Transcript for March 19

GEN. CASEY: My, my general sense, Tim, is, is probably it—I did not think it would be as, as robust as it has been. And it’s something that obviously, with my time here on the ground, my thinking on that has gained much greater clarity and insight.

MR. RUSSERT: Do you believe that the insurgency is in its last throes, on its last legs?

GEN. CASEY: We’re seeing some interesting shifts in the insurgency, Tim. And there seems to be a greater willingness to come forward and talk about things, and talk about how they may want to work with the Iraqis to start building down this insurgency. And so I, I think that we, we will continue to make progress here with the insurgency over the course of, of this year.

MR. RUSSERT: You’re having negotiations with the insurgents?

GEN. CASEY: No, I said we are, we are seeing people coming forward and being more willing to talk. I’m, I’m not negotiating with any insurgents.

MR. RUSSERT: You’re having conversations with the insurgents?

GEN. CASEY: I’m, I’m not having any conversations with insurgents, Tim.

MR. RUSSERT: Then who are they talking to?

GEN. CASEY: They’re talking to political folks, people who, who talk to us, and passing messages.

MR. RUSSERT: Let me show you some polling data before you go about the American people’s attitudes towards Iraq, and get your sense there on the ground in Iraq. When asked whether U.S. troops in Iraq should maintain current level, 31 percent say yes; reduce the number, 61 percent. When asked whether there’ll be a successful conclusion on the war in Iraq, 32 percent say they are more confident that’ll be the case; 57 percent say they are less confident. And when asked whether the war in Iraq strengthened U.S. standing as a world leader, 28 percent say yes, but 50 percent say it has, the war has weakened U.S. standing as a world leader. As someone on the ground in Iraq, seeing those attitudes back home, what do you do about it? What do you think about it?

GEN. CASEY: Obviously, that’s not the way we feel here on the ground in Iraq. I do believe that we will be successful here. I do believe that when we are successful here, Iraq will emerge as a safe country here in the region that will deny itself as a, as a base for terrorism. I believe the region will be safer and I believe the United States of America will be safer when we succeed here, and we will.

I’ll tell you, just those, those numbers, I believe, come from perceptions of what they see on the ground here. And that’s—it’s a difficult nut to crack. Last week, I went out and drove around Baghdad for three hours, just to get my own sense of what’s, what the people of Baghdad were feeling. There’s a lot of bustle here, Tim, in Baghdad. There’s a lot of economic activity, storefronts crowded, goods stacked up on the street. And, and the traffic cops are wearing white shirts and neckties, not armored vests. So there’s a lot here that I don’t think people back in the United States get to see. And it’s, it’s probably difficult for them to feel the optimists—optimism that myself and my subordinate leaders and my members of the armed forces feel about the possibilities here in Iraq.

MR. RUSSERT: Can you continue to conduct a war without the support of the American people?

GEN. CASEY: Well, that’s—obviously, Tim, that’s a, that’s a political judgment there. I think the president spoke Monday and was very, very straightforward in his commitment to the success of this mission. And we, we find that here very heartening.

MR. RUSSERT: General George Casey, we wish the very best for you and for the very brave men and women on the ground there in Iraq.

GEN. CASEY: Tim, thank you very much. Nice to talk to you.

MR. RUSSERT: Thank you, sir.

Coming next, another view from an outspoken critic of the Bush administration’s policy in Iraq: Democratic Congressman John Murtha of Pennsylvania. He is here next on MEET THE PRESS, marking the third anniversary of the war in Iraq.

(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT: The views of Democratic war critic Congressman John Murtha after this brief station break.

(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT: And we are back. Congressman John Murtha, welcome back to MEET THE PRESS.

REP. JOHN MURTHA, (D-Pa.): Thank you.

MR. RUSSERT: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in today’s Washington Post has written an article, “What We’ve Gained in Three Years in Iraq.” What do you, John Murtha, believe we have gained after three years in Iraq?

REP. MURTHA: Well, let me say first, Tim, this is President Bush’s war. When he went into the war, he, he went against the advice of his father and the whole administration. He went against the advice of many of his military commanders. He went in without—with inadequate force for the transition to peace and then he had no exit strategy, so it’s their war. And what, what they’re trying to do is paint it as if there’s progress in order to be able to get out. What I see is not enough electricity, only 10 hours a day. I see not enough water, only 30 percent of the people have clean water. I, I see inadequate oil production. All those things were supposed to be part of, of getting this war under control. They have mishandled it, mischaracterized it.

Now, for instance, they said not long we’re going to have 75 percent of the country controlled by Iraqis. Well, I, I flew for an hour and 15 minutes over desert, wasn’t a soul—and that’s, that’s the territory I guess they’re talking about because in the Sunni Triangle, which is 40 percent of, of the country, the incidents have increased, unemployment’s 60 percent; in Anbar Province, the province that I visited, unemployment is 90 percent. So I don’t see the progress that they’re portraying and I don’t understand how they can continue to say that and the American public understands that and we understand it.

MR. RUSSERT: Secretary Rumsfeld in his article says this: “Turning our backs on postwar Iraq today would be the modern equivalent of handing postwar Germany back to the Nazis.”

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