Charlie Rose

Speedyo  09/14/2007 10:49 AM Report

Include in your discussion a real balance of opposing opinions. Bring in 2 doves to 1 hawk to give the Anti-Occupation forces a level playing field. I'm sick of seeing one dove being drowned by a covey of hawks.

Mohammed  09/14/2007 01:02 AM Report

Senator Biden is the only man who read the Iraqi constitution. Federalism is the only way out of Iraq. America spent years looking for the best form of government and now we expect Iraqis who spent their entire life under dictatorship and crazy Islamic laws to get it right in few months?

Baltimoron  09/14/2007 12:09 AM Report

What is Senator Graham smoking? How can he even use the word "victory" in this context?

Peggy Wingfield  09/13/2007 06:18 PM Report

Thank you, Charlie, for ALL your shows. I learn best from you and your guests about our world in a manner that allows me to better evaluate the persons and subjects which you present.

Has anyone else considered the peculiar timing of bringing Gen. Patraeus and Ambassador Crocker home from Iraq to give their reports,

i.e., the anniversary of 9/11??

Was it to stir our psyches with the old terror anew and generate fear that if we pull out of Iraq The Terrorists will take over the world??

More fear-mongering like the "mushroom cloud"??

And, does anyone else see the peculiar timing of George W.'s statement that he hopes to pull out from Iraq 30,000 troops by next summer?

i.e., national elections next November.

Who is the script writer for this horror show?

Forgive me, America; he fooled me once (2000), but he didn't fool me twice (2004).

Steve Campitelli, California  09/13/2007 12:46 PM Report

Many of us see it--the complete disconnect. Ambassador Crocker told Senator McCain that Iraqis favor federalism. Joe Biden has been urging federalism for Iraq, for many years now. Senator Grahams said in this interview that he favors federalism. The Kurdistan reqion exists as a successful example and model of the benefits of federalism. The Iraqi Constitution calls for federalism. With all these winds blowing in the same direction, one would expect our mission in Iraq to shift toward establishing and promoting federalism. Yet, the mission itself remains misguided as we push for a centralized system that has no support in any quarter of Iraq.

To me, this stubborn attitude on the part of the Republicans reflects a desire on the part of the administration to set up Iraq for failure in order to promote the very sort of instability that draws in to the fight al-Qaeda and Iran, with the real goal of this policy being war with Iran.

Jack Bailey  09/13/2007 12:25 PM Report

The General and Ambassador gave vague and obtuse answers to Congress concering the Iraq situation. One could sum it up as, "An opened committment." This could go on for 10 years with no end in sight because of the centuries long rivalries that exist. So Graham is content with the notion of sacrificing 60, 70, 80 US men and women for how long? Too accomplish what? To redeem Bush's misjudgments, miscalculations, and failures with our troops blood is a high crime. He and the administration should have read and understood the history of the region, especially the British experience since WWI.

Pull out the troops now. Then let the Iraqi's sort out their own future. We have done enough damage.

Man  09/13/2007 04:05 AM Report

I think America deserved to be attacked. We always go around the world killing people, and now they're all getting wise to our dirty games, and trying to get back at us. Does anybody know what Osama bin Laden has to say about us? If he's the enemy, what does he have to say for himself? Aren't we an arrogant country and don't we push people around? We killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese during the second World War. I think some people think we overdid it and that we deserve to compensate for our damages. We go around and we smash things up and they let us get away with it. I think some people would be outraged. I would be.

Rob D  09/12/2007 11:01 PM Report

Senator Graham had me sputtering in disbelief. What is the point in carrying water for this failed administration's Iraq fiasco? Does he really believe the drivel coming out of his mouth or is he as cynical as he appears to be? Let's face facts first> then we can have an honest debate about what should be done. People of good faith can disagree but the lies and distortions proffered by Sen. Graham have no basis in reality. Biden seemed to understand there was essentially no point engaging him and Charlie didn't press him. He should have but that's Charlie. He let him hang himself.

Pierre, Canada  09/12/2007 10:55 PM Report

The American protectorate on Iraq is discussed as if it was a matter of a few years before the question is solved in one way or another.

There will be years, perhaps a few decades before the US or Iraqi troops, if supported by the US, succeed in pacifying Iraq enough to rebuild it seriously.

Then it will take years, perhaps decades before Iraqis get enough of the American influence and do a kind of "war of independance" or revolution to get back their own country.

Then it will take years, perhaps decades, before Iraq, fragmented or not, find back its own identity and form its own homegrown political system, perhaps democratic but perhaps not.

This is a civilisation of 4000 years old. They are much more patient than us. They have seen empires after empires. What we count in years they count in decades.

I do not believe that the Americans will have the patience to see if their idealistic project will work or not.

Scott  09/12/2007 05:57 PM Report

I think I heard Sen. Graham, the staunchest republican ally to George Bush in this war, state that he embraces the idea of 'Federalism for Iraq' at 17:44 of this interview. Is that a big deal?

Tyler Hodgson  09/12/2007 02:57 PM Report

2007-09-12

Brilliant interviews with Joe Biden, Lindsey Graham and Chris Dodd, Charlie.

Thank you. It is reassuring to get confirmation of what I instinctively know, that America has smart people who are not fooled by neocon lemmings like Lindsey Graham who are using tired arguments and mostly warmed over fear to try to con us into submission. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. There is a tsunami coming to sweep out any incumbents, Democrat or Republican, who fall for the latest trick being pulled by these self-disclosed oil addicts who will sell Americaâ??s soul for another hit. Just ask the unrepentant Tony Blair privately, or most recently, Shinzo Abe, what the mood of the voters is? Ordinary people are fed up with military adventures based on lies. Some cavemen hit us on 9/11 and we invade and destroy a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, unleash hatreds that kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people, and disrupt the lives of millions more, not only in Iraq, but all travellers the world over. With leadership like that, we do not need to worry about our enemies; our own fuzzy thinking is undoing us and our standing in the world. â?¦Enough killing in the name of American values. America to me represents the positive, the sublime, gleaming possibilities; I resent that people like Lindsey have fallen for the Al-Qaeda trap and are turning America into a symbol of the same medieval thinking, darkness, death and destruction.

We are no longer prepared to be led over the cliff by the likes of him and other disciples of Dick Cheney. I would never trust the judgement nor entrust the future of my country and grandchildren to the strategies of a person with whom you can be friends for decades but then turns around and mistakes you for a bird and shoots you in the face.

Kevin   09/12/2007 10:36 AM Report

Mr. Rose,

I watch and enjoy your programs on a daily basis.

Last night while watching Senator Graham, I believe I caught him making the comment that 60 U.S. troops are being killed on the average since the surge began. I think if you check the records the number will be above 80 and probably closer to 90.

Keep the good work up.

Kevin Miller

CWO3, USCG (Retired)

Ted Bryal  09/12/2007 09:44 AM Report

The United States is on a fools errand chasing the illusion of peace and stability in the Middle East and Central Asia. In this land, since man first walked upon it the only peace and stability it has known has come from under the heel of the oppressor. The natural state of being in this land is what appears to be chaos. To the West chaos is perplexing and it trys to fix it by imposing Western standards which ultimately are doomed to fail as all others have failed before them.

Ferdinand Gajewski, PhD  09/11/2007 11:58 PM Report

If Senator Graham fears a failed state in Iraq, he should have tried to stop the invasion in the first place.