Hardball with Chris Matthews

August 1, 2005

MATTHEWS: Let me go, Paul, before you start. What I keep doing here is asking people on and off camera who come on this program, high-ranking officers, enlisted, former officers. I get sometimes, not all the time, two different versions, the version they give me on the air and the version they give me the minute when we‘re off the air.

The version they give me when we‘re on the air is gung-ho, we‘re doing the right thing, everything is moving along. The version they give me off the air is, Rumsfeld is crazy. There aren‘t enough troops over there. We‘re not taking this seriously enough, or, we shouldn‘t be there, sometimes.

RIECKHOFF: Yes. Well, the reality is...

MATTHEWS: It isn‘t always a straight scoop when you go on television with people, because they want to be loyal to their units and to their service.

RIECKHOFF: That‘s exactly right.

And, Chris, I‘m no—there‘s no one more loyal to the troops than I am. I am still in the reserves. There‘s a likelihood that I‘ll go back, while Ms. Morgan is back at her radio show.

So, what I really want to do is educate the public about the truth of what‘s happening there. And I think the reality is that, when people like her go over there, there‘s a public affairs officer standing right next to that young soldier. And he‘s on active duty. And he wants to support the cause. And he can‘t speak freely. That‘s a fact.

MORGAN: That‘s not true.

RIECKHOFF: A young blogger was just reprimanded last week because he was a little too candid.

So when they come home...

(CROSSTALK)

MORGAN: That‘s not true.

RIECKHOFF: Let me finish, ma‘am.

When they come home, the cuffs are off and they can speak freely. Me and any other veteran who have just come home would be more than happy to come on Ms. Morgan‘s show and talk to her about the realities of war.

MATTHEWS: OK.

RIECKHOFF: But, otherwise, it‘s just—it‘s vacation journalism, where they go to war zone for a little while. They get their credentials. They improve their ratings and then they go back to the comfortable world of civilian atmosphere.

MORGAN: That‘s not why I did it.

(CROSSTALK)

RIECKHOFF: They have very little credibility on the war, Chris.