CNN News from CNN - Transcript
NEWS FROM CNN 12:00 July 21, 2004 Wednesday
July 21, 2004 Wednesday
HEADLINE: Signs Saudi Arabia Taking Fight Directly To Al Qaeda; 9/11 Investigation Report; Held Hostage
GUESTS: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Gregory Meeks
BYLINE: Drew Griffin, Nic Robertson, Kathleen Koch, Sean Callebs, Bob Franken, Michael Holmes, Miles O'Brien, Dan Lothian, Thelma Gutierrez
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
REP. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN ®, FLORIDA: Absolutely not true. We're talking about highly classified documents that someone in Sandy Berger's position surely knew you are not allowed to remove documents, yet alone remove your notes. And yet some of those documents have still not been given back.
We think that we need to know more about this incident. It's not been done for partisan reasons. Everything gets blamed on the Republicans for partisan reasons.
If the shoe had been on the other foot, you bet that Henry Waxman and company would have been saying we need an investigation. Well, we want to know more about these documents, and we want to know about Sandy Berger's role in the Kerry campaign. How much of that information, if any, was given to Senator Kerry? So there's a lot of smoke there, and we want to find out what's behind it.
GRIFFIN: Congressman Meeks, what about this? If anybody knew the rules, it should have been Sandy Berger about classified documents.
REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D), NEW YORK: Well, clearly, this is the old bait and switch routine. You know, this is much ado about nothing.
You talk to members of the 9/11 Commission and they will tell you they know everything that was in those records. Sandy took them by accident. He's apologized. The originals are still there.
And it's just-you know, we know that the Republicans know how to leak things, just as they leaked the identity of a CIA agent. And they're now leaking this at a time just so to divert from the 9/11 Commission. Let's focus on what the commission says so that we can make America safer again. I think that's what the American people really want.
GRIFFIN: So, you believe this is pure politics?
MEEKS: Well, no question. If you look at the timing of it, and you look at, you know, the leaking, and you look at the substance of it, here's something that's over-just about a year old. And there's no allegations or anything of that nature that any of the information that was utilized, (INAUDIBLE) to endanger America or anything of that nature.
And look at the reasons that he was there. He was there to make sure that the American people, those who-the family members of the victims of 9/11 received all of the evidence and all of the truth. And he wanted to make sure that his testimony was appropriate so that he could refresh his recollection.
Never taking any of the original documents out. They are all there. Ask the 9/11 Commission. Many of these reports have been reported upon by others and in the press already. So there's no real secrets here.
ROS-LEHTINEN: Well, I think...
GRIFFIN: Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, the documents...
ROS-LEHTINEN: We've got to make a distinction that-that Sandy Berger keeps making about the documents that the 9/11 Commission has asked for. But that does not mean that there were other documents that the 9/11 Commission did not even know existed and might not have asked for them.
And also, we've got to keep in mind that some of those documents haven't even been brought back to their original place. And we all know, all members of Congress than when we go into classified briefings, everything has to stay there.
And maybe it is an innocent mistake, but we've got to know about more about it, and we've got to know what role he had in the Kerry campaign. And that's the really difficult situation for us right now.
But Gregory, my good friend, brings up the leaking of the CIA agent. More that we know about those famous 16 words in the president's speech, the more we know that that leaking of the CIA agent was in fact the one who was plugging her husband for that very job. So none of that has been disproven, and in fact the English report verifies that those 16 words of the president were indeed accurate.
MEEKS: So, we could put CIA agents lives on the line, whether what you say is true or not. We should reveal who our agents are, as well as all of the individuals who they associate with?
No. That was a leak then, a leak that should not have been that endangered a person that was an employee of the American people. And it is a leak now.
It is a leak because, you know, if somebody's about to pick your pocket, what they do is they give you some diversion. They know that the 9/11 Commission is coming out. They don't want to deal with the facts therein to make America safer, and they know that the Democratic convention is on its way in which we will have a platform to talk about...
(CROSSTALK)
GRIFFIN: Congressman, let's pick the pocket of the 9/11 Commission reports, because apparently there's a lot of blame to go around, not just with the FBI or CIA, but Congress oversight as well. And we've come to the stunning conclusion that, number one, nothing could have been prevented, and number, two everybody's to blame. Is this the type of conclusion that you would have liked to have seen?
MEEKS: No. I want just-it's a bipartisan commission. And I think that we should take it, look at it with all seriousness, listen to their recommendations, decide as Congress whether or not we should heed to them because what we are talking about the security of the American people.
Whether we need to have a-one czar to coordinate all of the efforts of all of our intelligence agencies, it is something for us to consider so that we can make sure that what took price 9/11 never, never happens again.
GRIFFIN: Congresswoman, would...
ROS-LEHTINEN: Now, on that I agree-I agree with my friend Gregory. We are going to look at this in a bipartisan measure. Perhaps the president will heed some of those suggestions, perhaps not.
We don't know if the czar for the intelligence should be the correct position, but he's going to take a serious look at it. And, you're right, we don't want 9/11 or anything like that to be repeated on our shores again. And those are mistakes from the Clinton administration as well.
Far too many terrorist attacks were ignored with our head in the sand and saying we're going to look the other way, everything is peachy keen. And we found out everything was not great, and 9/11 happened.
GRIFFIN: Congresswoman, is Congress ready to act and immediately on the recommendations of this committee?
MEEKS: Well, I think that's what's going to happen is, once we get it, I don't know if we're going to act immediately because we're about to have a recess,. This is our last couple of days and then we're back in September.
And I think that during the recess it will call for us to be able to look at the report again, study it and make sure that we have the kinds of hearings that are necessary, so as we begin probably the-the 109th Congress, we make sure that we have the facts so we can move forward then.
I don't think it's something we need to rush through, though. We need to look at it, make sure we digest it, and make sure that we do the kinds of things that are not reactionary, but things that will really make America safer.
GRIFFIN: Well, the next Congress is six months away. Can we afford to wait that long in terms of fighting this war on terror?
(CROSSTALK)
ROS-LEHTINEN: We may have a lame duck session. We'll be back after the elections, unfortunately, because we haven't passed some of the bills due to the Senate inaction. But some of those recommendations are already being put into place.
I think we've got better communication skills through this new Department of Homeland Security, and many of those problems that occurred on 9/11 could never occur again. Look at the airport security that we have now. Now we're going to make sure that we can be a safer nation, but a lot of those good things are happening already, and we're better off as a nation-Republicans, Democrats, and Independents-for it.
GRIFFIN: Congressmembers Ros-Lehtinen and Greg Meeks of New York, thanks for joining us from a noisy Rotunda there today.