Posted on 07/01/2006 2:04:40 AM PDT by counterpunch
Pete Stark was elected to Congress in 1972 during the Nixon administration as an anti-war candidate. Today, it’s just like old times.
The United States is once again bogged down in a small country halfway around the world, fighting a costly, unpopular war, in which we’re not sure who the enemy is, or what we’re fighting for.
Stark’s view of the war is the same as it was 34 years ago: Get the hell out.
“For those of you who have been in the service,” said the Air Force veteran, “it’s called ‘about face.’”
There will be some violence in Iraq if we leave, but the Iraqis will sort it out, the Congressman said.
“The Iraqis will realize it’s stupid to keep killing each other,” Stark said. “They will come back to a stabilized society.”
Stark said that the recent killing of Al-Queda honcho Abu Musab al-Zarquawi wasn’t due to the 150,000 troops in Iraq, but a Jordanian tip on his whereabouts and two Air Force bombs.
“It was the Jordanian intelligence who got sick of those guys,” he said. “They dropped a dime on him to get rid of him.”
Stark spoke Saturday at the Marina Community Center on the war, illegal immigration, plus medical insurance costs and other issues. The one-hour Town Hall Meeting in San Leandro was one of three sessions the Congressman held Saturday, along with other talks in Fremont and Alameda.
A lot of people came to talk about illegal immigration, including a group called the East Bay Coalition for Border Security. Stark noted that some of the crowd had also attended his meeting in Fremont earlier in the morning.
The border security crowd dominated the beginning of the meeting and called on Stark and Congress to do more to stop illegal immigration, and build a wall along the Mexican border. But the Congressman and the rest of the crowd wanted to talk about more than just that one issue.
Stark answered a few questions about illegal immigration, until finally he seemed to tire of the topic and sarcastically said, “Well, we could gas them? We could throw them all in prison.”
A few people in the audience fired back some remarks at Stark. But just then, one guy came up with a solution that could bring peace to the meeting, or at least a laugh.
“What we’re spending on Iraq,” said the grey-haired man, “we could have built a 200-foot-high wall clear around the world for that.”
Still, not everybody opposed to illegal immigration was a heckler. There were some reasonable arguments as well.
Corporate America favors illegal immigration because it lowers wages, said several people.
“You’re right,” Stark agreed. “Big business, the hotel association and the restaurant association don’t want restrictions (on immigration).”
The problem is difficult to solve, Stark said.
“What do you do with the 12 to 15 million (illegal immigrants) who are already here?” Stark asked. “They’re hard to find. I’ve talked to police chiefs and they don’t want the job. They’re busy with murders and robberies and other crimes.”
Illegal immigrants don’t join a union, so it hurts organized labor, said a retired union representative.
“Big business is pitting one worker against the other, and they’re using the illegals,” said Robert Moffatt, a retired union rep for the machinists, who worked at Freidan Calculator and Sherwin-Williams can factory in San Leandro.
“The meat packers earned $19 an hour 25 years ago, and now they’re making $9 an hour,” he said. “They’ve gotten rid of employees through attrition and hired illegals. The employers won’t check on them because it’s racial profiling.”
On another subject, Stark said an investigation will determine what happened when the Veterans Administration lost the personal information on 26 million vets whose names, birth dates and Social Security numbers on a VA employee’s laptop were lost.
Stark said he doesn’t believe it was due to malfeasance in the VA, though. “They just screwed up,” he said.
There will be some violence in Iraq if we leave, but the Iraqis will sort it out, the Congressman said.
“The Iraqis will realize it’s stupid to keep killing each other,” Stark said. “They will come back to a stabilized society.”
“Well, we could gas them? We could throw them all in prison.”
Fortney "Pete" Stark is the stark raving Dhimmicrat from California's 13th District.
Sure, he's right about that. But the whole point of staying is to help build up the Iraqis we want to stay in control of Iraq by stacking the deck in their favor with training, native troop numbers, and institutional history. Factors that the cut and run, anti-war idiots seem to overlook.
There's also the fact that no non-extremist government is going to be popular with the terrorists, and that as long as their are extremists, there will be terrorism against secular, Christian, and moderate governments and societies.
Stark, the author who wrote his opinions and their publisher are so irrelevant, that conservative site readers shouldn't be bothered with their anti-defense, anti-American material.
If there's too much trouble in Iraq, taking Iran's leaders and military forces down will solve it. The area is a good base of operations from which to win the War on Terror.
That's all I had a read. He's a f'ing loon.
I hope the voters stop the stupid Stark.
He and his voters are lunatics. Fortney is practically to the left of Boxer.
Gee - how about another command...."Stand Fast!"
Stick it Stark where the sun don't shine!
. . . which is run by people loyal to the winners, either Saddam Hussein or Osamma ben Laden or both. Iraq was so "stable" under Hussein that 4% of the population was killed and 10% of the population emigrated in terror.And Stark wants Iraq - wants all of the middle east - run by people who identify America with Bill Clinton - vain, self absorbed, narcissistic and ineffectual. People who think that, the number and quality of our weapons and our military personnel notwithstanding, we can be conquered because we will collapse if pushed. People, IOW, who see the United States in essentially the same terms that Ronald Reagan saw the USSR.
There will be some violence in Iraq if we leave, but the Iraqis will sort it out, the Congressman said.
Yeah, just like in Vietnam.
What a loser this guy is!
The foul-mouthed, foul-tempered Pete Stark has been for years a member in good standing of the Democrat Progressive (Marxist) Caucus in the House. As the American Left has come to embrace the Islamist right, politics has come full circle.
it's also called "retreat" and if put in the proper context it would be just like in the Monty Python movie "The Holy Grail", "Run away, run Away".
Right in the middle of the Democrat base.
or what we’re fighting for?
This guy is really stupid, how did he get this job? Was he in a comma on 9/11?
I read this after your timely post about the mind of terrorists and just have to wonder if the liberal think is just a coincidence.
What would we do with the 10 to 12 million people who would probably vote for democrats?
Thats what worries stark and his cronies .
Of course the first thing is we bring this border crossing thing to a screeching halt., The we start sending illegals back whenever and wherever they are found, and fining their employers.
"There will be some violence in Iraq if we leave, but the Iraqis will sort it out, the Congressman said."
Just as there was 'some violence' in Vietnam when we last followed the democrat strategy.
Peter Stark is an utter moron who has obviously gone senial. Hey Pete, 9-11-01. Grow up you super stupid twit. It is NOT 1971 and this is NOT Vietnam.
Kalifornian's have got to be proud of the "pile of crap"...they keep reelecting him to office!
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