Leno:  Senator John McCain (APP)

Mccain: Good, thank you, I’d like to thank you for that wonderful rendition of my favorite song. (Motions to band)

Leno: Can I begin by asking, where you were when this happened?

McCain: I was in the Senate Office Building, in the Capitol, and I saw it on television just like so many other Americans did.  And then a period of time elapsed, and then the Pentagon was hit and then they evacuated the building.  In retrospect, if it hadn’t have been for those brave Americans on that flight over Pennsylvania, that plane was probably heading for the Capitol or the White House.  That’s what we surmised from this.  So not only are they heroes to America but they saved my life as well.  It was a remarkable thing that those young men did on that airplane.  

Leno: Maybe I’m naive as a person, but you guys must have an early warning system.  This may sound silly, but you must have some red light that comes on or something.

McCain: Maybe we will have something like that in the future, but I don’t think anyone anticipated this kind of attack.  No one anticipated that they would set-up this intelligent, many-year long program, training people to fly airplanes and to infiltrate the way they did.   Our standard bio of a resume of a terrorist is some young teenager who came from some impoverished place, say Palestine, and who is going to be a martyr, but these people were educated people so we are going to have change that concept too.  But I do just want to say one thing at the outset, I think it’s important and it’s along the lines of what you were saying earlier.  This is the greatest nation on earth.  We’re the strongest nation, economic and militarily.  More importantly we are a beacon of hope, liberty, and freedom to everybody throughout the world including Arab countries where the majority of the people are good and decent, peace-loving people.  Let’s not forget that my friends.  People of the Muslim and Islamic faith are good and decent people.  We cannot discriminate against them in this country or anyplace else.  (APP)  No nation on earth would react with the nobility that this nation has reacted with; this is a sign of our strength and our greatness.  What we have seen is a new chapter in the history of this country about heroes.  We have heroes today who are firefighters, who are policemen, who were on a plane and decided, said over a cell phone that this is the end and we need to do what we need to do.  This is a nation of heroes, and in our sorrow we can think of them with great pride.  And we will prevail! We will prevail.  We will prevail. (APP)

Leno:  It seems to me like all of a sudden we are getting more straight talk then I’m used to.  I was watching V.P. Dick Cheney on “Meet the Press”, and they asked him would you have shot this plane down if you had known?  I half expected the, “Well we would have decided,” but he said, “yes, we would have shot it down,” I saw Pres. Bush today, looking for Bin Laden, dead or alive.  And I must say, it is very refreshing when talking to the American people to have them lay it on the line.  

McCain:  The American people want to know what the situation is.  They want to know what the challenge is.  One of the things I said is, “God have mercy on you, because we will not . . .we will not.”  (APP)  And the Pres. has the support of all the American people.  We are behind him; we support him.  He has the strongest national security; foreign policy team and I have great faith in Colin Powell – truly great American.  (APP)  We have men and women in the military that are highly trained and highly skilled.  And one of the interesting and uplifting things that has happened in the last few days, more and more young men and women have gone down to volunteer, to join the Armed Services.  It’s really remarkable.

Leno:  Really, I imagine because I was thinking of you earlier today.  You were in an unpopular war and I remember when all guys you came back and the best you got was a discharge and the worst you got was spat on, it must be a great source of pride.  I saw a kid on Melrose Avenue where we go talk to these people and walk around – it must seem like a hundred years ago.  You know, purple hair, thing in the nose, hair spiked, but he’s carrying an American flag and he’s waving and proud.  And I go, when does that happen?  

McCain:  It’s United America.  And I don’t think there is any doubt as opposed to the Vietnam War . . . or even the Persian Gulf War; there were divisions in America.  There are no divisions here.  There are no partisanships; there are no party lines.  They are all Americans; they all support the Pres., and they all know that we have a job to do.  But what the Pres., and what I want to tell the American people, is that we have to have patience here my friends.  This is an illusive enemy.  We could launch some cruise missiles tonight and watch it on CNN and see some spectacular fireworks, etc.  We have tried that in the past and it hasn’t worked.  We are going to have to exercise a broad range of military options including the option of putting people in on the ground to do a certain job to take him out, special forces-type people.  It’s going to require planning its going to require patience.  And remember our motive is not revenge; our motive is to keep this from ever having to happen again.  Revenge is too broad an emotion.  Our goal should be never again to let American lives be threatened like this. (APP)

Leno:  The Pres. said he wants Bin Laden dead or alive.  Who exactly is this guy?  We see the beard, the gun but what is his background like?

McCain:  I talked to the Pres. today and told him that I was coming on the show and he thought it was a good idea.  He thinks that our nation needs some healing and I think this provided some today.

Leno:  I hope he hasn’t watched the past few weeks.

McCain:  I think he’s a good sport . . . I’m not a good sport.

Leno:  Yeah, he was very touchy during the campaign.

