Cronkite: Time for U.S. to Pullout

Former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite, whose 1968 conclusion that the Vietnam War was unwinnable keenly influenced public opinion then, said Sunday he’d say the same thing today about Iraq.

“It’s my belief that we should get out now,” Cronkite said in a meeting with reporters.

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The best time to have made a similar statement about Iraq came after Hurricane Katrina, he said.

“We had an opportunity to say to the world and Iraqis after the hurricane disaster that Mother Nature has not treated us well and we find ourselves missing the amount of money it takes to help these poor people out of their homeless situation and rebuild some of our most important cities in the United States,” he said.

“Therefore, we are going to have to bring our troops home.”

Iraqis should have been told that “our hearts are with you” and that the United States would do all it could to rebuild their country, he said.

“I think we could have been able to retire with honor,” he said. “In fact, I think we can retire with honor anyway.”

Cronkite has spoken out against the Iraq war in the past, saying in 2004 that Americans weren’t any safer because of the invasion.