[Roberts:] It's been nearly four months since millions of Iraqis went to the polls, and they are still waiting for a unified government. The leaders they elected in December, a mixed of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds, cannot, it seems, agree on anything, especially who should be the new prime minister. The question is, what will it take to break up the logjam at this critical time? Today, two top diplomats took a swing at it. Here's CNN's Ed Henry.
[Ed Henry, Cnn Congressional Correspondent:] An emergency weekend trip to Baghdad for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, forcefully urging Iraqi leaders to stop the bickering and finally create a unity government.
[Condoleezza Rice, Secretary Of State:] But Jack and thought that, given the commitment of the United States and the United Kingdom to Iraq's future, the the price that we have paid here, that it was important to come and deliver a message that the time has come to end these negotiations and to form a government.
[Henry:] The unprecedented joint mission got off to a shaky start, as their military plane arrived in torrential rain. This forced the high-powered duo to take armored cars to the fortified Green Zone, where car bombings are a daily reminder of a nation on the brink of civil war.
[Rice:] Hello. How are you? It's so nice...
[Henry:] The high-level visit only raised the stakes even further, with Republicans back in Washington reminding the White House that tough talk can only accomplish so much, without agreements from the Iraqis.
[Sen. Chuck Hagel , Nebraska:] America's influence is very limited in Iraq. And it becomes more and more limited every day that goes by. So, I think it is some indication of how much trouble we're in Iraq to have our secretary of state and the British foreign minister make an emergency flight into Baghdad this weekend to try to put pressure on the Iraqis.
[Henry:] The reception for Rice was not much better late last week, when she visited Straw's hometown of Blackburn, England. A trip meant to showcase the bond between allies quickly became a target for protesters. The secretary's remarks on the war only inflamed critics.
[Rice:] I know we have made tactical errors, thousands of them, I'm sure.
[Henry:] Rice later clarified she meant it figuratively, not literally, and reiterated, taking out Saddam Hussein was the right thing to do. But the British press pounced, mindful that Blackburn was the setting of a famous Beatles song.
[Unidentified Male:] Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire.
[Henry:] A political cartoon showed Rice and Straw with scores of holes in their case for war. More important, perhaps, is the reaction the Bush administration is facing from Republicans at home. [Begin Video Clip, "late Edition"]
[Hagel:] Every tactical, every strategic decision, right from the beginning, was a mistake, in my opinion. Try to invade a country the size of Iraq with 130,000 troops and occupy it, that was insane.
[Henry:] Such harsh criticism show why Rice's trip had two purposes, sending a tough message to Iraqi leaders, but also a strong signal to Americans, concerned about slow progress in Iraq the question remaining, will the message bring results? Ed Henry, CNN, the White House.
[Roberts:] More than anyone else, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has become a target of critics who say the war was poorly planned and executed. George Packer covers Iraq for "The New Yorker" magazine and is the author of "The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq." In the current issue of "The New Yorker," he writes about the insurgency that Secretary Rumsfeld was slow to acknowledge and what that has meant for the war. I spoke with George Packer earlier tonight. George Packer, welcome. There there have been increasing calls in recent weeks for Donald Rumsfeld's head. Most recently, General Anthony Zinni, on one of the Sunday morning shows, had this to say about Don Rumsfeld. [Begin Video Clip, "meet The Press"]
[Retired General Anthony Zinni, Former Centcom Commander:] These were strategic mistakes, mistakes of policy, made back here. Don't blame the troops. They're the ones that perform the tactics on the ground. They have been magnificent. If anything saves us, it will be them.
[Tim Russert:] Should someone resign?
[Zinni:] Absolutely.
[Russert:] Who?
[Zinni:] The secretary of defense, to begin with.
[Roberts:] So, there you have the guy that was in charge of CENTCOM up until the year 2000 saying, Don Rumsfeld should go. Is it time for Rumsfeld to go?
