best and bravest of your generation. yours is a war story that deserved to be told. i am oliver north, g thrill.

after all of these long years in the desert it has been such a pleasure and honor. i rode with the unit of the third brigade of the third calvary. that's the military unit that has the honor the designation of being the last troops in this country. >> how do we do it? >> we are out of iraq. we are in kuwait. we made it. they made it. all right.

>> you met with general austin earlier today. what did he tell you about the operation in iraq? >> he was really -- first of all he was concerned the operation really come off smoothly, which it did. he wanted to leave this place with honor with dignity and his troops pulled that off. >> it is a feeling of relief, a feeling of victory. >> right now geraldo as you might image i am poke cufocused operation, making sure that we continue to do the right things to ensure that every one of our service members is returned to safety. it has been done supersuperbly. what i feel right now is an enormous sense of pride. we will get an opportunity to reflect on this in the days ahead. >> do you ever think, general, was this worth it? >> well, as i have told other

people if you are a loved one of someone that was killed in action or seriously wounded in action, there are no words that can make you ever believe that this was worth it. however, if you really think about what's happened here, we removed a brutal dictator that killed hundreds of thousands of people over time. so if you consider the fact that we have a young democracy in a very critical region, a region critical to the united states of america, yes, it's worth it. >> here they come. that is the last truck, the last troops. the last vehicle. the war is over especially for the united states in iraq. there they are. >> there they are. iraq at their back these final

pushes of men and their vehicles heading down toward kuwait toward their camps in virginia. there you see an air pace will take off from to head back home. >> it gives you a great feeling of nostalgia. a great feeling of emotion. our young men and women going home. >> i am here with gregg palkot live. veteran correspondence, wasn't that a thrill? >> i have covered this war for the nearly nine years the involvement here. somehow when i saw those trucks rolling by with the troops inside giving the fist up in the air the cheering, the singing, you name it, it all came close, all came close to my heart. you talked to a person afterwards who said you know do i think it's historic? no. now it is beginning to sink in.

what sank in is all of the differences about the war you and i have seen the men and women doing the job over the past nine years whether it is in the swamps or fallujah battlefield or no se mosul they been doing effectively their job. >> my co host for the hour major general jefferies has been a spokesman for all of the forces in iraq. we will ask him if he is unemployed or not. the commander officer of the third brigade of the first calvary. the ranking man is command sergeant major kelly. i am going to start here and

work our way to the general command sergeant major how did you keep your troops concentrated with the finish line so close? >> we have a motto discipline vigilant professional. the soldiers knew it wasn't over until we crossed the border. they were disciplined and they maintained that until we crossed the border. >> they looked sharp. they really did. >> colonel what did you think about the designation the honor and responsibility of being the last unit out? why the third brigade? >> it came to us because we were the brigade position in the southern providences of iraq. it came to us based on geography. we knew the mission would follow us even when we came to iraq. we were proud to represent the rest of our army peers and army team and be the ones to secure not just our area but the portion of iraq the rest of the country withdrew through.

>> you did a hell of a job. general, did we win? >> we accomplished our objectives early on. i think the iraqi people have a long way to go. i think our president said it best when he said the country deserves a state where it is stable and self reliant. we have been working toward each of the objectives that made tremendous progress but they are not there yet. they are going to have to keep working at it in order to achieve all of the objectives. >> i don't know how you felt but the fact that you cased the colors in baghdad the prime minister of iraq mr. mal key who has the job who is back from exile because of the united states and sacrifices choose to snub the closing ceremony in baghdad does that bother you? it bothers me. >> i wouldn't use that word. i don't think he snubbed anybody. the ceremony iraqis had on the

first of december where vice president biden participated and included prime minister malki that was the recognition of all of the contributions of the troops over the years. >> you weren't bothered by it? >> what we did was a ceremony recognizing the completion of our command. >> that sounds a little diplomatic for a warrior like you but i have a lot more questions for you as this program progresses. we will tell you about how the first battle where baghdad began and how we all experienced it.

