Truth out indeed.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/081505I.shtmlBob Scheiffer, host:
Today on FACE THE NATION, Howard Dean and the future of the Democratic Party. What does the Democratic Party stand for these days? That's the big question facing the new leader of the party, the former presidential candidate and governor of Vermont, Howard Dean. Should the party fight the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court? Was it a mistake for most leading Democrats to support the war in Iraq? And who's the leading candidate for president in 2008? We'll ask all those questions and more. John Harris, political editor of The Washington Post will join us. And I'll have a final word on airline security. But, first, Howard Dean, on FACE THE NATION.
Announcer: FACE THE NATION with CBS News' chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer. And now from CBS News in Washington, Bob Schieffer.
Scheiffer: And good morning again. Governor Dean is in the studio with us this morning. Good morning, Governor.
And also joining in the questioning, John Harris, the political editor of The Washington Post, and author of the new national best-seller "The Survivor," the story of Bill Clinton in the White House. Welcome to both of you.
Governor Dean, polls are showing that people are losing confidence in the president's handling of the war in Iraq. A minority--a majority now believe it's left us more vulnerable, rather than less vulnerable, to the terrorists. But what do Democrats propose to do about it?
Dr. Howard Dean (Democrat, Former Governor, Vermont; Chairman, Democratic National Committee): Well, I think, first of all, we need a plan. The saddest article, in a series of very sad articles about people losing their lives--the saddest article I saw was in The Washington Post this morning, talking about the insiders of the administration saying, `Well, now we misjudged. We really can't achieve any of the things--or many of the things we said that we were going to achieve when we went.' Eighteen hundred and fifty Americans lose their lives because the president can't figure out what he's going to do, had no plan when we got there and has not plan when we get out.
First thing we need to do have a plan for leaving. And the second thing we need to do is to make sure that to the best of our ability we can influence the writing of the constitution. It looks like today, and this could change--as of today, it looks like women will be worse off in Iraq than they were when Saddam Hussein was president of Iraq. That's a pretty sad commentary on this administration's ability to do anything right.
Schieffer: Well, when you say, `We need to have a plan,' you mean a plan to leave?
Dr. Dean: We do.
Schieffer: A plan to get out?
Dr. Dean: We need to have a plan to leave.
Schieffer: Should we leave now?
Dr. Dean: I think that's going to be very problematic. I mean, I think we've gotten in there, we've made a huge mess in there, we've created a terrorist danger for the United States where one did not exist before. But to pull out before they even have a chance to write their constitution I think is wrong. But I do think that time is coming very quickly. And if it turns out that this constitution really does take away the rights that women have enjoyed in Iraq before, then I can't imagine why we're there.
Schieffer: Well, I'll go back and ask you about that in a minute, but I know the president said, and I think it was just this week, giving a timetable for leaving Iraq would be the worst thing we could do because it would just tell the people who oppose us there, `Look, all we have to do is hang in till they leave, and then we're OK.'
Dr. Dean: We need to leave. We're not going to be there forever, I hope. We're not going to be there forever. So the question is: What is a reasonable way to get out? And that's--we have no answers from the president on that at all. He keeps saying--well, his administration appears to be divided. Some of the generals have said, `Well, we can withdraw some of the troops, perhaps as many as 30,000, after the elections.' We have others saying, `Well, we're not going to leave.' These people do not know what they're doing. They didn't know what they were doing when we got in, they had no plan then. They have no plan now. They do not know what they're doing.
<plenty more>
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They don't know what the hell they're doing. They have no plan.
This is what needs to be said in order to leave.
The answers to the questions: What are we doing, there? What's the plan? What's the goal?
We have no plan. We have no goal. *** They don't know what they're doing.***
WE'RE NOT WORKING TOWARD ANYTHING.
Those are the magic words that need to be said before the public supports a pullout.
Rational questions leading to a rational argument based on the facts on the ground.
Thank you, Howard Dean.
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