we have not paid for the iraq/afghanistan/libya war. we borrowed money in order to engage in those three wars. there is only one other war in the history of this country that we did not pay for, that we borrowed money in order to pay for. [inaudible] did you all hear that? [laughter] he was right. the revolutionary war. the revolutionary war, we borrowed money from france. every other we have engaged in we paid for as we went, but we have not paid for this war or these wars, and the cost is now over $1 trillion. what is worse is that detail on that war, and i mean the fact that all those and wounded warriors that come home that have suffered traumatic brain injuries or serious injury -- the cost of providing health care to them for the rest of their lives is going to make the cost of these wars close to $3 trillion. so why am i telling you this? i am telling you this because it all relates back to you and your life, whether or not there is going to be dollars spent on the kinds of programs you want on a federal level, there will be a stu

the new leaders will inherit responsibility for this country's involvement in two long wars, iraq and afghanistan, as well as the u.s. mission in libyatonight richard engel reports on america's complicated role in these conflicts. >> reporter: a deadly fight with the taliban in afghanistan, a stability operation in iraq, and a support mission in libya. american troops are at war on three fronts, 150,000 in harm's way. especially in the longest war in u.s. history, afghanistan. last thursday, eight americans were killed while on a foot patrol in kandahar in a roadside bomb attack. >> we love the troops. why do we love the troops because we don't have to be the troops. we have a small number of americans defending 310 million people. it's easy to forget them. but we shouldn't forget them. today's a good day to remember that we have troops in combat. >> reporter: u.s. troops are supposed to start gradually drawing down from afghanistan this july. >> the united states is conducting an operation that killed osama bin laden. >> reporter: after the killing of osama bin laden, there's increasing pressure to leave more quickly. in iraq, the c

afghanistan and got out of iraq this is what drives the terrorism u.s. well actually nine muslin occupations of muslim lands in this case the u.s. mission in afghanistan and iraq and its involvement in libya as well i think would fit under that category and so i think the obama could use this as an excuse to say listen we don't on the need to be in afghanistan i don't think that's going to happen because the security there are christians in washington have to take. this policy and i think there are already trumpeting the fact that the threat has not gone away after this. killing but and they're probably right in the short term in the one term you really have to ask yourself if we're not stirring this terrorism up in the one nine hundred eighty s. the united states was in lebanon had another terrorist group was attacking the u.s. when u.s. pulled out the terrorism from had split gradually attenuate and i would expect that to happen if the united states. takes the lower footprint in the middle east in the islamic world where all things. political analyst and senior fellow at the independent institute in washington d.c. . to libya now with the bodies of gadhafi son and three grandchildren re

they did prior to the attack on libya ok well during the visit there were muslim protests against obama's visit to the u.k. blaming obama basically for u.s. nationals in iraq afghanistan and libya now why is the u.k. involved in boris clearly unpopular with the british public the special relationship phrase was so deeply contested one when blair was in power and his relationship with bush was seen in britain to be much more one of approval rather than a profit so i think it's an attempt to day to to actually with the royalty bring it in buckingham palace the newly married couple and all of this sort of stuff to build up the image of the special relationship and yes in a sense it will disguise unpopular and most of these rules remember are unpopular with a majority of british people ok now i really a pointed out leader. has landed with terrorist attacks in revenge for osama bin laden step i was in your case continued involvement in such wars in essence supporting america placing the british public in danger. the man who was responsible for the seven seventh's bombings that is july seventh bombings two thousand and five mohammad sidique khan he said explicitly that thos

president and his newly reorganized defense team as they tackle the war in afghanistan, conflict in libya and wind down operations in iraq. as wind whipped through the so- called desert of death in afghanistan, marines at camp leatherneck paused to remember their fallen friends. and last night candles in kabul for the more than 1,500 american servicemen and women who have died in the nearly decade-long war. on the home front, there were celebrations of service and star-spangled parades. and there were somber moments like this one at fort snelling in minnesota where 308 white crosses represent the lives of soldiers lost from that community since 9/11. and "taps" played across the land in honor of and in mourning for those who gave their lives to protect the freedoms we hold dear. the long war continues in afghanistan. today taliban suicide bombers struck a city in the west that had been relatively quiet. a car bomb exploded at an italian army base in herat near the border with iran. a second bomb tore through a bus stop. five people were killed and about three dozen wounded, including five italian soldiers. on the eastern

