PBS’s Charlie Rose Interviews Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad

Mandeville, LA – Exclusive Transcript – He just slammed Obama for being the Facebook president.  We are not a social media government, we have real problems over here.  We have to really deal with them.  We can’t just hop on Twitter and start social media-ing our social discourses.  By the bye, folks, I just have to say that I myself have wondered of the utility of politicians making public statements, even the good ones like Justin Amash, in so limited a venue as a Twitter feed.  Check out today’s transcript for the rest…

Begin Mike Church Show Transcript

Mike:  Before we go back to the telephones, AG has five clips from Bashar al-Assad courtesy of PBS and CBS News.  We’re going to play them for you in succession, right?

AG:  Yeah.  We can discuss each one.  The first one — we’ve got actually eight clips now — it’s on how a U.S. attack on Syria would destabilize the entire region.

[start audio clip]

Bashar al-Assad: Before the 11^th of September, in my discussions with many officials in the United States, some of them are congressmen, I used to say that don’t deal with the terrorists as playing games. It’s different story. You are going to pay the price if you are not wise in dealing with terrorists. So nobody expects – we said there were going to be repercussions of the mistaken way of dealing with it, of treating terrorism, but nobody expected the 11^th of September. So you cannot expect, it’s difficult for anyone to tell you what is going to happen. It’s area where everything is on the brink of explosion. You have to expect everything.

[end audio clip]

Mike:  It is intriguing, isn’t it, Andrew?  Isn’t it provocative?  He keeps talking about and Syrian diplomats keep talking about: Are you people nuts?  We are fighting terrorists who are trying to overthrow our legitimate government.  You may not like our legitimate government.  That’s fine, that’s cool, but there are nutjobs in here that you people have sworn a blood oath, in the words of Senator McCain, to follow into the gates of hell itself, to the ends of the Earth.  These are the people that are trying to overthrow our government.  Yes, we’re shooting back at them because they’re shooting at us.  He used the word terrorists, which an Al-Qaeda member is.

AG:  At the same time, couldn’t the argument be made: We’ve done nothing to Syria and you’re on the brink of destabilization as is.  It’s not as if you’re running some great country right now.  You are killing 100,000 people, Assad.  Let’s not pretend that everything is working out great in Syria.  His idea of if there’s an attack then we’re going to be on the brink of destabilization, I wouldn’t agree with that point that he tries to make there.

Mike Church Show Transcript – American Public Doesn’t Want War In Syria But They’ll Support It Once It Starts

Mike:  We have two things.  Let’s go over this.  We have this intelligence report, this letter rather, that was sent to the president from Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, Philip Giraldi among the signatories.  There are questions about the intel.  One of the things that Secretary of State Kerry and President Obama keep saying is they were 1,492 people that were killed in the August 21^st attack.  There is no footnote on that source.  That is from a report or a purported report that was fed out by an unknown agency.  The people that are actually on the ground treating the victims after the gas attack say the number is somewhere closer to 150.  They don’t even have their numbers right.

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[private FP-Yearly|FP-Monthly|FP-Yearly-WLK|FP-Yearly-So76]

I’ve seen similar assertions on the 100,000 that have been killed in Syria.  I don’t know that anyone knows there have been 100,000 killed.  As I understand it, the people that are being killed in this internecine civil war are the people that are taking up arms against their — again, we may not like it, but there is a legitimate government in that country.  They’re the ones that are taking up arms against it.  If you put yourself into the position where you’re going to have field artillery and fire it at the government of your country’s army, you’re probably going to get shot back at.  I don’t buy that there’s this wave of slaughtering going on in Syria.  There’s death, but I don’t think anyone has made the conclusive case that there is this genocide.  There was genocide going on in the Sudan.  That was a genocide.  Hell, it might still be going on.  Let’s hear clip two.

AG:  Next clip here from CBS News and PBS, Charlie Rose’s interview with Bashar al-Assad that airs this morning and tonight is what to expect if the U.S. attacks.

