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American Morning

Interview With Senator John Rockefeller

Aired September 10, 2003 - 09:07   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The Bush administration contends that Iraq is becoming a magnet for terrorists, so what's known about the groups now operating out of there? With us from Capitol Hill, as well, is Jay Rockefeller. He is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Good morning to you, sir. Thanks for joining us.

We heard in the president's speech -- he said that Iraq is now the central front in the war on terror. Also, in yesterday's testimony, as you are well aware, we heard that more foreign fighters are coming into Iraq.

One, do you think that that's true? Where did these -- was Iraq a terror front before the war? Did it happen before -- during the buildup to war? Is it happening more now? Weigh in on that for me, please.

SEN. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: Well, what really happened, what you're seeing in Iraq right now is, kind of, a vertical integration of terrorism. Yes, of course, there are Saddam loyalists, there are the Baathists, there are the people who hate America, some fundamentalists, some people from the outside, but there's, kind of, a vertical integration, all of those people within Iraq and from outside of Iraq, who've come in, who simply want to raise trouble to prevent us from bringing peace and democracy to Iraq.

And in an interesting way, Soledad, this is a situation which did not exist before the war. This kind of feeling did not exist before the war. It was one of the predicates upon which the president, in fact, went into Iraq that somehow we would be welcomed as liberators, and now it's turned out to be really quite differently because, I think, of a lack of understanding of Iraq and a lack of planning for Iraq in a postwar basis on their part.

So terrorists from all over and probably more to come.

O'BRIEN: Paul Wolfowitz seemed to say yesterday, though, then $87 billion is not such a big price tag, if it is the central front in the war on terror. Do you buy that?

ROCKEFELLER: It isn't the only central fund. I mean, that's an oxymoron. The central front for the war on terrorism is in Afghanistan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Yemen, Somalia, it's partly in this country. It's all over the world. That's the premise from the very beginning. It's a worldwide war. Al Qaeda is all over the world on all seven continents. And so, the rhetoric from the White House shifted a bit away from weapons of mass destruction, some of the things which we've used as a reason to get us into the war to -- and I don't blame them for this, because part of it is becoming true -- it is now a symbol of the war on terror. It is not the war on terrorism, but it is the principle symbol of the war on terrorism. And that's why we have to stay the course there and we have to do what's necessary to prevail.

O'BRIEN: Yesterday, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs said that more troops are not needed. I want to play you a little bit of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MYERS: In fact, it could work just to the opposite. The more Americans in Iraq, the less Iraqis might feel prompted to come forward and furnish the said intelligence, which is what we need so badly to deal with this threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: That's General Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. So do you agree with that, that more troops are not necessary?

ROCKEFELLER: I can't entirely agree with that. I'm not a general. I'm not in his position, obviously. But I have been to Iraq and to Kuwait and Qatar several times. So my view is that we need both more American troops and we need international troops.

The problem is twofold. One is with the international troops to get that work through the United Nations and to get them prepared in training and have the right kinds of troops that are needed, sent to Iraq. It's going to take a substantial number of months, between three and six months. That may be too late. Secondly, with respect to American troops, it's not popular to say that we need more American troops.

On the other hand, if the administration were to give those who are there serving now, and the National Guard, in particular, a date specific on which they knew they would be coming home, then the whole tension and misery associated with being there for that -- for undetermined periods of time would be abated.

We are going to have to send, as the British have, more troops to Iraq, if we want to get the place under control. If we want to simply worry about domestic politics, then we won't do it. But we want to get that place under control and to prevent international terrorism from reaching the -- our own shores quickly, then we need to do our part, as well as with the International people.

O'BRIEN: Senator Jay Rockefeller is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Thanks for joining us. Appreciate your time, sir.

ROCKEFELLER: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired September 10, 2003 - 09:07   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The Bush administration contends that Iraq is becoming a magnet for terrorists, so what's known about the groups now operating out of there? With us from Capitol Hill, as well, is Jay Rockefeller. He is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Good morning to you, sir. Thanks for joining us.

We heard in the president's speech -- he said that Iraq is now the central front in the war on terror. Also, in yesterday's testimony, as you are well aware, we heard that more foreign fighters are coming into Iraq.

One, do you think that that's true? Where did these -- was Iraq a terror front before the war? Did it happen before -- during the buildup to war? Is it happening more now? Weigh in on that for me, please.

SEN. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: Well, what really happened, what you're seeing in Iraq right now is, kind of, a vertical integration of terrorism. Yes, of course, there are Saddam loyalists, there are the Baathists, there are the people who hate America, some fundamentalists, some people from the outside, but there's, kind of, a vertical integration, all of those people within Iraq and from outside of Iraq, who've come in, who simply want to raise trouble to prevent us from bringing peace and democracy to Iraq.

And in an interesting way, Soledad, this is a situation which did not exist before the war. This kind of feeling did not exist before the war. It was one of the predicates upon which the president, in fact, went into Iraq that somehow we would be welcomed as liberators, and now it's turned out to be really quite differently because, I think, of a lack of understanding of Iraq and a lack of planning for Iraq in a postwar basis on their part.

So terrorists from all over and probably more to come.

O'BRIEN: Paul Wolfowitz seemed to say yesterday, though, then $87 billion is not such a big price tag, if it is the central front in the war on terror. Do you buy that?

ROCKEFELLER: It isn't the only central fund. I mean, that's an oxymoron. The central front for the war on terrorism is in Afghanistan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Yemen, Somalia, it's partly in this country. It's all over the world. That's the premise from the very beginning. It's a worldwide war. Al Qaeda is all over the world on all seven continents. And so, the rhetoric from the White House shifted a bit away from weapons of mass destruction, some of the things which we've used as a reason to get us into the war to -- and I don't blame them for this, because part of it is becoming true -- it is now a symbol of the war on terror. It is not the war on terrorism, but it is the principle symbol of the war on terrorism. And that's why we have to stay the course there and we have to do what's necessary to prevail.

O'BRIEN: Yesterday, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs said that more troops are not needed. I want to play you a little bit of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MYERS: In fact, it could work just to the opposite. The more Americans in Iraq, the less Iraqis might feel prompted to come forward and furnish the said intelligence, which is what we need so badly to deal with this threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: That's General Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. So do you agree with that, that more troops are not necessary?

ROCKEFELLER: I can't entirely agree with that. I'm not a general. I'm not in his position, obviously. But I have been to Iraq and to Kuwait and Qatar several times. So my view is that we need both more American troops and we need international troops.

The problem is twofold. One is with the international troops to get that work through the United Nations and to get them prepared in training and have the right kinds of troops that are needed, sent to Iraq. It's going to take a substantial number of months, between three and six months. That may be too late. Secondly, with respect to American troops, it's not popular to say that we need more American troops.

On the other hand, if the administration were to give those who are there serving now, and the National Guard, in particular, a date specific on which they knew they would be coming home, then the whole tension and misery associated with being there for that -- for undetermined periods of time would be abated.

We are going to have to send, as the British have, more troops to Iraq, if we want to get the place under control. If we want to simply worry about domestic politics, then we won't do it. But we want to get that place under control and to prevent international terrorism from reaching the -- our own shores quickly, then we need to do our part, as well as with the International people.

O'BRIEN: Senator Jay Rockefeller is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Thanks for joining us. Appreciate your time, sir.

ROCKEFELLER: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com