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American Morning

Interview with Senator Chuck Hagel

Aired October 30, 2003 - 08:18   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 CIA has until tomorrow to turn over documents relating to its prewar assessment of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. In a scathing letter from the Senate Intelligence Committee, Director George Tenet was given a deadline to cooperate.
Senator Chuck Hagel, who sits on the committee, joins us this morning from Washington, D.C.

Good morning to you, Senator.

Nice to see you.

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R-NB), SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Thanks for joining us.

HAGEL: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of what exactly you want to hear from George Tenet and why you think you're meeting so much resistance on this front.

HAGEL: I'm not sure we're meeting resistance on this front. The CIA has been cooperative. But the fact is we've given the CIA a lot of time to produce these documents. And I think the letter that Chairman Roberts and Vice Chairman Rockefeller sent Director Tenet was appropriate. We need to finish this inquiry. We need to close this chapter of this book. And I think it's only appropriate and responsible to have the CIA director, at his request, come before the Senate Intelligence Committee before we finalize our report.

O'BRIEN: With what you know right now, do you think that intelligence about the assessment of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was hyped or manipulated?

HAGEL: I think we should leave that to the end of the report. We do not have all the information yet. We are a long way down the road. But I think any premature conclusions without getting and having all the facts would be irresponsible.

O'BRIEN: What are your expectations about getting this information by Friday?

HAGEL: Oh, I think the CIA director understands the seriousness of the letter. I think it's in the interests of Mr. Tenet personally and also in the interests of the institution that he leads, a very important institution, the CIA, to get that information up here. We're very serious about it.

O'BRIEN: Let's turn and talk a little bit about intelligence resources in Iraq. There are several ways that those are being spent. But I want to look at two specifically. One is in the search for weapons of mass destruction. The second is in the search for the forces that are attacking coalition forces and civilians, as well.

Where do you think those resources should be focused? Of those specific two, what do you think is the bigger priority?

HAGEL: Well, the first priority and it is not just a priority for the short-term, but certainly for the long-term, and that is moving the Iraqi people into a position as soon as we can for them to defend themselves and govern themselves. Our resources should be focused on that. That means more translators working with the local population. That means an enhancement in the quality of their life. That means security, stability. That means moving special operations, civil affairs, police people, into positions that will help accomplish that.

Certainly weapons of mass destruction is an important component here. But I think the critical nature here is to understand we have a short window and that short window is going to make the difference in what kind of Iraq we will be dealing with, living with in the years to come. And if we lose that window -- and that means if we lose the people of Iraq, then we will have failed. And we cannot afford to fail.

O'BRIEN: The aid package to Iraq, the joint conference, as you well know, rejected a proposed loan so they went forward with a grant. Public opinion seems to actually side against that. Public opinion says we want a loan.

Do you have any concerns about going against public opinion in your support of a grant, not a loan?

HAGEL: I think the responsible approach here is the grant approach, as the president has laid it out. I supported it because for all the reasons the president has enunciated, it's important that the Iraqi people know that the United States is there to help them in every way. It makes no sense to try to pile on more debt onto a country that already is swimming in debt and reparations charges. And the fact is, let's be honest here what this is. This is really political cover.

There is no functioning government in Iraq that would take on this debt. We would never see the $10 billion in debt repayment. And I think to go before the world and say on one hand that we're here to help but on the other hand we're going to give this money to you as a loan has, at the very least, a bit of a credibility gap.

So the president's right. I'm glad the president was able to win some of our Republican colleagues back to his side. And I think we are far better off to approach it the way we are approaching it now.

O'BRIEN: Senator Chuck Hagel is a Republican from Nebraska. HAGEL: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Thanks for joining us, joining us live from Capitol Hill this morning.

HAGEL: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Appreciate it.

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 October 30, 2003 - 08:18   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 CIA has until tomorrow to turn over documents relating to its prewar assessment of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. In a scathing letter from the Senate Intelligence Committee, Director George Tenet was given a deadline to cooperate.
Senator Chuck Hagel, who sits on the committee, joins us this morning from Washington, D.C.

Good morning to you, Senator.

Nice to see you.

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R-NB), SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Thanks for joining us.

HAGEL: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of what exactly you want to hear from George Tenet and why you think you're meeting so much resistance on this front.

HAGEL: I'm not sure we're meeting resistance on this front. The CIA has been cooperative. But the fact is we've given the CIA a lot of time to produce these documents. And I think the letter that Chairman Roberts and Vice Chairman Rockefeller sent Director Tenet was appropriate. We need to finish this inquiry. We need to close this chapter of this book. And I think it's only appropriate and responsible to have the CIA director, at his request, come before the Senate Intelligence Committee before we finalize our report.

O'BRIEN: With what you know right now, do you think that intelligence about the assessment of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was hyped or manipulated?

HAGEL: I think we should leave that to the end of the report. We do not have all the information yet. We are a long way down the road. But I think any premature conclusions without getting and having all the facts would be irresponsible.

O'BRIEN: What are your expectations about getting this information by Friday?

HAGEL: Oh, I think the CIA director understands the seriousness of the letter. I think it's in the interests of Mr. Tenet personally and also in the interests of the institution that he leads, a very important institution, the CIA, to get that information up here. We're very serious about it.

O'BRIEN: Let's turn and talk a little bit about intelligence resources in Iraq. There are several ways that those are being spent. But I want to look at two specifically. One is in the search for weapons of mass destruction. The second is in the search for the forces that are attacking coalition forces and civilians, as well.

Where do you think those resources should be focused? Of those specific two, what do you think is the bigger priority?

HAGEL: Well, the first priority and it is not just a priority for the short-term, but certainly for the long-term, and that is moving the Iraqi people into a position as soon as we can for them to defend themselves and govern themselves. Our resources should be focused on that. That means more translators working with the local population. That means an enhancement in the quality of their life. That means security, stability. That means moving special operations, civil affairs, police people, into positions that will help accomplish that.

Certainly weapons of mass destruction is an important component here. But I think the critical nature here is to understand we have a short window and that short window is going to make the difference in what kind of Iraq we will be dealing with, living with in the years to come. And if we lose that window -- and that means if we lose the people of Iraq, then we will have failed. And we cannot afford to fail.

O'BRIEN: The aid package to Iraq, the joint conference, as you well know, rejected a proposed loan so they went forward with a grant. Public opinion seems to actually side against that. Public opinion says we want a loan.

Do you have any concerns about going against public opinion in your support of a grant, not a loan?

HAGEL: I think the responsible approach here is the grant approach, as the president has laid it out. I supported it because for all the reasons the president has enunciated, it's important that the Iraqi people know that the United States is there to help them in every way. It makes no sense to try to pile on more debt onto a country that already is swimming in debt and reparations charges. And the fact is, let's be honest here what this is. This is really political cover.

There is no functioning government in Iraq that would take on this debt. We would never see the $10 billion in debt repayment. And I think to go before the world and say on one hand that we're here to help but on the other hand we're going to give this money to you as a loan has, at the very least, a bit of a credibility gap.

So the president's right. I'm glad the president was able to win some of our Republican colleagues back to his side. And I think we are far better off to approach it the way we are approaching it now.

O'BRIEN: Senator Chuck Hagel is a Republican from Nebraska. HAGEL: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Thanks for joining us, joining us live from Capitol Hill this morning.

HAGEL: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Appreciate it.

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