[laughter] and mcchrystal says yes i am sure and basically he privately thought trump was ignorant since he has come out and said that publicly. then for trias as the shadow national security advisor is asked if he would do the job and he said no i can't do it. and then jim matus november 18 on washington state said i am giving this on - - volunteering this feedback can i call you back? but two days later they have differences and with the campaign trail mattis said you could get more information but that makes no sense at all. the edgy hottie parents are not sitting down for beer. so trump was excited by that and then sources said what you said publicly to be the most successful alliance in history and that disagreement with the to the resignation. >> and a number of those markers are places mattis on - - general mattis refused. that is not normal. use of my career at the pentagon and the pentagon is very good and is not all for bad reasons. and then to come back as a political risk? so it's not all for bad reasons but that level is not common and there was a fabulous review from the wa

mcchrystal how could dead we. sesee in a look at the come come up with a dull cololorful. whoo. i know when io go back that's because of her . yeah. sorry this is not like i was born here. here i like. meanwhile competency. if i was back in the refugee camp. i know i would have appreciated someone coming back and just telling me. okay i was a kid here but now i'm doing this. it hasn't been an easy path. there's still a lot of unknowns and i think that's what that's what told you to 01/07/20 01/07/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> all oyour intactions, of yo interacons, your cdidit ca swiwipe web archeseslocations, likes -- they are a collect i in al-time to a triion n doar a ar indndtry. >> the real gamehanger w cambdgdge analytica. itit washe t tru campaign and brexit camampaign. they started using information warfare.

you said that you reread the article that general stanley mcchrystal wrote a year ago saying that he had a shot at soleimani back in 2007. he opted out of that. maybe he's questioning that. i'm quoting here. he said and he's writing, all - >> your thoughts on this kind of back and forth and whether he should have been targeted in the past, michael. >> a great article, trace, by general mcchrystal that affected the ambivalence that a lot of decision makers lad a chance to take a shot at soleimani. as the american of americans that are dead because of weaponry shipped into iraq or elsewhere from the quds force that soleimani headed, as these transgressions mount up in number and the amount of blood spilled got to the point that we felt we couldn't take it any longer. obviously the recent attacks on u.s. bases in iraq and the pros respects of more in the future became a tipping point for president trump. i'm not a big fan of president trump's foreign policy but i don't disagree with this decision. there was a logic to it and also the usual ban that we have on assassinations doesn't appl

obviously we have had bill mccraven and also stan mcchrystal, two of the leading military officers ofs against trump, but neither of them served for trump. in fact, one of the stories i have in the book is general mcchrystal was offered secretary of defense and on november 16th, 2016, he basically turned that down because he didn't think that trump was either honest or would make a good commander in chief, and that of course has remained his view. >> you start with a quote from dr. strangelove, those are the first words in the book, and the last chapter deals with a glittering washington book party. which do you think best describes where we are as a country right now? >> well, you know, i mean, i start with a scene in the war room of the pentagon where there is a great debate between steve bannon on one side and the -- you know, jim mattis and rex tillerson on the other side, and really they're laying out to president trump how the united states is operating in the world. and the intent on the bannon side is to show we're overextended and. the intent on the mattis side is to say this

but i love the got in fact that guys like phil collins and stanley mcchrystal joined me at the alamo for the special and say military colleges still study at 180 guys can hold off over 3000 for 13 days if they just had a couple hundred more they may have one. if he didn't have something like tuberculosis or scurvy i don't know what he was suffering from i have a feeling he would still be alive. [laughter] he would have found a way. >> [inaudible] >> he kicked me in the thigh really hard. [laughter] he did. and if you go to his house and make a right at the helipad. [laughter] he brings you down there what i think you are alluding to a did not fight them i called them and then i watch because of the weight classes before the division if you when you room ando the locker wait for the championship. so this guy weighing 450 pounds maybe 600 pounds go gets a-p 180-pound guy and then the first shot knocks out the two teams it's an interesting experience.nd and back then do you mind telling the presss somebody can die tonight? but somebody could have died that night. nobody predicted it wou

put it a former defense department official writing soleimani was iran's david petraeus and stan mcchrystalll rolled into one. iran's supreme leader promises, quote, harsh retaliation and severe revenge. the country's president says other free nations of the region will take revenge. the u.s. has sent an additional 3500 troops to the region. let me start with you as we see this morning in iran and iraq. how was the message from all of this reverberating around the region? >> reporter: certainly i don't think people in this region will understand what the u.s. president is talking about when he says this was to avoid a war. qasem soleimani has been doing this for quite sometime. i think it is hard to overstate his role in the region. he helped shape the region as we know it today. certainly true for syria and iraq and lebanon and as we talk about the proxies that iran has built up over time he was largely responsible for that. he was, of course, responsible for the deaths of hundreds of u.s. soldiers as well in iraq, which is what the defense department and the u.s. president will rely on as

