04/26/07 – George McGovern – The Scott Horton Show

For Antiwar.com and Chaos Radio 95.9 FM in Austin, Texas, I'm Scott Horton, and this is Antiwar Radio.
Vice President Cheney recently gave a speech where he mockingly compared the stance of the current Congressional leadership with the platform of George McGovern from the presidential campaign of 1972.
My second guest today says Cheney's partially right, and that's a good thing.
Welcome to Antiwar Radio, Senator McGovern.
Thank you.
It's good to talk to you.
You too.
George McGovern, three-term Senator from South Dakota, and currently the UN Global Ambassador on Hunger.
And I saw that you wrote an article in response to Mr. Cheney saying that whatever the Democrats have in common with your platform from 1972, they ought to be congratulated for it.
Well, that's right.
My issue of 1972 that stood out above the others was the war in Vietnam.
Just about everybody now knows that war was a disastrous blunder, one that we never should repeat again.
So when we start going down that same road a second time, as we've been doing in Iraq for the last five years, I have to go public, even though I'm no longer in public office, and explain my opposition to it that war is as big a disaster and as big a blunder as the one in Vietnam.
In each case, we went to war against a country that was no threat to us, two comparatively small countries that were not the slightest threat to the United States.
And in each case, we set off an insurgency that was very bloody in terms of our soldiers out there.
So the best thing we can do right now is to wind up this war in Iraq and then quit repeating these blunders against small countries like this that are no threat to us.
Did you think it was kind of ironic that Vice President Cheney was basically implying that it was a wonderful thing that Richard Nixon won the election of 1972?
That's correct.
Nixon did win the election, but a few months after that, he was driven from office in disgrace for all the wrongdoing that began to surface right after the election.
We have many important things that we ought to be doing in this country, but that does not include needless wars.
These wars already cost us over $500 billion and 3,100 young American lives to say nothing of the 600,000 Iraqis who died since we invaded their country five years ago.
You said in your article that you expect that Bush and Cheney will be forced to resign before the end of their term.
I think that's going to happen.
If they continue on this present course, I think the same thing will happen to them that happened to Mr. Nixon, and that is that major Republican leaders will get together and make a call on them and suggest that it's time for them to relinquish the office.
That's what happened to Mr. Nixon.
I can see the same thing happening in a few months to Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney.
If I can ask you one more quick question, sir.
Recently, the Vice President also criticized the Speaker of the House for traveling to Syria to try to talk with our adversaries in the Middle East.
My understanding is that you were accused of interfering with American foreign policy by suggesting alternatives during the campaign of 1972, is that right?
That's what always happens to you.
If you enter any criticism at all, your political rivals are going to misinterpret it.
It was perfectly sensible for the Speaker to visit Syria.
It's an important country in the Middle East, and we don't just talk to countries that we agree with 100%.
We gave Nixon great credit for investing with the Communist leaders of China and opening the door to China.
We gave Reagan great credit for talking to Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, and working out an end to the Cold War.
So we shouldn't punish people who have the courage to visit with countries that we don't necessarily agree with.
Well, I sure appreciate your time this morning.
Senator George McGovern, everybody.