{"id":18628,"date":"2011-03-28T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-07-20T00:21:44","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-07-20T00:21:44","modified_gmt":"2011-07-20T00:21:44","slug":"humanitarian_we_re_at_war_in_libya_to_protect_european_oil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2011\/03\/28\/humanitarian_we_re_at_war_in_libya_to_protect_european_oil\/","title":{"rendered":"Humanitarian? We\u2019re at War in Libya to Protect European Oil"},"content":{"rendered":"
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RUSH: First, the president of the United States locked out of the White House. After his vacation plans changed he comes home early. He came home early to find his NCAA brackets in tatters. Then he sees his secretaries of state and defense are not on the same page as to why we\u2019re in Libya. Did you see this on Meet the Press yesterday? Gates says (paraphrasing) “No, there aren\u2019t any vital US national interests –” and Hillary jumps in, cuts him off and not another word is heard from Gates <\/a>the rest of the show. What is the term I heard over the weekend, hawk hens. The Obama hawk hens, meaning the babes of the — well, the women. Aren\u2019t any real babes in this bunch, but the hawk hens just shut Gates up there. So then Obama has to hastily schedule a national address tonight. By the way, seven and a half hours for Obama to figure out what he\u2019s going to say, 7:30 tonight, big, big remarks from the Oval Office. I\u2019m thinking about doing a Wolf Blitzer here. (imitating Blitzer) “We\u2019re only six hours away now from President Obama and a big announcement on Libya. We\u2019re only five hours and 45 minutes away now,” for the whole show here. <\/p>\n

Have you ever noticed, folks, the media is constantly breathless. Each time Obama is going to say something, the media just gets breathless as though his words can mean anything. He\u2019s going at 7:30 tonight to make sure he doesn\u2019t step on Dancing with the Stars, which is at eight o\u2019clock on ABC, but have you ever noticed the media is always waiting breathlessly for Obama to say something, tongues hanging out hitting the street. (panting) They seem to be always living in the hope that Obama will make a pronouncement that will suddenly change everything. You would think that they would have learned by now that they\u2019re always gonna be disappointed, that those days are long gone. There aren\u2019t any magic words. While Obama might speak well, he doesn\u2019t communicate well. He\u2019s a very, very poor communicator. So, anyway, he has got this national address at 7:30 tonight to clean up any of the confusion as to why we\u2019re at war, and, by at way, I now know why we are at war in Libya. <\/p>\n

I got a chart right here. We are at war to protect European energy. We are at war in Libya to protect European oil and energy. This is stunning when you see this chart. We\u2019ll put it up at RushLimbaugh.com. I forgot to send it up to Koko, but we\u2019ll do that when the break comes around. It\u2019s patently obvious why we\u2019re here. Then the story, the latest headline, Sarkozy — that\u2019s France, for those of you in Rio Linda — Cameron, UK, call on all Libyans opposing Khadafy to help create a process of national transition. It\u2019s about oil, which I have no problem with, by the way, don\u2019t misunderstand. I\u2019m not a leftist who bemoans that, but Obama can\u2019t dare say it. That\u2019s why there is seemingly so much confusion. Gates says one thing, Hillary says another, and Obama\u2019s gotta now go clean it up. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: At any rate, ladies and gentlemen, this is a comedy of errors, except it\u2019s not funny. But it does appear to be a comedy of errors. Biden, by the way, has said nothing about this “kinetic military action.” He said nothing about it. Gates, Hillary, we\u2019ve got Obama speaking at 7:30. What kind of community organizer is this? I always think community organizers are organized. Wouldn\u2019t you think that anyone who proudly calls himself a community organizer would be a little bit more organized than this? He\u2019s running a kinetic mess and he\u2019s supposed to be the organizational expert. His own community does not know why he started a third war. They don\u2019t know why he\u2019s on vacation while bombing a Middle East country. They don\u2019t know why he kept the Bush tax cuts. They don\u2019t know why he\u2019s publicly celebrating Brazil\u2019s oil.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Saturday, White House YouTube Channel, President Obama: Libya mission is succeeding.<\/p>\n

OBAMA: We\u2019re succeeding in our mission. We\u2019ve taken out Libya\u2019s air defenses. Khadafy\u2019s forces are no longer advancing across Libya.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Wrong.<\/p>\n

