Chris Matthews Eviscerates Neocon Frank Gaffney: "4,000 People Are Dead Because Of The Way You Feel" (VIDEO)

Chris Matthews revisited the decision to go to war with Iraq Tuesday night on "Hardball," hosting neocon hawk Frank Gaffney and Mother Jones' David Corn in a discussion of weapons of mass destruction and Dick Cheney's admission that the US would have invaded Iraq even without the pretense of WMD.

"Was there anything Saddam Hussein could have stopped that war?" Matthews asked Gaffney, and when Gaffney attempted to justify the case for war based on the first Gulf War, and not the presence of weapons of mass destruction, Matthews pounced.

"Why the long inspections debate if they didn't matter?" he asked.

"Do you believe that the war had anything to do with [Cheney's] belief that [Iraq] had weapons of mass destruction stockpiled?" Matthews asked Gaffney. "Because he's admitting that they didn't have to have stockpiles for him to believe the war was justified. That's what's astounding."

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An exasperated Matthews cut to Corn as Gaffney attempted to make the case that the cost of inaction would have been greater than the cost of the war, and when Gaffney said Hussein presented a "mortal threat" to the American people, Matthews attacked him for "still [using] the strategic language" of the Bush administration.

"Where do you get this from?" Matthews screamed. "We can't find the weapons, we can't find the rationale, what kind of mortal threat? Where do you get these words from? Mortal means you die.

"You guys sold the war as a nuclear threat to the United States...you sold every trick you could to get us into this war," he continued. "And now you're backpedaling. And I do find it astounding....Four thousand people are dead because of the way you feel. And Frank Gaffney, you're wrong about this."

"It is regrettable that they had to die," Gaffney said, "but I believe they did have to die," citing Hussein's chemical, biological, and nuclear capabilities. "The danger was inaction could have resulted in the death of a great many more Americans than 4,000. And that's the reason I'm still delighted that we did what we did."

"The American people don't buy it, Frank," Matthews said.

Comments

[Stilts9]

Chris Mathews is a Bush toady who suddenly sees the winds have shifted. Any normal person would be crushed by their own two-facedness.

[rich misty]

He was for them, before he was against them.

[gokuusan]

Americans who just Hey NumbNuts, America elected these idiots. and geus who America is? U.S.a. For all those Outraged recently jumped onto this knowledge train: ya got fooled again. For the "Silent Outraged Majority": shut up, it's what your good at. And for those who screamed the idiocy, corruption, and overall world domination attitude of the Bush administration from every rooftop: BRAVO! Heres our reward: a F**ked up world.... and jackasses willing to stick up for it. and o yeah Chris was for the war before he was against it

[chickenpieeggs]

I'm so over all of this....every time this crap comes on TV, me and the kids watch their favorite children's music artist...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo5cCmbnWTc

[Knowledgeseeker]

God of have special place in hell for neocons

[hart444]

1.2 million dead Iraqis and Chris says "4000 people died...."

I sure wish he'd have been so anti-war back when he was doing Crossfire in 2002.

[callings]

it's over 4200 American dead, not counting who knows how many "contractors" (read mercenaries), not counting at least 200K dead Iraqi civilians, not counting the 2 million plus who are now refugees, not counting the obscene war profiteering that will end up costing us at least a trillion. oh, and not counting the 40K plus maimed vets whose care we'll be (justly) responsible for for decades. Neocons are war criminals. Period.

[MajorNews]

Yes, exactly.
Where the Hek does he get the 4000 from?
Dont Millions of dead Iraqis count?
Also were was Mathews in lead up to the War when every sane person said that this was a totally unnecessary and criminal war?
If there is any justice these necoons and the whole right-wing media in US which brought about this catastrophic war that wasted our economy set aside terrorized Iraqis to an unimaginable degree will burn in hell.

There is a great article about this issue here:
http://www.anoox.com/news/show_selected_article.php?article=141

[Fernando]

Where do you get a 1.2 million death toll in Iraq?

Chris Mathews never did Crossfire.

[Knowledgeseeker]

seems like neocons are not ashame of lying to the American people

[LightningJoe]

Anyone who's "delighted" at the mess we've left the world in, deserves to be put out of our misery.

[DebbieinPhx]

Chris Matthews once again reminds us why his show is called Hardball! Good for you Chris! These SCUM, these LYING, stinking scum that got us into this horrendous war on the basis of a lie deserve to be in JAIL. God willing we will see this come to fruition.

[psmarc93]

These criminals must be brought to justice. If all we get out of Obama is a "commission," the democracy called the USA I grew up in died on Sept. 11, 2001.

[JustLeftOfRight]

Enough! Bring them to justice!

[alexa07]

Shameful. How can any sane person be "delighted" with the mess we created in Iraq? Kudos to Chris Matthews & David Corn for taking on Gaffney. What an intellectual sham. Do the Neocons still think they can perpetuate the lies & misconduct that have caused so much grief to countless numbers of people all over the world?

[educatedfoolz]

DELIGHTED? Gaffney is f**ckin' delighted?
I bet those families of 4,000+ dead soldiers are really delighted. I bet the tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis and their families are delighted. I bet the miliions of Iraqis displaced are really delighted.
I'll be real delighted when these neocon bastards are locked away for life in some dark hole somewhere-like Guantanamo.

[kahaka]

The guilty players should face judgement and go to jail

[Clavis]

Until there are once again real consequences for war crimes, people like Gaffney and Cheney will continue to commit them,

[hemnebob]

are you kidding me?
cheney admit a mistake?
no way.
he will never admit a mistake, i mean it was a mistake when he shot his friend
in the face on that hunting trip but geeze he only apologized, he never admitted
a mistake in the direction he was shooting that gun.

that man is an arrogant infidel...
those planes shouldn't of hit the twin towers, pentagon or anything else...
they should of hit cheney's mouth.

[OkieIntellectual]

Heck he probably tried to blame the face-shooting on his friend, probably said "well its your fault for being in my line of fire."

[Knowledgeseeker]

This is why the Journalist throw his shoes at Bush....neocons lied to the American people and lied to world..

[Knowledgeseeker]

neocons are plain evil....