periods in yemen. but they said there was no indication he might be trouble and they were never told he was on any kind of u.s. watch list. >> ( translated ): we haven't received any further information concerning this person, that is to say, he is not on the yemeni list of most wanted suspected terrorists. he only visited yemen twice, his first visit was in 2004 and it lasted till 2005 and the second visit was last august and he left during the last week of december. he came under the pretense of studying the arabic language. security system. he said u.s. officials failed to act on a warning from abdulmutallab's own father. >> had this critical information was shared, it could have been compiled with other intelligence and a fuller, clearer picture of the suspect would have emerged. the warning signs would have triggered red flags and the suspect would have never been allowed to board that plane for america. >> an al-qaeda offshore shoot group claims it was behind the airliner plots- nd had provided t

or direct investment to yemen? >> good questions all. i did not see a yemen representative at the summit. i have seen some at previous ones but i looked and asked and i saw none. and no one said there she is. there he is. the former prime minister of south yemen was supposed to come but he was nowhere to be seen. and he's no longer in yemen. he's in vienna. other representatives of various groups in yemen were certainly not present. but as to the kinds of assistance, reactions and responses by the dccc, there are the following. they were the core members of three to four years ago at a meeting in london where $4.3 billion was pledged to alleviate yemen's widespread economic difficulties. that has yet to make its way through to the end user. and each has their own reason, the lack of feasibility studies, lack of institutions, lack of transparency, too much

yemen has always h a large continge of jihadists. my fear itself is that the jihadists in yemen nowre trying to lead the suggle, the internal struggle, tt's taken placagainst the yemeni state. >> ambassador bone, do we know yet --hen we refer to this as a regional wing of al-qaa, which is how it's beeneferred to -- >> right, right. >> -- do y know what that ans? how ch independence does it have? does it rsue its own agenda or somehocentralized with -qaeda in afghanistan and pakistan? >> right. i don't think th we know exacy what its relationship is to al-qaeda central. there are two wings al-qaeda in the arabian pinsula. it sous nice to say that they had a dearation in january where they combineforces, but yostill have a saudi wing and yemeni win the yemeniing is primarily a domestic issue. it's got itswn agenda, its own look and set of grvances. then you have the saudi ng. the saudi wi includes the leership. they're pursuing completely diffent agenda. and wh their connection may be to pakista afghanistan, we i don't thinwe know, but

of yemen?t's not difficult at all. yemen is in a very tenuous situation right now. there is the problem of al qaeda in yemen. last week over 34 al qaeda-linked suspects were in that area. over 30 militants in al qaeda, suspects killed. yemen is going after al qaeda in a big way because right now in yemen, you have other portions of al qaeda coming there. last year, you had saudi al qaeda and yemen al qaeda merging. that's a big regional threat. al qaeda there is saying they're going to carry out attacks not just in yemen or in the west but other middle eastern countries. not only do you have the problem with al qaeda -- it is a huge one -- you have the problem of a separatist movement in the south. and you have these clashes that have been going on for months in the north of yemen, on the board we are saudi arabia, with the shiite rebels. the government is going after them. the shiites are fighting back. it's so bad, in fact, in the past week, we spoke to a yemen expert who said it's practicall

this is what we see in yemen. there are more and more spaces as long as the central government in yemen is repreoccupied fighting the central war. >> fill in the picture bit a for us. the yemeni government this is just one concern for the government, now right. >> the yemeni government is facing a lot of challenges. they are fitting a civil war in the north against shi'a revivalists, a secretary sessionist movement in the south, al qaeda, plus the country is running out of money they are running out of oil, water, rampant inflation, unemployment. all of these things, there a fear will overwhelm yemen in the future. we might have thought that would be three, four, five years down the road but this yar is -- war is rapidly accelerating the collapse t is destroying the economy and that is what will doom yemen. >> last night we did a segment on somalia as a potential failed state and that sounds like what we are talking about here too. this one is on the border of saudi arabia. >> right. >> i think to pick up on one o

got the incendiary device in yemen and got instructions from yemen. congressman peter king says he may have been known to have terrorist ties yet he wasn't on a no-fly list. what do you make of it? >> the suspect's already admitted he's part of a conspiracy, he's not acting by himself. he's been given the device. the richard reid case is very important here. richard reid -- there was another richard reid, number 2, a guy who also had a shoe bomb. he got a case of, if it were, cold feet. he didn't go through with the attack. he's a british citizen. this may not be the only type of attack or attacker with this kind of device. what authorities are going to be doing is obviously looking at what kind of device this is. i would suspect this is a hydrogen peroxide device. it's relatively easy to construct. that's what we saw on the plane in the summer of 2006. an afghan american was planning to blow up hide dro general peroxide bombs in the manhattan area. these bombs have become a signature of al qaeda, whether in the united states or in the united kingdom.

