MSNBC Hardball with Chris Matthews - Transcript
MSNBC Hardball with Chris Matthews - Transcript
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O'DONNELL: Thank you, David.
Missouri Senator Kit Bond is a member of the Intelligence Committee. Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed is a member of the Armed Services Committee, who was a sponsor of one of the Democratic proposals for troop redeployment that did not set a timetable.
Let me begin with you, Senator Reed. You co-sponsored this proposal today that failed by a vote of 39-60. Were you let down by your party?
SEN. JACK REED (D), RHODE ISLAND: Absolutely not. We got a strong showing from the Democratic Caucus. This is a very difficult issue. I don't think anyone assumes that it should be one that is completely unanimous, but we had a very strong showing.
And I think we enunciated a policy that is not only the best policy, but it's a policy that appears to be one being advocated by General Casey, who is today talking about troop reductions this year, and also by the Iraqi national security adviser, who predicts that before the end of this year, we'll reduce troops. And by the end of 2007, he looks to a point where at which we can remove a significant number of American troops.
O'DONNELL: You brought him up, the U.S. commanding general in Iraq. George Casey is here in Washington briefing at the Pentagon today with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld-did, if fact, indicate that there will likely be a reduction in troop levels in Iraq this year. But he also made clear that he did not like the proposal that Senator Kerry had on the floor today. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: As the top military commander in Iraq, what is your opinion about a specific, set timetable for withdrawal of American forces from Iraq?
GEN. GEORGE CASEY, CMDR., MULTINATIONAL FORCES IN IRAQ: I don't like it, I feel it would limit my flexibility. I think it would give the enemy a fixed timetable. And I think it would send a terrible signal to a new government of national unity when Iraq is trying to stand up and get its legs underneath it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'DONNELL: Senator Reed, I know you don't like a timetable either, but do you believe this other plan that was offered by Senator Kerry, which got few votes in the Senate, sort of played into the Republicans' hands who were trying to paint the Democratic Party as a party of cut and run?
REED: Well, I don't know if it played into the Republicans' hands. I opposed it based on the principles that senator-excuse me-that General Casey espoused, which it would deny him flexibility and the commanders flexibility.
But I would also note that General Casey today suggested that we could withdraw troops and I don't think anyone is going to label him as cutting and running.
O'DONNELL: Senator Bond, let me ask you, one of the arguments that the Democrats made on the floor of the Senate is that many you agreed last year that 2006 was supposed to be a year of transition in Iraq, and yet we still have the same number of troops in Iraq, and the proposal has been to stay the course. Is that wrong?
SEN. KIT BOND ®, MISSOURI: The important thing that we must do in Iraq is support our troops who are over there. The Democrats wanted to have-call it transition. Sure, we've transitioned to a new government. We had elections in Iraq, Iraq now has a new government, the security adviser who believes they're going to be able to take control.
Now what these amendments did, both the Kerry and the Reed-Levin bill did, was to say that it's not going to be the generals there on the ground looking at it who decide when the security forces of Iraq are adequate to take over. It's going to be a political timetable.
Unfortunately, there is a suspicion that that political timetable has more to do with November 7th's general election than whether we complete our mission in Iraq. And that's why I'm hearing from the troops, the troops on the ground that they think any kind of timetable that is set politically is a disaster.
O'DONNELL: Senator bond, let me ask you about one of the comments some may view as very controversial comments by one your colleagues, Senator Rick Santorum, who today announced that we found the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Do you agree with that?
BOND: We always knew that there were weapons left over, sarin gas, mustard gas from the pre-Gulf War attacks that Iraq had launched ...
O'DONNELL: But to be clear, you do not believe these are the missing weapons of mass destruction that some argued were there before this war?
BOND: The NIE thought that there were new weapons that had been manufactured. These were not new weapons of mass destruction, but it is clear that they were deadly-they were deadly sarin gas, and some of that can still be used against our troops.
O'DONNELL: Senator Reed, can I just bring you in quickly here? What do you make of Senator Santorum announcing that the weapons of mass destruction have been found?
REED: I can't provide any collaboration. I would point out though too that my amendment did not require some type of artificial timetable set by politicians. It required the president to set the timetable and I presume based on the advice of his commanders.
O'DONNELL: Well, thank you to Senator Reed and Senator Bond.
BOND: Well let me answer that. If the purpose is to set a timetable, why are they saying that we need to control that timetable out of Congress? Because the Democrats who want to get out before the election are ignoring the troops. My son, who does not want to go back to Iraq, but he'd rather do that than pull out prematurely and see Iraq fall back into chaos.
O'DONNELL: Senators, I appreciate it, both I apologize.
REED: First, the timetable was set by the president after the election.
O'DONNELL: I apologize, we enjoyed your debating all day long on the Senate yesterday and again today and again on this show. So thank you very much to Senator Bond and Senator Reed.
And coming up, House Republican leader John Boehner talks about Iraq and why the House canceled a vote to renew the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965. By the way, for more on today's debate in the Senate, check out MSNBC.com for a look at how senators voted, especially the senators who are in tough reelection fights for 2006. And the ones that are thinking about running for president in 2008. You're watching HARDBALL on MSNBC.
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