made water-boarding legal and took a lot of heat for it, but his call eventually led to usama bin laden's downfall. does he feel vindicated. >> i think i did endure a lot of that. it was worth it. >> former justice department attorney john yoo, in going after number one. and catching the big fish. and form operative mike baker, how the cia put the pieces of the bin laden puzzle together and the commander of delta force during blackhawk down in somalia, how special operations train to land in the lion as den. >> they've rehearsed so many times, that there isn't any chance at that bin laden or anyone after him is going to get away from them. ladies and gentlemen, governor

mike huckabee. [applaus [applause] >> thank you very much, a great audience here, lots of enthusiasm, and welcome to a special edition of huckabee from the fox news studios in new york city. by the way, happy mother's day to everybody. to all the moms who are watching our show, and by the way, we've done something special today. we have invited the moms from the huckabee staff to the show, and we are very happy to have them with us, and they're all down horror on the front row, so i'd like to ask our staff moms and these are the mothers of the staff tt the show, stand up so we can say thank you for loaning us your children and your husbands. very nice to have you here. [applause] >> some of the staff moms, and joan who works as one of our producers, maureen is in the hospital and we have a photo there of her, who would love to be with us and hopefully will be able to be with us soon. i want you to know that we really brought you here, i need to have a chat with you

about the way some of your children and husbands behave. so, if i could see you after the show. happy mother's day to all of you, and to all of our mothers who are watching today. [applause] >> i think it's probably safe to say that america needed good news and we got it. the successful operation to exterminate the mass murderer and evil radical, usama bin laden was a long time coming. but better late than never. president obama deserves credit for making what was a very bold and risky decision. and had the mission failed it would have likely finished off his presidency. and his willingness to take action in a way that would provide irrefutable prove of the death of america's most wanted menace was fraught with military and political risk, but he made the right call. the brilliant execution of the mission by america's elite special forces were a reminder to the world and to ourselves, that talk of america as a fading and a failing nation are just boneheadedly wrong.

we can still do what we set out to do in this country. [applause]. and maybe, just maybe, we'll shake off the unproductive gloom and doom that's caused us to focus more on high gas prices and the falling value of the dollar, unemployment and political division and start realizing that america needs to stand up and change the landscape, and a difficult mission like the operation to take out usama bin laden, serve as a lesson to the president and congress, because it was teamwork and a dedication to the mission over any one man that made that mission work. and if the members of congress could decide that it's not about them or their futures, but about the mission to secure our nation's borders and restore the economy, might even move us to unparalleled greatness, but this week we offer profound and deserved praise to the members.

military and to the intelligence agencies for ridding the world of a disease named usama bin laden. i've said this week on my radio commentary the huckabee report that it was good to know that the last thing that went through the mind of usama bin laden was an american bullet. [applause] well, that's my view, i welcome yours. you can e-mail me at mike huckabee.com and click on the fox news feedback section and sign up for the facebook and follow me on twitter. well, the mission to take out bin laden took months of planning by both our intelligence agencies and the navy seals. in a moment we are going to discuss how the cia connected the dots and led us to that compound in pakistan. but first, a look at what the seals went through to accomplish their mission. >> may 1st, 3:30 p.m. eastern time, chinook and blackhawk

helicopters carrying navy seals leave their base in afghanistan and fly to the place u.s. intelligence had been monitoring for months. usama bin laden's compound in abbottabad, and on the ground, the navy seal commandos found a false door and after breaking down a door, they found a brick wall and they breached several walls to get inside the house and bin laden and his family lived on the second and third floor of the main building and getting to those floors would be no easy task and officials tell fox at that once the seals got inside the house, they were rushed by occupants, and the seals killed bin laden's courier and the courier's brother on the first floor, and bin laden's son who rushed them from the third floor. after a 20 minute gun fight to get up the stairs, the seals reached the third floor bedroom, finally, almost ten years after his horrific attack on america, navy seals