OBAMA: In places like Benghazi, a city of some 700,000 that Khadafy threatened to show “no mercy,” his forces have been pushed back. So make no mistake: Because we acted quickly, a humanitarian catastrophe has been avoided, and the lives of countless civilians — innocent men, women, and children — have been saved.<\/p>\n

RUSH: This just adds to the confusion of what this is all about. Khadafy\u2019s still there. This is really hard. We\u2019re dealing with somebody who\u2019s not ground in reality on this in any way, shape, manner, or form. This is… My gosh, folks, it\u2019s embarrassing. It\u2019s worse than embarrassing. Also Saturday, White House YouTube Channel.<\/p>\n

OBAMA: When someone like Khadafy threatens a bloodbath that could destabilize an entire region and when the international community is prepared to come together to save many thousands of lives, then it\u2019s in our national interests to act, and it\u2019s our responsibility. This is one of those times.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Khadafy threatens a bloodbath. Well, here we go. And a lot of other people now are picking up this refrain that we offered last week: “Well, there\u2019s a lot of bloodbaths around the world. Darfur. North Korea. Syria. Why aren\u2019t we there?” It was fascinating on Meet the Press yesterday. The audio is coming up here, but this was a stunning power play. On Meet the Press yesterday, after Defense Secretary Robert Gates conceded that Libya is not a vital interest of the United States… Stop and think of that. He conceded, the Secretary of Defense, that the action in Libya is not rooted in a vital national interest of ours. Before he could complete his comments, Mrs. Clinton cut him off, and she launched into a minute-and-40-second monologue seeking to justify US military involvement in Libya.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n<\/a>RUSH: Here is why we\u2019re in Libya. There\u2019s the chart. This chart shows every energy and oil installation in Libya, offshore and on, every one of them is a European-owned entity. You got BP, you\u2019ve got ExxonMobil. This chart is from STRATFOR, Stratfor.com. We will put this at RushLimbaugh.com. Sarkozy and Cameron today have come out and are urging Libyans to oppose Khadafy. This is no more a humanitarian mission than a mission to save the animals and the pets of Libya. This is about European energy, pure and simple, and who was there first? Who didn\u2019t wait for us? The Europeans. We were stragglers, were we not? We were the last there. There are no vital US interests, we\u2019re told. Gates says, “No vital US interests.” That\u2019s not true and Mrs. Clinton interrupts him and goes on a minute and 40 second monologue on Meet the Press yesterday to suggest that there might be some vital US interests. Well, that\u2019s a pretty big chunk of that country, particularly on the northeastern coast of this country that\u2019s got a lot of energy installations. Now, in the lower-left hand corner as you\u2019re looking at it, the lower-left hand corner lists by color-code every country that owns one of those installations.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n<\/p>\n RUSH: Here\u2019s President Obama. This is Saturday, White House YouTube channel. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n OBAMA: When someone like Khadafy threatens a bloodbath that could destabilize an entire region and when the international community is prepared to come together to save many thousands of lives, then it\u2019s in our national interests to act, and it\u2019s our responsibility. This is one of those times.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n RUSH: Well, you just heard it, President Obama on Saturday, the White House YouTube channel, claiming that Libya is a vital US national interest. Hmm, not so fast. Sunday morning on Meet the Press, the guest, Secretary of State Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. David Gregory said, “Secretary Gates, is Libya in our vital interest as a country?”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n GATES: No, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a vital interest for the United States, but we clearly have interests there, and it\u2019s a part of the region which is a vital interest for the United States.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n RUSH: No, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a vital interest for the US. We have interests there. I just showed you what the interest is, folks. The interest is European energy. That\u2019s why we\u2019re there. And, by the way, don\u2019t anybody misunderstand. I\u2019m all for that. I am of the camp that believes oil, the free flow of oil, the free flow of energy at market prices is the fuel of freedom. You\u2019re not gonna find any quarrel from me going anywhere to maintain the free flow of oil at market prices. The left will, but I don\u2019t. If it could be firmly established that we are there because the Europeans are there for protection of their energy installations, and there\u2019s a lot of them, I\u2019ve shown you the chart. You can see the chart at RushLimbaugh.com, Stratfor.com. You can see it on my Facebook page. You can see how heavily invested in Libyan energy the Europeans are, and you can see which companies and countries are there. There\u2019s no question. You will have no doubt once you look at the chart. I think it\u2019s entirely understandable the Europeans are there. They didn\u2019t waste time, folks. You\u2019ll note they did not waste time getting in there. They didn\u2019t wait for us to dither. We are the last in.<\/p>\n

