Comments on: Rooney: What Are We Doing In Iraq?

Andy Thinks Getting Rid Of Saddam Hussein Was Good But Wonders What We Are Doing There Now

[staffofherme]

Dear HamiltonGrad: "Name calling and public profanity"? I don't suppose your university taught you what LIBEL was, did they?. (This forum censored V.P. Cheney's first name which I had written as part of his name.) They sure didn't teach you how to spell. "Hypocracy" is a word in English. You're right, maybe I was mistaken when I wrote that George II went AWOL. Technically, he was a deserter since he was gone over a year. "Far left progressive movement". What, if that were true, is it supposed to be an insult? Sounds like a (poor) attempt at name-calling to me. Too bad the far left progressive movement, as you style it, brought us Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, 40 hour work weeks, women's right to vote, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. Guess you'd like to get rid of those, too?

[joey000245]

TO AMDY ROONEY,
GREAT COMMENTARY ON SUNDAY IN REGARDS TO IRAQ AND PRESIDENT BUSH.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!!!!!!!!

[brimbelles]

Bravo, yes we, the people need to have the final number because we, the people are the one paying the final price.

[staffofherme]

And we're no longer going to "stay the course". The President just got done saying on national TV "WE WERE NEVER ABOUT STAYING THE COURSE". His exact words, word for word. Why do you believe anything this pathological liar says? Oops, now that by executive order he can order me carted off and imprisoned for life for nothing now that he's gotten rid of habeus corpus and 800 years of English civil law, I had better not call him a PATHOLOGICAL LIAR. Truthfully challenged, he is...

[staffofherme]

And let's not forget those fighting Bush twins who of course rushed right up to the nearest recruitment station after 9/11.

[buddica]

to hamiltongrad, at least you can spell EVIL. Sounds like you swallowed the rhetoric of the right, hook, line, and sinker. You've allowed yourself to be convinced that a situation as complex as Iraq can be simplified to good versus evil. As EVIL as Saddam was he had nothing to do with the horrible events of September 11th, oh, you swallowed that line too. As for elections, and Iraqi freedom, FREEDOM (for the Iraqi people) is like that old song, Freedom's Just Another Word for Nothing Left to Lose. They have nothing left to lose because we launched a pre-emptive strike against a country that had NOTHING to do with the events of September 11th, and we have destroyed their country. What if, after all this mess is done and over, Saddam was the nice one?

Bravo Andy Rooney for saying what the majority of people I know are saying about this president and this war.

[cptvon]

What you said Rresident Bush should do; along the lines of, to tell the truth,say he made a mistake. Admit that with more knowledge gained on the subject we should pull out of Iraq, things change. Wow isn't that refreshing, I'd vote for him, again! Then you have to remember "We have enough troops in Iraq" I suppose we still do? (Hell Sir, take back the rest of the Battalion I'll take the city with just my Company! ). There is a thing called overwhelming firepower that keeps our casualty's down. Funny that only Generals that have retired want more troops. America is famous for not learning from History, a lot of people are always looking for a New Vietnam! Anything look familiar; people that won't fight for there own freedom. Don't know what it is, Do not have the education to appreciate it, and will kill you, for your religion. These Muslims want to end up in Paradise and are experts at making arrangements for one another; lets leave it to the experts! Why are we paying two thirds of the U N budget. Put the U N to work, like we pay them to do. Support the troops, bring them home! John S. von Erbsen

[staffofherme]

You're so right, HamiltonGrad. Killing innocent women and children with Tomahawk missiles and unmanned drones is so MUCH more civilized! And only 650,000 some Iraqi dead at that. There are still some left to KILL!! Shows the superiority of the GOOD AMERICAN CULTURE!! GOD BLESS AMERICA!!

