Emotional Michael Moore calls Afghanistan troop build-up ‘insane’

David Edwards and Muriel Kane/Rawstory
Following President Obama’s announcement on Tuesday of a short-term troop surge in Afghanistan, an emotional Michael Moore told CNN’s Larry King, “I feel very bad for him.”

“I feel even worse for our troops,” Moore went on, blinking back tears. “And I feel a real sadness for the parents of those soldiers.of ours over the next eighteen months who will not come back home.”

“Our own CIA says there’s less than a hundred al Qaeda in Afghanistan,” Moore explained. “What are we doing in Afghanistan? This is absolutely insane. … We have been in this war for twice as long not as the US was in World War II. … We’re going to have 100,000 troops there to find these killers — who aren’t even there!”

Moore has been begging the president over the last week not to escalate the war in Afghanistan, writing at his own website, “If you go to West Point tomorrow night … and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. … With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they’ve always heard is true — that all politicians are alike. I simply can’t believe you’re about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn’t so.”

“I hate to be even saying these things,” Moore told King in conclusion, “because I honestly think Barack Obama is a good and decent man. He has a good heart. I believe he’s a man of peace. … I don’t think there’s any evil or dark place in his heart that’s where this is coming from. I just think that he’s listened to the generals. He’s taken bad advice.”
CNN has a complete transcript here.

This video is from CNN’s Larry King Live, broadcast Dec. 1, 2009.

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CNN LARRY KING LIVE

Analysis of President Obama’s Address to Nation

Aired December 1, 2009 – 23:59 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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MICHAEL MOORE, DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER: I feel very bad for him. I feel even worse for our troops. And I feel a real sadness for the parents of those soldiers of ours, over the next 18 months who will not come back home.

And I think many will ask for what reason did they die? Not to stop Al Qaeda, Larry, because there is no Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Our own CIA says there’s less than 100 Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

What are we doing in Afghanistan? This is absolutely insane. When President Obama said we were attacked in Afghanistan, I don’t think so. I think that 15 of the 19 hijackers, terrorists, killers of 9/11, they were from Saudi Arabia. In fact, there wasn’t one Afghanistan citizen amongst them. The only thing Afghanistan had to do with it, they had some monkey bars in the desert that these guys trained on. I’ve seen the video. But for that? It’s absolutely insane, Larry.

We have been in this war for twice as long now as the U.S. was in World War II, twice as long as world war II. We defeated Hitler and Tojo and Mussolini in half the time it’s taken us to find Usama bin Laden.

If he had come on tonight and said we’re going in with special forces to try and capture the killer, that’s a good idea. That’s not what he’s talking about. He says we’ll have 100,000 troops there to find these killers that aren’t even there. It’s absolutely insane.

KING: He didn’t make any kind of case to your satisfaction of the dangers, the differences between Vietnam and Iraq and Afghanistan? He was opposed to Vietnam, he was opposed to Iraq. But he pointed out the dangers in Afghanistan and what could happen if we do leave. He didn’t make any effect on you with that?

MOORE: None whatsoever, absolutely not.

In fact, this is going to be his Vietnam if he doesn’t change his mind here. This isn’t going to work.

Larry, just think of the logic of what we heard him say. He said that we’re going to send more troops over there so we can withdraw in 18 months. I mean, seriously, let me just say that again. We’re going to increase the troops so we can decrease the troops.

KING: Of course, the increase in the troops will accomplish what the increase did during the surge in Iraq. It will temper the situation. So by bringing in more troops, they train — they’re able to more quickly train the Afghanistans (ph) to run their own country. That makes some logic, doesn’t it?

MOORE: The situation, the surge in Iraq — the situation was tempered in Iraq because we were able to buy off enough of the people who were killing us.

Now, if we do that in Afghanistan, if we can provide more money to the poppy growers and the people who are running the heroin trade out of Afghanistan — one of those people according to “The New York Times” and our own CIA happens to possibly be the brother of the president of Afghanistan — if we’re able to outbid the heroin guys, yes, maybe we can have some impact.

But for him to say that — I mean, I can understand why Republicans and some of the people on the right are like, what are you doing setting a deadline? It’s crazy. If they’re truly the enemy, you don’t say we’re going to fight you until 2:00 on July 2nd, 2011.

I mean, it’s like if they’re the enemy, you fight them until they’re done, until you win and they lose. And that’s not what he said. He just provided, I think, more fodder for his opponents by giving a deadline. If somebody is trying to kill you, if that’s the case that people in Afghanistan are trying to kill us, then how can you set a deadline? The deadline is maybe a week from now or ten years from now, but it’s we’re going to stop you from killing us.

