Election 2004
Seymour Hersh
Journalist and Author
Thursday, November 04, 2004; 11:00 a.m. ET
Senator John F. Kerry conceded the election to President Bush on Wednesday, ending the possibility of recounts and litigation to decide the outcome. An hour after an emotional speech from Kerry in his hometown of Boston, the President spoke, saying "To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust. A new term is a new opportunity to reach out to the whole nation."
How will the a second Bush term and even stronger Republican control of both houses of Congress shape U.S. domestic and foreign policy over the next four years?
Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh will be online Thursday, Nov. 4, at 11 a.m. ET to take questions and comments on the 2004 election.
Submit your questions and comments before or during the discussion.
Hersh is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker. His newest book is "Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib."
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control
over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
Seymour Hersh: hello, this is seymour hersh of the new yorker magazine and i'm sullen, worried and not convinced that the next four years will be full of harmony, as our president tried to tell us yesterday.
_______________________
Monterey, Calif.:
First and foremost, Mr Hersh, thank you for your important writing and vocal activism, and for joining us here today.
I've heard you speak a few times recently, and I recall you saying that if Bush were re-elected , "we're really in trouble."
Now that the worst has happened, would you discuss what your personal and/or political plans might be? I am most interested if you or any of your friends are planning to leave the US and live in another country for some time.
Thank you.
Seymour Hersh: leave america, and leave it to them? no way. got to slug it out.
_______________________
Boston, Mass.:
I am getting nervous about people using the word 'mandate.' Maybe it's because i could drive in a straight line for 9 hours Nort, West, or Southwest and not find one electoral vote for the President. Is a 3-4 point win realy a mandate these days?
Seymour Hersh: of course it's no mandate, as you and i understand the word. but - alas -- bush and cheney have their own definitions/
_______________________
Los Angeles, CA:
Mr. Hersh,
I am intrigued by your theory that the Iranians , not the Israelis, are the ones who pulled us into this war. Can you elaborate more please?
Also, do you have any information on who may have attempted to assassinate Mr. Chalabi several months ago?
Seymour Hersh: my point about the iranians is simply that they have emerged, or will emerge, from the mess in iraq as the big winners. the hated saddam is gone, america is stuck in a war it cannot win, and the religious leaders are more in control in iran than ever. not a bad trifecta.
_______________________
Charlotte, N.C.:
I seriously must wonder about this Bush manadate talk. You'd think the election was not close and that Bush won in a landslide. Kerry actually picked off two red states to Bush's one blue. This nation is still very divided. The republicans swerve to the right at their own risk.
Seymour Hersh: you would be right in a rational world. welcome to the bush white house.
_______________________
Washington, D.C.:
Mr. Hersh,
Thanks for your fine work. Given the administration's complicity in the human rights violations at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, the fact that no one was held accountable, and the president's reelection -do you think voters were by and large not bothered by the violations, or simply did not understand the scope of them?
Seymour Hersh: i think the bulk of the bush voters care very little about the way those who they perceive to be our enemies are treated. the reality is that far too many americans are not interested in the facts, or in reality. not a new concept, tho.
_______________________
Current projects?:
What are you working on now and when could we expect to see it?
Seymour Hersh: i'm trying to figure out what these guys in power will do next.
_______________________
Germantown, Md.:
Do you believe the president will strive for unity? Or will he skew more hard right?
Seymour Hersh: in my view, he's got his mandate and he's going to carry on with his mantra -- bringing democracy to the middle east. pretty scary.
_______________________
College Park, Md.:
What effect do you think long lines at the polls have on voter turn out? Do you think this could impact election results by supressing voters? In regards to unequal voting standards (i.e. the 2000 Gore v. Bush decision) is it unfair that rural and suburban voters experience better equipped (in quantity not quality) polling places than urban voters? Reports of four hours or more to vote on Tuesday seem unreasonable to me.
Seymour Hersh: my worry about the election process is that many of the long lines in ohio were in poor, largely black or minority areas. i've been told that some precincts in poor areas had only three voting machines, far fewer than in more wealthy precincts. if so, this is a huge issue -- people are being disenfranchisted -- and something that must be fixed in future election.
