CNN Lou Dobbs Tonight - Transcript
CNN Lou Dobbs Tonight - Transcript
Tuesday, November 1, 2005
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DOBBS: Well, you're dodging it again, so I appreciate you anyway.
Thank you, Bill Tucker.
Turning now to today's extraordinary political developments on Capitol Hill.
The second most powerful democrat in the U.S. Senate, Minority Whip Senator Dick Durbin, seconded Minority Leader Senator Harry Reid's call for a secret session today.
Senator Durbin joins us now from Capitol Hill.
Senator, that was a breathtaking maneuver or stunt, depending on which perspective your partisan view you want to take. That was quite a move. What prompted it?
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL), MINORITY WHIP: Well, all's well that ends well. And this ended in a bipartisan agreement that finally, after two years of promises, the Senate Intelligence Committee is going to complete a very important investigation.
It's an investigation that will give the American people information they deserve, and it comes down to this. That any member of the administration misused intelligence, mislead the American people prior to the invasion of Iraq?
We agreed long ago that we were going to make this a goal of the Senate Intelligence Committee, but unfortunately, they've been dragging their feet for over a year and a half.
DOBBS: Well, Senator, as you know, I have to first of all, I have to compliment you on any numbers of levels, the fact is, as a political maneuver, it was, as I said, breathtaking.
But here, within the Senate Intelligence Committee report in July of 2004, the report found no indication that the mistaken assumptions about Iraq's weapons program were the result of political pressure.
DURBIN: That's different. That's different.
DOBBS: I know it's different, but we have the 9/11 commission, we have every investigation conducted either by Congress, by a commission over the course of the last four years has said, you know, we don't want to hold anybody accountable, we don't want to fire anybody, we don't want a judgment made for goodness say.
Are you suggesting it will be different this time?
DURBIN: I don't know, but honestly the chip should fall where they may. What you referred to is whether or not the administration pressured the intelligence agencies to come to certain conclusion.
The Senate Intelligence Committee investigated it and said no, we don't find evidence of that. I stand by that.
This is a different question. Once they receive the intelligence, did members of the administration accurately and honestly portray it to the American people? Did they distort it? Was there misinformation involved?
This is a critical question that has never, ever been addressed. We have some four to 500 different quotes from leaders in the administration and in Congress that need be looked into. If, in fact, there was anyone who misled the American people into believing there was a need for invading Iraq and they were wrong, the American people should know it.
DOBBS: We know the intelligence was dead wrong, absolutely dead wrong. Intelligence that was looked at by the Senate Intelligence Committee, every committee in the Senate and the House of the United States.
We know that the intelligence put forward by the French, the British, even the United Nations was wrong to. What do we really reach a conclusion with, and again, you were highly successful, three Republicans, three Democrats in the U.S. Senate will meet, and we will hear on November 14th, what?
DURBIN: They're going to tell us the scheduled completion date for this investigation. We've been promised this investigation for almost two years. I think it's long overdue.
And here's the bottom line. It's true the intelligence agency has failed in providing us accurate information. The question is, once the members of the administration had that information, flawed though it might have been, did they honestly and accurately portray it to the American people?
We believe this comes down to the bottom line. The American people have a right to know.
DOBBS: We couldn't -- on this broadcast, agree with you more, Senator, every single time. To that degree, let me ask you this, because I have talked with both Democratic and Republican members of the Senate Intelligence Committee and both have said to me and, in fact, have said it on this broadcast, that they are disappointed that they do not have the oversight that they desire on intelligence, in a number of other areas, in the Senate.
Is there, in your judgment, a bipartisanship here in this maneuver that is perhaps tabula rasa and unspoken?
DURBIN: Well, I can tell you that historically, the Intelligence Committee has always been a bipartisan committee, and it should be.
Maybe a nonpartisan committee is a better description. But in this circumstance, sad to report, there was a tension between the Republican and Democratic leadership.
Promises weren't made by the Republican leadership that weren't kept. As of today, this agreement has been reached and I think we can move forward on a bipartisan basis.
DOBBS: Senator Dick Durbin, good to have you with us.
DURBIN: Thanks, Lou.
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