NBC's Andrea Mitchell, on the syndicated Chris Matthews Show over the
weekend, claimed that the United States' wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have not
helped in the fight against terrorism, going as far as to say "They've hurt,"
and "we have inspired more Jihadis against us." Mitchell also played defense for
Barack Obama on his terrorism policy as she hailed the President's recent
speeches on the issue have been "strong" and "substantive," and "he's now trying
to...take the reins and be the CEO," in the fight against al Qaeda.
The following exchanges were aired on the January 10 edition of The Chris
Matthews Show:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Our Matthews Meter question this week is a fascinating one.
We asked the Meter, 12 of our regulars, "Were the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan a
help or a hurt, in this regard, when it comes to defeating al Qaeda?" Close one
here. Seven say the wars have helped our cause in defeating al Qaeda. Five say
Iraq and Afghanistan taken together have hurt the war against al Qaeda. Two of
you here were in that Meter poll, and they split. Andrea you think the wars
altogether, on all the casualties we lost and all the casualties we inflicted,
haven't helped our fight against al Qaeda.
ANDREA MITCHELL, NBC NEWS: I think they've hurt. And I agree it's a close
call, but I think that we have inspired more Jihadis against us.
MATTHEWS: Joe you disagree?
JOE KLEIN, TIME: Well I think, yeah I do disagree. Even though I think that
the war in Iraq was terrible. Was a, was a bad, bad historic mistake, it also
gave us a much better sense of the limits of the possible with al Qaeda. The
fact that they don't have that much appeal to the average Muslin and, in the
end, we beat them.
MATTHEWS: Wow! Well as Rumsfeld once said we don't have the metrics on that
one.
...
MATTHEWS: The Obama administration is ending its first year under huge
pressure on the security front. Some from past administrations are on record
doubting that this team has the right focus. Here's former attorney general
Michael Mukasey in what he put in The Wall Street Journal this week. "Some in
the executive branch are focused more on not sounding like their predecessors
than in finding a neutralizing people who believe it is their religious duty to
kill us." Andrea, is the President successful so far in becoming a true chief
executive and not a campaigner who's going on television and touring the country
and doing interviews?
MITCHELL: I think, in fact that he's made a very strong leap in this
direction. I thought-
MATTHEWS: When?
MITCHELL: -in particular since this Christmas Day incident, the threat that
was averted. I think the speeches, you can argue about the timing, the first
24-48 hours. But the timing and, and the speeches, the content of the speeches
have been strong. They've been substantive. I think what he's now trying to do
is really take the reins and be the CEO. Look, Chris, he inherited a ridiculous
post 9-11 structure. They're trying to rationalize it. What we now know from
this, at least the declassified report and what we've learned what's in the rest
of the report is it's a mess.
-Geoffrey Dickens is the senior news analyst at the Media Research
Center.