[cincigal74]

President Bush and Tony Blair went before the UN and declared that Sadam Huessien was in violation of a treaty saying he illegally was in possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction,They asked for a resolution to go to war and disarm him.Sadam had no weapons of Mass destruction,therefore he was falsely accused.President Bush and Tony Blair invaded a soverign country under false charges and murdered hundreds of thousands of inocent civilian Iraqi citizens,totally destroyed the country's infrastructer and has destroyed our Millitary,bankrupted our treasury and continue to do so with impunity.This country and its citizens are a disgrace to its name.The United States congress is complicit in this crime.The People who elected them are complicit because they sit on thier ***** and allow it to continue.They have no pride in thier country and what we are supposed to stand for.This administration is out of control.Our children and grandchildren will pay the price.

[kenf150]

Andy:

Your comments on the Sunday October 22nd segment of 60 Minutes were totally despicable. You should be ashamed. But more importantly, you%u2019ve now forever lost a viewer who even though I may not have agreed with you in the past on everything, at least respected your opinion. But that dissertation Sunday was just totally unnecessary.

So tomorrow morning, when US troops wake up in Iraq or Afghanistan, or any other trouble spot in the world, what are they suppose to think?? That America is a loser, can%u2019t do the job, doesn%u2019t support them, and oh by the way, strap on your amour and get in harms way for nothing??

What gives you the right, the supposed knowledge to pass judgment on the situation on Iraq when you%u2019ve not ventured further than your warm, comfortable bagel shop in NYC? I have friends over in Iraq. Ask them what we are doing there and I think you might get a whole new picture.

In the meantime, get off the air. You%u2019re out of touch. Or better yet, stay on TV. It will be one less channel I need to look at.

[jgmr16]

Andy,

I didn't follow your reasoning in the What Are We Doing in Iraq? segment. You said first 'we did the right thing by getting rid of Saddam Hussein'...why, I wonder? Yes, he is a cruel dictator, a megalomaniac who killed his own people. But why single him out? There is a long list of dictators who fit that description and Saddam wouldn't be at the top of it!

But we did get rid of him, and of course that created a huge power vacuum which we are trying to fillawith a national government.

Unfortunately, we have Vietnam II playing out in the Iraq theater and it will have the same ending, for the same reasons (underestimating the enemy's capabilities and overestimating our capabilities) as Vietnam I.

Didn't you once say in one of your pieces that there was a position on the White House staff called The Office of Lessons Learned?...maybe that person should be fired...maybe they should all be fired.

So I think it's contradictory to say we did the right thing in taking out Saddam, but are doing the wrong thing by staying in Iraq. Having said that, I say we need to get out of Iraq quickly.

But after meeting all weekend, 'W' and his senior staff, with the stated purpose of reevaluating Iraq strategy, today we heard the new strategy...we're going to stop saying 'stay the course'? WHAT? Alas....

[gregg47]

WHAT ARE WE DOING IN HAITI, JAPAN, GERMANY, KOREA? MAYBE WE SHOULD BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME? WAIT UNTIL WE ARE ATTACKED AGAIN? ANOTHER PEARL HARBOR, MAYBE? GIVE PEACE A CHANCE.

[gregg47]

WHAT ARE WE DOING IN HAITI, JAPAN, GERMANY, KOREA? MAYBE WE SHOULD BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME? WAIT UNTIL WE ARE ATTACKED AGAIN? ANOTHER PEARL HARBOR, MAYBE? GIVE PEACE A CHANCE.

[harleylu]

First off , thanks for your commentaries. The only way he, (George) will ever save face is to admit it was wrong to go to war and blame it on someone else. Maybe bad intellegence will work again. The sad thing is that everytime he tries to justify things, I get the same feeling I did when I tried to make my children believe something that was not completely true, ie; Santa, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, come on Bush, I'm your age, don't talk to me like I am some four year old in kindergarten. I have access to CBS news and can read!

