[Anderson Cooper, Cnn Anchor:] Good evening, everyone. A new statement today triggering new questions about the Bush administration's grip on reality when it comes to the war in Iraq.
[Cooper:] He said the insurgency was in its final throes. A year and thousands of casualties later, does he still believe it?
[Richard B. Cheney, Vice President Of The United States:] I do.
[Announcer:] Vice President Cheney draws a response from former Vice President Gore.
[Al Gore, Former Vice President Of The United States:] The truth is inconvenient for them.
[Announcer:] Massive search the latest on two missing soldiers in Iraq's Triangle of Death and the thousands of troops looking for them. Cyanide on the subway deadly simple, simply puzzling. Did al Qaeda ditch the plan because they're planning something even worse? Across the country and around the world, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360. Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, here's Anderson Cooper.
[Cooper:] And a good evening to you. We begin with the simple fact that is nearly simple, nor easy to deal with. The war in Iraq has become so divisive that people in Washington can't even agree on the basics all the angles tonight on Vice President Cheney's defense today of his claim more than a year and 850 American lives ago that the insurgency was in its final throes. It drew a strong reply from former Vice President Al Gore, when we spoke with him today, even as his Democratic colleagues are trying to find a unified voice on the issue. With that as a backdrop, another reality check two American soldiers may now be in the hands of al Qaeda or some other group of killers. We begin with what the vice president said and CNN's Ed Henry live at the White House Ed.
[Ed Henry, Cnn White House Correspondent:] Good evening, Anderson. That's right, the vice president today giving new fodder to his critics by standing behind that prediction he first made here on CNN last year, that he believed the insurgency in Iraq was in its last throes. Since the vice president first made that statement, in May of 2005, about 850 U.S. troops and thousands of Iraqis have been killed. And this very evening, as you mentioned, the U.S. military frantically searching for two U.S. soldiers who have been missing since Friday, when insurgents attacked a checkpoint in Iraq. But the White House right now is feeling good about some other recent positive news coming out of Iraq, particularly the formation of a new government, as well as the killing of the top insurgent in Iraq, al- Zarqawi. So, it is in that context that, today, the vice president appearing at the National Press Club and taking questions from reporters, made this statement.
[Question:] About a year ago, you said that the insurgency in Iraq was in its final throes. Do you still believe this?
[Cheney:] I do. What I was referring to was the series of events that took place in 1995. I think the key turning point, when we get back 10 years from now, say, and look back on this period of time, and with respect to the campaign in Iraq, will be that series of events when when the Iraqis increasingly took over responsibility for their own affairs.
[Henry:] Now, the vice president clearly meant to say 2005, not 1995. There, he was referring to Iraqi voters going to the polls in large numbers, the ratification of the new constitution, all setting the stage for this year's formation of the new government. And the vice president, it's important to note, also, very clearly in later statements today also said that he underestimated the strength of the insurgency, saying he does not think anybody anticipated the level of violence that the U.S. has faced in Iraq. But Democrats are not buying that explanation at all Jim Manley, a spokesman for the Democratic leader, Harry Reid, tonight telling CNN quote "It is simply unbelievable that the vice president that Vice President Cheney stood by his claim that the Iraqi insurgency is in its last throes. Everyone wishes that Cheney's view of the world comported with the facts on the ground. Unfortunately, just as in 2005, when he first claimed that the insurgency was in its last throes, Cheney's rhetoric doesn't match reality." If there was any doubt at all tonight, Anderson, that Iraq is going to be the central issue in that campaign, those in that campaign, those doubts dispelled today. Democrats are going to be very aggressive in going on the attack and saying that, from day one, from the beginning to the end, the administration, from WMD to the "last throes" comments, have been misleading the public. Meanwhile, the Republicans are going to be very aggressive, from Karl Rove's speech last week in New Hampshire, to the vice president today, in defending the war in Iraq. Regardless of any unpopularity, they're going to defend it and move forward and face it, face forward in this election Anderson.
