| Right below is the transcript of John Cornyn and Carl Levin being interviewed on CNN last Sunday, August 10 about this issue where Cornyn in my opinion sounded like an idiot!
These comments from John Cornyn to Wolf Blitzer in the transcript below about Iraq and oil were absolutely ridiculous in my opinion:
BLITZER: "I want to pick up that point with Senator Levin, should the Iraqis, Senator Cornyn, at least be selling oil to the United States at a discount from the going international rate?
CORNYN: Iraq is a sovereign country, Wolf. That's what we have fought to help them attain, and they will become, I believe, a self- governing democracy and ally of the United States in the Middle East, the first Arab country to become that. And that is a tremendous accomplishment.
BLITZER: So the answer is?
CORNYN: Well, I think we should not be stealing basically what is theirs, and I don't think that's why we've -- why we've expended so much blood and treasure just so we can take something that's theirs.
BLITZER: So they shouldn't be giving the U.S. a break.
CORNYN: We shouldn't be taking something that's theirs or insisting that they shouldn't get value for..."
Carl Levin in my opinion also took John Cornyn to school correcting Cornyn about his misstatements in this interview!
Here is the YouTube video of part of this interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Levin and Cornyn on Iraq (2:24)
Added: August 10, 2008
thinkprogress.org
Here is an article about this interview on thinkprogress.org:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/...
By Amanda on Aug 10th, 2008 at 12:15
Cornyn: Iraq's Massive $79 Billion Surplus Is A Success Of Bush's Policies»
The bottom line in my opinion is that John Cornyn is stuck on extreme right wing Neoconservative talking points about what we did in Iraq in the past as opposed to giving a responsible course of action about what we are going to do going forward!
I really hope that Rick Noriega can get John Cornyn to debate this and other issues. The issue of Iraq's huge oil surplus and Cornyn's answers below in my opinion were overall so irrelevant to the topic under discussion that I could beat Cornyn or any one of his representatives about this in a serious debate if it could ever be arranged!
This is also cross-posted on Gen. Wes Clark's blog with comments:
http://securingamerica.com/ccn...
Mitch Dworkin
http://www.securingamerica.com/
http://securingamerica.com/ccn...
RESOURCES: Speeches, Articles, and Career Highlights to help define Gen. Clark!
Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on July 7, 2008 - 2:51pm.
http://securingamerica.com/ccn...
StopIranWar.com: "War is not the answer"
Submitted by Wes Clark on February 21, 2007 - 11:40am.
http://www.securingamerica.com...
Listen to Gen. Wes Clark fight for Dems on Sean Hannity's radio program: An excellent example for all of us to follow and what we all need to be doing to help fight back against extreme right wing Neocon smear propaganda!
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http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRA...
CNN LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER
Interview With Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili; Interview With HUD Secretary Steve Preston
Aired August 10, 2008 - 11:00 ET
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Continuing our conversation, now, with the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin, and another key member, John Cornyn of Texas.
Senator Levin, there's a lot of outrage developing, right now, over the fact that the Iraqis, thanks to the high price of oil and their large exports of oil, they are developing an enormous budget surplus, some $80 billion or so, according to the Government Accountability Office here in Washington. And they're spending very little of that on development, this even at a time when U.S. taxpayers continue spending billions and billions of dollars building all sorts of infrastructure developments within Iraq.
What, if anything, is being done about that?
CARL LEVIN: Well, we have, in our bill, that hopefully can get to the floor, a provision which would prohibit any future American money to be spent for those reconstruction projects.
LEVIN: But what really needs to be done is the president needs to pick up the phone and to call his friend the prime minister of Iraq and tell him that they need to start reimbursing us for the ongoing costs of reconstruction.
It is an outrage, it is absolutely offensive that American taxpayers who are paying $130 a barrel for Iraqi oil, $4 a gallon at the pump for Iraqi gasoline, are also spending taxpayers' dollars to reconstruct Iraq.
Right now as we talk, we're spending money to build hotels in the economic reconstruction zone at the Baghdad Airport. Those hotels will be owned by the Iraqi government. It is an outrage. It should end, and the way to end it isn't just by passing a law. We shouldn't need to have to pass that law.
The president should call up Maliki and say this is over. Remember, when this war began, the administration promised that the reconstruction of Iraq would be paid for by Iraqi oil, and that has not been the case.
We have spent seven times more for Iraqi reconstruction than the Iraqis have, and their feeble excuse is they don't have the bureaucracy that is capable of doing - of organizing that reconstruction. That is baloney, it's unacceptable and the president can end it with a phone call?
BLITZER: What about that, Senator Cornyn? They are sitting on some $80 billion in surplus funds right now, money they could be spending in Iraq, but they are not.
JOHN CORNYN: I agree with Chairman Levin, that we need to put a limitation on the use of building -- rebuilding of infrastructure in Iraq using American taxpayer funds.
I've supported the provision that the chairman was talking about. I hope he will be able to convince Harry Reid to allow this bill to come to the floor so we can passion this into law. But the president does not appropriate any money, so I don't know what he could do. It's the Congress who appropriates money and puts limitations.
