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11 of 13 Questions on Nightline Express
Anti-War Agenda
ABC's Nightline Town Meeting on Tuesday night put the burden on those in favor of a war on Iraq, a tilt evident in the title of the 90-minute special, “War in Iraq: Why Now?” While Ted Koppel presented a balanced panel of three experts for and three against a war, an amazing 11 of 13 questions posed from the audience, at St. Johns Episcopal Church within sight of the White House, expressed hostility for President Bush's policy or outright disdain for the U.S.
Two Members of Congress got to make mini-speeches in the form of questions -- both liberal Democrats from Illinois.
On the enjoyable front, prompted by the French Ambassador to the U.S. pleading to know “why is it when France takes sides on one side there is so much French-bashing in the United States?”, both Senator John McCain and former CIA Director James Woolsey lectured the ambassador about France's irresponsible stand.
Koppel set the tone for the evening by opening the March 4 broadcast (EST/CST feed) with this supposed joke which undermined the moral superiority of the U.S. position: “There's a sardonic two-liner making the rounds in Washington these days: 'How do we know that Saddam Hussein has biological and chemical weapons? We have the receipts.' Nasty, but there's an element of truth to it.”
Back when Hussein was using chemical weapons on his own people, Koppel added, “there wasn't a great deal of outrage from the Reagan-Bush White House.”
Over three-fourths the way through the program, Koppel contended that those in favor of war, even after the onslaught of hostile questions, though Koppel didn't point that out, still hadn't satisfied Koppel on his “why now” question. Koppel suggested that if we waited six months the inspectors could find more evidence and then allies like Germany and French would come aboard our war effort and so “wouldn't we be that much better off with that kind of support?” To the consternation of the French ambassador who shook his head in disgust, McCain replied: “I have no confidence that will ever happen with the French.”
Woolsey then argued: “If Saddam uses biological weapons that have been genetically modified in order to be resistant to vaccines for anthrax or to antibiotics or to smallpox, and you find out because you've waited, at some point, that it was this six month period in which he was able to do that, who that is arguing for the delay will stand up and take responsibility and say, 'gee, you know I'm really sorry'?”
Koppel interjected his scorn: “It's a heck of a hypothetical point.”
Woolsey stood his ground: “I don't think it's hypothetical at all, nor do people who work on biological weapons believe that it is hypothetical...”
But the really biased element to the show was all the hostile questions from the left. The audience for these Nightline Town Meetings is carefully selected by ABC producers who then decide who can pose a question, so the questioners normally are pretty balanced. But not on Tuesday night, a slant which really makes ABC look pretty irresponsible given the very small audience they were able to fit into the church.
Here's a flavor of the 11 out of 13 questions which had an anti-war and/or anti-U.S. agenda:
-- “I've noticed that our country has lied and deceived its people a number of different times, starting back with the Boston Tea Party....Why should we believe anything from the United States government about what Saddam has or might possibly do considering the history of lies and deceptions we've had from our government?”
-- “...Millions of people in cities all across the United States are protesting war. 124 cities in the United States have passed anti-war resolutions and the latest polls show that Americans overwhelmingly do not support a unilateral war. So right now if the President is to go to war and lead us to war right now he's in a breach of democratic process because he's not representing the will of the American people.”
-- “...Wouldn't it make more sense that America would be safer and more secure if we were pursuing policies that made us loved and admired and not just feared and resented?”
-- Hussein is “militarily contained, detained and restrained. So why is it necessary now to launch a war be it unilaterally, bi-laterally, tri-laterally or multi-laterally under the pseudo pretext of liberation?”
-- “Some of us think that the rush to war now is a screen to cover some of the other geopolitical and economic interests of the United States, including oil.”
The three panelists against any war: Democratic Senator Carl Levin, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Joseph Wilson, United Church of Christ minister Susan Thistletwaite who is also President of the Chicago Theological Seminary. The three pro-Bush policy panelists: Senator John McCain, former CIA Director James Woolsey and Richard Land, a Baptist minister and President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Below is a complete rundown of all 13 questions posed by the audience during the March 4 program, intermixed with a flavor of the McCain/Woolsey mocking of the French position:
-- #1, pro-war, a woman: “I would like to ask those that are opposed to immediate and quick action against Iraq which Americans cities, citizens, do you feel are expendable before you realize that quick and immediate reaction against Saddam Hussein is imperative?”
Koppel: “...You're presuming a bit too much, perhaps, but explain it.”
Woman: “Maybe I should broaden it to any kind of city, whether it be the neighbors of Iraq or us on American soil...”
-- #2, anti-war, a woman and future journalist: “I'm a senior journalism major from Howard University. My question has to do with why attack Iraq and not North Korea. In the 2002 State of the Union address President Bush addressed North Korea, Iran and Iraq as a part of the 'axis of evil.' So if we're going to attack Iraq based on the criterium that they're evil then why not North Korea?”
-- #3, anti-war, woman wearing a “No War” button: “My name is Jan Shakowsky (sp?). I'm a Congresswoman from the 9th District in Illinois. The button I'm wearing reflects the sentiments of most of the people in my district. It seems to me that the arguments underpinning this rush to war right now are three and I think they are myths. One is that Saddam Hussein has threatened us. He has not threatened the United States in my view. I'd like a response to that. Also, this connection between Saddam and Osama bin Laden and September 11th. If you put them in the same sentence often enough you probably can convince the American people, but is it really true? And finally this notion that it's either war or appeasement, one or the other. And I think that's really a myth...”
-- #4, pro-war, a man: “I'm the Chairman of the Iraqi-American Council....How many holocausts does the human race have to endure before we understand, like the one Saddam continuing holocaust on the Iraq people for the past 34 years that which, as I said, claimed my cousin life, 1.5 millions of my people. How many victims that we have to go through to understand that the real subject is not weapons of mass destructions, that Saddam is the weapon of mass destruction?”
