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Al Haig's Never-Reported Comments to Fox News' James Rosen
FoxNews ^ | February 28, 2010

Posted on 03/01/2010 5:45:42 AM PST by rightwingintelligentsia

The late Alexander Haig blamed George H.W. Bush for the world's dim view of the United States' after the collapse of the Soviet Union, saying the former president misread events and in the world, refused to get rid of Iraq's Saddam Hussein and squandered America's dominance.

The late Alexander Haig blamed George H.W. Bush for the world's dim view of the United States' after the collapse of the Soviet Union, saying the former president misread world events, refused to get rid of Iraq's Saddam Hussein and squandered America's dominance.

In never-before-published excerpts from a July 2000 interview with Fox News' James Rosen, Haig, who as Ronald Reagan's secretary of state famously declared he was in charge after the president was shot, said the former President Bush didn't see the mayhem emerging from the end of the Cold War and undermined the coalition by not removing Hussein at the end of the 1991 Gulf War.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: alhaig; coldwar; ghwbush; haig; reagan
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To: NativeNewYorker

Post 16

Dang, I thought it was all part of a secret agenda foisted by the Bilderbergers.


21 posted on 03/01/2010 6:59:45 AM PST by Peter Horry (Those who aren't responsible always know best.)
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To: AlmaKing
You are correct. In the many times over the past decades that I saw the General in lengthy TV interviews, I never saw any indication or evidence he was an "egotist". He was articulate and confident.

We must realize the man was a LEADER as indicated by his military and political career. Almost all true leaders are at some time or another labeled "egotists", mainly because they step forward where others fear to tread.

When the day comes that our military heroes are considered "egotists" when they are nothing of the sort....well, that's the day we're doomed. Our children, especially boys, are being taught to be noncompetitive, not to be "winners" because it isn't "fair", to play with etch-a-sketch instead of toy guns, to be "sensitive", to explore their "feminine sides", and to protest and denigrate the ROTC on college campuses.

Where are our combat heroes (like Haig) going to come from in the future?

Leni

22 posted on 03/01/2010 7:06:18 AM PST by MinuteGal (Bill O'Reilly: 9/8/09: "Communism is not a threat to us anymore"-10/20/09: "Obama is not a Marxist")
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To: pgkdan
Jeb is the only true conservative in the bunch

So I've heard, but how far does the fruit fall from the tree? And lord knows who'd be put on his team/staff to keep him in check.

23 posted on 03/01/2010 7:10:42 AM PST by NativeNewYorker (Freepin' Jew Boy)
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

Biggest mistake Ronald Reagan made was choosing 41 as his veep, Total RINO. All the idiot had to do was follow Reagans lead.


24 posted on 03/01/2010 7:22:07 AM PST by ontap
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To: rightwingintelligentsia
We can thank Powell for the failure to depose Saddam in 1991.

Powell is the most overrated person ever to hold a position of high public trust in the US Government.

25 posted on 03/01/2010 7:26:54 AM PST by paddles
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To: rightwingintelligentsia
spared no criticism for Reagan, who he said left the running of government to his chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, CIA director and wife

I liked Haig but this is a cheap shop. Presidents leave the implementation of their programs to their staff. Nancy Reagan is a decent lady but was a little protective of the President and just alittle flakey.

26 posted on 03/01/2010 7:28:11 AM PST by ontap
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To: ontap
Funny this little shot at Reagan which James Rosen deftly placed in the mouth of Gen. Haig was never published till now, a short couple weeks after Haig was buried.

As I stated unequivocably above, watch for the imminent deconstruction of the General to begin by the media.....and if they can smear Reagan at the same time like Rosen did, well, they get a twofer, don't they.

Dead men can't talk.

Leni

27 posted on 03/01/2010 7:40:04 AM PST by MinuteGal (Bill O'Reilly: 9/8/09: "Communism is not a threat to us anymore"-10/20/09: "Obama is not a Marxist")
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To: ontap; rightwingintelligentsia
Biggest mistake Ronald Reagan made was choosing 41 as his veep, Total RINO. All the idiot had to do was follow Reagans lead.

Reagan did not choose Bush voluntarily. He was forced into it. Nelson Rockefeller and other leaders of his country club wing of the Republican Party called Reagan into a meeting and threatened to walk out of the convention and throw the election to the Dems if Reagan didn't choose Bush.

Bush at that time had fairly recently been the CIA Director and in their working terminology, was put in to act as one of Reagan's "minders". This determined strategy of the RINO establishment types to manage and contain Reagan also extended to many of the Cabinet choices he was compelled to make. That's how we got James Baker and so many other CFR types in his administration.

The brilliance of Reagan shows in the fact that he was able to get so much accomplished despite the internal RINO sabotage which he battled throughout his administration.

