WARD: Well, first of all, Armstrong just told you everything that was wrong with what Bush did, that they went in, they weren't planned.
Let me remind you, they decided when toad to go to war. This was not a war that was forced on us. If they needed an Army that they wanted to have, they could have waited. There was absolutely no reason to have to go in in March. And so A lot of Americans -- in fact, UPI reported yesterday, 20 percent of the deaths in Iraq could have been stopped if this stuff had been done before they sent them into war.
So Armstrong has absolutely no evidence to show that this president cared about the average soldier that they were sending over into are a war, because they sent them inadequately prepared, inadequate intelligence, inadequate...
WILLIAMS: I assume, like many Americans, that after the November election, that some of the bitterness that the left has toward this president -- at least you should try to be objective, not try to say that our commander in chief is heartless and could care less about the lives men and women in Iraq. I think that's a sad commentary on your part.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: Listen, this president had to get approval. You know what happened in the beginning. He was trying to get the allies to support him in going to war. They were trying not to do it, trying to avoid the winter months. They were forced to go until March.
The bottom is no matter what our politics are here today, we are Americans. And this American president is committed to protecting the lives of the soldiers there, and he's not perfect. And it's good that Mr. Rumsfeld was in Iraq to hear what those soldiers had to say. And I'm willing to bet you they will put measures in place to correct this problem. We can at least give him the benefit of the doubt and show some support instead of being bitter, as you are, sir, because you don't like the president.
WARD: Armstrong, I don't know if you know I'm bitter or not, I'll tell you thing...
WILLIAMS: You sound that way. You sure could you fool me.
WARD: I'll tell you one thing, I don't like the idea of sending young people into war and not giving them the equipment that they need. But even worse than that that, Armstrong, in December of 2003 -- you heard that interview where the guy said in August, we knew there was a problem. In December of 2003, Armstrong, they were still only making 12 armored Humvees. We can make a million Humvees for Arnold Schwarzenegger to drive around. How come in December of 2003, Armstrong, they were still not making enough so that they could replace them and protect the lives of these soldiers you say this president cares about?
WILLIAMS: You know, the bottom line is, even I can criticize the president and find areas where he could do better. At least you can find some areas where you feel this president and his administration does some good in trying to protect our men at home and abroad.
(CROSSTALK)
WARD: You don't send people to war without protecting them.
WILLIAMS: You can not even utter one sum, Because you're so bitter. You're still (INAUDIBLE) over the election, and you're upset.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: You can't be fair.
WARD: I'm bitter, Armstrong, because an administration that never served in the military, an administration that ducked its responsibility then sent young people into harm's way, and they didn't protect them, and even eight months later, they still weren't protecting them. Even today, if you drive a heavy truck or a medium truck, you're not protected. You can still die. You know what, Armstrong, every single family of every single soldier who died in this war needlessly has right to be bitter that a commander in chief that sent them over there not well prepared.
WILLIAMS: May I remind you, there's a purpose to this war. We did not ask for 9/11. This president had to make decisions as any leader must do to define his presidency. He went into Afghanistan. He felt in order to protect us from what happened on 9/11 it was better for us to go into Iraq now with preemptive strikes than to wait later. The American people supported him in this effort, and that is why he was re-elected. Trust the American people.
(CROSSTALK)
WARD: I have great respect for you, but to lie to the American people right now is an amazing thing for you to do. To suggest to tell the lie of all lies, which is that Iraq has any connection to September 11th, that Iraq had to be done because we were attacked on September 11th is the greatest of all lies that have been perpetrated in this country.
WILLIAMS: Well then, I must say to you, sir, you are in the minority if you don't think there's a connection. You and I just differ. That's not where I am, and most Americans are not there either.
BLITZER: Let me press Armstrong on this, because this is a sensitive subject. What do you see as the connection between what happened on 9/11 and Saddam Hussein?
WILLIAMS: If you read the book, "9/11," as I have, they made it clear that Saddam Hussein may not have had direct contact with these insurgents and the terrorists, but some of his military, some of his generals, some of his entourage. There were contacts between them. There were situations where money was exchanged.
BLITZER: I think what the 9/11 Commission is that there were contacts between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's regime, but there was no evidence that they could find that there was any contact between Saddam Hussein and the plotters and the plot of 9/11.
WILLIAMS: But still, his countrymen, people who were close to him were involved with Al Qaeda. You cannot say emphatically that Saddam Hussein was not aware of it. You may not have evidence.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Wait a minute, Bernie. Hold on, Bernie. Hold on.
