MSNBC Hardball-Transcript

MSNBC Hardball-Transcript

MATTHEWS: Welcome back to HARDBALL.

Iraq is front and center in Congress and out on the campaign trail.

Will the president veto a congressional bill to set an exit date?

We go now to Democratic presidential contender Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico. His book, by the way, is called "Between Worlds." It‘s now in paperback.

Are you—are you upset tonight, Governor?

GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D-NM), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No. No, I‘m not upset.

(CROSSTALK)

RICHARDSON: I‘m happy.

MATTHEWS: OK. I want some face here. I want some happy face.

(LAUGHTER)

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you, Governor, do you disagree with Hillary‘s call for maintaining our troops in Iraq in a fairly lengthy fashion? She said that, after we do the—whatever pullouts are coming up in the next year or so, we could—should keep a remaining force to deal with terrorism and other issues.

Should we keep our troops, on a long-term basis, in another Arab country, like we did in Saudi Arabia, to...

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: ... our misfortune? Let‘s put it that way.

RICHARDSON: Chris, I would not leave any troops in Iraq. I don‘t believe you need a residual force.

My plan is very clear. Let‘s say today is March 28. If I were president today, I would withdraw by the end of this calendar year, depending on what our military says. But I would also have a reconciliation conference of the three religious groups, forge a coalition government, divide the country into three entities.

And then I would provide security and reconstruction, bring in Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, donor countries. I don‘t believe you need a residual force in Iraq. I believe you need any troops that you can deploy from Iraq. I would put them in Afghanistan, where al Qaeda and the Taliban are serious threats. I would not keep a residual force in Iran.

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you two questions which I think address your strength as a possible major diplomat for this country, in other words, president.

One is, do you believe there is any way, in the wreckage of this policy, where it seems to be coming apart, and the streets are not even safe enough for the government officials of the new government we have set up over there in Iraq to walk the streets with any safety, that there might be an opportunity now, in this endgame, to bring in our allies, our historic allies, from Europe and the rest of the world?

Is there any way that they will can come in now and say, OK, we blew it; it is time for the world to act?

You‘re a diplomat. Can you do that?

RICHARDSON: Yes, I...

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: ... would you do that?

RICHARDSON: Yes, I can do that.

I believe—and I have been there, and I know the region—what is needed is very strong diplomacy that involves the United States and NATO and donor countries to do the two things I mentioned before, force a coalition government—and I know they hate each other, the Sunni, the Shia, the Kurds—into a Dayton-type structure, where there is a division of oil revenues, where there‘s different sectarian groups dividing up the territory, not in the three states.

But, then, Chris, to provide security, to provide reconstruction, you bring Muslim countries that have been left out. You bring NATO countries. You bring the Saudi Arabias, the Egypts, the Turkeys.

But then you also say to Iran and Syria, look, you want stability in the region. Iran, you want nuclear weapons. We are not going to let you have that. But what we might allow you to do is a civilian nuclear capacity. You don‘t want, at the same time, to have a disruption and sanctions by the United Nations on your oil revenues and your economic policy.

So, I believe there is a give-and-take—with Syria, too. I believe sanctions can be put on Syria, and you can bring them in to a broader coalition that involves also dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian issue, just like the Iraq Study Group. Here are Republican and Democratic foreign policy experts saying that you can‘t isolate Iraq on its own.

So, I believe a totality of a regional Persian Gulf diplomatic effort, coupled with a withdrawal, use the leverage of withdrawal to bring these diplomatic goals to bear, I believe Iraq would have a chance. We preserve our interests in the region. We deploy some of those troops into Afghanistan.

But we also use the $600 billion that we have spent in Iraq, a large part of it wasted in contractors, in bad procurement policy, and put it on health care, on education, to the domestic needs that this country is—is really crying for.

MATTHEWS: OK.

Thank you very much, Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, candidate for the Democratic nomination for president.

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