Update: 'The Situation Room' Transcript

This is the transcript of the expanded interview with Howard. --Ed.

In order to be sensitive to copyright issues, I have edited this transcript so that we are excerpting the complete transcript that is available here. -Renee


BLITZER: And joining us now is the chairman of the Democratic Party, the former governor of the Vermont, Howard Dean. Governor, thanks very much for joining us.

HOWARD DEAN, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Thanks for having me on, Wolf.

BLITZER: Let's talk several subjects. Ports first. The Dubai port deal, specifically. The president says this represents no threat to U.S. national security. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Let me make something clear to the American people. If there was any doubt in my mind or people in my administration's mind that our ports would be less secure and the American people endangered, this deal wouldn't go forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Do you believe him?

DEAN: I think there's probably no doubt in his mind. The problem is, he hasn't gotten the information from his own administration. The Coast Guard raised the issue shortly before this deal was done and said, "We can't guarantee security here." So once again, the president doesn't seem to be in touch with folks who are in his own administration who are telling him something, and he's doing the opposite.

BLITZER: He acknowledges that he wasn't informed as the committee, the interagency committee, was reviewing it. But since then, he has been briefed on what's going on. In fact, the Coast Guard now, the admiral who's in charge of port security, was here in THE SITUATION ROOM yesterday. And despite some earlier misgiving, they say they have been reassured. Listen to this exchange with Rear Admiral Craig Bone. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Can assure the American public that the threat level will not increase as a result of this Dubai firm taking over the British firm's operations?

REAR ADM. CRAIG BONE, COAST GUARD: Yes, I can tell you that the measures that we put into place will assure that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And he's a professional. He's not a political operative or anything. He's the guy in charge of port security for the Coast Guard.

DEAN: Here's my concern about this, Wolf. First of all, I'm not sure that any foreign company-controlled government (sic) ought to be -- government-controlled foreign entity ought to be controlling our ports. The Chinese government controls Long Beach in Los Angeles. I don't think that's a good idea. I don't ...

BLITZER: Eighty percent of the port operations in the United States are controlled by foreign companies.

DEAN: Yeah, but you know what? The ports aren't secure. The ports are not secure.

BLITZER: But that's the responsibility of the Coast Guard, the Customs Agency. The U.S. government is supposed to be in charge of security. They just handle the cargo.

DEAN: Well, there's another issue we're going to come to in a minute. But in terms of the safety, why would we let a foreign government control our access to our ports?

BLITZER: This has been going on for the past 20 or 30 years. The U.S. has basically stopped operating the ports and outsourced it to foreign companies.

DEAN: But that might not be such a good thing. For example, who is checking on the containers that are coming into this country? We know that 95 percent of them come in uninspected. Who is -- you know, who's checking on ...

BLITZER: The government's supposed to do that.

DEAN: Yes, they are supposed to do that. They're a miserable failure. We have not been -- the ports have not been secured since this administration sort of supposedly cranked everybody up on 9/11.

Here's the other point. In the case of Dubai, I believe that the United Arab Emirates is an ally in the war on terror for most of the time. But the fact is, this company boycotts one of our most important allies, which is Israel.
...
DEAN: I'm not looking to hold Dubai to a different standard than any other country. I simply question whether we ought to be outsourcing our own security. That's what this is. We do not have control over our ports. I did not know that a British company controlled our ports. I did not know until I was on the West Coast week that a Chinese company controlled access to Long Beach in Los Angeles. I don't think that's a good idea.

I think we ought to -- look, globalization is all great and all that stuff. Globalization of our security -- you know, our security is our country's security. It seems to me that the basic bottom line is here that we probably ought not to be outsourcing our security in our ports.
...
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some have suggested this war is not winnable, and a few seem almost eager to conclude that the struggle is already lost. They are wrong. The only way to lose this fight is to quit, and quitting is not an option.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: I said he seemed to be taking direct aim at you because you had been quoted as saying the war was not winnable.