team 6 was face-to-face with usama bin laden. well, the process that led to the location of the world's most wanted terrorist started eight years ago. here to reveal how we found bin laden, former cia operative and fox news contributor, mike baker. [applause]. >> mike:. good to have you here. and tell me what had to happen in the process of collecting intelligence for a mission like this to happen from the cia and intelligence side. >> what has to happen is a lot of painstaking, labor intensive, grinding work and luck, too, i don't know of any operation that didn't have some piece of luck. you referred to in the opening package the courier. >> mike: yeah. >> the courier was the key to this, this whole operation and think about what led us to that 40-some odd minutes in abbottabad that allowed the seals to take this terrific operation was an eight-year marathon. an investigative and intelligence process that

started in a small detention center, when a detainee referred to the courier and the interrogates are going about the couriers for people like bin laden and referred to this. that gets stuck down a pile of other information, thousands and thousands of missing pieces which may be coming from a variety of sources around the world and not too long after that, another reference, independent from another source, comes out about the same one. you have pieces of information, and a little bit of operation and reporting on someone. you don't have a real person, it's a ghost, an alias. and you take that information, and then you start thinking, okay, what can i do with this, might be something a little more important. eventually gets run past khalid shaikh mohammed as an example, one of our detainees, high value and he blanks on it, i don't know the name.

and now you start to think, as libya, another high value. and maybe you have something of importance. and when it was thrown out at ksm it wasn't that the courier was that important. 2003, that's when we're working around this alias name. and it wasn't until 2007 that we were able to get the real name of the individual and then it took two more years, 2009, until we had a general region where we felt that this existed. the keys this were putting together this is an eight year process, it wasn't eight days. the it wasn't a week or so ago, somebody in the cia said, hey, i think i found bin laden's compound. >> it took all of that time. in 2009 a general regional location. it wasn't until august of 2010 when we finally identified the compound and so, the amount of work, the investigative, intelligence processes, the sources around the world and

you're trying to zero in just to get a hold of had an individual and then that individual willed us to the compound and we all know what the end result was. >> mike: one of the key elements of all of this information gathering has been how much was obtained by enhanced interrogation, and specifically, water-boarding. this last week, leon panetta in an interview with brian williams on nbc specifically said, yes, water-boarding was a key part of that. do you believe that that is in fact the case? and how much does enhanced interrogation deliver for us? because, so many people in the defense world and in the diplomatic world, say, no, it is a-- it is worthless, it's not produced any valuable information. >> it's the concept of interrogation and in an interrogation, it's very important to be able to maintain control, as the interrogator. you never want the detainee to feel as if they're in control. now, if they know the game plan, if they know our play book, if they know everything that possibly could be thrown at them and know everything that can't be, then that gives

them a modicum of control. so, in my opinion, the enhanced techniques are important and we have to remember, water-boarding was used on three individuals and it was over by 2003. and so this is not something that's done every day, not a regular, there's the water-boarding room over there at gitmo and we're using it, you know, the next seven days in a room. >> i've got to book that room because it's always busy, no, this is one of our own reporters, one of the best news reporters in the business who subjected himself to being water-boarded and he said it was just like being on my show and that's what he said. i hope you guys don't feel the same thing. i can't speak to steve, but it's by no means is it, is it pleasant. none of this was meant to be pleasant. when you talk about the three individuals who were subjected to water-boarding. and again, ksm, khalid shaikh

mohammed, and they were collective responsible for the deaths of thousands of people and do i feel any angst? not at all. when you talk about going forward in our ability to take detainees and gather information from them. having had a kickback that includes the unknowing from the detainee's point of view, so when they come in, they don't know what's coming down the pipe, that's what's important. now, if a bit of of this is speculative and a moot point. we're not going to walk that dog back. >> mike: we're probably not going to use water-boarding, but everybody knows it's part of the process and we don't want them to know. i want to conclude, we're running out of time. it would outrage me if there was a criminal prosecution of good men and women of the cia doing their best to determine information upon which we can carry out acts like we did against usama bin laden and eric holder needs to just say,

there will be no prosecution of these patriots who did what they believe to be their duty. and believed to be lawful at the time in which they did it and anything less than that to me it would be an absolute outrage. >> the cia guys are heroes for what they did and i want to say thanks for your service ab putting some daylight in it for us. his decision made water boarding legal and many, including the obama administration criticized in part and john, do you feel vindicated. my interview with a former justice department official is coming up next. you will want to watch this. [applause]. we believe doing the right thing never goes unnoticed. lirty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? fi an entire community with joy? maxwell house believes . that's why we've partnered th rebuilding together to hp revitalize commities in need.