McCain:  But Bin Laden is an interesting individual.  He’s Saudi, he inherited more then $300 million, he came from a very wealthy family.  In the Afghan War, where Russia occupied Afghanistan for almost 10 years and fought a losing war, which should be a lesson to us about occupying Afghanistan, he fought on the side of those fighting against the Russians.  And he fought well, well, there are varying reports on how well but he fought.  He was part of the team.  As well as the Pakistanis, they were part of the team.  An important part.  So after the war was over, he kind of went quiet but he was offended that Americans were on Saudi soil, which he viewed as sacred Islamic soil and he turned against us.  

Leno:  You don’t mean when we were protecting against invasion, you mean oil companies and stuff?

McCain:  No, I think he felt the military presence in Saudi Arabia, was offensive.  I don’t understand his logic, so he turned against us and developed a network that is worldwide.  And he could be in many countries and has been involved in many attacks.  He is intelligent, he’s clever, he has used money, and I believe other countries have assisted him in setting up this network, and he is dedicated to the proposition of our destruction.  He must be punished, obviously.  We hope that the Taliban will turn him over; I don’t think they are going to.  But the Pakistanis are very important as far as their assistance is concerned.  My friends, Afghanistan is a long ways away; it’s a thousand miles away from water.  It’s very difficult to get to; it’s rugged terrain.  Russians were humiliated there; the British, a couple hundred years ago, were humiliated there.  SO it’s going to be a tough, tough one.  Another point I want to make is that if Mr. Bin Laden was sent to the US tomorrow, and brought to trial, we would still have the same problem because there are so many other terrorist organizations doing the same thing.  He has supporters in other terrorist organizations that have been involved in attacks.  And here is my problem with past policy:  He bombed a barracks in Beirut, we did nothing; he bombed a marine barracks in Saudi Arabia and killed 19 Americans and we did very little, the USS Cole in the Port of Yemen and killed Americans.  We send cruise missiles and we think everything is all right or we try to bring them to trial.  My friends, this time they’ve gone too far, this time we’re serious; this time we won’t quit until they’re gone, completely gone from the face of the earth.

Leno:  I read years ago, and I know nothing about this, that we used to have operatives that we paid, then we switched over to electronic eavesdropping.  Is that safe or should we have a combo of the two?

McCain:  Late 1970’s, as a backlash against the Vietnam War, we had several covert programs called Phoenix, I’m probably telling you more than you want to know, but we had several programs in Vietnam that were very brutal and very tough, and we had some backlash and some hearings in the 1970’s to deal with and we decided to do away with our human intelligence capabilities.  But we have no human intelligence; only human intelligence can define motives and intentions.  But clearly, clearly, we need to get people on the ground and in these organizations.  Somebody is going to say that’s impossible, it is very difficult, but it’s not impossible but these guys are not Boy Scouts, they are very bad people.  But we’re going to have to get back into that business, that dirty business, of getting people on the ground.  

Leno:  Now I know the US gov’t has been against assassination, but would this be considered an assassination attempt on our president, they tried to crash a plane, is that reason to go, okay, that’s it.

McCain:  This guy and his organization are not leaders, they are terrorists and I think we have to do whatever it takes to take him out.  And that doesn’t mean I think we should go around assassinating world leaders.  I think that countries like Syria, Iran, Iraq, N. Korea, Libya, Afghan have to make a choice right now.  In Damascus there is a US Embassy and headquarters for terrorists organizations and think going to have to make a choice; are you going to be friends with the US?  You’ve got to get rid of these people.   As the Pres. said the other day, you’ve got to root them out and get them on the run.  If they’re on the run it is very difficult to do these things.  But with assistance from these countries, with safe harbor they can train the terrorists and it’s an entirely different proposition.  We have to talk to these countries, if you’re not our friends, you’re enemy.

Leno:  Now you spoke to some young people today?

McCain:  Tucson Sunnyside High, and yesterday a high should in Phoenix.  I have teenagers as well as a 10 year old and young Americans are very concerned.  They have never heard of Bin Laden or Afghanistan and I think its up to us.  And that’s why I think this program is important tonight.  For us to explain to them what there up against.  And once they know what they’re up against, and then I think they’ll be able to cope with it.  Yesterday a young girl stood up and cried and said, “When will this end?”  She needs, and all young Americans need encouragement, our reassurance and confidence.  And I found out in my Presidential campaign that all young Americans want to serve this country.  They are a noble generation, they want to serve causes greater then their own self-interest more then my generation did.  So it is important that we talk to young Americans and that is why I think this program is important tonight.

Leno:  What can we do?  What can normal people do to help?

McCain:  Live a normal life.  Their goal, their object, is to destroy the American way of life.  The best way to defeat that is to not let them do that.  We’ll have our freedoms, we’ll have our independence, we’ll have our disagreements.  If you were planning on traveling, travel.  If you were planning on buying something, buy it.  Young people, if you were thinking about joining the armed forces, think about it.  Young people, volunteer in your community.  There is a lot to be done now.  Give blood.  Do what we see all over, do what I saw from my car on the way here tonight, and what I see all over Arizona, fly the flag.  Fly it proudly.

Leno:  Senator, God Bless You.   (APP)  Senator John McCain everyone.