People have watched what people like Hugo Chavez have done, nationalizing oil and energy institutions, installations, companies in Venezuela. They don\u2019t want that in Libya. They don\u2019t want that in the Middle East. It makes perfect sense. You\u2019ve got instability in this country, Khadafy murdering and who knows what could end up running this country. I guarantee you they don\u2019t want the Muslim Brotherhood running this country. They do not want a caliphate here. They do not want this. People interested in the free flow of oil at market prices do not want the Muslim Brotherhood running the show here. It would make perfect sense to me to go in here to protect their interests. That they would persuade us to go eventually? It seems to me that Obama is more than willing to help everybody else in this world maintain their own flow of oil at market prices — Brazil, we\u2019ll give \u2019em $2 billion or loan them $2 billion to grow their own oil industry. We\u2019ll put drilling moratoriums on ourselves. We will hamper the free flow-of-oil at market prices in our country, but around the world if anybody\u2019s oil interests are upset, we\u2019re right there to help \u2019em out, eventually. <\/p>\n

But stop and think of this. Here you have Gates: “No, we don\u2019t have a vital interest there, is not a vital interest for the United States.” I think Gates knows what he\u2019s talking about. Obviously he does. He knows what\u2019s going on there. It means there\u2019s no vital US oil there. But what are we doing? Here we have our own secretary of defense saying there\u2019s no vital US interests, but we are putting members of our military at risk, we are spending a billion taxpayer dollars, what is it, a day on something that\u2019s not in the vital interests of the United States. In fact, it sounds like the US went into “kinetic military action” to protect the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions, to protect the Muslim Brotherhood. Notice that Mrs. Clinton\u2019s claim may not be true. Let\u2019s move on to Mrs. Clinton here, because Gregory, after Gates said, “No, there\u2019s no vital US interests there,” David Gregory said, “I think a lot of people would hear that and say, ‘Well, that\u2019s quite striking, not in our vital interests and yet we are committing resources there?'”<\/p>\n

HILLARY: But then it wouldn\u2019t be fair as to what Bob just said. I mean did Libya attack us? No, they did not attack us. Do they have a very critical role in this region, and do they neighbor two countries? You just mentioned one, Egypt; the other, Tunisia, that are going through these extraordinary transformations and cannot afford to be destabilized by conflict on their borders. Yes. Do they have a major influence on what goes on in Europe because of everything from oil to immigration? And, you know, David that raises a very important point \u2019cause you showed on the map just a minute ago Afghanistan. You know, we asked our allies, our NATO allies to go into Afghanistan with us ten years ago. They have been there, and a lot of them have been there despite the fact they were not attacked. The attack came on us, as we all tragically remember. They stuck with us. When it comes to Libya, we started hearing from the UK, France, Italy, other of our NATO allies —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Right.<\/p>\n

HILLARY: — this was in their vital national interests.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Right.<\/p>\n

HILLARY: The UK and France were the ones who went to the Security Council and said —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Right.<\/p>\n

HILLARY: — we have to act — <\/p>\n

RUSH: Right.<\/p>\n

HILLARY: — because otherwise we\u2019re seeing a really violent upheaval — <\/p>\n

RUSH: Oh.<\/p>\n

HILLARY: — with a man who has a history of unpredictable violent acts — <\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah.<\/p>\n

HILLARY: — right on our doorstep.<\/p>\n

RUSH: That\u2019s not why.<\/p>\n

HILLARY: So, you know, let\u2019s be fair here.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah.<\/p>\n