[Cooper:] And we're going to be hearing those words, those three words, from Republicans that we have heard a lot in the last week or so, cut and run, that, of course, clearly the way they're going to try to brand the Democrats in all this. Ed, appreciate you joining us. Safe to say that not every Republican agrees with Mr. Cheney's assessment of the war in Iraq. And over the last year or so, a number have said as much. Recently, however, most Republicans have gotten behind a single message: Stay the course. Democratic lawmakers are scrambling to respond. And we will have more on that in a moment. First, what perhaps the leading Democrat who's not running for anything has to say about it, former Vice President Al Gore. I sat down with him earlier tonight. Today, Vice President Cheney says he stands by his statement that the insurgency is in its last throes.
[Gore:] Well, he was challenged on that statement the first time he made it, and he pulled out a Webster's Dictionary and gave the definition of throes. And somebody said, well, I have the definition of last here. You know, it means a short time. I mean, I hope he's right. I don't think many people believe he is right. And and the and part of the problem is that, if if somebody in a leadership position tries to defy the best evidence available from the intelligence community, from the experts, and create their own reality, and base policy on it, that can only happen for so long, because it sets up a collision with reality proper, which is basically what happened in Iraq. And and, incidentally, we were talking about global warming earlier. It's exactly the same problem there. We can't create our own reality. We have to look at the facts and derive from those facts an accurate reading of what our true situation is, and then base policy on that, not on some ideological construct that we try to substitute that they try to substitute for reality.
[Cooper:] And that's what you think they're doing on global warming and even in Iraq?
[Gore:] Yes. Yes.
[Cooper:] They're sort of looking through it through a very narrow lens, through...
[Gore:] Yes.
[Cooper:] ... the the lens of ideology?
[Gore:] Yes. The truth is inconvenient for them. It it it's easier, it seems easier, to create a different version of events that clashes with reality, and then repeat it over and over again. If we have only 10 years to solve global warming, taking two-and-a-half years out of that 10 and then just throwing them away is not acceptable. And allowing Iraq to drag on in the current situation, until there's a new administration, may make the problem much worse still.
[Cooper:] Well, that was former Vice President Gore. I will have more of my conversation with him later on tonight. Now what his former colleagues on Capitol Hill are trying to do to to show that they are unified on Iraq. With that, here's CNN's Dana Bash.
[Dana Bash, Cnn White House Correspondent:] Senate Democrats are trying to take advantage of what they call a major Republican election-year weakness: public frustration over Iraq.
[Sen. Jack Reed , Rhode Island:] The change of policy that we call for is significant. The administration's policy to date, that we will be there for as long as Iraq needs us, will result in Iraq's depending upon us longer.
[Bash:] These Democrats hope to put Republicans on the spot with a non-binding resolution, a symbolic alternative to the administration's open-ended troop commitment in Iraq. Its backers chose the words carefully. Begin to phase redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq in 2006, the measure says, and require the administration to submit a plan by the end of 2006 for continued phased redeployment beyond 2006. What's noticeably missing? A date certain for pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq.
[Reed:] This amendment is not cut and run. This is not about a date certain. This is about getting the president to do the job correctly, something he's failed to do for the last three years and three months.
[Bash:] This proposal is a product of intense deliberations, led by the Democratic leader, and has the blessing of senators like Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, who agree with Republicans: A specific deadline for withdrawing is irresponsible. But Democrats John Kerry and Russ Feingold disagree. They're countering with a measure that sets a hard deadline of July 1, 2007, for U.S. troops to be out of Iraq, an approach at this point that has only a handful of backers. Republicans are already portraying Democratic disagreements as a sign of weakness and disarray. But leading Democrats argue, a fresh debate will be welcomed by a public tired of the status quo.
[John Podesta, Center For American Progress:] I think that Democrats, you know, have a role to play in pressing for accountability in in with respect to Iraq. And I think that's a very critical function that they're exercising this week.
[Cooper:] Is there any real hope that anything like these proposals can actually pass?
[Bash:] The short answer, Anderson, is, no, there isn't. And you talk to Democrats privately, and they will fully admit that. This is not about actually having a goal of passing legislation. It's one thing, and one thing only, setting a political document, a blueprint for the Democrats, they hope, going into the election that's four-and-a-half months away, essentially, especially for Democrats, who are accused of not having a clear plan, who are divided, to be able to get 35, 36 votes for a specific plan, which they think they will get. Now, publicly, Anderson, they are saying, well, maybe we will get some Republicans on board, but, frankly, that's unlikely to happen, at least to get a really large number of Republicans, in order to get this passed. And I can tell you that, as we speak, Republican leaders are looking for some other alternative to allow their senators to vote for, so that Democrats don't even come close to getting a win on this.
