that was kind of john o'neill. leaving it in a tremendous crisis, the guy was calm, cool and always a little bit of charm and wit about him. but his body was found unlike most of the people, john's body was found and i happen to know some detectives who were working in the morgue by coincidence so in my book, there's a very poignant scene about how his body was found and carried out of the remains of the world trade center and how they stood outside and saluted at his remains, the flag draped remains as they brought it into the morgue and john was given a very dignified hero's ending. difficult for me to talk about it sometimes. but in any event, i don't want anybody to think that there are lessons in john o'neill's life and many of the things he fought for are now kind of his legacy, he was a man who argued against perceiving terrorist issues as a law enforcement matter where like the world trade center number one attack just identified the suspects, lucky enough to catch them. you bring them back to justice and ca

i'm john o'neill." and i explained to him, i'm from the white house, and i do terrorism, and i need some help. and i told him our story on the classified phone line, and he went into action. >> narrator: in 20 years, he'd chased a lot of bad guys, but nobody like ramzi yousef. >> yousef is one of the most dangerous people on the planet, very smart. getting him and incapacitating him was a significant public safety issue, and john o'neill recognized that, was not about to take no for an answer anywhere before he was taken into custody. ( telephone dialing ) ( telephone rings ) >> white house. >> o'neill put together an arrest team that managed to catch ramzi ahmed yousef in pakistan just before he moved into afghanistan, which would've been beyond our reach. it was a pretty intense couple of days, but it worked. >> narrator: for the next six years, o'neill and his agents would follow the bloody and complex trail from ramzi yousef to osama bin laden. >> the picture was still fuzzy-- i mean, it was by no m

for both heroic and tragic story john o'neill was a swashbuckling senior. officer more than that more than what one thinks over the street agent he was very a very senior counterterrorism. agent in new york city based out of new york city who had been to and from the middle east and was an expert on saudi arabia and was very very frustrated at the way he had to deal with the saudis to i think i can say this on television he said to the director of the f.b.i. when they were flying back on one occasion from saudi arabia and the director of the f.b.i. of the day said well i think they were they were really quite helpful the saudis they get so much of which john o'neill responded. they were just shining sunshine up here and. more seriously. much more seriously pete john o'neill gave an interview in the summer of two thousand and one and said that all that we're trying to find out about al qaeda all the counter to all our counter-terror terrorism efforts would be rewarded if. if we could track back to saudi arabia he said all the problem originated in saudi arab

john o'neill is a very colorful fbi agents and richard and others. of all of them, tell me your favorite story from your favorite people that you meet in the book. >> i talked to over 600 people and some of them might talk to dozens, maybe hundreds of times and those are the ones that were most useful because i knew that they knew. one time i was in sudan and talking to members of sudanese intelligence. at one point, there was a knock on my door and one of the intelligence guys that i had befriended rodding a guy. he kind of a middle sized little toby, had a funny looking round hat on and i had no idea who he was. but he sat down and i figured he must be somebody if they brought in to me. and he told me i could call him late, but that's only knew. so i started probing him about in london. i gradually realized that he was abu adversary, who was bin laden's business manager in khartoum. he is also the man who took a nose on august 11, 1988, when al qaeda was organized. and suddenly he was in front of me and it turns out he was a real prankster. he love

. >> and i gave it to my supervisor, and that paper ended up with john o'neill. and it was about the threat that bin laden will cause for the united states. >> smith: o'neill, a legendary fbi agent with his own al qaeda obsession, immediately took soufan under his wing. by the time he got to yemen, soufan knew al qaeda as well as anyone in the fbi. and he had a special approach to his interrogations. >> what we did all the time in cases like these is to outsmart that individual. you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. >> smith: you compared interrogations-- interrogating somebody-- as like dating. sometimes, it is. and i tried to basically... ( laughs ) ...because it's about building-- it's about building a rapport with an individual. it's about building that chemistry. it's about building a trust, a little bit. because if he's going to tell you something, he needs to have some sense of trust. >> smith: during his interrogation of an al qaeda operative named fahd al quso, a key player in the cole bombing, soufan used his knowledge and skills to get

