Hersh Forecasts Grim Future in Iraq

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by Christopher Gombeski | Feb 1, 2007 12:48 am

(1) Comment | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Higher Ed

Hersh%20%282%29.JPG Before a packed crowd at the Yale Law School Auditorium, investigative reporter and Pulitzer Prize-winner Seymour Hersh berated the Bush Administration for its handling of the Iraq war and called President Bush “the most radical president we’ve ever had.”¬ù

In a talk entitled “From 9/11 to Abu Ghraib and Beyond,”¬ù Hersh, who now writes for the New Yorker magazine, called the state of affairs in Iraq a “strategic mistake”¬ù and one of a laundry list of debacles that have brought America’s standing far down in the world. “We’ve gone to the bottom,”¬ù he said, after cataloging various spots around the world that could contribute to American insecurity in the future, including Somalia, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran.

Hersh%20%285%29.JPG All of these decisions, Hersh maintained, were made by the Bush Administration in good faith. White House decision-makers “believe that they’re protecting America.” But the problem is, “they really think it doesn’t matter what anyone else believes.”¬ù Ultimately, Hersh told the assembled crowd of students, professors, and New Haven residents, the administration is incapable of learning from its mistakes or from history. “They’re not reachable.”¬ù

None of this has made the man optimistic about America’s immediate future prospects. “I think this next year “” 2007 “” will be one of our worst,”¬ù he said. Hersh characterized the situation in Iraq as “intractable,”¬ù with an “equal chance that it’ll be more or less messy after we pullout.”¬ù Either way, he said, “it’s gonna be hell to pay.”¬ù

Still, he pushed strongly for the removal of American troops, giving two possible courses of action. “One is getting out by midnight tonight, and the other is getting out by midnight tomorrow,”¬ù he said amidst applause from the audience. At least that way, “we’ll be out.”¬ù

Hersh, who was the first journalist to report on the My Lai massacre carried out by American troops during the Vietnam War, for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1970, also underscored the importance of uncovering the “extent of covert military operations around the world”¬ù which operate without oversight and under the radar of the government institutions supposed to rein them in. “There’s all kinds of stuff going on that Congress doesn’t know about,”¬ù he said.

Camera%20484.jpg Drawing on his experience from having covered My Lai, Hersh could only guess what would be the long-term impact of the events at Abu Ghraib prison, the site of numerous criminal abuses of detainees presided over by U.S. soldiers. Hersh related a question asked of him by a friend: “Do you know what you’ve done?”¬ù

After doing his best to “spread my little piece of gloom,”¬ù Hersh did inject a few notes of good news. Though America’s circumstances were less than desirable, he said, “it’s all reparable,”¬ù in noting the goodwill that presidential hopeful Senator Barak Obama seems to invite. Worth noting, too, is that “tomorrow there will be one less day”¬ù until President Bush leaves office.

Comment

posted by: Ben Ross on February 2, 2007 12:37pm

I witnessed something strange at the law lib, a woman with a recording device, non approved by Hersh,was asked by him to stay and talk after the event. i am not out to judge her.
I was saddened to see her leave the lecture without giving Hersh a chance to chat with her. Was that a gurilla media technique?

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