MTP Transcript for Nov. 19

MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: on election night, there were two Senate races too close to call. The next day, Democrats Jim Webb of Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana were declared winners, giving Democrats control of the U.S. Senate. How will these two independent-minded and outspoken senators shape the debate on Iraq, the economy, and congressional prerogative?  With us, Senator-elect Jim Webb and Senator-elect Jon Tester, together only on MEET THE PRESS.

Then...

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PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH: If Iran has a nuclear weapon, it’ll be incredibly destabilizing.

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MR. RUSSERT: Iran continues its nuclear ambition. Can there be a diplomatic solution? Our guests: Ted Koppel of the Discovery Channel, whose two-hour documentary, “Iran-The Most Dangerous Nation,” debuts tonight; and Robin Wright, author and diplomatic correspondent for The Washington Post.

And in our MEET THE PRESS MINUTE, Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman died this week at the age of 94. He appeared here almost 25 years ago, and was asked to forecast our economic future.

But first, two of the newest Democratic members of the U.S. Senate: Jon Tester of Montana, Jim Webb of Virginia.

Gentlemen, welcome both.

SEN.-ELECT JIM WEBB (D-VA): Good to be here. Thank you.

MR. RUSSERT: Senator Webb, let me start with you. The election, held 12 days ago. Looking back now, what were the voters saying?

SEN.-ELECT WEBB: Well, I think—you know, I can’t, I can’t comment for the whole country. I think that there’s a lot of concern everywhere I went about Iraq, and a lot of concern about the, the issues of economic fairness in this country, and thirdly, accountability. Those were the third theme—the three themes that I ran on during the campaign, and that’s what we were hearing.

MR. RUSSERT: Senator-Elect Tester, what did the voters say 12 days ago in Montana?

SEN.-ELECT JON TESTER (D-MT): Well, I think it revolves around many of the same issues that Jim talked about. I think fiscal responsibility I’d also add to that mix. But health care, energy, what’s going on in foreign policy, and, and what’s going on ethically back in Washington, D.C., were definitely issues that I heard about.

MR. RUSSERT: Jim Webb, let me show you and our viewers what you said during the campaign about Iraq. “If we want a new direction in Iraq, we need a new team in Congress. A Democratic Congress will demand from day one that the President find a real way forward in Iraq.” What’s “a real way forward”?

SEN.-ELECT WEBB: Well, first of all, I, I was saying even before we went in that there were three major issues in the Middle East that had to be addressed. One was the Israeli/Arab situation, the other was terrorism, and the third was, was Iraq, and that if we lumped them together that we risked in—having a problem with all three of them. That has happened.

So in the—in looking at Iraq, you need a larger scope than simply what’s going on with—with the government, with the troops inside, which people keep talking about. And I’m looking forward to hearing what the Baker commission comes forward with, the Iraq Study Group. But what we need—and I’ve been saying this for more than two years—is a diplomatic approach that will bring the countries in the region to the table so that we can have ownership, some ownership, diplomatic ownership from the countries that have long-term cultural and historical ties with Iraq. And from that umbrella, then we can address the issue of moving our combat troops out and still affecting the war against international terrorism. I think that’s doable. It’s a leadership question rather than simply an issues question, and that’s what I’m looking forward to trying to bring to the table.

MR. RUSSERT: You’re talking about Iran and Syria.

SEN.-ELECT WEBB: We need to talk to Iran and Syria. I think it was a great mistake not to as this moves forward, and that’s one thing that I’ve been encouraged to hear from former Secretary of State Baker that, you know, you need to talk to your, your enemies as well as your friends. You don’t have to give up anything in terms of, you know, national concerns to be talking to them, but it’s impossible to resolve the situation now without talking to them.

MR. RUSSERT: Jon Tester, during the campaign this is what your Web site said: “An open-ended occupation is not in the best interest of the United States, the Iraqi people, or the Middle East. The time has come to support our troops by laying out a plan to bring them home.” Realistically, what kind of plan would you lay out to bring the troops home?

