TDPS Best of 2010: Iraq Vet Matthew Hoh Turns Anti-War...Fascinating Interview - TRANSCRIPT

[celtics23]

Run time: 05:20 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiECRhxuHi0   Posted on YouTube: December 31, 2010 By YouTube Member: MidweekPolitics Views on YouTube: 320   Posted on DU: January 03, 2011 By DU Member: celtics23 Views on DU: 305

 
From: www.davidpakman.com | Subscription: www.davidpakman.com/membership | YouTube: www.youtube.com/midweekpolitics

Full interview part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFQQEZ3cw1k
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2yy-tKypwY

David: We got the chance over the summer to go to the Our Future Now conference in Washington, DC, and one of my favorite interviews from that conference was we were able to speak with Iraq War veteran and also foreign-- former foreign service official Matt Hoh, who, while he was there in-- overseas, turned against the war and realized that a lot of what we were told was not the truth, essentially. Here's a couple of minutes from my interview with him.

Matthew Hoh: ... back again in April or May of '07, and at that point, my feelings towards Iraq was you know what, we can't leave right now because we need to stabilize this place. Without us, right now, if we don't get to a point, if we don't leave them to a point where stability is going to occur, where there's going to be a political process, a political order, this fight is going to go on forever. So that was my feelings on it when I got back two years later from the first time I got back, was that...

David: So is your feeling now, given that experience that you've had, you were kind of ahead of the conventional wisdom, I guess we could say, or the popular opinion on a lot of these issues. Do you feel now like you're kind of saying I told you so, or do you find yourself avoiding saying I told you so?

Hoh: I don't find that very satisfying. I mean, it's not...

David: No, I'm sure it's not, but do you almost... I mean, if I were you, I would almost feel like I would be avoiding even talking about it, because it's almost, just mentioning that this was your opinion is in a way saying I told you so, even if that's not what you're trying to do.

Hoh: Yeah. Yeah, no, that's the case. Yeah. And there's been guys, with Afghanistan, there's been guys saying I told you so about Afghanistan since '01, we just haven't listened to them.

David: Right.

Hoh: And I think with Afghanistan, things that I resigned on principal for last year are becoming more and more stated fact, you know, that we're entangled in a civil war, that our presence in Afghanistan does not affect al Qaeda, that the elections were fraudulent and we're now propping up a corrupt and illegitimate government, that we're not doing those political efforts necessary to bring about stability in the east and southern parts of Afghanistan. So those things that I resigned on last year, I'm finding them being said more and more often. And by no means was I the first guy to ever say that. Guys have been saying that, like I said, since 2001 when we went in there.

David: But according to a lot of the articles I've looked at just in the time I've had to just kind of prep, a lot of them do say you're the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war, even if you weren't the first one saying those things. How do you feel about being... I mean, is it true, first of all, as far as you know?

Hoh: As far as I know, yeah, as far as I know.

David: OK.

Hoh: I didn't know that at the time. Yeah, it... You know, I'd prefer to be wrong about it. I'd prefer to be told like hey, you know what? Yeah, nice letter you wrote, but you missed the point. You're forgetting about, this. This is why we're there. That's never...

David: So I want to remind our audience, every single one of these interviews that we're playing clips from available in full on our YouTube channel, so definitely check them out. I mean, literally we're going through highlights from hours and hours of interviews.

And before we break, we can't forget the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill. Speaking of Wikileaks, we found out 18 months prior in Azerbaijan, there was a similar blowout that BP had. What if we had known about that? Well, one person who certainly would have probably preferred that would've been Kuzma Tesvich, who we spoke to several months ago, and he is actually a fourth-generation fisherman, oysterman, in the Gulf of Mexico, and we spoke to him. He certainly was concerned for the well-being of his family as a result of that spill.

David: ... if you can't continue this business?

Kuzma Tesvich: That's a good question. I don't know. I don't know, I'm really not trained to do anything. I'm close to 50 years old. I've lost my whole life in this, investments, and I really don't know.

David: Yeah. And as far as the health concerns, I mean, have you or other fishermen you know that have been out near the shore, on the water, are you experiencing any of the health issues that I've read so much about?

Tesvich: No, I haven't, but on the local news, I've heard different fishermen that are trying to help clean up that are actually out on these spill sites have respiratory problems from the dispersants, and they are really damaging.

David: So when the company that makes the Corexit says this is less toxic than dish soap, you don't buy that?

Tesvich: Well, I would hate to see the bad stuff if this is the good stuff.

David: Yeah. I hear you. Hey, last question, do you think that there should be oil drilling offshore? I mean, that is, are you for or against the business of drilling for oil the way it's being done there?

Tesvich: I think our country needs offshore drilling, but I think they need to follow the rules a little closer. Obviously there were some rules that they jumped over and they made shortcuts to speed up the process, and that's why we're in this mess today.

David: So Kuzma Tesvich, incredible interview, also on our YouTube channel. We'll take a break, we'll continue the best of The David Pakman Show 2010. So much going on. And by the way, Louis hosting the bonus show today. You've got to hear that, right?

Louis: Oh, yeah.

Announcer: The David Pakman Show at www.DavidPakman.com.



Transcript provided by Alex Wickersham. For transcription, translation, captions, and subtitles, contact Alex at [e-mail].

[tins0404]

1. Wonderful

I watched the full original interview, excellent