broader audience could ask and when i got there what led to it and after but phil collins and stanley mcchrystaloined me that 180 guys could hold them off for 13 days if they just had a couple hundred more maybe they would have one. and if he didn't have tuberculosis i feel he still would still be alive. [laughter] he would have found a way. >> t kicked in the thigh really hard. [laughter] if you go to his house you make a right at the helipad. [laughter] but as you know what you are alluding to i did not fight them i called them and i watched because they were weight classes before there were divisions to see a sumo guy weighing 450 poundsay or 600 pounds going up against a 180-pound guy to have the first shot it's an interesting experience. that's one of the first in the octagon they want me to do interviews do you want to say somebody died tonight and i say no but somebody could have died. nobody could have predicted it would be thiss s successful. get a hotel room because he will fight you all night. >> overall first off alice mansfield is pregnant with twins and on the book tour with me and

guys like phil collins the number one alamo fan in the world from genesis and a guy like stanley mcchrystal joined me at the alamo and join me in the special and says military colleges still study it that 180 guys could hold off 3000 plus for 13 days. they just got a couple hundred more they might even have one. if jim buie, the myth that is him or the legend that he is if he did not have something like tuberculosis or scurvy or whatever he was suffering from ida feeling he would still be alive. that is how they wrote about this guy but he would have found a way. >> [inaudible] >> he kicked me in the fight really hard. he did. sean has a thing where if you go to his house and what you do is make a right at the helipad so you go to his house and he brings you down there and you sparred with him a little bit but as you know what i thank you are alluding to is the first for ufc's and i did not fight in them but called them and i watched before they were weight classes and divisions and where if you want to go back to the locker room and one in the locker room for the championsh championship. t

still split the nato alliance weaken nato and i think this is the usual mischief making coming from mcchrystal which is also unusual calls from a french president but i think that everything mccrone is saying is designed that should weaken nato role than strengthen it steady nato at a crossroads now has gone from simultaneously asked for its powers to be expanded to department where it where many with leaders don't know why it exists. well nato is always at a crossroads it's always in crisis and it usually is the constant right usually finds its way forward adapts and is very good at adapting but i think that this is a serious moment for a number of reasons 1st of all macross challenges serious i think part of it is designed to shift nato focus more to his number one security concerns which are the instability in the extremism in the middle east and north africa in that sense he may have some overlap with president trump but i think there's also a lot of new threats that are on the horizon that nato is just beginning to play catch up on including the rising threat of china not only in the east

did toanley mcchrystal form it into a hunting machine is unmatched. iraq does not have one of those. iraq did not get surry county. iraq did not get bin laden. pakistan did not get bin laden. there is some high end niche u.s. capabilities that are unmatched. we should bring those in to the fight. on the long run, i am very much in favor of trying to find an indigenous answer because those are the ones that are going to be durable. i tell one anecdote? ofare in iraq at the end 2008. it is a culmination we are handing off to the incoming obama administration. things are in better shape than we could have imagined. the president had a state welcome. had a great meeting with maliki. we are all sitting on the side. stands up and guy throws two shoes at the president. it was such chaos in that small room, when he stood up screaming, i thought it was a suicide bomber. that was my first thought i thought, my goodness. it ended up being two shoes. >> one of which president bush almost caught i think with the intent to throwback. >> the president first was so g

soleimani is extensively popular like mcchrystal, petraeus, all wrapped into one.here will be a back lulash and u.s. troops and state department will feel it first. >> when you talk to fellow vets, people serving right now, do they support the moves of this commander in chief? >> as diverse as the american people. overall popularity and support for the president in the country has gone down and reflected in recent polls in the military as well. this back and forth is most concerning for the troops and move to abandon the kurds, the most universally condemning of the military since president. the repercussions of that are lasting. it's a dangerous place to be if you're a paratrooper in the united states military. >> and back at home with a family member figuring out or plan your future? >> new year's eve, congratulatory calls. they got the information they'ding going to iraq. that represents the disconnect. >> and did it without a problem. that's why we're proud of them. >>> a deep look at what the candidates need to do to come out on top in the first major test of

general, you certainly spent a lot of time in the region fighting in the region in iraq, general mcchrystalis was the appropriate move by the u.s. to take out soleimani. also said there is a potential for, quote, stairstep escalation of attacks. i'm wondering, do you think this was the right move militarily and strategically. >> it was an opportunity, anderson, i don't want to comment on whether it was right or wrong because that's a binary choice. this guy was not a nonstate actor like a lot of terrorists we have struck. he was in fact part of the government institution of iran. so it's a different set of categories, it's a different type of strike and in da i think what happened in the past, do we strike this guy and end the kinds of mass murders and terrorism he has been conducting and truthfully i fought against some of the forces he trained. soldiers i led in iraq actually faced some of the equipment that came in from iran and was catastrophic in terms of their ability to destroy equipment and penetrate flesh so this guy is certainly not someone that i'm -- that i admire as an enemy bu

