Reid Says Gonzales to Leave Within Month 'One Way or the Other'

by S-Q @ 1:00 PM MDT

Bloomberg
By Laura Litvan

Reid in the interview said he didn't know if the White House is engaged in obstructing justice, though he said the matter is emerging as one of the Bush administration's most troubling "scandals.''

"This is a scandal and the American people are interested in the truth, and that's always a little hard to come by, especially when you have Karl Rove involved in the scenario,'' Reid said.

March 23 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he doesn't expect Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to survive the uproar over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys and predicted he will be gone in a month, "one way or the other.''

Reid, a Nevada Democrat, also said he envisions the outlines of a compromise with the Bush administration about testimony of White House officials in a probe of the firings that would allow some administration officials to testify in private without sworn testimony, as long as the deal doesn't involve Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove.

"Certainly, Karl Rove, with his resume, would have to be under oath,'' Reid, 67, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV's "Political Capital with Al Hunt,'' scheduled to air this weekend. "He simply in my opinion, and I think the majority of the American people, is not trustworthy.''

Reid: Iraq war 'worst foreign policy mistake' in U.S. history

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After months of heated rhetoric slamming President Bush's Iraq policy, the Senate's top Democrat moved into new terrain by declaring the Iraq war a worse blunder than Vietnam.

"This war is a serious situation. It involves the worst foreign policy mistake in the history of this country," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."

"So we should take everything seriously. We find ourselves in a very deep hole and we need to find a way to dig out of it."

Asked whether he considers it a worse blunder than Vietnam, Reid responded, "Yes."

Comparisons to Vietnam are nothing new, but a "worse than" designation from a top lawmaker is.

Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican who has been one of the war's most outspoken critics, told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in January that President Bush's plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq "represents the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam."

Reid's statement, in an interview recorded Saturday, came after he and fellow Democrats failed to force a vote on a nonbinding resolution condemning Bush's plan. They could not win enough Republican support to make the vote happen. (Full story)

The House, meanwhile, easily passed the resolution Friday.

White House spokesman Tony Snow told CNN he disagrees with Reid's characterization.

"In point of fact, it was important to get Saddam Hussein out of power," Snow told "Late Edition."

"Yeah, the war is tough. But the solution is not to get out. It is to provide the kinds of resources and reinforcements our forces need to get the job done, and at the same time say to the Iraqis, 'You guys gotta step up.'"

Democratic leaders have said they will make sure the troops currently in Iraq get the equipment they need.

In speeches leading up to November's midterm elections, President Bush argued against sending more troops to Iraq.

The elections gave Democrats control of both houses of Congress.

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