&pid=140006513

[Carley]

The man’s ego had no equal.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

The Lebanon quotes are interesting!

[yarddog]

He wasn’t just a cold warrior. He was a real one too. He did have an ego but he was probably right just about all the time.

[mkjessup]

EGO??!?

WTF do you know about his ego? Instead of attacking Haig, why not debate, dispute or refute what he had to say?

General Haig was a great American, bottom line.

[Carley]

Attacking everyone. Bragging that he quit three presidents.

Trashing GHW Bush for not going into Baghdad.

Trashing Reagan for not being there and allowing Baker and his wife to run the presidency.

Trashing everyone because they weren’t as brilliant as the man himself.

[Charlemagne on the Fox]

I’m always skeptical of interviews released AFTER the death of the interviewee but this IS an interesting article. Thanks for posting it.

[mkjessup]

Haig DID quit three Presidents. That’s not brag, that’s fact.

And for the record, GHWB *was* wrong for not taking out Saddam when he had the chance in Gulf War I. Ask the Kurds who were betrayed and butchered after that screwing of the pooch, oh wait: you can’t, they’re dead.

As for Baker, Deaver, Clark et al, Haig was certainly in a position to know about the inner workings of the Reagan Administration, and the fact that he gave this interview with the understanding that it wasn’t going to be released until after his death gives it credence.

And Haig didn’t trash ‘everyone’, he told the truth and let the chips fall where they may. He WAS brilliant, and he was more of a man than you or I could ever hope to be.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

“AFTER the death”

Like Bob Woodward with VEIL? 0_o

[Carley]

So you believe that Nancy was president?

If he had courage he wouldn’t have taken the cowardly way out. Much as Gerald Ford did with an interview to be aired after he died.

What lovely people.

[Leisler]

GH Bush told the Kurds to rise up and implied the US would protect them. They got hammered.

[mkjessup]

So you believe that Nancy was president?

I wasn't there, Haig was. But it is well known that Nancy exerted a great deal of influence and nobody is going to deny that, unless they're a fool.

If he had courage he wouldn’t have taken the cowardly way out. Much as Gerald Ford did with an interview to be aired after he died. What lovely people.

Your ignorance is almost as pathetic as your craven posturing.

"In 1966 Haig took command of a battalion of the 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam.

On May 22, 1967, Lieutenant Colonel Haig was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the US Army's second highest medal for valor, by General William Westmoreland as a result of his actions during the battle of Ap Gu in March 1967. During the battle, Haig's troops (1st Battalion, 26th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division) were pinned down by Viet Cong forces outnumbering U.S. forces by three to one. While attempting to survey the battlefield, Haig boarded a helicopter and flew to the point of contact. His helicopter was shot down. Two days of bloody hand-to-hand combat followed as Haig and his troops fought for their lives.

An excerpt from Haig's official Army citation follows:
' When two of his companies were engaged by a large hostile force, Colonel Haig landed amid a hail of fire, personally took charge of the units, called for artillery and air fire support and succeeded in soundly defeating the insurgent force ... the next day a barrage of 400 rounds was fired by the Viet Cong, but it was ineffective because of the warning and preparations by Colonel Haig. As the barrage subsided, a force three times larger than his began a series of human wave assaults on the camp. Heedless of the danger himself, Colonel Haig repeatedly braved intense hostile fire to survey the battlefield. His personal courage and determination, and his skillful employment of every defense and support tactic possible, inspired his men to fight with previously unimagined power. Although his force was outnumbered three to one, Colonel Haig succeeded in inflicting 592 casualties on the Viet Cong ... (HQ US Army, Vietnam, General Orders No. 2318 (May 22, 1967)'

'cowardly way out' my ass. You should be ashamed of yourself. The above actions were performed by a man who never knew the word 'cowardice' in his damn life.

Go crawl back under your rock.

[mkjessup]

GH Bush told the Kurds to rise up and implied the US would protect them. They got hammered.

GHWB had every opportunity to take out Saddam like the garbage he was, but didn't want to offend anybody so Saddam enjoyed 12 more years oppressing and torturing all who he perceived as his enemies, including the Kurds, and Poppy Bush has the blood of those innocent people on his hands, whether he likes it or not. He let a mass murderer live to continue his genocidal ways, and history proves that to be so.

[bobby.223]

outstanding!! best tail whipping of the month.

[Bokababe]

Alexander Haig:

If you look back at all of our troubles today, they didn't start with Richard Nixon. They didn't start with Ronald Reagan. They started with George [H.W.] Bush. . . . Total misreading of what was happening in the Soviet Union. Totally misreading the realities in Eastern Europe. Kosovo, Bosnia -- mayhem.

[LjubivojeRadosavljevic]

...Bosnia -- mayhem.

Yes, that is true. For example, clandestine shipments of arms were sent from Iran to the closely tied Bosnian Muslims (i.e. the Izetbegovic regime tied with Iran and Osama Bin Laden at the periphery) when George H.W. Bush was president…Bush (and Clinton) and the U.S. State Dept. ignored the potential problems associated with Iran’s involvement...and so it goes.

[stephenjohnbanker]

Haig nailed it!

[stephenjohnbanker]

“GHWB had every opportunity to take out Saddam like the garbage he was, but didn’t want to offend anybody so Saddam enjoyed 12 more years oppressing and torturing all who he perceived as his enemies, including the Kurds, and Poppy Bush has the blood of those innocent people on his hands, whether he likes it or not. He let a mass murderer live to continue his genocidal ways, and history proves that to be so. “

GHWB blew it. He had Saddam on the run, and walked away.