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Gingrich on Meet the Press.
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners July 17, 2006 |
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Newt Gingrich, Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, minced no words in describing his perception of the escalating hostilities in the Middle East.
"This is World War III," the Georgia Republican told The Seattle Times.
On NBC's "Meet the Press," he elaborated:
"We're in the early stages of what I would describe as the Third World War and, frankly, our bureaucracy's not responding fast enough and we don't have the right attitude. And this is the 58th year of the war to destroy Israel and, frankly, the Israelis have every right to insist that every single missile leave south Lebanon, and the United States ought to be helping the Lebanese government have the strength to eliminate Hezbollah as a military force -- not as a political force in the parliament -- but as a military force in south Lebanon."
Host Tim Russert asked him: "This is World War III?"
Gingrich answered: "I believe if you take all the countries I just listed that you've been covering, put them on a map, look at all the different connectivity, you have to say to yourself: this is, in fact, World War III."
Gingrich said the deaths of eight Israelis in Haifa Sunday from a Hezbollah missile attack was equivalent to losing 500 Americans, based on population.
"Imagine we woke up this morning, and 500 Americans were dead in Miami from missiles fired from Cuba. Do you think any American would say, 'No, we should have proportionate response. We shouldn't overreact.'?
No, we would say, 'Get rid of the missiles.' And John F. Kennedy, a Democrat who understood the importance of power in the world, was prepared to go to nuclear war to stop missiles from being in Cuba."
In his interview with The Seattle Times, Gingrich argued that once the World War III terminology is accepted, calls for restraint would fade away:
"Israel wouldn't leave southern Lebanon as long as there was a single missile there. I would go in and clean them all out and I would announce that any Iranian airplane trying to bring missiles to resupply them would be shot down. This idea that we have this one-sided war where the other team gets to plan how to kill us and we get to talk, is nuts."
He noted there was also a public-relations value to using the terminology, with the message being, "'OK, if we're in the Third World War, which side do you think should win?"
Hat tip: World Net Daily.
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