Jim Webb and George
Felix Allen, Jr. were on
This Week with George Stephanopoulos earlier today. It was a 15 minute segment, so I can't transcribe the whole thing, but it was a great interview, so I wanted to share some of the highlights. In particular, I was impressed by Jim Webb's willingness to call out the Bush administration on their
biggest lie of all -- they don't intend to leave Iraq, and they never did.
Quotes on the flip:
GS: Senator Allen seemed to say that you were part of the 'I told you so' caucus on Iraq.
JW: Well, I think there are a lot of people who don't want to be reminded that they were warned. I think it's relevant, when you talk about how you build national strategy, and how you use the military -- to talk about how these decisions should be made. There should be some sort of accountability.
That's a key point, to me. Discussing how we got involved in Iraq isn't simply Monday morning quarterbacking (to mock George Felix Allen with a football analogy), but rather goes to the broader point of an overall doctrine for using military force. The fact that Jim Webb thinks about these broader ideas of national security strategy, and saw how invading Iraq would damage our national interests back in September 2002, was a large part of what initially got me interested in him as a candidate, back when the buzz started circulating last fall.
Some other choice quoteables:
JW: I think what we need is a clear endpoint. And the difficulty with the positions that have been taken by this administration is that they have never articulated a clear endpoint. But I think what we need to be focusing on right now is when does the occupation end. Because there are a lot of the people who got us into Iraq who want to to stay for the next 30 to 50 years.
JW: ... Here's something to focus on: We keep hearing about these four large bases, permanent bases, that are being built in the interior of Iraq. And if we're going to have, by the administration's count, four huge bases in Iraq, for a long period of time, that's a totally different thing than what they are implying by saying that the Iraqis are going to take over.
JW: Here's what the administration is not saying, and they should be encouraged to clarify this. Are they saying that we're going to draw down, and move back into these bases, so that the Iraqis are controlling the cities like Baghdad and Ramadi, but that we're still going to be there for the next 30 years as an occupying power? President Bush has said future presidents -- plural -- will be dealing with the Iraq situation. I think we can be out of Iraq in two years.
Here's what George Felix Allen had to say when Stephanopoulos asked him about Bush's ambitions for a long-term presence in Iraq:
GA: In the case that they [the Iraqi "government"] say gosh we still need the Americans there in some presence, I think we should accommodate them.
Gosh!!! Felix just more or less admitted Webb was right...
Webb on war profiteering and tax cuts for the rich:
JW: There's plenty of people making an awful lot of money on this war.
GS: Like?
JW: Have you looked at Haliburton's stock? I think it was 9 when the war began. I was in the dentist's chair a couple of weeks ago, with the CNN screen -- no offense -- and it was at 82. So there are a lot of people who have made a lot of money off of this war.
GS: So you'd roll back some of President Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy?
JW: I don't really understand how you can have a tax cut and be spending $500 billion on a war.
GS: So you would?
JW: Yeah, I would.
Damn straight...
Here's George Felix Allen commenting on his political mentor:
GA: The President is always welcome in Virginia. We have the same philisophy... Most of the time, I'm proud of the President, and the stands he takes. Sometimes I disagree. I generally disagree privately.
So even on those rare occasions when he disagrees with the Preznit, he feels he has to keep it to himself -- can't share those opinions with his consituents or find an independent voice of his own. Why? Probably because he wants to be Bush's annointed successor.
Anyway, go over and watch the interview yourself if you missed it, and if you have friends and relatives in Virginia who aren't familiar with Jim Webb, forwarding them the link to this interview would be a good way to introduce them. (There is a "forward video" link in the lower right corner of the video page on ABCNews.)