OBAMA: Well, I think there’s no doubt that we’ve been dominated by a politics of fear since 9/11. Now, some of that’s understandable. We have real enemies out there. The tragedy in New York was a trauma to the country that it is going to take a long time for us to work out.
And Senator Clinton did good work in terms of helping the city recover. But I have to say that when Senator Clinton uses the specter of a terrorist attack with a new prime minister during a campaign, I think that is part and parcel with what we’ve seen the use of the fear of terrorism in scoring political points. And I think that’s a mistake. Now, I don’t want to perpetuate that.I think that’s part of why we ended up going into Iraq and made a big strategic error that has made us less safe. Resources that could have been spent on homeland security have been spent in Baghdad. Resources that could have been spent hunting down bin Laden have been diverted to Iraq.
And that’s what happens when your judgment is clouded. And what I intend to do as president of the United States is to be honest and straightforward with the American people about how I’m going to implement all the 9/11 Commission report findings, make sure that we are hunting down bin Laden, getting out of Iraq so that we can refocus our attention on building the networks and alliances that are required to reduce terrorism around the world.That’s going to be my priority, and that’s part of the reason I’m running for president of the United States.
RUSSERT: Senator Clinton, I just want to make sure, you’re not suggesting that Al Qaida would test a President Obama before they’d test a President Clinton?
CLINTON: No, of course not, Tim. But it is a fact that immediately upon taking office the new prime minister in Great Britain, Gordon Brown, confronted, thankfully, two failed attacks by Al Qaida — people who had gone and been trained in the training camps in Pakistan, who got their directions from Al Qaida operatives, who launched two massive bomb efforts in London and in Glasgow. They didn’t know how to ignite the bombs they had set, but the rammer their cars into the airport in Glasgow.Part of the reason why it matter who’s president, in terms of operating the government and the bureaucracy, is because we have a very constant need for vigilance and preparedness.
There is no time off for the president on issues of security here at home, or around the world.And I think that there’s a difference between what President Bush had done, which has, frankly, used fear as a political weapon and a recognition, in a very calm and deliberative way, that, yes, we have real enemies and we’d better be prepared and we’d better be ready to meet them on day one.
RUSSERT: Senator Edwards, on the conduct of foreign policy, after Benazir Bhutto was assassinated, you made a phone call to General Musharraf in Pakistan. He called you back quickly.Close to half the people in Pakistan believe the government of Musharraf or allies were involved in the assassination of Miss Bhutto.
EDWARDS: Yes.
RUSSERT: Was it appropriate for you to talk to Musharraf at that time, perhaps give him cover at a time when he needed legitimacy?
EDWARDS: It was absolutely appropriate, and I didn’t actually speak — place a call to President Musharraf. I placed a call to the Pakistani ambassador in the United States and told him that I knew Musharraf, we had met in Islamabad years ago and talked about some of the problems in Pakistan at that time and that I had some things I wanted to say to him.
Now, the things I had to say to him were tough. And they were exactly the things that the president of the Untied States should say to a President Musharraf under these circumstances.First, I said to him, you have to continue on the march to democratization in South Pakistan. Benazir Bhutto, who I was with in Abu Dhabi in the Middle East just a few years ago, I heard her talk about the path to democratization being baptized in blood in Pakistan. She put her life at risk for that path to democratization.
What I said to Musharraf is: You have to stay on that path. Now, he said he would. That needs to be taken with great cynicism and a huge grain of salt, given his history.Second, I said you must allow international investigators in to determine what happened, because no one is going to trust some internal investigation that you conduct. Actually, they have now allowed Scotland Yard investigators into Pakistan to at least conduct some investigation.And then, third, I said these elections that are scheduled have to take place as soon as possible, but they need to be real. They have to be open, fair. The opposition parties need to be represented. They have to be secure.And those are the points I wanted to make to him. And those are exactly the points I would make to him as president of the United States.
Full Transcript available at: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/jan/15/debate-transcript/
Excerpt from “Debate” Replay on Democracy Now!
Featuring Rep. Dennis Kucinch (D-OH)
January 16, 2008
AMY GOODMAN: And now the voice excluded from this debate on this key issue around war, we put that question that Tim Russert put to you, Congressmember Kucinich, as well as the other candidates in New Hampshire, around the withdrawal of troops.
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