yemen also cimed other key kills in today's a raid. the yeme embassy in washington issued a statement, sang: "prelimina reports suggest that the strike targeted scos of yemeni and reign al-qaeda operatives. nasser al-wah-hey-shee, th regial al-qaeda leader and his deputy, saeeal-shihri, ongside anwar al-awlaki were prumed to be at the site." saeed al-shihrwas held at the s detention center at guantanamo bay for nearly x years; he was nt to saudi arab in 2007. just lt week, yemen carried out another strike on qaida. acrding to some reports, planes fir american missiles kill at least 34 suspected mitants and an unspecified numb of civilians. after that raid, a u.s. ste department sposman would not comment directly. instead, he reiterated u. pport for yemen: >> we cooperate with the government of men and other govements around the world in fighng al qaeda and others, yoknow, practicing terrorism. >> reporr: in fact, the u.s. has giveat least $70 million inilitary aid to yemen this year, a sharp increa from the past. the country, long redo

making america pay for reported strikes in yemen, and they threaten more attacks. plus, the first homeland security chief, tom ridge. what does he think of janet napolitano's controversial remarks that the system worked? and her little back pedaling today. he'll tell us if president obama's response is tough enough. >> we will continue to use every almo element of our power to defeat those that threaten us. >> larry: all that and more, next, on "larry king live." >> larry: good evening. the christmas day bomb plot story is getting more interesting by the hour. we have ed henry cnn senior white house correspondent with us from hawaii, and nic robertson senior international correspondent in london to talk about the very latest developments. cnn has obtained photos of the underwear bomb the terror suspect allegedly used to try to bring down flight 253. nic, what do these interesting to say the least photos tell us? >> they tell us this is the way the bombs were hid. i he spent a good part of today with a bomb-making expert that showed me the explosives, the petn, this

strikes at its members in yemen. in his remarks today president obama vowed to continue hunting al qaeda. >> the united states will do more than simply strengthen our defences, we will continue to use every element of our national power to disrupt, to dismantle and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us, whether they are from afghanistan or pakistan, yemen or somalia, or anywhere where they are plotting attacks against the u.s. homeland. >> ifill: what's known so far? 23-year-old umar farouk abdulmutallab bought his ticket with $2800 in cash on december 16th. he checked no bags. he boarded the plane in lagos and cleared security there as well as in amsterdam where the flight made a stop-over. the jet was on final approach to detroit when abdulmutallab allegedly tried to ignite explosives concealed under his clothing. authorities said he used a syringe to inject triggering chemicals into a small bag of crystal even explosives known as pcpn. instead of blowing up, the bag simply caught fire then passengers and c

peter bergen, what is the yemen connection? >> well, by the suspect's own account, he received the device in yemen. yemen is probably arguably the second most important place in the world right now for al qaeda, substantial al qaeda presence there. al qaeda in the arabian peninsula is the name of the group. we've seen a connection to yemen in the ft. hood shooting with the cleric who went on al jazeera recently to explain that major hasan the lead suspect in the ft. hood shooting had asked him if it was okay to kill fellow soldiers. so we've seen that yemen is sort of a hotbed of militancy. >> larry: frances, apparently the suspect is claiming ties to al qaeda and talking a lot. what do you make of that? >> well, that he's talking a lot is good news. but the real test will be, what can vergts and intelligence official corroborate? as peter mentions, the terrorist ties back to yemen are extensive and long between al qaeda's affiliation with operatives there. remember, larry, our consulate in awed saudi arabia are was atd and rec

yemen seems to work with petn.this type of device, they made a statement that as you know today they were experimenting with this. it certainly had enough explosive power to take down that a-330 airbus and kill all 278 passengers and 11 crew members aboard. quite frankly the machinery we have in place, the technology could not detect that, except possibly a scanning machine. certainly a puffer might have picked up some of the trace elements of it. it's frightening, larry, that eight years after 9/11 somebody could board a plane regardless of all the mistakes with that type of sophisticated weapon and look what we deal with today. >> larry: what do you make of the news, larry, that first al qaeda takes credit and two former gitmo detainees released during the bush administration are among the leadership of al qaeda? >> i'm glad they've taken credit, because approximate if nothing else it boosts the united states position with the government of yemen to launch military strikes against what remains of the al qaeda cam