_______________________
Paris, France:
First, thank you for your extraordinary work on Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. My question was on Iraq's WMD. A GAO Report from October 2001 (#02-38) - one month before the start of Iraq war planning - highlighted that "Army planners 'stated that ‘their realistic working assumption was that a genuine CB event in the battlefield would overwhelm the medical system.’” What do you think would have been the admissible maximum level of loss in the US side - and how do you think the US would have reacted in case of a Iraqi chemical counterstrike for the defense of Baghdad ?
Seymour Hersh: the fact is that there were no weapons and no casualties. re american casualties, very hard to gauge the acceptable limit, but it's clear that there's no limit at all to the number of civilian casualties in iraq that are acceptable to this white house.
_______________________
Lyme, Conn.:
To me, the report that Secretary Colin Powell stated we are losing the war in Iraq should be bigger news than it has received. I remember this movie before when it was titled "Viet Nam". How do we convince this Administration of the dangers of sending more troops to fight a nationalistic guerilla opponent in a country where more people have been killed by Americans than by Saddam Hussein and that seems willing to fight us for years if necessary?
Seymour Hersh: tough question, difficult answer. kerrey certainly did not have one. the answer may come from our military, but they are extremely reluctant to tell the white house the truth. that must change.
_______________________
Washington, D.C.:
There was an unprecedented grass-roots effort for progressive candidates this past election, and it didn't carry us over the top. Maybe it's just the case that slightly more than half the country really wants to live under George Bush. I'm wondering why we have to keep living with these backwards southern and middle-Western states. Is there a process for secession?
Seymour Hersh: the other side tried it and it didn't work. but you're not the first to raise it with me in the past day or so. we have to stick it out because right now george bush is responsible for cleaning up his own mess. and it can't be done, without some changes he will not make.
_______________________
San Antonio, Tex.:
Please explain to us why you're sullen and worried, as you posted in your first response? What are your greatest worries? Are they different from what you worry about for our nation?
Seymour Hersh: i worried about the inability to the men running the u.s. govt. to accept information that challenges their assumptions and their belief. it's very frightening and the fact is that our senior military are very reluctant to give bush and cheney and rumsfeld any bad news. sounds insane, doesn't it?
_______________________
Arlington, Va.:
Follow up to your commment. Why is bringing democracy to the Middle East pretty scary? I think it would make the Middle East more profitable and a better society - esp. for the women there.
Seymour Hersh: can't bring democracy to people who do not know what it is or want it. must create the conditions first. we have brought in an outsider to lead the country who has no standing and we have little or no intelligence about the insurgency -- who runs it, who is in it, and what they are planning to do. it's a formula for continued war, continued american losses, and continued loss of u.s. prestige abroad. and, most importantly, there is no emperical case for suggesting that saddam hussein supported al qaeda, which was our initial problem.
_______________________
Signal Mountain, Tenn.:
While the President pledged to earn the trust of those who voted for his opponent, Mr. Cheney called the election a mandate. As it pertains to Iraq particularly and the "axis of evil", will the dominance by the neocons in the administration be tempered in the 2nd term or emboldened by the results of the election? Any changes in the foreign policy, defense policy and national security rosters? Thanks.
Seymour Hersh: my guess, as i've said above, is that these guys are going to continue their war -- that is, the spreading of democracy -- and try to expand it. one restrain may be the military.
_______________________
Baltimore, Md.:
RE: DC's statement - "Backwards" southern and western neighbors? Can't you see that this attitude is one of the very reasons that these so-called "backwards" people don't pay attention to candidates from the coasts?
Too many stereotypes being reinforced by you, and I'm not talking about the midwestern one. Looking down your nose at others not like yourself sure isn't going to entice anyone to vote for your side.
For what it's worth, I voted for Kerry...
Seymour Hersh: dunno what DC statement you're talking about. i did not see any evidence that kerrey talked down to any group, or dealt with them in terms of stereotypes. he simply refused to publicly attacks homosexuality.
_______________________
Ann Arbor, Mich.:
Good morning, and thank you for visiting a couple weeks ago as part of the New Yorker College Tour!
Do you foresee a resumption of the draft? Yes yes yes the official answer is no-no-no, but still ... one has to wonder ...
Seymour Hersh: the draft will be unlikely, because it would trigger civil disobedience such as we haven't seen since vietnam. even bush would not want to risk that.
