Walter Cronkite Tells Reporters: "We Should Get Out Now"

Walter Cronkite, the 89-year old television journalist once known as "the most trusted man in America," spoke with reporters Sunday about his feelings concerning the war in Iraq. "It’s my belief that we should get out now," he said. Cronkite has criticized the war on several times, saying that he doesn’t think Americans are any safer now because of the invasion.

In 1968, while making a documentary for CBS following a visit to Vietnam during the Tet offensive, Cronkite was urged by his boss to briefly set aside his newsman’s objectivity for a moment to give his personal view of the situation in Vietnam. Cronkite, who says the experience was one of his proudest moments, unflinchingly told the world that the war was unwinnable and the U.S. should exit. After the documentary aired, President Lyndon Johnson reportedly told a White House aide, "If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost middle America."

Cronkite retired from his seat as anchor of the CBS Evening News in March 1981. He’s still a CBS News employee, but he rarely makes appearances on television and does very little for the network, even though he is often asked for his opinion about current stories. He is hard of hearing and walks slowly, but his mind is still sharp and focused on the news. He jokingly told reporters, "I’m standing by if they want me" to anchor the CBS Evening News now that the network is still searching for a replacement for Dan Rather. "Twenty-four hours after I told CBS News that I was stepping down at my 65th birthday, I was already regretting it and I’ve regretted it every day since," he said. "It’s too good a job for me to have given it up the way I did."

Cronkite feels there have been several excellent opportunities for the U.S. to have pulled out of Iraq without losing face. The best time recently, he said, came after the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. "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." Iraquis should have been told then that "our hearts are with you" and that the U.S. would do all it could to rebuild their country, but our priority should lie with rebuilding our own. At that time, Cronkite said, "I think we could have been able to retire with honor. In fact, I think we can retire with honor anyway."