Walter Cronkite: Another Misbegotten & Mismanaged War

[kpete]

Published on Thursday, March 23, 2006 by the Miami Herald
Documentary Sends Warning to Congress
by Walter Cronkite


Not unlike the Vietnam quagmire on which I reported in 1968, we are today presented with the Iraq quagmire. The threat of world communism has been replaced by international terror as a pretext for another misbegotten and mismanaged war, but the falsehoods, broken promises and withering national faith are too familiar.

Now, as then, with each further escalation, we come closer to the brink of cosmic disaster. A recent poll revealed that three-fourths of U.S. troops serving in Iraq want full withdrawal, one-fourth immediately. Despite the executive's stubborn optimism, two-thirds of the public now favor withdrawal.

Yet in Congress, such voices are the minority.

In my February 1968 broadcast, I called the position of Vietnam a stalemate.

I'm not sure ''stalemate'' fits the U.S. military's loose footing in the sands of Iraq, but the need to cut losses does. In the wake of the Golden Mosque bombing in Samarra, Shiites and Sunnis now clash across the region. Our men and women in uniform face the task of trying to stave off a civil war when their very presence as an occupying force more often than not fuels the violence and represents an obstacle to Shiite and Sunni reconciliation.

As I stated in relation to Vietnam, the only rational way out is to proceed not as victors but as an honorable people who tried to defend democracy the best they could. Recently, I suggested that in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina there was an opportunity to withdraw from Iraq and still maintain our sense of honor. We had an urgent need to redirect our resources to the aid of our communities and people stricken by the devastation of the great storm. Almost no one on Capitol Hill was listening.

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0323-20.htm

[RedEarth]

1. Very good.... Sure miss some of the old time journalist

they actually seemed to try and report the news, not just be a mouth piece for one party or the other....I also sure miss seeing Moyers on NOW.

[napi21]

2. WHY is this man the ONLY journalist remaining, and HE'S

retired!!!!!!

I so miss the Walters of the news world! There are NONE left!

[90-percent]

3. Yo, Walter! Ever hear of the POTTERY BARN DOCTRINE?

We broke it, so we gotta buy it.

Not to worry, the next President will figure something out.

We've got at least 10 more years and 48,000 more lives before we reach a Viet Nam Caliber Quagmire.

Now THAT was a quagmire!

-85% Jimmy

[napi21]

5. So get the hell out and send the Iraqi's $$ to fix what we broke! n/t

[C_U_L8R]

4. He's one of the only ones

who isn't bought and paid for

[hootinholler]

9. Helen remains. n/t

[understandinglife]

6. "Not unlike the Vietnam quagmire on which I reported in 1968 ..."

That's all he needed to write. I'm delighted he wrote more, particularly:

"Our men and women in uniform face the task of trying to stave off a civil war when their very presence as an occupying force more often than not fuels the violence and represents an obstacle to Shiite and Sunni reconciliation."



Be The Bu$h Opposition - 24/7

[Sydnie]

7. Thank you Walter. You are missed.

I mean, look that the contrast. We had Walter, who did the news the way the news should be done on CBS for years. Now, they are looking to hire Katie Couric to read the news and giggle when appropriate, or not appropriate even. Come back top the desk Walter ... once a week, and do an editorial for all of us that are starved for an honest voice.

[DemReadingDU]

8. Excellent Idea, I miss ole Walter too.

[JudyM]

10. Hopefully this veteran newsman's wisdom will make news nationally.

[Lautremont]

11. If we've lost Cronkite, we've lost America.

[mcscajun]

12. Old enough to remember...that's what LBJ said.

And he was right.

[brer cat]

13. * is old enough to remember too, but he doesn't listen. nt

[PegDAC]

14. Walter Cronkite was right then

and he's right now. Who will tell the truth when he's gone?

:patriot:

[burrowowl]

15. Link took me to Molly

instead of Walter, but since Common Dreams is my home page already read it.
May Walter, Helen and Molly stay with us for a few more years (Molly has had a relapse of her cancer).

[Wilms]

16. K&R n/t

[liberal N proud]

17. One of the last true journalist