_______________________
Washington, D.C.:
In its second term, do you think that the Bush Administration will consider striking Iran, one leg of the axis of evil, as part of its preemptive strike strategy?
Seymour Hersh: yes, bush will consider many scary options. what he can do, as opposed to what he wants to do, is the issue. not much intelligence for some of his desires.
_______________________
Kennesaw, GA:
Hello, Mr. Hersh. Did you find it as striking as I did that neither John Kerry nor John Edwards nor any of the debate moderators raised the subject of Abu Ghraib in any of the Presidential debates?
I suppose I can see why it wouldn't be the focal point of discussion, but for so damaging a scandal to attract no attention from anyone left me a little stunned at the time, and still does.
Seymour Hersh: abu ghraib has been muffled by the bush administration, and we all seem content to less 7 or 8 enlisted men and women go to jail,while the officers remain unaffected by possible criminal prosecution. kerrey obviously was worried, and perhaps correctly so, about the issue of war crimes, given the consternation over his accurate statements about the crimes committed in the vietnam war. wonder how much money was spent, and where it came from, by the swift boat kerrey critics? that was another successful political operation, it seemed to me.
_______________________
Signal Mountain, Tenn.:
A follow up: What changes might you foresee in the Bush leadership team?
Seymour Hersh: nothing that make me breath easier. one guess: wolfowitz is to come into the white house as head of the nsc and blackwell, who's been a key aide on iraq to condi rice,to leave. nice to have a ideologue around, eh?
_______________________
Washington, D.C.:
Yesterday morning I was sullen, last night I was worried, now I'm just depressed. We mobilized our base and now we realize there are more reds than blues. How do you think progressives will be able to regroup? The Senate/House races were demoralizing, particularly daschle's. Where do you see the party headed now? Who do you think for senate minority leader?
Seymour Hersh: the minority leader should be chris dodd, who's bright, articulate and attractive, but harry reid of nevada, smart enough but no shining public light, will get it. the dems continues to commit suicide. but someone will emerge -- it always has in american history -- to help the democrats recover. and it could be the utter economic that should come by next year, as europe sells off its dollars -- devaluating the dollar -- and stops buying american, and oil prices continue to rise. a reverse boom.
_______________________
Rockville, Md.:
Keep up the good fight of skeptical journalism. To what extent do you think military overstretch, anger among brass with Pentagon civilian heavy-handedness, and domestic political pressure will force the administration to pursue Mideast democratization in a more collegial, culturally informed way? My hunch is that the more we stress better methods for achieving a common goal, the more leverage we will have with the president. (Cf. Noam Scheiber's recent New Republic article "Hero Worship".) Thanks.
Seymour Hersh: the military are scared of telling cheney and bush the truth and that will have to end within the next six months. they cannot deliver in iraq what the president wants, and we'll have to start getting out. so i believe anyway. this could lead to a more moderate, or modest, approach. but moderation, if it comes,will have to come from the outside -- there will be no inside push to do anything but expand the current crisis. pretty amazing, isn't it?
_______________________
Washington, D.C.:
Do you have any insight or opinion as to any potential shakeups in Bush's Cabinet? Word already is that Ashcroft is resigning. Will Powell go too (the only good guy, in my opinion, in the Administration)?
Seymour Hersh: ashcroft is to announce his leaving soon, i hear. powell will go, too, along with with armitage, his deputy who fought the fight against the neocons with much passion and intelligence. this is just what i'm hearing. bush does not confide in me, in case you wondered.
_______________________
Hyattsville, Md.:
Mr. Hersh, You rock! I really have to give the media (excluding yourself) a lot of the blame for treating this administration with kid gloves. I know, I know, this administration is terribly secretive and doesn't hold press conferences. But why isn't the media making more of a stink about this? Is there any chance for a "Deep Throat" in a second Bush administration?
Seymour Hersh: the major media have been part of the problem since 9-11, merely because they have far too often taken the president's public utterances at face value. there also is a terrific unwillingness, perhaps understandable(tho not by me), to make a moral judgment about a president's policies. there are plenty of people on the inside who are worried about the policies, especially among military guys, and i'm sure their views will increasingly become known.
