CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Drone Strike Kills American Hostages
Interview
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KEILAR: Jim Acosta at the White House, thanks.
And joining me now to talk more about this is Senator Lindsey Graham. He's a leading Republican on the Armed Services Committee. And we should mention he's also a potential presidential candidate.
So we are scrutinizing of course every word that you say. All right, here we go.
So the president said mistakes were made.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Yes.
KEILAR: Do you agree? And who made them, do you think?
GRAHAM: One, I want to tell the president and his team, I do not blame you. I blame al Qaeda for this tragic loss of innocent life. They're the bad guys. Look at the program. Learn from these mistakes and press on with this program. It has helped keep this nation safe. I do not blame President Obama. I do not blame the intelligence
community. Let's learn from these mistakes. I blame the people that kidnapped these two men.
KEILAR: He said, and we heard from the White House today, protocols were followed.
GRAHAM: Yes.
KEILAR: Everything that was supposed to have been done was done. So now they're taking a look at protocols.
We spoke earlier today with Adam Schiff, a Democrat in the House, and he says he's not even taking that necessarily at face value. He wants to make sure that protocols were followed.
GRAHAM: All I can tell Adam, who I like a lot, look at the protocols, but this is a war. We're fighting a war. And name a war that has been conducted on behalf of the United States where we have not had collateral damage.
We have killed American prisoners in enemies' hands before because we didn't know that the troop ship had prisoners on it. At the end of the day, this is a tough war we're fighting. You're having to make judgment calls. We're trying our very best not to kill innocent people. But if we do not go after these guys and make them afraid, keep their heads down, they are coming back here.
KEILAR: I think Americans are certainly familiar with the fact that in some instances there will be collateral damage. You can't wage a perfect war.
But I also think a lot of people are asking if more should have been more done to get Warren Weinstein released? Walking away from the White House briefing today, you would have thought that so much has been done. And yet we have heard from people who have been looking into this that essentially he may have been given up on.
GRAHAM: I don't know what efforts we made to secure the release of these two guys, but I do know this.
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GRAHAM: They're in the hands -- they were in the hands of al Qaeda in an ungoverned part of the world.
And we can't send Navy SEALs teams in every time, because it risks their lives. And the drone program has killed a lot of bad guys trying to hurt us. And, unfortunately, at times we have collateral damage.
As to the two American al Qaeda collaborators, they got what they deserved. And if you're an American citizen thinking about joining al Qaeda, under the law of war, you're subject to being killed and captured. You do so at your own peril.
KEILAR: All right, Senator Graham, stay with us you for just a moment.
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KEILAR: We have breaking news out of Baltimore.
This was just moments ago. Even now, before the sun has set, we are seeing protesters gather there, very angry over the death of Freddie Gray, a young African-American man who passed away in police custody.
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You're seeing what was peaceful protests have now become somewhat -- we have seen some violence, projectiles being thrown. We have some arrests and a lot of scuffles between police and protesters there. We are monitoring the situation there on the streets of Baltimore, where you are seeing these tensions flair between protesters and police.
So stand by for more on that.
But, right now, I want to go back to Senator Lindsey Graham.
We interrupted our interview earlier to go to Baltimore. We're back now. We're talking about this breaking news story that we're following, President Obama apologizing for what's believed to be the first time that the U.S. accidentally killed hostages in a drone strike.
So, obviously, this -- he said it's a mistake, Senator. But at the same time, your message is to press on, that this is a tool that you don't want to lose in this fight.
GRAHAM: My message is, press on. The war is hotter than ever.
The men and women who are behind the drone program, who make these agonizing decisions, I know many of them on the military side, on the intel side. They're patriots. Learn from your mistakes, but can you imagine what kind of job they have and how hard it is?
And we take extraordinary lengths not to do things like this, but I have no criticism of President Obama on this issue. I can talk about my differences with my president all day long, but, here, the president handled this right.
KEILAR: If you have the White House saying we have got an independent inspector general who is going to look at that, we're also doing this internal review...
GRAHAM: And the Congress is looking at it, too.
KEILAR: The Congress is looking at it, too. And you heard today from the White House the sense that maybe something could change, that they're certainly open to dissecting the program. What might change and what are your concerns...
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GRAHAM: I don't know. I would like to hear from the experts.
But what I do not want to change is to understand the need for the program and back off, as -- I have never seen more terrorist organizations with more men, more money, more capability, more safe haven to attack our nation than I do right now, today. So the last thing you want to do is overreact to this, shut down the program.
KEILAR: So, aside from shutting down the program, what about pressing more on Pakistan to do something?
GRAHAM: Oh, my gosh, yes.
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KEILAR: What else can be done there? If you can't do something, if you're not going to let off the gas pedal on this program, what else can be done to make sure that you're getting hostages, as we know there are three Canadians -- or two Canadians who just had a baby in custody by the Haqqani Network in the same area? What can you do?
GRAHAM: Here is some advice to the president. Don't repeat the mistakes in Afghanistan you made in Iraq. Do not pool all of our troops out of Afghanistan in 2017, because Afghanistan will deteriorate. The tribal regions will become hotbeds for terrorism again.
Not only should we push the Pakistanis to do better on their side of the border. We do have influence in Afghanistan. Do not pull all of our troops out. The war is by no means over in Afghanistan. It is in our national security interest to leave some troops behind to help the Afghans not only to defend Afghanistan, but to defend us.
If we have no counterterrorism footprint in Afghanistan beginning 2017, it's just a matter of time before they come back in Afghanistan and hit us here again.
KEILAR: All right, Senator Graham, thank you so much.
GRAHAM: Thank you.
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