28 posted on 03/01/2010 8:03:10 AM PST by tarheelswamprat
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To: tarheelswamprat
Reagan was indeed a political genius. Both Bush administartiond should serve as proof of why we should purge the RINO progressive wing from any decision making authority.
29 posted on 03/01/2010 8:06:45 AM PST by ontap
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To: xzins
I agree completely. The comment strictly came from his military background and I believe had the intent of just trying to give a sense of order, not chaos, in the wake of the shooting.

The media ran with that and tried to turn it into him trying to take over the White House. I remember the media and Wash Post articles were really over-blown. I was military at the time and worked part time as a contractor on the State Dept Cryptology equip. Had the occasion to work on Gen Haig’s house equipment a few times. I always had the impression he was a good and honorable man.

30 posted on 03/01/2010 8:23:19 AM PST by Max_850
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To: ontap
Biggest mistake Ronald Reagan made was choosing 41 as his veep,

I've said the same thing many times. I've come to think of Reagan as an independent. I believe he became a Republican mainly because of the Cold War. It's people like Nixon, Dole, and the Bushes who represent the true GOP, which has squandered what Reagan accomplished.

31 posted on 03/01/2010 8:36:00 AM PST by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: MinuteGal
He is a true hero in the American pantheon of heroes.

Well said. Right on the mark!

32 posted on 03/01/2010 8:41:44 AM PST by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: Max_850
In explaining the situation at the White House, Gen Haig has said:

/i> “I wasn’t talking about transition,” Haig says now. “I was talking about the executive branch, who is running the government. That was the question asked. It was not, ‘who is in line should the President die?’”

This is his response to his famous comment: "“Constitutionally gentlemen, you have the president, the vice president and the secretary of state, in that order, and should the president decide he wants to transfer the helm to the vice president, he will do so. As for now, I’m in control here, in the White House, pending the return of the vice president and in close touch with him. If something came up, I would check with him, of course.”

He is correct. After the President & VP, in the White House the Secty of State is the ranking cabinet member.

He is also correct constitutionally in that circumstance when the VP is on his way:

25th Amendment, Sections 3,4

"3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President."

The Constitution then does put the VP in charge and it does make the cabinet a co-deciding body, and the SecState is the ranking cabinet member.

So, if the VP is being contacted, the P is in the hospital, and the Secty of State is in the WH, WHO is in charge at the WH?

33 posted on 03/01/2010 8:59:27 AM PST by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Those who support our troops pray for their victory!)
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

Haig was stronger than Bush I.


34 posted on 03/01/2010 9:01:58 AM PST by wardaddy (I'm waiting for Epic Beard Man the movie.)
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To: pgkdan

Jeb race baits over amnesty....I’ll pass.


35 posted on 03/01/2010 9:03:11 AM PST by wardaddy (I'm waiting for Epic Beard Man the movie.)
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

Lost me right here. Al NEVER claimed he was in charge.

What he did say was:

“I am in charge here at the White House.”

A solid reassuring statement that I would expect any field grade military officer to make.

“It’s OK I have it covered here people.”

Nothing wrong with that.


36 posted on 03/01/2010 9:03:32 AM PST by mad_as_he$$ (usff.com)
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To: paddles
We can thank Powell for the failure to depose Saddam in 1991. Powell is the most overrated person ever to hold a position of high public trust in the US Government.

Absolutely correct!!!

37 posted on 03/01/2010 9:29:10 AM PST by awelliott
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To: tarheelswamprat
Reagan did not choose Bush voluntarily. He was forced into it. Nelson Rockefeller and other leaders of his country club wing of the Republican Party called Reagan into a meeting and threatened to walk out of the convention and throw the election to the Dems if Reagan didn't choose Bush.

Fair enough, but what kept him from choosing a conservative in 1984? Loyalty is one thing, but it is trumped by the best interests of the nation....

38 posted on 03/01/2010 9:32:47 AM PST by awelliott
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To: tarheelswamprat
Reagan did not choose Bush voluntarily. He was forced into it. Nelson Rockefeller and other leaders of his country club wing of the Republican Party called Reagan into a meeting and threatened to walk out of the convention and throw the election to the Dems if Reagan didn't choose Bush.

Patently false and impossible: Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979)

39 posted on 03/01/2010 11:17:12 AM PST by Norman Bates
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To: tarheelswamprat; Impy; GOPsterinMA; AuH2ORepublican; Clintonfatigued; Clemenza; BillyBoy; ...
"Reagan did not choose Bush voluntarily. He was forced into it. Nelson Rockefeller and other leaders of his country club wing of the Republican Party called Reagan into a meeting and threatened to walk out of the convention and throw the election to the Dems if Reagan didn't choose Bush."

Wow, that's amazing. I knew Nelson Rockefeller was powerful, but to convene a meeting over a year after his death (while shagging a young woman in a hotel room) to pressure Reagan into choosing Bush is nothing short of remarkable.

40 posted on 03/01/2010 11:20:35 AM PST by fieldmarshaldj (~"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Amber Lamps !"~~)
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