we have seen a connection to yemen in the ft.d shooting with the cleric who went on al jazeera recently to explain that major hasan the lead suspect in the ft. hood shooting had asked him if it was okay to kill fellow soldiers. so we have seen yemen is sort of a hot bed of militancy. >> larry: frances, he is claiming ties to al qaeda and talking a lot. what do you make of that? >> that he is talking about is good. what investigators can corroborate. the terrorist ties back to yemen are extensive and long between al qaeda's affiliation with operatives there. our consulate in saudi arabia was attacked and recently the head of the internal security service in saudi arabia, there was an assassination attempt against him emanating out of yemen. our embassy there has been attacked more than twice and our security personnel and diplomats there are often targeted by al qaeda. we have a long history of counterterrorism problems emanating out of yemen and this is only the most recent. >> larry: eric, the suspect is upper middle class, prom

with regard to yemen this time, yes, they did address yemen, but in a unanimous support for saudi arabia's position as well as the yemen government's position. going over and beyond what has passed for conventional wisdom or establish thought regarding what has been happening and what has not been happening in yemen. you have something profoundly different and less than what the media has made it out to be. the words crisis are advisedly use. this particular crisis, thus far, or yemen pales in significance by comparison to five previous crises that yemen has dealt with over the last 80 years. the first being from the late 1930's and early 1940's, when they had three years of drought at the home of bin laden and his family. and when the japanese invaded indonesia and dried up all the remittances from indonesia, nothing like that has happened since. in 1962-1967 civil war in northern yemen. or the war in the south between 1964 and 1967, with the british had more soldiers in the field at any time since they had left burma. or the civil war 1984-1994, when the south try to succeecede, and many

with regard to yemen at this time, yes, they did address yemen. in a unanimous support for saudi arabia's position as well as the yemen government's position. going over and beyond much of what has passed for conventional wisdom or stablish thought or informed opinion regarding what has been happening and has not been happening in yemen, you have something profoundly different and probably less than what the media has made out to be. the word crisis of our advisedly used -- are advisedly used. the crisis pales into insignificance by comparison and contrast to five previous crises that dimon has dealt with over 80 years. the first being from the late 1930's and 1940 when they had three years of drought. when the japanese invaded indonesia and they've tried of their remittances from indonesia to the people of south yemen, nothing has happened quite like that since or the 1962-6 1967 war or the war between 1964 and 1967 where british troops tightened the field. or fast forward to the civil war from april 1994 to july 1994, when the south seceded or t

there has been a saudi arabian/yemen joint commission for some time now begun under the chairmanship of saudi arabia's crown prince sultan. but $1 billion a year has been pumped in there for quite some time. and earlier saudi arabia's aid to yemen was recognized by the world world bank and the imf and others as greater than all of the aid coming from the world bank of the imf, the dutch, the germans and others contributing to yemen's economy. there is a knee-jerk objection and rejection to it being a full-fledged member on the following grounds. i gave one of them. that it came into existence on the ashes of these very kinds of regimes that have inherent right of self-protection uppermost on their minds. there is as well the reality of yemen's demography. 27 million people. 130,000 villages of under 200 people in each. we have only 200 people in a village, you have no school, you have no road. you have no electric power. you have no sewage system. you have no clinic. so at each of the dccc meetings with a country that has these kinds of needs so dramatically in contrast to the others

h guy claims the device originated in yemen. the major hasan case, the ft. hood shooting. a cleric in yemen appears to have played a role in inciting hasan to kill those people at ft. hood. >> there's been a great deal of activity just this week in yemen with respect to terrorists. >> that's right. against a group of some 30 members of al qaeda one was somebody are leased from guantanamo and returned to the battlefield. another may be this american-yemeni cleric. just as recently as a day ago, this cleric admitted that major hasan, the alleged ft. hood shooter had contacted him on the internet to ask him if it was okay for a muslim to kill federal soldiers. now increasingly important. not as important as the afghan/pakistan border region but certainly maybe second. >> peter, let talk capabilities here. he thinks the alleged suspect may have started in nigeria, got on northwest flight 253 from amsterdam to detroit. at some point before the plane landed, and can i bring you what i've got now from delta airlines? they've given us a

he was a prisoner in yemen and is now effectively free. he is a spiritual leader, some people call him the dear abby of the islamic world. one of these strikes was trying to target him. that tells me that the u.s. is trying to back up the government in yemen and give them the ability to take out these al qaeda cells and taking them out at their root is where the problem is. it is a cancer and trying to address new screening and procedures in these things -- while they have merits, they take a long time and their symptoms of the problem, not the cancer. what we have seen is the support of the u.s. to the government of yemen through various elements, military, intelligence to try to help them put the nail in the coffin of this group. host: is the government aggressive in its own right? >> i don't pretend to be an expert on the government of yemen, but what i do understand is there between a rock and hard place. they have to insurgency's they're trying to get a handle on and it has been very difficult to not take these detainees back because