>> i want to bring you the news breaking out of korea. north korean television

reporting their leader kim jong-il has died. we don't have a lot of detail about cause of death. what we are finding out is on north korean television nonstop they are talking about the death of kim jong-il 69 years old. to talk to me more about this because geraldo is in kuwait right now. we had guests planned to talk about the situation of our troops in iraq. kt mcfarland kind of a national correspondent. she is a fox news contributor. this news breaking moments ago you and i talked about the air apparent. 20 something-year-old kim jong who could be moving in place now. not a whole lot of detail coming out. you are not surprised we would find out about this late in the night like this. >> the 27-year-old son has been the heir apparent. he doesn't have military experience or political

experience. they will look to him there may be a potential power struggle with him. the young man the new leader will have to show his chops. he may feel he has to do something militant. this is the beginning of a succession issue that may go on the struggle may go on for a couple of months and may have international complications. >> the enigmatic leader kim jong-il. he has been ill. he has had a stroke. pictures of him look terrible for the last year. >> we will bring you details on this kim jong-il's north korean leader 69 years old as we learn more information tonight. i want to get back to geraldo at large he has been in kuwait as the last of the troops come home. he was with him last night in iraq.

a wrap with craig. >> at the peak we had 170,000 troops in iraq. they reduced that down to just 480 on saturday night. having provided security, food and fuel from their comrades coming down from the north they were our last unit in the war that in total saw 1 million americans tasked through this war torn country. >> you have a special meeting for this unit? >> third brigade mighty fort hood texas. this is the first platoon that crosses the border securing a route for everybody else that is remaining in iraq. >> been good. enjoyed working with our iraqi counterparts and strengthening national security. excited to be back home and be with your families. >> it lasted so long 8 years and

nine months many soldiers were in grade school when it started. >> the u.s. army making sure iraqi people know we are here for them. >> they were in iraq to help build a democracy. no easy feat in a region known for religious center lines and terrorism. >> you guys will be rolling out the time. >> are you excited to be home at christmas? >> family. family. >> how excited are you? >> ghost rider on 3, 1, 2, 3. ghost rider. >> covering the first afghanistan conflict and the war in iraq we have bonded with many of these gi's. they got the honor of riding out of iraq with the last convoy

sergeant manneder rodolfo. >> what do you want the folks back home to know about the soldiers? how were you treated? >> with respect and honor. >> what do you feel like? >> i feel everyone -- (inaudible). >> the threat of deadly ied attacks and counter strikes very real in the country commanders left camp and vehicles equipped with the latest bomb detection technology developed in the conflict. they closed the air bass and the convoy set off for the hour journey one last time. (horn honking) >> i remember passing this border in 2003, how we went into the country with such fear and anticipation and going and spending time with the troops

there with different experiences. we nearly lost our lives ourselves. what was it like driving back with the troops came back in this direction the last troops out of iraq? >> it was a tremendous honor to be with them, craig. the feeling i had was we survived it. just me and you. there were times we didn't think we would. >> never thought of the age of these young men until you mentioned it. we were at war for ten years. most of these guys were teenagers, some of them you are 19 years old you were 9 years old when these wars started. >> i was. i was in the 4th grade. >> long war. these guys have grown-up with it, now they are fighting in it. >> when did you think you wanted to be in the army? >> when i was 17 wanted to join and come over here and do my

part. >> you were watching the mup ets when this thing started. rodolfo ruiz thank the guardians for giving us a ri

this is a fox news alert. kim jong-il the north korean dictator as you have been hearing on fox news is dead. what that says about north korea where it goes the succession and all of the rest of it really problematic north korea. as you know a nuclear armed country. we are fortunate my colleague gregg palkot was in north korea and was how far away from the dictator? >> i would say about 50 yards last year. kim jong-il has been running that country we know with an

iron fist. the people are starving. the country is dying all at the same time they are developing nuclear programs nuclear missile programs what have you. it's a pore rye awe nation and the people are struggling. we were there we were a rare western media at the brave ground seeing up close kim jong-il and his son the heir apparent. up there on the reviewing stand and it was clear because of the illnesses because of the real problems that kim jong-il has with his health he was getting his son ready step by step he was moving up. but his son and young. it is not just a son. it is everybody that is around him is very important. we thought it was going to be years in the grooming process for his son. it could still be. he could still be supported by the bureau there. but it is a significant move. they have to see it as a possibility either for more problems more chaos more pulling back by the military that pulls

all of the leaves there or perhaps some kind of opportunity for a new start with north korea which the obama administration has been struggling with right now. >> it's a country had a has been has been extremely difficult. >> this is a piece of cake compared to north korea. kt mcfarland our wonderful security analyst is with harris falkner in new york. do you think it is possible that the son to prove he is macho to prove he is up to the task of taking over that dictatorship will do something like shell the north korean islands that he has been doing trying to capture more of the capture some of the south korean vessels? >> he has done that already a year ago when he was named the heir apparent and showing his macho.

