By: E&P Staff Appearing with Tim Russert on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday morning, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice repeatedly turned aside questions on whether any American troops will likely be withdrawn from Iraq this year.
Rice would only say that this may be possible, as training of Iraqi forces continues, but she pointedly refused to make any promises or even suggest that small withdrawals were likely.
Pressed again by Russert, she cited gains in Iraqis taking more responsibility, but refused to say this meant that any Americans troops would come home by this fall.
Newspaper editorialists have, in the main, failed to call for U.S. withdrawals, often assuming that they will take place in coming months anyway.
In a key exchange, Russert asked, "But you?re optimistic we?ll be able to have some withdrawals by this year?"
Rice replied: "Well, I?m, I?m optimistic that the Iraqis are taking more security responsibility and are better trained. I, I think it would be premature before we?ve had a chance to talk with the new Iraqi government to start talking about precisely what?s going to happen in terms of our own forces."
Asked by Russert to explain the drop in President Bush's approval rating on Iraq--now at 32%, he said--she attributed it largely to Americans seeing violence from Iraq on their TV screens.
When Russert pointed out that Americans had also seen many misjudgments by the administration on Iraq, she said "undoubtedly some things could been done better," but added: "When there is something this big and this complicated, there are going to be misjudgments."
She added that "there also were misjudgments not made." She cited as an example that "some people" had advocated that the Americans simply install a "strong man" to replace Saddam Hussen, and exit. Rice did not say who these "some people" were.
Asked why the U.S. had to launch the war in the first place, Rice answered that Saddam was "a destabilizing force in the Middle East." She denied that the Iraq war has limited the "options" in confronting Iran.
Asked about renewed calls for the U.S. to shut down the Guantanomo prison, she repled, "No one wants to shut it down more than we do. We do not want to be the world's jailer."
But she added, "what are we supposed to do?" She said she was sure Americans did not want terrorists released and running free -- though no one has proposed that, since there are many other prisons in the U.S. that could hold them.
Two exchanges from the transcript follow.
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MR. RUSSERT: With this new prime minister, this new government, will there now be significant reductions of American troops by this fall?
DR. RICE: Well, we are going to sit with the prime minister and his team and make a determination on how the security situation is going to best be addressed. But clearly larger numbers of Iraqis are being trained, clearly they?re taking on more security responsibility. And it has always been the plan that as they take these responsibilities, we will have less to do. I think it?s already the case that we spend a great deal more of our time on training, but there are still some difficult places to deal with, and we want to make sure that we have the forces there that are needed. That?s why the president talks about conditioned-based withdrawals.
MR. RUSSERT: But you?re optimistic we?ll be able to have some withdrawals by this year?
DR. RICE: Well, I?m, I?m optimistic that the Iraqis are taking more security responsibility and are better trained. I, I think it would be premature before we?ve had a chance to talk with the new Iraqi government to start talking about precisely what?s going to happen in terms of our own forces.
MR. RUSSERT: But Madam Secretary, you know the numbers as well as I do: 2,448 dead Americans, 18,088 wounded or injured. And look at these numbers in terms of support for the war, the president?s handling of Iraq. When the war began in March of ?03, it was 70 percent approval. It?s now down to 32. Less than one in three Americans support the president?s handling of the war in Iraq. What happened?
DR. RICE: I understand that Americans see on their screens violence. They continue to see Americans killed, and we mourn every death. These are very hard things to do. But I would ask that people remember why we are there. We are there because we are trying to?having overthrown a brutal dictator who was a destabilizing force in the Middle East, we?re trying to help the Iraqis create a stable foundation for democracy and a stable foundation for peace. In a region in which our interests, and indeed our very security, has been so wrapped up with the Middle East, that is something worth doing. And nothing of value is ever won without sacrifice. I understand that it?s hard, it?s also hard?harder to see the quiet progress on the political front, the coming together of Iraqis, Sunnis, Shia, Kurds, to build their political future. And so I, I understand that Americans want us to succeed and that the question is, ?Can we succeed?? And I just want to say we can.
MR. RUSSERT: But it?s more than just seeing violence on the screen. Would you not agree?accept the notion that Americans, who only 32 percent approve of the president?s handling, have seen some misjudgments: no weapons of mass destruction, a misreading of the level, intensity of the insurrection, whether we?d be greeted as liberators, sectarian violence, cost of the war? There were a lot of misjudgments made that the American people also witnessed.
DR. RICE: Undoubtedly, Tim, there are many things that could have been done differently, and I?m certain could have been done better. But when you?re involved in an enterprise this big and this complicated, there are going to be misjudgments. The real question is, do you adjust when you see a different situation on the ground? And in numerous circumstances, we have had to make adjustments.
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DR. RICE: I, I do not think Iraq has limited our options. Iraq and Iran are very different places, quite apart from what is going on now. The circumstances that led us to do what we did in Iraq are very, very different than the circumstances we face in Iran.
MR. RUSSERT: But Iran is clearly a much more serious threat than Iraq.
DR. RICE: Well, I, I certainly wouldn?t say that. We went to war with Iraq, let?s remember, and, and...
MR. RUSSERT: But they didn?t have weapons of mass destruction.
DR. RICE: No. That?s?Tim , let?s, let?s remember that in 1991 we found that their weapons of mass destruction programs were far further developed than anyone knew. There was then a long period under U.N. Security Council resolution of where they would not answer questions about extremely dangerous programs.
MR. RUSSERT: But in terms of threat to the United States, what we found in March of 2003 is that Iraq was not nearly the threat Iran is now.
DR. RICE: But, Tim, of course, you know what you know at the time.
MR. RUSSERT: Sure.
DR. RICE: And when we made the decision to go into Iraq, there--, everybody believed there were weapons of mass destruction.
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