Transcripts For KYW Face The Nation 20140629 : comparemela.c

And more. 60 years of news because this is face the nation. Captioning sponsored by cbs good morning wean we start with the news from overnight, the setback to iraqi forces in the city of kic tikrit. The situation is fluid and changing. The Iraqi Military launched its largest offensive yesterday. As of last night, Iraqi State Television said iraqi forces had cleared the city of militants. But this morning local security sources say that is not the case. The militants have been able to push Iraqi Government forces back Something Like 15 miles south in the fighting going on in and around tikrit. So they have not been able to go further and the offensive stalled. The iraqi militant spokesman said the u. S. Advisors have been helping to coordinate this offensive to the north and the iraqi got a boost of five russian fighter jets. Charlie, do you think there is any chance that Prime Minister maliki is going to step aside or that he might reach out and try to form a more inclusive government as the suns urging him to do . Certainly in interprets of stepping aside, Nouri Almaliki said he will not do that. He will go through constitutional laws but he is not going to step aside and have an emergency government. In order to remain in power, he is going to have to build some Broad Coalition that will include the sunnies and will include the kurds and do something to piece this country back together. His political life is hanging by a thread. Charlie keep your head down and thank you many and joining us now, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Republican Michael Mccaul of texas. Mr. Chairman thank you. We will get back to iraq in a minute. I want to ask you first about the arrest of ka tall la, the suspect in the be benghazi attad they arraigned him yesterday and they have been talking to him for 10 days. I know you have been briefed what they have been talking about. What can you tell us about that . How we gotten anything relevant from him. We know he has been talking but 10 days is not sufficient to fully debrief a terrorist in terms of the intelligence. My concern is this scenario is we are treating him a war prosecuting criminal cases, when we rush to interrogate we lose valuable intelligence in terms of who were the other suspects involved in benghazi . Were there other threats to americans in the region but also to the homeland . And im concerned the administration as valuing this rush to criminal prosecutions rather than trying to get the intelligence value out of this schieffer what would you have done . Put him before a military tribunal . I think the better route is take him we have the facility at guantanomo bay that could treat him as a war criminal rather than a criminal defendant. We have brought a criminal terrorist and given him due process under our constitution here in the United States in the nationals capital. I do not think that is the right approach in prosecuting the war on terrorism. And to make it worse is the fact he was readily accessible that cnn interviewed him schieffer so had cbs. And cbs as well. And now we are finding out the reason he was not apprehended as quickly is because we were so focused on building a criminal case rather than capturing the suspects who were responsible for the attacking benghazi and killing our u. S. Ambassador and three others. Hat is shameful we have 12 other indictments and 12 suspects out there that the target list was made two weeks after benghazi yet we failed to move on that because we are intent on building a criminal prosecution. I am a federal prosecutorment but the military intelligence value outweighs a criminal case. And let me ask you about what is going on in texas right now. The heart rendering stories of the children coming across the border a lot from guatemala and the Central American countries coming into texas being taken into custody there. What should be done about this . First, it is a crisis like nothing ive ever seen before at the border. We have refugee camps now in my and your home state of texas. It is a very serious concern. I dont think the flow will stop until a message of deterrence is sent back to central america. The drug traffickers are making 5,000 a child on the children. Advertising that if you get into the United States you can stay. And to some extent that is accurate. So i think that a image of deterrence and the president came out with a strong statement today. I applaud that. But i think you know, we have to be humanitarian and let them know if they come they cannot stay otherwise we will never stop the flow. And lets talk about iraq. You heard the grim report there. What needs to be done here . Should this isis group should we do an air campaign and try to irradicate these people . Well, i have been arguing for a dual strategy i have been talking to the experts. We dont want this to victory we had to be lost. Now, we owe it to the gold star mothers. I think what we ought to be doing, isis is the number one threat to the home land, the Number One National Security Threat surpassed from the afghanistan and core alqaeda call isis extreme if it gives you perspective. We need to look at one, targeted air strikes against isis without Collateral Damage to the sunnies. Maliki, really blew his opportunity for five years to do that as did the president in my judgment. But i do think that is the final answer. We are seeing movement on the Positive Side of sunni tribal leaders trying to disassociate from isis because they are so extreme and shia cleric leaders saying that you need to talk to the sunnies and work this out. Maliki has to go. I dont think it can happen with maliki in power. And they have to finalize the government at the end