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American Morning
Interview With Senators Chuck Hagel, Richard Lugar, Joe Biden
Aired June 19, 2003 - 07:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: More than 50 American soldiers have died in Iraq since the end of the major fighting in the war was declared by President Bush. And one of the questions being asked is: How long will troops be required to stay?
A congressional delegation is heading to Iraq soon to study the volatile situation there. Three senators that will be in that coalition are with us. Chuck Hagel is in Washington, Richard Lugar from Delaware, and Joe Biden also joining us.
Senators, good morning to all of you.
SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R-NE), FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: Good morning.
SEN. RICHARD LUGAR (R-IN), FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: Good morning.
SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: Good morning.
KAGAN: Senator Hagel, I'm going to go ahead and start with you. With all of the news we're getting out of Iraq and the volatile situation, do you believe that U.S. forces are adequately prepared to deal with the situation there? And how long will they have to stay?
HAGEL: Well, as to how long they'll be there, they'll be there for some time. Senator Lugar has said that he thinks probably five years is a realistic timeframe. I suspect that's right. We don't yet know.
We are dealing with many unknowns. It is volatile. It's dangerous. It's complicated. And the sooner we can bring civil order and security and stability to that country -- and that must come as well as a result of working with our allies and with especially our regional allies. The people of Iraq need to be brought into this process as quickly as possible. But this is difficult. We're making a lot of it up as we go along.
KAGAN: And do you think that's the right way to handle it? Should some of this been planned better in advance?
HAGEL: Well, more planning should have been put into the post- Saddam Iraq. I don't think there is any question about that. But the fact is we are where we are. We need to move forward. We have much at stake. Our credibility is at stake, our trust, our word. The region is at stake. The Middle East peace process is involved in this, is wrapped into this peace and woven into this fabric. So we must go forward. It is American leadership, along with our allies, being part of this that will change the world there, and we have a unique opportunity to do that.
KAGAN: Senator Lugar, let's bring you in here. You're chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. You made some statements last week suggesting that Americans definitely know how to support the country and support a war effort, but perhaps not as much a rebuilding effort. Do you think that's what's happening here with Iraq?
LUGAR: Well, that's a general problem that we're going to have, not only in Iraq and continuing in Afghanistan, but in the future. We're well-prepared to fight wars. In fact, we're the best, with our weapons, our training and our ability to win. But as our committee pointed out during hearings before the war, the problem was the day after. And it was perfectly clear that we are not prepared as a country, because we have been against nation-building, against peacekeeping, against doing the tough things that require police work and reconstruction and the rest of it.
Now, we're going to get better at it. As Senator Hagel has said, we are getting better every day. There is no need to cry over spilled milk, but we really need to prepare for the future in which we have extraordinary range with our forces, ability really to change the world, but we have to have talented Americans who know how to administer the day after and provide security for the people we're dealing with.
KAGAN: Senator Biden, you're our token Democrat here this morning, so I'm going to bring you in with this question here. A lot of frustrated people out there, both before the war and now, saying that there were legitimate questions, there was a legitimate voice about people who had questions about the war, about people who had questions about weapons of mass destruction. And yet, there's a feeling out there that to bring up those questions is somehow unpatriotic, and a feeling that that viewpoint is not represented in Congress. Where are the Democrats in speaking up for those people?
BIDEN: Well, first of all, the Democrats are split, like the Republicans are split, in terms of the intensity of which they think we should or should not have gone into Iraq. I, for one, thought we should have gone in Iraq. I also said at the time, as far back as August, that I thought the administration was exaggerating the threat of weapons of mass destruction.
But one of the things we have done in the committee, which I think is important for my chairmanship through Senator Lugar's, is we've made this as bipartisan as we can, and we have talked about the easy part, to the extent anything is easy, we'd be winning the war. The hard part would be winning the peace.
And really what's at stake here now is whether or not we're going to be committed to nation-building. We said as far back as almost a year ago in a bipartisan way we thought we, the Congress, we, the Foreign Relations Committee, thought we'd have to be in Iraq for the decade after, not for the day after. And the administration is now just coming to the realization, I think, that they are going to have to be nation-builders, something they skewed for some time.
So, I think it's important to stay bipartisan, if we can keep it that way. And, so far, it has been that way. And that's why the three of us, who have worked together, including Chuck and I have gone to Iraq once already in northern Iraq, it's important that we get it right and focus on where we go from here.
KAGAN: And that was my follow-up question. Senator Hagel and Senator Biden, as you mentioned, you were there in December. You went to northern Iraq. You visited with Kurdish leaders. Did that give you a taste of just how difficult it's going to be for this country not to just get itself on its feet, but you have such divergent groups in terms of religion and culture, will they be able to pull it together and come up with a country that they can rule by themselves?
HAGEL: Well, that's the great imponderable here and part of the great challenge. Just as you stated, the variety of interests and ethnic groups, tribal, religious dynamics that are interwoven into this fabric must now be incorporated into a government, into a government that can be democratic and represent all of the people and rule Iraq. That is going to take some time.
KAGAN: Senators Hagel, Lugar, Biden, Senators, good morning, and thanks for being with us.
HAGEL: Thank you.
LUGAR: Thank you.
BIDEN: Thank you.
KAGAN: And we wish you safe travels as you head overseas.