You think Saddam Hussein was aware of the 9/11 plot as it was unfolding, before it happened?
WILLIAMS: I cannot say. I don't want to...
BLITZER: Well, what evidence do you have that he might be aware of it?
WILLIAMS: I'm not saying that. I just think that when you're fighting a war on terrorism and you have Saddam Hussein boasting about his chemical weapons and his weapons of mass destruction, and the fact that he's going to lay America low, and that he's going to dispatch terrorists with these detonating suitcases to set off explosives...
WARD: He never said that, ever.
WILLIAMS: I think it's a clear case, when he did not cooperate with U.N. inspectors, it's a clear case for the president to go to the United Nations and say, this man is a threat to world peace.
BLITZER: All right, we're going to take a break, but, Bernie, go ahead and respond.
WARD: Well, it's a lie. He keeps lying. The fact of the matter is, that there was no relationship between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, and the best person that said that was President Bush himself when he was finally asked it directly.
But here's a better one, Armstrong says we should attack the people that attacked us. They came in on Saudi passports. Seven of the 15 of them Saudis. And we invade Iraq. The Saudis were funding Al Qaeda. We invade Iraq. The Saudis were giving safe haven to Al Qaeda. We attack Iraq.
Armstrong Williams just said on national television he has no evidence of involvement of Saddam Hussein, the president said there's no evidence that Saddam Hussein -- yet Armstrong, and the president and this administration continue to lie every day connecting Iraq to September 11th.
BLITZER: All right, I'll pick up with Armstrong Williams right after a quick break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. We're talking about some of the hot topics of the week with our guests, radio talk show host Bernie Ward. He's out in San Francisco. Syndicated columnist, talk show host Armstrong Williams. He's here in Washington D.C.
Armstrong, you heard Bernie, he's getting very, very angry at you. He's calling you a liar for saying that there's a connection between Saddam Hussein and 9/11.
WILLIAMS: You know, it's what I believe. There's no doubt I feel that there's a connection between Saddam Hussein if you've read the book "9/11," if you listened to the reports, if you listened to things that he said.
You know, I'm not going to venture to call someone a liar or dishonest just because they believe in something, but if it's different from our perspective, and my understanding and my intelligence sources. I would not do that. I have a tremendous respect for him. And he and I have a different point of view. And I'm not the only one. I may be an outsider, but there are many Americans who feel that way, that there's a director contact between Saddam Hussein and what happened to us on 9-11. BLITZER: And, Bernie, the -- I think you agree, the American public had a chance to respond on all of these issues. They were well debated during the course of the campaign, and they responded by re- electing the president.
WARD: Well, they did respond by re-electing the president, but that doesn't mean that if you saw the study out of the University of Maryland, the majority of Republican voters believed Saddam Hussein was involved in September 11th -- pardon me -- Saddam Hussein had nuclear weapons, Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons, and Saddam Hussein said that he wanted to attack the United States. None of which are true. None of them are true.
Armstrong says he believed he was involved in 9/11. It's a faith statement. You know what, you don't make policy on faith statements. And more importantly, you don't tell the American people something that you don't have evidence for, unless you're going stand up and say, hey, listen, guys, I don't know if this is true, but this is what I believe. This has been the big lie for the entire campaign and after.
And in fact, Wolf, you saw the exit polls and this issue, and this issue of Saddam Hussein, and Iraq and September 11th were morphed together, and every one -- the 9/11 report, the Senate intelligence report, the Duelfer Report all said -- and the president, all said there was no connection between the two.
BLITZER: Let's bring this conversation back to where we started, the need for armor for protective equipment to help the U.S. troops, the 150,000 that are going to be on the ground in Iraq in the coming weeks.
And I'll bring it back to Armstrong. A lot of people are asking this question. The Pentagon is spending billions and billions and billions of dollars on very high-tech spy equipment, satellite, reconnaissance information, but they're not spending enough on equipment to save the lives of U.S. troops. How can you justify that?
WILLIAMS: You can't. It is baffling. It's baffling that our men and women are putting their lives on the line for us to maintain the freedom and the security that we have, and yet you have town hall meeting and they complain that they're not equipped, they're exposed, their lives or in danger; they don't have proper backup. You know, I wouldn't dare try to second-guess them. I think it's inexcusable that we spend money on -- and especially spend money on things than don't end up working. It's wasted money. We should use, by any means necessary, spend whatever is necessary, but the money from wherever is necessary to make sure that these men and women have the best chance...
the rest is here:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0412/10/nfcnn.01.html
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