Usamah “Sam” Husseini

Continue reading for a transcript of the exchange.

Transcript

Sam Husseini: Senator, if Congress—

Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT): Now that was a long answer and its not a sound byte, but it’s an important answer.

SH: If Congress exercised its right to cut off funding to really end the Iraq war, do you think that the President would leave the troops in a lurch or wouldn’t he withdrawal them in a responsible fashion?

OH: Well, Congress has the right to cut off funding. The Democrats don’t have the guts to do that and the reason they don’t is because they don’t have the votes either.

In fact, its amazing to me that they continue to push this awful resolution that the House has pushed knowing that the President will veto it and knowing that his veto will be upheld. Its all an exercise in politics that undermines our troops and I don’t think anybody could look at it fairly and say, “This is beneficial to our troops in the field.” And frankly, it undermines the free-seeking, the freedom-seeking, Iraqi peoples and so I get so tired of the politics.

But if the Democrats really believe that we should end that war and we should get out of there, then they could if they want to try to cut off the funds. I don’t think they have the guts to try that. I think the American people would really be offended by that, cause that would really be leaving our troops high and dry and leaving the Iraqi people high and dry In a way that could lead not only to civil war but to death and destruction of hundreds of thousands of people and I think in a wrongful fashion.

SH: People are raising concerns about two aspects of Iraq policy that they see as infringing upon Iraqi sovereignty. Specifically, the oil law which some people think sectors of the Administration are sort of forcing down Iraq’s throat that might end up leading to privatization and the establishment of long-term US bases.

OH: The only thing the United States is trying to do in the oil law is, as I see it, is to make sure its distributed, that the benefits are distributed fairly among the three major factions.

SH: There are also aspects of it that deal with possible privatization. You’re not aware of that?

OH: I’m aware of ideas. I don’t think anybody is pushing that that hard.

SH: The filibuster, the way that the filibuster—some people have argued that there’s a discrepancy in how the filibuster is applied to—Its on the table on general matters, and its off the table when Bush wants to get a judicial nomination through, that there’s a double standard as to when the filibuster is on the table in the Senate.

OH: Both sides use filibusters to stop legislation that they don’t agree with or stop nominations that they don’t agree with. That a right of either side to do that. Its not—you know—I might disagree with the use of filibusters against judges which, of course, has never been done before. At least in my view, and I study and research it pretty carefully. But I have no problem with either side filibustering if they feel strongly about various issues. But on judges, I don’t believe there should be filibusters.

SH: Do—

OH: We have an obligation to confirm or not confirm. That’s our obligation.

SH: Do you regret your Iraq vote for the authorization of the President to
initiate the invasion?

OH: Not at all.

SH: And it terms of statements that were made about Iraqi weapons of mass
destruction. Other people didn’t buy it. Kucinich didn’t buy it. Ron Paul
didn’t buy it. Do you regret having bought some of that.

OH: If you’re going to cite Ron Paul as an expert of some of these things I
think that’s a mistake. He’s a member of Congress and deserves credibility but
he’s certainly not an expert on these areas.

With regard to the war resolution, I believe I voted properly. At that time, virtually every free nation that had an intelligence capability agreed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, agreed that Iraq had the capacity of fostering terrorism, agreed that they had used chemical weapons against their own people, the Kurds in the north, and that they actually had people in place who could have developed a nuclear device. So we all voted on the basis of that faulty intelligence, it was faulty in the sense that they had all of these weapons in place, it was not faulty in the sense that they had the capacity to develop those weapons. We moved in on truthful—what we thought were truthful reasons. And of course, as you know we have bottled up a lot of terrorism in the process. So, would we have gone in had we known that there were no weapons of mass destruction, you know, that’s another question.

SH: The administration cut short the inspectors. The inspectors were still saying. “We wanted more time” in early 2002.

OH: They cut short the inspectors, Saddam Hussein did. The fact of the matter is the UN inspectors left Iraq because they did not feel that they could continue because they did not have the support of the government at the time. So, no. We, and I personally talked to the UN inspector and he indicated that they weren’t able to go any farther than what they did.

SH: Which inspector?

OH: What?

SH: Which inspector did you talk to?

OH: Well, the head of the EA is who I talked to.

SH: Mohamed ElBaradei

OH: Uh-huh.

SH: There are some reports in US press as well as in the Turkish press that the US is using, with the PKK, Iraq as a staging ground for launching attacks on Iran. Are you aware of this?

OH: That’s totally false.

SH: How do you know that?

OH: That’s totally false. I’m aware of the accusations. I’m also aware of how totally false they are. Now, lets face it. We are concerned about Iranian influence and weapons being sent into Iraq to undermine the freedom that we hope Iraqis can have. And there’s some indication that Iranian weapons and other military devices have been seen into Iraq and are causing a lot of problems. We’re also concerned about Iran stirring up conflicts between the Sunnis and the Shiites. And frankly, I think could even go farther and say the Kurds as well. So, yes, we’re concerned about that, but we’re not concerned about going to war or doing anything overtly against the Iranians other than within Iraq.

SH: What happens if the administration launches an attack on Iran?

OH: They’re not gonna do that.

SH: They’re not gonna do that?

OH: No. Nobody’s even thinking of that. Nobody’s even had the slightest thought
along those lines. And that’s just a phony—

SH: Bush says everything is on the table.

OH: Well, lets put it this way, everything is on the table but nobody’s going to do that. It
would take some really serious thing for that to occur. And I don’t know anybody who wants to do that in the
administration or out of it.

SH: How exactly do you know that those things are false, that the allegations that the US is using the PKK or other forces to attack Iran, how do you know that that’s false? Who are trusting with that?

OH: I’m on the Intelligence Committee.

SH: Yes?

OH: That’s all I’m gonna say about that.

SH: But couldn’t you—

OH: That’s all I’m gonna say about that.

SH: You also believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

OH: I don’t believe that they have weapons of mass destruction.

SH: But you believed—

OH: Everybody believed that. All of the intelligence agencies: Britain, France, Germany, the United States believed they had weapons of mass destruction at the time that we decided to enter into this conflict.

SH: But people like Scott Ritter were saying that they didn’t. Dingell—

OH: He said that afterwards and he is not the authority on these matters. Lets be honest about it. Our intelligence was faulty. I’m right in the middle of all of that and it was faulty. But everybody who was anybody believed it at the time that there were weapons of mass destruction and that’s why we went in there. That’s one of the reasons we went in there. There were others as well. We believed that Al Qaeda had influence in Iraq that could have transcended. Today, we know they do. We know that Zarqawi and others were affiliated with Al Qaeda, we also know that they are a constant menacing force in Anbar Province.