the really problem we have with yemen is in yemen it's getting worse and worse.s is based upon sources i have here. this has been happening over several years now. you look at the recent attack in saudi arabia. that started in some ways out of yemen, our ability to deal with that country has got more and more difficult. let's face it. it's not just yemen. we can take a look at nigeria, somalia, afghanistan, pakistan. and other places around the world. that is one of the real problems that we have dealing with al qaeda and al qaedaesque organizations. >> larry: those terror watch lists, what do they really mean? we'll discuss that later. we'll be back in 60 seconds. ♪ happy anniversary wow! [ grunts ] oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. aah! [ door opens, closes ] wow. what's the occasion? [ male announcer ] relax. pam helps you pull it off. >> larry: as we mentioned earlier, homeland security secretary janet napolitano was interviewed today on cnn's "state of the union." candy pressed the secretary on the efficiency of the databases for screening out potential terror

they would go back to yemen. two of the people allegedly involved in this plot supporting this guy were people let out of gitmo by george w. bush. the yemenis are not very good at dealing with these people when we send them back. it's going to make it that much more difficult for obama to deal with the guantanamo bay problem. >> they could end up in illinois though. >> some are supposed to go back to emeb veyemen very soon. >> or saudi arabia who has expressed interest in working more cooperatively. yemen is absolutely terrible at sustaining prisons. >> the saudis haven't done a good job either. >> no i agree but that might be another option. i think the real issue is will obama cave to the pressure of the right? whenever an issue like this happens he becomes more hawkish. with afghanistan he ends up sending more troops because of the allegation he was digterring. we will suddenly cave now and not close guantanamo out of some mass produced fear from the right which isn't legitimate. >> it is totally legitimate to

we know he has been to yemen. we know he has been radicalized. these are all red flags. if he was subjected to secondary screening at the airport there is a likelihood given the reports of his demeanor and so forth that perhaps he would of cracked or perhaps they would of probed further to determine the purpose of his visit and whether in fact he had been in yemen what he was doing there, and the questions that trained professionals know to ask to rays suspicion. >> jeffrey: governor, some of these things were suppose to have been fixed after 9-11 because of the requests you all made. especially sharing information. does this mean the system has not been fixed and it's still flawed? what does it mean? >> congress adapted many of the recommendations we made about a director of national intelligence, making the director of cia work with that director and sharing information. congress can't make sure that the humans in the bureaucracy, no matter how good they are as intelligent professionals carry out the sharing of intelligence. that's the problem. the bias of sharing inte

guest: there have been a series of air strikes in yemen.hese were strikes targeting the al qaeda leadership in yemen and also on american citizen, you probably remember this name from the fort hood shooting, anwar al-awlaki. he lived in the united states. he fled the united states. he was a prisoner in yemen. he's now free. he's a spiritual guider. some call him the dear abby of the radical islam world. what it tells me is that the united states is trying to back up the yemeni government trying to take out these al qaeda cells and taking them out of its root is a cancer, trying to address new screening and procedures, all of these things. while they may have merit they take a long time and they're symptoms of the problem, they're not the cancer. what we're seeing is the support of the u.s. to the yemeni government through various elements, military, intelligence, to try and help them put the nail in the coffin of this group. host: is the president in its own right? guest: what i do understand about the situation is that -- well, they're bet

group with yemen as its base for training and operations. yemen is now home to the radical cleric, who influenced the alleged fort hood gunman, major hassan and who believes to be a critical link to radicalize americans and europeans. i ask the president to halt the release of delainyees to unstable countries. it is dangerous to return trit detainees to danger youse countries. if this country is not prepared, this congress must take action to provide oversight and reconsider these irresponsible decisions. but this congress has yet to hold a single hearing to raise these concerns and demand answers from this administration. in closing, mr. speaker, the american people deserve better judgment from this administration and better oversight from this congress. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. mr. defazio of oregon. mr. poe of texas. ms. ros-lehtinen: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to claim mr. poe's time at this time. the speaker pro tempore: without objecti

