Transcript for Sept. 17

SEN. ALLEN: The point is, is we made a decision. You got to stand by your decision and you can’t be constantly second-guessing, Monday-morning quarterbacking. My opponent is—the whole theme of his campaign is we should not have gone in. The question is: where do we go from now? And as a practical matter, listening to Mr. Webb’s...

MR. WEBB: Let’s not go into that, too, George.

SEN. ALLEN: ...listening to Mr. Webb’s statements...

MR. WEBB: I don’t—I’m waiting for you to say where you want to go.

SEN. ALLEN: ...there isn’t, there isn’t that much of a difference insofar as the future.

MR. RUSSERT: Is that true?

MR. WEBB: That’s absolutely not true, you know. I, I have not...

MR. RUSSERT: Could the money have been better spent?

MR. WEBB: Yes. We could have, we could have contained Iraq. If you want to take out Saddam Hussein, there are ways to take out Saddam Hussein. We did not need to go into a country, decapitate the government and inherit the, the responsibility of rebuilding it. And eventually that is going to fall to the other countries in the region. It’s just going to.

MR. RUSSERT: Senator Allen said your views are not much different in terms of the future.

MR. WEBB: I think, I think we have dramatically different views on how to approach this, because what I’m saying is what we need now a clear statement—if he agrees with this, then, then fine—we need a clear statement from this administration that we have no desire for a long-term presence in Iraq. And we need to convene an international conference with the countries in, in tangential and the countries that have cultural and historic ties to Iraq in order to have them move forward with us and, and assume some responsibility for the future of Iraq. The United States can’t do this.

MR. RUSSERT: Would you—wait, wait.

SEN. ALLEN: We have absolutely no interest—I have no interest and I—for us to be permanently in Iraq.

MR. RUSSERT: So, no permanent basis.

SEN. ALLEN: I want our...

MR. WEBB: Then would you vote against...

SEN. ALLEN: I—of—I, I have voted...

MR. WEBB: ...would you vote against the appropriations for these four large bases in the remote areas of Iraq?

SEN. ALLEN: Look, we have voted three...

MR. WEBB: This came up again, this came up again this weekend.

SEN. ALLEN: It sure did. It sure did. I’m glad you noticed that this time.

MR. WEBB: Mm-hmm.

SEN. ALLEN: The, the point of the matter is, is I have no interest and the United States has no interest to be permanently in Iraq. I want our troops home the second possible.

MR. RUSSERT: So, no permanent bases.

SEN. ALLEN: Of course no permanent U.S. bases. But the four bases that my opponent will talk about all the time, that we’re building these bases, is a consolidation. It’s for force protection and so have...

MR. WEBB: And so how long are we going to be in these, in these bases?

SEN. ALLEN: Well, no longer than necessary. The Iraqis...

MR. WEBB: If your—if, if, if our conventional mission is done in the cities of Iraq, we should be getting our conventional forces out of Iraq.

SEN. ALLEN: Sure, of course. And you...

MR. WEBB: Not into the remote areas of Iraq.

SEN. ALLEN: Well, no, there—look, you cannot...

MR. RUSSERT: Let me...

SEN. ALLEN: Jim, you know this, it’s important for force protection. It’s important to have the military...

MR. WEBB: There is no—as long as the United States forces...

SEN. ALLEN: ...options, whether it’s ground forces or air forces.

MR. WEBB: ...conventional forces are in Iraq there will not be peace in the Middle East.

SEN. ALLEN: No, that’s not the...

MR. WEBB: That is the point. That is different from Kuwait, that is different from Qatar.

MR. RUSSERT: All right. Let, let, let me turn...

SEN. ALLEN: No, no, no, no, no. Let’s get on these bases. The bases are to protect our forces. They’re hardened, they’re buffered so they can’t be hit by, by terrorist attacks. They are being shared, they are being...

MR. WEBB: I think George has a fundamental misunderstanding of how the military is, is used...

SEN. ALLEN: ...they, they are being shared—no, you don’t under...

MR. WEBB: ...if he believes that you can—if that—you’re still going to be able to assist in these city areas like Ramadi from remote bases somewhere.  That’s just not true. That’s just not true.

MR. RUSSERT: All right. Let me...

SEN. ALLEN: Hold it, whoa, whoa, whoa. Tim, you’re saying...

MR. RUSSERT: No, no, no, we, we have a...

SEN. ALLEN: ...you’re saying, you’re saying that we ought to move...

MR. RUSSERT: ...we obviously have a disagreement on this...

SEN. ALLEN: ...all these folks out of the area and, and that’s the way to handle it by moving them to Kuwait and elsewhere.

MR. RUSSERT: All right.

SEN. ALLEN: The point of the matter is, is the Iraqis will ultimately take over these bases.

MR. WEBB: Then we do not need bases—we do not need American bases in Iraq.

That’s the point.

MR. RUSSERT: All right. Let me, let me move...

SEN. ALLEN: We need to protect our forces.

MR. WEBB: Iraqis can build their own bases. You’re not protecting forces if you’re sitting in one area.

MR. RUSSERT: This is obviously an area of disagreement. But we have to move on. We, we have a limited amount of...

MR. WEBB: So let, let the record show that we are not totally aligned on this issue.

MR. RUSSERT: All right. Then let me move on to a different issue.

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