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[applause] >> it is one (applause) >> it's been one of the the most controversial consequences of the war on terror, when terror suspects are captured, how do we get them to give up the info that prevented attack and at the same time save lives. well, my next guest was responsible for deciding how far the interrogators would

legally go in order to get terrorists to talk. on august 1st, 2002, the bush justice department signed into effect the memos that would change life. yoo a justice department lawyer offered the memos that permitted the use on water-boarding and detainees and his writings made him a subject of relentless criticism and mockery for decades, during law school, they criticized him for wearing the abu ghraib attire. b attire. the obama >> the obama administration considered prosecuting him and a judge tried to charge him

with war crimes. he was called to testify. >> was the memo implemented? >> the memo was signed and provided. >> noi what signed means and so do you, stop wasting my time. >> i'm not trying to, sir. >> now ten years later, usama bin laden is dead. >> i think that those policies have successfully provided information to the government that have allowed this country to prevent terrorist attacks by al-qaeda on our homeland. >> professor yoo i want you to take me back to the day you were asked to draft the memo that's become now so very famous that ultimately created the legal authority for enhanced interrogation. how did that come about? >> we were just in the first few months after the 9/11 attacks and our intelligence agency scored a series of intelligence coups, namely the capture of leading al-qaeda figures like zubaida and

khalid shaikh mohammed and these were people, the hard core terrorists trained to resist interrogation that we normally use so the cia came to us, the justice department and said he we don't want to violate any laws, but we need to know what the laws against torture means to make sure he we don't cross them. so our memo was how far could the cia go and also, how far they could not go. >> mike: professor, there was an extraordinary level of pushback and it didn't just come from members of congress. it came from members of the military, members of the clergy, former secretaries of of state. when they came forward and said that we should not be doing torture and they defined water boarding as torture, did that price you? did it unsettle you when that happened? and did it make you rethink your position? >> well, of course, anytime you have leading figures in our military or the government make a statement like that, of course you're going to think

about it, but i think, first of all, water boarding was a-- interrogation that were used and i think that most people saw those, and they wouldn't think there's a torture. water boarding was only used on three al-qaeda leaders, and khalid shaikh mohammed being the primary one. we went back and looked at this, this was a very difficult call for us when we were back at the justice department. one thing we looked to was the fact that our own troops, about thousands and thousands of our officers and soldiers undergo water-boarding as part of their training. and we went and looked and we saw that very few number, maybe in the single digits, ever complained afterwards and said it caused them to suffer any kind of severe or mental harm. but our view was were not torturing our own soldiers in their training and while it might be an extreme measure for very unusual circumstances, that it wouldn't violate and torture when we were trying to get information about al-qaeda, which we thought was about to

carry out another attack on the united states, there was, again, a lot of anxiety and from the military. because they said, we don't want to treat any of those who have been apprehended in a way that we would not want our own soldiers to be treated. and that included such things as sleep deprivation, which the army manual says we're not supposed to do. so, did we in essence, violate some of our own code from the field manual by implementing some of these tactics, particularly at guantanamo bay? >> i think that's a hard question. i would just say, it's not a legal question. i think the legal question is, what is or is not torture. sleep deprivation, i think most americans agree is not torture at least as used in the interrogation of the lead herbs. the question is, should we restrain ourselves from using these methods because it might encourage mistreatment of our soldiers in the future? and that should be be the perspective and it is the perspective in the military.