[George Packer, Author, "the Assassins' Gate: America In Iraq":] I think it's long past time and possibly too late, in the sense that the damage that General Zinni talked about in Iraq was done in 2003, 2004, early 2005. We dug ourselves such a deep hole because of decisions made in Washington, beginning with the war plan, the decision to go in with very few ground troops, the desire of Secretary Rumsfeld to get out of Iraq within a few months, to not get involved in a long nation- building campaign, his failure to recognize that an insurgency, a strategic threat to us, was growing in Iraq, the dissolution of the Iraqi army. And I could go on. These were all, as General Zinni said, strategic mistakes that put us in such a hole, that it may be impossible to crawl out. If if it isn't impossible, I think that the the departure of Secretary Rumsfeld will be the single biggest sign President Bush could give that we're going to take a new course.
[Roberts:] You have an article in the April 10 edition of "The New Yorker" magazine in which you say the most stubborn resistance to the idea of an insurgency came from Donald Rumsfeld, who was determined to bring about a revolution in military affairs. What have been the consequences of Donald Rumsfeld's stubborn insistence that this is not an insurgency; it's a bunch of deadenders; it's a few foreign jihadists?
[Packer:] I think that the key problem on the ground as a result is that there was no strategy for how to defeat the insurgency, which is known as counterinsurgency. There's a doctrine the Army has they're now rewriting their counterinsurgency field manual which is that you don't simply go after the insurgents and try to kill and capture as many as possible. You don't eliminate the deck of playing cards. Instead, you focus on the civilian population. You secure them. You build up their own security forces. And you try to allow good government and economic development to take place, so that they will give their allegiance to the government. None of this happened in the first year-and-a-half of the war.
[Roberts:] But, when it comes to Rumsfeld, there's another person fairly senior in the in the U.S. Army who says he's doing it wrong. Take a look at General Paul Eaton's statement from a "New York Times" editorial a couple weeks back, in which he says, "In sum, he has shown himself incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically." He goes on to say that, "Rumsfeld must step down." This is a guy who was in charge of Fort Benning, Georgia, went on to be in charge of training up the Iraqi troops. He says Rumsfeld has to go. He's very recently retired. He's just out of the service. What does it say that such close-to-active-duty military personnel are saying he has got to go?
[Packer:] Yes. I think they are retired. I think a lot of active-duty who are not retired would say the same thing, if their careers wouldn't be jeopardized by it, because, especially among junior officers in Iraq, there's a deep sense of having been betrayed by the senior leadership of the Pentagon.
[Roberts:] Joe Biden recently said that, if Rumsfeld were to go, it would be great for the White House. The world would come rallying to our side. Would it be good for the White House? Would it help to dig them out of this Iraq hole that they're in?
[Packer:] I think it would send a strong signal. I I think it's a little late for the world to come rallying to our side. I really think Rumsfeld should have been fired after Abu Ghraib. When it didn't happen then, a lot of people thought, the White House is stubborn. They really care more about winning political fights at home than they do about making sure we do it right in Iraq.
[Roberts:] George Packer, the author of "The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq." We should note that Donald Rumsfeld's boss has not wavered in his support for his defense secretary. President Bush said he's satisfied with Rumsfeld's performance and has dismissed all calls for his removal Heidi.
[Collins:] We want to head straight to Washington now. On the phone, we have Dana Bash. We have got breaking news to tell you about, some information about Tom DeLay possibly dropping out of the race for the House. Dana, what do you have for us tonight?