he went along with what he wanted to do. they shelled an island. they have to do so politically. they had the criticism in south korea. this young man is inexperienced he didn't have years to be groomed for the job. he did have a military background. the north korean military ran the place for generations. they have to do something to show he's up for the job. my guess is he might precipitate a crisis. >> along those lines geraldo this is just crossing now the associated press wires. the south korean military is declaring an emergency alert following the death of kim jong-il. this is right along the lines of what you and casey are talking about a reaction in south korea. >> i think it is likely as tensions will escalate

particularly as the heir apparent tries to solidify his position with the military or some of the people in the military the general decides they don't need this young man to run things. general buchanan hz exercises with the south korean. how problematic is the death of this dictator general do you believe? >> certainly as greg mentioned a couple minutes ago, it's a series of opportunities that can go one way or the other. but lots of concern and understand why everybody is concerned about what might happen good or bad right now. >> we fought a bloody inconclusive conflict there. wouldn't it be irony if we had to move the gear into the

pacific. >> we serve our country. >> we take solace in that. because it is a nuclear armed country we cannot under state the significance of that unstable north korea. we know they are starving. we know the chaos of the people of north korea. but the fact that you have a young energetic leader is something that we worry he jumps the wrong way rather than to prudence is something that is provocative. we will continue our special report from kuwait after these short messages.

>> this is a fox news alert. hi, everyone. i'm steve doocy. we're on early because kim jong il, the north korean leader for a very long time has died. in the meantime, south korea is on high alert. let's take a look at some video. that is brand new video after the overly secretive government revealed the death of its ruler, kim jong il on state tv. that report claims kim died of heart failure while riding on a train on saturday. he was 69 years old. and ruled over the isolated

communist country for 15 years. president bush named him part of the axis of evil in the 2002 state of the union address. he often kept company with leaders in cuba, iran and syria. his body will be placed inside a memorial until his funeral next week. meanwhile, the entire world is watching wondering who will be his successor. the north korean government immediately called on its 24 million citizens to rally behind his son, kim jong un calling hip the great successor. surprisingly, we don't know a lot about the son, kim jong un. he's either 27 or 28 years old. he spent time studying at an english school and avoided cameras most of his life. before this photo was released in 2010, kim jong un hadn't been seen in public since the age of 11. right now, great palkot has more

on the north korean leader's life. >> this is how the world will remember the north korean leader kim jong il. rare glimpses thanks to closely choreographed media events. his rule was for the most part off-limits to the outside world along with his birth. he was born in eastern russia while his father was stationed there with the red army. but north korean lore insists he was born at the base of an important peak in what was at the time japanese occupied korea. kim's father would become a national hero leading anti-japanese guerilla forces, establishing the korean peoples army and founding the democratic people's republic of korea or north korea. after serving his political apprenticeship in the korean

workers party, kim jong il was named successor to his father in 1980, the first ever communist leader to inherit power. he was given the dear leader and at 1981, age 50 was appointed head of the country's massive armed forces. kim jong il assumed overall power three years later in 1994 when his father died. but he was not officially called president, a great leader took that title to his grave. as north korea's supreme leader, he mirrored his father's autocratic style continuing the country along its strict communist course. he defied world opinion vigorously pursuing a nuclear weapon and vilified for exporting weapons including high spec missile xoen he wants to state sponsors of terrorism. he apparently revelled in efforts and the party talks to curb the regime's talk to stop nuclear weapons. president bush grouped it with iran and iraq in the greatest

threats to peace. >> states like these and the terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil arming to threaten the peace of the world. >> it's widely believed north korea manufactured at least a half dozen nuclear bombs under his tenure. he used his military connections to consolidate political power and spent much of the country's meager income on defense making his army the fourth largest in the world. his forces faced off against the stronger south korean military and nearly 30,000 u.s. troops along the demilitarized zone. human rights groups accused his regime of starving the people while importing luxury items for the country's political and security elite. kim jong il's private life is also an enigma. persistent rumors about his bizarre behavior included a love of expensive cognac and he was said to live in a seven story pleasure palace and had a collection of 20,000 movies. hollywood found the eccentric leader too intriguing to ignore and he starred in a puppets spoof wearing his characteristic