unfortunately, this enemy we're fighting, al-qaeda has no interest in providing any of our soldiers any kinds of-- they don't take prisoners and their objective is just, to kill, not just our own soldiers, but civilians in the most gruesome way possible and i understand why they're concerned about the treatment of our soldiers and i, unfortunately, don't think that anything that we do with regards to the cloudy leaders, including in guantanamo bay or using the methods, the leaders is going to change the way that al-qaeda acts against us. >> professor, i must say i agree there without any equivocation that we're not dealing with people who are going to sort of temper down their own approach and attempts in dealing with us. and great case in point, daniel pearl who wasn't a soldier, not a combatant, but a journal its and beheaded by these people. the we're not talking about people who think like we do and have the same sense that we do. please stay with us, i want to

talk about what happened this week. the killing of usama bin laden and it's your perspective, you wrote a piece in the wall street journal and i want to ask you about that. we'll be right back with professor john yoo right after this. ♪

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>> this week the killing of usama bin laden has been celebrated by, i think, freedom loving people and certainly americans around. do you feel some sense of vindication in light of the fact that some of the information that led to his killing was in fact obtained by water-boarding? >> i do think this is a vindication of the bush administration's policies because without the policies on interrogation and on wire tapping, both of which took place many years ago under president bush, we would never have gotten the intelligence necessary to find usama bin

laden in his compound in abbottabad. the reason why, because we had to find the courier, the only link between usama bin laden and the outside world. and two pieces of things, information came to our government. one was the identity and that was the courier, that only came about because of the use of the aggressive interrogation methods on khalid shaikh mohammed and other al-qaeda leaders and the second thing was the location. we were only able it get the location because of the electronic wire tapping program. you pull those things together and it brings into focus all the other intelligence we're building, but eventually leads us exactly to the compound in abbo abbottabad we successfully attacked on sunday. >> mike: and president obama vigorously against enhanced interrogation, made sure it wouldn't happen and close gitmo and obviously he has not closed gitmo and these tactics were useful. has the obama administration,

what have they learned? have they come full circle now or simply accepting the information and using it to execute a mission, but not acknowledging the fact that it has been very useful in this very important moment in the war against terror? >> you know, i think the obama administration should get credit for carrying out the operation, but they are relying on intelligence that was gathered by policies they attacked during the campaign and which they have foresworn since taking office, mainly enhanced interrogation methods and a lot of other areas you mentioned earlier, governor, keeping guantanamo bay open and electronic surveillance and the use, they continued, but a lot of the areas like guantanamo bay, they tried to reverse the bush administration policy when they came into office and i think it's reality that brought them kicking and screaming around after two and a half years, policies similar to the ones they' tacked on campaign. the thing that worries me one area they haven't is the area

of unteinterrogation. and probably the most important stream of intelligence on the enemy. you wrote a piece this week in the wall street journal. you suggest rather than kill usama bin laden, it would have been better to bring him back for intelligence. explain why you would have preferred not to have killed him? >> it's a loss of a enormous intelligence opportunity. the most important information from al-qaeda and we've gotten through interrogation. the most important person we could have captured is usama bin laden. think about the intelligence we would have on al-qaeda, its operations and network and other leaders and pending attacks on the united states. you have endured nearly ten years of relentless criticism, you've been heckled, you've be been, in many ways, tell us

your emotions as you see in essence the fruit of your labors with the killing of usama bin laden, does that give you a sense of peace, a sense of closure about what you have personally been through over ten years? >> well, thanks for asking that question, i have to tell you, i've got to think about it a minute. no one has ever asked me that before. i guess what i'd say is, i think i did endure a lot after the last ten years, it was worth it because what we were trying to do was provide the tools for our men and women in the field who are the ones who actually have to make the tough decisions and their lives are on the line. given the amount of flexibility and protection that they can get the job done. and i have every confidence and faith in our military that they would-- if they captured bin laden if we asked them to or kill them. i didn't know when that day with would come. i knew it was come at some point. i feel fortunate i was able to some way contribute to the

