MR. RUSSERT: He has now become one of the president’s closest allies. What would he do about Iraq, Iran, immigration and the Christian right agenda? With us, probable 2008 presidential candidate Senator John McCain of Arizona.

Then, way back in 2003, this military man issued a warning about Iraq.

(Videotape, February 11, 2003):

GEN. ANTHONY ZINNI: This is, in my view, the worst time to take this on, and I don’t feel it needs to be done now.

(End videotape)

Story continues below ↓

MR. RUSSERT: His outspoken criticism of the war continues in his new book, “The Battle for Peace.” Our guest: the former commander in charge of U.S. central command, General Tony Zinni.

But first, he has just returned from his third visit to Iraq. With us, Senator John McCain.

Welcome back.

SEN. McCAIN: Thanks, Tim.

MR. RUSSERT: Senator, also in Iraq this morning, the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. There she is, meeting with the Iraqi prime minister. Do you believe that Mr. Jaafari is the man to lead Iraq?

SEN. McCAIN: I don’t know if he is or not. I think that that’s a decision that should be made by the Iraqis themselves. Do I think that Allawi was better, from my personal view and perhaps others? Yeah, but the urgency here, Tim, is the formation of a government. And I and my colleagues who visited, both with me and before me, tried to impress that on the Iraqi officials, that it’s been three months since they’ve had an election—more than three months. They need to form this government. The Iraqi people deserve it and it—I think we’re making progress in a lot of areas which I think I—we could discuss. But the fact that they haven’t formed a government is a great impediment to real progress in Iraq, there’s no doubt about it.

MR. RUSSERT: Are we in danger of losing?

SEN. McCAIN: I think that if—I—first of all I believe that they’ll form this government. I think they saw the abyss when the Golden Mosque was blown up and sectarian violence began. I think they will form it up, but obviously, if they don’t, if there’s not a government in Iraq, we’re, we’re, we’re in serious difficulty, but I think they’ve been impressed, including by Condi’s visit, that we need a government and we need it soon.

MR. RUSSERT: Are the Shiite and Sunni militias...

SEN. McCAIN: Mm-hmm.

MR. RUSSERT: ... more organized, stronger, than the Iraqi National Army?

SEN. McCAIN: I don’t believe so. I think one of the major areas where we’ve got problems with them is more in the police than in the army, and there is more control over the police in some areas by Sunni and Shia, and it’s complex. But I believe that the Iraqi army is showing significant progress. They are able to take over responsibilities in parts of Iraq that are now relatively calm. Have we got a long way to go? Yes. Is it hard? Yes. Tough? Difficult? Yes. But we are seeing results in that there is a reduction of American casualties. That’s good news. The bad news is the Iraqi casualties are going up. But we—in order to maintain American support, we’re going to have to see continued decline in American casualties.

MR. RUSSERT: Senator, there’s been so much discussion about misjudgments made.

SEN. McCAIN: Mm-hmm.

MR. RUSSERT: I want to go back to September of 2002 when you voted to authorize the president to go to war.

SEN. McCAIN: Mm-hmm.

MR. RUSSERT: A comment you made: “I am certain that this military engagement [in Iraq] will not be very difficult.”

SEN. McCAIN: Mm-hmm.

MR. RUSSERT: You were wrong.

SEN. McCAIN: Well, it wasn’t initially, as we all know. And I went over there shortly after the main part of the, the initial victory was over and talked to many people and came back and said vociferously and often that we needed more troops there, and that was the view of literally everyone I talked to. And serious mistakes were made right after the initial military victory, including raising the expectations of the American people. Those mistakes were made. I complained about them vociferously, others have joined me in that assessment. But we’re there now, Tim, and I’ll be glad to admit any mistake you want to. I’ll be glad to talk about WMD. I’ll be glad to talk about intelligence failure. We are there, we cannot fail. If we fail, the consequences in the Middle East and to us, eventually, are profound. The benefits of success are significant.

MR. RUSSERT: Would it be helpful if the president said to the American people, “I was wrong about weapons of mass destruction, and yes, we have not been greeted as liberators as we thought”?

CONTINUED

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