[start audio clip]

Bashar al-Assad: You should expect everything. You should expect everything, not necessarily through the government. The governments are not the only player in this region. You have different parties. You have different factions. You have different ideologies. You have everything in this region now, so you have to expect that.

Charlie Rose: Tell me what you mean by expect everything.

Assad: Expect every action.

[end audio clip]

Mike:  Have you seen this clip where Lindsey Graham says if we don’t take care of Syria they’ll nuke Charleston, South Carolina?

AG:  I have not seen that clip.

Mike:  Oh, my.  This has been sent to me – I’ve had about 100 of you send this t me.

Mike Church Show Transcript – Justin Amash Is A Patriot For His Dissent Of War In Syria

[reading]

At an invitation-only breakfast for establishment Republican types in Mount Pleasant, S.C., Graham said that if America doesn’t take military action against the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Iran will acquire a nuclear weapon by the end of 2014.

“I believe that if we get Syria wrong, within six months – and you can quote me on this – there will be a war between Iran and Israel over their nuclear program.”

But Graham didn’t stop there.

“It won’t come to America on top of a missile, it’ll come in the belly of a ship in the Charleston or New York harbor,” he said.

[end reading]

Mike:  So we’re going to get nuked now.  The chemical weapons have turned to nuclear devices, and the Iranians are going to wield them.  I want to read this to you from the letter that was sent to the president by 65 former intelligence officials that have worked or did work inside American intelligence agencies, like Mr. Giraldi who was a CIA operative.

[reading]

There is a growing body of evidence from numerous sources in the Middle East — mostly affiliated with the Syrian opposition and its supporters — providing a strong circumstantial case that the August 21 chemical incident was a pre-planned provocation by the Syrian opposition and its Saudi and Turkish supporters. The aim is reported to have been to create the kind of incident that would bring the United States into the war.

According to some reports, canisters containing chemical agent were brought into a suburb of Damascus, where they were then opened. Some people in the immediate vicinity died; others were injured.

Founders TV – War Isn’t Netflix Or Hulu, You Shouldn’t Have To Be Sold On It

We are unaware of any reliable evidence that a Syrian military rocket capable of carrying a chemical agent was fired into the area. In fact, we are aware of no reliable physical evidence to support the claim that this was a result of a strike by a Syrian military unit with expertise in chemical weapons.

In addition, we have learned that on August 13-14, 2013, Western-sponsored opposition forces in Turkey started advance preparations for a major, irregular military surge. Initial meetings between senior opposition military commanders and Qatari, Turkish and U.S. intelligence officials took place at the converted Turkish military garrison in Antakya, Hatay Province, now used as the command center and headquarters of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and their foreign sponsors.

Senior opposition commanders who came from Istanbul pre-briefed the regional commanders on an imminent escalation in the fighting due to “a war-changing development,” which, in turn, would lead to a U.S.-led bombing of Syria.

At operations coordinating meetings at Antakya, attended by senior Turkish, Qatari and U.S. intelligence officials as well as senior commanders of the Syrian opposition, the Syrians were told that the bombing would start in a few days. Opposition leaders were ordered to prepare their forces quickly to exploit the U.S. bombing, march into Damascus, and remove the Bashar al-Assad government.

The Qatari and Turkish intelligence officials assured the Syrian regional commanders that they would be provided with plenty of weapons for the coming offensive. And they were. A weapons distribution operation unprecedented in scope began in all opposition camps on August 21-23. The weapons were distributed from storehouses controlled by Qatari and Turkish intelligence under the tight supervision of U.S. intelligence officers.

[end reading]

Mike:  This whole monkey business about “we’re not arming the opposition,” yes, we are.  We’re already engaged in intervention activities.  We would just like to make it official.  The next clip from Bashar al-Assad, please.

AG:  The next clip is discussing how hurting Syria supports Al-Qaeda.

