Fox News The Big Story with John Gibson - Transcript
Fox News Network
SHOW: THE BIG STORY WITH JOHN GIBSON (17:19)
August 30, 2004 Monday
HEADLINE: Interview With Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Gregory Meeks
GUESTS: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Gregory Meeks
BYLINE: John Gibson, Carl Cameron
BODY:
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GIBSON: President Bush says he wants to finish what he started in Iraq. The Democrats say John Kerry will clean up the president's mess. Let's now hear from both sides. I'm joined by Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks. Congressman Meeks, let me go to you first. Is that what the Democrats are saying, we can finish this better than Bush and doesn't that sound a little like me tooism?
REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D), NEW YORK: No. What happens is we inherited Bush's mess and we need someone that can take care of it. Clearly George Bush does not have the ability to do that.
GIBSON: What would you do?
MEEKS: Number one, I think that we've got to have more people engaged in this endeavor. I think that when you talk about fighting terrorism and cleaning up Iraq, you need the surrounding nations more involved here. If you're going to win the war against terror and win the peace, you need to have individuals who understand the culture, understand the language.
GIBSON: Congresswoman, have the Republicans-has the Bush administration not invited the neighbors of Iraq to come and help?
REP. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN ®, FLORIDA: We have practically groveled at the knees of every leader.
GIBSON: The Saudis, the Egyptians, the Jordanians.
ROS-LEHTINEN: Everyone and you have seen that there's been-with these terrible actions like kidnappings, etc., that we do have this coalition. We have workers and armed forces from throughout the nations. We have many nations there. We've gone to the United Nations time and time again. We've asked them to help. We've pleaded with them for help and what more can the president do, to say, gee, we didn't get an international coalition. We asked repeatedly. We sent Colin Powell. We sent every person trying to do it the diplomatic way. If we had John Kerry's way, we'd still be pleading while Saddam Hussein would still be in power gassing his people and making sure that women would not have the right to have (UNINTELLIGIBLE) power.
MEEKS: That's exactly my point. The reason why George Bush can't bring an effective coalition together is because he is not an effective leader. He doesn't know how to do it.
GIBSON: Congressman wait a second, let me just ask you, I mean here was Tommy Franks said in his recent books that when George W.-he was the one that asked George Bush to go on the aircraft carrier and say combat operations are over because he had a list of 90 countries that would come join us. He got stiffed by nearly all of them. How can you blame Bush for that?
MEEKS: George Bush going in, if you remember, he called Europe old Europe. He called the U.N. irrelevant. He made fun of other nations, calling them names at the time. And you expect that all of a sudden people are to forget what you just said. You called them irrelevant. You said that they had out used their worthiness and then you want to say that it's all over and come and help us. It just doesn't work that way. That's not diplomacy.
ROS-LEHTINEN: If John Kerry is president tomorrow, he would no more get Europe involved in this Iraq battle against terrorism than George Bush has. I think that you're selling a myth to the American people that John Kerry is going to bring forth an international coalition when John Kerry doesn't even know what he would do in Iraq. He's for it. He's against it. He's (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
(CROSSTALK)
MEEKS: Let me say this, John, if John Kerry was the president, at the time, number one, we wouldn't be-we would have brought the right people.
GIBSON: Congressman, you say that as if there's no record on it. I mean I read the European papers. They were never going to get involved in this, ever, ever, ever. No matter if Bush is president or Kerry was president. What is it you think John Kerry could have done to bring the French, to bring the Germans, to bring the Belgians.
MEEKS: The first fallacy that we went into this war with is that weapons of mass destruction and that this was the war on terror and I know that the Republicans are trying to say fighting Iraq is the war on terror when it has nothing to do with those who attacked us and how could spending $1.5 billion a week fighting the war on terror.
(CROSSTALK)
ROS-LEHTINEN: But remember-John Kerry voted for that war.
MEEKS: No John Kerry voted for the president to...
ROS-LEHTINEN: For the war. He's out there funding...
MEEKS: Let's be clear. He voted to give the president the authority to go, based upon the president's agreement that he would come back to the Congress and let us know what the deal is. But he didn't do that.
ROS-LEHTINEN: And he didn't go to the intelligence committee's hearing either.
MEEKS: And he just decided that arbitrary
(CROSSTALK)
ROS-LEHTINEN: ... same intelligence that France had and they voted for...
GIBSON: Congressman Meeks, honestly, you think this argument is a winner?
MEEKS: I think it's clear that the American people know that George Bush has mishandled the war in Iraq and that in fact, Iraq is not the war on terror, that the war on terror is dealing with al Qaeda and those individuals who struck us here.
GIBSON: Congresswoman, would you tell me and Congressman Meeks what connections you believe exist, solid enough to go to war, between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda?
ROS-LEHTINEN: Well, these are the links. All of the terrorist groups and all of these despotic regimes like Saddam Hussein and like bin Laden's were out to destroy America. Remember that we were struck - what happened in 9/11? What happened here in this very, very city? They were out to destroy us. We're not creating terrorism in Iraq.
MEEKS: How many Iraqis were involved in 9/11? If you want to go after the people that were in 9/11 --
ROS-LEHTINEN: He did go after bin Laden.
MEEKS: They were from Saudi Arabia, not a democracy. Why don't we go democratize Saudi Arabia? I don't hear anything about democracy in Saudi Arabia.
ROS-LEHTINEN: You can see that we're not going after them is a myth. We are going after them. And Afghan people, today, are celebrating elections that they didn't have before George Bush was president.
GIBSON: ... this continue on the floor of the Congress, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen can continue her argument with Congressman Gregory Meeks. Thanks to both of you.
ROS-LEHTINEN: Thanks, Gregory.
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