Former Administration Mouthpiece Falsely Claims Progressives Want Withdrawal From Afghanistan
Former Administration Mouthpiece Falsely Claims Progressives Want Withdrawal From Afghanistan
Yesterday on The O’Reilly Factor, former administration official Dan Senor told guest host John Kasich that “many leftist centered activists, political activists” — such as MoveOn.org — believe “we would be better off” if the United States withdrew from Afghanistan.
But when pressed by Kasich, Senor couldn’t name any progressives who have advocated pulling out from Afghanistan and admitted that MoveOn.org has called for withdrawal from Iraq, not Afghanistan. Watch it:
Full transcript below:
KASICH: I don’t know anybody that doesn’t recognize that the war in Afghanistan has to be won, that al Qaeda’s got to be snuffed out, that extremists have to be dealt with. Who’s he talking about here?
SENOR: He’s talking about people who believe that we would be better off John if we withdrew from our military engagements, whether they’re in Iraq, whether they’re in Afghanistan, whether it’s a strong posture, vis-a-vie Hezbollah.
KASICH: Who’s saying we ought to withdraw from Afghanistan? I haven’t heard anybody say that.
SENOR: There are people — there are many leftist centered activists, political activists.
KASICH: Who? Name me one.
SENOR: Moveon.org has talked about that we should be scaling back our resources in places, our military engagements. They haven’t been specific about Afghanistan but they’ve been specific about Iraq.
KASICH: That’s a riff.
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FOX News challenging a republican hack? Did I miss something or did the Earth start spinning backwards?
August 31st, 2006 at 2:03 pmSenor just said that so when he gets home, Campbell will spank him for the naughty boy that he was.
August 31st, 2006 at 2:04 pmKasich actually asked a probing question? Are you serious?
August 31st, 2006 at 2:06 pmSenor and his ilk are pondscum Bushco apolgists who get paid to spew bullshit, lie, and distort the truth. This is what we have seen for past 6 yrs but the good news in more Americans are no longer buying what these clowns are trying to sell.
August 31st, 2006 at 2:08 pm#2 or lisp sweet nothings into his ear…
August 31st, 2006 at 2:09 pmam sorry, why do we want to stay in afghanistan again? to get bin caca? can’t do that, he is in Pakistan under the protection of the warlords or the gubment or something
to stop the opium trade? can’t do that, our government officials and corleone have too much riding on that to give it up
to keep the taliban down? they are the taliban, the people miss them, give it back to them and let them do their thing.
why are we continuing to prop up dictators? money honey.
August 31st, 2006 at 2:11 pmI advocate pulling out of Afghanistan.
August 31st, 2006 at 2:14 pm“I advocate pulling out of Afghanistan. ”
HEHEHEHE, you said pullin out.
August 31st, 2006 at 2:16 pmMy respect for NBC’s Campbell Brown went down the tube when she married that right wing shill, Dan Senor.
Love is indeed blind.
August 31st, 2006 at 2:20 pmFrom under which rock did this slimy turd excrete himself? And is there a way he can be put back there?
And yes, since he brought it up, what the hell is even going on in Afghanistan?
August 31st, 2006 at 2:22 pmAnother Wanker of the Day as Atrios puts it.
They can’t beat us on their own merrits so they make shit up and then try to beat up on the shit they’ve made up….It works on the O’Liely’s of the world…Another case of Darwinian evolution.
August 31st, 2006 at 2:26 pmI used to live in John Kasich’s congression district and respected his independence, then he went all rabid partisan. It’s nice to see his independent streak back and I applaud his honest, legitimate question. Senor had nothing to back up his absurd assertion. More of these questions to more neocons will result in more of these kinds of answers. Unfortunately, John Kasich will probably not a have a very long future with FOX now that he’s burst this one bubble.
August 31st, 2006 at 2:26 pmI don’t support pulling out of Afganistan.
It’s a country where they don’t automatically hate us and we CAn do alot of good for them.
Build their roads, schools & hospitals.
August 31st, 2006 at 2:28 pmActually you have to watch this clip on C&L, Paul Hackett is terrific, even though they did cut him off at the end. He called this ass UBERNAZI Senor, and said Mr Senor has no military experience, why do you have him on asking him for military recommendations. Just great.
August 31st, 2006 at 2:33 pmBuild their roads, schools & hospitals.
TOTAL BULLSHIT
August 31st, 2006 at 2:33 pmWhat a lying piece ‘o sheet he is!
That must be the first REAL interview ever on FOX.
August 31st, 2006 at 2:35 pm#15 …you’re against building roads schools and hospitals in a country that we would like to see liberalized and free? hmm…
…I’d like to know what the rest of that caption was under this video clip about someone being detained at JFK for wearing a t-shirt… what was on the shirt?