four inch platform shoes. >> ♪ i don't know >> kim's erratic behavior was no laughing matter for his regional foes. after initially agreeing to dismantle his nuclear facilities, kim ordered an underground nuclear cast and a succession of missile launches in 2009 which ratcheted up the pressure on world leaders to deal precisely with north korea. the tense situation was complicated by widespread rumors of his declining health. word was he suffered a stroke the previous summer and suffered diabetes and cancer. when he was seen again, the rumors appeared to be true. his mobility had suffered. in a rare televised appearance at a memorial for his late father, he looked frail and gaunt. reports coming out of north korea also suggested kim had named a successor. the youngest of the three sons, kim jong un. the younger kim is thought to be cut from the same cloth as his

father which means north korea is likely to remain one of the world's last communist dictatorships for some time in the world. >> the author of "nuclear showdown "gordon chang joins us right now. good morning. >> good morning. >> right now, the country of south korea is high alert, explain why. >> there's going to be provocation in all probability. in 2010, north korea committed two horrific acts against the south. the sinking of a south korean frigate and the shelling of an island. these were contributed to the succession struggle, he gave all the credit to kim jong un in order to bolster his legitimacy. now kim jong un has very little support and the only way he can get through this extremely difficult period is if he bolsters his legitimacy again and that means probably another

strike on south korean forces. >> so are you telling me, gordon, because the old man died and now the son's got to prove that he's got the wherewithall to run the country, he's going to fire something off at south korea? >> that's very possible because regime elements loyal to kim jong un know that he's in a very difficult position because the military, the party and the security services probably don't want to see him continue on the throne. they probably want to take over themselves. so the only way that kim jong un can really solidify his position is to do something that gains respect in the regime and unfortunately, that means attacking south koreans. >> we just heard greg palcott do an obituary on kim jong il talking about his eccentricities, you know, he spent $800,000 once on cognac and he had a love for elvis. the son, the guy who presumably is going to take over there, he's only been in the public eye for just a couple of years. does he know what he's doing?

>> probably not. he probably hasn't had enough time to try to solidify his position in a very, very difficult regime. got to remember that kim jong il's father spent 20 years getting kim jong il ready to take over. kim jong il has spent only two years in getting kim jong un ready and they have not had the time to solidify their base among the various elements of the regime. and that's why kim jong un is in such danger at this moment. >> in danger from people within his own country, right? for instance, there's one guy who has been described as the caretaker of the government while kim jong il has been in power though quite sick, particularly there at the end. and i understand the father has tried to minimize some of the people in his inner circle neutered them, effectively so they can't take over and the kid can. >> absolutely. the one who you referred to is the regent, his wife is kim jong

il's sister. these two are supposed to protect kim jong un but he and his wife are detested by the military which is by far the most important element in the regime and the strongest in the country. and that really puts kim jong un in a difficult position because the people that were supposed to protect him are weak themselves. >> right. gordon, we're talking to gordon chang right now, expert on the region. gordon, the thing that is troubling about north korea and the power vacuum right now is they are sitting on a whole bunch of nuclear power. and bombs and stuff that could really make a mess over there, right? >> absolutely. they've got a weapons of plutonium and, perhaps, uranium as well but they also have biological and chemical weapons and we can't forget their conventional capabilities. their conventional army alone is extremely dangerous. so essentially what we have is a regime that is armed to the teeth and we don't know what's

going to happen to all of these weapons now that kim jong il is no longer exercising authority in keeping the country together. >> yeah, speaking of keeping the country together, i know for years the country of south korea and the country -- and the united states have talked about if on this guy's death, there would be, for instance, the korean peninsula unified and the people in north korea go wait a minute, we don't have to stay up here where we don't have light or anything else, let's go to south korea. they have prepared for that possibility. i know the cost estimates would be somewhere north of a trillion dollars to unite the two koreas. >> well, it would be extremely expensive and that's why many in south korea from the early 1990's have sort of backed away from this whole concept of unification. but unification could occur without the south korean ascent because, as you point out, the north korean people just might drive it. and because of this, and both people in washington and beijing know this is going to be a

