Hersh: Bush Has "Accepted Ethnic Cleansing"

Spiegel Online has an interview today with "investigative journalist" Seymour Hersh, a bitter old crank whose best days never occurred.

Needless to say, he makes a slew of ridiculous accusations and statements completely unsupported by any facts.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Is this just another case of exaggerating the danger in preparation for an invasion like we saw in 2002 and 2003 prior to the Iraq War?

Hersh: We have this wonderful capacity in America to Hitlerize people. We had Hitler, and since Hitler we've had about 20 of them. Khrushchev and Mao and of course Stalin, and for a little while Gadhafi was our Hitler. And now we have this guy Ahmadinejad. The reality is, he's not nearly as powerful inside the country as we like to think he is. The Revolutionary Guards have direct control over the missile program and if there is a weapons program, they would be the ones running it. Not Ahmadinejad.

One small problem here. Hersh and those of his ilk on the left are the ones who call everyone they disagree with Hitler. From the smallest policy disagreement to any larger issue, if you disagree with the left, you're immediately labeled Hitler.

Needles to say, Mao, Stalin, and Krushchev were bad actors. They don't need to be labeled Hitler. Their names are infamous enough.

More stupidity ensues.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: So what are the options in Iraq?

Hersh: There are two very clear options: Option A) Get everybody out by midnight tonight. Option B) Get everybody out by midnight tomorrow. The fuel that keeps the war going is us.

Victory is not an option, apparently.

SPIEGEL ONLINE:So what are the lessons of the Surge (more...)?

Hersh: The Surge means basically that, in some way, the president has accepted ethnic cleansing, whether he's talking about it or not. When he first announced the Surge in January, he described it as a way to bring the parties together. He's not saying that any more. I think he now understands that ethnic cleansing is what is going to happen. You're going to have a Kurdistan. You're going to have a Sunni area that we're going to have to support forever. And you're going to have the Shiites in the South.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: So the US is over four years into a war that is likely going to end in a disaster. How valid are the comparisons with Vietnam?

Hersh: The validity is that the US is fighting a guerrilla war and doesn't know the culture. But the difference is that at a certain point, because of Congressional and public opposition, the Vietnam War was no longer tenable. But these guys now don't care. They see it but they don't care.