BLITZER: Let me press you on that point, Senator Cornyn, because a lot of people want the Iraqis to start reimbursing the United States for the $700 million billion or so the U.S. has already spent in Iraq. The White House says that's to going to happen. I'll play a little clip of what the deputy White House press secretary said the other day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY FRATTO, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The reimbursement to the United States is that we will have a long-term ally that will stand with us in this very critical part of the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Should the Iraqis reimburse American taxpayers for some of the funds?
CORNYN: I think that ought to be part of the debate on the Defense Authorization Bill that I hope we'll take up in September. But I think we need to be careful here because we want Iraq to succeed as a self-governing, self-defending democracy in the Middle East which it looks well on its way to doing and becoming. But I would say that we wouldn't even be having this discussion if Democratic leaders in the United States Senate had been successful imposing an arbitrary timeline for withdrawal regardless of circumstances on the ground.
BLITZER: I want to pick up that point with Senator Levin, should the Iraqis, Senator Cornyn, at least be selling oil to the United States at a discount from the going international rate?
CORNYN: Iraq is a sovereign country, Wolf. That's what we have fought to help them attain, and they will become, I believe, a self- governing democracy and ally of the United States in the Middle East, the first Arab country to become that. And that is a tremendous accomplishment.
BLITZER: So the answer is?
CORNYN: Well, I think we should not be stealing basically what is theirs, and I don't think that's why we've -- why we've expended so much blood and treasure just so we can take something that's theirs.
BLITZER: So they shouldn't be giving the U.S. a break.
CORNYN: We shouldn't be taking something that's theirs or insisting that they shouldn't get value for.
LEVIN: Wolf, I've got to answer one part of that.
BLITZER: Go ahead.
LEVIN: We tried to get the Defense Authorization Bill to the floor a week ago. There was a Republican filibuster against the motion to proceed which Harry Reid made. We were not able to get enough Republican votes to bring a defense bill to support our troops to the floor of the United States Senate because it was the 82nd or so Republican filibuster that's existed.
And as far as stealing from Iraq, my gosh, they are taking from us with this incredible price of oil, and at the same time we're being foolish enough to spend our taxpayers' money to build hotels that the Iraqi government are going to own.
That is not stealing from them, that is foolishness. We are a sovereign country. We can decide either legislatively which shouldn't be necessary but we're going to do it. If we can get by the Republican filibuster or the president can simply call up his buddy, the prime minister of Iraq and say we must end this. The American taxpayers are offended by the idea of paying $4 a gallon for Iraqi oil at the same time using taxpayers' money to build Iraqi hotels for the Iraqi government.
BLITZER: Senator Cornyn, there are a lot of Americans who feel that the Iraqis are playing the U.S. for suckers.
CORNYN: Well, I think, you know, we've fought long and hard to get to this position where now there is a hope that Iraq can govern and defend itself, Wolf.
If we had simply quit as Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and Senator Obama wanted us to do early on, we wouldn't even be having this discussion. There wouldn't even be the hope of a self-governing democracy in an Arab world in the Middle East this. This ought to be a subject of negotiations between two sovereign powers. I agree with Senator Levin that Iraqis need to bear more financial responsibility. That's why I hope that we do get that provision passed in early September.
BLITZER: Senator Levin, go ahead and respond to the charge that if you and others like Senator Obama, for example, would have had your way, this discussion right now about Iraqi oil surpluses and what to do with it wouldn't even be a subject for discussion?
LEVIN: Well, if we had had our way, we would have had a reasonable timetable for the redeployment of most of our troops which would have put some pressure on the Iraqi government to do what they are not doing, which is essential to end the conflict in Iraq and that is to work out a political settlement among themselves.
They were supposed to have elections which is a critical part of that settlement on October 1st, and instead of doing that, they again are doing nothing to resolve these key political differences on Iraqi elections.
BLITZER: Senator Levin, there has been a very dramatic drop in the number of U.S. troops killed and injured and there has been --
LEVIN: There has been.
BLITZER: There has been progress on the military side.
LEVIN: There has been on the military side, but the purpose of the surge was to give the Iraqis the breathing room, that was the argument, so that they could work out their political settlements.
They must take political responsibility, economic responsibility and military responsibility for their own country. They are not doing that, so while the violence has been reduced, thank god, it's not going to stay that way unless there is a political settlement. And instead of reaching those agreements on how to divide their resources, and on keeping their promise to have elections on October 1, which are so essential to a political settlement, they are now not doing what they promised us they would do. We've got to keep the pressure on the Iraqis.
BLITZER: Very quickly, very quickly, go ahead.
CORNYN: Wolf, in fairness, the Iraqis have met 15 out of the 18 timelines that we've imposed for them, benchmarks. Muqtada al-Sadr has ordered his Mehdi army to disarm, and we've seen Iraq under Prime Minister Maliki take the initiative in Basra and elsewhere with Iraqis leading the fight and Americans in the background providing counseling and guidance so I don't think it's fair to say that here hasn't been tremendous progress. It just flies in the face of the facts.
BLITZER: We're going to leave it there, senators. A good serious discussion, but we'll have both of you back, no doubt about that. Thanks very much for joining us.
CORNYN: Thank you... |