we would not to collect the differences -- the dangers and yemen and somalia.important center of global terrorism remains the one we have been talking about today. >> the prime minister always mentions the sacrifice made by our our soldiers. but repeating the political mistakes of a generation ago, talking about the vietnam and the decision being taken that we had to withdraw, but it came no closer to an outcome that could not be one. >> i think he ought to look at what the evidence is for the support of the taliban in afghanistan. his assumption is that somehow the insurgency has massive popular support and that the vast been jarred the of the population would go with that insurgency if they had the choice. i do not think that reflects the situation in afghanistan. a poll was done recently that said that only 8% of the population of a canister and supported it in any way the taliban and the insurgency. i believe most wants security and safety. i believe that they will support the partnering of british and coalition forces with afghan forces and i believe that

dan imam in yemen who may have been the inspiration for the fort hood attack. there's much to investigate here. it's amazing to me that an individual like this who is sending out so many signals could end up getting on a plane going to the u.s. host: sebring, florida, next. richard, is more airport security needed? on our independent line, good morning. caller: good morning. happy new year. host: happy new year to you too. caller: it's been great listening to you for all these years. i think it's about anybody could have guessed this was going to happen, bill. i mean, janet napolitano, that's where the problem starts, and president obama is going around the world telling our enemies and the terrorists that the u.s. is going a bad country and needs to be punished. janet napolitano, i mean, having her at homeland security director, i mean, it's almost a joke. when she was the governor of arizona, she wouldn't even give the state police the weapons they needed to fight the drug cartels. so consequently, they moved in and took over the city. now, what scares me, if

the united states had intelligence that between august and october of this year, that extremists in yemen were discussing operations. someone known as the nigerian was mentioned. u.s. intelligence also had a partial name. umar farouk. the cia apparently had information. his father was giving warnings. what went wrong? >> they didn't talk to each other. they didn't put these pieces of information together. didn't come up at the director of national intelligence. just as yogi berra says deja vu all over again. here it is. and, look, one incident alone, this wasn't any father. this was a father that is one of the topsyth citizens in his country and a very prominent businessman. when he has the courage to come forward to the american embassy and say, look, i'm worried about my son. he's in with terrorists. all that. that should have risen right to the top. i mean, forget all the other pieces of information. and the president said -- some we don't even know about, but forget all the rest. that alone should have gotten attention. >> larry: thank you, governor. happy new year. good seeing you ag

we would not to collect the differences -- the dangers and yemen and somalia. important center of global terrorism remains the one we have been talking about today. >> the prime minister always mentions the sacrifice made by our our soldiers. but repeating the political mistakes of a generation ago, talking about the vietnam and the decision being taken that we had to withdraw, but it came no closer to an outcome that could not be one. >> i think he ought to look at what the evidence is for the support of the taliban in afghanistan. his assumption is that somehow the insurgency has massive popular support and that the vast been jarred the of the population would go with that insurgency if they had the choice. i do not think that reflects the situation in afghanistan. a poll was done recently that said that only 8% of the population of a canister and supported it in any way the taliban and the insurgency. i believe most wants security and safety. i believe that they will support the partnering of british and coalition forces with afghan forces and i believe that

get the afghan national -- >> the anti-american sentiment that is spurred by this in pakistan and yemen and somalia and other parts of the world, you try to nip it in the bud here, it pops up somewhere else. >> it's a danger. one of the greatest resentments is their perception that we deserted them in 1989 when the russians pulled out, we ended our involvement with them. and they believe that we walked away from them. i think it is a balance. i think we need to give as much help as they need to get on their feet and i think we need to help them stand by themselves. >> the time for the gentle lady has expired. the gentleman from california has graciously agreed to one minute. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman -- >> no, no, elton is son for five minutes. >> i have one minute. i have like 52 seconds left. i would like to say general and ambassador, thank you for your service. i know you face challenges that are in some people's views very difficult, if not more so from alexander the great to the soviet union. i appreciate the job you're doing. and we want to try to give you all the supp

there are other franchise sells and places like yemen and somalia. but this is the most dangerous one. they all need to be addressed. this has a significantly more capable center of gravity if you will because of all of the organizations that are associated with al qaeda in this border area. >> i appreciate that. could i add one sentence in terms of underscoring the central role of al qaeda in the afghan pakistan border area. the reality is al qaeda and the islamic monrad, al qaeda in the arab peninsula place high value on their affiliation with al qaeda in the border area and there is ample intelligence showing other terrorist groups that basically are in the application process. to become affiliates of al qaeda so the central pathology and the central role of these people is still there. >> let me just say that i think it is going to be zearing important in the next day's to really build this linkage so that people have a real understanding of the importance and that obviously biggs the question and i don't want to abuse the time so i will ask it n