[start audio clip]

Mike Church Show Transcript – Veteran Matt Explores The Real Human Price Of Military Intervention In The Middle East

Bashar al-Assad: This war is against the interest of the United States. Why? First of all, because this is the war that is going to support Al-Qaeda and the same people that killed Americans on the 11^th of September.

[end audio clip]

Mike:  Senator McCain doesn’t disagree with that.  Senator Graham doesn’t disagree with that.  Secretary of State Kerry doesn’t disagree with that.  We played you the clip on Friday’s show, the one where I almost lost my mind over it and then had to go on an early Friday morning drinking session to recover.  Senator Kerry says [mocking] “No, no, no, we know there are good terrorists and there are bad terrorists.”  When we finish with this, AG, do you still have access to Chris Hayes and Kerry on Friday?

AG:  I can pull that off MSNBC’s website.

Mike:  Let’s continue with Assad and then we’ll replay the clip from Secretary of State Kerry.

AG:  This is Assad courtesy of CBS and PBS News discussing the American people and what they want in a Syrian war.

[start audio clip]

Bashar al-Assad: The majority now don’t want a war anywhere, not only against Syria. The Congress is going to vote about this in a few days. And I think the Congress is elected by the people and should represent the people and vote for their interests. The first question they should ask themselves, what do wars give America? Nothing. No political gain, no economic gain, no good reputation. United States’ credibility is at all-time low.

[end audio clip]

AG:  Conducting his own Gallup poll.

Mike:  He’s reading Gallup polls.  Wait a minute now.  Just hold on a second here.  What he’s actually reading is — you know this, we did this on the show Wednesday or Thursday.  What he’s referencing is a Pew Research Center poll.  I read it to you on the air Wednesday, of the favorability of the U.S. in I think there were six Middle Eastern countries, whether we were favorable or unfavorable.  Our rankings have diminished.  Where once upon a time we were favorable in all t hose countries, we are now viewed unfavorably in those countries.  I think I have that for you.  I’ll pull it up somewhere else.  Let’s get to the next clip.

AG:  These last two clips are from CBS News and PBS News, Charlie Rose interviewing Assad over the weekend in Syria.  Here he discusses the comparison with Iraq and evidence.

Mike Church Show Transcript – Secretary Of State Kerry Explains How U.S. Trains Humanitarian Terrorists

[start audio clip]

Bashar al-Assad: About what Kerry said, about the big lie that Colin Powell said in front of the world on satellites about the WMD in Iraq before going to war when he said “This is our evidence,” actually he gave false evidence. In this case, Kerry didn’t even present any evidence. He talks “we have evidence” and he didn’t present anything, nothing so far, not a single shred of evidence.

[end audio clip]

Mike:  Is he right?  “Not a single shred of evidence.”  By the bye, if you’re wondering how Assad speaks English, he went to ophthalmology school at Oxford.  He’s English-Western educated.  Is there one more?

AG:  Last clip here, Assad discusses the Syrian soldiers being victims of chemical weapons attacks courtesy CBS and PBS News.

[start audio clip]

Bashar al-Assad: Our soldiers in another area where attacked chemically, our soldiers. They went to the hospital as casualties because of chemical weapons. But in the area where they said the government used chemical weapons, we only had video and we only have pictures and allegations. We’re not there. Our forces, our police, our institutions don’t exist. How can you talk about what happened if you don’t have evidences? We’re not like the American administration. We’re not social media administration or government. We are the government that deal with reality.

[end audio clip]

Mike:  He just slammed Obama for being the Facebook president.  We are not a social media government, we have real problems over here.  We have to really deal with them.  We can’t just hop on Twitter and start social media-ing our social discourses.  By the bye, folks, I just have to say that I myself have wondered of the utility of politicians making public statements, even the good ones like Justin Amash, in so limited a venue as a Twitter feed.  It’s what, 132 characters?

AG:  140.

Mike:  It’s 140 characters.  There’s not an awful lot there.  Try getting two sentences from the Declaration of Independence and see if you can get it through Twitter.

End Mike Church Show Transcript

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