Ted Turner says Iraq war among history's "dumbest"

Ted Turner says Iraq war among history's "dumbest"

By Daniel Trotta

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. invasion of Iraq was among the "dumbest moves of all time" that ranks with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and the German invasion of Russia, billionaire philanthropist Ted Turner said on Tuesday.

The founder of CNN and unabashed internationalist also defended the right of Iran to have nuclear weapons and the effectiveness of the United Nations and, in a jocular mood, advocated banning men from elective office worldwide in a Reuters Newsmaker appearance.

Alternately combative and humorous, Turner spoke nine years after his pledge to donate $1 billion to the United Nations over 10 years and on the same day President Bush addressed the U.N. General Assembly a mile away.


The U.S. invasion of Iraq has caused "incalculable damage" that will take 20 years to overcome "if we just act reasonably intelligently."

"It will go down in history, it is already being seen in history, as one of the dumbest moves that was ever made by anybody. A couple of others that come to mind were the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and the German invasion of Russia," Turner told the forum.

"It literally broke my heart. You don't start wars just because you don't like somebody. ... I wouldn't even start a war with Rupert Murdoch," Turner said, referring to his onetime cable network rival.

Often contrarian, Turner called it a "joke" that Bush demanded that Iran abandon any ambitions for nuclear weapons while at the same time hoping to ban all such bombs.

"They're a sovereign state," Turner said of Iran. "We have 28,000. Why can't they have 10? We don't say anything about Israel -- they've got 100 of them approximately -- or India or Pakistan or Russia. And really, nobody should have them. Continued...

The only idiot more irrelevant then Ted Turner is you!

woiyo wrote:

The only idiot more irrelevant then Ted Turner is you!

You're a Native American Injun right ?

You're clearly having problems understanding english.

I'm gona have to communicate to you via smoke signals

A vision of Bush's future America :

And I say the dumbest war in history was the Spanish-American War.

Ted Turner's opinions are no more valid than mine. Or yours. Or Woiyo's. Or anyone else's. So what's the point?

Ted Turner's opinions are no more valid than mine...

Yep, you are an idiot who can not even write in english!

CoastalRat wrote:

Ted Turner's opinions are no more valid than mine...

I disagree, I think Turner knows more about the world than you do. I think he can see things more clearly than you do. I give more weight to his opinions than I do to yours. No offense Rat, but if your opinions were as interesting or profound as his, you wouldnt be one.

Damn Ted Turner for stealing all of my best lines!

Except for the bit about $1 billion for the UN... I can't quite swing that.

...First, and I mean this in the nicest of ways, you cannot with any honesty make the statements you made. ...

Steve 41oo wrote:

CoastalRat wrote:

Ted Turner's opinions are no more valid than mine...

I disagree, I think Turner knows more about the world than you do. I think he can see things more clearly than you do. I give more weight to his opinions than I do to yours. No offense Rat, but if your opinions were as interesting or profound as his, you wouldnt be one.

First, and I mean this in the nicest of ways, you cannot with any honesty make the statements you made. You do not know me anymore than you know Ted Turner. Thus, you have no basis whatsoever to form an opinion as to who knows more than who or who can see things more clearly than who.

Turner is/was a businessman. A highly successful one at that. That does not necessarily give him any special insight into anything. I get really ticked when people give great credence to the opinions of celebrities just because they are celebrities.

Ah, come on. I've been withholding my opinion on this war waiting on f4f to post what Marissa Hargitay thinks of it. Then I'll know what I should also think of the war. (My wife is waiting on Clint Eastwood's opinion in order to make up her mind)

So please, maybe we should dissuade him quite yet.