August 31st, 2006 at 2:39 pm#3 – FGF – What?
August 31st, 2006 at 2:41 pmLet them build their own schools, hospitals, and roads.
Last time I checked, we could use some better roads, much better schools, and health care what it is….use that money to help fund the hospitals.
Everyone but middle-class America gets America’s money.
August 31st, 2006 at 2:41 pmAnd why shouldn’t we be pulling out of Afghanistan?
August 31st, 2006 at 2:45 pmKarzai (Mayor of Kabul) has no authority outside his town.
Warlords are in control of their fiefdoms, raking the in opium profits.
Taliban will be sniping at them for years to come.
Exactly what are we doing there, besided providing targets for IED bombers trained in Iraq?
Let’s give a rousing “Mission Accomplished”
And get out.
The reason progressives are asking from withdrawl from Iraq, is so we can have enough troops to go after Alqaeda in Afghanistan
If TaskForce 121 spent it’s time hunting down Osama, instead of Udai and Qusai (sons of Saddam) we woulda had him dead or captured by now.
August 31st, 2006 at 2:47 pmOsama bin Forgotten.
Oh for crying out loud! What is the matter with these people? It’s always “some people” doing this, that, and the other. Yet when they are asked to provide actual evidence, such as “somebody’s” name or group, all of a suddenthey are not so all-knowing. It drives me nuts that the majority of the time when this tactic is used that the person making the vague accusations is not asked a simple question; ‘Like who?’ And then it’s ‘Hello!’ So you can’t come up with any names? Well, umm… no… but there are activist groups who want it… ‘Which ones?’ Well there is one that I know of…,, but they never actually said anything about it… but you know they are thinking about it, so I am following the President’s example, so instead of waiting till they actually do say something, I’m acting like they already have, and I am expressing my ‘outrage’ over their ‘anti-American, pro-Terrorist’ agenda. Bloody Hell!! I want to take off my shoe and ’smite’ him with it. Now, right now!!
August 31st, 2006 at 2:48 pmBuilding roads in other countries while Americans live day to day should carry an automatic life sentence no parole.
PERIOD
August 31st, 2006 at 2:52 pmI am sick and tired of my money going to Israel and dirt squatters. F*CKING SICK OF IT. AND I AM NOT ALONE.
August 31st, 2006 at 2:54 pmJebus, Osama’s been dead since 2001. The reason the administration isn’t breaking their backs looking for them is because they’re not too keen on letting that inconvenient fact become public knowledge.
August 31st, 2006 at 2:56 pmOh for crying out loud! What is the matter with these people? It’s always “some people†doing this, that, and the other. Yet when they are asked to provide actual evidence, such as “somebody’s†name or group, all of a suddenthey are not so all-knowing.— Cyra Brown
yeah it sounds just like the trolls here. Seems to be standard neocon tactics, lie, when caught, try different lie. Or just yell the same lie louder next time.
neocon=liar
August 31st, 2006 at 2:56 pmI missed this show, so the “he” that Senor was referring to…was it Bush or Cheney? And I’m delighted that even Kasich sees through the bullshit. That’s quite amazing really, considering how Fox commentators have been propping up the right-wing message forever! But perhaps even they are beginning to realize that the pony they’ve been looking for in that s…t-filled room doesn’t really exist after all.
August 31st, 2006 at 2:58 pmSome might say that Dan Senor is a hysterical liar….
August 31st, 2006 at 2:59 pmCould it be that Kasich is playing good host opposite o’Jackass bad host?
August 31st, 2006 at 3:03 pm#17: The t-shirt said “We will not be silent” in English and Arabic.
August 31st, 2006 at 3:05 pmThe slogan is one that emanates from the German White Rose organization who opposed Nazis in Germany during Hitler’s reign.
What lefty wants us to pull out of Afghanistan? Lefty hero Cindy Sheehan, who is supported by Code Pink and Moveon.org.
Here she is talking with Chrissy Mathews August last year:
MATTHEWS: But Afghanistan was harboring, the Taliban was harboring al-Qaida which is the group that attacked us on 9/11.
SHEEHAN: Well then we should have gone after al-Qaida and maybe not after the country of Afghanistan.
MATTHEWS: But that’s where they were being harbored. That’s where they were headquartered. Shouldn’t we go after their headquarters? Doesn’t that make sense?
SHEEHAN: Well, but there were a lot of innocent people killed in that invasion, too. … But I’m seeing that we’re sending our ground troops in to invade countries where the entire country wasn’t the problem. Especially Iraq. Iraq was no problem. And why do we send in invading armies to march into Afghanistan when we’re looking for a select group of people in that country? So I believe that our troops should be brought home out of both places where we’re obviously not having any success in Afghanistan.
