Massachusetts Congressman Stephen Lynch joined Boston Public Radio on Tuesday as part of the show's ongoing conversations with state lawmakers. Lynch talked to cohosts Jim Braude and Sue O'Connell (filling in for Margery Eagan) about snow space savers, Boston's Olympic bid, Congressional authorization for the fight against ISIS, and many other things.
To hear the entire interview, click the audio above. Questions have been paraphrased, and Lynch's responses are edited where noted [...].
When you joined us in January you said 'I think we should embrace it, [...] do it in a smart way' about the Olympics. Still feel that way?
I think so, although I'd probably add some qualifiers. You know, the stadium location, we can work that out. There have always been several locations under consideration. So that's a process we continue to work through. [...] The salary thing, boy I'll tell you, it's starting to look like the gravy train a little bit, and it's putting a bad spin on this. I hope the organizers and John Fish understand, it's looking very bad. [...] I don't want a good event and a good effort to be dragged down by some unwise decisions and some salaries that are eye-popping, quite frankly.
Congress is debating whether to authorize more military force against ISIS. Meanwhile, troop draw-downs in Afghanistan have been delayed.
I understand that they're delaying the withdrawal in Afghanistan, but not increasing the numbers there. It may be wise. It may be wise in that respect to wait until some of those units can take over in Afghanistan.
But the real issue is Iraq and Syria, and that proposal would be to re-insert these troops into Iraq and probably eastern Syria, for the purpose of training and equipping the so-called moderate Syrian army, and also to retrain the Iraqis. And I'm totally against it. [...]
We just spent ten years training Iraqis. If you look at all the reports [...] we trained 938,000 Iraqis. That's including their border patrol, police and army. We spent $25 billion of American taxpayer money, and we lost 4,000 good, young Americans in that effort to retrain them. After we completed that mission, the Iraqis basically gave up the ghost in the face of maybe 25,000 ISIS members. So they basically abandoned their posts, gave up their weapons that we paid for, and failed to defend their country.
And so now the plan is to go back again with a smaller amount of money — I guess $10 billion this time — and maybe in three years train them again with the hopes that at the end of the three years they'll defend themselves? I just don't see it.
What successes can we point to in the fight against ISIS?
When we've used US and Jordanian air power in combination with the Kurds — the Peshmerga — and some of the crack units from out of Baghdad, the Iraqi units, we've been successful. We took back the Mosul Dam. We took back Kobani. We've taken back a bunch of major villages. [...] We've had some success where we've used our logistics, our air power, but not put troops on the ground.
You're just back from Nigeria. Is the government itself as much of the problem there as Boko Haram is?
Well, the government is bad. [...] It's 170 million people. They've got some major, major problems. And yeah, they've got major corruption there. But Boko Haram is going around — you saw what they did in Chibok where they abducted 275 girls. We met with our special forces folks there, along with the Brits and the French. We're trying to get those girls back. Boko Haram, they've done a bunch of other abductions of smaller schools that nobody's heard about. [...] They're particularly barbaric, and I don't think it's fair to compare an incompetent government, as bad as they might be, with the purposeful slaughter of innocent civilians and children.
Former US Ambassador to Nigeria, Walter Carrington, said skin color was a factor in the violence perpetrated in Nigeria.
I do think that perhaps the fact that these kids are from a poor village, a poor black village [factored into it]. I don't think it's their race. I think it's their caste, if you will. This is a poor area. There's always been a bifurcation between North and South Nigeria. [...] In the North there's always been a disconnect — politically, culturally, socially — and I think the fact that these girls were abducted from a northern village does have something to do with it. I really do.
'I'm with Hillary. I'm with Hillary all the way.' --Rep. Stephen Lynch
It seems like former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton is the formidable Democrat front-runner for 2016. Will you run, if asked?
I'm with Hillary. I'm with Hillary all the way.
How much has this email flap, and the foreign contributions from governments with human rights issues, concern you?
They don't help. I gotta admit that. They don't help. But I think she's the best we've got. She really is. She's very qualified. She's got a good heart. God knows she's got a toughness here to be doing this. And I just think, look, I trust her. I know her, I trust her judgment. I don't think people will be pulling the lever and thinking about emails come Election Day. [...] I think there will be a Republican onslaught. And also, I say this, some of the press, fairly or unfairly, they really have it in for her. [...] The fact that she's almost cleared the field is a testament, I think, in part to her qualifications.
South End space savers were banned this year. The North End may do it soon. Where do you stand on space savers?
This is a cultural issue. You know, this is part of our culture in South Boston. It's sort of like the hijab among Muslim women. Some of them like to wear it, some of them don't like to wear it, you know what I mean? So, give us a break here. This is a cultural thing for us. [...] Let the South End, let a million flowers bloom. If they want to take in their space savers, God bless 'em. But when they're looking for a spot, don't come over to Southie.
Right now the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is taking place at the Moakley Courthouse, but we can't watch it on television. How would you vote on a bill that opened up federal courtrooms to cameras?
Not only would I vote yes, I'm a co-sponsor. We've got three bills I think on the calendar right now that would open up the federal courthouse to televised proceedings. [...] I think it's good for civic lessons reasons that people see how their federal courts operate, you know, what the process of law is here.
