CBS Evening News (A block) - 2006-11-08

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] I'm Katie Couric in Washington. Tonight,

[0:02] [music] casualties of war.

[0:05] Republicans are swept out of the house.

[0:07] >> The people have spoken now. Uh thank

[0:09] heavens the president heard the message.

[0:11] [music]

[0:11] >> The man running the war is ousted.

[0:14] >> I have benefited greatly from criticism.

[0:17] [music]

[0:19] And at no time have I suffered a lack

[0:22] thereof.

[0:23] >> But the president tells America's

[0:24] enemies

[0:25] >> Do not be joyful.

[0:26] >> tells Iraqis

[0:27] >> Do not be fearful.

[0:29] >> and tells Americans in uniform [music]

[0:31] >> Don't be doubtful.

[0:32] >> It's the night after the election. The

[0:34] voters have spoken and the changes have

[0:36] begun.

[0:39] >> [music]

[0:42] >> This is the CBS Evening News with Katie

[0:45] Couric [music] reporting tonight from

[0:47] Capitol Hill.

[0:50] >> Hi everyone. The Democrats are in,

[0:51] Donald Rumsfeld is out. It's a tidal

[0:54] wave of change. Today President Bush

[0:57] explained what happened simply and

[0:58] directly. The elections are over and the

[1:01] Democrats won. They won the House and

[1:03] they could still take the Senate. It all

[1:05] depends on Virginia, where we still

[1:07] don't know the winner and may not for a

[1:09] while. In the wake of this major

[1:11] political upheaval, the president

[1:13] shocked just about everybody today by

[1:15] announcing the resignation of the

[1:17] Secretary of Defense. For the very

[1:19] latest, here's Jim Axelrod at the White

[1:21] House.

[1:23] >> President Bush didn't duck the drubbing

[1:25] in yesterday's election.

[1:26] >> If you look at race by race, it was

[1:28] close.

[1:29] The cumulative effect, however, was not

[1:30] too close.

[1:32] It was a thumping.

[1:33] >> Mr. Bush met the big loss

[1:36] with a big change, firing Secretary of

[1:38] Defense Donald Rumsfeld, a highly

[1:40] divisive, polarizing figure, and

[1:43] replacing him with a veteran of his

[1:44] father's administration, Robert Gates.

[1:47] Rumsfeld quoted Churchill.

[1:50] >> Something to the effect that I have

[1:52] benefited greatly from criticism.

[1:56] And at no time have I suffered a lack

[1:59] thereof.

[2:01] >> Gates ran the CIA and served on the

[2:03] National Security Council for the first

[2:05] President Bush. He is currently a member

[2:07] of the Iraq Study Group charged with

[2:10] charting a new course in Iraq.

[2:12] >> Because our long-term strategic

[2:14] interests and our national and homeland

[2:16] security are at risk, I did not hesitate

[2:19] when the president asked me to return to

[2:21] duty.

[2:22] >> The move comes after recent guarantees

[2:24] Rumsfeld was welcome until the end of

[2:26] Mr. Bush's term.

[2:27] >> He is a smart,

[2:29] tough, capable administrator.

[2:32] >> But today Mr. Bush completely reversed

[2:34] course insisting he needed fresh eyes on

[2:37] Iraq and that Rumsfeld agreed.

[2:39] >> If he likes to call it fresh eyes,

[2:42] he himself understands that Iraq is not

[2:44] working well enough fast enough.

[2:47] >> The fresh eyes will look hard at

[2:48] replacing current commanders, General

[2:49] George Casey and General John Abizaid.

[2:52] Rumsfeld was getting powerful advice

[2:53] from trusted military advisers that the

[2:56] US is on the brink of failure in Iraq

[2:58] and that the Maliki government is

[3:00] incapable of reigning in the militias.

[3:03] Today President Bush was conflicted.

[3:05] Losing the house and possibly the Senate

[3:07] had him extending his hand to Democrats.

[3:10] >> I understand

[3:11] when campaigns end

[3:13] and I know when governing begins.

[3:15] And I I'm I'm going to work with people

[3:18] of both parties.

[3:19] >> But in the next breath he was dug in as

[3:21] ever about the war in Iraq.

[3:23] >> See, if the goal is success,

[3:26] then we can work together.

[3:27] If the goal is get out now regardless,

[3:30] then that's going to be hard to work

[3:31] together.

[3:33] >> A top Republican pollster who works with

[3:35] the White House says the president's

[3:36] timing on Rumsfeld is shocking. The

[3:38] pollster says, "If this had been done

[3:40] last month or even last week, the

[3:43] Republicans could have kept between 10

[3:45] and 15 additional House seats." Katie.

[3:49] >> Sharyl Attkisson at the White House,

[3:50] thank you.

[3:52] With this stunning change at the

[3:54] Pentagon, we want to call in our chief

[3:55] Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer,

[3:57] as well as our chief foreign

[3:58] correspondent Lara Logan. Bob, let me

[4:01] start with you. Why Robert Gates?

[4:04] >> Well, that's the interesting part of

[4:05] this here, Katie. This is somebody who's

[4:08] been very, very close to his father for

[4:10] many, many years. We keep hearing all of

[4:13] these stories about how his father is

[4:15] very concerned about what Iraq is come

[4:18] to. The president's uh father's advisers

[4:21] have been very, very worried about all

[4:23] of this. The fact that he is going to

[4:25] that circle, and he's been very

[4:27] reluctant to do that in the past,

[4:29] suggests to me that we're about to see a

[4:31] major reevaluation of what we're doing

[4:35] in Iraq and where we go from here. This

[4:37] is extremely significant.

