[WCUSP] Lieberman Transcripts
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CBS News Transcripts
SHOW: Face the Nation 10:30 AM EST CBS
June 10, 2007 Sunday
HEADLINE: Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman discusses the war in Iraq
ANCHORS: BOB SCHIEFFER
BOB SCHIEFFER, host:
And with us now to give a slightly different perspective, or maybe a totally
different perspective, from New Haven, Connecticut, Senator Joseph
Lieberman, Independent Democrat, who is just back from Iraq.
Well, you heard Tony Snow there, Senator. He said the reason that they
decided not to reappoint Peter Pace to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
was because it would just cause a contentious hearing. You're a member of the
Armed Services Committee. Do you think that was a good thing for the president
to do? Was that a good reason to do that?
Senator JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (Independent, Connecticut): Well, I was surprised
by the reason that Secretary Gates for not--gave for not renominating General
Pace. It probably would have been a contentious hearing so there's some
substance to their concerns. But most any nominee sent up these days, including
General Lute, the new Iraq czar who we heard this week, who almost all of us--I
guess all of us will support, nonetheless, had a somewhat contentious
hearing. I think that Bob Gates has every right to have his own chairman of the
Joint Chiefs. General Pace served honorably and well. He's a great soldier, and I
think it was time to say thank you, and now let's bring Admiral Mullen on
and I was surprised they didn't say just that. It puts Admiral Mullen in an odd
position as if he was the--sort of the second choice. He's a--he's a top
rate...
SCHIEFFER: Well...
Sen. LIEBERMAN: ...soldier.
SCHIEFFER: Do you think it signals any type of a change in strategy? I guess
that's the important thing he re.
Sen. LIEBERMAN: Well, we'll see when we talk to Admiral Mullen, but so far
I don't think so. I think the president is holding firm and Secretary Gates
is. And the firmness, as I can tell you coming back from Iraq, Bob, is that you
can't look at Iraq in a vacuum. What we're involved in here, as General
Lute said to our committee last week, is the--Iraq is now the main front in the
long war we are fighting against the Islamist terrorists who attacked us on
9/11. In fact, 90 percent of the suicide bombers in Iraq today killing Iraqis
and American soldiers are foreign al-Qaeda fighters. Iran is training and
equipping soldiers, Iraqis to come in and kill American soldiers and Iraqis. So
we--we've got to see that larger context, and that's why we're committed to
helping the Iraqis to stability and victory.
SCHIEFFER: Well, let me just act--ask you about Iran. You brought up Iran.
What should we do? Because we continue to hear more and more of just what
you're saying. What should the United States do at this point about Iran?
Sen. LIEBERMAN: It's very important, Bob, because I didn't just go to Iraq,
I went visited throughout the Arab world and Israel. And what you see
throughout the Middle East is Iran in battle basically with us and the moderates,
supplying the extremists in Iraq, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas fighting the
Fatah faction, our allies among the Palestinians, and, of course, committing
terrorists acts against the Israelis. I'm not one to say we shouldn't sit down
with the Iranians. I'm glad we did that in Baghdad a while ago. What we did
was present them with evidence that we have that I've seen that I believe is
incontrovertible that the Iranians are training and equipping the Iraqi
extremists to come into Iraq, and they're killing American soldiers and Iraqis. And
I think this is a very important moment. If we're going to sit and talk
about the Iranians, tell them what we want them to do, which is to stop doing
that, because it's killing Americans, we can't leave it at that. I think we've
got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to
stop them from killing Americans in Iraq. And to me that would include a
strike into--over the border into Iran where I--we have good evidence that they
have a base at which they are training the se people coming back into Iraq to
kill our soldiers.
SCHIEFFER: Well, let's just stop right there, because I think you've
probably made some news here, Senator Lieberman. You're saying that, if the--if the
Iranians don't let up, that the United States should take military action
against them.
Sen. LIEBERMAN: I am, and I want to make clear I'm not talking about a
massive ground invasion of Iran or--but it--we have good evidence. We've told
them, we've said so publicly that the Iranians have a base in Iran at which they
are training Iraqis who are coming in and killing Americans. By some
estimates they have killed as many as 200 American soldiers. Well, we can tell them
we want them to stop that, but if there's any hope of the Iranians living
according to the international rule of law and stopping for instance their
nuclear weapons development, we can't just talk to them. If they don't play by the
rules, we've got to use our force and, to me, that would include taking
military action to stop them from doing what they're doing now.
SCHIEFFER: Would you go in on the ground, or could you do that from the air?
Sen. LIEBERMAN: I'd leave that to the--to the generals in charge. I think
you could probably do a lot of it from the air. But they can't believe that
they have immunity for training and equipping people to come in and kill
Americans. It's just--we cannot let them g et away with it. If we do, they'll take
that as a sign of weakness on our part, and we will pay for it in Iraq and
throughout the region, and ultimately right here at home.
SCHIEFFER: All right. Senator Lieberman, thank you so much for being with us
this morning. We'll be back in a moment with our roundtable to talk about
all this. In a minute.
