Hoekstra
Responds to 'Bizarre' White House Attack on "Architects of
Disaster"
by Pete Hoekstra
NewsmaxTV
November 12, 2015
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[Video clip played of White House press conference, from WH.gov]:
John Gizzi: After four years, what's your reaction to former
Congressman Hoekstra's book? And was it a good move to overthrow Gadhafi?
Josh Earnest: A careful consideration of his long record would
probably not conclude that Colonel Gadhafi was a friend and ally of the
United States. There's no denying that there were times where he may have
been helpful, but I certainly don't think that outweighs the, his
complicity in previous acts of terrorism, that including those that
targeted Westerners. And it certainly doesn't outweigh the acts of atrocity
that were carried under his rule, inside of Libya, against the Libyan
people.
[End of White House press conference]
Malzberg: Oh boy, you know what? I am so proud of John Gizzi,
Newsmax's White House correspondent, for asking that question of Josh
Earnest. Josh Earnest did not provide an answer that would lead one to
conclude that we did the right thing by overthrowing Gadhafi, or had any
you know national security need to do so. And it's all based on a question
and a claim made in the wonderful book, Architects of Disaster: The Destruction of Libya,
by of course former U.S. congressman, former chair of the House
Intelligence Committee, Pete Hoekstra, as alluded to by John Gizzi. And
Congressman, a pleasure to speak to you again, sir.
Hoekstra: Hey, great to be with you. Thank you.
Malzberg: Well what's your reaction to what Josh Earnest gave as
an answer there to John Gizzi?
Hoekstra: Well the more that I listen to it, the more bizarre it
becomes. He says we're going to measure you know Gadhafi in his totality.
Well, America made a decision in 2003, and so did Gadhafi, that he was
going to leave his ways of terrorism, that he was going to ally with the
U.S. in Europe, and that he was going to fight radical jihadists, pay
reparations to the victims of terrorism, and give up his nuke program. And
now we have a new president in town I guess, who says – well we have to go
back and rethink that. What does this say to people in the future, leaders
in the future who are opposed to our policies or who have been opposed to our
policies, and they decide to flip sides? It's a terrible, terrible message
for this administration to send to the world.
Malzberg: You know and your book is resonating, because last week
it overtook Henry Kissinger's World Order as the top selling foreign
policy book on Amazon, so congratulations for that, because I think it's
such an important issue, because you mentioned a new president, well of
course the new secretary of state, as we find out from emails that are
slowly dripping out, played a very large role, maybe the role, in
deciding the Libyan policy.
Hoekstra: Well that's exactly right. And you also have to take a
look at you know they decided to overthrow Gadhafi, and Earnest, Josh, he
needs to read my book, because they also need to take a look at who the
president and the former secretary of state decided to ally themselves with
– radical jihadists who have American blood on their hands, for having
fought us in Afghanistan and Iraq. And then you know the great thing is he
comes back and says – well you know we need, we're now focused on building
a relationship with the new government of Libya. Excuse me; there is no
government in Libya. It is a failed nation state, it's an exporter of
radical jihadist fighters and weapons and ideology.
Malzberg: Absolutely. It's a total chaotic scene, as you just
described. And going forward, do you think that from what you've heard in
the limited questions that have been asked about this at the debates, you
know do you plan to, let me put it this way, do you plan to reach out to
the eventual Republican nominee and make sure they read your book and make
sure that they you know are equipped to go after Hillary on this and make
it as big an issue as it should be?
Hoekstra: Absolutely. The presidential candidates they have my
book, Hillary has a copy of my book, and more importantly, the members of
the Benghazi Committee at the House they have my book. I was really
disappointed that you know as they went through the Benghazi hearings, no
one brought up the question of – Secretary of State, why did we go into
Libya in the first place? It was stable, it, you know we had someone who
was allying against radical jihadists. Why did we think it was important to
overthrow Gadhafi?
Malzberg: Well do you believe, not to interrupt you sir, do you
believe that Sidney Blumenthal played a role in that decision?
Hoekstra: I hear it through back channels that economic
considerations, or people who had economic considerations in Libya, were
very influential perhaps in the decision making of this secretary of state
and the White House.
Malzberg: Are you surprised that she was able to sit there and
basically it was revealed she lied, after telling her daughter Egypt and
Libya that it was a terrorist attack and not a video, same time she turns
around and tells us it was a video? Are you surprised that the media spin
was – hey, Hillary came away unscathed?
Hoekstra: I'm not surprised. A couple of things. Number one,
that's the bias of the media today, is to give Hillary Clinton a pass. The
second thing, it wasn't highlighted very well by the committee. You know
this should have been the first thing that was brought out at the committee
hearing, in the first 15 to 30 minutes of the hearing. It was buried
somewhat later. But this was a real clear focal point, as some of the other
things. But you know you have 11 hours of hearing.
Malzberg: Right.
Hoekstra: You're only going to get people to listen for a few
minutes. They had to bring it at the front.
Malzberg: Right. Very, very important book, folks. The
presidential candidates have it. Hillary has it, you should have it, Architects of Disaster: The Destruction of Libya.
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