Mary Walsh, National Security Producer for CBS News
The World Affairs Council of San Antonio had the honor of hearing journalist, Mary Walsh share her perspective on the U.S. war in the Middle East.
Walsh began with mentioning the fact that the U.S. military presence in Iraq was not only dangerous but uninviting, specifically highlighting on the war against Saddam Hussein. Mary Walsh interviewed, now retired U.S. Army General, Stanley McChrystal, on television news magazine 60 Minutes. In the interview McChrystal said, ‘This is something that takes a tremendous amount of understanding. If the people are against us, we cannot be successful. If the people view us as occupiers and the enemy, we cannot be successful and our casualties will go up dramatically,'” Walsh recalled.
Last Tuesday, she shared some of her experiences from places like Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan reporting on battles that resulted in both U.S. victories and defeats. A crowd of retired politicians, reporters, and U.S. ambassadors were at a loss of words for her amazing speech.
“Going to war is the most profound act of any nation,” she said. “To the citizens it is in some ways an act of ultimate trust in your nation’s leaders, that they have weighed the options, that they have gone to war only as a last resort, that they have come up with a plan to not only to start, but end that war.” — Mary Walsh
Thank you to everyone who attended and most importantly, thank you, Mary Walsh for fulfilling yet another successful Distinguished Speaker Series event.