HILLARY: They didn\u2019t attack us, but what they were doing and Khadafy\u2019s history and the potential for the disruption and instability was very much in our interests, as Bob said, and seen by our European friends and our Arab partners as very vital to their interests.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Read: oil. All of that adds up to oil, folks. I hate to tell you if you don\u2019t want to hear it, but it adds up to oil. Libya did not attack Europe, Mrs. Clinton. Sure, they didn\u2019t attack us. They did not attack Europe. Khadafy didn\u2019t attack anybody. What was going on? Nothing was going on except Khadafy was attacking his own people. That was leading to instability. You had Tunisia, you had Egypt, you had Europe saying, “Oh, my God, we got that much energy dependence in that country, and all hell\u2019s breaking loose? We\u2019ve got to stabilize.” Not for humanitarian purposes. That\u2019s what the left says. But the way, that question, that minute and 36 answer you just got, the question was intended for Gates. She took it. She didn\u2019t let Gates answer the follow-up. She took it. Because the minute Gates said, “No, we don\u2019t have any vital US interests there,” I mean that was red flag panic city. <\/p>\n

So Lead Hawk Hen number one, Mrs. Clinton, moves in there, co-opts the question, gives the answer, “They stuck with us, UK, France, Italy.” UK, France, Italy, you take a look at the color-code on the chart as to what nation owns what companies that own what installations in Libya. It\u2019s all perfectly clear what\u2019s happening. And again, don\u2019t misunderstand. I got no problem with it. It was Ed Markey, Democrat, Massachusetts: “Libya is about oil, it\u2019s all about oil.” He\u2019s probably right. He doesn\u2019t like it. Humanitarian, ah, it\u2019s just what the left says. So we have joined a war for Europe\u2019s oil and isn\u2019t that better than going to war for oil for ourselves? Blood for oil, American blood for European oil, from 15,000 feet, no-fly zone. As I say, we\u2019ll come to the aid, apparently, of anybody in the world who wants to protect or find more of their oil. It\u2019s just when our oil is on the table, this regime says it\u2019s gonna stay on the table, or it\u2019s gonna stay in the ocean, or it\u2019s gonna stay underground.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Here\u2019s Eric in Wilmington, Delaware, as we return to the phones. It\u2019s great to have you on the program, sir. Hi.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hi, Rush. How you doing?<\/p>\n

RUSH: Very well. Thank you.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I have a question. I have two, really. The first question is: If it\u2019s illegal for Americans to aid and abet Al-Qaeda, and they prosecute you, why is it not illegal for the executive branch to supply and aid and abet a candidate and jihadist in Libya — or just supply and help them out?<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, it\u2019s an interesting question. The answer that I would come up with is that the regime is above the law. The regime\u2019s own health care bill is said to be unconstitutional. The regime doesn\u2019t care.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah, but, Rush, one thing. I mean, in 1980s when Iran-Contra went on, they had the Boland Amendment.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Right.<\/p>\n

CALLER: And they went after the Reagan administration unrelentlessly (sic) to try to impeach Reagan. I mean I don\u2019t hear a peep. Everybody is agreeing that we should be there, and I once remember Patton said, “If everybody is thinking the same thing, somebody\u2019s not thinking.” So I was just wondering why no one is even bringing it up that it\u2019s illegal to supply Al-Qaeda and jihadists that have killed our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I don\u2019t know. As I say, I\u2019m not sure that it\u2019s been established to the legal extent that we are openly, willingly supplying Al-Qaeda in Libya. In ousting Khadafy, we might be assisting Al-Qaeda in their quest, but actually giving them military support? I don\u2019t know. As I said, the regime is above the law in their own minds. Their health care bill is unconstitutional? So what! We\u2019re gonna keep implementing it. It\u2019s clear that in many cases the law does not apply to them. Bob in Franklin, Tennessee, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hello, Rush. An honor to speak to you, sir.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Thank you, sir.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah, I noticed yesterday that Secretary Gates said that he had reports of Khadafy planting dead bodies near our Tomahawk missile strikes. And, you know, if that would have been Bush in Iraq, if that would have been reported, it woulda been I\u2019m sure very much discredited in the fact that we were doing so much collateral damage.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah, but you understand why.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely I understand why.<\/p>\n

