Transcript for June 25

MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: a heated debate over the Iraq war in the U.S. Senate.

(Videotape):

SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN): If we break our promise and cut and run, as some would have us do, the implications could be catastrophic.

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): Demanding a change of course is not irresponsible, it’s not unpatriotic, it’s the right thing to do.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT: His resolution for a complete withdrawal of all U.S. troops by next year defeated 86-to-13. What now? With us: Wisconsin Democrat and potential 2008 presidential candidate Senator Russ Feingold.

And in our political roundtable: two other likely presidential candidates chart different paths on the war.

(Videotape):

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA): I believe we need a hard and fast deadline, not an open-ended commitment of U.S. forces.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY): I do not agree that that is in the best interest of our troops or our country.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT: And Iraq emerges as a major issue for 2000 Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman in his Senate reelection bid.

With us: David Broder of The Washington Post, Ron Brownstein of the Los Angeles Times, NBC’s chief White House correspondent David Gregory, and Anne Kornblut of The New York Times.

But first, joining us now is Democratic Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin.

Welcome to MEET THE PRESS.

SEN. RUSS FEINGOLD (D-WI): Good morning.

MR. RUSSERT: The Iraqi prime minister today, Senator, unveiled a national reconciliation plan. He calls on the Iraqi legislature to set a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, but also urges the granting of amnesty for some insurgents. What’s your reaction?

SEN. FEINGOLD: Well, first, on the timeline, it appears to me that the American people understand it’s time for a timeline to withdraw the troops from Iraq. The Iraqi people and the Iraqi government understand it. It seems like it’s only here in Washington that people don’t understand it’s time to end this mistake, to end our military involvement there. And the votes in Washington don’t show it, but the people in this country and the people of Iraq want us to stop it.

As to the amnesty, I’m very troubled by it. The idea of amnesty for people that have either attacked or even killed American troops, I think that’s unacceptable and something that we have to make very clear to the Iraqis that we can’t accept.

MR. RUSSERT: If it was used as a vehicle to, however, accelerate the withdrawal of American troops, would you consider it?

SEN. FEINGOLD: I don’t think there should be amnesty for people who have killed or are trying to kill American troops, and I don’t think that has to be a part of the process. I understand that there might have to be amnesty for certain individuals have—who have committed some kind of criminal acts. It may be a different story for those who have done something to other Iraqis. I understand that. That’s a decision the Iraqis should be able to make. But we, as Americans, cannot tolerate the idea that people who have murdered American soldiers should get off scot-free. I don’t think any of us can support that.

MR. RUSSERT: As you know, General George Casey, the U.S. commander of ground troops in Iraq, met with President Bush and Pentagon leaders this week, and this is one of the news reports about his meetings. “The top U.S. commander in Iraq has drawn up plans that could lead to sharp reductions in American forces there as early as September and cut the number of combat brigades by nearly two-thirds by late 2007.

“Army General George Casey presented his plan to Pentagon leaders and President Bush in confidential briefings during a visit to Washington last week, an administration official said. ...

“Under Casey’s plan, the number of combat brigades could shrink to seven or eight by the middle of next year, and to five or six by the end of 2007. One military official said the reductions could leave the U.S. with 40,000 to 50,000 troops in the country by the end of next year, far below any previous estimates.” Make sense?

SEN. FEINGOLD: Not only does it make sense, but it short—sort of shows that all this talk about a timetable being unreasonable or ridiculous is just wrong. Even General Casey is talking about how realistic it is to bring the troops home, and our timetable that we proposed last week had to do with bringing the troops home within one year. I mean, how is this different? And of course, the claim is, if you tell the terrorists that you’re going to leave, that somehow they’re going to be able to wait us out. Well, apparently General Casey and the administration is allowing us to tell them this.

The fact is it is a public timetable, just of the kind that General Casey here is basically talking about, where everybody’s going to know about it, is the best way to transition so that the Iraqis know what’s going to happen, we know what’s going to happen, the American people knows what’s going to happen—know what’s going to happen. That is the way to have confidence in the process in Iraq and get us refocused on the broader fight against terrorism in those places in the world, Tim, where we’re losing ground. We’re losing ground in Afghanistan. We don’t have enough resources in Indonesia and Malaysia area in this regard. We have lost ground in Somalia. And the fact is that Iraq is draining our strength. I think General Casey knows that. And this plan is very similar to the type of thing that Senator Kerry and I actually proposed in the United States Senate this week.

MR. RUSSERT: What General Casey and others would say about your plan is that it limited his flexibility. You wanted a time certain for all troops out. What he says is, “I need flexibility. I need to be able to have a withdrawal plan on my terms, based on what’s happening on the ground.” And he would have 40,000 to 50,000 troops on the ground at the end of next year. You would be completely out.

SEN. FEINGOLD: When he gives—we give total flexibility to the Pentagon and to General Casey in terms of what order he wants to do this, what time frame within the year that we have proposed. And the fact is our amendment does not call for the complete elimination of all troops. We allow exceptions to protect American facilities, to conduct anti-terrorist activities, and to help in a limited way in terms of training the Iraqi military and the Iraqi police. So the fact is, we do provide the flexibility that General Casey needs. Our plan is so similar to what he’s talking about it makes me wonder what the Republicans of the United States Senate and others were talking about when they said a timetable was a sort of a crazy idea. It’s a perfectly reasonable idea.

MR. RUSSERT: So you’d be content with 50,000 American troops on the ground at the end of next year?

SEN. FEINGOLD: No, I didn’t say that. What I said was we’d give him substantial flexibility, and if there are some troops that are still needed for the purposes I just mentioned, that is something I can accept. Of course, the Congress would also listen. Of course, the Congress would also listen if General Casey and the president said, “Look, we’re almost there, we need a little more time.” We could obviously extend the deadline. But having a public deadline that the American people could see, that the Iraqi people could see, that the world could see, so that people couldn’t use the idea of a so-called “American occupation of Iraq” as an excuse to recruit terrorists, that would be good for us, it would help us in the fight against al-Qaeda, which should be our top goal, Tim, fighting al-Qaeda and its affiliates, not being bogged down in Iraq.

MR. RUSSERT: The vice president, Cheney, weighed in on the debate. He offered these comments: “The worst possible thing we could do is what the Democrats are suggesting. And no matter how you carve it, you can call it anything you want, but basically it is packing it in, going home, and persuading and convincing and validating the theory that the Americans don’t have the stomach for this fight.”

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