victory on sunday. on the other hand the war is not over and it's going to continue and i hope that our political system is some kind of consensus now after seeing what works, about the bush administration policies and why they helped promote our ability to defeat al-qaeda. >> mike: professor john yoo thank you for the insights and the personal perspective you've had from this experience. >> thank you, it's been a great pleasure. >> mike: what is it like landing a helicopter on enemy ground? i'm going to ask opportunity general william boiken. one of the the decorated and special soldiers in the military. that's coming up next. and a choice. take tylenol now, and maybe up to 8 in a day. or...choose aleve and 2 pills for a day free of pain. enjoy the flight.

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introducing purina one beyond a new food for your cat or dog. >> from america's news headquarters, i'm harris falkner. a developing story from california. the scene of a deadly shooting. it happened in the town of fairfield, some 40 miles northeast of san francisco. police telling fox news there have been people killed, another injured inside of a

home and investigators say it may have been sparked by an argument among roommates and the suspected gunman among the dead and police saying apparently he took his own life after shooting the others. new comments now from president obama about usama bin laden's killing and possibly getting some help from pakistan. the president saying he believes bin laden did have some sort of support network inside that country, but he added we don't know who or what that support was. or if people inside the pakistani government were involved in helping bin laden. navy seals killed bin laden during a raid in pakistan a week ago today-- ago, rather. i'm harris falkner, now let's get you back to huckabee. >> if you'd like to comment on tonight's show, huckabee@foxnews.com. >> mike: if you haven't read my book "a simple government", a new york best seller, you should. how we deal with terrorists and nations that help them.

available at book stores online and amazon.com and autographed copies at mike huckabee.com. and how do they prepare to land for missions in hostile territory? the next guest was part of rescue operations in iran and mission commander in the battle of mogadishu, the battle chronicled in the film "blackhawk down". joining me now three-star general. good to have you with us. [applause] >> tell me, if you will, something about the play by play of what happens from the time those choppers land in that compound to the time they get out there have? >> well, first of all, let's back up a little earlier than that. on the way in there's no question that these troops are going to be monitoring probably live video coming off of a uav or a predator type

drone, as well as getting verbal reports, so they have a pretty good situational awareness. they understand what's happening in a real-time. when they get in close, they probably get a one minute warning and that is at that point the adrenalin really starts pumping and once they fast group out of the helicopter or in the case of one with a hard landing, they're running on adrenalin. now, they don't know specifically what the interior of those buildings look like. even though they have rehearsed this scores of times, on a facsimile and they probably had multiple facsimiles to look at the weather, environment and density altitude. they don't know what they're going to find, but they are so well trained and rehearsed so many times that it's a routine drill for them. now, that doesn't mean that, you know, there won't be something unexpected in there, but they go in with the necessary explosives, and

whatever they encounter when they get on the target. and they go in with all kinds of contingencies, in this case, they had to use contingencies, so once they hit the ground there's zero chance that bin laden or anyone they're after is going to get away from them. >> mike: when you talk about all the preparation that goes into it. once they do land. give me sort of, if you would, what is likely to happen. because you not only directed the missions, you actually personally have been involved in the execution of on the ground in special forces and one of the few people who have been at both ends of that. i want you to tell me when those guys got off the helicopter what would be the assignments that they would be carrying out at that particular moment? >> right, some would have been given assignment for security. in other words, security from any kind of threat, externally as well as internally and others assigned to go directly to most likely place where bin laden would be. now, i think you'll find that

their plan was to, right on top of the building there with an expectation that bin laden would be at the highest point. once they're on the ground they're talking to each other, and know what's going on and reporting to each other to make sure everybody has a good situational awareness and then going room to room. let me say this, i think these seals showed a great deal of restraint as they went into this place. they're in a country that could have been very hostile to them. and they're up against al-qaeda, with the, you know, the man that has killed more americans than anybody. and i think they showed a lot of restrained to have gone in and apprehended certain members of the al-qaeda network there, that they didn't see as a threat. they flexed, put plastic handcuffs on him and didn't hurt them and then they went through and ultimately found their target. so, i think that it's a, once they get on the ground, it is a fast moving operation, with