RUSH: If, for example, the defense secretary in the Bush administration had claimed that Saddam and others were moving already dead bodies to make it look like collateral damage, why, there would have been no end of the assaults on the Bush administration. “How dare you make these outrageous claims!” Gates claims it about Khadafy and, of course, “Khadafy is the enemy!” I don\u2019t know what to say here. Clearly the media, the left loves Obama. He can do no wrong. The only way he can disappoint them is not meeting up to their expectations, but they keep holding out hope.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: On this civilian casualty thing in Libya, it\u2019s important to remember that it is Gates who\u2019s claiming this. It is the regime. Our Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, is claiming that there aren\u2019t any real civilian casualties, that what\u2019s happening is that the Libyan government is moving the bodies into position to make it look like civilian casualties. And, of course, the point is: Imagine if anybody in Iraq in the Bush administration had made such a claim. The left wouldn\u2019t put up with it! They wouldn\u2019t tolerate it. CNN ran a crawl, I think for several hours over the weekend, saying, “Libyan Government Can\u2019t Backup Claims of Collateral Damage.” So, Obama has his defense secretary claim it, the Libyans claim it, and the media says, “Well, Khadafy\u2019s lying!” <\/p>\n

Would we have ever gotten a story from CNN, Saddam or others in Iraq are lying? No, it would be the Bush regime, the Bush administration which was lying. This was the fundamental point of a previous caller. But where has there ever been a war without collateral damage? This is the point. When has there ever been a war where there was not citizen damage? In fact, that used to be how you won wars, folks (I hate to tell you), is by killing innocent civilians. Who do you think we targeted in Nagasaki and Hiroshima and all the bombings of Germany World War II? That\u2019s how you used to define victory. Now it\u2019s called “collateral damage,” and the idea that we can conduct war without any is absurd. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay, time for the Media Tweak of the Day. Nation building, that was bad enough, folks. But it would seem that Obama is now into caliphate building. It\u2019s almost as though Obama might believe he\u2019s the 12th imam. How can he possibly know how things are gonna turn out in Libya and the rest of the Middle East? How could he possibly know this? Look at his NCAA brackets. By the way, if you want any proof that this is all about the oil in Libya, don\u2019t forget the UK freed the Lockerbie bomber so that BP could get a good deal on oil in Libya. Do you remember that? That\u2019s why the Lockerbie bomber was freed, to get a good deal on Libyan oil, and that was called humanitarian, too, if I\u2019m not mistaken. So don\u2019t doubt me, folks. Energy installations, oil in Libya, UK, Europe, that\u2019s what this is.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Five and a half hours, ladies and gentlemen, five hours to be exact, 24 minutes, and Barack Obama will explain why we are in Libya. Five hours and 24 minutes. Wolf Blitzer will continue our countdown starting with his show at five o\u2019clock on CNN. (imitating Blitzer) “We\u2019re eagerly waiting, President Obama speaking to the nation tonight at 7:30 to explain why we\u2019re in Libya and who\u2019s there and who we hope won\u2019t be there when we finish, CNN eagerly awaiting, breaking news, President Obama at 7:30, five hours 23 minutes and 15 seconds from now.” That\u2019s how it will be. <\/p>\n

Telephone number is 800-282-2882 if you want to be on the program. <\/p>\n

The plot thickens. “Russia said on Monday attacks on forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi amounted to intervention in a civil war and were not backed by the UN resolution authorizing no-fly zones. In the latest Russian criticism of military action by the Western-led coalition, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the resolution passed by the UN Security Council on March 17 had the sole aim of protecting Libyan civilians. ‘And yet there are reports — and nobody denies them — of coalition strikes on columns of Gaddafi\u2019s forces, reports about support for actions by the armed insurgents,\u2019 Lavrov said. ‘There are clear contradictions here. We consider that intervention by the coalition in what is essentially an internal civil war is not sanctioned by the UN Security Council resolution.'”<\/p>\nSo the Russians are dissenting. Hey, this ain\u2019t what you told us at the UN. Hey, this ain\u2019t what you said when you went after that resolution. Hey, we\u2019re gonna call you on it. And that\u2019s because it\u2019s about oil, and the Russians know it. Libya is an oil competitor to the Russians. We can\u2019t say this, folks, we cannot say. That\u2019s why the administration\u2019s willing to make itself look silly by saying this is about humanitarian Meals on Wheels or what have you. It\u2019s why they\u2019re willing to contradict themselves and tie themselves up like pretzels, because they\u2019re a bunch of libs and they can\u2019t admit that they\u2019re doing this for oil or there would be a revolt on the left. But that\u2019s what this is and everybody knows it. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s just like “I told you,” and I hate using that phrase. I really do. But there was no way they\u2019re gonna close Gitmo. There was no way. I told you they weren\u2019t gonna secure defeat for themselves. They\u2019re not gonna lose the war on terror with themselves in charge. They\u2019ll saddle it with somebody else if they can but they\u2019re not gonna lose it themselves. They might put a moratorium on oil drilling in this country but they\u2019re not gonna deprive this country of oil from around the world. We\u2019ll get it. It\u2019s gonna cost an arm and a leg, and they don\u2019t have any problem hurting our own domestic industry, but Brazil wants oil, fine, here\u2019s two billion, go get it. Cubans, you want to drill in the Gulf with the Chinese, go ahead, we\u2019re not gonna stop you. We\u2019ll stop ourselves. <\/p>\n

