CNN American Morning - Transcript

CNN

SHOW: AMERICAN MORNING 07:00

HEADLINE: Prisoner Abuse Scandal; Interview With Senator John Cornyn; Kobe Bryant Case

GUESTS: John Cornyn, Jeff Greenfield, Andy Borowitz, Sarah Bernard, Toure

BYLINE: Soledad O'Brien, Bill Hemmer, Jack Cafferty, Barbara Starr, Alex Stone, Andy Serwer, Sanjay Gupta

HIGHLIGHT:
President Bush going to Pentagon today for briefing.; Interview with Senator John Cornyn.; Kobe Bryant returns to court today in Colorado for the start of a three-day pretrial hearing.; "Minding Your Business."; "90-Second Pop."; A breakthrough treatment for prostate cancer.

BODY:
O'BRIEN: An editorial today in four newspapers, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps Times, is a call for someone, specifically Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and joint chiefs chairman, General Richard Myers, to take some responsibility for the scandal.

It says, in part, this: "On the battlefield, Myers and Rumsfeld errors would be killed a lack of situational awareness, a failure that amounts to professional negligence. This was not just a failure of leadership at the local command level. This was a failure that ran straight to the top. Accountability here is essential, even if that means relieving top leaders from duty in a time of war."

Here with reaction to that and the whole situation, is Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn. He's in Washington, D.C. for us this morning.

Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for being with us.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN ®, TEXAS: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Why do you think Secretary Rumsfeld should keep his job?

CORNYN: Well, I think that Secretary Rumsfeld has done what he should, and that is acknowledge his failure to communicate both with the commander in chief and with Congress about this. But there is no question also that the Department of Defense took these allegations very seriously when they first announced in a press release on January 16 that they were beginning an investigation, which has now led up to seven criminal indictments and now the first court-martial here later this month.

O'BRIEN: You say took the allegations seriously, and yet people who would disagree with you would say that, in fact, the secretary wasn't really aware of them until mid January, that in spite of these allegations of abuse, he never pressed to have all of the photos shown to him, that, in fact, he neglected to mention it to the President of the United States, who had to find out about it when he watched a TV show. And, in fact, when he was asked in his testimony if he read the report, he pointed to the stack of papers in the report and said, well, you know, essentially, look at it, it's two feet high. I read the executive summary.

Don't those things essentially define a failure in leadership?

CORNYN: Well, I think if there is a failure-and clearly there is-it's a failure of communication. It's not a failure of prosecute or take these matters very seriously.

That happened from the very beginning. And, in fact, this, in some ways, is old news. It happened last January, when the first press conference was held announcing the investigation, and then in March, when the first criminal indictments came out. But clearly, what has galvanized, what has riveted the world's attention on this or these photographs, which are, indeed, very troubling, and we've got to get to the bottom of it.

O'BRIEN: You say it's old news. So then are you essentially saying that the secretary and others did not really understand the impact, the effect that these photos would have, not only here in the United States, but, of course, around the world?

CORNYN: Well, I think, yes, there is a difference between the written word, which we had seen before, reports of this investigation, and then seeing this-these photographs that are part of the evidence that are being-was being accumulated in a criminal investigation leading up to a prosecution, the first of which will occur here later this month. But I would say that rather than resign, I think Secretary Rumsfeld, indeed, has a duty to serve at this critical time in our work in Iraq.

It would be, I think, a very negative thing for the secretary to resign at this time, especially when it does appear that the people who were involved in this were limited to perhaps 15 or 20, at most. At least that's what it looks like at this time. And it was not about an official policy, but, in fact, now, we're seeing the criminal justice system work its way. And I think it's important to show the world, including the Arab world, that we do believe in justice and do believe that those who are guilty should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

O'BRIEN: I want to play a short clip of what Chuck Haggle had to say. He's a Republican, as you well know. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL ®, NEBRASKA: I think they have made major mistakes. And we will see how far this goes and where it goes. But, yes, I think it's still in question whether Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and, quite frankly, General Myers, can command the respect and the trust and the confidence of the military and the American people to lead this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: For an administration that prides itself on steady leadership, who do you think eventually needs to take the blame here?

CORNYN: Well, I think, you know, it remains to be seen. Obviously, all we could do is judge what we know now. And I was a member-I am a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, heard the secretary of defense apologize for his failure to communicate this matter to the President and also to the Congress. We don't know where it will all lead, but what we do know, that in the public court- martial trial that's going to occur later this month, this is going to be open to the entire world.

This is part of the important lesson. I think we need to demonstrate to the world that we believe in justice, and we believe that people who are guilty should be held accountable. And that goes to the top, if they are guilty. But right now, there is no evidence that indicates this went beyond a handful of soldiers who were improperly trained and improperly supervised and committed some acts that we all find repulsive.

O'BRIEN: Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, joining us this morning. Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for your time.

CORNYN: Thank you.