a lot of communications and they go from room to room, and until they find their target. >> mike: you talk about indications, we saw pictures of the president and his cabinet sitting there watching. how extensive are the communications? is there video streaming back to washington and even among the special forces, is there a protocol to talk and not talking, confusing if 30 people are talking at the same time. >> governor, you bring up a good point. this concerns me where the situation where the commander-in-chief if he wishes to command the operation. and they could have been getting videos from any number of sources some of which could have been very high altitude aircraft. >> and they were probably monitoring the command frequency, in other words, not necessarily each individual on the ground. i doubt that very seriously,

but certainly, the free kwnssy that was linking those commandos on the ground. those seals to their command headquarters. i'm sure they were monitoring that and that is good on the one hand, on the other hand, it portends, you know, interference that you don't need. so that concerns me. >> mike: and we want to continue this when we come back. more with general jerry boykin, right back. [applause]. [ male announcer ] try fixodent with a time-released formula. use just once per day for dawn-to-dark hold. it is important to use the product as directed. fixodent and forget it. better than any other luxury brand. ♪

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[applause] >> we

(applause) >> we're back with jerry boykin and talking about this operation. a lot of things can go wrong. this was a very gutsy move and you and i were talking during the the break. the president took a big risk here and he he made a very, very really courageous decision because let's talk about some of the things that could go wrong. what if the communications break down when they land? >> well, they have so much redundancy in communication, it's unlikely that they could have lost contact. one of the things that did happen is certainly something we saw happen before. you mentioned that in the attempt to rescue the hodges in 1980, the helicopter became a problem. we saw it again in mogadishu. helicopters are always a potential problem and they have had a contingency. and we keep saying two helicopters, there were more, they would not have gone in without adequate backup if they did lose a helicopter. when you go in on hot target

where people are going to be shooting at you, you could expect you could lose a helicopter as we did in this case. so, there are lots of contingencies, in the months that they had to rehearse this, governor, i assure you, they went through every contingency for how they were going to react to certain things occurred and in this case they had to exercise at least one of them. >> mike: i think we're all amazed at the level of of valor that these gentlemen display when they go into had a mission like this. tell me about the process of selection, what are you looking for? this is the elite of the elite of the delta force and seals. what are the characteristics? >> we're looking for maturity, looking for judgment. looking for people that will make the right decisions under the toughest of circumstances, not necessarily just the strongest or the fastest on the daily runs. >> now, these are people who not only have to be able to take orders, even to their own

death, but they also to be prepared to make decisions when no order is forth coming because something unexpected happened. would that be a fair assessment? >> that is absolutely right. governor, once they got on the ground. there was no one outside of the compound telling them what to do. that was up to the team leaders and individuals and noncommissioned officer leaders to make rapid decisions as particularly when things were unexpected. but they train for that. and this is a small unit leadership at its very best. these are tough guys, but they're also mature, and capable of making rapid decisions under pressure. >> mike: do you agree with the decision to kill him as oppose to capturing him? >> i think this is the most ridiculous argument. this was usama bin laden. for us, as americans, proud americans, to second guess these seals. they went in there. if i-- i think any one in uniform that would have seen usama bin laden there, would not have taken the risk that he was either had a concealed

grenade, a vest or was within reach of a gun. this is a silly argument, it was usama bin laden. they went in there and did the right thing and americans ought to stand by them and just knock off this nonsense about second guessing them. >> mike: i couldn't agree more. [applause] >> i think maybe that's one of the best ways i've heard it said and say thanks on behalf of the american people to those who participated in this, but one of the reasons it was successful because people like you pioneered the techniques. selection process and general boykin your extraordinary career should be admired by every military personal i've talked to expressed amazing respect for you as an officer and a gentleman. >> thank you, governor. [applause] >> what a pleasure. how do military leaders prepare their teams to track down an elusive target and carry out these dangerous operatio operations? a central player in the hunt,

