MSNBC Countdown 20:00 - Transcript

MSNBC

SHOW: COUNTDOWN 20:00

BYLINE: Keith Olbermann; Richard Engel; Ron Allen; Bob Faw Jennifer London

GUESTS: Michael Dibenedetti; Richard Bey; Bill Nelson

HIGHLIGHT:
Nicholas Berg is beheaded on Camera allegedly in Revenge for Prison Abuse

BODY:
OLBERMANN: Like all of the gentlemen we just heard from, Senator Bill Nelson of Florida is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and he joins us now live from Washington.

Senator Nelson, thank you very much for your time tonight.

SEN. BILL NELSON (D), FLORIDA: Thanks, Keith.

OLBERMANN: I'm not going to focus on what Senator Inhofe said, but just the fact that he presented his viewpoint proximately. In the last week, many others republican who were more critical of the handling of all this, did so and, of course, many democrats beside yourself, my point being, there's been a lot of talk here, but have the investigations really gotten anywhere closer to finding out how all this happened and why?

NELSON: Well, we learned something new. We learned that-November the 19, that they put the military intelligence in charge of the prison over the M.P.s. Now what we need to find out, were any of these heinous acts committed after military intelligence, and you see the attempts to blame all of this on five or seven Army privates, well I think what we're going to find is it's going to go up the chain. Where it's going, I simply can't say, but we made a little bit of progress today.

OLBERMANN: There was one other detail if today's testimony that sent some shoulders down my spine, at least. The lieutenant general who has been under investigation for some, I think, troubling, would be a good term for it, anti-Muslim remarks, General Boykin, it turns out, briefed a top Pentagon official last year and made suggestions as to how best gain intelligence from Iraqi prisoners. Does this whole mess suddenly have a religious component to it?

NELSON: If it doesn't have an overt religious component, there clearly should have been the sensitivity of how it was going to affect the Muslim world, indeed the entire occupation of Iraq, we ought to have that sensitivity. And, what is in the interest of the United States at the end of the day, it is, to have a stabilized Iraq that you can turn over to the Iraqi people. And when we do these kind of things, whether it's religious or not, it certainly doesn't further us toward our goal of a stabilized Iraq.

OLBERMANN: Which leads almost inevitably sir, I guess, to the horrific death of Nicholas Berg, alleged retribution for the prisoner abuse in Iraq. Obviously, this is a nature for everyone in this country. But, does Mr. Berg's death figure, in any way, to your committee's investigations?

NELSON: Well, there is no excuse for the evil that was perpetrated in that-that awful, awful, savage beheading and we're going to hunt them down and we're going to find them. We'll bring them to justice. Now, how that will play out on the effect of all of this investigation, Keith, I just simply can't tell you.

OLBERMANN: Well, last question, Senator. Is there any reasonable chance left that there are a number of random unconnected incidents in Iraq, as opposed to something resulting from a very bad decision somewhere on that chain of command?

NELSON: Yes, that is, Keith. There are some 25 to 35 investigations going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, right now. We'll see if there was a pattern of activity that occurred in other prisons, but right now we only know of this one prison.

OLBERMANN: Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, again, our thanks for your time tonight, sir.

NELSON: Thanks, Keith.