2007.03.16: March 16, 2007: Headlines: Figures: COS - Swaziland: Journalism: Television: Iraq: Hardball: Chris Matthews says: Anybody who‘s ever been in the Peace Corps knows people don‘t like being taken over
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2007.03.16: March 16, 2007: Headlines: Figures: COS - Swaziland: Journalism: Television: Iraq: Hardball: Chris Matthews says: Anybody who‘s ever been in the Peace Corps knows people don‘t like being taken over
Chris Matthews says: Anybody who‘s ever been in the Peace Corps knows people don‘t like being taken over
"Well, the Iraqi people—look, anybody who‘s ever been in the Peace Corps knows this, Howard. People don‘t like being taken over. If you ask any African country, no matter how tough it‘s been since independence, Would you rather the white guys come back and run this place, they might run it a little bit better, maybe, maybe, maybe, they‘d say, To hell with that idea! We want to run our own country. Nobody likes to be invaded. I think the president even said that a while back. He must have known it intellectually, but he didn‘t act on it." Television Journalist Chris Matthews served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Swaziland in the 1960's.
Chris Matthews says: Anybody who‘s ever been in the Peace Corps knows people don‘t like being taken over
'Hardball with Chris Matthews' for March 19
Updated: 11:01 a.m. CT March 20, 2007
[Excerpt]
MATTHEWS: If I offended anybody, I‘m sorry. You know, this story in Iraq, I guess it‘s the bug I come back with. I had a nice week in Mexico to think about this. I do not accept the idea that the American people were snookered into Iraq. I know it‘s a comfortable argument to make that we were all tricked into it, but back when we went into the war in 2001, I came across—or 2002, it was in the summer of 2002, the year before we went to war, the American people were asked whether they supported the war, and they said by 55 percent of so they were for the—or 57 percent, they were for the war. But then asked if there were significant casualties involved, Are you still for the war, and a majority came out against the war.
Well, who the hell thought there wouldn‘t be casualties?
KRUGMAN: Oh, look...
MATTHEWS: I just wonder what we‘re thinking out there. Are the American people rational? You can‘t blame everything on Bush. So he doesn‘t know what‘s going on over there, but at some point, the people have to say, Wait a minute, I had to go along with the war, the people. It wasn‘t the president took us to war, the people went along with him. Why did they think we could take over an Arab country, run the place, kick the hell out of the place, tell everybody what to do and nobody would shoot back? What were we thinking?
KRUGMAN: Chris, you‘ve cut out the middleman there. There were a lot of people in the news media telling them that it was going to be great. I mean, it was...
MATTHEWS: Not me, buster.
KRUGMAN: I‘m sorry? Not you.
MATTHEWS: Not me.
KRUGMAN: Not you. But a lot of people were. I mean, they—all the
every—all the selling was saying that this was going to be like the first Gulf war. It was going to be, you know, a few—we‘ll honor the...
MATTHEWS: We didn‘t invade Iraq...
KRUGMAN: I know that.
MATTHEWS: ... in the first Gulf war.
KRUGMAN: Yes, but, you know, most people just thought it was going to be the same thing. And look, this is—it‘s a hard thing for people to—we—I knew it wasn‘t going to be easy. You knew it wasn‘t going to be easy.
MATTHEWS: Well, the Iraqi people—look, anybody who‘s ever been in the Peace Corps knows this, Howard. People don‘t like being taken over. If you ask any African country, no matter how tough it‘s been since independence, Would you rather the white guys come back and run this place, they might run it a little bit better, maybe, maybe, maybe, they‘d say, To hell with that idea! We want to run our own country. Nobody likes to be invaded. I think the president even said that a while back. He must have known it intellectually, but he didn‘t act on it.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: March, 2007; RPCV Chris Matthews (Swaziland); Figures; Peace Corps Swaziland; Directory of Swaziland RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Swaziland RPCVs; Journalism; Television; Iraq
When this story was posted in April 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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Story Source: Hardball
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Swaziland; Journalism; Television; Iraq
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