Length:
6:24
LARGE (74.1 MB) -----
SMALL (7.9 MB)
CAMPBELL
BROWN: Important news today about one of the biggest
issues in this campaign, the war in Iraq. And we are
showing you the numbers right now. The U.S. now has
146,000 troops in Iraq. Today, though, President Bush
announced that, by early next year, some 8,000 troops
will leave without being replaced.
The president also announced he's shifting about
4,500 U.S. troops into Afghanistan to beef up the
fight there against the Taliban and al Qaeda. He says
conditions in Iraq are improving.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:
Reduced levels of violence in Iraq have been
sustained for several months. While the progress in
Iraq is still fragile and reversible, General
Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker report that there now
appears to be a degree of durability to the gains we
have made.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: So, even before today's announcement, it was
clear that either President McCain or President Obama
will have to decide the future of U.S. forces in
Iraq.
So, we're going to listen to what both candidates are
saying about Iraq today, put it to our "no bias, no
bull" test.
Who better to do that than CNN correspondent Michael
Ware.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, yeah.
BROWN: He has been stationed in Baghdad for years,
and just happens to be stateside and here in the
ELECTION CENTER tonight.
Welcome to you.
WARE: Yeah, glad to be here.
BROWN: We're going to do this. We're going to hear
from both candidates. So, let's first listen to what
John McCain said today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We
have succeeded in Iraq. And we are winning. And our
troops will come home with victory and honor. They
will come home with victory and honor.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: If Senator Obama had had his way, we would
have suffered defeat, Iranian influence would have
increased, and we would face greater chaos in the
region.
Senator Obama has refused to acknowledge that he was
wrong about the surge. He said it wouldn't succeed.
Thanks to General David Petraeus and these brave
young Americans, we are winning in Iraq.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: And we will come home with honor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Okay. So, reality check on McCain. Are we
really winning in Iraq, and is the surge the reason?
WARE: Well, first, let me say, the troops will come
home with honor regardless. I mean, the way they have
comported themselves in this war, they have earned
that honor.
Winning, however, is a matter of definition. Now, if
by winning, you mean strengthening a member of what
President Bush called the axis of evil, Iran, the
very thing Senator McCain says that they prevented:
Iran is stronger because of this war.
If you mean by dividing a community with blast
barriers, if you mean by having to build an American
militia, if you mean by destabilizing the entire
region, then, sure, that's winning, that's victory.
But I'm not sure that's why people went in there.
BROWN: It doesn't sound like you think that's
winning.
WARE: Well, at this point, a win may just be getting
out while minimizing the damage.
Now, to what degree has the surge played into this?
Again, that's a matter of definition. What exactly is
the surge? I would love to hear Senator McCain
explain that -- 30,000 troops...
BROWN: The increase in troops, the 30,000 troops.
That's what he means, though, when he says it, right?
WARE: Yeah, well, if that's what he means, then he
has no idea what is going on in Iraq, because what
has delivered the successes we're seeing now, as
drops of 80 to 90 percent in violence, and who
doesn't welcome that, began two years ago or more,
when the U.S. began engaging with its enemy, the
Sunni insurgency, when it started bringing in al
Qaeda, and putting them on the U.S. government
payroll, setting them loose on hard-core al Qaeda
elements, and setting them loose on Shia militias.
BROWN: So, strategy, rather than the 30,000 troops?
WARE: Yeah, the 30,000 troops was sort of like the
icing on the cake.
BROWN: Right.
WARE: But the success that you're seeing right now
has been building for two years. And it also includes
accommodating someone who was one of your number-one
enemies, which was Muqtada al-Sadr, and turning him
into a legitimate political figure.
BROWN: Okay, hold on, because we want to hear from
Barack Obama. He's also talking about Iraq today.
But, instead of hitting back at John McCain, he
called in reporters. He went after President Bush.
And here's part of what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Today
President Bush announced a very modest troop
redeployment from Iraq. Meanwhile, we will continue
to keep nearly 140,000 troops in Iraq while our
military is overstretched, which is still at or even
above pre-surge levels. We will continue to spend $10
billion a month in Iraq, while the Iraqi government
sits on a $79 billion surplus. In the absence of a
timetable to remove our combat brigades, we will
continue to give Iraq's leaders a blank check,
instead of pressing them to reconcile their
differences.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: All right, so timetable is what he keeps
hammering away at.
WARE: Yes.
BROWN: Is it -- would that really help? And if we
don't set a timetable, are we in fact giving them a
blank check?
WARE: Well, who doesn't want to see the men and women
in uniform coming home? That's a domestic issue,
though.
But it's so disheartening to think that people
honestly believe that a timetable of American
withdrawal in any way terrifies or pressures the
Iraqi government. I mean, while the U.S. troops are
there, sure, they are fine. They are happy to have
the troops there for a certain period. It allows them
to consolidate their power. It allows them to build
upon the militias that they have already developed,
to enhance the Iranian influence that they had when
they went in there, and to get ready for what comes.
But, if the U.S. troops left tomorrow, they would be
just as happy to set the dogs loose. So the real test
for America is not timetables. It's, how are you
going to manage the dynamics of horror and tension
that you're going to leave behind. That's the real
issue.
BROWN: Well beyond the timetable. Michael Ware for us
tonight. Michael, as always, thanks.
WARE: Great pleasure, Campbell.
BROWN: Good to have you here in person, too.
WARE: Nice to be here.
BROWN: All right. Stay with us. A lot more in the
ELECTION CENTER. We'll be right back.