difficult situation and united states has tried to talk to china about this but the chinese don't want to talk to us about this. china might act on its own to absorb south korea. >> china might act on its own. the kid of kim jong il might try to squeeze a shot out at south korea. >> it's extremely dangerous because anything can happen. if the north koreaens commit a provocation against the south koreans or against us, china could be drawn into a conflict that starts on the korean peninsula. >> stay on the line for a moment. what does kim jong il's death mean for the united states and our relationship with the hermit nation, north korea? steve centanni live in washington, d.c. with the details. good morning to you, steve. >> good morning, steve. it's certainly a game changer. the problem is we don't know what the game is going to be and what their rules are going to be this new game from here going

forward with north korea with the passing of kim jong il, power supposedly passes into the hands of his son, kim jong un but the military is very powerful over there so the u.s. watching very, very carefully. now, we have very little indication of how the u.s. will react and what they're going to say because, of course, it's early in the morning, middle of the night when this happened in washington, d.c., the beginning of christmas week so we'll have to wait and see what reaction we get except last night at the state department, we did get word that they were monitoring events in north korea or monitoring reports of the death of kim jong il in north korea last night and then that was superseded by another message from the white house to president obama who seemed to confirm that the president of north korea has indeed passed on. this one says at midnight, president obama spoke with republic of korea president, that's the south korean president to discuss the situation on the korean peninsula following the death of kim jong il which, as i said,

seems to confirm that the u.s. is accepting this as a fact as the whole world is at this point. the president reaffirmed the united states strong commitment to the stability of the korean peninsula and the security of our close ally the republic of korea. the two leaders agreed to stay in close touch as the situation develops. and agreed they would direct their national security teams to continue close coordination. of course, north korea has been a thorn in the side of the international community and of u.s. diplomats and of u.s. administrations for many years with the concern about them getting into developing nuclear weapons so, of course, the state department, the defense department and the white house keeping a very close watch on this situation and as i said, we'll monitor those reactions and get them to you as soon as we get them. >> all right, steve centanni live in the bureau, thank you, steve. let's bring in john bolton, former u.s. ambassador to the united nations and a fox news contributor. good morning to you, ambassador. >> good morning. >> south korea right now on high alert. what do you worry about?

>> nuclear weapons. i think at the moment, the situation in north korea is almost certainly very unstable. look, this is not a constitutional monarchy like great britain. you can't impose the 22-year-old kim jong un on the military. i think there's every risk that north korea's population upon hearing of the death, getting past the initial reaction will begin to think about what comes next and may consider heading for the borders, the river or the demilitarized zone but from the perspective of u.s. forces, korea and the south korean, the nuclear weapons are clearly the biggest issue at this point. >> so ambassador, you think that when the people of north korea hear the news of their dear leader, they're going to head for south korea? >> well, i think the north koreans are much more aware of what's going on outside the country than people let on. certainly a lot of them will be very uncertain what to do. but the risk is that the

military will fracture, they are the real power in north korea. they have a lot at stake here. very unlikely in my view they'll want to be ruled by somebody utterly incompetent in their view so it's the time of really great risk. on the other hand, it's the time of opportunity, too, had the administration -- our administration been better prepared for this, we could have been in much deeper conversations with china over what comes next. and working towards what should our objective be here which is the peaceful reunification of the korean peninsula and the elimination of this dictatorship in the north. >> right. ambassador, do you worry about the son, kim jong un who apparently is going to take over? we were talking to gordon chang and in fact, gordon is still on the line with us that he worries that because he's, you know, he's just in his 20's. he's never proven himself. he might try to do something on the dangerous side to prove he's the next guy, the next leader of north korea. >> well, that's possible.

i think although he's now vice chairman of their central military committee, i think the military owe him no allegiance and i think that the real risk is that this could fragment very quickly. apparently, at least according to some reports, even the announcement of kim jong il's death was delayed for several days which could well indicate that there's already instability in the north and of course, there's every prospect that china wouldn't welcome a massive flows of refugees into china, that they would consider intervening militarily as well so you have an immediate issue of potential deconfliction between chinese and american forces. >> mr. ambassador, you don't sound like you buy the official state-run media explanation that he died during fatigue from a train ride. >> absolutely, after years of consumption of expensive cognac. >> gordon chang still with us as well, the author of a wonderful book, i understand you feel bad and the ambassador kind of

