"It's my belief that we should get out of Europe now," Cronkite said. The Battle of the Bulge “…proves that Germany cannot be defeated.. France and Western Europe should be told that our hearts are with you….I think we can retire with honor.”
Posted on 01/15/2006 4:20:31 PM PST by wagglebee
Former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite, whose 1968 conclusion that the Vietnam War was unwinnable keenly influenced public opinion then, said Sunday he'd say the same thing today about Iraq.
"It's my belief that we should get out now," Cronkite said in a meeting with reporters.
Now 89, the television journalist once known as "the most trusted man in America" has been off the "CBS Evening News" for nearly a quarter- century. He's still a CBS News employee, although he does little for them.
Cronkite said one of his proudest moments came at the end of a 1968 documentary he made following a visit to Vietnam during the Tet offensive. Urged by his boss to briefly set aside his objectivity to give his view of the situation, Cronkite said the war was unwinnable and that the U.S. should exit.
Then-President Lyndon Johnson reportedly told a White House aide after that, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."
The best time to have made a similar statement about Iraq came after Hurricane Katrina, he said.
"We had an opportunity to say to the world and Iraqis after the hurricane disaster that Mother Nature has not treated us well and we find ourselves missing the amount of money it takes to help these poor people out of their homeless situation and rebuild some of our most important cities in the United States," he said. "Therefore, we are going to have to bring our troops home."
Iraqis should have been told that "our hearts are with you" and that the United States would do all it could to rebuild their country, he said.
"I think we could have been able to retire with honor," he said. "In fact, I think we can retire with honor anyway."
Cronkite has spoken out against the Iraq war in the past, saying in 2004 that Americans weren't any safer because of the invasion.
Cronkite, who is hard of hearing and walks haltingly, jokingly said that "I'm standing by if they want me" to anchor the "CBS Evening News." CBS is still searching for a permanent successor to Dan Rather, who replaced Cronkite in March 1981.
"Twenty-four hours after I told CBS News that I was stepping down at my 65th birthday I was already regretting it and I've regretted it every day since," he said. "It's too good a job for me to have given it up the way that I did."
Its amazen that Walter is acually proud of what he did to help lose Vietnam
LOL! See post 35.
"Cronkite: Shaddap ya senile old coot."
Oh, I don't know. I think he was great all those years as Captain Kangaroo and I especially was fond of Mr. Greenjeans and the little rabbit puppet.
Oooops, my bad!
Crawl back in your hole Walter! And I don't mean the one you've got your head up!
Calljack: Time for Cronkite to leave the U.S.
Colonel Blimp speaks.....STFU you moron.
Hey Wally.....Take your own advice. Trundle off into the sunset and shut-up!
Why did Cronkite turn on the Viet Nam war again. It wasn't Nixon. Was he a Red Diaper baby in drag?
When did this blowhard get elected to public office as some kind of a leader?
Yeah, I always did like bunny rabbit.
Leave Iraq?
The troop pre-positioning has just been completed, why would we pull them out now?
(and perhaps it's time for Bush to publicly state this as a central, unspoken reason for being there)
Couldn't hurt anything to say it - and it's probably true.
I agree with him. Some of our troops should leave Iraq to level Iran.
No, just this continent would be fine. He would probably be at home in a French mental institution. He'd make sense to the other residents, and we'd never have to hear from him again.
And I have a feeling that Syria will be right after Iran.
Cronkite isn't worthy enough to even hold Roger Mudd's jock.
Because there wasn't the internet to counter this commie
Hey Uncle Walter .. I think it's time for you to leave
LOL! Thanks! Missed your post.
My dad was actually quite a bit like Archie Bunker!
Right after Alec Baldwin leaves America!
"It's my belief that we should get out of Europe now," Cronkite said. The Battle of the Bulge “…proves that Germany cannot be defeated.. France and Western Europe should be told that our hearts are with you….I think we can retire with honor.”
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