of this month and the shias are starting to move towards that direction to a new leader. Mr. Chairman thank you for joining us. Bob thank you for having me. Schieffer we want to go to aspen, colorado where we are joined by senator joe manchin, democrat out of West Virginia a key member of the Armed Services committee. Senator, thank you for joining us. I guess my first question is simple what could or should the United States do next here . Our main goal right now is to protect the embassy and the americans we have there. And the president has every right and the responsibility to do that. Im fine with that. Do whatever it takes to protect our people our embassy. And the bottom line is to make sure they are safe and secure. I believe the president has to come back to congress and should come back to congress and there is no appetite for us to get boots on the ground and get back into that country anyway shape or form schieffer but what do we do about isis . This group of terrorists . Are you one of those that believes that they actually constitute a threat to the u. S. Homeland if they are allowed to stay there . Well, knowing that their intent what they have stated if you let them grow and breed and be able to have a training ground, absolutely. But we have shown the ability we can strike from afar. We dont have to be in the country if you will or occupation. And that what i believe and a lot of my fellow senators believe the same. We have proven and we said this before if military might or money would have solved that problem in that part of the world, and we could have made it better we would have done it by now. They are determined to have secretary moore to have a civil war. We would rather make sure we are not drawn into it taking sides because we will never get out. We have to let them know you show you are willing to do harm to americans we will do whatever it takes to strike hard whether in syria or iraq wherever it may be. And that should be our goal and mission. Its very troubling trying to get pulled in and maybe we should be taking this side or the request for 500 million, i have a lot of problems with that, bob, and i for one do not support that unless i see other facts that would prove me wrong schieffer what you seem to be saying here is if we think it is a threat to our National Security we should be ready to go with air strikes, we should be ready to go with drone strikes and do whatever is necessary to protect the u. S. Interests . Bob, i agree with you on that. If they show, if theres proof that there is going to be threats to our country, we will do whatever we can to prevent that from happening. Im all in support of that. Right now we were told that before when we went into iraq way back in early 2000. That did not prove to be. So right now people will be skeptical on that when we jump back into this thing. We are concerned about our allies and friends in jordan. And israel, our greatest partner if you will. We are watching all of these things but the bottom line for us to jump in and take sides and put money in there or air strikes or forces right now not knowing whot friendlies are or if any equipment we sent there will get in the hands of isis we exacerbate the problem. My main concern right now protect the embassy and the americans over there and take care of them no matter what happens. That is what im told we are doing and i support that if that is what they are doing. I do not support further aggression from the United States troops or our people being over there any other way shape or form because i think the iraquis have to take care of this themselves we spent enough time and effort and money. Schieffer if maliki does not broaden his government and become more inclusive bring sunni s into the government can this be resolved or we can help . Bob, i dont think maliki is going to change his ways. In 2011 de not want us there and we left. He had three years to bring that together and our people have been speaking with him and working with him and moving in that direction many maybe we did not push hard enough. Anyone can make an evaluation of what happened but the man is resolved to do as he pleases and he stayed with his secretary shiites and that is where he wants to be. And until maliki goes i dont think you have any chance of bringing that together and im not sure it will happen after that. I think the lines will be redrawn and predictions other people made will show that it will be a different area and north africa than what we have today and the lines drawn 100 years ago will not be the lines when its finished. And we for some reason do not want to accept that. Schieffer senator, thank you for a grim assessment but thank you for your candor. Let me tell you we are still the best country on earth and we are going to protect our country and the people here. Schieffer thank you, sir. And from aspen and senator joe manchin a democrat we go to republican John Barrasso a member of the senate represent leadership with us here in washington. Boy, i dont think theres anyway you can markup joe manchin as being optimistic about this thing. What is your take, senator . I agree with the need to make sure our am wassy is protected. I see isis as a direct threat to the United States. They have the capacity and i believe they have the intent they have stated it in terms of their opposition to the western world. They are the richest most powerful and most savage group of terrorists in the history of mankind and they have taken over an area the size of indiana bordering syria as well as iraq. It is a direct threat to the United States schieffer what do we do about it and what can we do . There are a couple of things. Maliki needs to go. Number two, is i think we should be arming