'This Week' Transcript: VP-Elect Joe Biden

STEPHANOPOULOS: The status of forces agreement in Iraq.

BIDEN: The status of forces agreement in Iraq that is negotiated between Maliki and this administration which is not at all inconsistent in principle with what Barack and I are talking about during the election.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But it is inconsistent in details because that agreement says all American troops have to be out of Iraq by 2011. You and the president-elect have said that you believe we need a residual force. Secretary Gates said it could be 40,000 troops after 2011.

BIDEN: Well, if you take a look at that agreement, the agreement allows for the incoming administration and the government of Iraq, whatever happens to be at the time these drop dead dates occur in the SOFA, to be able to look at and mutually agree that maybe something else need be done.

But look, our goal is to get American combat forces out of Iraq. That's what our goal is. And turn over responsibility to the Iraqis. And so we – but the other aspect of this that we know we're going to inherit and have to deal with is what is the political circumstance going to be left behind?

And that is, are we leaving behind the stable Iraq that has a government that has the trust of all the major factions in Iraq or not? So there's a lot of work to be done is the only point I'm making.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But The New York Times reported that, at your national security meeting this week, Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen came forward with a withdrawal plan prepared by the commanding generals. They would start the withdrawal, but they said that they could not meet the 16-month deadline called for by President-elect Obama.

Did he say, "Go back to the drawing board; come back with a plan that meets my promise"?

BIDEN: Well, I'm not going to get into detail, but the answer is, nothing was that stark at all. There is -- there isn't any -- there isn't any conclusion reached or presentation made that suggests that we cannot rationalize the -- the status-of-forces-agreement terms and the objectives of the Obama-Biden administration.

But the characterization you just made of how starkly things are presented was not -- that's not an accurate characterization.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But is he still committed to meeting that promise, all combat troops...

BIDEN: He...

STEPHANOPOULOS: ... President-elect Obama...

BIDEN: Yes, he...

STEPHANOPOULOS: ... in 16 months?

BIDEN: He is committed within the context of what he said at the time. He said he would at the time confer with the military leaders on the ground.

We will be out of Iraq in -- in the same -- in the -- in the way in which Barack Obama described his position during the campaign. That will happen.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But they are indicating to you that they can't meet the deadline he set, aren't they?

BIDEN: No. No, they're not. But I'm not going to get into the internal deliberations that we have underway now, the purpose of which is, when we are sworn in on January 20th, what is -- whether the specific elements of the plan with regard to Iraq are we going to implement? And how are we going to do that?

STEPHANOPOULOS: You mentioned earlier you want to restore balance in the job of vice president. And during the campaign, you called your predecessor, Vice President Cheney, probably the most dangerous vice president ever.

He was pretty defiant, though, this week in interviews with ABC, with Jonathan Karl. And he said, "Those who have accused the administration of condoning torture or violating the Constitution with the terrorist surveillance program don't know what they're talking about."

BIDEN: Well, I still -- I don't agree with the vice president.

STEPHANOPOULOS: It sounded like you were going to say you still stand by your characterization.

BIDEN: I -- I -- look, I think the recommendations, the advice that he has given to President Bush -- and maybe advice the president already had decided on before he got it -- I'm not making that judgment -- has been not healthy for our foreign policy, not healthy for our national security, and it has not been consistent with our Constitution, in my view.

His notion of a unitary executive, meaning that, in time of war, essentially all power, you know, goes to the executive, I think is dead wrong. I think it was mistaken. I think that it caused this administration in adopting that notion to overstep its constitutional bounds, but at a minimum to weaken our standing the world and weaken our security. I stand by that, that judgment.

And he also went on to say that he still thinks we should have gone into Iraq, knowing exactly what we knew and the way we did, as I -- I heard the interview. He also stands by the fact that we still should keep Guantanamo Bay open and so on. So -- so we have fundamentally different view.

STEPHANOPOULOS: He says, the more you learn about threats, as you -- as you see the intelligence, the more you're going to come around to the Bush administration's point of view on their counterterrorist policies.

BIDEN: I'll make two responses to that. One, as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, unless they were lying to me all along, I knew the details of the threat. I was one of those four people that had access to all that information, excuse me, one of those eight people the -- that had access to that information.

Secondly, I have been getting what they call that presidential briefing you get every morning from the intelligence community since the day we have been -- since the day we were elected, not sworn in.

I have learned nothing thus far that would change my view...

STEPHANOPOULOS: Nothing?

BIDEN: Nothing thus far that would change my fundamental view that Guantanamo should close, number one, that, number two, the way in which we have conducted our policy, in terms of both surveillance as well as the detainees, has hurt our reputation around the world.

And to quote from a previous national security report put out by the -- the intelligence community, we have -- we have created, not dissuaded, more terrorists as a consequence of this policy.

Nothing I've learned thus far has changed my fundamental view on the constitutional as well as the practical positions we should take relative to the issues of torture and others.

STEPHANOPOULOS: The Senate Armed Services Committee last week had a unanimous report that said that the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, at Guantanamo, at prisons around the world is a direct and indirect result of decisions made by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other high officials. Should they be prosecuted for that?

BIDEN: First of all, that's a judgment, remember, four years ago on your program I made, so I haven't changed my mind. And this confirms.

But the questions of whether or not a criminal act has been committed or a very, very, very bad judgment has been engaged in is -- is something the Justice Department decides.

Barack Obama and I are -- President-elect Obama and I are not sitting thinking about the past. We're focusing on the future. Obviously, that if the Justice...

STEPHANOPOULOS: But should the cases be reviewed?

BIDEN: Well, that's a decision I'd look to the Justice Department to make.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But you're not ruling it out at this point?

BIDEN: I'm not ruling it in and not ruling it out. I just think we should look forward. I think we should be looking forward, not backwards.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Looking forward, switching subjects here to the inaugural, quite a bit of controversy the last couple of days over the choice of Pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inaugural. And I'm sure you've seen the reaction in the gay community. We've gotten e-mails, phone calls.

And many in the gay and lesbian community simply can't understand how you can give this place of honor to a man who's equated gay marriage with incest and pedophilia. What do you say to that?

BIDEN: Well, look, Barack Obama, candidate Obama, Senator Obama, President-elect Obama has a -- a stellar and outspoken record in support of equality for all Americans, including gay and lesbian Americans.

But he also has made a judgment -- I think correctly -- that in order to heal the wounds of this country and move this country forward so we get out of this -- this -- this mindset overstated of red and blue and the like -- that he was going to reach out, he was going to reach out.

He made it clear there are parts of the positions taken by the reverend that he strongly disagrees with, but there's also some very positive things about what he did.

So he believes -- and I think he's right -- that this is a time to reach out, reach out to constituencies and people who you don't share the same view with in the hope that the end result of all this will be ultimate reconciliation.

And so -- and, look, he's giving an invocation. He's not making policy. He's not part of the administration.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So on matters of policy, what do you say to the gay and lesbian community? They're calling out for an action plan, saying have an action plan on revoking "don't ask, don't tell" within the first 100 days. Will that be done?

BIDEN: I'm not making a commitment for the administration based on any timetable.