Blitzer Believes Iraqis Should Just Be Grateful They've Been Liberated

Last Friday, during a roundtable discussion on CNN's Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer asserted that comments made by Iraq's Prime Minister al-Malaki in reaction to the news about the alleged Haditha massacre and the killings of Iraqi civilians by US troops were out of line, clearly implying that the Iraq government owed some sort of blind allegiance to the US for what it has done for Iraqis overall.

Today in our "Strategy Session," Iraq's prime minister is now calling into question the conduct of U.S. troops in Iraq. What does this mean for the overall U.S. mission there?

Joining us are Democratic analyst and radio talk show hosts Bill Press, and Terry Jeffrey, the editor of Human Events.

Terry, I will start with you.

The new prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, says this: "This is a phenomenon that has become common among many of the multinational forces, no respect for citizens, smashing civilian cars, and killing on a suspicion off a hunch. It's unacceptable" -- this from the leader of the country that supposedly a close ally of the United States.

TERRY JEFFREY, EDITOR, "HUMAN EVENTS": Wolf, this...

BLITZER: These are strong words.

JEFFREY: This is an outrageous statement from the prime minister of Iraq.

You know, almost all the casualties the United States are taking in Iraq now are either in Baghdad or out in the Sunni Triangle. Almost all of them are inflicted on our troops by Sunni insurgents, who basically did not want Mr. Maliki's government to come into force, because it's a Shia-dominated government. This is man who I have noted on this show has said, by the end of this year, he thinks that he can secure 16 of the 18 provinces, not counting Baghdad and Anbar.

Anbar is where Haditha is. He claims, by next year, he can do Anbar and Baghdad.

What I would say to Mr. Maliki, and I hope our government would say, is, Mr. Maliki, we expect you to be good to your word. If you don't like the way U.S. troops are patrolling those areas, you better get your troops in shape, so they can patrol those areas, so our boys can come home.

BLITZER: You would -- you would think he would at least say, given all the blood that the United States has sacrificed in Iraq, the treasure, hundreds of billions of dollars, he -- he might have said, you know what? This is a tiny, tiny example. There's always a few rotten apples, but 99.9 percent of the troops were grateful to them.

You -- I would -- I would have thought you would hear that, more than this.

BILL PRESS, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Sure. We liberated the country, and this is the thanks we get, right? And you would he would say, first, thank you, but...

But, you know, Terry, we are in no position to preach to the prime minister of -- of Iraq. If we do, it's senseless anyhow. He is speaking for himself. He's speaking for his people. He's the head of the country. I think this tells us something, and we ought to be listening to him.

It tells us, no matter what we have done for these people, that we are still considered a hostile occupation force. We can't force democracy on them. We can't force them to love us. I would say it says, you know, we better redeploy our troops and get out, before he tells us to get out.

BLITZER: You agree with him?

JEFFREY: Well, a little bit.

First of all, this guy is the democratically leader of Iraq. But he's got one big problem. The Sunnis don't want to really come into the government until the constitution has been adapted to fit some of their needs. Where is the oil revenue going to go? How much power are they going to have?

So, far they don't have a Defense and Interior Ministry. Maliki needs our troops there to solve those political problems. But we need him to solve those political problems, so our troops can come home. All Americans have an interest in having a stable Iraq.

PRESS: I would...

(CROSSTALK)

JEFFREY: That's the bottom line.

PRESS: I would suggest we're the ones that have the problem. This is the new government. The president said this is another turning point; we have reached another milestone in Iraq.

Yet, the violence keeps getting worse. They don't have an interior minister. They don't have an defense minister. They're clearly not able to control the country. And now he's criticizing the U.S. troops.

BLITZER: Here's what a -- a U.S. military spokesman, in a briefing for Pentagon reporters from Baghdad, said earlier today. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGADIER GENERAL DONALD CAMPBELL, MULTINATIONAL CORPS IN IRAQ: The credibility of our coalition forces is too valuable a commodity to squander needlessly. And every incident and allegation, no matter how small, strikes a blow against that credibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: You know, it's a tough job these military forces have, 130,000, 135,000 U.S. troops, another 15,000 or so other coalition forces. They are so scared. They are always in potential danger. And, sometimes, that split-second decision, that hesitation, could cost them their lives.

JEFFREY: Yes, no question.

I think -- look, I think if Americans are of one mind on anything, whether we agreed with the war or disagree, whether we want to stay or bring our troops home, is that we honor and respect the service of the brave Americans who are over there right now on the ground putting their lives at risk.

I think Americans also are going to be of one mind, Wolf, that we want due process and rule of law for our guys. We want to find out the truth about what happened in Haditha. We want justice. But we want it to be done according to our standards of rule or law. We don't want anybody railroaded.
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Tuesday, in a an interview with US ambassador to the UN John Bolton, Blitzer repeated the same opinion - that Iraq's Prime Minister should be grateful for what the US has done for his country. (transcript will be posted when it's available)

Which part of the free speech aspect of democracy doesn't Blitzer understand?

UPDATE: Here's the transcript from Tuesday's show.

BLITZER: Final question, on Iraq, while I have you. Some startling -- I thought startling -- comments from the new Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Malaki, referring to these allegations of U.S. military misconduct at Haditha and elsewhere in Iraq. Listen to what he said last Thursday.

"This is a phenomenon that has become common among many of the multinational forces. No respect for citizens, smashing civilian cars and killing on a suspicion or a hunch. It's unacceptable."

I was pretty surprised, this coming from a man who is prime minister largely because of the United States and the U.S. loss in lives, the invasion, the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the hundreds of billions of dollars we've spent to try to establish a democracy there. And here, he's lecturing the United States about U.S. military misconduct. How did you feel when you heard that?

BOLTON: Well, I don't think that statement was terribly well advised. But I'll leave it to others to respond to it more directly.

BLITZER: You're becoming a diplomat, obviously. Ambassador Bolton, I remember you from the academic environment. You would have had a different response, I suspect, in those days.

BOLTON: I don't work for myself any more.

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