policy of liberal nation building now all over the world at least all over the middle east afghanistan iraq involvement in pakistan libya massive foreign aid programs no austerity there we need to keep the spending going as it is. well that's a that's a great point i should clarify not domestic spending cuts do i think we need to get out of a lot of these wars absolutely military for example military procedures are not effective in afghanistan we need to be using diplomacy going into iraq i mean obviously we could we could have an hour long ok well we can we can agree on that i mean it's always i mean most people come to consensus that our foreign policy that obama has enthusiastically inherited from the bush administration and actually increased the spending for. most of the american people are pretty pretty much on a consensus about that but obama's decision that he was i mean you're right that the real deadline is august second the potential of a default on the federal debt but still the obama administration faced a decision on monday when we hit the debt limit and their decision wasn't to cut spending but rather to

libya but many would say that surely the u.s. u.k. and its allies have learned a lesson from former conflicts in iraq and afghanistan. well you know my position was one of the thirteen members of parliament who are against the war in libya i do think that here it's very interesting that america is absolutely in the rear guard of this action france and the u.k. have been in the fore and america has been really a reluctant allies saying well we feel that there's an obligation to be with you here and of course we very few people would support colonel gadhafi the crimes that he has committed over the past forty years on his own people have been pretty horrendous. but america has not been at the forefront it really is almost repaying past debts and the americans have seen that they they have to go with britain on this one yes but some people say america hasn't been at the forefront because it's getting others to do its dirty work for it many people. say that britain is just being a lapdog and it's a one sided relationship with the u.s. that really would be a mistake and i stress again that you know i voted against this thi

another point now do you think the timing of this apparent withdrawal owes more to what's right for iraq or what's right for the u.k. you know with its campaign in libya in afghanistan struggling to win public support . yes i think you have to take this final withdrawal. of troops from iraq. with the. policy of drawing from afghanistan and by the time of the next election i think david cameron has no stomach for going into the next election with british troops fighting unpopular wars he didn't do his two predecessors any good i think he rightly calculates it won't do him any good and therefore i think that you are beginning to see the rattling of british foreign policy in its alliance with the united states over the afghan and iraq conflicts. and this has been a recurring issue where no weapons of mass destruction were ever found in iraq how should british officials be held accountable for invading on false grounds. yes of course i think it's one of the worst political crimes that you can commit to take your country to war on the basis of lies to say one hundred seventy nine people to that that's. is a gross crime which should be treated in the same way that we woul

wars in the last ten years in both iraq and afghanistan america persuaded britain to come in with the reinforcing britain's reputation as the us is lap dog. but this time it's different in libya it's britain taking the lead in nato with the us keen to keep its role to a minimum a deepening of cooperation between the two is something this group could demonstrate is a payment lee objects to these other cars go to the forefront are starting to libya . three major wars in ten years those good news for those of us who want peace in the world to see those two hours for breaking ball closely or tree affairs outside buckingham palace where obama is staying these protesters are trying to persuade him and british prime minister cameron to stop waging war in foreign lands say for it hasn't worked and cameron will united in their intention to increase pressure on colonel gadhafi in libya. demonstration come as nato escalates its involvement in the war in libya france is better able to cloyd helicopters bringing fighting closer to the ground the global war machine crumple zone with the alliance of london and washington in the engine room and this new agreements to cool information and res

but of course we are bound by the loss of history militarily the united states is obviously still in full swing with iraq afghanistan libya military power still what do you make of that and what do you make of these particular wars and also what the peace movement where is it all this is there a lot of sniping at that well i think that the u.s. economic down and both globally hundred seventy four military bases you know over three five wars three shadow wars i think that it's you know a great danger to the world i think that the militarization at home is also quite significant since nine eleven and the and raveling of all of the victories of the sixty's whereas the peace movement i think you mainly see the peace movement in the veterans coming home and i'm not sure why that is i think that people oppose the war there's no question that the american people oppose the iraq war continue to oppose it and think we should lead they opposed the escalation in afghanistan they supported it you know the day after nine eleven and have opposed it ever since and and they already oppose the libyan people so i think the american people