SEN.-ELECT TESTER: Well, I think many of the things that, that Senator-elect Webb talked about would be part of the plan. But I will tell you, we, we need to work with our allies within—in the region. We also need to talk to our enemies and put diplomatic pressure on them. But we also need to visit with our allies around the world to, to develop a plan to, to make, to make this war come to some sort of conclusion and get our troops home. Right now, as it was—been for, you know, since I got into this race in May of ‘05, there is no plan, and, and there’s no end in sight to this. And, and we really need to focus on, on the war on terror and national security issues. And I think that this war has taken our focus off of that.

That being said, we’re there. And as some folks told me on the campaign route, there’s really no easy solution here. Getting out tomorrow isn’t, isn’t probably the right thing to do; staying and getting out later’s probably not the right thing to do, and that’s why we do need to have a plan. The president as commander in chief needs to provide leadership in this, and in the process we all need to work together and get something that really works for this country and works for the Middle East also.

MR. RUSSERT: Jon Tester, is it fair to say that neither the Democrats nor President Bush at this time really have a plan?

SEN.-ELECT TESTER: Well, I mean, possibly. I mean, I think, I think ultimately what, what’s really fair to say is that what’s been going on there hasn’t been working. And, and we need to come up with, with some, with some focus on, on the war in Iraq. And we need to all understand that, you know, what’s going on there hasn’t been successful. We’re losing lives, it’s costing money, I think we’re losing stature in the world. And so it’s important that we, we, we broaden the scope of, of who we’re working with, and, and, and come up to some sort of solution that works for this country, and really focus on Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda and those kind of things that, that we were focused on, you know, four years ago.

MR. RUSSERT: Jim Webb, John Abizaid, the military commander for the Middle East, came to Congress, and this is what he testified to on Wednesday, “that to begin a significant troop withdrawal from Iraq over the next six months would lead to an increase in sectarian killings and hamper efforts to persuade the Iraqi government to make the difficult decisions needed to secure the country.” Your reaction?

SEN.-ELECT WEBB: Well, I can, I can understand why the military people would have concerns about the notion of beginning this process with the announcement of troop withdrawals. It’s, it’s almost backwards from the way that we should be solving it. There’s a tremendous amount of sectarian violence either way and there’s, and there’s going to be. There are limits to what our military can do. And what I’ve been proposing and which—something I think that General Abizaid might, might have a different feeling about if he were testifying, I would think, is that we need a diplomatic approach that creates some stability, some agreement among the players in the region. They all have long-term interests, obviously, in, in the stability of, of Iraq, and from that approach then you begin troop withdrawals and—of combat troops, and still be able to affect the issue of international terrorism. That is a workable formula, I think, and it goes a long way toward addressing the situation that he was talking about.

MR. RUSSERT: What happens if the situation deteriorates and it becomes a whole widespread civil war, total chaos? What do we do then?

SEN.-ELECT WEBB: Well, again, there are limits to what the United States military can do in that region. And, in fact, when the United States is operating unilaterally, it creates further potential for the kind of thing that you’re talking about because of the resentments of having the, the, the United States there alone.

So the, the key, to me, for years has been getting these countries that are tangential and other countries that have long-term interests in the stability of Iraq to take some diplomatic ownership. And we did this in, in ‘01 after we went into Afghanistan when, when we were putting the formula together that resulted in the Karzai government, we got the countries tangential to Afghanistan and others, including Iran, by the way, Iran, India, Pakistan, to become a part of the, the process that created the, the, the solution, the governmental solution. And that’s what you need in Iraq, in, in my view. You need these countries to have—to—with, with—some of them with compatible ethnic populations and this sort of thing to, to be participating so that there is some accountability in the region other than the United States for a solution.

MR. RUSSERT: You are a highly-decorated veteran; back in 1985, you were on MEET THE PRESS as second—assistant secretary of defense, reflecting on Vietnam. And let me show you what you said then and come back and talk about it.

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