and mcchrystal says i'm sure, basically he probably thought that trump was ignorant and dishonest.and said that publicly. so he turned down the job and then jack keene who i portray as shadow national security advisor is asked by trump if he would do the job and his wife just had suffered from parkinson's for a decade and and a half and he said he can do it. then they turned to jim mattis who was at a food bank november 18 in washington state and got vice president pence called him and says Ãbhe says i'm volunteering at the food bank can i call you back. [laughter] kind of a good - response. but then it goes out to Ãb they have a meeting with trump and have two substantial, one of which was really fester and grow over time. the first agreement is telling trump on the campaign trail to torture terrorists and kill their families and mattis said, you can get more information they referred to it at the time like these are really fundamentalists g hottie terrorists, they're not sitting down for beer. i think trump was Ãbabout that. mattis said nato you said publicly is putting on the mo

president mcchrystal -- chris: at one point leading our effort in afghanistan. >> talks openly aboute he had the opportunity to take him out but that there were bigger regional concerns. we're going -- chris: he announced that he thinks that president, president trump made the right decision. >> we'll see, right? if you look at what, just happened moments before this panel came on the air where the iraqi prime minister standing before the iraqi parliament called this is a political assassination and that the united states should withdraw all troops from the country. this is, there is now a huge mess on the ground in the middle east. and, the united states is going to have to be ready for that. the president has to be ready for all these unknown moving pieces. chris: he absolutely does. i have a minute left in the segment. michael, leave it with you. you have posited maybe they need ad punch in the knows, now they will pull back and gotten too aggressive there is flip side of that. what if iraq goes ahead to expel u.s. troops, and what if iran, as much as possibility as your scenario,

he was replaced by general mcchrystal. and you saw a kind of an increase in american forces while i was there. so the learning experience for sure. i am proud to have served my country. >> after thursday and the deaf and so money, you release a statement staying that the u.s. should use this to extricate itself from the middle east entanglements. what is that look like and where should we bee leading. >> the two foremost places we should be leaving and we can do that quite quickly are syria and afghanistan. afghanistan is he case in which actually the president and his team, investor have been working to find a way to execute ourselves out of that quagmire. and the fact is that we should be pretty proud of what we did ri afghanistan for america's safety) so i have three with their. one is to accredit hal qaeda a sneak terrorist organization that could effectively hit the united states after 911. in two, the need to punish the telephone for the states sponsorship about a data hundred be need it to kill osama bin laden. we p

the mcchrystal comparable to say some of us whatever did it for a. faith on the continued or there were a lot of men don't think it's a deliberate some accuse an opposite effect of misspeak that's the only thing missing picture. and makes you think that we stopped or at least that was the statement will not only for to offer something that's a. direct. evander a to have a sort of gun the part though it's a vendor saluting the ollie the mole the bandit in an adonis i went to last time of one. time i called the chief we got the lead and their wives send them to chamakh of their in a 5 by pm piano with a different who are large and take it she said we've a party to the 2 pairs and the it boy go main say to leon to say i might live in my kitchen it's got all i got about it i thought it was you are right i said i haven't any. money. salvini is real but don't want to follow me that billick i hear politica spy handle a simple if you go off say. in maine a similar type ago hippocrates de la cruz a different she's more quality cause a kilo computer. space or

stan mcchrystal had to decide at one point whether or not to attack a convoy that had him in it.otentially eliminating soleimani would have huge blowback. so if in fact this has happened, i think the iranians will have to respond and will respond in some way. >> to whom? >> to the united states. i think they would view it presumably this is in some way an american-directed attack. we still don't know. >> we cannot confirm who is behind this. >> right. >> this is not occurred in isolation. we've seen what happened at the u.s. embassy. we've seen statements that have been made. >> right. it's inconceivable to me that the iraqi government would have done this. but to step back, what's been going on is the united states, the trump administration has decided it is going to pursue a policy of maximum pressure on iran, getting out of the iran deal, calling the revolutionary guard a terrorist organization, essentially make it impossible for iran to sell oil anywhere. the iranians therefore feel trapped in a box and have been lashing out in various ways. they've shot down drones. they've

