CNN Paula Zahn Now - Transcript
CNN PAULA ZAHN NOW - Transcript
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AHN: Your party is getting creamed as the party of cut-and- runners, the wobbly, the weak. Some Democrats want the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Some think they should be out a year from now. And some think setting a timetable, period, is irresponsible. So, do you understand why that divisiveness compromises the credibility of your party?
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: Well, I don't think it does compromise the credibility. I understand the divisiveness, because they look at a united Republican Party in a failed policy.
There is not a single change the president has suggested since the last year and the year before that. And the entire party is uniting around him. Watch what happens if they don't change policy by purging the militia, by purging the military, by getting the Sunni buying, and keeping the neighbors out of -- those things don't happen between now and September, nothing is going to be different in October.
ZAHN: So, what do you think of your colleague John Kerry's plan to pull all the troops out by this time next year...
BIDEN: I...
ZAHN: ... with the exception of the troops that will remain to continue training Iraqi militia?
BIDEN: I strongly disagree with John. I strongly disagree with anybody who thinks you should set an end date, irrespective of anything else.
So, that's why I will vote against that. But I agree with John more than I do with the president, who says: Look, Iraq, we trust you. Keep things going as they are. We have no new suggestions for you. You're united. We're going to keep our forces there as long as you need them. If you gave me those two choices, John's is a better choice. At least he gets us out of what's going to be a civil war, if they don't act.
ZAHN: Are you telling me tonight, then, that it's not important for Democrats to reach a consensus on the issue of troop withdrawal?
BIDEN: I am telling you it's important for the president to have a plan how to win. He's put not a single new piece on the table, not one single thing, Paula.
And he says that you now have this united Iraqi government. There's not a single person I know that thinks, without significant involvement by our ambassador in the United States, as occurred at every step along the way, that there's any possibility that, six months from now, it's going to be a more united country, with fewer Americans being killed and fewer Iraqis being killed.
ZAHN: So, given the intense divisions in the Senate, realistically, what is the best that can come out of these debates?
BIDEN: I think the best thing we could hope for is that the president has a plan he hadn't told us about, because nothing the Senate does today is going to, in fact, change the president's mind, if he hasn't already, already decided to do it.
ZAHN: Senator Biden, thanks for your time. Appreciate it.
BIDEN: Thank you very much, Paula.
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http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/20/pzn.01.html