CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Iraq War

Interview

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BLITZER: Welcome back.

In the heat, the battle for the new Congress, very little gets barred from partisan scrutiny. Is the president's 9/11 anniversary speech last night fair game for Democrats' attacks?

Joining us now, the number two Democrat in the U.S. Senate, the minority whip Dick Durbin of Illinois.

Note very little, I should have said, gets spared from partisan scrutiny, and I know you're looking closely, as all Democrats are, at what the president said in this prime time address last night. Here is one little excerpt, Senator, of what the president said.

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GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are adapting to stay ahead of the enemy and we are carrying out a clear plan to ensure that a democratic Iraq succeeds.

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BLITZER: You can't disagree with him on that, that you want a democratic Iraq to succeed, as well.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: Absolutely. And, you know, Wolf, you have to put it in context. For the last two weeks, starting with Secretary Rumsfeld in Salt Lake City and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Vice President Cheney last Sunday and the president on many occasions, it is very clear that the Republicans view their vulnerability in the November election to be their policy in Iraq. So they've been very forthright in saying, this is a policy to fight terrorism, and they are fighting that political battle.

I was disappointed yesterday. This should have been a day, the fifth anniversary of 9/11 where we set the politics over on the side and really appealed to the American people to remember where we were as a nation five years ago. We were unified. We were nonpartisan. We were determined to fight terrorism.

I thought the references, a few of the references the president made were unfortunate when he brought up the issue of Iraq.

BLITZER: But when the president and his top advisors say that maybe Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11, they acknowledge that now, but since then, Iraq has become the center in this war on terrorism. They point to the words of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al- Zawahiri themselves. He makes a point.

DURBIN: Well, he makes a point, but he overlooks another point. And that is that we have unequivocal, unanimous support for a war in Afghanistan. We were going after not only the Taliban, but the headquarters of al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden personally.

What has happened to that conflict and the four or five years since? Sadly, we haven't executed that successfully. We haven't put in the necessary troops. Al Qaeda membership, from our intelligence agencies' estimates, has gone up from 20,000 on 9/11 five years ago to 50,000 today. That's the wrong way for this to be headed. We believe that, had we taken the resources that were diverted to Iraq and focused on the real enemy, Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, we would have much different numbers today.

BLITZER: The prime minister of Iraq, Nuri al-Maliki, democratically elected, a close ally to the U.S., himself a Shiite, someone who has spent years in exile, both in Iran and in Syria, today is in Tehran making an official visit, warmly received by a major U.S. foe, the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

What do you make of this? Is this an unintended consequence? Are you concerned about this, or do you welcome this dialogue between these two neighbors?

DURBIN: Well, of course, you want a peaceful relationship with your neighbors. And if that is what is he seeking, I'm not going to be critical.

But what troubles me is this same government has made statements in the past supporting Hezbollah, a terrorist group that, of course, was working in Lebanon, and now have made statements about Iran that are equally troubling.

Our hope was in Iraq that we would establish a democratic nation whose values would be consistent with our own. And unfortunately, many of the actions and many of the words that have come out of this new Iraqi government are not encouraging.

BLITZER: Republicans seem to be becoming more confident that they can hold on to the Senate and the House in the November elections, in part, because they're focusing in on what has been 2002, 2004 a strong point for them, the overall war on terrorism.

How concerned are you, Senator, that Democrats are not necessarily going to be able to win a majority in either the House or the Senate?

DURBIN: Well, I'm not going to predict an election that's eight weeks away. I've been around this business too long to do that. But I will tell you what we're finding. Overwhelmingly, the people of America want change. They want a new direction.

And when we say, what do you mean by that, they say we have to change the Bush/Cheney policies in Iraq. They are not working, there's no end in sight. They are concerned about the fact we're too dependent on foreign oil.

We aren't helping families to cope with the economic struggles and conflicts that they face over paying for health care, making sure their retirement is there in the future. So there are many issues that will help decide this election.

BLITZER: Senator Dick Durbin, the number two Democrat in the U.S. Senate. Thanks very much for coming in.

DURBIN: Thank you, Wolf.

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