KING: Isn’t by setting a deadline you’re also telling the Afghans, the good Afghans, get your house in order, you be ready. We’ll take so much of this and then we’re going. Wouldn’t that then force them, the good guys, to become better?

MOORE: No.

KING: No?

MOORE: No. That didn’t work in Vietnam. It’s not going to work in Iraq. It was interesting to hear him essentially praise the Bush policy in Iraq and how it succeeded. It was really bizarre to hear him say some of these things.

And I have to tell you, Larry, I hate to be even saying these things because I honestly think Barack Obama is a good and decent man. He has a good heart. I believe he’s a man of peace. I was thrilled that he won the peace prize.

So to see him make this mistake — I don’t think there’s any kind of evil or dark place in his heart where this is coming from. I just think that he’s listened to the generals. He’s taken bad advice.

He’s human. We all make mistakes. Somebody told Time Warner to buy AOL. I mean, you know? He’s listening to the same kind of people that always seem to give the wrong advice to people in charge.

KING: Jesse Ventura said last night, and he agrees with your position, by the way, that we should consider bringing back the draft and we should have a war tax so that people suffer if we’re all going to pay a price for this. What do you think?

MOORE: There would be no increase in the troops if there was a draft and if people had to pay for it.

I actually have proposed bringing back the draft now for some years, but only draft the children of those in the upper five percent income bracket, because if the wealthy have to send their kids over to Iraq or Afghanistan, trust me, there won’t be many wars.

KING: We’ll take a break. We’ll be right back with Michael Moore.

Do you agree, by the way, with the president’s decision to send more troops to Afghanistan? Tell us what you think at CNN.com/LarryKing. We’ll be right back.
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KING: Michael Moore, it’s pretty certain, isn’t it, if we left, as you wanted to say, you think we should do, leave, the Taliban is going to come right back in, aren’t they? I mean, that’s a no- brainer.

MOORE: Well, they’re already there. They’re already there. Your brilliant Michael Ware there of CNN just nailed it right on the head there right after the speech. They’re already there. They control vast majorities of the population in areas of the country.

When you say — when you say the Taliban will come back in, they’re not invaders from another country. They are citizens of Afghanistan. And if the people of Afghanistan don’t want the Taliban to rule them, just like we didn’t want the king to rule us over 200 years ago or the French didn’t want Louis XVI, what those people usually do historically is rise up against the oppressor.

It is not the job of the United States or anybody else to help — to do that for them. We can help. We can supply things to them to help them gain their freedom. But we can’t bring the freedom to them through the barrel of our guns. That just doesn’t work. It never works. It’s not going to work this time.

KING: Be an analyst for us. What do you think will be the result tomorrow? Do you think Americans will support this in the majority or do you think they’ll be an uproar against on both sides of the political spectrum? What’s going to be the result of this politically?

MOORE: I think most Americans, yes, the polls have shown that Obama has some of his lowest approval ratings when it comes to this particular issue. Americans do not want these wars to continue. They want jobs. They want universal health care. They want the things that this country so desperately needs right now.

So I think that there’s going to be opposition from all kinds of Americans to the president on this particular issue.

And I think — I just — I don’t know who he’s trying to please. I mean, I guess we haven’t really talked about the money here and the defense industry and the people that are happy when we get to spend another billion or trillion dollars on these wars. But the American people I don’t think are going to like this, Larry.

KING: Bob Herbert writing in “The New York Times” today called this a “tragic mistake,” and then he quotes Dwight David Eisenhower, former president of the United States, former supreme commander of all troops in World War II. Eisenhower said “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can and as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, and its stupidity.”

And then he said, this will impress you, I think, Eisenhower, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.”

That’s from a four star general and a president.

MOORE: Yes, and a Republican. That’s the way Republicans used to talk, some of them.

Well, that’s exactly the case here. You know, we’re not — the allies are not going to come to our aid in this. This is a joke. I think Britain is talking about sending 500 more troops. They’ll send token troops over to make it look like they don’t upset us too much because they still want our help and our money and all that. But we’re not going to get that.

And instead we’re going to dump more billions and trillions of dollars of our money into a lost cause. And the idea of going after the killers of 9/11, that’s a good idea. But they’re not there. They’re not there. And it just is absolutely insane to continue this.

KING: Thank you, Michael Moore, as always. Michael Moore from Tokyo.
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