[Dana Bash, Cnn White House Correspondent:] Hi, Heidi. Well, two Republican congressional sources tell us that Tom DeLay, as we speak, actually, is making calls to his supporters and colleagues, telling them that he has decided not to run for reelection, that he is going to step down from his race for reelection. Now, this comes actually after he won a four-way Republican primary that was pretty hard fought back in in March, just last month. But we are not it's unclear what reasons he is giving his colleagues. We are told that he actually had a conference call that began about five minutes ago with members of the Texas delegation to explain that he is going to do this. And he is actually going to have a formal press conference, we are told, tomorrow morning. This does come on the heels of a lot of of issues that he has had, of course, with some of his closest allies, some of his closest in the inner circle, and his inner circle getting caught up in the Jack Abramoff issue. Of course, Tony Rudy, somebody who has been very close to him for some time, just on Friday, pleaded guilty to conspiracy conspiracy charges involving Jack Abramoff. And, apparently, he fingered his ex- boss, who was DeLay's former chief of staff. So, with all of this swirling around, Tom DeLay is telling his colleagues, as we speak, that he has decided not to run for reelection. And that's what we know at this time Heidi.
[Collins:] Dana, can you give us a little bit of perspective, though, on what this could possibly mean for the Republican Party?
[Bash:] Well, it's interesting. You know, Tom DeLay has not been majority leader for some time now. He stepped down a a while ago. And John Boehner has has taken that role. So, he has not been "The Hammer," as he is known, for some time. He has been working not out of the Capitol, but out of his office building in in the Cannon Office Building, essentially working as a regular member, for the most part. So, he hasn't had the kind of of power, and hasn't had the kind of position that he has known been known to have for some time, as he has been dealing with all of the issues that have been swirling around him, and as he has been dealing with what had been his fight for his own political life, even in the state of Texas, which, just last month, he seemed to survive. But now it appears that he is not going to seek reelection. That is what we are told he is telling his friends and colleagues tonight.
[Collins:] All right, Dana, thanks so much for that. We also want to bring in Ed Henry now on this news development about Tom DeLay. Ed, what do you have for us? Any reaction at this point from the White House?
[Henry:] No, no reaction yet from the White House. I think, clearly, as you were talking to Dana she's absolutely right this is really a passing of an era for the Republicans on Capitol Hill and in Washington in general. They have been in power, specifically on the Hill, for for over a decade now. And Tom DeLay really was the symbol of that Republican their grip on power on the Hill obviously, Democrats making a strong run, thinking they can take control of Congress back in November, in part on some of these Republican scandals. And I think Dana put her finger right on it. Obviously, the Jack Abramoff scandal, what happened Friday with Tony Rudy, a former DeLay aide, that means there are now two DeLay aides who have basically cut deals with prosecutors. Nobody knows for sure what they're telling prosecutors behind the scenes. And and that is obviously worrisome for DeLay and other people in the Republican Party. But I think, looking beyond that, there may be some people in the Republican Party who will be happy with this development, because they may feel that Democrats no longer have their whipping boy. You know, DeLay had already stepped down as majority leader, but he was still around. And I think that, obviously, he's somebody the Democrats have had great joy in putting in their campaign ads, morphing various Republican candidates into Tom DeLay's face. They no longer have that Heidi.
[Collins:] Ed Henry, thanks so much for that. Certainly never a quiet night, even though it's a Monday night and pretty late...
[Roberts:] "The Hammer"...
[Collins:] ... inside the beltway.
[Roberts:] ... dropping out of federal politics.
[Collins:] Yes.
[Roberts:] Wow. Big night. Nearly five years after the 911 attacks, audiotapes of 911 calls are released, revealing more of what happened on that awful day.
[Fire Department Of New York Dispatcher:] Do you have any other news about it, like any of the latest?
[New York Police Department Dispatcher:] No, nothing later.
[Fire Department Of New York Dispatcher:] Are they still standing? The World Trade Center is there, right?
[New York Police Department Dispatcher:] Someone said they collapsed. I don't know.
[Roberts:] Chaos and confusion then but, if terrorists strike again, would emergency operators be better prepared? Some insight coming up.
[Collins:] Plus, it sounds like science fiction. Grow your own organs? This girl is alive, though, because of a medical breakthrough. Find out how the new procedure saved her life next on 360.