-- #5, anti-war and anti-American, a man: “As a bit of a student of history, I've noticed that our country has lied and deceived its people a number of different times, starting back with the Boston Tea Party as if the Indians did it, Texas as if the Mexicans attacked. They said the Spanish sank the Maine, was a lie. They said the Lusitania was attacked, it had arms on it, it was sunk. The Tonkin Bay resolution, which, Mr. McCain, I'm quite sure you remember that, that turned out to be a big fat total lie. We've had the incubator incident with the Kuwaitis which turned out to be a fabrication, Mr. CIA. Why should we believe anything from the United States government about what Saddam has or might possibly do considering the history of lies and deceptions we've had from our government?”
The “Indians” did the Boston Tea Party?
That question caused Woolsey to start laughing, but McCain immediately retorted: “I'm proud of the record of the United States and our advocacy for freedom. As Colin Powell said so movingly, we've sent thousands of our young people to fight and die all over the world and all we've asked is for the ground to bury them in...”
-- #6, anti-war, a woman: “I would like to pose my question to the two Senators. Back in October the Congress voted to turn over the authority to wage war to the President. Now the President can wage war unilaterally or with the support of the UN and he does not have to go back to the Congress to do it. Since October there's been a massive outpouring of anti-war sentiment, there's been huge protests, millions of people in cities all across the United States are protesting war. 124 cities in the United States have passed anti-war resolutions and the latest polls show that Americans overwhelmingly do not support a unilateral war. So right now if the President is to go to war and lead us to war right now he's in a breach of democratic process because he's not representing the will of the American people. And my question to the two Senators is, as elected representatives that are accountable back to the people and back to your constituents, what do you plan to do to ensure that our democratic process is held intact and what do you plan to do to make sure the voices of the American people are heard and represented?”
Just about everything she claimed in factually inaccurate since polls show that most support Bush's Iraq policy and no protest anywhere in the U.S. has drawn “millions.”
-- #7, anti-war, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.: “In October of 2002 the administration sold Congress on the Iraq resolution as a means to show the United Nations that we were unified and that the United Nations needed a tough inspections resolution to get Saddam Hussein to allow the inspectors back in. It now appears that the administration is using the unity resolution as the legal foundation for war in Iraq. Under Article One, Section 8, the 'why now' question of this show should be debated on the floor of the Congress of the United States and Congress and Congress alone, under Article One, Section 8, has the power to declare war. Not the President when he wants to. Mr. McCain, Senator Levin, I'd like your response for why Congress is not considering a war declaration since 200,000 U.S. troops are presently positioned in the Middle East on their way to war.”
-- #8, anti-war, a woman: “My name's Abigail. I'm a student at American University. My question is actually addressed to the French and German ambassadors. If we do do this war unilaterally, what changes can we expect when we win with re-alliances of French and German relations with America and Great Britain?”
French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte, who was in the audience, whined: “Why is it when France takes sides on one side there is so much French-bashing in the United States?”
McCain told Levitte: “I hope that in return for a better dialogue, that Mr. Chirac will allow a better dialogue between those countries that don't agree with him in Europe that he said he wished had remained silent...”
Woolsey contended that the policy stands being followed now by France and Germany “are very much on a par with the policies of Britain and France in the mid-1930s when they turned away from blocking Italy in moving into Abyssinia, when they turned away from Hitler's violations in 1935 and 1936 of the Versailles Treaty. And they said exactly what some are saying here tonight: Let's kick the ball down the road, let it go, see if it might get better, it didn't.”
-- #9, anti-war, a man: “I'm very concerned as an American that nothing has done more to stoke the flames of anti-Americanism than this relentless drive for war. All over the war, not only among our traditional enemies, but we see anti-Americanism on the rise in Canada, in Britain, in Germany, in France and everywhere. And it seems to me that wouldn't it make more sense that America would be safer and more secure if we were pursuing policies that made us loved and admired and not just feared and resented?”
-- #10, anti-war, a man: “My name is Melvin G. Brown. I'm the pastor of the Greater Hope Baptist Church downtown Washington, DC. In light of all of the attention, the focus and the pressure internationally by the media, by the American administration and by the UN weapons inspectors in Iraq, Saddam Hussein and Iraq are diplomatically, politically and militarily contained, detained and restrained. So why is it necessary now to launch a war be it unilaterally, bi-laterally, tri-laterally or multi-laterally under the pseudo pretext of liberation?”
-- #11, anti-war and anti-U.S. integrity, a woman: “I work in the health care field. Some of us think that the rush to war now is a screen to cover some of the other geopolitical and economic interests of the United States, including oil. What I'd like to know is how you can help the American people understand what some of those other interests might be?”
-- #12, anti-war, a woman: “I have two sons, one of whom is being deployed any day now and one who is volunteering for Iraq. If we go with the policy of pre-emptive strike because we feel threatened, could not North Korea feel threatened by us and therefore feel they have the right to strike? Do we think that if we do this we will be the only nation that feels it has that right?”
-- #13, anti-war, a woman: “My question is why now, with this rise of anti-American sentiment, not just in the Middle East but the whole world, and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East and Philippines and Indonesia, why are we going to go into Iraq, topple Saddam Hussein, install a democracy that could possibly lead to a democratic Iraq votes an Islamic fundamentalism party into power that could possibly lead the way to a Taliban-like state?...”
Finally, in what could be considered a 14th question from the audience, and the 12th out of 14 against a war, a women stood and held up photos of disfigured children who were the victims of bombing. ABC's camera's caught two of the pictures long enough to make out what they showed. |
