Tucker Carlson: John Bolton a "Bureaucratic Tapeworm," (tr)

Real Clear Politics ^ | 22 June 2019 | Tucker Carlson

[US Navy Vet]

Tucker Carlson criticizes neoconservatives like Bret Stephens, Bill Kristol, John Bolton and others who are calling for the U.S. to bomb Iran.

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS: Just 24 hours ago, this country stood on the brink of cataclysm. After weeks of slow escalation and without a single vote from the Congress, the United States came within minutes of war with Iran. In response to the destruction of an unmanned drone, American forces nearly launched an airstrike on Iranian targets. According to some reports, our planes were literally in the air. But in the end, it didn't happen. The President pulled back. This morning, he explained why.

[US Navy Vet]

Watch the video

[Telepathic Intruder]

I wonder if any of those 150 people saved by Trump’s decision, or their families, are thanking Trump now.

[wastedyears]

Good video by Tucker. Nothing good comes from war-hungry neocons being anywhere close to any sort of power.

[Oshkalaboomboom]

If Iran controls the news like they control everything else their people do those 150 people wouldn’t even know there a problem.

[nathanbedford]

On the one hand most of us agree with the adage, personnel is policy but, on the other hand, most of us are aware of Saul Alinsky's exhortation to personalize and demonize.

When it comes to John Bolton and many others, we must be careful not to become disciples of Saul Alinsky. I agree with everything in Tucker Carlson's monologue but I am not at all clear that John Bolton is as single dimensional as Carlson and others make him out. I have watched him countless times on Fox and I have not found anything which supports a conclusion that the man is a warmonger or that he is impetuous. To the contrary, he strikes me as a man who seeks to identify root cause and deal with it rather than divert concentration to symptoms.

Clearly, this was not the time for Trump to fire away, Democrats would impeach him on any excuse, he needs all the support of the public he can retain, Republicans are utterly unreliable and divided on this issue. In all things, at least in all things having to do with making war, the president must carry the country. That ground had not yet been prepared.

[familyop]

Tell us about Tucker’s military service or any security service on his part. Tell us about his experience with national security strategy.

Tucker Carlson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucker_Carlson

[nuconvert]

Those 150 would have mostly been IRGC.

[Alberta's Child]

Good points, but I think the evidence points elsewhere:

1. Even Trump himself has basically said in a recent interview that Bolton would be engaging the U.S. in military campaigns with every country on earth if it were up to him.

2. Everything I needed to know about Bolton I learned back in the late 1990s when he was clamoring for the Clinton administration to topple the government of Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia on behalf of the radical Islamic insurgency in Kosovo.

The only consistency I see in his conduct over the years has been a reflexive insistence on having the U.S. serve as an imperial force wherever he thinks there is a problem that needs to be addressed. And the "problem that needs to be addressed" usually seems to benefit some foreign interest that lobbies the U.S. government heavily -- both directly and through major financial contributions to Beltway think tanks that employ people like John Bolton as a matter of course.

Personally, I find it repulsive to have a government filled with draft dodgers who are so quick put other Americans at risk in stupid wars that never end and have served to do little more than put this country $20+ trillion in debt.

[Telepathic Intruder]

True, and happy to die for the Mullahs. In any case, Iran is emboldened by both the overthrow of Iraq and the “Arab Spring” given to us by Obama. The liberal media will never take that into context, however, and just blame Trump for anything more that happens.

[nathanbedford]

For the record, I want to make clear that I am just as guilty as everyone accuses John Bolton of being, that is, wrong about the Iraq war.

Indeed, it was probably too late to be able to claim some sort of enlightenment that I wrote a vanity mea culpa calling Iraq a dreadful mistake and owning it.

I suspect many of us who regularly post here would admit, perhaps only if waterboarded, that they too shared this folly with me and, yes, John Bolton.

Many of us have learned from our folly, did John Bolton? In judging him today we must also understand that once Iran gets the bomb, we will no longer enjoy the option of "having as much or as little of war against Iran as we please" as was said of Britain because of its naval superiority. In fact, we will have no more options then we now have against North Korea. This is the truth that animates Donald Trump today in breaking Obama's catastrophic "deal" and imposing sanctions. It remains a very forceful argument.

[greedo]

source

These are allegedly Iranian prisoners of war captured by Saddam. Do you see any fear on their faces?

If the Iranians were not afraid of Saddam, I doubt they will be afraid of John Bolton, Liz Cheney or Lindsey Graham.

[Zhang Fei]

[These are allegedly Iranian prisoners of war captured by Saddam. Do you see any fear on their faces?
If the Iranians were not afraid of Saddam, I doubt they will be afraid of John Bolton, Liz Cheney or Lindsey Graham. ]

---

It’s not clear to me why Iran stopped attacking gulf shipping after Reagan sank or damaged half their navy. Were they afraid? Had they run out of money to replace their hardware? Who knows? All I know is they stopped.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Praying_Mantis

[HamiltonJay]

The 150 lives Trump was talking about were Iranians that would have been killed.. I doubt any of them give much thought to Trump one way or another

[Chad_the_Impaler]

Are you proposing that our foreign policy should be determined by some photo you found (which purportedly shows Iranians are not scared of anyone)?

[del griffith]

So why is Bolton in the cabinet?

[greedo]

Has Bolton ever explained why Americans should die to protect Japanese oil tankers?

Iranian-Supplied, Armor-Piercing IEDs Killed At Least 196 US Troops in Iraq

[mylife]

I agree, I do think Bolton is a hardass, but that does not make him a war monger.

[USS Alaska]

For the record, I want to make clear that I am just as guilty as everyone accuses John Bolton of being, that is, wrong about the Iraq war.

I favored the Iraq war, still do.

Sadham had WMD, used them on the kurds, and we found some of them.

Winning the fighting war was the easy part, what we did next was the stupid part.

From the get go, we let the Iraq thugs take over the street and vandalize and openly steal, instead of declaring martial law and locking everyone down.

We tried to treat the Iraqis as civilized people instead of the conquered tribes that they were.

Trump was right, we should have taken the oil fields, and let the Iraqis fight among themselves.

When they sorted it out we could have commenced talks, until they did, they would have been under martial law.

Don't tell me brutal strength doesn't work, history tells a different story.

The mooselimbs need to be conquered, not coddled.

When any mooselimb tribe wins in any nation, they show no mercy, and that is the way they want it.

[EQAndyBuzz]

“So why is Bolton in the cabinet?”

Because he is knowledgeable on foreign affairs, military strengths and weaknesses and is a great sounding board for Trump on the “why we should go to war” side. Trump doesn’t want “yes” men, which is the worst thing a President can do. (Look at Obama) Trump wants intellectual debate so he can make effective decisions based on opinions of his advisers.

[HighSierra5]

Those are alleged Iranian POWs? That can’t be the only group that Iraq took prisoner either. Look I don’t like war either. I’m rather biased because my son fought in the invasion of Iraq. A lot of people died. We can all debate until the cows come home as to why we started that war and where we are today. But Americans served,fought HARD,and died not to mention grievously wounded. But a lot came home with not a scratch ( I know PTSD but I personally think that is overplayed and hyped). What do you say to the face of someone who actually was in COMBAT. Do you tell them that you were an idiot for risking your life for nothing? From now on though we have to be skeptical of the intentions that lead us to war. But we also can not be paralyzed by never wanting to fight. It’s in our blood. Just my opinion.