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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
 Posted - 07/22/2009 : 03:26:07
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Reese Erlich interviewed Cronkite:
| “President George Bush recently announced a new doctrine that gives the U.S. the right to take unilateral militarily action against any country or group that threatens our national interests. I think it is about as a dangerous foreign policy as a nation could adopt. It violates international law and the whole theory—and hopes—that world peace rests with the United Nations. It would destroy the United Nations. Why should Washington be so peremptory? Presumably, we don't assign this same right to any other nation. I assume this policy is limited to the United States. How does that set with the rest of the world? It is aggressive and dangerously so. |
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I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2009 : 04:10:30 [Permalink]
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But then, he didn't say the same about the Vietnam War.
| Also in 1965 -- the pivotal year of escalation -- Cronkite expressed explicit support for the Vietnam War. He lauded "the courageous decision that Communism's advance must be stopped in Asia and that guerilla warfare as a means to a political end must be finally discouraged." |
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I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter
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Simon
SFN Regular
USA
1992 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2009 : 07:55:14 [Permalink]
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Well; the US's presence had more legitimacy in Vietnam (where they were asked to help by a recognized foreign government) than in Iraq were Bush just threw a tantrum...
It might also be that Cronkite learned from what he most probably view as a mistake in Vietnam (considering his later declaration about the war being 'unwinnable') and grew wiser over the last few decades. |
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996 |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2009 : 07:57:37 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Gorgo
But then, he didn't say the same about the Vietnam War.
| Also in 1965 -- the pivotal year of escalation -- Cronkite expressed explicit support for the Vietnam War. He lauded "the courageous decision that Communism's advance must be stopped in Asia and that guerilla warfare as a means to a political end must be finally discouraged." |
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Yes, but he did ultimately change his mind, as did many Americans. And he did go beyond his first "stalemate" change of mind, even if not very publicly. Cronkite always felt that his job was as a reporter and not a contaminator, so the "stalemate" statement for him was extraordinary. He was not a spin doctor. So the power of his unlikely "stalemate" statement had a huge impact. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2009 : 08:15:30 [Permalink]
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He was not a spin doctor. So the power of his unlikely "stalemate" statement had a huge impact.
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Nobody expects him, even in hindsight, to be perfect. However, allowing the government to put their spin on what you say is not being unbiased. |
I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2009 : 10:13:42 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Simon
Well; the US's presence had more legitimacy in Vietnam (where they were asked to help by a recognized foreign government) than in Iraq were Bush just threw a tantrum...
It might also be that Cronkite learned from what he most probably view as a mistake in Vietnam (considering his later declaration about the war being 'unwinnable') and grew wiser over the last few decades.
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A foreign government largely created by the United States.
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761576219/diem_ngo_dinh.html |
I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter
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| Edited by - Gorgo on 07/22/2009 10:13:59 |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2009 : 10:52:12 [Permalink]
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I think that Cronkite deserves credit for having evolved from being a cheerleader into a war (and media) skeptic. Sure, it's better when someone starts on the right foot, but so few people who are wrong about something will ever admit their error.
To a large degree, Cronkite's journey is that of the best of a generation of Americans who came to maturity during the "good war" against the Axis, and then had to deal with the thousands of shades of gray of the Cold War, and the even more confusing situation since the fall of the Soviet Union.
I suspect all the critical things we can say about Cronkite were things he thought about himself as well.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Cronkite: Iraq war violation of international law
