CNN The Situation Room - Transcript
CNN The Situation Room - Transcript
Thursday, November 17, 2005
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
BLITZER: And we'll have more on my interview with Senator Kerry when we return in THE SITUATION ROOM later tonight, 7:00 p.m. Eastern.
Let's bring in a different perspective right now. The Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John Warner, who is joining us in THE SITUATION ROOM.
It's getting very, very ugly, this war of words. You've been around this town for a long time. An hour ago, John Murtha, the Democratic congressman who is very influential on defense matters, as you know, he's lashing out at the speaker, at the vice president.
Listen -- listen to what he said, Senator.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MURTHA: The Iraqis want us out of here, the American public wants us out, the troops are the targets, and you can't win a military victory. Even the military -- General Casey said that we've become occupiers. And General Abizaid said one of the elements of success is to get our troops out of -- out of Iraq.
So it's just a matter of time. It's a matter how you do it. I believe sooner rather than later.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: What do you think? I mean, he wants them all out within six months.
WARNER: OK. Let me ask you -- two facts occurred this week. One, the Senate passed 98-0 the defense authorization bill which I was privileged to be the chairman. Ninety-eight, not a dissenting vote, showing the strongest support for our troops. In that was an amendment that I put up with Senator Frist. Seventy-nine colleagues joined in a bipartisan, forward-looking message basically to the Iraqi people that we have fought, we have lost our brave men and women, we are wounded, we spent a lot of money, we want to support you, particularly in the next 120, 180 days, while your new government begins to stand up. And we expect you, Iraqis, to maintain a strong, viable government, and gain your full sovereignty, such that we can bring to an end this insurgency.
BLITZER: What's wrong, in effect, with -- I don't know if Congressman Murtha would agree with this characterization of declaring victory and getting out...
WARNER: No, that was -- I was secretary of the Navy.
BLITZER: That was during the Vietnam War.
WARNER: I was secretary of the Navy. We all remember that. That's not going to be done. There's a great distinction between the war in Vietnam.
I went back, incidentally, and checked the votes of the various bills of authorization. There was always a cadre that said no. Not one no this week, Wolf. I urge all to lower the rhetoric.
BLITZER: Because the argument is that the Iraqis themselves won't have the incentive to step up to the plate and fight for themselves as long as Uncle Sam's going to do it for them.
WARNER: That's correct. The purpose of our amendment now in the bill is to send a message that you've got to really take a very firm hold.
I was just over there a couple weeks ago with Senator Stevens. We met with the secretary of their defense. We met with their minister of homeland defense. Each of them complaining how they could not get their government organizations to move forward in the support that they wished.
A new government is coming in on the 15th of December. And it's forward looking.
BLITZER: That's when the election -- the parliamentary elections.
WARNER: The American people are anxious to see, lower the rhetoric, let's get on with fulfilling the mission we've set forth so the Iraqis can get their democracy.
BLITZER: In our most recent CNN "USA-Today"-Gallup poll, we asked whether troops should withdraw immediately or within the next 12 months. You add up the numbers, 52 percent, a majority, want these troops out of there either immediately or within the next 12 months.
WARNER: Well, then, you know, Wolf, some of us have to stand tall and try and say to the people, have confidence, have trust in us, and we will do our very best to let this nation regain a measure of democracy which they've not had in decades.
BLITZER: But given the blunders as enunciated -- we just heard in that clip from Senator Kerry -- the blunders going into the war, the intelligence failures, which as you know were dead wrong in terms of the weapons of mass destruction.
WARNER: Yes.
BLITZER: The American public seems to be losing confidence in this administration's conduct of the war.
WARNER: Understandably. It's very difficult for the American public to comprehend this war. It's unlike any that we've ever been involved in.
There is no state. That is, no nation sponsoring it. It's a diverse group of terrorists determined to undermine the civilized nations, the nations that love and cherish freedom, all the way from Spain to Indonesia. And Iraq is a focal point.
BLITZER: Here is this other poll number. The situation in Iraq, was it worth going to war over? And these numbers are dramatic.
Only 38 percent of the American public now say yes. Sixty percent say no.
WARNER: I say to that group, bear with us. I'm confident in the next six months this nation can show its ability...
BLITZER: You mean Iraq?
WARNER: Iraq. That is correct.
We do not want to cut and run. That's why the Senate defeated that effort just days ago to put in a passage, cut and run. We cannot say to the families who've lost their loved ones, the tens of thousands that are wounded here, it was in vein. And that's why I lament greatly my friend -- and he is a friend -- John Murtha today. I'm baffled by what he did.
BLITZER: He's very, very passionate. And he feels very strongly about this. It certainly came through in the interview.
WARNER: That's right.
BLITZER: And he says that the American public is right now ahead of the Congress. And that's why he wanted to step up and make what he called this statement of conscience.
WARNER: Oh, Wolf, you and I have seen a lot of situations. I served briefly at the end of World War II. I served in Korea with the Marines for five years. I was secretary -- undersecretary of the Navy in Vietnam.
This is the time to stand fast, to express our trust in the integrity of our president to lead us through this situation. All the world is looking at us. If we were to cut and run now, it would be a signal to the terrorists worldwide we don't have the resolve to finish this out and allow Iraq to establish its sovereign nation.
BLITZER: Listen to what the Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid, the minority leader, said on the Senate floor last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: A bipartisan majority of this body, the United States Senate, gave the administration a vote of no confidence for its Iraq policy. The United States Senate said the air of their no plan, no end approach is over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: He's got a very different interpretation of that vote than you do.
WARNER: Yes, but you're looking at the author. I took the Democrat resolution, I worked it with our leadership, I worked it with the National Security Council, and I felt it was better that we try and have a bipartisan, than 55 Republicans voting for another resolution that I had in my pocket and 45 for theirs.
Isn't it time we showed the American public we have some common ground? It was designed as a message to show the Iraqi people, we have stood by you, but now you've got to get your act together and succeed.
BLITZER: One final question. Those critics who are raising questions about the deployment, like John Murtha or John Kerry, are they, as some Republicans are charging, encouraging the terrorists, the insurgents and undermining the U.S. military?
WARNER: Well, let me give you an example. Senator Stevens and I were...
BLITZER: Ted Stevens of Alaska.
WARNER: Ted Stevens, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. He talked about his many trips to Vietnam, and I talked about my trips to Vietnam when I was secretary of the Navy. You know, those military people would say to us, we want out of here, we're not making any, any gains.
In all of my trips, again, with Stevens just six weeks ago, the military are steadfast, they feel confident in their mission, they're proud of what they're doing. Not one military person has come up to me in six visits to Iraq to say we're not making a difference and it's time to go home.
BLITZER: Some might argue they're afraid to say that to you.
WARNER: No, no. No, no, no.
Look, having been a bit of a trooper myself in a very modest way, I know the men and women of the military. I have had the privilege to have been associated with them for over 50 years since World War II. And I'm telling you we've never have a finer fighting force and more dedicated fighting force.
And this rhetoric is not undermining their morale, but they're puzzled as to why it's taking place, because they see on the ground progress being made by the Iraqi government, by the reconstruction and by the military action. They're not bogged down, and they don't want any cut-and-running.
BLITZER: Senator Warner, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee...
WARNER: Thank you.
BLITZER: ... thanks for joining us.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0511/17/sitroom.02.html