In latest twist, former Bush spokesman blames Carter for Iran David Edwards and Muriel Kane

Published: Thursday August 23, 2007





Print This Email This MSNBC's Joe Scarborough conducted a phone interview on Thursday morning with former white House press secretary Ari Fleischer, who heads a group that is running an ad campaign to convince Congress to continue funding President Bush's Iraq War. "When we see all the missteps [in Iraq] ... it makes it harder, does it not, for the American people to trust this administration moving forward?" Scarborough asked Fleischer. "Look at the other side," Fleischer answered. "I could blame Jimmy Carter for creating the mullahs and the ayatollahs in Iran." "But Jimmy Carter's not president right now," said Scarborough. "Jimmy Carter's not saying 'Trust me.' George Bush is." "You have to make decisions today based on events today," insisted Fleishcher. "Do the politicians switch their votes, where last year and the year before they supported fully funding the war against terror? Well, they've switched their votes now and cut and run. That's the current debate." Scarborough remarked that when he hears reports that things are going well militarily in Iraq, "I start thinking, well, you know what, maybe, maybe they're right, maybe we need to even send more troops over there. And suddenly then, it hits me, we don't have the troops. ... Troop rotations are such that we're going to begin drawing down regardless. Right?" "Troop rotations is one of the strings Congress is trying to attach to the troops," complained Fleishcher, "where Congress is trying to pretend they're all generals and they decide how much rotation should be, how long troops should be home, how long troops should be abroad. ... What we're saying is, this fall is not the time for Congress to meddle, to cut and run, or to make troops' mission impossible." "We don't have the troops to continue fighting through next summer, do we?" Scarborough asked again. "That's a military judgment whether they do or they don't, and it's amazing what the military can do when they say we must do it," Fleischer declared. "They usually are pretty flexible, and they can -- they types of changes they need to make on the ground, that's what requires the sacrifice from the forces and their families." The following video is from MSNBC's Morning Joe, broadcast on August 23.





