'Meet the Press' transcript for Nov. 15, 2009

MR. DAVID GREGORY:  This Sunday, the president is nearing his big decision about the war in Afghanistan.

(Videotape)

PRES. BARACK OBAMA:  The decision will be made soon.

(End videotape)

GREGORY:  How many troops are needed?  Will there be a new mission?  And is Afghanistan's leader a reliable partner for the U.S.?

Plus, a controversial decision from the attorney general.  The mastermind behind 9/11 will leave the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and stand trial in New York City, just blocks away from ground zero.

And the president's Asian tour takes him to China today at a sensitive moment in the U.S. relationship with that country over national security and the economy.  With us from Singapore, the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton.

Then a special discussion about America's failing public schools.  The president's education secretary calls them dropout factories and promises sweeping change.  He is touring the country with a political odd couple who share the president's vision for reform.

(Videotape)

FMR. REP. NEWT GINGRICH (R-GA):  And I'm not sure on my side of the aisle which was more confusing to my friends, hanging out with the Obama administration or hanging out with Sharpton.

(End videotape)

GREGORY:  With us this morning, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, former Democratic presidential candidate Reverend Al Sharpton and former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

And in our MEET THE PRESS MINUTE, as President Obama lands in China this morning, we look back to 1976, when then CIA director George H.W. Bush tries to explain a controversial Chinese invitation extended to an impeached Richard Nixon.

(Videotape)

FMR. PRES. GEORGE H.W. BUSH:  We can argue, and there's plenty of room for opinion.  And I have my own personal opinion, which I don't plan to divulge to you, about how I feel about it.  But I'm telling you how the Chinese feel about it.

(End videotape)

GREGORY:  But first, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is traveling in Asia with President Obama.  I spoke to her hours ago from Singapore.

Secretary Clinton, welcome back to MEET THE PRESS.

SEC'Y HILLARY CLINTON:  It's great to talk with you from Singapore, David. Thank you.

GREGORY:  Let me begin by something that's very controversial back home, as you well know, the decision by the attorney general to transfer some of the high-profile prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, from the prison there, the self-proclaimed perpetrators of 9/11, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, and make them stand trial in New York.  As you know, the reaction has been fierce on Capitol Hill among mostly Republicans, but some Democrats too, saying that there's no reason to give these prisoners the rights of the common criminal.  On the other side, you have Mayor Bloomberg of New York saying that it's the right thing to do, to make them stand trial just a few, a few blocks away from where the World Trade Center stood.  Where do you stand on this?

SEC'Y CLINTON:  Well, David, this was a very comprehensively examined decision that the attorney general and the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense reached in who would be tried in federal court, who would be in the military commission system that the Obama administration has revised.  And, you know, I'm not going to second guess any decision that the attorney general made.  But I think it's important that Mayor Bloomberg, that our law enforcement officials in New York, you know, all believe that New York City not only can handle this, but that it is appropriate to go forward in the very area where these people launched this horrific attack against us.  You know, I was a senator from New York, and I, I want to see them brought to justice. The most important thing for me is that, you know, they pay the ultimate price for what they did to us on 9/11.  And if the attorney general and, and veteran prosecutors think this is the best way to achieve that outcome, then I think that, you know, they should be given the, the right to move forward as they see appropriate.

GREGORY:  Do you agree with those who say that this exposes New York City to unnecessary risks of terrorism?

SEC'Y CLINTON:  No.  And I think Mayor Bloomberg, the police commissioner Ray Kelly, these are, you know, people who put the interests of New York above all else, and they clearly believe that this can be handled in New York.  I have the greatest confidence in the law enforcement personnel and leadership in New York City.  Obviously, it's, it's a very painful experience for families to have to go through.  That is something that, you know, pains me.  You know, but we are a, a nation of laws, and we have two different venues for holding these people accountable, the military commissions and our federal courts, and the individual decisions that the Justice Department and the Defense Department have made, along with the advice of veteran prosecutors, I, I think should be respected.