(Announcements) [#####]
Fox News Network
SHOW: HANNITY'S AMERICA 9:12 PM EST
June 10, 2007 Sunday
TRANSCRIPT: 061002cb.268
HEADLINE: Interview with Joe Lieberman
BYLINE: Sean Hannity
GUESTS: Joe Lieberman
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity's America." In his first interview since
returning from the Middle East, I recently spoke one-on-one with Senator Joe
Lieberman about the current state of affairs in Iraq and who he plans on
endorsing for the White House in 2008. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANNITY: Al l right. And joining us now on "Hannity's America," Senator Joe
Lieberman.
Senator, welcome back to the program. Good to see you, my friend.
SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (ID), CONNECTICUT: You too, Sean, always good to see you,
thank you.
HANNITY: Let's talk about this -- you just got back. How many trips have you
had to Iraq? What number was this you just got back from?
LIEBERMAN: I think this was six. It might have been my seventh. The last
time I was there was December. So it's about a six-month separation.
HANNITY: Senator, what does it mean to you when you go over there every time
, you come back and talk about the progress and then, you know, you have
people in your party like Senator Clinton voted to send these guys there, then
they vote to cut off funding, you were very critical of the comments of Harry
Reid, the war is lost? What does that mean to you in terms of your
relationship with your own party?
LIEBERMAN: Well, this is nothing new. I feel like my perception of the
threat of Islamist extremist terrorism and the relevance of what's happening in
Iraq to the larger war we are fighting against the people who attacked us is so
different from most Democrats that I don't get it.
And look, this last trip, Sean, just last week, the relationship between
what a lot of people here in Washington about the war in Iraq and what is
actually happening on the ground in Iraq is truly coincident. In other words,
there's not much connection from the words of the critics to what's happening over
there.
HANNITY: But we are in the middle of this election season. You know it all
too well. You just came off a pretty tough election yourself here. As you
watch these debates, as you listen to these candidates, as I listen to you here,
I hear Joe Lieberman is more in-line with the Republican Party on the
defining issue of our time.
And that raises the question -- and this is not in disagreement. All of the
Democratic candidates want out of Iraq. Could you see yourself supporting
any of the major Republican candidates?
LIEBERMAN: I definitely could, Sean. I mean, I've got to tell you, just to
be a -- talk straight to you and those who are listening, so far in all of the
debates and public statements, it is certainl y the Republican -- the
leading Republican candidates for the presidential nomination that I am much more
in -- consistent with on the defining issue of our time.
You said it and I agree with it, which is the threat of Islamist extremist
terrorism, much more in-line with them than the leading Democratic candidates.
And it is why I have made up my own mind, I am not getting involved in this
presidential contest until after the two parties have their presumptive
nominees, and then I am going to support which ever candidate I believe will best
serve America regardless of party, and obviously that could include the
presumptive Republican nominee.
I mean, when John Edwards says that the war on terror is a bumper sticker
slogan, I'll tell you, from my trip to Iraq -- to the Middle East last week, I
went to three of our allied Arab nations an d Israel. And they know, the
Arabs and the Israelis that the war on terror is not a bumper sticker slogan for
politics. It is a reality that they live with every day and of course, we
should, too.
HANNITY: I agree with you too completely. Is there any one person running
for president, Republican or Democrat, that you think -- you know, you say --
they speak -- besides, you know, I'm not running, but I know when I speak you
say amen. But you say, that's me, that's my position, I can support that guy?
LIEBERMAN: Well, you know, look, John McCain and I are just the closest of
friends. So when he speaks about Iraq, Afghanistan, the war on terror, the
world, I agree with him. I think Rudy Giuliani has been very strong.
And I will tell you something else, Sean, because the way -- whatever you
think about -- the way the primaries are set up now, the left and the right
drive the nominees, but what's interesting to me so far is that it's on the
Republican side, whether you agree or not, that at least two of the candidates
have had the nerve to disagree with what the conventional political wisdom is
of the base of the party.
I'm talking about John McCain on immigration and Rudy Giuliani on abortion.
I haven't seen any of that willingness to take on any of the vested interest
groups within the left of the Democratic Party by the leading Democratic
candidates.
HANNITY: That's a great observation. In the state of Connecticut, your
state, if it was Rudy Giuliani versus Hillary Clinton today, who do you think
would win?
LIEBERMAN: Well, it's real interesting to say it. And I believe that I am
correct in saying that there was a poll that indicated that Rudy would be
ahead. I think that's true. So what's fascinating is that -- and we talked about
this. If you ask people generically, are you going to favor a Democrat for
president in '08 or a Republican, the Democrats are ahead 10 or 12 points.
But when you put the names in, Giuliani is ahead of most everybody, I'm not
just talking about Connecticut, but nationally. It's close, McCain is ahead
most of the candidates most of the time. And I think what that says is exactly
what we are talking about. And I hope the Democrats listen to it.
HANNITY: You think Rudy would be a good president?
LIEBERMAN: You are not trying to get me to -- you know, I said I would wait
until next February to decide. Yes, you know, from what I know of him, I
think he would be. And obviously I think there are some others who would be, too.
So it's too early to make a decision.
But this is important for our future, to say the obvious. And it's why I am
going to do this like an independent. And like I hope a lot of Democrats and
Republicans will, which is to go for the person I think will do the best for
America, not who wears a party label that I happen to wear.
HANNITY: Senator, appreciate you being with us. Thank you for being with us.
LIEBERMAN: Amen, thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE) [#####]
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