Senate Radio/TV Gallery-Transcript

Interview

Senate Radio/TV Gallery-Transcript

SEN. KENNEDY: (In progress) -- settle all of Iraqi's refugees in the United States, but we need to do our part.

America has a special obligation to keep faith with the Iraqis who now have a bull's eye on their back because of their association with our fighting men and women. We have lost too much time, too many lives, to delay anymore. Now is the time for action.

Senator Levin.

SEN. LEVIN: Well, first, let me congratulate Senator Kennedy for a tremendous success here. It's a small step, but it's a really critical step that we recognize our responsibility, particularly those Iraqis who have put their lives on the line helping us -- the drivers, the translators, all of those who have taken risks because of their associations with America in Iraq. And we have a responsibility, clearly, to assist them, and this special category will be helpful in that regard.

We read daily about the amount of sectarian killings and the violence in Iraq. There has not been nearly enough attention paid to the large number of people who've been displaced -- who have left Iraq creating a huge humanitarian crisis, literally by the millions; both inside Iraq, the internally displaced, and those who have fled Iraq, and that also represents about two million.

But there are special categories of people that we have a special responsibility to. We can't take in the 2 million who are outside of Iraq, who've been displaced, but surely we can carryout part of our responsibility by making sure that people who have assisted us are, in fact, protected and are given special status. So there's been huge bureaucratic hurdles to their being accepted as refugees -- they can't reach the centers where they can apply in countries outside of the United States; there have been bureaucratic snafus -- and we want the processing centers inside both Iraq and the other countries so that people can come directly to apply for refugee status who qualify under this language.

There's another group that has been of particular concern to me, and that is the religious minorities in Iraq who have a special vulnerability. They are caught in the cross-fire -- they don't have any regional country that they are close to, that they are associated with -- these are the Chaldeans and the Assyrians, these are the Christian groups mainly inside Iraq. A relatively small group, but who have no neighbor that they are closely affiliated with in terms of their religion. And they have been caught in some very serious ethnic cleansing because of their Christian religion and their minority status.

And so there's a -- also an identification of them as having a special priority, particularly if they are also those who have helped us, but on their own, just on their own status, they are given a special status here as being a vulnerable group. And there's a special humanitarian need for us to take some responsibility for their situation as well.

So, one other quick thing. The last five years, the refugee cap in our law of 70,000 refugees a year, has not been met. We have not even allowed in the number of refugees that our law allows for. For instance, last year, there were 30,000 unused slots of that 70,000. There's an emergency group of 20,000 that can be permitted in. Those numbers, which are part of our law, are not just statistics. Those are available places -- for folks that have been caught in a humanitarian crisis, to be given some assistance by being provided refugee status in the United States.

And the idea that we have all of those unused positions -- places for refugees that our law has provided for, is unthinkable in a situation such as Iraq where we have witnessed, and to some extent contributed to, a massive humanitarian crisis. And these groups that Senator Kennedy has identified -- worked so hard to get into this law, along with a lot of co-sponsors -- and I just want to thank him and all of those co-sponsors for their staying with this issue, trying to raise it a little bit higher up on the radar screen so that we in America can, at a minimum, fill out the numbers that the law has allotted to refugees -- but now, in addition, create this special group of 5,000 for those who have assisted us.

Thank you.

Q (Off mike.) What are you going to do about the problem of Syria and Lebanon -- (inaudible) -- do their background checks? How are you going to have a process -- (inaudible) -- given they're not even trying to -- (inaudible) --?

SEN. KENNEDY: Well, first of all, we will have the locations in Iraq itself, and then we have also in the surrounding areas. One of the principle problems in Syria has been that we have established the right criteria for who we would take out as refugees, rather than using the U.N. definition. And Syria has stated that if we're going to -- if they're going to let people in, they're going to comply with the international recognition of refugees, and let refugees come -- be treated under the U.N. definition. And that is an issue that's being negotiated between the United Nations, the United Nations and Syria at this time.

Syria has probably a million, 300,000 or 400,000 refugees at the present time, and it's a, it's a major -- Jordan, 700,000; there's 30 (thousand) or 40,000 in Lebanon and Egypt -- similar kinds of numbers, but we also know that there's equal numbers in Iraq itself. And this is going to simplify, in a dramatic way, the processing.

People today, if they're wanting to be able to have some kind of -- their names, as we have recorded, and as the Press has recorded -- translators who've worked for U.S. military units for over a year, and that have the commendation of the captain, the colonel and the general of those units, are finding their names printed in the mosques for assassination and killings. And many of them have been assassinated and killed. They don't have the capability of leaving Iraq.

And this is going to be a -- we're going to be able to fast- track these individuals and provide them the safety and security that they and their families are going to be able to come from Iraq, and also from the neighboring countries. We're not saying that this is going to be the end-all answer to all of these problems, but what we are saying is this is going say, "Help is on the way" to those individuals who have sacrificed and been part of the whole American family, so to speak, in terms of trying to help and assist, primarily the military but also those associated.

Q (Off mike.) Senator Kennedy, one of the criticisms the State Department made of your amendment is that, for people who are inside Iraq and have been targeted, whose names have been posted at the mosques, they don't really have the time to wait through the whole process of a check that are required for their -- for their -- (seeking a ?) -- in a refugee program. They can't -- (inaudible) -- they come home every night -- (inaudible) --. How do you explain that?

SEN. KENNEDY: Well, that's why this amendment cuts through much of the bureaucracy at the -- at the present time. They don't -- they won't have -- it's, it's simplified, it gives more authority to the ambassador. And what we believe -- and we've talking with the refugee agencies, that we have streamlined the process. We've taken the recommendations of those individuals who have been working with the people that you've identified in Iraq. And they have given us a series of recommendations about how to cut through the bureaucracy.