[4:39] >> Do you think this is the beginning of a

[4:40] troop withdrawal?

[4:42] >> I think this is the beginning of an

[4:44] overall

[4:46] uh reevaluation,

[4:48] and I would be very surprised if it

[4:50] didn't lead to some sort of withdrawal

[4:52] beginning sometime this year.

[4:54] >> Meanwhile, Lara Logan, what are members

[4:56] of the US military in Iraq saying about

[4:59] this news?

[5:01] >> Well, Katie, I've been talking to

[5:02] serving commanders and soldiers, and

[5:04] perhaps the most damning reaction that

[5:06] I've heard is that this comes 3 years

[5:08] too late, and that it won't change the

[5:10] reality on the ground for the troops

[5:12] here, because they are on a course of

[5:14] action now as a result of decisions made

[5:17] by Secretary Rumsfeld, and the results

[5:19] of that are plain for everyone to see.

[5:21] Or as one officer put it, there are now

[5:23] no good options for us here. And I also

[5:27] heard repeatedly that Secretary Rumsfeld

[5:29] has a reputation in the military as a

[5:31] man who doesn't like to listen to men in

[5:33] uniform, and they're really hoping that

[5:35] this this paves the way for someone who

[5:38] does. But I should also say that there

[5:40] were a number of voices who said it's

[5:42] just not right for Rumsfeld to shoulder

[5:44] all of the blame on his own when much of

[5:47] the blame should also fall onto

[5:49] America's generals. And they really hope

[5:51] that the top military leaders leaders

[5:54] will also be called to account, Katie.

[5:56] >> Any reaction by the Iraqi government so

[5:59] far, Lara?

[6:02] >> Well, the Iraqi Prime Minister's office

[6:03] says that they don't believe this will

[6:04] change America's position in Iraq. But

[6:06] in their words, they said Rumsfeld and

[6:08] the administration have made many many

[6:10] mistakes here. And despite that, they

[6:13] are pushing the line that they want a

[6:14] closer and better relationship with the

[6:17] US.

[6:18] >> Lara Logan, Bob Schieffer, thank you

[6:20] both.

[6:21] As Lara just reported, Secretary

[6:23] Rumsfeld has been under fire for a long

[6:25] time now from both active and retired

[6:27] military brass, including General John

[6:30] Abizaid who commanded the First Infantry

[6:32] Division in Iraq. General, in your view,

[6:35] where did Donald Rumsfeld go wrong?

[6:38] >> It started back early on with a a a

[6:41] preconceived notion on war fighting.

[6:45] A a misunderstanding of the very basics.

[6:48] A lack of trust and confidence in the

[6:51] military decision-making process. We

[6:53] have a wonderful process to plan, uh to

[6:57] develop strategies, to figure out what

[6:59] it takes to win. And when you discard

[7:02] all that because you know better,

[7:05] because you know all the answers,

[7:06] because you don't need to to include

[7:09] military

[7:11] uh opinions that are different than

[7:13] yours.

[7:14] >> Sounds to me that you're saying he was

[7:15] arrogant.

[7:16] >> Arrogant, dismissive. Would have been a

[7:18] great peacetime Secretary of Defense.

[7:21] Perfect. But

[7:23] in wartime, he was the wrong person.

[7:26] >> Do you think President Bush was loyal to

[7:28] a fault when it came to Donald Rumsfeld?

[7:30] He did offer his resignation and the

[7:33] president refused.

[7:35] >> I I think Donald Rumsfeld should have

[7:37] stepped down years ago.

[7:38] I I think back during the disaster of

[7:41] Abu Ghraib was a perfect point for him

[7:44] to step down.

[7:44] >> He did offer to resign.

[7:46] >> And and he at that point there was a a

[7:48] great transition point and we could have

[7:50] moved forward and it is time now

[7:52] to dramatically change what we're doing

[7:55] so we can move forward and be

[7:57] successful.

[7:58] >> General John Abizaid, thank you so much.

[8:00] >> Thanks, Katie.

[8:02] >> Others who had been pressing for Donald

[8:04] Rumsfeld's ouster include House

[8:06] Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, who will

[8:08] soon be Speaker of the House, the first

[8:10] woman to ever hold that position. I

[8:13] spoke to her this afternoon. I asked for

[8:15] her reaction to Rumsfeld's resignation.

[8:18] >> I think it's good news. It signals maybe

[8:20] a change in attitude on the part of the

[8:22] president. Uh the president is the

[8:24] policy maker. Uh the Secretary of

[8:27] Defense is the implementer and whatever

[8:29] you think of the policy, everyone agrees

[8:31] that the implementation of that policy

[8:33] has been a failure. Do you think this is

[8:35] the first step to the eventual

[8:38] withdrawal or reduction of US troops in

[8:41] Iraq?

[8:41] >> I certainly hope so uh because our

[8:43] presence there is not making America

[8:45] safer. It's not bringing stability to

[8:47] the region and we certainly are not

[8:49] honoring our commitment to our troops.

[8:52] >> And we'll have much more of my interview

[8:54] with the Speaker in Waiting later in the

[8:56] broadcast. She'll talk about the

[8:57] Democrats' agenda now that they'll

[9:00] control the House and her own feelings

[9:02] about cracking what she calls the marble

[9:05] ceiling on Capitol Hill. There is much

[9:07] more CBS News straight ahead and coming

[9:10] up next, who will control the Senate?

[9:13] The answer is simple, whoever wins in

[9:15] Virginia. But when will we know? A

[9:17] Campaign [music] '06 update when we

[9:19] return.

[9:26] >> [music]