touched on this a moment ago, china is going to try to influence what happens next. >> yes. well, the chinese have already wanted to base their troops in north korea. and those discussions really haven't gone too far. but if the beijing sees that north korea is starting to fracture and fragment, that authority is disintegrating, we can see chinese troops moving south to the border to restore order. that puts us, perhaps, in conflict with china. if north korea then at that point commits some provocation, there very well may be chinese troops facing american troops on the korean peninsula. >> ambassador john bolton, do you think that's a real possibility? >> well, i think it is a real possibility. i think our objective and we have planned for this is to try and find those nuclear weapons. you've got several risks there, number one, that military commanders might use those weapons or the chemical or biological weapons that, unfortunately, the north has in

ample quantities or that in order to get hard currency either to continue the struckly or to get out of the country, the military could sell them to a bitter currency and that's very troubling, too. our problem, of course, is that our intelligence on the nuclear program in north korea is woefully inadequate. and that's something that is a real problem for us right now. >> is there any possibility, ambassador, given that there could be some instability of the security of the nukes in north korea that the south koreans maybe with our help go in and try to stablize things? >> that's exactly what we have contingency plans for. the south doesn't want -- >> that's scary. that's really scary. >> well, it is scary but that's why we should have had much more extensive conversations with china over protracted period of time and i certainly hope that the phone lines are burning up between washington and beijing and have been all night because this is something that if not managed carefully, could well turn out to be a disaster and by

contrast, i don't want to leave this picture of unrelieved gloom. if we handle it well, if we had prepared more but if we handle it well now, the prospects for a fundamental change in northeast asia are presented by kim's death. >> right. gordon chang, do you think things can fundamentally change, though, with kim jong il's son un at the helm? >> well, i actually think that kim jong un is going to really play it safe for the next two or three years at least. got to remember that kim jong il took three years to actually assume his father's post after his death in 1994. and that's after 20 years of kim il song preparing the way. kim jong un is in a very unusual position, he'll be scrambling against the very elements of the military and security services as well as the korean workers party to put together some

coalition. he's just going to have to stitch it together. >> ambassador john bolton, a moment ago you said as we look at some of the images of kim jong il who reportedly died on saturday on a train of fatigue after a long bout of heart problems. do you think the -- you touched on the people of north korea might actually be a little better informed on what's going on in the world than the picture that we get out of north korea. do you think there's any possibility that what we have seen in the arab world regarding the arab spring could possibly happen there, where the people just rise up and say, you know, we're sick of this, we need to get into the 21st century, check, please! >> i think it's more likely they'll decide to get out of dodge. it's better to be in a place where there's food and i think they understand that. but the real question here is the military. they're the ones with the guns. it's hard to believe that they will come to a unanimous view of what -- what they want and since

everything is on the line for them, too, there's not much future for a former north korean general elsewhere in the world. the risk is that this could spirl -- spiral downward very quickly. this is a real 3:00 a.m. wake-up call for the united states and we need urgent attention paid to this in order to minimize the risks that are going to happen here. i think gordon is right that kim jong un would like a period of relative quiet but i'm not sure he's going to get it. i think there's every possibility this is going to move very, very quickly. >> mr. ambassador, you sound like you think that the obama administration has dropped the ball on our relations with north korea. >> well, incredibly, there have been reports in the past few days from south korea that the united states has once again been trying to reach agreement with north korea to get the north koreans once again to commit to give up their nuclear weapons program once again in exchange for food aid. i don't know how many times the

u.s. is going to have to go through this but at a point when we see this dramatic development, the fact that the obama administration was replaying the same old movie that has -- that has gone awry so many times, i think demonstrates they didn't have their eye on the ball. >> right. gordon chang, we were talking a little while ago about the fella that has been acting as the caretaker while kim jong il has reserved his strength. now that he's dead, is he going to go quietly into the night and let the son take over the power reins in north korea? >> probably not. he's very ambitious and his wife is supposedly evil, is the way that people describe her. these are two people who are not going to go quietly in the night. they may well want to take palace with themselves. if instead they do remain loyal to kim jong un they have a fight

on their hands with other regime elements. this makes it dangerous in the sense that the regime can easily fracture. once it fractures, ambassador bolton's nightmare scenario could play out with some elements of the military then taking the wmd and using it in one way or another. >> gordon, do you think that if that were to happen, that nightmare scenario, it would be played out behind the scenes for a while if there's a power struggle or are the people of north korea going to know and as ambassador bolton say get the heck out of dodge? >> most of this is going to take place when we're not going to see it but as we saw it last spring, a number of senior regime officials died in what is considered to be succession struggle and so that's going to become obvious to everybody as we see senior leaders start to be knocked off one way or another. so yes, they are at this point, i'm sorry, struggling behind the scenes but we will see evidence of it soon.