as for the relationship with john o'neill it hindered the investigation a little bit.t i don't make the claim it could have prevented the attack on 9/11 or provide additional information from that country that could have stopped the attack. the information that could have stopped the attack was in the united states. wasn't in yemen. >> host: who was john o'neill and what was your relationship with him? >> guest: he was a legend. he was really high up in the fbi. when i met him he was a special agent in charge of national security handling terrorism and counterintelligence for the new york office, biggest fbi office in the nation. john was an interesting character. he is still considered a legend. you could make movies on him. very hard worker day and night. his life was connected to the fbi. i was so lucky that john saw something in the early on and took me under his wing. i learned a lot from him. one first things i learned from him that there is big danger from a person named osama bin laden and al qaeda and eventually they will hit at home. unfortunately john live t

john o'neill, an al-qaeda expert who quit the fbi and the government partly in frustration over its nonpursuit trade center and was also killed on that day. also being remembered, the six victims who died in the 1993 bombing of the world trade center. that is when islamic extremists drove a bomb filled van into the basement of the building and exploded it. they hoped that one of the towers would be destroyed and topple on to the other tower to bring them both down. it was because that was not successful that the alleged mastermind ramsey yusef at that point tried to work on the plan that eventually was successful in 2001. the names of those who died in 1993 have been add to the majestic waterfalls here at ground zero. the names along the granite footprint of the two towers. the gentle waters here bring solace and comfort in what has been an overwhelmingly emotional day. a reminder and tribute to those who died here and a reminder to all of us of the threat that still exists but the hope that canemanate from that tragic and terrible day. >> tom estrada was only 41 years old when the plane hit h

that scene that you've discussed and written about, where tip o'neil comes to pay his respects at your father's hospital bed. >> i can't see john boehner doing that for barack obama. no. >> thank you, men, appreciate you roger simon and ron reagan being here. >>> a schedule reminder, the presidential republican debate at the reagan library will be hee at msnbc at 8:00 p.m. eastern and thursday night, the president's big jobs speech at 7:00 p.m. eastern. coming up, rick perry is discovering the flip side of being the front-runner. or the accolades. no, it was good because you told us so. the chevy model year wrap up. get in on our greatest model year yet. just announced -- celebrate labor day with an additional $500 bonus cash. with all other offers, including the all-star edition discount, that's a total value of $6,500. ♪ our greatest model year yet is wrapping up. what are you my grandmother? i'll rock white jeans whenever i want. and with tide plus bleach, they'll stay white. not whitish, not eggshell, not ecru... whatever that is. white. that's my tide. what's yours? two of the most important are energy security and economi

that you've discussed and written about where tip o'neill comes to pay his respects at your father's hospital bed, which is really -- >> can't see john boehner doing that for barack obama. >> appreciate roger simon and ron reagan being here. >>> a schedule reminder, the presidential debate at the reagan library will be here on msnbc at 8:00 p.m. eastern. then join the president for the big jobs speech at 7:00 p.m. eastern. rick perry discovers the flip side of being a front-runner. exclusive to the military. and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. from free checking to credit cards to loans, our commitment to the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. ♪ visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. usaa. we know what it means to serve. maybe not. v8 v-fusion juice gives them a full serving of vegetables plus a full serving of fruit. but it just tastes like fruit. [ male announcer ] get five dollars in money-saving coupons at v8juice.com. it's pro-cool technology releases armies of snowmen masse

that scene you've discussed and written about where tip o'neill comes to pay respects at your father's hospital bed, which is really -- >> can't see john boehner doing that for barack obama. >> thank you, men. appreciate it. roger simon and ron reagan. >>> a special reminder now. the republican presidential debate at the reagan library will be right here on msnbc next wednesday at 8:00 p.m. eastern. and then join us thursday night for the president's big jobs speech at 7:00 p.m. eastern. >>> coming up, rick perry's discovering the flip side of being a front-runner. the attacks have begun, and not from democrats. >>> you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. [ artis brown ] america is facing some tough challenges right now. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our count

