Saturday, August 25, 2007

Durbin Meets the Press, i.e., Berkowitz

Jeff Berkowitz: You said you saw military progress in al-Anbar Province. What kind of political progress would be sufficient for you to [have the U.S.] stay longer in Iraq than the eight months you contemplate?

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL): My feeling is that General Petraeus said (I met with him) we can’t win this war militarily. We could send in every available soldier in America and it wouldn’t bring an end to the war in Iraq. The only thing that will bring an end to the War in Iraq is when the people of Iraq thru their elected leaders come together. There is only so much we can do as outsiders. We are an occupation force. We have to really trust the Iraqi people will move forward through their leadership. I have virtually no confidence in al-Maliki, the [Iraq] Prime Minister. He has not demonstrated to me or to the American people that he could bring that nation together. The reality is that if we were to try to pick a successor, that person is going to be branded as the American sponsored, Bush sponsored, leader. That would probably doom his opportunity to lead, so it is a terrible situation, way beyond the vision that President Bush sold us, sold some of us. [But, See here].
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Senator Dick Durbin, partial transcript of a press conference held by him on August 11, 2007, in front of the Vietnam War Memorial in the Chicago Loop. The press conference will be airing in its entirety on the Chicago Metro suburban edition of Public Affairs this coming week. That Public Affairs show will also include short interviews by show host Jeff Berkowitz of Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT); Cong. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH); AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Obama for America Communications Director Robert Gibbs and Harold Schaitberger, Int’l Ass’n of Fire Fighters President.
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For additonal partial transcripts of this coming week's Chicago metro suburban edition of Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz, go here and here.
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Jeff Berkowitz, Show Host/Producer of "Public Affairs," and Executive Legal Recruiter doing legal search can be reached at JBCG@aol.com. You may watch "Public Affairs," shows with Presidential Candidates Richardson, Obama, McCain, Giuliani and Cox and many other pols at www.PublicAffairsTv.com
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