Transcripts from Countdown with Keith Olberman:

In our fourth story on the COUNTDOWN, were those 79 recommendations comprehensive, or did they merely provide political cover? And will the panel‘s findings advance the debate without advancing a solution to the quagmire in Iraq?

Joining us now, Senator Russell Feingold of Wisconsin.

Senator, thanks for your time tonight.

SEN. RUSS FEINGOLD (D-WI): You bet, Keith.

OLBERMANN: The whole argument for this war was as a function of American counterterrorism efforts. Let me read one excerpt about that directly from the report.

“A chaotic Iraq could still provide”—or “provide a still stronger base of operations for terrorists who seek to act regionally or even globally. Al Qaeda will portray any failure by the United States in Iraq as a significant victory that will be featured prominently as they recruit for their cause in the region and around the world.”

But hadn‘t all that already happened? And do you think the panel missed how much the war in Iraq has been a drain on the global fight against terror?

FEINGOLD: Oh, they sure did, Keith. I mean, I feel like I‘ve been watching the preview of a—or premiere of a blockbuster movie in Washington. But the fact is, this commission was composed apparently entirely of people who did not have the judgment to oppose this Iraq war in the first place, and who did not have the judgment to realize it was not a wise move in the fight against terrorism.

So that‘s who‘s doing this report. And then I looked at the list of who testified before them. There‘s virtually no one who opposed the war in the first place, virtually no one who‘s been really calling for a different strategy that goes for a global approach to the war on terrorism.

So this is really a Washington inside job, and it shows not in the description of what‘s happened, that‘s fairly accurate, but it shows in the recommendations. It‘s been called a classic Washington compromise that does not do the job of extricating us from Iraq in a way that we can deal with the issues in Southeast Asia, in Afghanistan, and in Somalia, which are every bit as important as what is happening in Iraq.

So this report does not do the job, and it‘s because it was not composed of a real representative group of Americans, who believe what the American people showed in the election, which is that it is time for us to have a timetable to bring the troops out of Iraq.

OLBERMANN: So bottom line, would you agree with this? The country‘s focus, the government‘s focus should be on getting us out as quickly as possible? And is there anything in the report that hastens that?

FEINGOLD: Well, there‘s some good recommendations, absolutely, making sure that we have more translators, making sure that we actually budget properly for this war, talking to countries that aren‘t necessarily friendly to us. Those are all good recommendations.

But the problem is, the bottom line here is, what are we going to so we can allocate our resources around the world to the battle against terrorism? This report keeps us in Iraq. This report keeps our resources there. One of the things I really noticed is they said we should put our very best people embedded in the Iraqi army. Well, that‘s nice, but that means they won‘t be in Afghanistan. And we are losing ground to the Taliban in Afghanistan, which, as I remember, is where the attacks came from on 9/11.

So this thing fundamentally continues the ultimate mistake in Washington of looking at the world through the prism of Iraq, instead of looking at the threat from al Qaeda as a global problem.

OLBERMANN: The incoming majority leader of your caucus in the Senate, Harry Reid, has called on President Bush to adopt the panel‘s recommendations regardless of your points or anybody else‘s. Do you make the same call? Is this better than nothing at this point?

FEINGOLD: Well, many of the recommendations are positive, and they should be adopted, absolutely. But the main point, which is, how are we going to get our troops out of Iraq, and not continue to have them in a situation that doesn‘t make sense, that isn‘t seriously dealt with.

We lost 10 more troops in Iraq just today, Keith. How many more days are we going to put up with in this country of people dying in a situation that this report indicates isn‘t working? When you make a mistake, you should stop making the mistake. And this report misses the point.

OLBERMANN: So what are the prospects, then, for resolving this situation in Iraq? What—if this has failed, and obviously something internally from the White House, which is next on the series of—to use your analogies, movie premieres, blockbusters in Washington, is—that‘s next, where is the avenue of exit?

FEINGOLD: The answer is to there a time frame clearly communicated to the Iraqi government. I had originally proposed 15 months ago that it be done by now. Let‘s say we do it by the middle of next summer, that we‘re going to be bringing our troops out, redeploying them, as Congressman Murtha has said. We‘re going to keep certain troops there for purposes of special ops, to go after terrorists. But we‘re not going to continue to have 140,000 troops trying to stop a civil war.

That is a simple solution. It is a legitimate solution. And it is the only way to prevent the grotesque losses that are occurring with regard to American troops, our military readiness, and most importantly, the damage to the national security of the American people, which is being hurt every day when we focus excessively on Iraq and not on the world threat that we face from al Qaeda and its affiliates. That‘s the bottom line.

OLBERMANN: Lastly, sir, a political question. Does this report provide the necessary political coverage to allow other members of your party, maybe some members of the Republican Party, to try to accomplish the exit in the terms that you just expressed it in?

FEINGOLD: It, it—I don‘t know. It—maybe it‘s going to cause people on the Democratic side to be a little stronger on this issue. I worry it might give people an excuse to go back to where they were before, which is not really being able to step up to the plate and saying, Look, we need a real timetable to bring the troops out. And I send that message both to the Republicans and Democrats.

The American people spoke in the election. They want our troops out of Iraq. And you know what? They are right. That‘s the right thing to do. And Democrats and Republicans have to get serious about this right now.

OLBERMANN: Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin. Great thanks for joining us tonight.

FEINGOLD: Thanks.

OLBERMANN: It took the Baker-Hamilton commission from March to December to release its report. Have the violent changes in Iraq already rendered the recommendations on the ground outdated? We‘ll ask the author of “Fiasco,” Thomas Ricks.

And anyone looking to understand how war in the Baltics got started need only look at this. It is how Serbian fans show their appreciation for basketball before they play the game.

That‘s next. This is COUNTDOWN.