Video: McCain: ?We risk losing peace? in Iraq

>> john mccain is the ranking member of the senate armed services committee . senator, it's nice to see you. good morning.

>> thank you, matt.

>> you watched this ceremony i'm sure or parts of it this morning in baghdad. what are your reflections?

>> well, my reflections are that it was a noble cause and obviously i believe that saddam hussein was going to attempt at least to get weapons of mass destruction . i believe the iraqi people are better off. i believe serious mistakes were made which prolonged this war, which i think people -- history will hold responsible. i think the surge obviously turned the whole situation around. it's too bad that we didn't employ that strategy earlier. but i'm also very concerned because in the words of general keene, one of the architects of the surge, we won the war and now we risk losing the peace because we do not have a residual force to leave behind and there are serious challenges and difficulties the iraqi government will face in the form of their air space , in the form of the kurdish/iraqi areas and including counterintelligence capabilities. i really think we risk losing -- great risk at losing everything we gained and that is the opinion of every military leader that i've talked to.

>> so was this purely in your opinion an idea of meeting a campaign promise ? is this simply not the right time to conduct this pullout?

>> well, i think the pullout was correct, but condoleezza rice , former secretary of state, as you know, stated that we had always envisioned a residual force being left behind . the president made a promise, a campaign promise that he would bring all the troops out. it's very obvious. i know for a fact because i was involved that there was very little real discussion with the iraqis about a residual force being left behind and it is what it is. so we risk losing everything that we gained at enormous sacrifice.

>> td "new york times" talked to some iraqis about this pullout and a government employee said, quote, i am so concerned about the u.s. withdrawal. many things will gradually deteriorate in iraq especially security, which will be affected by iran's influence once the americans have gone. do you fear we're leaving behind a void that the iranians will gladly fill?

>> i think they already are filling it. there's no doubt that sadr is a client of the iranians. he's part of the iraqi government . there's tension on the kurdish/iraqi border over a lot of things, and there is, of course, not the kind of counterintelligence that is necessary with u.s. assistance. so as i say, we risk losing everything that we gain. i think it's a great risk and i think it was unnecessary. we always envisioned some residual force, and this administration -- they were never really serious at all. we risk seeing iraq break up into three countries, which is what the vice president envisioned. remember that the president and the vice president all oppose the surge, said we couldn't win, and they wanted to withdraw and they have succeeded.

>> let me ask you about our image around the world following this war. former vice president dick cheney was here on the show not long ago. he said he doesn't believe there's been damage to the u.s. reputation as a result of this war. do you think there has been damage? do you disagree with vice president cheney ?

>> i travel extensively in that part of the world. every leader i meet with believes that the united states is withdrawing, that our influence in the region is clearly on the wane, and i think that this has an effect on the taliban in afghanistan. recently a former administration official was meeting with the president of pakistan . he said, do you think they'll make peace, the taliban? he said, why should they? they know you're leaving.

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/45680895/

kohls target target walmart jcpenney loft old navy