Winning In Iraq
Washington, DC - This morning, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean appeared on CNN's "American Morning" to discuss how we can win in Iraq, and win the War on Terror and renewed his critique on the President's failure to have a plan for success.
Below are excerpts from Governor Dean's comments and the full transcript:
"We can and have to win the War on Terror."
"We can only win the war -- which we have to win -- if we change our strategy dramatically. ...if we want to win the war on terror we cannot pursue the failed strategy we've pursued..."
"I'm not as worried about the President's credibility as I am about the lives of brave American soldiers giving their lives and coming back wounded."
"We need to redeploy our troops and stop making our troops the target over there."
"We are for the troops. We're going to stand up for these troops. They deserve better support than they are getting."
"Not only do most Democrats, most Republican Senators now believe the 2006 has to be a transition year. ...We want to serve our troops better. We believe they deserve better. We want to serve our people better and we want to win the war on terror. And we want to do it smart because we can't do it the way we're doing it now."
DNC CHAIRMAN HOWARD DEAN ON CNN'S AMERICAN MORNING
December 8, 2005 at 7:45 AM ET
MILES O'BRIEN: Can the war be won in Iraq? How should the war in Iraq be won? You'll get all kinds of opinions on that particular set of questions and that's just within the Democratic Party. Joining me now is Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, who on the radio just the other day -- San Antonio radio station -- weighed in on this and caused well, sparked additional debate on this whole subject. Dr. Dean, good to have you with us. Let's share with our viewers, remind them, I'm sure they've heard it by now, an excerpt with them.
(Clip of Radio Interview): I supported this President's war in Afghanistan, but I do not believe in making the same mistake twice. And America appears to have made the same mistake twice. I wish the President had paid more attention to the history of Iraq before we'd gotten in there. The idea we're going to win this war is an idea that unfortunately is just plain wrong.
O'BRIEN: Out of context? Do you want to recant it? Or is that how you feel?
CHAIRMAN DEAN: No, it was a little out of context. They kind of cherry-picked that one the same way the President cherry-picked the intelligence going into Iraq. We can only win the war -- which we have to win -- if we change our strategy dramatically. The Democrats are coalescing around a very different strategy. We hope the President will join us. This is a strategy of strategic redeployment. We want to serve our troops well who are doing a fantastic job in Iraq, and if we want to win the war on terror we cannot pursue the failed strategy we've pursued the last three years, and start telling the truth to the American people about what's happening there. We have a plan to do that and I would be happy to outline it for you.
O'BRIEN: I want to talk about strategic redeployment in just a moment because that's an interesting notion. It seems like there's some Democrats coalescing around it. But first, I want to get the notion there's somehow this sense of pessimism at the root of all this. Let's listen to the president for just a moment.
(Clip of President Bush): There will be good days and there will be bad days in this war. I reject the pessimists in Washington that say we can't win this war.
O'BRIEN: Are you pessimist?
DEAN: The President has said himself we couldn't win the war. Matt Lauer showed that clip himself. The truth of the matter is, this President got us into this war without telling us the truth. He didn't listen to his own military advisors. This sounds an awful like Vietnam when the government is not truthful with our soldiers, citizens or our allies. We will be as Democrats. We can and we have to win the war on terror. We can't do it with this approach, with this leadership the President is showing. He's going in the wrong direction. We'll go in the right direction and save soldiers lives while doing it.
O'BRIEN: Let's go to the right flank of your own party. Senator Lieberman and listen to what he has to say about this.
(Clip of Senator Lieberman): It's time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge that he will be the Commander-in-Chief for three more critical years, and that in matters of war, we undermine presidential credibility at our nations peril.
O'BRIEN: Do you beg to differ with the senator?
DEAN: I'm not as worried about the President's credibility as I am about the lives of brave American soldiers giving their lives and coming back wounded. I'm with Jack Murtha on this. We need a strategic redeployment of our troops. We need to bring the 50,000 guard troops home in the next six months. They don't belong there in the first place. We need a special task force of anti-terrorist troops stationed in the Middle East because we are going to have to deal with [Abu Musab] Zarqawi for a long time. We need 20,000 additional troops in Afghanistan, not in Iraq. We need to redeploy our troops and stop making our troops the target over there. We can turn this over to the Iraqis. It's time to change our strategy and the Democrats have a strategy. We're supporting a strategy. We believe that talking about the President's failed strategy in Iraq is not unpatriotic. It may undercut the President, but it does not undercut our troops. We're going to save our troops' lives and were going to learn from the experience of Vietnam and not wait for five years with promises made for political reason here at home. We are for the troops. We're going to stand up for these troops. They deserve better support than they are getting.
O'BRIEN: Final quick thought: With all the debate within the Democratic Party, you lay out a plan, a strategic redeployment, which seems to be gaining steam in certain quarters. But the American people think the Democrats don't have a plan. Why not?
DEAN: I think that's mostly the press gobblygook. The press wants to focus on the differences. The differences are pretty small, perhaps Senator Lieberman excepted. Not only do most Democrats, most Republican Senators now believe the 2006 has to be a transition year. Even Senator Lieberman voted for that resolution. We need a change in Iraq and we will provide that change in the Democratic Party. We have a plan that we can coalesce around. We may have some small disagreements on timing. We know the direction we're going on is a very different direction than the President. We want to serve our troops better. We believe they deserve better. We want to serve our people better and we want win the war on terror. And we want to do it smart because we can't do it the way we're doing it now.
O'BRIEN: Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. Thanks for your time.
DEAN: Thank you.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON STRATEGIC REDEPLOYMENT GO TO THIS REPORT:
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=673861&ct=1470033