Cameron, Sarkozy, “Hey, look, this unrest in Libya, let me show you a chart with all the installations we have over there. We gotta protect our energy investments.” We say, “Okay, yeah, we get it. We\u2019ll help you out with a no-fly zone. We\u2019ll tell our people it\u2019s about humanitarian violations and so forth. That will play well with our people.” It\u2019s not what it\u2019s about and the Russians have now called everybody on it. Hey, this is what you said, UN resolution, this is not in there. Meanwhile, the Iranians, there\u2019s a video out, just saw it on Drudge, the Iranians say we\u2019re getting ever, ever closer here to the Islamic messiah. That would be the 12th imam. Getting ever closer. <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s go back to the audio sound bites. On Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer, talking about Syria, asked Clinton: “Why not go into Syria? <\/p>\n

HILLARY: No. Each of these situations is unique, Bob. The situation in Libya, which engendered so much concern from around the international community had a leader who used military force against the protesters, from one end of his country to the other, who publicly said things like, “We\u2019ll show no mercy. We\u2019ll go house to house.”<\/p>\n

RUSH: Each of these situations is unique, Bob. Assad\u2019s a reformer. Everybody knows Assad\u2019s not a reformer! He\u2019s a murderer. Bashar al-Assad is a murderer. No, each of these situations unique, Bob, situation in Libya, so much concern, international community, leader, military force. It\u2019s exactly what Assad\u2019s doing. And then she called him a reformer. Schieffer said, “How can it be worse than what\u2019s happened in Syria over the years? Bashar al-Assad\u2019s father killed 25,000 people at a lick. They opened fire, live ammo on these civilians. Why is that different from Libya?”<\/p>\n

HILLARY: There is a different leader in Syria now. Many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he\u2019s a reformer.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, now, who\u2019s gone? Pelosi went. John Kerry went. Remember all these guys going and talking to Bashar al-Assad? They\u2019ve been pretty quiet about it, but it was a long time ago. I mean year, year and a half ago that they went to Syria, but I do remember they made the trek. But now even the media — and I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if it\u2019s \u2019cause we asked the questions first. Well, wait a minute, now. Everything you\u2019re saying about Libya you can say about Syria, North Korea, and Iran. Why are you choosing Libya? And they haven\u2019t had an answer for it. And so now when Schieffer gets specific about Syria and Assad, well, it\u2019s a different Syria. It\u2019s not. Bashar al-Assad\u2019s the same as his dad, Hafez al-Assad. But, see, there isn\u2019t really any oil to speak of in Syria, folks, not to speak of. So let\u2019s go back to February 14th of 2007. This is when Mrs. Clinton was a Senator. She\u2019s on the Senate floor and the subject is a possible attack on Iran. This is what Mrs. Clinton said.<\/p>\n

HILLARY: If the administration believes that any, any use of force against Iran is necessary, the president must come to Congress to seek that authority.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay, so Jake Tapper asks her yesterday, “Well, you guys go into Libya here, why not ask Congress?”<\/p>\n

HILLARY: I don\u2019t think that this kind of internationally authorized intervention where we are one of a number of countries participating to enforce a humanitarian mission is the kind of unilateral action that either I or President Obama were speaking of several years ago. I think that this had a limited time frame, a very clearly defined mission, which we are in the process of fulfilling.<\/p>\n