military operations that since two thousand and one have taken the lives of more than a million civilians. in iraq in afghanistan now in libya and of course to an escalation of resistance of hatred of revenge and so in terms of keeping the american people safe that's a ridiculous notion the us has a track record of policies that backfired like arming and training the afghan mujahideen in the 1980's in their fight against the soviet troops subsequently the same which are hitting militants turned their weapons and training against the us among those supported by the us was also some of bin ladin whose group eventual evolved into al qaida one great program. great. good one lesson was learnt victory over evil makes great television and approval ratings for the man in charge . obama said that he had known about bin laden's whereabouts sees august last year but only last week had he given the order to take him it's been two weeks he's obama and now it's his reelection plants he's been slipping in the polls over inconclusive wars overseas and economic woes at home has actually led to the president of the united states being beatifi

that's not including the 21st century entanglements in afghanistan, iraq, and libya. given all of the other interventions, you maybe asking yourself, why should we still care about the bay of pigs? i mean next to vietnam and iraq, it seems like a fairly minor event. an appetizer of the huge feast. and add to this the fact that it lasted just five days and it cost a near $46 million. that's about, i think, less than the average budget of a hollywood movie these days. then, of course, fact that it was an embarrassment. and it has everything to recommend it. but here's the thing. it changed this country in some very important ways. it change how americans look at their government and it changed how the rest of the world looked at us. part of the bay of pigs it would have been cynical american who doubted that he lived in a good nation led by competent men and engaged in worthy exploits. that was certainly a plausible view for americans 50 years ago after world war ii. the bay of pigs made that view a lot harder to hold on to. it had the distinction of making the united st

well be that that is the road down which the united states is going but they're still engaged in iraq there's to the gate in afghanistan they're engaged in libya their economy is in a disaster situation how far can they go with these military intervention while hillary clinton is reported to have stopped short of calling the bashar assad regime illegitimate but you know where is the line drawn here who decides whether a regime is legitimate or not. well i think that's that's a very difficult difficult question but certainly it's not down to individual states to do that and i think that obviously in an ideal situation it is the people of that country which come to that decision and one would aspire to a situation where all peoples are entitled to vote to decide on the legitimate governments of their countries what we don't need is foreign powers intervening militarily to try and impose or change a regime that doesn't suit them you know we've seen we've heard rhetoric from the united states and others over the past few weeks about the need for democracy and so on we've seen them backing some movements that they like we've seen them helping to su

that are violating human rights more than any other country in the world are constantly waging wars in afghanistan iraq and now and libya. killing and murdering hundreds of thousands of people and you also have according to afghanis. american military is deeply involved in the drug trade in afghanistan and so on many members of the nato forces and as you know. opium production in the production of drugs in afghanistan since the fall of the taliban has increased almost thirty four old according to some statistics and some officials in addition to that for example the siege on gaza which is illegal and barbaric and where ordinary women and children are made to suffer it is being done with the support of the united states and the you so basically what the iranians want to do is they want to break this culture where the americans and the europeans constantly as if they are the center of the world as if they are more civilized than others whereas in reality the harm that they've been causing to the world the president of i guess running what sanctions are likely to be taken against the u.s. officials. well i'm not familiar w

as of last week, we did a checking in our office, and the total cost of libya, afghanistan, iraq, for the entire decade we believe is about 1.2 trillion. ok, if we are at 4.3 trillion -- 14.3 trillion in total debt, 1.2 from the cost of the war's over 10 years, that is 8.3% of the debt. that is assuming every penny of the military action was far road. 8.3% of the total debt. have had multiple town halls were a hand goes up and said if we just did not have the wars, we would balance the budget year did you would deal with 8.3% of the debt. that is a challenge with the folklore. they have been told this with pi by their politicians. i have been on television and the person i am doing it with says if we just did not have the wars, we would not have the debt. that is 8%. how can that be the solution? then they walked off the set. there are millions of people around the country to just sort of congress woman say that, but it is not based on reality. host: robert in california. go ahead. caller: he makes a lot of sense, find outntil you where they are making their ofey from it makes a lot s

