MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Matthews" - Transcript

Interview

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MATTHEWS: With us now is Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel of New York City. He was also at Ground Zero today, I saw him on the crowd.

Mr. Rangel, thanks for joining us

You"re stuck with the question of dealing with Pakistan. Are they our friend? Do we they harbor our enemies? Or what?

REP. CHARLIE RANGEL (D), NEW YORK: I really want to believe they"re just incompetent (ph), because it doesn"t make any sense for us to put trust and billions of dollars in a country that can"t explain why in the devil they had no indication in all of these years that the guy was located within a stone"s throw of their military installations.

And do, I think we have what former President Bush has said, trust but verify. We just got to have to monitor them as we would. You know, I"ve been in law enforcement as a prosecutor, and sometimes, we get involved in hiring informants that can"t be trusted. But you"ve got to use them, you need them, and you just have to monitor them. That"s all.

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you about this controversy about releasing the photo. I"ve expressed my view, which is don"t release them. What"s yours? The photo of the deceased killer, Osama bin Laden.

RANGEL: I cannot see--I don"t see any good reason why the president should have released it. And I have problems with people who really just want to see the gory picture.

MATTHEWS: Me, too.

RANGEL: And wondering what is going to make them feel good about seeing a picture where a man"s face is half blown up. For those people who doubt that this actually the guy, I"m convinced that there"s enough evidence with DNA and so many other things and witnesses, that they don"t have to worry about whether they got the right guy. But looking at pictures like that and having it exposed to your kids and your grandkids, I don"t see where any good can come out of it.

MATTHEWS: I"m with you, sir. Thank you so much.

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