RUSH: This is a joke, right? There is no clearly defined mission. They\u2019re not telling the truth of what the mission is, and we\u2019re gonna be there the rest of the year now. That was news yesterday. Not weeks. It\u2019s gonna be months. We will be in Libya the rest of the year. Mark my words. And she says this is different from Iran because Iran, we were just talking about us, but this is international, there\u2019s a whole coalition here. We were warning President Bush not to go into Iran all by himself. What\u2019s the difference? If you\u2019re going in to save people, what does it matter if the mission purpose is to stop suffering, if the mission purpose is to make sure that innocent civilians are not attacked, what does it matter who\u2019s going in there? Are we not the leader? This is how you get tripped up when you refuse to tell people the truth of your actions. They just can\u2019t bring themselves to say that this is about preserving European energy installations in Libya. They don\u2019t dare say it, so they concoct all this do-gooder, namby-pamby leftist feel-good stuff as the explanation. But then that falls apart because you could use the same justification to go to Syria, to go to Iran, to go to North Korea, to go to Darfur. But we don\u2019t go there. <\/p>\n

Do you know how ticked off she has to be? She\u2019s having to go out there, she\u2019s the one, we\u2019re playing sound bites of Mrs. Clinton who\u2019s putting herself in a pretzel position. Obama, he\u2019s getting to pick his NCAA picks, and he gets to go make a speech to the country. Five hours and 14 minutes, by the way. Mrs. Clinton\u2019s out there having to justify all this in ways that are clearly not believable. Mrs. Clinton is the face of the war. Mrs. Clinton is the face of our policy. Mrs. Clinton, Hillary Clinton, secretary of state, running this whole show, Hen Hawk number one. Samantha Power, Hen Hawk number two. And Susan Rice, Hen Hawk number three. It\u2019s a close contest there, number two, number three, but clearly Hillary Clinton is Hen Hawk number one. And back in the Clinton days Janet Reno was Hen Hawk number one. Time to invade Waco, call Janet. Ruby Ridge, call Janet. <\/p>\n

Now, Ted Koppel, friend of mine, I haven\u2019t spoken to Ted in a long time. We used to be friends. I assume we still are. Ted Koppel was on Meet the Press yesterday in a roundtable, and David Gregory asked him a question. He said, “We\u2019ve just heard this discussion, Mrs. Clinton and Robert Gates, particularly the secretary of defense say that this campaign in Libya is not in America\u2019s vital interests. Pretty high stakes for the president who is about to address the nation and the secretary of defense says it\u2019s really not about US vital interests. What do you say about that, Ted?”<\/p>\n

KOPPEL: The question hasn\u2019t yet been answered as to why it is that Libya, of all the countries in that region, has won the humanitarian defense sweepstakes of 2011. We have seen many countries, both in that region and throughout the world, where civilian loss and civilian suffering has been much, much greater. Congo for the past 12 years, we\u2019ve lost about five million people. Sudan, two to three million people, never any talk about military intervention. Why, why Libya? Hasn\u2019t been answered.<\/p>\n

RUSH: There it is, folks. I\u2019m holding the chart up again of European energy installations in Libya. That\u2019s the answer. Notice we were the first to start asking, “Why Libya?” Darfur, North Korea, Iran. He throws in Congo. By the way, Calypso Louie raised Congo. In that same speech where he asked Obama, (imitating Calypso Louie) “Who the hell do you think you are? You don\u2019t tell a man to leave like that. Who are you? If you not careful, somebody gonna tell you to leave.” That\u2019s what he said. Ted Koppel: Why Libya? Why not Congo? Why not Sudan, Darfur, any number of places? Coulda made George Clooney very happy, going into Darfur. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Vinny in Brooklyn. I\u2019m glad you waited, Vinny. It\u2019s always a pleasure to have you here on the EIB Network. Hi.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Dittos, Great One. You are indeed a weapon of mass instruction.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Thank you, Vinny, very much.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Now, I seem to remember the administration\u2019s stated reason for going to Libya was to avert, and I quote, “a humanitarian disaster.” In Syria, as we speak, the dictator has killed dozens of civilians protesting his government. How do I know this? Well, the New York Times reported this — above the fold, mind you — on Saturday. So, when do the bombing runs start, Great One? When does President Obama pull the lever to avert a humanitarian disaster? And one more item, if I can add: If we won\u2019t, or if we don\u2019t, won\u2019t our interests in Iraq and other allies in the immediate region possibly suffer through Syria\u2019s instability as per Hen Hawk Hillary Clinton\u2019s stated reason? I ask you, Great One.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, see, I was gonna tell you here, Vinny: Mrs. Clinton said that Bashar al-Assad is a “reformer,” that it\u2019s a different Syria now, that there\u2019s no reason to go into Syria. There really is not a humanitarian disaster going on there. She made it very, very clear: There\u2019s no similarity whatsoever.<\/p>\n