that are violating human rights more than any other country in the world they're constantly waging wars in afghanistan iraq and now in libya. killing and murdering hundreds of thousands of people in addition to that for example do you see john garza which is the illegal and barbaric where ordinary women and children are made to suffer it is being done with the support of the united states in the you so basically what the iranians want to do is they want to break this culture where the americans and the europeans constantly as if they are the center of the world as if they are the more civilized than others whereas in reality the harm that they've been causing to the world is unprecedented i think that what is important not the actual sanctions themselves it is breaking this euro centric model that has been imposed upon the west and the rest of the world. with r.t. live from moscow now that her plans have launched their heaviest air attacks on libya's capital tripoli since the start of the coalition's campaign libyan officials say that three people were killed dozens were injured with the main target reported to be his comp

why they are doing human rights more than any other country in the world they're constantly waging wars in afghanistan and iraq and now in libya. killing and murdering hundreds of thousands of people in addition to that for example the siege on gaza which is the illegal and prior barrick and where the ordinary women and children are made to suffer and it is being done with the support of the united states and the you so basically what the iranians want to do is they want to break this culture where the americans and the europeans constantly as if they are the center of the wall there's a they are more civilized than others whereas in reality the harm that they've been causing to the world is unprecedented i think that the world is important not the actual sanctions themselves it is breaking this this year old centric model that has been imposed upon the west and the rest of the world. without a lie from moscow let's get to some other news in brief for you this hour roadside bombs exploded in southern afghanistan killing twenty and wounding another twenty explosion took place in kandahar i was in the province of kandahar during

backed the uprisings in egypt and syria intervened in libya and still in iraq and afghanistan. military bases all over the region what about in terms motivations are . i think of an alien from outer space came down they would say why is washington yet again allying itself with islamist groups like it did with al qaeda the noble perpetrators of nine eleven the libya bombardment seems to have created. more al-qaeda worries the tunisian government reporting and some of their troops killed by al qaeda troops the u.s. and u.s. policies in the region it's no wonder conspiracy theorists think that some grand plan but while still of course the united states is interested in oil and energy resources and protecting its greatest ally israel the way they go about it is frankly bizarre i feel if you want to influence the region i don't know take take a look at the way cuba are influenced venezuela there is no way feel castro sent troops against carlos andrus perez to create hugo chavez that you get what you want by leading by example and the way the united states is foreign policy has been e

libya, that was a positive sign and this was -- the direction things are going. >> i think libya thing is a -- i doesn't see how france and england didn't learn our lesson from iraq and afghanistanfeel the french may feel they got left of iraq and afghanistan. obama sorting leading from behind. sometimes works like he is just teaming up with other guys who want to do their own muslim- world peacekeeping types. >> they don't missouri in the middle east without us leading down there. and our wig -- trying not to be as deeply involved. but we've already got two wars to worry about. >> give me a grade on obama's performance in europe this week. a through f. >> i think he gets an a+ in ireland. he did an excellent job -- >> overall grade. >> a. >> easy a. >> easy a. >> b. >> a b? why? >> i'm a tough grader. i don see much of substance, this they all talk free trade in europe, and they'rer now they're mild in bailouts. something bold needed to happen. he didn't. >> what came out of conference? >> that's what i'm saying. >> what are you looking for. >> maybe we can all start believing in the free trade re used to talk basketball, stop bailing out banks, stop bailing out countries and m

the middle east and specifically as we speak right now in libya? we are not conducting with things we're doing in iraq and afghanistan and libya in order to spread the american empire. only one that i can think of with any thoughts like that is donald trump. not that i totally disagree with him. new wants us to take some of that oil to pay the bills for the trillion dollars we spent. there's a certain logic to that. that hasn't been the way in our country. think about that. that is a very unusual, exceptional thing for a country to do. i can think of another country that has ever done that before. a country that actually worries about the condition of other people and gives up lives in order to help other people and to make the world safer place for them because we recognize ultimately here's how it benefits us. it makes a safer world for s. if you look at what happened in the last six months, weather in is in tunisia or egypt or libya or syria or i am sure with iran, the whole set of values that america stands for are the set of values these people are demonstrating for, are protesting about, demanding more revolting for. in some cases they don't c