_______________________
Toledo, Ohio:
I find that remark about the "Poor black areas in Ohio had long lines" to be offensive. In Toledo the vote went 60% Kerry and the local dem running won all the local elections (Kaptur retained her seat). I stood in line for an hour to cast my vote. The reason for long lines -- did you ever try to vote in a room half the size of a hand ball court? On the national news I saw long lines at the colleges. As for your opinion of a lack of mandate. I remember President Clinton declaring a mandate in his first term. Look you can't read the future by reading tea leaves from last year. President Bush reached in his first term I remember Senator Kennedy standing with the President Bush when he signed the education bill. I also remember that 9/11, watched the steps of the Congress when the House and the Senate stood and promised to work together in dealing with terrorism. Then we come to election of 04. The White House is place in which the Leader of the United States neither Republican nor Demmocrat.
Seymour Hersh: i have talked to people of integrity and honor who worked in ghettos areas in cleveland and they came away appalled by the inequities, in terms of number of voting machines. it's either a fact or not, and i hope some officials look into it. clinton may have declared a mandate (i don't recall, but i accept your recollection), but it was not a mandate to continue or expand a very unpopular and controversial war that is killing our soldiers and many innnocents. not all mandates are the same.
_______________________
Ignorance, USA:
What's wrong with Reid? I don't know much about Nevada senators...
Seymour Hersh: harry reid if fine, agreeable and pleasant. but chris dodd is a rock star by comparison, in terms of public sparkle, humor,etc. that's all i meant. why not go with someone of enormous charm?
_______________________
Anonymous:
Mr. Hersh,
I realize it's not likely, but do you think there's any chance at all that Powell will have some interesting things to say about the state of affairs after he leaves office?
Seymour Hersh: he's a soldier, first and foremost. but i'm sure he has a lot to say, if he would.
_______________________
Chevy Chase, MD:
The number one reason there will never be another draft in America is women. It would be impossible to NOT include women in a present-day draft because of equal rights. And no person would be willing to draft equal numbers of men and women into the armed services.
We will forever remain a volunteer army.
Seymour Hersh: good point, and i think you're right. my military pals say the same thing. but our men and women, particularly those in the special ops area, are strained to the utmost. operating at far too high of a tempo to be sustained long. rumsfeld keeps on telling them (the services) to suck it up.
_______________________
Rockville, MD:
Regarding the next Senate Minority Leader, if he was up for it, I'd like to see Kerry be the man. It would force the Administration to deal with him for the next 4 years. Plus, whoever they pick, should come from a solid Blue state so that what happened to Daschle gets repeated. This would seem to eliminate Reid, but not Dodd or Kerry. Your thoughts?
Seymour Hersh: reid's done the politiking for the past year or so, and has it locked up. but i agree very much with you. we can dance together while the world moves by.
_______________________
Washington, D.C.:
While I'm not thrilled that Bush won the election, I don't think it's the end of the world like a lot of other Democrats are making it out be. My husband wants to move to Europe, but I'm actually very optimistic about the next 4 years. Am I crazy?
Seymour Hersh: optimistic? that's a reach, but i bet you're very good at what you do. there's nothing for all of us to do but pick ourselves up and keep on doing what we do -- in my case, keep on trying to demonstrate the differences between what the pols are saying and the reality. however the war goes in iraq (and afghanistant, too), it will not get better and our economic problems should lead to a serious depression within a year or two. that's my optimistic assessment. but you could be right.
_______________________
Falls Church, Va:
Mr. Hersh, thanks for continuing the fight for, well, truth and justice, and as Superman would say, "the American way". What has happened to that way? My question is about all the well documented stuff that is on the public record, yet many people seem to have little awareness of it, conflating real reporting and information with innuendo and flat out lies. Some Bush voters I've encountered seemed so uninformed and unaware of the facts out there on the public record that it was almost impossible to have a serious discussion. It's as if there is no public record, no serious reporting, and everything is just opinion. Have you seen a shift in this kind of thing over the last 30-odd years? Sorry for being long. Your comment?
Seymour Hersh: the most distressing issue, for me, in the election was the lack of information and the lack of interest in information about far too many of the electorate -- obviously, i'm referring to many of the religious factions who voted for bush. but ignorance has been part of america since its inception. my worry revolves around bush and rove's willingness, even eagerness, to use that ignorance. i know it's politics as usual, but polarizing the fabric for votes, in this case, seems over the top. (a loser's lament, i guess.)
