Geraldo Rivera: Iraqis Need Backbone So They Can Die For Their Country
Reported by Ellen - January 28, 2005
Geraldo Rivera came on Alan Colmes' FOX News radio show tonight in order to discuss the upcoming elections in Iraq. On the one hand, Rivera made lofty declarations about a "people freed from the shackles of a dictatorship" but in return for the freedom we foisted on them, Rivera apparently thinks it's high time the Iraqis developed some "backbone" and learned how to die for their country. I'm not kidding, that's what he said.
Rivera: "This is an extraordinary election... We have a people freed from the shackles of a dictatorship, they're given the right to choose freely (comment: except for the death threats) who they want to lead them... The Iraqi Security Forces (in Mosul) cut and (ran) during an insurgent offensive at the end of November... The issue of whether or not the Iraqis now have the backbone to stand up and fight for their own country is one that's very crucial."
Comment: I think the insurgents think *they are* standing up and fighting for their country but I guess they don't count. Neither does the tolerance and patience that the other Iraqis have displayed in the face of the awful disruptions we have caused in their daily lives. For Rivera, Iraqi freedom means the Iraqis should behave the way Rivera thinks they should.
Colmes said, "Much as we want elections to go through peacefully, there's still a policy behind it... that we did regime change at the point of the gun. And that as a foreign policy is what can legitimately be debated in this country."
Rivera agreed that the policy can be debated but said "We have to play the hand we've been dealt and the hand we've been dealt we have to win because if we don't... Do you think Al Zarqawi is just going to go on and let us live our lives? I'm encouraged that... the Iraqi Army really has gotten some stiffening in their backbone. They're standing and fighting and they're dying in these various firefights. We want THEM (his emphasis) to die for their country, not our young guys to die for their country."
Comment: And I'll bet Rivera thinks the Iraqis should be greeting him with hearts and flowers, too.