yemen is the true home of al-qaeda.his is an article in the telegraph online, it may be harder to contain a smile, but the frightening truth that emerges from the christmas day etaingen -- attack on flight 253 is that both standpoints are technically true. electronic eavesdropping and more enticive security procedures al-qaeda and its associates are both desperate and inventive. next up is jim on our republican line from raleigh, north carolina. jim, what about airport security? >> caller: well, maybe we need to take a page from the israeli playbook. unfortunately, we still are in denial that there is international and now, as you say, a domestic al-qaeda plot against the united states. when we come to grips with that and start fighting it like a war instead of a criminal information or a -- investigation or a possible criminal activity, then we'll be all the better. i'm just, i'm just surprised that no one has called in and said that this is george bush's fault. now -- >> host: explain that, what's your reasoning behin

we would not to collect the differences -- the dangers and yemen and somalia. important center of global terrorism remains the one we have been talking about today. >> the prime minister always mentions the sacrifice made by our our soldiers. but repeating the political mistakes of a generation ago, talking about the vietnam and the decision being taken that we had to withdraw, but it came no closer to an outcome that could not be one. >> i think he ought to look at what the evidence is for the support of the taliban in afghanistan. his assumption is that somehow the insurgency has massive popular support and that the vast been jarred the of the population would go with that insurgency if they had the choice. i do not think that reflects the situation in afghanistan. a poll was done recently that said that only 8% of the population of a canister and supported it in any way the taliban and the insurgency. i believe most wants security and safety. i believe that they will support the partnering of british and coalition forces with afghan forces and i believe that

yemen. yemen. that's where the sikh who had the impact on major asan, who killed 13 people at fort hood, that's where he operates. you're going to send people from guantanamo bay who serve with claheek shake muhammad, who was the author of 9/11 who killed -- khalid shake muhammad, who was the author of the 9/11, who killed 3,000 people. he beheaded daniel pearl. think of his family. they are going to send them to yemen and then they are going to send two others to a place that no one would believe that they are really going to send them. this bill by not adopting the amendments that we offered, one i believe will endanger people in new york city, two, would put pressure on new york city. you will see stories in the paper as you vote for this bill, you will see stories in the paper of snipers on the rooftops, tanks, khalid shake muhammad will be in new york city for -- khalid sikh muhammad will be in new york city for four years. four years or more. moussaoui was in northern virginia for over

the radical yemen-based preacher seen herrion line.owers say he is like osama bin laden. >> he reminds me of for example osama bin laden and za warhi. >> he said hand me over your scrolls. >> this is the same man who exchanged e-mails with major nidal hasan accused of killing 13 people at ft. hood. after the killings, he praised hasan on his website calling him a hero. the website is down now. six years ago he moved from the u.s. to london and this man was one of thousands who flocked to his lectures. >> people loved his classes. >> for these radical muslims in london, alwaki was god's messenger. >> he doesn't say fight until there is no more corruption. it is alla that says that. it is the verse that inspires the people, not imam alwaki. >> even though his website is down and he is in hidings, dvds of his teachings are still for sale openly taking a prominent place in bookstores like this in london keeping his radical message alive. the newest dvd set sells out in the open for $100. the storekeeper says he is doing good business and t

there is some suggestion he may have obtained materials in yemen although it looks like fortunately formative. he succeeded in setting himself on fire but not the plane. and the passengers were very alert and they managed to put this thing out before it caused a catastrophe. i c what is disturbing, if you look at the background of the young man, he apparently came from a very privileged family. his father is banker in nigeria. he went to the best schools available. he was studying engineering in london. so you have to wonder what it is about these individuals and again you see this pattern. it often people who go çabroad go to the west for a university who are alienated in some way or offended in some way by their experience in the west and turn toward, as jonathan put it, this brand name that is is out there for anybody who is angry and upset with the west. host: our phone lines are open and you can accepted us a twitter or send us an e-mail. do either of you twitter? guest: i signed up for it but i haven't started because i'm too busy with the rest of my life. . i don't, no. host: yo

there was allusion in the president's speech about yemen and somalia. i think al-qaeda is absolutely lathing analysts. we chased them around and around. -- i think al-qaeda is absolutely laughing at us. the reasoning is impossible. also, follow the money. if this is costing us $1 million a soldier -- the soldiers are not getting anywhere near the top $1 million. where is that $1 million galene? if there has to be a war tax, let the people who are profiting financially from this horrible war pay the tax. host: what did you think about the president delivering a speech at the military academy at west point? caller: i regret saying that any time i hear any politicians speak right now it just sounds like blah blah blah. we start with these false premises that are completely destructive. host: denise in cincinnati. she supports the president. caller: good morning. i totally support dumps president. -- i totally support the president. i do support the exit strategy. i think it is needed. i commend him for this. it takes a mind to think first and then react. w

