Former US Ambassador to Iraq Calls US War Plan "Dumb"

[Doug Millison]

http://www.counterpunch.org/peck1.html

Former US Ambassador to Iraq
Calls US War Plan "Dumb"


"Why it is that all of these people hate us. It's not because of freedom.
It's not because Britney Spears has a belly button or because we export
hamburgers. They hate us because of things they see us doing to their part
of the world that they definitely do not like."

Edward Peck, former US Ambassador to Iraq and deputy director of President
Reagan's terrorism task force.

CNN CROSSFIRE
America Strikes Back:
Should the U.S. Target Iraq?

Aired October 8, 2001 - 19:30 ET
[...]


PECK: [...] Do not confuse, please, the message with the messenger. And the
message is that we have been bombing Iraq whenever we feel like it for the
last 10 years. Nobody likes that, least of all the Iraqis, and but lot of
other people besides.

We have been responsible -- pardon, I'll take it back. We have accepted
responsibility for the death of 500,000 Iraqi children on American
television, a position taken by the then-ambassador to the United Nations.

[...] PRESS: Day two of this war against terrorism in Afghanistan. 94
percent of the American people support it. Do you? Are you among the 94?

PECK: Oh, yes, sure. Except that you ask the American people the question
one way and they will say, "yes we are for it." And then you watch the body
bags to come home and then they are against it. Polling is a very tricky
business, sir. I don't need to tell you that. When you tell me that 86.2
percent of the people want lower taxes and 94 percent more services, I
recognize that there's a conflict there. What the American people want is
something that's very hard to understand because A) they don't know where
Afghanistan is; B) they know nothing about it; and c) they have no idea
whatsoever as to what the potential gains and costs are from getting
involved

The difficulty that we face is that I support -- because I understand how
democracy works -- we have to go out and do the sorts of things we are
doing. So we will mercilessly, viciously, effectively attack and destroy
all kinds of symptoms. When the rubble has settled and the dust is gone,
the disease is still going to be out there untouched. Because we don't want
to look at why, why it is that all of these people hate us. It's not
because of freedom. It's not because Brittney Spears has a belly button or
because we export hamburgers. They hate us because of things they see us
doing to their part of the world that they definitely do not like.