stan mcchrystal who was fired by president obama, he was no fan of obama he was at one point leading in afghanistan. he talks openly about the time he had an opportunity to take him out, but there were bigger regional concerns. chris: he thanks president trump made the right decision? >> we will see. if you look at what happened just moments before this panel came on the air where the iraqi prime minister standing in front of the iraqi parliament called this a political assassin detonation and that the united states should withdraw all troops from the country. there is now a huge mess on the grounds in the middle east. in the united states is going to have to be ready for that. the government and the president have to be ready for. chris: he apsley doesn'tt have a bout a minute left in this segment and michael i want to leave it with you. you are positive that they needed a punch in the no's and now they're gonna pull back and now they gotten too aggressive. there's a flipside of that. what if iraq goes ahead and expels u.s. troops? and what if i iran and it's a possibility, strikes

stan mcchrystal, who was no -- he was fired by president obama.an of obama -- generals and at one point leading our efforts in afghanistan. >> talks openly about the time he had an opportunity to take him out but that there were bigger regional concerns. >> chris: he now says he thinks that the president, president trump, makes the right decision. >> we will see, write? if you look at what just happened moments before this panel came on the air where the iraqi prime minister, standing before the iraqi parliament called this a political assassination and that the states should withdraw all troops from the country. this is -- there is now a huge mess on the ground in the middle east in the united states is going to have to be ready for that. the government of the president has to be ready for all these unknown pieces. >> chris: he absolutely does. i've got about a minute left in this segment and michael i want to leave it with you. you've posited that maybe they needed a punch in the nose and now they're going to pull back and they had gotten too ag

i happened to be having dinner with george casey the night that stan mcchrystal and his j soc guys killed abu dzhokhar . he gets killed and we now have a government in iraq. so, i think the natural tendency, that certainly i had, i cannot speak for others, was, ok, maybe this was a turning point. i think as brett just said correctly, there were a lot of times when people felt we have a development now or there is one coming that will change the direction of this. you have to go through that probably a couple of times and then realize, ok, there's not going to be some deus ex machina that is going to save us. we are going to have to do some things differently. we were very constrained in osd by the secretary's views. and that was just a reality. i was aware that the council of colonels was going on. that was not something that pete kept secret from us. and i was having conversations, some with megan, mostly with jd crouch. i remember very distinctly, we have these devices, i don't even know if they exist anymore, devices which were a kind of video telephone. and i know very late in the day

2004, i think it's all lined i like to talk about the marble man quickly he is idolized, general mcchrystal and his offices, had the marble man's picture and essentially, there's no question that the marble man, is the competence, the most confident tactical leader, but in terms of being an age of mass armies, how well is the army executed the, one thing functions in the logistics field sanitation, and medical operations, or manage personnel, furlough illegal requirements, was and remains, as critical as the battlefield. while mcallen quickly, while mcallen was known for us overcautious maneuvers, he was also a gifted. or organized manus are, much appreciated by soldiers, and established the foundation upon which the army had success. these forces on forces of supply, and personal in attention, remained less affected than they needed to be. if the sound title of this gunpowder, i wasn't getting to the people necessary. in terms of the north, the main problem with the north, seems to be, personnel. they did not have people. they needed people. how can you answer that question? >> i think the

back in 2007, they were tracking soleimani and stanley mcchrystal wrote an article about it, saying ween because he was too big and we knew the ramifications of doing it back then, what would happen next. >> let's unpack this because first, it's illogical to suggest that people who have no relation to one another, right, al qaeda and the people who would be connected within iran, with iranian militias, which, they hate each other. there's no -- it is just fundamentally illogical to connect the two, so that's absurd on its face. however, the same people -- i'll come to you on this, ayman, who wanted to go to war with iraq, john boltons of the world, at the time wanted to extend that warrant to go to war in iran. there is an existing set of people who have wanted this for a long time. it alarms me when you start to hear people in this administration try to use 9/11 as a way to drag this country toward what a lot of people associated with trump want anyway. >> i think first of all, it is a low point in american politics when you're exploiting 9/11 to achieve a policy objective that is tot

general mcchrystal wrote about it. general petraeus talked about it. have somebody who lived it talking about how much better the world is without him. yet, you have a guy like chris matthews comparing his death in iran to somebody like elvis or princess diana. are you kidding me? steve: well, that's just the state of cable news these days. we do have that man who made that amazing speech. brian mast will be joining us less than an hour from right now. keep in mind, you know, the fact that they passed the resolution out of the house, it's not going anywhere in the senate. just simply trying to do something to the president, damage him politically. nancy pelosi we got a flashback for you. keep in mind, barack obama ordered strikes on half a different countries. no congressional authorization. he ordered over 500 drone strikes that killed thousands of people, including hundreds of citizens. and, yet, nancy pelosi said regarding then president obama did he need authorization to use force in libya? watch this. >> madam leader, you are saying that the presi