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| Transcript for Sept. 8 |
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| Read the complete transcript for Sunday, Sept. 8. Our guest was Vice President Dick Cheney. |
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Copyrightþ 2002, National Broadcasting Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
PLEASE CREDIT ANY QUOTES OR EXCERPTS FROM THIS NBC TELEVISION PROGRAM TO “NBC NEWS’ MEET THE PRESS.”
NBC News
MEET THE PRESS
Sunday, September 8, 2002
GUEST: Vice President DICK CHENEY
MODERATOR/PANELIST: Tim Russert - NBC News
This is a rush transcript provided for the information and convenience of the press. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
In case of doubt, please check with MEET THE PRESS - NBC NEWS (202)885-4598; (Sundays: (202)885-4200)
MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: September 11, one year later; the fate of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein; the state of America’s economy; and corporate responsibility and accountability. Our guest, an exclusive interview with the vice president of the United States, Dick Cheney.
Mr. Vice President, welcome back to MEET THE PRESS.
VICE PRES. DICK CHENEY: Good morning, Tim.
MR. RUSSERT: September 11—when you hear those words, “9/11” what are your thoughts?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: Well, it’s become sort of a unique event in our history, one of those events that everybody shared in in some fashion. And I think all of us remember where we were when that happened. I think I bought it a lot in terms of how it’s changed, how I spend my time, what I think about, what we worry about in the administration, it’s a watershed event. The world before 9/11 looks different than the world after 9/11, especially in terms of how we think about national security and what’s needed to defend America. Those are the thoughts that crop up. Obviously, also, I had the opportunity on Friday to go to New York with the Congress. We held a joint session in Federal Hall, where the first Congress convened, and George Washington was sworn in to honor and to remember what happened on September 11 and it brought it all back.
MR. RUSSERT: When we last spoke some eight months ago, you said it was not a matter of if, but when, the terrorists would strike again. Are you surprised they have not struck again within the past year?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: I can’t say that I’m surprised, Tim. There’s sort of two ways to look at it. One is that there have oftentimes been long periods between major attacks. You know, World Trade Center in ’93, Cole bombing in 2000, before that in ’98 East Africa embassies, 2001, the New York and Washington attacks. On the other hand, we’ve also done a lot to improve our defenses. And we’ve been on the offensive with respect to the al-Qaeda organization. We’ve wrapped up a lot of them. We have a lot of them detained. We’ve totally disrupted their operations in Afghanistan, took down the Taliban. We’ve made it much more difficult I think for them to operate. Now, did they have a major attack planned in that intervening period? I don’t know. I suspect they
probably did and I suspect we probably deterred some attacks. But does that mean the problem’s solved?
Obviously not.
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