GMA Exclusive: Interview With Nancy Pelosi

Sept. 12, 2007 — -- In an exclusive interview, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., sat down with "Good Morning America's" Robin Roberts on Capitol Hill to discuss the war in Iraq, America's shortcomings and what she plans to do to bring it all to a safe, swift end.

Pelosi stressed that a deployment of troops out of Iraq should happen as soon as possible.

"[The war] has been executed in a way that has not been worthy of the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform," she said.

It's time to bring them home because, if nothing else, it's what the American people want, she said, and she is prepared to hold President Bush accountable on their behalf.

Pelosi met with the president following Gen. David Petraeus' testimony on progress in Iraq, but they found little common ground.

"I am asking him to give an explanation to the American people as to why our country should be engaged in a war without end, at least a 10 year commitment in Iraq," Pelosi said.

It's an explanation, she said, the president owes the people as well as the government that follows him. "In terms of the war, it's clear that this president is going to leave this war into the hands of a new president," she said.

Pelosi's plan to withdraw troops from Iraq is decidedly different from the suggestions outlined in Petraeus' testimony regarding the end of the war.

"Gen. Petraeus made it clear the choice is for a responsible redeployment, drawing down of our forces out of Iraq in the near term for a 10-year or more commitment to a war without end. That's where he is. We are someplace else," Pelosi said.

She told Roberts what the war needs is the opposite -- a responsible deployment of troops out of Iraq. Pelosi added, however, that some troops must remain, "leaving enough troops there to fight the terrorists and to protect our embassy with a minimal force there to end the occupation of Iraq."

Enough troops must remain to assist the Iraqi government, a government that Pelosi has no faith in. "The occupation and presence of the troops there in higher numbers give them all of the leeway in the world to just continue the way they want," she said.