'Meet the Press' transcript for August 3, 2008

MR. BROKAW: Many people believe it wouldn't have been possible for it to be as successful as it was without the surge, however.

SEN. KERRY: I, I, I, I...

SEN. LIEBERMAN: It, it would not have been. It simply would not have been. I mean...

SEN. KERRY: But, but what's the precondition...

SEN. LIEBERMAN: John, in saying this...

SEN. KERRY: Joe, let me finish.

SEN. LIEBERMAN: I know you don't intend this...

SEN. KERRY: Let me just finish. Let me just finish.

SEN. LIEBERMAN: ...but in saying this, you're showing disrespect for the contribution and service and sacrifice...

SEN. KERRY: No, I just--excuse me.

SEN. LIEBERMAN: ...of the American soldiers because the...

SEN. KERRY: No, you just cut me off when I was saying our soldiers did an extraordinary job.

SEN. LIEBERMAN: Well please, answer to that, because the awakening would not have gone forward without the strength and support that Colonel McFarland...

SEN. KERRY: Which I was just saying.

SEN. LIEBERMAN: ...the Army, the Marines gave them.

SEN. KERRY: Which I was in the middle of saying when you interrupted me.

SEN. LIEBERMAN: That's what the sheiks told us. That's why the sheiks don't want our troops to come home on a fixed timetable today. They want us to stay...

SEN. KERRY: Well, the prime minister of Iraq...

SEN. LIEBERMAN: ...as long as...

SEN. KERRY: ...believes we ought to set a timetable. The president, Mr. Talibani, thinks we ought to set a timetable. I've heard countless numbers of Iraqis say we'd be better off with a timetable. In fact, I met with the governor of Anbar province and all of the sheiks, who said to me they're very comfortable to have a timetable, providing it, obviously, is one that works in the context of their ability to...

SEN. LIEBERMAN: Providing it's based on conditions on the ground.

SEN. KERRY: All right.

SEN. KERRY: That's the big difference. Maliki and Obama are not on the same page on this.

MR. BROKAW: I have, I have, I have the small fleeting feeling we're not going to resolve that here this morning, so let's, if we can, move on to the parlor game of...

SEN. LIEBERMAN: Except we should all agree that the surge worked, and I don't know why John Kerry and Barack Obama just can't say that. And the fact...

SEN. KERRY: On the contrary, I said the surge made additions...

SEN. LIEBERMAN: OK.

SEN. KERRY: ...but it wasn't the cause of the awakening. It was a political decision. And here's--this is critical. Joe just said that judgment is what is critical here.

SEN. LIEBERMAN: Yeah.

SEN. KERRY: Well, John McCain was wrong about Iraq. He was wrong about why we ought to go there. He bought into a whole liberation theology about the Middle East with Paul Wolfowitz and others. It's wrong. He was wrong about oil paying for the war. He was wrong about our being greeted as, as, you know, as liberation leaders.

MR. BROKAW: Well, here...

SEN. KERRY: He's been wrong about Afghanistan not being a center of activity against us. He said no one threatens us in Afghanistan. He...

SEN. LIEBERMAN: Well, John McCain was right about the surge, and he had the guts...

SEN. KERRY: He's been wrong...

SEN. LIEBERMAN: ...to go up against President Bush, Secretary Rumsfeld and, and public opinion in America because he didn't want America to lose in Iraq and al-Qaeda in Iran to win. Senator Obama took the opposite position...

SEN. KERRY: Let me comment.

SEN. LIEBERMAN: ...wasn't concerned about losing in Iraq. Today...

SEN. KERRY: No, he is always concerned about it.

SEN. LIEBERMAN: ...we're in much better position there because of the guts of John McCain, and that shows you what kind of president each will be. One has experience.

MR. BROKAW: Can we talk politics for a moment?

SEN. LIEBERMAN: Oh, no, no, we're having a good time talking issues.

MR. BROKAW: People, people, people are--people--I know, well, I...

SEN. KERRY: We can, but we have to understand what the cause--the surge was designed to give the Iraqis the opportunity to make the political decisions till we could, you know, resolve the fundamental difference between Sunni, Shia, a constitution, etc. That hasn't happened, Tom.

SEN. LIEBERMAN: Yes it has. They're, they're reconciled.

SEN. KERRY: And most people, most people in Iraq...

MR. BROKAW: It seems closer as a result of the surge.

SEN. LIEBERMAN: Oh, sure they are. They...

SEN. KERRY: There are certain steps that have been taken, but the oil law isn't passed, the election law isn't passed, the reconciliation...

SEN. LIEBERMAN: But, John, you know they passed 15 or 16 of the 18 benchmarks we gave them. This has been an extraordinary success.

MR. BROKAW: People want...

SEN. LIEBERMAN: If you leave it to Obama as president and he pulls out on a fixed timetable without regard to conditions on the, on the ground, I'm afraid there's going to be chaos again, and he has already said if there's chaos again in Iraq, he'll send the troops back in.

SEN. KERRY: You know, you know, you know...

SEN. LIEBERMAN: When John McCain brings American troops home from Iraq, they're staying home. That's the man I want as president.

MR. BROKAW: People who are, people who are, people who are looking in on this who don't pay a lot of attention to politics may find it hard to believe that you sit on the same side of the aisle...

SEN. KERRY: Yeah, also we're, also we're friends.

MR. BROKAW: ...and that you're in the caucus. Is he, is he going to, is he going to be welcome at the Democratic caucus?

SEN. KERRY: Absolutely. This...

MR. BROKAW: Next year...

SEN. KERRY: Sure.

MR. BROKAW: If there's a Senator--if there's a President Obama?

SEN. KERRY: I think he's going to want to be part of the stronger Democratic majority. I'm confident of that.

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