m yemen, maybe some !e need to be very clear, if your pulling out of afghanistan, you have a validation of al qaeda strategy. a massive victory that every muslim will understand whether they're supporters of radicalism will understand the wave has exceeded, maybe not won aware but a 10-year campaign to defeat the united states. i think what that means for security is very large. that doesn't solve the question or is perfect i correct question. can we go everywhere? no. we can help through a lot of other means. we probably neglected that. >> can i add a little bit. first of all, scenario ron painted of withdrawal abruptly is - would be among other things one of the great recruiting posters for young extremists or young people who tend towards extremism any way on the young muslims so, yes it would weak energy our security by making a lot more people anxious to get at us i think. secondly and the reason i think you asked me here is about pakistan and a drupt withdrawal from pakistan will turn them in a diffe

the united states had intelligence that between august and october of this year, that extremists in yemen were discussing operations, someone noun as the nigerian was mentioned. they had a partial name and the cia had information. his fathers with given warnings, what went wrong? >> they didn't talk to each o other. and the same problems that happened on 9/11, this is deja vu all over again. here it is. and look, one incident alone, this wasn't a father. this was a father who was one of the top citizens in the country. when he has the courage to come forward to the american embasse, and say, i'm worried about my son. forget the other information. forget the rest. that alone should have gotten attention. >> larry: thank you, governor, happy new year and good seeing you again. former governor of new jersey. the ci arks denies that the agencies tonight share information about the terror suspect but people are asking d the cia drop the ball? we will talk about it when we return. >> larry: joins you us know is a former cia official who was the division chief, the director of operations in euro

these troops are invited in some of the fighting in somalia, currently in yemen, as well as the broader south asia region. but last year, instead of saying that africa is not a war area where we do not need a lot of troops and bases, instead of that, they say, well, we are going to set up an african command. they never had a separate command for africa. and they said to we're going to do is we will have the pentagon to take over everything the u.s. does in africa. so the pentagon is taking over aids and hiv care, health care development, overall development assistance. all this is now run by the pentagon. it would normally be run by the state department or usaid. this is dangerous, and we see it taking place in the creation of a new command in africa. the goal is to establish bases all over africa to do this. so far, the african government has said, we do not what your bases here. the headquarters is in germany now. the headquarters for africom is in germany, and there is no sign that that will change anytime soon. but the policy of militarizing the u.s. relationship with africa through

those tentacles reach far and wide, they reach to somalia and yemen, etc. their focus and grounded in the border area between pakistan and afghanistan. it is our assessment, it might been possible if we had gone at it differently in the beginning of this war to have captured and killed enough of al qaeda and taliban leadership to have made a difference, but we are where we are right now. >> if i could be permitted one final question, another point of view that is offered, voices that are raised, that we are focused on the wrong place. al qaeda is now essentially located in the tribal areas of pakistan. why are we doing this in afghanistan? my understanding of testimony is that were we to adopt the strategy, the taliban would reassert itself in afghanistan, having safe havens there from which to launch attacks. no. 2, we can not going to pakistan. we have to try to build up the pakistan these capability of dealing with the problem there. this is not an either or choice. ignoring one would undermine the other. if you care to address this notion that we could

he has told federal investigators that he has ties to al qaeda and traveled to yemen to collect the incendiarydevice and instructions on how to use it. we want to find out from you your thoughts on whether the process needs to be re-evaluated and changed. east lansing, mich., an airline for democrats. you can see the airport. tell us your thoughts. caller: i think they should definitely strengthen who gets on the plan and make it tougher. host: tell us about what happened yesterday. how did you first find out about it and what were your thoughts when you first found out about it? caller: i was watching c-span, actually, and i saw it on the ticker tape at the bottom. my cousin works of that airport. he called me at home. i just feel that they keep talking about racial profiling, that they are profiling the muslims and stuff. i'm sorry, i am not prejudiced at all but i think they need to make -- they need to strengthen this stuff. i think we are being lulled into a false sense of security. i hope nothing happens in a few more days if they kidnap a plane and run it into the empire state building