GREGORY:  When is a realistic deadline now for Americans to expect the prison at Guantanamo Bay to be shut down?

SEC'Y CLINTON:  Well, I think as soon as possible.  But obviously, there are some challenges.  You know, I think that every American should understand that closing Guantanamo was a commitment that President Obama made.  It was very well received around the world, because Guantanamo had come to represent not the America that we all believe in and that we hold dear, our values and the way we behave.  And so closing it is a commitment that the president made that he will follow through on.  The timing is kind of dependent upon how we answer all these other issues.

GREGORY:  Let me move on to another big issue, and that's Afghanistan.  When we are going to hear the president's decision about whether to send more troops?

SEC'Y CLINTON:  I mean, the president is going to be making that decision when he is ready to announce it.  I think he stopped at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska on his way to Asia, and I know that he told the troops there that he's going to make a decision that will, you know, give them the support they need for the mission that he asks them to fulfill, and that he's also going to make the case to the American public both to support the mission and, as always, to support our troops.

GREGORY:  Let me zero in on a key issue here.  And that, of course, is the issue of how many troops.  We know General McChrystal's requesting 40,000 troops or perhaps more.  General Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, weighed in on this topic and it was reported on this week, as you well know.  This is what The Washington Post said on Thursday, and I'll read it for you:  "The U.S. ambassador in Kabul sent two classified cables to Washington in the past week expressing deep concerns about sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan until President Karzai's government demonstrates that it is willing to tackle the corruption and mismanagement that has fueled the Taliban's rise.  ...  The ambassador also has worried that sending tens of thousands of additional American troops would increase the Afghan government's dependence on U.S. support at a time when its own security forces should be taking on more responsibility for fighting." It's been reported that you actually support as many as 30,000 additional troops being sent to Afghanistan.  Obviously, Ambassador Eikenberry reports up to you.  What is your response to those cables and to that point of view?

SEC'Y CLINTON:  Well, David, of course I'm not going to discuss any of the confidential advice that anyone has provided me or the president during this process.  But I think what you obviously know is that there are many different views about how best to work with the Afghan government.  And one of the points that we are stressing is that our goal is to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda.  That's why we're in Afghanistan.  It's about our national security.  We do want to see the Afghans be able to defend themselves, which means being able to stand up a security force that is capable of fighting the Taliban, which is a part of the syndicate of terror that was basically inspired, funded and directed by al-Qaeda.  But we're going to expect more from the Afghan government going forward, and we've got some very specific asks that we will be making.

GREGORY:  Do you believe that President Karzai is an effective partner, a reliable partner, and that sending more U.S. troops would actually be effective?

SEC'Y CLINTON:  Well, again, I believe that he has his strengths and he has his weaknesses.  Certainly, there are many improvements in Afghanistan over the last eight years.  But there has not been the kind of open, transparent, accountable government that stood against corruption, that delivered services to people that I think the people of Afghanistan are seeking and that we would all like to see for them.  And particularly, we have some work to do to assist and mentor and train on Afghan security force.  You know, what I hear all the time from people in Afghanistan and reports from others who are talking on a regular basis to people across the country, is that the basic attitude in Afghanistan is they do not want to see a return of the Taliban.  That was a horrible period that they remember all too well.  They do want security.  They want a government that can protect them and can, you know, deliver at least services, whether it's from the central government or the local district government.  They also want to make sure that we help them create a security force that can then take over.  You know, as one person memorably said, "Look, we want your help to enable us to defend ourselves, and then we want you to go." Well, that's a pretty good summary of what we want to do.  We want to get al-Qaeda, we want to disrupt, dismantle and defeat those who attacked us, and we want to be able to give the Afghans the tools that they need to be able to defend themselves.  We're not interested in staying in Afghanistan.  We're not interested in any long-term, you know, presence there.  We came to do a job, and unfortunately it wasn't done over the last eight years.

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