DEAN: Well, I don't think the war is winnable under this leadership. This is a leadership that has made the biggest mess, not just of this war, but of our security in general. Here we are, five years into the presidency of George W. Bush. The North Koreans still have nuclear weapons, the Iranians are about to get them. Our troops are sent into battle without adequate body armor. Our ports are not secure, and now we find that they're being run under the jurisdiction of other countries.

What is this administration? Karl Rove thinks that security is going to be the issue? It's going to be the issue, all right. It's going to be the issue that elects Democrats. These people cannot figure out how to defend America in a reasonable way. And I think the American people are sick of this. And you've seen the polls as well as I have.

BLITZER: The Democratic Party, though, seems to be all over the place, from John Murtha saying a phased withdrawal is important, to Joe Lieberman, who said the other day this: "In my opinion, we are better off with Saddam Hussein gone, and we now have an opportunity to build within Iraq a self-governing, modernizing country that will really provide an alternative in the Arab world to the hatred and suicidal death that al Qaeda offers." The Democrats don't speak with one voice by any means.

DEAN: You're always going to get some outliers. I think everybody would agree that we're better off that Saddam has gone, but certainly not safer. But Joe is out there, with supporting the president. I think most Democrats -- and Chuck Hagel sometimes supports us. You're always going to get a few people in each party that are with the other side, and that's fine.

The truth is, there is something approaching consensus in the Democratic side. There's not a lot of difference between Joe Biden and Jack Murtha. There may be some difference on timing, but the -- we know we have to leave Iraq. We know we can't stay there. We know this president's idea of staying there forever or whatever it was that Dick Cheney said -- we've heard that in Vietnam. We're not going to make the same mistake twice.

The truth of the matter is, you cannot have a permanent commitment to a failed strategy. This president never had a strategy to win in Iraq.

Let me remind you and the audience: Donald Rumsfeld's testimony before the Congress that said the Iraqi oil was going to pay for all this -- here we are, $400 billion added to our deficit, because that wasn't true; that General Shinseki testified that we needed more troops, but this administration ignored him.

These folks did not know what they were getting into. They did not think about it. We're in it now. We've got to make the best of it. But we do not need to make our brave troops sitting ducks, which is what the president of the United States has done.
...
BLITZER: A lot of Democratic strategists, though, feel frustrated that the Democrats have not been able to capitalize on the failures that they perceive of this administration. Barack Obama, Democratic senator from Illinois: "We have been in a reactive posture for too long. I think we have been very good at saying no, but not good enough at saying yes."

DEAN: I await the positive message from the Hill. I absolutely agree with that. But I actually that in -- although, in all due respect to Senator Obama, who I am a huge fan of -- we are getting it together with a message. Our message is very clear.

We want honesty and integrity back in our government again. We want a national security -- a tough, strong national security policy, but one that relies on telling the truth to our citizens, our soldiers and our allies. We want a health care system that works for everybody, like 36 other countries have. We want American jobs that will stay in America, using energy independence as a new industry to generate them. And we want a strong public education system to give us opportunity and optimism back in America. I think that's a good place to start.

BLITZER: We're out of time, but a couple little political questions while I have you. Cash on hand for the Democratic Party as of January 1st, 2006: $5.5 million for the DNC; $34 million for the RNC. What happened to all that Democratic money?

DEAN: We're rebuilding the party. We've raised 20 percent more than we ever have before in an off year. We've got 200 operatives right now in every state in the country. And we've won four special elections in a row in Mississippi, seven out of eight in New Hampshire. First African-American mayor in Mobile, Alabama. We now have the mayorship in the largest county -- a million people -- in Utah. We're starting to win in states that used to be core Republican states.

If you want to build this party, you've got to invest the money to do it, and that's what I'm doing.

BLITZER: Senator Clinton of New York says Karl Rove, the deputy White House chief of staff, is obsessed with her. Do you think he is?

DEAN: I have no idea. I try to stay away from Karl Rove's thinking. It's gotten the president in a lot of trouble, and so I don't have any comment on what Karl Rove has to say.
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BLITZER: Governor Dean, thanks for coming in to THE SITUATION ROOM.

DEAN: Thank you. It was my pleasure.

Oh no, Howard, it's all ours. --Mgt.

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