Ted Turner, Prodded by CNN, Calls for Nuclear Disarmament, Says 'War Is Just About Over With'
CNN founder Ted Turner is well-known for his outlandish liberal
views, and CNN's Suzanne Malveaux teed him up on Thursday to rant
against nuclear weapons, call for higher taxes on the wealthy, and
announce that "the big, intelligent, well-educated countries have
already quit war."
"President Obama, he says in his second term he wants to make climate
change and protecting the environment a top priority. What do you think
he should do? What should he do first?" Malveaux prodded the liberal
Turner.
[Video below. Audio here.]
He answered that Obama should do both and "might as well add getting
rid of nuclear weapons too, while we're at it." When Malveaux later
asked "So you think Ahmadinejad should have nuclear weapons as well?"
Turner answered "I think nobody should have them."
Turner also sniped at the United States when he said that "the big,
intelligent, well-educated countries have already quit war." He added
that "war is just about over with."
In a similar vein, he told CNN's Piers Morgan in October that it was "good"
more American soldiers were committing suicide than dying in combat
"because it's so clear that we're programmed and we're born to love and
help each other, not to kill each other, to destroy each other." He
later clarified
that he meant "it is good that the public is more aware of these
tragedies and is more averse to war and war-related fatalities."
Malveaux also teed him up to cry for more taxes on the rich. "Do you
think you should pay more as a wealthy American, you think you should
pay more taxes?" she asked, to which he answered "Yes."
A transcript of the segment, which aired on December 13 on CNN Newsroom at 12:20 p.m. EST, is as follows:
CNN
NEWSROOM
[12:20 p.m. EST]
12/13/12
SUZANNE MALVEAUX: Tackling huge challenges head on, something Ted
Turner is not afraid to do. Whether it's starting the world's first
'round-the-clock cable news network, CNN, or just pushing for major
action on issues like climate change and nuclear weapons. Ted Turner is a
force to be reckoned with. We sat down with him to talk about what he
thinks President Obama should make a top priority.
(Video Clip)
MALVEAUX: President Obama, he says in his second term he wants to make
climate change and protecting the environment a top priority. What do
you think he should do? What should he do first?
TED TURNER: He should do what he said he was going to do.
MALVEAUX: What's that?
TURNER: Go ahead and make climate change and the other environmental
issues a top priority. I'd like to see him add – might as well add
getting rid of nuclear weapons too, while we're at it. If we want to
make the world safer and better, we might as well go all the way.
MALVEAUX: Eliminate nuclear weapons?
TURNER: That will stop nuclear proliferation.
MALVEAUX: Do you think it's fair for what the Obama administration is
doing now for Iran, and says you can't have nuclear weapons but we can?
TURNER: That won't work, because we have thousands of nuclear weapons.
How can we look with a straight face into any other country and say you
can't have two, particularly when we said it was okay for Israel to have
100.
MALVEAUX: Do you think – if Iran has nuclear weapons, it will be a dangerous situation?
TURNER: It's already a dangerous situation.
MALVEAUX: How so?
TURNER: Because Russia and the United States have nuclear weapons,
Israel has them, Pakistan has them, India has them. About eight
countries have them. And they're extremely dangerous. If they all went
off at once, it would clearly destroy the world completely.
MALVEAUX: So you think Ahmadinejad should have nuclear weapons as well?
TURNER: I think nobody should have them. That way, either we all have
them or nobody has them. We play by the same rules. Equal rights for
equal people. Women have equal rights with men. In Afghanistan people
have equal rights with people from the United States.
MALVEAUX: What do you think -- this is the last question. What do you
think of – when you watch the world and you see what's happening and
there's so much turmoil, and it looks like there's so much change, even
crisis in the Middle East. When you see that, what do you make of what's
taking place?
TURNER: Well, once again, I'll take optimistic view of things. I was
just – war is just about over with. War is just about over with, and
that is huge news. First of all, the big, intelligent, well-educated
countries have already quit war. You don't see France getting ready to
go to war with Germany or Russia getting to go to war with Poland. That
used to happen all the time, but it's not happening. And the best
example of all was just a couple of weeks ago when Gaza was fighting --
the Palestinians were fighting with the Israelis, and they lobbed a
couple of missiles into Tel Aviv. And I'm sure that both people on both
sides could see the day was coming that they'd be lobbing missiles into
Jerusalem. And this is what both the Christian, the Jewish religion
began there, and it's the Holy Land. And it's some of the greatest
tourist attractions in the world.
People want to come from all over world to see it, but not when a war
is going on. And they realized within a week of war they had made a
terrible mistake to go to war. And even though it's better to grumble at
each other, but not to be shooting at each other and causing all this
damage and wrecking the economy and upsetting people all over the world
because these pictures, you've got the BBC and CNN now having the
pictures of the grandmothers and grandfathers and little children lined
up on the street in front of house dead. They're bringing them out to
bury them. That doesn't look like a fun way to live. And it's not. So
they quit. They quit fighting in a week. Maybe they won't start again.
Maybe this will be the last war.
MALVEAUX: Do you think that – you're a successful person, you have many
different ventures. Do you think you should pay more as a wealthy
American, you think you should pay more taxes?
TURNER: Yes.
MALVEAUX: How much?
TURNER: Whatever is reasonable.
MALVEAUX: But when you see the equation and when you see the kinds of
conversations they're having, you think the wealthy – it's fair that the
wealthy pay more taxes?
TURNER: Yes.
MALVEAUX: And you'd be willing to do that?
TURNER: Yes. But my bride gave most of my money away. But I gave $31
million to the United States government, didn't even ask for credit.