BIDEN: Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Biden>
Aired June 19, 2003 - 07:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: More than 50 American soldiers have died in Iraq since the end of the major fighting in the war was declared by President Bush. And one of the questions being asked is: How long will troops be required to stay?
A congressional delegation is heading to Iraq soon to study the volatile situation there. Three senators that will be in that coalition are with us. Chuck Hagel is in Washington, Richard Lugar from Delaware, and Joe Biden also joining us.
Senators, good morning to all of you.
SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R-NE), FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: Good morning.
SEN. RICHARD LUGAR (R-IN), FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: Good morning.
SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: Good morning.
KAGAN: Senator Hagel, I'm going to go ahead and start with you. With all of the news we're getting out of Iraq and the volatile situation, do you believe that U.S. forces are adequately prepared to deal with the situation there? And how long will they have to stay?
HAGEL: Well, as to how long they'll be there, they'll be there for some time. Senator Lugar has said that he thinks probably five years is a realistic timeframe. I suspect that's right. We don't yet know.
We are dealing with many unknowns. It is volatile. It's dangerous. It's complicated. And the sooner we can bring civil order and security and stability to that country -- and that must come as well as a result of working with our allies and with especially our regional allies. The people of Iraq need to be brought into this process as quickly as possible. But this is difficult. We're making a lot of it up as we go along.
KAGAN: And do you think that's the right way to handle it? Should some of this been planned better in advance?
HAGEL: Well, more planning should have been put into the post- Saddam Iraq. I don't think there is any question about that. But the fact is we are where we are. We need to move forward. We have much at stake. Our credibility is at stake, our trust, our word. The region is at stake. The Middle East peace process is involved in this, is wrapped into this peace and woven into this fabric. So we must go forward. It is American leadership, along with our allies, being part of this that will change the world there, and we have a unique opportunity to do that.
KAGAN: Senator Lugar, let's bring you in here. You're chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. You made some statements last week suggesting that Americans definitely know how to support the country and support a war effort, but perhaps not as much a rebuilding effort. Do you think that's what's happening here with Iraq?
LUGAR: Well, that's a general problem that we're going to have, not only in Iraq and continuing in Afghanistan, but in the future. We're well-prepared to fight wars. In fact, we're the best, with our weapons, our training and our ability to win. But as our committee pointed out during hearings before the war, the problem was the day after. And it was perfectly clear that we are not prepared as a country, because we have been against nation-building, against peacekeeping, against doing the tough things that require police work and reconstruction and the rest of it.
Now, we're going to get better at it. As Senator Hagel has said, we are getting better every day. There is no need to cry over spilled milk, but we really need to prepare for the future in which we have extraordinary range with our forces, ability really to change the world, but we have to have talented Americans who know how to administer the day after and provide security for the people we're dealing with.
KAGAN: Senator Biden, you're our token Democrat here this morning, so I'm going to bring you in with this question here. A lot of frustrated people out there, both before the war and now, saying that there were legitimate questions, there was a legitimate voice about people who had questions about the war, about people who had questions about weapons of mass destruction. And yet, there's a feeling out there that to bring up those questions is somehow unpatriotic, and a feeling that that viewpoint is not represented in Congress. Where are the Democrats in speaking up for those people?
BIDEN: Well, first of all, the Democrats are split, like the Republicans are split, in terms of the intensity of which they think we should or should not have gone into Iraq. I, for one, thought we should have gone in Iraq. I also said at the time, as far back as August, that I thought the administration was exaggerating the threat of weapons of mass destruction.
But one of the things we have done in the committee, which I think is important for my chairmanship through Senator Lugar's, is we've made this as bipartisan as we can, and we have talked about the easy part, to the extent anything is easy, we'd be winning the war. The hard part would be winning the peace.
And really what's at stake here now is whether or not we're going to be committed to nation-building. We said as far back as almost a year ago in a bipartisan way we thought we, the Congress, we, the Foreign Relations Committee, thought we'd have to be in Iraq for the decade after, not for the day after. And the administration is now just coming to the realization, I think, that they are going to have to be nation-builders, something they skewed for some time.
So, I think it's important to stay bipartisan, if we can keep it that way. And, so far, it has been that way. And that's why the three of us, who have worked together, including Chuck and I have gone to Iraq once already in northern Iraq, it's important that we get it right and focus on where we go from here.
KAGAN: And that was my follow-up question. Senator Hagel and Senator Biden, as you mentioned, you were there in December. You went to northern Iraq. You visited with Kurdish leaders. Did that give you a taste of just how difficult it's going to be for this country not to just get itself on its feet, but you have such divergent groups in terms of religion and culture, will they be able to pull it together and come up with a country that they can rule by themselves?
HAGEL: Well, that's the great imponderable here and part of the great challenge. Just as you stated, the variety of interests and ethnic groups, tribal, religious dynamics that are interwoven into this fabric must now be incorporated into a government, into a government that can be democratic and represent all of the people and rule Iraq. That is going to take some time.
KAGAN: Senators Hagel, Lugar, Biden, Senators, good morning, and thanks for being with us.
HAGEL: Thank you.
LUGAR: Thank you.
BIDEN: Thank you.
KAGAN: And we wish you safe travels as you head overseas.
BIDEN: Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Biden>
