September 7, 2006

Interview with Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank

Your World with Neil Cavuto

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: (AUDIO GAP) says that Iraq is not a diversion.

But try telling that to my next guest. He is now co-sponsoring a bill that would cut off future funding for the war in Iraq. With us now, Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank.

Congressman, welcome to you.

REP. BARNEY FRANK (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Thank you.

CAVUTO: Tell me what you are going to do, or what you want to do.

FRANK: I want to concentrate on the war against terror, which is the war in Afghanistan.

What`s striking -- and I heard the general talk about the Taliban in Afghanistan. When we were attacked on September 11, we were attacked by this murderous thug, Usama bin Laden, who was being sheltered by the Taliban. And, when the Taliban said they were going to shelter this thug and let him continue these acts, there was virtual unanimity, one vote out of 535 members of Congress saying no.

The country was widely supportive. The world was widely supportive. And we went into Afghanistan, and I voted for that war. And I`m glad I did. And that was our chance to show people that we would actively, physically confront these people.

The president then subsequently launched a war against Iraq, where there was no connection between September 11 and the country. You had a vicious, rotten ruler who was vicious and rotten to his own people. Sadly, there are many others in the world like that. And I don`t think we ought to say, OK, we are going to start overthrowing all these bad people one at a time, if they haven`t been externally active.

Saddam Hussein was...

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: So, you want to -- you want to kill the funding, period, for the war in Iraq, right?

FRANK: Right, because I want to focus on the war in Afghanistan, because that`s the war against terror.

And I believe that the war in Iraq is now doing more harm than good to the war against terror. It has, I think, undermined the kind of support we had, both domestically and internationally, for the real war. The general talked about capturing Usama bin Laden. He is not in Iraq. He is in the Afghan-Pakistan area. That`s where the fight ought to be.

In fact, the war in Iraq is diverting resources and political support and leadership from the war in Afghanistan.

CAVUTO: So, what about our soldiers who are already there and need more resources or need more funding? What are you saying?

FRANK: Well, I think what they -- that we should do them the service of letting them leave safely and securely. I think they ought to be allowed to leave in a way that fully protects them, because I think the fact is that we are now not adequately providing, either in Iraq or in Afghanistan -- and, of course, that also means that, if a necessity came up for military force elsewhere, we would be very difficultly placed here. We would have a hard time doing it.

So, I think the time has come to say to the people in Iraq, look, I didn`t think it was necessary to overthrow Saddam Hussein for our own self- protection, although I certainly think the world is better without him. But, at this point, what -- we are told that there aren`t that many terrorists in Iraq. There is a 125,000-member Iraqi army. Iraq is a country of 25 million people.

The military tells us, the intelligence people, there are 15,000 or 20,000 outside terrorists. At some point, they have to deal with this themselves. And we should then be able to pull...

CAVUTO: So, would you tell them to get out now, Congressman, get out now?

FRANK: Yes.

I -- I want to remove American troops in a safe and secure way from Iraq. Let the 125,000 Iraqi army and this 25 million-person country deal with their own internal problems, and improve our efforts in Afghanistan, where, sadly, things are slipping. And things are not going nearly as well in Afghanistan.

I think we had a real chance to overthrow the Taliban, to try to capture Usama bin Laden, and to help build a decent Democratic society in Afghanistan. Now we are bogged down in two wars, one of which isn`t going nearly as well as it could be in Afghanistan, and...

CAVUTO: All right.

FRANK: ... one of which I think does not add to our security.

CAVUTO: OK. Congressman Barney Frank, thank you very much.

FRANK: You`re welcome.

END

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