and should have been arming some of the opposition in syria. I would not negotiate with iran. They are not our friends. They will try to use this leverage to have a Nuclear Weapon but i do not think we should be the air power for iran coming in on the ground. And we ought to be developing American Energy resources. And we ought to hit the stop the clock button on afghanistan in terms of withdrawing troops from there schieffer stop withdrawing troops in afghanistan. Yes, sir schieffer i will get back to that. Let me go back to this do you see any chance that maliki will leave and can we really do much if he doesnt leave . He only has 24 of the votes in going into the next system of parliament that starts july first. He needs to put together a government. Sunnies and shias alike have come out against him. But if you want the kurds and the sunnies and the shias working together it cannot work with maliki. He is going to continue to go to others to prop him up. We see the russian planes coming in and he continues to go to iran. Schieffer what about the idea that vicepresident biden advance early on that the country wakes up into three countries the kurdish section a sunni section and a shia section and they would be autonomousment is that the way this might workout . It may that may be what happens because we see the kurds in the Northern Area have taken kirkuk. I think they have had a longterm goal of being an independent area themselves. That may be what happens here. I think its in the best interest of the United States to have a stable iraq but we are not there now schieffer how do you rate the president s handling of this thus far . Well, when the president came into office in 2009 i think the world was safer than it is now. I think the president s decision to withdraw the United States to keep a Campaign Promise in iraq without leaving a stay behind force was a mistake. And i hear that from veterans in wyoming and parents who lost children fighting in iraq. Were seeing it around the world. When we the United States leaves a vacuum anywhere, that emboldens others to go in when there is no sense of deterrence by the United States that lets bad actors move in and fill the void schieffer one thing we should make clear and be fair to the president he pulled the troops out when maliki refused to sign a status of forces agreement which meant that our troops on the ground remained under the legal control of the United States. We have never put troops anywhere in the world unless we have the right to do that. That is what happened so we left. Are you just saying we didnt push for that agreement hard enough . The president made a Campaign Promise that he would withdraw the troops and i believe he did not push hard to get that. He wanted to get this thing confirmed by the parliament. It would have been difficult to do. And now he said the word would have been good enough so the president is backtracking on his decision and the way he laid it out. Schieffer senator i thank you for being with us this morning. We are going to talk about this more and have analysis for the people who were there in a minute. Schieffer were back with Margaret Brennan taking a break from her travels. Time magazines Foreign Affairs correspondent Michael Crowley and James Jeffrey former u. S. Ambassador to iraq. Mr. Ambassador, you have heard the discussion this morning. What would be the main point you would make right now . The most important thing is this is a National Security emergency for the United States. President obama laid out how important it is as senator John Barrasso says it is a possible civil war in the middle of the middle east. And its even impact on our oil and energy security. So we need to act and we need to continue acting quickly. Schieffer here you have maliki who is not at the point of thumbing his nose at us at this point he is saying look im not making promises about being more inclusive here. Can this thing work if he stays . It cannot work in my view if he stays but he has to win as John Barrasso said a majority in the parliament and its not guaranteed he will do this because people are unhappy with his leadership schieffer what happens margaret. You have been with the secretary of state and know what he has been pushing. Where does he see this going . The u. S. Is stopping short of asking maliki to step down every sunni country is saying he has to go for this to work. And the u. S. Is focused on the process as the ambassador said which is this is going to become about whether maliki can get the votes. July first is when they start forming this government. And some of the sunni leaders said we are not going to start that process until you promise us that maliki is going to go. It remains to be seen how much we can get done in the next few days and secretary of state kerry is going doortodoor pushing the leaders to use their influence to peel away some of the sunni tribes and peel away the Fertile Ground laid for isis to take hold schieffer michael . You touch on the problem that this is a rubics cube that goes beyond baghdad and the borders of iraq. There is a game being played where the crucial players include the saudis, the iranians and its important that people not forget syria. Syria is the festering wound producing this infection that contaminated iraq where isis has drawn its strength, power and money and territory. So you saw president obama say im asking congress for 500 million for a Pentagon Program to arm and train the rebels. That is a reversal from his position in the past couple years where he says we dont want to get too involved. And secretary kerry met with the new quoteunquote moderate opposition leader. They are looking at that syria policy and say is that an important component of