you have discussed and written about where tip o'neill comes to pay respects at your father's hospital bed. which is really distressing. >> yes. can't see john boehner doing that fob barack obama. >> thank you, men. appreciate you being here. >>> a schedule reminder now. republican presidential debate at reagan library will be here on msnbc next wednesday at 8 p.m. eastern. join us thursday night for the president's big jobs speech, that's at 7 p.m. eastern. coming up, rick perry's disdiscover rg the flip side of beg a front-runner. attacks from begun and not from democrats. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] this is the network. a network of possibilities... ♪ in here, pets never get lost. ♪ in here, every continent fits in one room. it was fun, we played football outside. why are you sitting in the dark? ♪ [ male announcer ] in here, you're never away from home. it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. >>> talk about expectations and confidence in the economy. technically we're not in a recession. but try telling that to people who are suffering. a new out today says that eig

john boehner's face. we will have been all over this country, directing the activities that gets people jobs. >> all politics is local, sir, as we know from tip o'neill. thank you all. >>> up next, how does stephen colbert handle the latest criticism of president obama's american jobs act? that's next in the sideshow. love colbert. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc >>> back to "hardball," now the side show. talk about judging a book by its cover. it's not like criticism was unexpected when president obama's american jobs act was introduced last week, but here's a new one. the president's taking heat not for the contents of the bill, but for the way the pages are held together. what?! let's hear how stephen colbert took on this one. >> president obama's jobs bill, hot off the presses. at kinko's? hundreds of billions in tax hikes and new spending, bound together with a chintzy clip. look at that thing. >> come on, this is your jobs bill. that deserves a large, shiny binder. and instead, it's -- with the little clip. >> we need the good one from kinko's. >> yeah, why so chintzy? if he really believed in this bill, he should have presented it in

john boehner's face. we will have been all over this country, directing the activities that gets people jobs. >> all politics is local, sir, as we know from tip o'neillk you all. >>> up next, how does stephen colbert handle the latest criticism of president obama's american jobs act? that's next in the sideshow. love colbert. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. [ thunder rumbles ] what is the sign of a good decision? in the world of personal finance, it's massmutual. find strength and stability in a company that's owned by its policyholders. ask your advisor, or visit massmutual.com. ♪ [ male announcer ] unlike some car companies, nissan is running at 100%, which means the most innovative cars are also the most available cars. nissan. innovation for today. innovation for all. ♪ this is not how witness protection works! when we set you up with that little hardware store we didn't intend for your face to be everywhere. but fedex office makes it so easy. not only do they ship stuff, they print flyers, brochures -- everything i need to get my name out there. that's the problem. now we need to give you a third identity. you're paul matheson. and you

john boehner's face. we will have been all over this country, directing the activities that gets people jobs. >> all politics is local, sir, as we know from tip o'neillk you all. >>> up next, how does stephen colbert handle the latest criticism of president obama's american jobs act? that's next in the sideshow. love colbert. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. impressive resume. thank you. you know what, tell me, what makes peter, peter ? well, i'm an avid catamaran sailor. i can my own homemade jam, apricot. and i really love my bank's raise your rate cd. i'm sorry, did you say you'd love a pay raise asap ? uh, actually, i said i love my bank's raise your rate cd. you spent 8 days lost at sea ? no, uh... you love watching your neighbors watch tv ? at ally, you'll love our raise your rate cd that offers a one-time rate increase if our current rates go up. ally. do you love your bank ? like, keep one of these over your head. well, i wasn't "supposed" to need flood insurance, but i have it. fred over here chose not to have it. ♪ me, i've got a plan. fred he uh... fred what is your plan? do i look like i have a plan? not really. [ female announce

o'neil, the democratic speaker. they reached a serious compromise but president obama can't reach a deal with speaker john boehner. >n boehner is basically listening to his caucus and they are the most active and energized and many democrats said the other night they're mad because they believe the president has given up too much. >> he tried to play golf with john boehner and apparently that didn't work out well. >> well golf diplomacy sometimes works -- >> sometimes it helps. >> i don't disagree with donna on that particular point but i think there's a bigger issue and we're part of it, the three of us aaand the other people that o that, in a 24/7 campaign mode. people are never not campaigning. when you talk about the reagan and tip o'neil days, different era, the tip o'neill days, different era, and now everybody wants to know why nothing is going on. >> it was three networks plus cnn in the '80s. >> this partisan environment is fueled by the 4/7 news cycle as well. >> blame the news media. >> exactly right. >> you know what, me and newt. >> thanks very much, guys. >>> shocking cruelty in syria, a man's parents