OWNERSHIP (via Mike Daley):

Crawford: Joan Baez Talks to The Buzz (Eric Pfeiffer, 8/23/05, NRO: The Buzz)

While I was at "Camp Reality," Joan Baez and a camera crew stopped by to interview the Bush supporters. To Ms. Baez's credit, she was quite
respectful and diplomatic when talking with the supporters, even though they
have very different views on the war and President Bush. Baez even showed
more respect for President Bush than many on the left, referring to
President Bush as "my president." She was also kind enough to answer a few
questions for The Buzz.

When the United States withdrew forces from Vietnam, Baez received much
criticism from the left for stating a vital truth: Even though the war in
Vietnam was "over" from the U.S. military's point of view, thousands of
innocent Vietnamese were still being murdered by the communist regime. So, I
asked Baez if she's concerned a similar situation would transpire were U.S.
forces to withdraw from Iraq:

"As Gandhi once said, yes there will be chaos, but it will be our chaos.
Yes, there will be massive chaos, but nothing is going to stop the massive
chaos. That's my answer."

I then asked Baez what she thinks the U.S. and international community could
do to ensure a peaceful transition if and when the U.S. leaves Iraq:

"There's no way to ensure a peaceful transition. There's already been so
much chaos and unnecessary violence. Much of that has been created by us.
But there was already this disgusting level of chaos and violence with
Saddam Hussein."

Giving the Kurds and Shi'ites a chance to control their own chaos, instead of being controlled by Saddam, is nothing to shake a stick at.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 23, 2005 10:44 PM