We think we've cut through a good deal of it. We wish we'd been able to do more. But we think that this is going to make an important difference. And, as we say, it's not going to solve all of the problems, but it's going to make a very important and significant difference. That's what those who are looking and representing the refugees today have told us. Now they're the ones that we have listened to and we have worked with in terms of crafting the legislation. And we're always interested in what they say about how this can be strengthened and improved.

Yes.

Q (Off mike.) A general question on the Defense authorization bill. The way that I understand it is that it still includes $130 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for another year, if that's correct. And, of course, Bush wouldn't get the money until the Congress appropriates the supplemental that's coming up. Do you see that as an authorization for the war for another year?

SEN. LEVIN: No. This is a Defense authorization bill and it's for the operations of the Defense Department. There's no specific reference to, as far as I know, the war in Iraq as being funded by this bill. And, by the way, I don't think it's the supplemental that will do -- there will be a supplemental bill, as I understand it, that'll be coming along next February, perhaps. But the Defense appropriation bill, as I understand it, that will be coming along next February, perhaps. But the Defense Appropriation Bill will be coming up in the next couple weeks, and I'm not -- I don't think that has any special earmarked money for Iraq, either.

Q Could they -- well, is it correct that the Defense Authorization Bill is about 130 (billion dollars)?

SEN. LEVIN: I'm not sure what the number is. I don't -- and I wouldn't know how -- I don't think it's identified that way. I think somebody probably has extrapolated how much money in this bill would be, in effect, going to support the troops. But I don't think there's a special category for that. But I could be wrong.

Q And also, could you talk about your position on -- Voinovich has a new proposal out with Dole and Alexander that would essentially say that troops should come home within 15 months and it should transition the mission in 15 months, very similar to what your proposed. But it's -- essentially goes from nine months to 15 months -- (inaudible) -- after the election. Would you support that?

SEN. LEVIN: No. The lengthy discussions that I had with Senator Voinovich provided that the transition to the mission -- the limited missions would occur -- would be completed as a goal within nine months. That's a reasonable period of time. It's nine months after enactment and to try to put this until after the election rather than a reasonable period for completion, I believe, would be to unnecessarily introduce a political element to what is a bipartisan effort. So the language in that -- I don't know whether he's circulated it publicly or not, but that language was -- I -- we heavily participated in the drafting of the language, but the decision that he made that he couldn't get enough additional Republicans to sign on unless he extended the period for the goal to be achieved to 15 months made it just unacceptable to -- I think -- most Democrats and to me, and to Senator Jack Reed as well.

SEN. KENNEDY: I'll ask Janice and Sharon on some of the technical aspects on the refugee provisions if they want to remain -- if there are some other --

SEN. LEVIN: I'd add just one thing to what Senator Kennedy said -- just as proof of what he said about the bureaucratic hurdles -- just imagine with the refugee crisis that exists that we've got 30,000 emergency slots, many of which have been unused. We've got 70,000 slots in law, 30,000 of which have -- were not used last year in the middle of this crisis. And so when Senator Kennedy talks about the purpose of this legislation being to -- for heaven's sake, at least use all of the authorized authority for this -- in this crisis and then adding the additional 5,000 for the special needs and the special people who've helped us, and to place these locations where people can apply directly rather than going through an embassy as a way of trying to cut the red tape and then when he emphasizes that this is what the groups want us to do, I think the power here -- the proof is we've got all these unused positions in our law that have not been utilized in the middle of probably the greatest refugee crisis known.

Now, Senator Kennedy's an expert on refugees, so I've got to be a little careful -- there may have been a greater refugee crisis -- but it's hard to imagine one that's much greater than 2 million internal displaced two million external.

SEN. KENNEDY: The equivalent of -- in America would be 47 million Americans; 47 million Americans, if you have a displacement. That would be 22 Katrinas taking place at the same time in the United States, to give you some idea of the displacement of people in Iraq at this -- you know, at this time.

Thank you.

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Q Has there been any time when they haven't had the Defense Authorization Bill and do Senate Appropriations?

SEN. LEVIN: Not in the last -- (off mike.)

Q (Off mike.)

SEN. LEVIN: I don't know. (Off mike.)

Q I heard the White House is looking it up --

(Cross talk, laughter.)

SEN. KENNEDY: No. If it ever happened -- if they veto this on Hate Crimes (ph) -- if they veto this -- which would be unthinkable to me that he would do it. Number one, number two -- I think would be overridden. And if it weren't overridden, then it would go back to the president. It would go back to the president without it and -- in 24 hours. So no troops are being jeopardized. I can tell you that's a completely bogus argument.

Q (Off mike.)

SEN. LEVIN: (Off mike) -- I'm going to buy stock. What do you mean, where am I going --

(Cross talk, laughter.)

Q So is there anything left to be done now?

(Cross talk.)

SEN. LEVIN: Where am I going -- (off mike) -- yeah, yeah.

Q Do you need to do anything with the Detainee Treatment Act -- (Off mike.)

SEN. LEVIN: Well, this is different. I'm glad -- (Off mike.) No. We are going to get into Blackwater here -- full committee or subcommittee.

Q (Off mike.)

SEN. KENNEDY: Not now, but -- well, if you want, the commissions have pointed out the change in the -- (Off mike.)

Q We're doing, like, commission -- (Off mike.)

SEN. KENNEDY: Right.

So that's a point that may address -- be able to address the issue if we succeed in getting -- (off mike) -- full a committee or subcommittee on the Blackwater --

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