Transcriipt of Third G.O.P. Debate

Transcript: A few highlights:

MR. BLITZER: The question was, if General Petraeus says — (applause) — it’s not working so far in September, what do you do then?

SEN. MCCAIN: Then you have to examine the options. And I’ll tell you the options. One is the division that Sam described. You would have to divide bedrooms in Baghdad, because Sunni and Shi’a are married to each other. You have 2 million Sunni and 4 million Shi’a living in Baghdad together.
You would have to — you withdraw to the borders and watch genocide take place inside Baghdad. You watch the destabilization of Jordan. You see further jeopardy of Israel because of the threats of Hezbollah and Iranian hegemony in the region. All of the options I could run through with you; my friend, none of them are good. That’s why we must succeed and give it a chance to succeed.

MR. BLITZER: Governor Huckabee, do you have confidence in the government of Iraq, the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, that he’s going to do what needs to be done?

MR. HUCKABEE: I think there’s some real doubt about that, Wolf. But I want to remind all of us on this stage and the people in the audience that there’s a reason that this is such a struggle. And I think we miss it over here in the West. Today’s the birthday of Ronald Reagan. We all would believe that Ronald Reagan is the one who ended the Cold War, and Ronald Reagan is the one who helped bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union.
But there’s a group of people who don’t believe that, and that’s the Taliban. They believe they brought about the demise of the Soviet Union because of the way they fought in Afghanistan.
And what I want to just mention is that it is not the size of the dog in the fight; it is the size of the fight in the dog. And we underestimate, grossly underestimate how fierce this dog and how determined they are to destroy every last one of us.

SEN. BROWNBACK: I think he made a right call on saying that about terrorist states, particularly Iran. But I think we have to at times talk with them in different situations, like before we went into Afghanistan, we talked with Iran.
It wasn’t we were negotiating. We didn’t open up formal diplomatic relations, and we shouldn’t.
Iran is the lead sponsor of terrorism. Ahmadinejad just this past week called for the destruction of Israel, continues to call for attacking of the United States. On Iraq, I think we need to talk with him. I think we have to confront them aggressively for what they are, which is the lead sponsor of terrorism in the world. I think we need to push the sanctions forward more aggressively. I think we need to more equip the labor union movement that’s developing inside of Iran; they had a bus driver strike that recently took place. And I think we have to show that purpose and resolve — that we’re going to confront these guys, and we’re going to stand with our allies like Israel, we’re going to stand against them oppressing and pushing us and trying to fund terrorists against us.

MR. BLITZER: Thank you, Congressman.

MR. BLITZER: What do you think, Mayor?

Do you think if you were president of the United States and it came down to Iran having a nuclear bomb, which you say is unacceptable, you would authorize the use of tactical nuclear weapons?

MR. GIULIANI: Part of the premise of talking to Iran has to be that they have to know very clearly that it is unacceptable to the United States that they have nuclear power. I think it could be done with conventional weapons, but you can’t rule out anything and you shouldn’t take any option off the table.

And during the debate the other night, the Democrats seemed to be back in the 1990s. They don’t seem to have gotten beyond the Cold War. Iran is a threat, a nuclear threat, not just because they can deliver a nuclear warhead with missiles. They’re a nuclear threat because they are the biggest state sponsor of terrorism and they can hand nuclear materials to terrorists. And we saw just last week in New York an attempt by Islamic terrorists to attack JFK Airport; three weeks ago, an attempt to attack Fort Dix.
MR. BLITZER: Thank you.

MR. GIULIANI: These are real problems. This war is not a bumper sticker. This war is a real war.

MR. BLITZER: Thank you, Mayor. (Applause.) Let me bring Governor Gilmore in. What do you say about the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons if that’s what it takes to go deep underground and destroy those Iraqi facilities?

MR. GILMORE: One of the central problems of the Middle East is the desire for Iran to dominate that portion of the world because of what they are doing. And that is why I believe that they are seeking this kind of nuclear capacity.
That is one of the reasons why we are, in fact, in Iraq. And that’s why our soldiers, when they fight and die there, are, in fact, serving the interests of the United States. Nobody ought to have any doubt about that.
With respect to Iran, the policy I would follow would be dual. Number one, we need to work with our European allies in order to put in appropriate sanctions. We need to communicate directly with the Iranians that we are going to offer them an opportunity to work with us. But we’re also going to say that having a nuclear weapon is unacceptable. They need to understand it. And all options are on the table by the United States in that instance.
[...]

MR. GIULIANI: I think, ma’am, the way to accomplish what you want is to nominate me. (Laughter.) That would be the way to do it. And I think the Republican Party can unite around two major principles that are bigger than all of us: being on offense against terrorism, unlike the Democrats, who are on defense against terrorism, and you saw that two nights ago here. They couldn’t even utter the word(s) “Islamic terrorism.” It’s our biggest enemy. They couldn’t utter it. We need somebody who can stand up to that.
And second, someone who will be on offense for a growth economy. Fight this impulse to raise taxes, do socialized medicine —

MR. BLITZER: Thank you.

MR. GIULIANI: — put everything in government. Those are the two big principles that unite us and make us a majority party —


MR. BLITZER: Senator McCain?

SEN. MCCAIN: Protect the family, that’s one of the questions earlier. Protect our American family, it’s under assault in many respects, as we all know. And second, take the lead in fighting this transcendent issue of our time: the battle and struggle against radical Islamic extremism.

It is a force of evil that is within our shores. Look at the events of the last few days at JFK, attempts at Fort Dix, the London suicide bombers.
My friends, this is a transcendent struggle between good and evil. Everything we stand for and believe in is at stake here. We can win. We will never surrender, they will. I am prepared to lead. My life and my experience and my background and my heroes inspire me and qualify me to lead in this titanic struggle which will not be over soon, but we will prevail.