Seymour Hersh Talks Foreign Policy, Economy at Zellerbach

Seymour Hersh knows what he's talking about. At a lecture last night at Zellerbach Hall, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist shared his prodigious national security knowledge and experience with an audience of about 1300.

Hersh has broken monumental stories in his about 40-year career, from the My Lai massacre in Vietnam to the abuses at Abu Ghraib in Iraq. He is famous for working with anonymous, influential inside sources within the military and the government.

Although his talk rambled at times, the basic point was obvious-the situation in Iraq is complicated and unwinnable, and the United States isn't handling Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan much better.

"We killed too much," he said. "We're just too violent-we can't win."

Dressed in a grey suit and red tie, Hersh stood alone on stage, gripping the sides of the podium. His talk was casual, even light-hearted at points, as he used anecdotes from his journalistic experience to explain national security issues to the audience.

One of his stories concerned traveling around the United States to find one of the perpetrators of the My Lai massacre. The soldier he found had brought the violence back from Vietnam-the man's mother told Hersh she had found him beating his baby the other night.

"The violence is just horrendous, and it has to be, it's inevitable," he said.

Despite the serious nature and the audience's hushed silence, Hersh drew laughs calling himself "boy reporter" and proposing a new idea for a credit card commercial.

"Me and my American Express card exposed a massacre," he said.

Hersh was often coy, stressing that he knew more than he could tell and referencing his access to inside sources. Although this strategy proved occasionally frustrating, his staggering amount of knowledge backed up these claims. The question and answer session, which followed the lecture, raised issues of Russian-Georgian relations, Pakistan and the coalition of the willing in Iraq. Hersh could speak with ease about each foreign national security topic.

In addition, Hersh assumed much of the same level of knowledge of his audience, which was both refreshing a little bewildering when he listed places, generals and battles at lightning speed.

Although he spent much of his time criticizing current policies, Hersh did stress one solution-working with the surrounding countries to create a collective grouping to stabilize Iraq.

"No one wants to see a country implode," he said. "All want to see a stable Iraq."

The journalist was unabashedly partisan during his talk, referencing an upcoming Obama presidency and insulting McCain's performance during last night's debate. More frequently, however, he condemned the present administration.

"We have some very border-line people in high office," he said, describing the neo-conservatives he said had taken over the American government as highly intelligent, over-achieving and "totally wacko."

Hersh mainly focused on national security, but he occasionally touched upon one or two other pressing issues.

He told the audience to move their money to gold, cash and land preparing for an upcoming economic meltdown.

"Go liquid," he said. "It's going to get real bad."

Although the title of Hersh's talk, part of Cal Performances' Strictly Speaking series, was "Journalism and Human Rights," he only mentioned what he called the "collapse of the American press in the face of George Bush" once. In the question and answer session, he talked about the self-censorship and fear governing today's journalism, where the safe and timid reporters are promoted.

Hersh ended many of his remarks with a self-deprecating, "But what do I know?" After listening to him talk for two hours, the answer becomes obvious-a whole lot.

Tags: SEYMORE HERSH