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(applause) >> and again, i hope you do want to be a part of our studio audience on the next trip to new york. the planning for the takedown of usama bin laden was staged for months and execution took 40 minutes. how did military leaders take intelligence and turn it into action. my next guest demanded that the battalion and saddam hussein. joining us retired lt. colonel steve russell. [applause] >> it took a long time to develop the intelligence. was it mostly sophisticated

satellite technology or how did you go about spotting saddam hussein. people that i the capture was an instant thing. it wasn't, it was the result of six months of very hard work on the part of two special operations, and teams working hand in hand with regular forces over a six month period. >> now, you've written a book called we've got it. you detailed what goes on in the process of getting saddam hussein. tell me about some similarities in dealing with saddam hussein and usama bin laden, because i'm sure you've kept up with the extraordinary process here. what is similar and what's different? >> there's a lot of similar. the time lines are different. saddam was surrounded by larger numbers of people and social networks. both had virtual unknowns in direct coordination with him and once you find out who those key individuals are and being able to track them down, that becomes essential to finding the big guys. >> mike: i understand that

there was one particular little boy that was a critical part of finding saddam hussein. >> there were five controlling families involved with the security apparatus surrounding saddam. he had it before the war and these were families protecting him. the muslim family was the key. there was a boy that came up to the outpost and said i have some information and my commander talked to the boy and sent my forces out on a raid and when we got to the farm it was the very family that had hidden saddam in 1959, and in 1959, when he tried to kill the iraqi prime minister, it was the same farm that would come into play the next few days. we also got information about able to get him a few short days after that. >> mike: this was wasn't whiz-bang technology, this was on the ground talking to people and getting information and putting the pieces together. >> it absolutely was and

without the cooperation of the iraqi people, figuring out who the controlling families were around they. working hand in hand, day after day, it was a lot of flat foot work and we were able to collect the whole set. each raid, each person we got led to somebody else. >> mike: how many dead ends did you hit? >> you always have a lot of dead ends, but you get nothing if you do nothing. and one of them might be the one and that proved to be the case on december 13th of 2003. >> mike: colonel, tell me, in those hours just before you finally found him and captured him, tell me how that came about and in that moment? >> i got a call that morning from colonel hickey and he said that they captured the fat man what we called mohammed al musef. we were elated and felt if he were captured he would know saddam hussein's location. the colonel told me he to get the forces ready and once we learned where his location was, there were, we worked hand in hand with a special operations forces being commanded by a guy i'll call

john. and two additional teams were brought up, some air assets and all of this planning took place not in sophistication pan technical means, but on a piece of butcher paper with magic marker pen drawn out and we'd worked together on so many raids. eight o'clock everything was set. a giant cordon around so that saddam could not escape. two farms were seized. what we think is two guys tried to flee and put saddam in his hiding place, and then after a time, he was brought along for the raid and he pointed to the location, it was a foot path, got down in the hole, saddam was at that location and he was pulled out of the hole and successfully captured. >> mike: what a remarkable mission and colonel, it's all chronicled in the book called "we got him" a book that tells the story of the capture, great insight into the capability of our military and i want to say as we conclude the program. we hopefully have brought you some sense of the

extraordinary dedication and discipline of the men and women of our military and intelligence agencies and we celebrated when we found out that usama bin laden was killed, but the moment at which it was revealed to us was preceded by not the days, weeks, months, but years of painstaking work and careful work and also, extraordinary danger that they put themselves through. and the united states of america owes a lot to our military and i don't think we could ever give them too much in terms of recognition and gratitude and i hope you see a soldier anyway, a sailor, a marine, air force, airmen, that you'll shake their hand and say god bless. thanks for being with us. another happy mother's day to all of our mothers, not just our staff mothers who are here in our audience, but happy mother's day to you wherever you are, god bless from new york. this is mike huckabee, good night everyone. night everyone. [applause]. captioned by closed captioning services, inc.

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