CNN The Situation Room - Transcript

CNN The Situation Room - Transcript

I'm Wolf Blitzer and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

As President Bush seeks advice over Iraq's future, one Democratic Senator is offering this suggestion -- come up with a policy based on realism, not slogans. He says that's what American troops deserve.

And joining us now from Capitol Hill, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Democrat, a key member of the Armed Services Committee.

Senator, you don't want any more U.S. troops to go in, even if, what, the military commanders say they need a surge for six months, 20,000, 30,000, 50,000 in order to get the job done? You think that would be a bad idea?

SEN. JACK REED (D), RHODE ISLAND: I think that they would have to justify very carefully the increase in troops. I think they would have to and the president would have to define the mission clearly; also, the resources necessary; the effects on the Army. And I'm a little bit dubious about a short surge, because, frankly, one of the mistakes that we've made persistently in Iraq has been these short little momentary adjustments without thinking the long -- taking the long view.

So I would have to be convinced, I think, that a surge of troops like that, particularly on the order of 20,000 to 25,000 would be effective.

BLITZER: The troops are now getting ready for their fourth, fourth Christmas in Iraq.

If the U.S. hasn't been able to get the job done so far -- and it seems to be getting worse on the ground on a daily basis -- what makes you think another six months, another year is going to make much of a difference?

REED: Well, the critical decisions that have to be made there are not essentially military, they're political, and they have to be made by the government of Iraq. They have to take real steps to suppress these militias. They have to take real steps for reconciliation. And if these political decisions are made, today with economic investment and a real attempt to get people to work, then we might have a different context in which the military effects can work.

So I think the emphasis has to be and should be on these political decisions that the Iraqi government must make immediately.

BLITZER: I spoke the other day with Republican Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon, a man you know. He simply says he's at the end of his rope right now, as far as Iraq is concerned.

Are you at the end of your rope?

REED: Well, I believe we're at a moment of critical decision. This is the last best opportunity to get a strategy in place that'll work, that will deal with the regional consequences, that will have realistic goals and resources to accomplish those goals.

Time is clearly running out. When General Abizaid was before the Armed Services Committee last month, he talked in terms of four to six months. And we're losing time.

That's why the president, I think, has to move out very quickly with his revised strategy and make a compelling case to the American public that this is real change that will realistically deal with the issue on the ground in Iraq.

BLITZER: So I take it you're not yet ready to go along with Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich?

He was here in THE SITUATION ROOM yesterday. He's now running for the Democratic presidential nomination. He wants funding for the war simply to be cut off right away.

REED: I don't think that's the appropriate approach. We have 140,000 American soldiers and Marines and other members of the American forces in Iraq. We have troops in Afghanistan. They deserve the full support of the United States.

I think we have got to get the policy right and that's the responsibility, right at this moment, of the president. He has to look at these facts. He has to develop a path forward that will be based on realism and not on slogans, and one that will recognize that we're in a very serious situation and we have to manage the consequences of the mistakes that he and his administration has made.

BLITZER: He says, Congressman Kucinich, there's $70 billion in the pipeline that's already been approved, appropriated, use that money to withdraw the troops.

REED: Well, I just think that what we suffered throughout, and particularly at the hands of the administration, is a poor strategy, and a strategy that doesn't recognize the consequences of what we're doing.

The administration went into Iraq with the very grandiose ideas of being greeted as liberators, etc. and the reality has to be faced. The reality is that there are real consequences to a precipitous withdrawal. There are real consequences to not getting a stable situation in place or trying all we can in Iraq. And I think we have to be cognizant of that. So I'm not one who would say just -- you know, right now just start pulling out.

BLITZER: Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island.

Senator, thanks very much for coming in.

REED: Thanks, Wolf.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0612/13/sitroom.02.html