>> ambassador, what is troubling as well is technically, even though it happened over 50 years ago, north korea is still at war with south korea, right? >> well, it is and with the united states -- united nations, while we're on the subject and that's why given the enormous quantities of armor and the military amassed near the border that is very near the capital city, this is a time of very grave danger for the south and you can bet that they are actively considering what to do and that's why the exercises we've held every year, the massive planning we've done about what to do if it becomes necessary to go into north korea are now being put out on the table and updated and being considered because there may not be much room for error here. if you're a civilian in the northern suburbs of seoul, you are at this point very worried about dissidents and the north

korean military using those chemical, biological or god forbid for their own nuclear weapons in the internal struggle. >> now that he's dead, moving forward, what's the next thing you want to watch for to make sure things aren't unravelling there? >> we need all our intelligence assets, whatever drones haven't fallen into iranian hands over in south korea watching alert conditions at their nuclear bases, their facilities, we need to be on top of everything we can use including whatever human intelligence we have to try and understand what's going on inside. it's a very opaque society and has been for a long time. but we really need every possible source of information we can get. >> sure, but ambassador, you got to figure that the -- and i'm sure you know stuff that we don't know, but, you know, for an outside observer like myself,

you would hope that the c.i.a. with all of their assets and other intel members of that community have been keeping an eye knowing this guy was sick anyway. what was going to happen next. >> certainly, south koreans whose capacity are much greater than ours have been bending every effort. but we're now talking about not only trying to understand the dynamic inside the ruling party, inside the military and the workers party but very fundamentally, who's moving on what roads. who has control of the borders. who's got control of the communications facilities and that's something that our very effective electronic observation capabilities can be a big help on. but we need to surge all of our available intelligence into north korea, over north korea as quickly as we can. >> right. and while we're worried about what's going to happen next, now that kim jong il is dead, i

don't know whether you ever met the guy or came close to meeting him but from what we've heard, he was crazy, wasn't he? >> well, i think he lived a very high lifestyle, let's leave it at that. and he was very erratic. but nonetheless, he's been able to stay in power and he's done what he could to ensure the succession for his son. power is what motivates these people. it's certainly not the well being of the north korean population and the family and their hangers on and the other elites will do whatever they can to stay in power however irrational they are from our u.s. perspective. >> sure. of course, the death of kim jong il could be a pivot point and the worry is that if the command starts to break down, some north korean units could go rogue, right? >> well, they could see that the opportunity is there to seize power or the risk if they don't seize power that some other general is going to do it. this is not a terribly cohesive society in that sense and those

who control the key assets, the nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, the armor and artillery are now the real powers there. will they submit to the kim's family succession? i suppose it's a possibility. i think it's unlikely. >> but the kim family has held on to power in that nation for, what, six decades? >> yep, no, that's certainly true. but i think there's -- there's a lot of dissatisfaction within the military about yet another kim, one who's had no military experience at all, who is obviously incapable of making important judgments at a critical period in their history, no evidence they're going to let him really rule. will they leave him in a figurehead position? that's another possibility. it undermines how deep the uncertainty is about what may happen next in north korea. >> so the son of kim jong il woefully ill prepared for the task at hand for him. >> as bad as well prepared as and i are.

>> yeah, but dictatorship hasn't run in my family for a decade. all right. and so once again, the number one thing you worry about today is that the united states is -- has not had the relationship with north korea over the last couple of years to make sure that this transition is a smooth one? >> well, with china, i mean, that is the key, there's no way we were going to have discussions with north korea but the two key powers here are the united states and china obviously south korea, japan, have enormous interest at stake here. we need to work very closely with our allies on this but nobody should underestimate the element of risk that we now face or the opportunity we face, too. >> all right. ambassador john bolton, thanks for joining us live. >> top of the morning to you. it is monday, december 19th, 2011, i'm gretchen carlson. thanks so much for your sharing your time with us this morning. we have breaking news to bring you, while you were sleeping a fox news alert. the death of kim jong il. the