MSNBC - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC

MS. MITCHELL: On the Republican side, Senator John McCain continues to stake his campaign on winning the war in Iraq.

Take a listen to John McCain at the hearings with the top U.S. military commander and the chief diplomat from Iraq.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ): (From videotape.) While the job of bringing security to Iraq is not finished as the recent fighting in Basra and elsewhere vividly demonstrated, we're no longer staring into the abyss of defeat and we can now look ahead to the genuine prospect of success.

MS. MITCHELL: But how do we define success?

Joining me now, Congressman Joe Wilson, Republican of South Carolina, a McCain supporter who sits on the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees -- so you're right in the middle of all of this testimony.

Thanks for taking a break with us.

REP. WILSON: Thank you, Andrea.

MS. MITCHELL: Congressman, first of all, General Petraeus referred to the situation as reversible and fragile.

How does Senator McCain now ask Americans for more patience when the ground commander can't promise real results, real success?

REP. WILSON: Well, actually he also pointed out that we know the surge of American forces but in the testimony today before the Armed Services Committee and later he'll be appearing and I'll be there before the Foreign Affairs Committee -- he pointed out there's been a surge in Iraqi security forces which is very significant -- an additional 100,000 trained police and troops which now total 540,000.

And so the way that we achieve victory indeed is turn the security element over to the Iraqis to protect themselves. This has already been done in nine of the provinces and it's increasingly being turned over to the Iraqis.

MS. MITCHELL: Didn't Basra show that the Maliki forces are not up to speed, that they misjudged how to run that operation -- and arguably it ended up as a political victory for Muqtada al-Sadr?

REP. WILSON: Well, actually -- and indeed General Petraeus went over that this morning, too, and he pointed out that this was an effort by the Iraqis on their own to go after the -- (inaudible) -- the militia in Basra, that it was not perfect, no military exercise is but it was an extraordinary achievement in terms of the delivery of troops, of equipment and of the ultimate outcome which has been very positive to help unify the government in Baghdad.

MS. MITCHELL: The polling all shows that the American people are increasingly impatient with the war and wanting some sort of outcome, some withdrawal.

How does the McCain campaign wrap itself around Iraq as an issue? Isn't there a real risk here in coming months if there is more violence, if we continue to see these problems?

REP. WILSON: Well, indeed I believe that Senator McCain is developing straight talk. He's saying what is the truth. It was brought out clearly today at the hearings that the consequence of defeat is to bring the troops home, bring the war home. That is just not acceptable. We must have a victory. And the victory again is that you have security provided by the Iraqi forces. This can be achieved.

And indeed in the last seven months there's been a reduction in violence by 60 percent. There's been almost an elimination of violence in Anbar province. I was there just last month. I've been in the region 10 times in the last five years. I had two sons who served in Iraq and so I know firsthand of the progress and the success of our troops.

MS. MITCHELL: Congressman, what is the metric of success, though? That question was asked repeatedly at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing yesterday by Republicans as well as by Democrats.

And, you know, how much of Iran's influence are we willing to accept? How much al Qaeda in Iraq is understandable given the neighborhood?

REP. WILSON: Well, I indeed have learned this to be a level of relative violence. I had hoped initially that you would have no violence in the country but that's just not going to occur. We have levels of violence in every country.

But it's very important that there not be safe havens to attack the United States, to attack our allies. Indeed -- (inaudible) -- the spokesman for bin Laden announced a four step plan resulting in the extermination of the people of Israel. We must not allow the first step which is to expel Americans from Iraq to succeed. We need to protect the people who are in that region and protect American families at home by defeating the terrorists overseas.

MS. MITCHELL: Let me just play for you a little bit of what Barack Obama said at the Foreign Relations Committee hearing yesterday when he was questioning General Petraeus and Admiral -- excuse me -- and Ambassador Crocker.

Let's listen.

Sir, what I was referring to of course is him saying, what conditions would have to exist for you to recommend to the president that the current strategy is not working? So that's the quote of what Barack Obama was asking them.

It's apparent, he said, that you have a conditions-based analysis as you set forth in your testimony but the conditions are unclear.

So what would be the conditions in order to draw down to as much as 30,000 troops?

REP. WILSON: Well, I disagree with Senator Obama. Indeed the conditions are clear. And that is the level of violence decreases, the number of security forces, the police and army are trained. And that's what's being done.

So I would tell you that I have the highest faith. Indeed I had a son serve in Iraq under General Petraeus. I have the highest faith in General Petraeus and what he's doing to protect our children and my new grandchildren.

MS. MITCHELL: All right.

Congressman Joe Wilson.

And we want to thank your friend -- your family, your sons for their service in Iraq.

REP. WILSON: Thank you.

MS. MITCHELL: Thank you for joining us today.

REP. WILSON: Thank you very much. Honor to be with you.

MS. MITCHELL: Well, thank you.

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