August 31st, 2006 at 3:07 pmGoing into Afghanistan was not a good idea at the beginning. We should have taken the Taliban up on their offer to put Osama bin Laden on trial in a third country. If we would have done that, then about 3,000 U.S. troops would be alive, 50,000 wouldn’t be injured, our budget wouldn’t be broken, and we wouldn’t be hated throughout the world. We can provide aid to Afghanistan; but why should we continue to provide our blood?
August 31st, 2006 at 3:07 pm#30, thanks for the info
and to the people who think we should pull out of Afghanistan, sorry… I want to get out of Iraq as soon as possible, but we owe the people of Afgahnistan something since we’ve blown their country to hell and left them with no viable government. Those people actually don’t hate us (most of them) but we can change that quickly by leaving their country in ruins without putting any effort into rebuilding at least a minimal infrastructure to support them.
It’s true there’s a lot of work that needs to be done at home, and its a shame that we’re throwing away billions everyday in Iraq to prevent us from taking care of ourselves, but I’m sorry Afgahnistan is a completely different scenario.
August 31st, 2006 at 3:13 pmhuskerco: Taking the Taliban up on their offer would not have fulfilled the administration’s main ojective: establishing a permanent military presence in the Middle East.
That is what this has been all about. The admistration had plans for invading Iraq prior to 2001. The administration cherry picked and fabricated intelligence to ‘fit the policy’ of an Iraqi invasion. The administration has consistently manipulated the Iraq situation to achieve not victory, but continual occupation.
The invasion and permanent occupation of Iraq is a key part of the neocon’s strategy for their New World Order. Anyone who tells you different is selling something.
August 31st, 2006 at 3:14 pmHippie
August 31st, 2006 at 3:14 pmOK, maybe that’s one. Although, the very phrase you highlighted shows that Sheehan suggested bringing the troops out of Afghanistan because of a lack of success. I supported going into Afghanistan, in principle, even though I didn’t like the indiscriminate “shock and awe” show of force. Like Sheehan, I think we needed to target Al Qaeda and the Taliban more strategically and not globally destroy the country. As Kasich would say, more “riff”.
I’LL SAY IT AGAIN HIPPIE WITH A PISTOL – you are ONE OXYMORONIC ASSHAT – do you even KNOW what hippies were all about? ANTI AUTHORITY – ANTI CORPORATE – and PRO HUMANITY, PEACE AND LOVE – so drop the misnomer and change it to neoCON WITH A PISTOL.
August 31st, 2006 at 3:14 pmYou say that Afghanistan has no viable government. What viable government did they have before we invaded?
I agree that we owe the people of Aghanistan something. I just don’t think that it comes from the barrel of a gun.
Wouldn’t it be cheaper for us if we gave them money to rebuild their country rather than keeping it destroyed as we are currently doing?
August 31st, 2006 at 3:16 pmAdd me to the list of progressives who do favor getting our troops out of Afghanistan.
You want them to have roads and schools? Give them money. Send engineers and teachers. But send the troops home. Occupying somebody else’s country by military force is a crime, and schools and roads are not a justification for it.
August 31st, 2006 at 3:18 pmAfghanistan has had the shit blown out of it several times before the Amercians did it.
August 31st, 2006 at 3:19 pmWhy doesn’t Russia help rebuild it?
Chances are he doesn’t know the difference between Afghanistan and Iraq and probably couldn’t find either on a map.
August 31st, 2006 at 3:19 pmSend in Hezbollah. They are doing a better job rebuilding Lebanon than the U.S. has in New Orleans.
August 31st, 2006 at 3:20 pmComment by The DLC are Frauds
Amen to that. That 10 Billion a year we give to Israel can solve a lot of problems here.
1. We can use it to uparmor all Humvee’s in Iraq
August 31st, 2006 at 3:26 pm2. We can use it for research into alternative fuels
3. We can use it for campaign funding, thus limiting the power of Abramof like lobbiests
4. The list goes on and on …………………
Ok, one more thing, this liar is saying that Progressives want to withdraw from Afghanistan. Has it escaped him that it was GWB himself who decided that Iraq was the better place to attack, so he took the majority of the troops OUT, and sent them to Iraq. And for the next 4+ years, aside from a few ‘media worthy’ events, Afghanistan was mostly ignored, by BushCo, as their obsession with Iraq continued to grow. And now everything in Iraq is almost the same as it was when we invaded, Iraq is an utter disaster, and now they are bugging about invading Iran! So, you can just go pound sand in your ass, and quit trying to lay YOUR mess on us.
