'Meet the Press' transcript for Jan. 4, 2009

SEN. REID: John McCain--a day or two after the election, I called John. We've served--we came to Washington together in 1982.  We've been together in the House and we came to the Senate together.  And we talked about the campaign.  We had both said things about each other that probably we shouldn't have, but we did.  He's my friend.  He said, "Harry, I, I want to come back to the Senate.  We want to do some good things.  I want to work with you."

MR. GREGORY: Mm-hmm.

SEN. REID: "We need comprehensive immigration reform." That was a conversation I had with John McCain.  Yes, we need comprehensive immigration reform.  And what does that mean?  It means we have to make sure our borders are protected, our northern and southern borders.  We have to do something about the millions of people here who are undocumented.  We have to put them on, on a pathway to legalization.  Does that mean that they get to the head of the line?  Of course not.  They'd have penalties and fines and learn English and stay out of trouble.  We have to also do something on a guest worker program and we have to do something about the employer sanctions that works. John McCain believes that should happen.  I believe that should happen. That's...

MR. GREGORY: And he's discussed it with the president-elect?

SEN. REID: I don't...

MR. GREGORY: McCain has?

SEN. REID: I don't know, but he's discussed it with me.

MR. GREGORY: Mm-hmm.  You think you've got a deal, a prospect of a deal.

SEN. REID: I have, I have John McCain's word that he's going to work real, real hard on immigration reform.

MR. GREGORY: Let me ask you...

SEN. REID: And I'll, and I'll work with him.

MR. GREGORY: Let me ask you about the war in Iraq.  In April of 2007, this is what you said: "I believe myself that ... this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything." Were you wrong?

SEN. REID: David, I first met General David Petraeus in Iraq.  He was training the Iraqi forces at that time.  At that time, he knew it wasn't working.  After he became the commander in Iraq, he and I sat down and talked. He said to me, and he said within the sound of everyone's voice, "The war cannot be won militarily." I said it differently than he did.  But it needed a change in direction.  Petraeus brought that about.  He brought it about--the surge helped, of course it helped.  But in addition to that, the urging of me and other people in Congress and the country dictated a change, and that took place.  So...

MR. GREGORY: But you said the surge was not accomplishing anything.  Even Barack Obama said last fall that it exceeded everyone's expectations and succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.

SEN. REID: Listen, at that--the time that statement was made, the surge--they weren't talking about the surge.  Petraeus added to the surge some very, very interesting things that changed things.  He said a lot--just simply numbers of troops is not going to do the deal.  What we need to do is work with the Iraqi people, which we haven't done before.  That's where the Awakening Councils came about, as a result of David Petraeus' genius.  He's done--he will be written about in the history books for years to come.  My original statement was in keeping what David Petraeus said; that is, the war cannot be won militarily.

MR. GREGORY: Do you believe that the war in Iraq has been lost?

SEN. REID: I don't think at this stage we can talk about that with any degree of sensibility.  That has to be something that will talked about in the history books to come.  We...

MR. GREGORY: So you spoke to soon in 2007?

SEN. REID: David Petraeus and Harry Reid spoke at the same time.  David Petraeus said that the war cannot be won militarily, I said what I said.  Who, who phrased it the best is...

MR. GREGORY: You said that the war is lost.  Today, in 2009, that's no longer your view?

SEN. REID: David, listen, someone else will have to determine that as the years go on.  What has the war done?  It's brought about--it's destabilized the Middle East.  We have a civil war going on in Israel.  We have a civil war in Iraq, as indicated today, more than 50 people killed with a bomb in Iraq today.  We have Lebanon, a civil war there.  We have Iran thumbing their nose with every, everyone.  And if that weren't bad enough, our standing in the world community is so far down as a result of this war, so--and that doesn't take into consideration the tens of thousands who have been injured...

MR. GREGORY: Mm-hmm.

SEN. REID: ...and the thousands have been killed in the war.  So it's, it's--historians will have to talk about what the war in Iraq did.  But I think historians today indicate, as I have, the outline that I've given.

MR. GREGORY: Before you go, do you have any regrets about the way you have publicly battled with President Bush?  Over the years you've called him a liar, a loser, and you've described him as "our worst president ever."

SEN. REID: I wrote a book and I said that in the book several times.  David, I am who I am.  I'm going to continue being who I am.  I think you just have to call things the way you see them.  I really do believe that President Bush is the worst president we've ever had.  I think his efforts to destroy Social Security were very bad.  That brought about one of those statements.  I think as we've looked now at what's happened to the stock market, wouldn't that have been an awful thing to do, to privatize Social Security?  Medicare, he's done, he's done his very best to destroy Medicare.  Medicare, a wonderful program. Perfect?  Of course not.  But one of the best programs ever developed to take care of sick people.  So...

MR. GREGORY: No regrets?

SEN. REID: Well, you know, I am just who I am.

MR. GREGORY: All right, Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid, thank you very much for your views and your time.

Coming next, as the fighting between Israel and Hamas escalates into a ground invasion, what role should the U.S. play?  And what other foreign policy challenges await President-elect Obama?  Our roundtable weighs in: Jeffrey Goldberg, Katty Kay, Hisham Melhem, Andrea Mitchell and David Sanger, all here only on MEET THE PRESS.

(Announcements)

MR. GREGORY: Our roundtable on the fighting in Gaza and other foreign policy challenges for the new president after this brief station break.

(Announcements)

MR. GREGORY: And we're back, and joined by Andrea Mitchell of NBC News, Danger Sanger of The New York Times, Katty Kay of BBC News America, Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic and Hisham Melhem of Al-Arabiya television.

Welcome to all of you.  A lot of ground to cover.

Andrea, let me start with you.  The Israelis are reporting the first death of an Israel soldier as this ground invasion has begun.  What's the goal for Israel at this point?  Why did they decide to move in on the ground?

MS. ANDREA MITCHELL: Well, that is exactly the question that U.S. officials and, in fact, Tony Blair as a negotiator in Jerusalem today is asking Israeli officials.  What is the endgame here?  The U.S. believes that Israel wants to change the situation on the ground, wants to remove Hamas as the governing authority, that removing the rockets attacks is going to be impossible as long as Hamas is in control there.  But to accomplish that, what is the damage, what is the downside for Israel internationally, diplomatically?  The U.S. is now isolated in that America is not calling for a cease-fire and just about everyone else is calling for an immediate cease-fire.

MR. GREGORY: Right.

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