CALLER: So the killings are what, then? What would you say they are? Just someone\u2019s figment of their imagination?<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, they\u2019re not happening from coast to coast. She said that in Libya, they\u2019re happening all across the country; in Syria, it\u2019s just in a limited part of the country.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I see.<\/p>\n

RUSH: That\u2019s what she said! I\u2019m just telling you that\u2019s what she said. (interruption) Don\u2019t look at me that way! It\u2019s what she said, Snerdley.<\/p>\n

CALLER: (chuckling)<\/p>\n

RUSH: It\u2019s what she said. (laughing) She said that Assad is a reformer.<\/p>\n

CALLER: (laughing) Right. Right.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Vinny —<\/p>\n

CALLER: And Obama\u2019s a US citizen, right? Okay. (laughing)<\/p>\n

RUSH: What it all means is that they\u2019re not telling us the truth about why we\u2019re in Libya, because if this is the stated reason, you\u2019re absolutely right: What\u2019s stopping us from Syria? What\u2019s stopping us anywhere else where civilians are being killed, mass murdered, abused, or what have you?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah, so, Rush, I thank you for your time as always.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Vinny, it\u2019s always a pleasure. I don\u2019t care whether you call from the Queens, Bronx, Brooklyn, wherever you call from, it\u2019s always a pleasure to talk to you, Vinny.<\/p>\n

CALLER: (laughing) Dittos. Thank you, sir.<\/p>\n

RUSH: All right.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Steve in Rocklin, California, I\u2019m glad you waited, sir. You\u2019re on the EIB Network. Hi.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Oh, yes, dittos, Rush. Good thing I\u2019m not calling suicide prevention. Anyway, thanks to Mr. Snerdley again. I was Steve in Brooklyn, then Steve in New Jersey and now Steve in Rocklin, California.<\/p>\n

RUSH: It\u2019s always great to hear from you Steve, wherever you happen to be.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Anyway, I spent most of my working life as US representative of European manufacturers. Often I was the only American in the room. I speak German, which did wonders for politeness. Europeans may have a genetic inability to take responsibility for their actions. In the former Yugoslavia they had cheap vacations. They went to business conferences. They went to the beaches in Dubrovnik, skiing in Sarajevo. We didn\u2019t, and yet they were totally incapable of solving the problem in their own backyard and it\u2019s the same thing in Libya. If you go to Jane\u2019s Fighting Ships and so on, you add up what Italy has and you add up what France has and you add up what Libya has, they could handle this on their own, but they\u2019re just not mentally capable of it. Same thing in Hungary, I\u2019m of Hungarian origin, and I was there and the place is just full of Germans, German tourists, my Scandinavian colleagues at business conferences there. As far as NATO, NATO itself is not the problem. It\u2019s just governments don\u2019t make the forces available to NATO. The US military trains to NATO procedures as do the Canadians.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay. So the point is?<\/p>\n

CALLER: The point is that the Europeans are not capable of solving it on their own without Americans taking charge. We walked away from our victory in World War I and look what happened. After World War II we fixed it so the Germans would never do it again, and they haven\u2019t. In fact, maybe we went too far because the German military has a labor union. <\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay, so you\u2019re saying that the Europeans cannot protect their own oil installations in Libya.<\/p>\n

CALLER: No, they can\u2019t protect their own oil installations. I mean, they\u2019re physically capable. They have the forces but they don\u2019t have the will.<\/p>\n

RUSH: This may be one of the last times we\u2019re able to if Obama\u2019s not stopped. If this guy gets four more years, how often are we gonna be able to go do this for the Europeans, much less ourselves?<\/p>\n

END TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

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