Samuel Berger

Samuel (Sandy) Berger, National Security Adviser in the second Clinton administration and a foreign policy adviser to the Kerry campaign, was Tuesday's guest. Here are excerpts from his remarks:

On reports that us troops mistreated Iraqi prisoners:

"This has done us great damage.... We need to convince Iraqis that if we can't tend to our prisoners, we can at least investigate allegations of abuse in a fair and open way."

On public support for the war in Iraq:

"Popular support for America's engagement is eroding irreversibly.... I still think we can accomplish this mission, but I think we are awfully close to the tipping point right now."

On us troop strength:

"We have a military that is overextended.... We have a 12-division strategy and an 10-division Army.... We are going to have to increase the end strength of our military."

On the war against terror:

"We have broken the beehive [but] we have not killed the bees, and we are going to be stung again."

On reinstating the draft:

"If we were to have a draft debate now, in the midst of Iraq, we would wind up pulling out of Iraq. And I think that would be a disastrous consequence. I don't think this is the time to have that debate."

On North Korea:

"North Korea either has, or has the capacity to produce, another six nuclear weapons within six months. We are looking at what could easily be the first nuclear Wal-Mart in the world."

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