[gregg47]

Dear PCLLUAT AND MARCELDE,
I GUESS THAT MP95B40 BEING IN THE MILITARY AND PROBABLY HAVING SERVED IN IRAQ, DOESN'T GIVE HER THE RIGHT TO CHALLENGE ANDY ROONEY'S OPINION. MAYBE SHE KNOWS MORE ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON THERE THAN MR. ROONEY OR YOU TWO KNOW IT ALLS.
SO IF 73% OF AMERICANS THOUGHT IT WAS WRONG TO LET YOU SPEAK YOUR MIND ON THE NET, WE SHOULD TAKE YOUR COMPUTER AWAY FROM YOU? THANK GOD WE HAVE LEADERS WHO THINK IRAQ CHILDREN ARE WORTH SAVING.
NOW GO BACK TO WATCHING SOAPS AND MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL.

[marcelde]

MP95B40 posted a grossly distorted picture of Andy%u2019s position. S/he wrote, in part:

%u201CMr. Rooney,We belive in a little saying you may have heard before. The right to LIFE liberty and the pursuite of happiness.%u201D=== AS DO 73% OF AMERICANS WITH THE EMPHASIS ON LIFE BEING FOR THOSE OF YOUR BUDDIES WHO ARE NEEDLESSLY DYING IN IRAQ. ANDY SERVED IN WW2 == I%u2019M GLAD THAT YOU CAN NOT BELIEVE THAT ANDY === %u201Ccould dismiss a childs right not to be tortured, or killed because of there religion, or natonality just because of where that child was born.%u201D OF COURSE ABUSE IS THE FURTHEST THING FROM ANDY%u2019S PHILOSOPHY.

=== %u201CWhy don't you come to Iraq and tell the children we have no business being there.%u201D ANDY IS REMINDING AMERICANS OF THAT VERY TRUTH. YOU HAVE BECOME SO CONFUSED ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NOT FINDING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, THE FACT THAT IRAQ HAD NO PART IN 911, ETC. THAT YOU SUGGEST, BY OVER SIMPLYFYING, THAT MR. ROONEY IS IN FAVOR OF TERRORISM. THAT IS A SHAMEFUL, DISTORTED AND SPECIOUS POSITION. === %u201CWhen you have the power to stop a wrong and dont you are in a way supporting that wrong.%u201D === THAT IS PRECISELY WHY ANDY, AND 73% OF AMERICANS DO NOT SUPPORT THIS ADMINISTRATION%u2019S POLICY IN IRAQ; WE KNOW IT IS WRONG!

DO NOT PROP A GANDER. BUSH NEEDS TO USE PROPER CANDOR.

[peacewoman]

Mr. Rooney,

I do not agree that we did the right thing getting rid of Saddam Hussein. That was not our pregrogative. Iraq was a sovereign country and that was against international law.

i have been against this war since way before it began and have said so publicly by standing weekly on the street, sometimes by myself, before its startdate. Where were the members of the media then? Many of us knew that this war had been planned long before 9-11 and that the administration was giving us falshoods.

Anyway, I do appreciate your speaking out now and I always appreciate your plain speaking.

[judicookie]

THANK YOU ANDY AND THANK YOU CBS for having the courage to tell it like it is!!
This war in my opinion is unjust, had no basis, and is an outrage to the American people.
As a mother and grandparent, I am scared to death of the world we are leaving for our children and their children. The number of Iraqi civilians killed has now reached almost 50,000 and is far above that number when we consider deaths that are indirectly from this war. The number of Americans killed is outrageous! That number is climbing higher each hour of the day.
We have very little real news about this war. No shots of the deaths, the injuries, the horrible destruction that is occuring. We are insulated from the violence and horror of this war!
Thank you for bringing it home, Thank you for the courage to speak out against this war!

[pclluat]

To MP95B40: Mr. Rooney is one of the few journalists who has walked the walk, serving our country with honor during WWII. I don't understand how you can level the charge of cowardice, and where you get your information.

I guess I attribute your rant to another idealogue who finds it easier to disparage and hate than to study and learn, and who obviously has not studied history (in general, or in this case a person's particular history) or just totally misinterprets history to your own purposes - sadly, taking a page from the playbook of our current administration.