_______________________
Washington, DC:
Mr Hersh:
The defining factor in the election (to vote Bush out)for me was the decision to go into Iraq with extremely thin evidence of WMDs. What is your opinion of Bush's analysis of the intelligence? Did he even question the sources? From what I understand, the sources were very conflicting such as Mr. Chalaby and others. Is he that out of touch with reality? One final note, I also find it very troubling when our commander in chief overrides the advice of our highest military experts in the Pentagon (Gen. Shinseki) in order to achieve his ideological goals. Any comments?
Keep up the good work.
Seymour Hersh: the fact is that there were intel sources inside the u.s. govt that argued against the possibility of nuks and chemicals in iraq. they also existed inside the u.n. inspection and at the iaea in vienna (international atomic energy agency). but i also believe that bush believed that there were wmd warheads inside iraq, which was frightening of itself.
_______________________
Rockville, md:
What about the oil?
Isn't it true that 2005 is the tipping year when demand from China, and India, coupled with our unquechable thirst edges past supply?
Aren't we headed for another gas shock that will be the start of another worldwide depression?
Isn't that what Bush was really all about by trying to secure our control of the second largest reserve-Iraq-and put feet on the ground in the center of the region?
Seymour Hersh: dunno re tipping point,but the chinese demand is taxing and will continue to be for another decade, as supply diminishes. we are headed a serious price shock. i widh bush's main reasons for going into iraq was to keep its oil safe for our autos, but i'm afraid he acted on sheer ideology, perhaps driven by his religous beliefs.
_______________________
hanover,nh:
Is there any Republican in the Senate who might be responsive to voter concern about how things are going in Iraq and elsewhere? Or is it really only a question of political force and favors among the players on hand?
Seymour Hersh: luger and hagel know what's up, and have some influence among other republicans. bush's main opposition may come from within the true conservatives in and out of public life. but it will take a little more courage than has been shown by public figures thus far.
_______________________
Arlington, VA:
What in the world is the matter with you? If you want to take back the government, you've got to figure out how to turn the south from red to blue. And to do that you need to nominate strong, centrist candidates from the south. Kerry? Hilary? Please keep the favors coming. And while you're at it you might want to find an answer to Karl Rove. How hard is it for you dems to figure these things out?
Seymour Hersh: only have time for three more answers, and will sign off in a few moments.
as for the questioner, sir, you are dead right. we can write off a northeastern candidate, in my view (and yours, goo, obviously.). and karl rover figure out the homosexuality issue very early, and rode it to victory. i'm not sure his position was very moral, or consistent with the best of american ideals, but so be it. keep on tellling us how to do it, sir?
_______________________
San Francisco, CA:
How can democrats demand that the administration be
more transparent and responsive to our concerns? Do the
republicans really have the unlimited power now to push
their agendas that they seem to?
Seymour Hersh: crucial question, and thus far the bush crowd has been able to crush any attempts for more openness, in terms of how they develop policy, etc etc. there seems to be unlimiited power, given the passivity of the press and the congress, but i'm betting on the integrity of the military. we cannot do in combat what the white house wants done, and at some point the generals and admirals will have to tell the president the bad news. it won't come from us in the press, or in the congress, tho -- barring a huge change.
_______________________
Hyattsville, MD:
I work in an international office in Washington, DC, and would guess that a landslide majority of all Americans who work in the international arena are EXTREMELY fearful of the road Bush is taking our country down.
Setting aside the mess of out middle east policy and the war in Iraq; even the economic and energy policies show this administration to be completely blind to world trends.
How do we sustain theis deficit spending while a rising Euros tempts investors in Europe and Asia to stop buying up dollars? How long can we continue to guzzle foreign oil like we are OPECs one and only customer as booming CHina and INdia are demanding more and more?
Seymour Hersh: this is going to be gut issue over the next year, if not in the press certainly in the corporate offices of america and the world. the economic picture, given the dwindling tax revenues (federal estate tax collection is down from 18 to 12 billion on its way down, given bush's legislation, to nada), is very bleak. if the asians and europeans cash in their dollars, we're in bigger trouble. and don 't expect the russians to bail us out with increased oil production when prices rise (the saudis may be at peak capability now, with limitied ability to go higher). dim future.
goodbye to all and sorry i could not answer more questions.
sy hersh
_______________________
Automatically Update Page
Get New Responses
Submit Question
| 