[Cooper:] Dana, thanks. Meantime, in Iraq, a widespread search is going on to find two missing American soldiers. Privates Kristian Menchaca and Thomas Lowell Tucker disappeared during an insurgent attack on a U.S. checkpoint on Friday. Through a Web site, a group with ties to al Qaeda today said they had abducted the men, but that claim could not be verified. Meanwhile, the family of Private Menchaca spoke out about their anguish. Take a look.
[Cesar Vasquez, Brother Of Private 1st Class Kristian Menchaca:] I was mentally preparing myself, you know, for for bad news, but I never thought he would actually get kidnapped. I mean, one thing is being killed. Another thing is getting kidnapped.
[Cooper:] Well, the U.S. military is vowing to use every means possible to find the missing troops. CNN senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre investigates.
[Jamie Mcintyre, Cnn Senior Pentagon Correspondent:] It was Friday night about dusk in the Iraqi town of Yusufiyah, a hotbed of insurgent activity just southwest of Baghdad, smack in an area known by U.S. troops as the Triangle of Death. Three U.S. soldiers with their Humvee were manning a checkpoint at a portable bridge stretched over a canal. At 7:55 p.m., soldiers at another traffic control point nearby hear an explosion and small- arms fire coming from the bridge, and radio for help. Fifteen minutes later, a small quick-reaction force arrives and finds one soldier dead, two others missing. Immediately, an extensive hunt is launched, and military dive teams begin searching the canal.
[Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, U.s. Army Spokesman, Coalition Forces In Iraq:] We are using all available assets, coalition and Iraqi, to find our soldiers, and will not stop looking until we find them. We will never stop looking for our service members, until their status is definitively determined.
[Mcintyre:] Over the weekend, the search is expanded to include 8,000 U.S. military and Iraqi army and police, along with manned and unmanned spy planes. Even F-18s from the aircraft carrier Enterprise are pressed into service to use their sophisticated targeting systems to look for clues. Since Friday, three suspected insurgents have been killed and 34 detained. Seven U.S. troops have been wounded as they sweep through the area.
[Caldwell:] Approximately 12 villages have been cleared in the area, and we continue to engage local citizens for help and information leading to the whereabouts of our soldiers.
[Mcintyre:] The missing soldiers are 23-year-old Private Kristian Menchaca of Houston, Texas, and 25-year-old Private Thomas Tucker of Madras, Oregon. Their fate has attracted the attention of the highest levels of the U.S. government.
[Condoleezza Rice, Secretary Of State:] And, obviously, their safe return is something that everyone will work for, and their safe return is something that everyone will pray for.
[Mcintyre:] U.S. military officials remain skeptical of the boast on an Islamist Web site that the two American soldiers have been captured, in part because no pictures or proof were posted along with the claim. And officials say they cannot confirm reports suggesting the soldiers may have been left isolated and more vulnerable when their diversionary attack lured some of the soldiers from their unit away. Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
[Cooper:] Well, Private Menchaca and Private Tucker are not the only U.S. soldiers missing tonight. Here's the "Raw Data." Army Reserve Sergeant Matt Maupin has been missing now for 730 days. He was captured when his fuel convoy was ambushed on April 9, 2004. A week later, Al-Jazeera aired a videotape showing Maupin sitting on the floor surrounded by five masked men holding automatic rifles. Later, Al-Jazeera aired another tape purporting to show a U.S. soldier being shot. The Army ruled that tape inconclusive. Maupin was a private 1st class when he was captured. The Army has promoted him twice since then. Straight ahead tonight, a political gut check on Iraq. We will get some analysis of what's going on in Washington from Dana Bash, Ed Henry, and John King. And, later, we may have dodged a real bullet details of a plot by al Qaeda involving cyanide on the New York City subway system why it never happened, and why that might be the scariest part of all. And years after 911, the gaping holes in rail security all across the country, not just in New York "Keeping Them Honest." You're watching 360.