knows how many years and blood and treasure in driving out of pakistan, they will go to places like yemend somalia. i'm not sure that the american people can be convinced that denying them sanctuary in afghanistan when they can go to yemen and somalia is worth the enormous cost in blood and treasure. is it because destabilizing afghanistan would destabilize pakistan? this connection, let me ask you a specific question is the model of a national afghan government and national army futile since it is contrary to afghan's history. under karzai's three-time ratified national government army model, taliban now control 11 of 34 provinces. the afghan national army controls one, i think. and i believe the national security forces probably control none of those provinces. and they are seeing as being as ineffective, incapable of being effective for a number of years. >> mr. bartlett, one of the concerns that i had after the president's decisions in march was that they were interpreted as the united states supporting full scale nation building in afghanistan and also the creation of a strong centra

where al qaeda and its allies attempt to establish a foothold, whether in somalia or yemen or elsewhere, they must be confronted by growing pressure and strong partnerships. and we cannot count on military might alone. might alone. we have to invest we cannot count on military might alone. we cannot capture or kill every violent extremist abroad. we have to better corporate our intelligence so we stayed one step ahead of chad we networks. we will have to take away the tools of mass destruction. that is why i have made it a central pillar of my foreign policy to secure loose nuclear materials from terrorists, stop the spread of nuclear weapons, and pursue the goal of a world without them. every nation must understand that that's true security will not come from a race for ever more destructive weapons. true security will come for those who reject them. we will have to use diplomacy because no one nation can meet the challenges of an interconnected world acting alone i have spent this year renewing our alliances and forging new partnerships. we have forged a new beginning between america

yemen, somalia, other weak states, if you will. what's to stop them? and what are we doing tactically to prevent them from going to other areas and how do you assess the threats of the other areas as being hospitable if we have success and eliminating them from afghanistan? >> terrorists do best in the uncovered areas. they do not survive in areas that have an effective rule of law or governance. what we are trying to do is create areas of security into which we can fill that vacuum with governance and hopefully afghan people so it becomes more durable. when you talk about outside afghanistan, the same thing applies. the we see people moving with there is less effective governance. our best way forward is to partner with those nations to try to increase in government. we need to complement that with precision strikes so you can't allow leaders or sanctuaries to emerge. you have to keep them under pressure as you do these other things. there is no simple answer. it is security, governance, development, a decision striking. >> and i agree with that the p

there's an american cleric, for example, based in yemen, awlaki who has been releasing all sort of videos that young americans have been watching and being influenced by. but the context here, larry, there has been -- the united states has been engaged in iraq and afghanistan, they're muslim countries. a lot of the muslim communities oppose those wars and that plays into some of what we're seeing here. >> larry: do you think, peter, sadly, this leads to more anti-muslim feelings? >> well, actually, i think in the case of major hasan case, i think most americans understood this guy was just somebody who went postal essentially, and had fastened on to these jihadi ideas. years ago he would have fastened on to mooist ideas. this is about a guy who went postal. >> larry: thank you both very much. we will call you again probably tomorrow. thanks. president obama is on his way to oslo. we have a great group to discuss the news of the day in 60 seconds. i crush you like tiny clown car. because you are... ...clown, yes? female valve: come, you hit me again and i break you. male valve: oh, you mes

afghanistan, anything we do there will be worthless because al qaeda will go and set themselves up in yemena or in other places. we can chase them down there. we need to be seen by the muslims of the world to be doing the right thing in afghanistan. i'm also very cautious as well about pakistan. pakistan's commitment to what president obama wants to achieve. it's a weak government. if you look at where the al qaeda threat to the united states comes from right now, the people that have been arrested here recently, zazi, they've been to al qaeda training camps inside pakistan, not afghanistan. it's the pakistani government who are not yet committed to tackling the afghan taliban. that goes beyond these large numbers of troops we're committing. >> larry: peter, do we have no clout with pakistan? >> do we have no clout? i think we do have some clout. i mean, we're giving them $1.5 billion a year in aid. you know, we have pretty good relationships between the u.s. military and the pakistani military. we have very frequent visits by admiral mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs. i think he's b

they also of a map on the front page of the "washington post" next to the story about the location of yemen and wear those air strikes to place. this morning in the "baltimore sun" they also look at the story from a distance -- different aspect. our question for you, though, this half hour is your favorite political story of the year. we will go to our first call from manhattan, and as we do, the year in cartoons. instead, democrats line, go ahead, you are first. caller: their christmas. host: thank you. caller: this health care story, we got no moderate votes. i think the republicans are to have their heads handed to them politically when all was said and done. there was no public option. if we would've had more bipartisan support -- this bill nelson from nebraska cost a fortune, his negotiation for this date -- for his stake, the medicare expenses being picked up by the government. i blame republicans for not being more bipartisan. i do not understand the idea of lowering the age of medicare would have been made by in program. -- would have been a body in program. host: do you think the i