August 31st, 2006 at 3:28 pm#43- first Iraq should have been Afghanistan, sorry.
August 31st, 2006 at 3:34 pmI love the positioning of the click to play type and the line of periods going to his mouth. Too bad there isn’t a Sponge Bob opening “I can’t hear you” kind where just Dan’s lips are moving.
August 31st, 2006 at 3:55 pm#45
August 31st, 2006 at 4:00 pmThats good. I was thinking he looks like my goldfish when I feed them.
Oh, please! Just one Bushtard Cheney dick sucker talking to another.
Nothing to see here, folks…
August 31st, 2006 at 4:04 pmIt’s getting harder to lie your ass off for bush.
August 31st, 2006 at 4:21 pmWhat is the difference at this point? Staying in Iraq is identical to staying in Afganistan. The reasons for attacking both countries differed greatly. Attacking Iraq was completely wrong. Either way, both countries are now (Today) in the same situation. Why not stay in both countries and build democracy? Or why not leave both countries?
I don’t understand the arguement of wanting to leave one and stay in the other as they are both in the same situation TODAY.
August 31st, 2006 at 4:38 pmWithdraw From Afghanistan – all the warlords dont want you there your not paying backsheesh to them anymore – BIn Laden Is dead – wait till next election then goodbye
August 31st, 2006 at 4:51 pmThe bastards really despise MoveOn.org don’t they? Could it be because MO has many members who are growing more influential and pulling back the curtain to expose the deceptions of Bush&Co.
August 31st, 2006 at 5:15 pmShills like Senor are always saying “some say” but then they can’t back it up.
The initial deployment (to get Osama Bin Laden at Tora Bora) was 1,500 SOLDIERS.
You can’t even form a decent football league with 1,500 soldiers.
You cannot catch a major terrorist (dead or alive) with 1,500 soldiers.
GFH Bush’s dad has some explaining to do about having breakfast with Bin Laden’s brother on Nine-eleven. What a coincidence!
GFH Bush, however, deployed such a minimal force that former-Taliban/opium warlords were weirdly asked to guard the Pakistan border so Bin Laden couldn’t escape.
Gee, it didn’t work. They let him walk.
Treason is such a thrill. Just ask either Bush.
August 31st, 2006 at 6:23 pmWhy do Republicans and supporters of the administration have to lie and spin everything? They never can be honest and up front about anything they are involved in. They are so disgusting.
August 31st, 2006 at 7:27 pmI’m just ecstatic that people are starting to call these a-holes out on their strawman arguments.
August 31st, 2006 at 11:13 pmAmerica’s Least Wanted
I watched it on Crooks and Liars and was astonished. The host, I dont know who he is but he put a fire under his ass. And Paul Hackett finished the job calling the “little underfeurher for propaganda.” I was laughing so hard I cried a little bit.
September 1st, 2006 at 1:23 amGod no! Not Afghanistan. Where would we get our cheap, high-grade heroin? My God that’s why we went there in the first place…..isn’t it? At least it seems like a good reason to be there, I mean it’s not like we were seriously trying to get Osama Bin whatshisface..right? It makes perfect sense to me to stay the course. Pursue a war on terror which will never end while pursuing a war on drugs that we lost a long time ago. The only thing we have done is flood the world narcotics market with some very good quality, affordable opium. Look at the bright side. We can all turn on to heorin and forget what a miserable failure EVERYTHING this adminstration has touched.
September 1st, 2006 at 8:48 amUmmm..Shouldn’t ThinkProgress take this thread down. I mean, it’s headline is “Former Administration Mouthpiece Falsely Claims Progressives Want Withdrawal From Afghanistan.”
And yet, we see here on this thread, that he is correct and there are indeed some progressives who are advocating withdrawal from Afghanistan. Thus, the very premise of the article is false.
September 1st, 2006 at 12:06 pm[...] Former Pentagon spokesman says “some” want to leave Afghanistan but cannot provide names when asked. Do the American people really believe anything after someone says “some say”? Strawman is a bad man but of course there is no one that will specifically say what he did!!! [...]
September 1st, 2006 at 4:17 pm#58 Ummm..Shouldn’t ThinkProgress take this thread down. I mean, it’s headline is “Former Administration Mouthpiece Falsely Claims Progressives Want Withdrawal From Afghanistan.â€
And yet, we see here on this thread, that he is correct and there are indeed some progressives who are advocating withdrawal from Afghanistan. Thus, the very premise of the article is false.
Comment by Exley — September 1, 2006 @ 12:06 pm
Shouldn’t you be in Iraq Exley?
September 2nd, 2006 at 4:15 am