Rob Kall interview with Chris Hedges - 01/07/2009
Transcribed by Jim Magee. Edited by Jay Farrington and Carla Gilby
Click here for link to MP3 recording of interview, accessible until 2/7/2009 : Conference Recording
Rob Kall: this is Rob on the Rob Kall radio show WNJC 1360 and I have Chris Hedges here with me and Chris was a correspondent in the Middle East, for I think – was it seven years Chris?
Chris Hedges: yes.
Rob Kall: and you've been writing about it - you've got some pretty strong takes on it and we're going to have a conversation about it tonight - did you hear Obama speak just a couple of minutes ago?
Hedges: I didn't
Kall: well, not surprisingly, somebody asked him what he had to say and he said - well he’s not president yet
Hedges: well, that's what he been saying since the inception of...
Kall: and then he said my job is to monitor what's going on now and to put together the best national security team and on January 20 I’ll have plenty to say. That's what he said. Any thoughts on what he said, what he did, what he should be doing, what he could be doing?
Hedges: well, since the inception of his campaign he has been terrible on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Pretty much reading from the script handed to them by AIPAC, which delighted AIPAC when he spoke to them. But it's not going to do anything to resolve the tensions of the conflicts between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
Kall: you know it's a really tough problem that every politician has. The only one that really stood up to him recently was Cynthia McKinney and they did everything they could to destroy her. And they did it.
Hedges: Ralph Nader
Kall: well, he's not elected, though. But if he were elected official, it's deadly to go after anything other than 100% AIPAC talk - I was amazed that Dennis Kucinich has stood up recently and said some things.
Hedges: yeah - Kucinich had a very strong statement recently - Kucinich has been pretty good on this - but yeah, it's a real career killer if you're an elected official
Kall: do you think that Jay Street will have much of an effect?
