CNN NewsNight - Transcript

CNN NewsNight - Transcript
Tuesday, June 28, 2005

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BROWN: Lindsey Graham joins us now, Senator Lindsey Graham from the state of South Carolina, a member of the Senate armed services committee. It's good to see you.

The "Washington Times" headlines the speech "Bush Invokes 9/11 in Iraq War." Was it apt for the president to go to the 9/11 well, if you will, six times in the speech?

GRAHAM: Well, I think the dynamic in Iraq is very similar in this regard. The people who have come to Iraq to wage war on this new infant democracy have as their goal to defeat democracy. They're the same type people who attacked us on 9/11.

So the big upsurge in violence has been suicide bombing. Most of the suicide bombers are foreign terrorists who align themselves with the bin Laden way of thinking.

In that regard, what happens in Iraq is very much part of the war on terror. And that's sort of been the missing link here. We've let that slip away. And I think the president did a good job tonight telling us, in the most stark terms possible, that whether it was before, it certainly now is a part of the war on terror.

BROWN: It's that last part of the sentence I suppose that is the subject of political debate.

GRAHAM: Sure.

BROWN: Let me leave that for another time.

We heard you earlier in the program talk about in your state, South Carolina, people starting to express doubts. Doubts that -- I assume that doubts about whether the war was right in the first place, doubts about whether we ought to stay there for an indefinite period of time, doubt?

GRAHAM: Yes. Kind of a range of emotions.

The -- the violence has gone on longer than we anticipated. Once the statue fell, there was hope that we could come home very quickly.

War is an uncertain thing. We can blame each other all we'd like. But the truth is that war is uncertain.

But the nature of the casualties on the increase, the level of violence on the increase, the protracted nature of it has taken a toll throughout the country.

And the second part of my statement, Aaron, was that this not Vietnam in my opinion. It is really a central front on the battle on the war on terror. And if we leave too soon it would be a catastrophic event. It would be a major defeat for us, a major win for the terrorists.

And the only way we'd ever lose was to leave the country in shambles, not able to defend itself by leaving too soon. And public opinion drives that.

So I think the president did a very good job tonight connecting the outcome to Iraq with our own national security.

BROWN: Senator, let me try and cover a couple more things, if I can.

GRAHAM: Sure.

BROWN: I -- going back to this question of doubt and how what has happened since the statute fell or since the mission accomplished speech or pick a date.

GRAHAM: Right.

BROWN: If the administration had -- well, let me phrase this slightly differently: Do you think that the administration was forthright enough from the get-go on how long it would take, how much it would cost, how difficult it would be and if the administration was not, has that contributed to, in some respects, to the doubts that you're starting to see in your state?

GRAHAM: I think the truth is, that right after the fall of the statue, people like me assumed that we would be embraced in a larger way. The insurgency wouldn't be as strong as it is. We didn't have enough troops, right after the fall of the country, to secure the borders. I blame myself as much as anybody, but the truth is we've made mistakes in judgment, underestimating the level of the insurgency, maybe not having enough troops at the beginning and we paid a price for that.

But if we look backward we're not going to win this war. This infant democracy is at a tipping point. They're about to write a constitution. It would be a blueprint to live together in peace regardless of religious differences, it would be a seat change the mid-east.

It took us, Aaron, years to write our constitution. What are we asking of the Iraqi people, to create a legal system out of nothing, to bridge a 1400-year-old religious dispute, to bring a police force and an army online, loyal to the people, not loyal to the dictator.

We're asking a lot and I do think patience is required of us all and that's what the president is asking for, some patience. And I join in that request. We have made mistakes but the biggest mistake we could make now is to leave this country in shambles and not stick it out.

BROWN: Senator, I suspect you know you this, it's always -- we always enjoy our conversations with you, brief though they may be. I hope you'll come back and join us soon.

GRAHAM: I enjoy your program very much.

BROWN: Thank you, sir. Lindsey Graham, the senator from South Carolina.

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