host: will you go back to iraq? guest: i don't know, if i'm called back it's a possibility i think i have three more years on my contract. host: pasadena, good morning. caller: just a few comments. your guest was saying al qaeda has chosen to make iraq the frontline in the battle but i would disagree on several of the statements you've made. at best they are disingenuous and worst they are fraudulent. the united states chose to make iraq differently when they invaded, al qaeda was not in iraq prior to us invading the country. at the grade was an aberration, a few soldiers chose to do that on their own, and the report was damming, that the highest brass was complicit with abu ghraib. guest: thank you. i think the administration did itself a great disservice trying to tie al qaeda to saddam hussein to closely into thousand three and has made people step back and think i don't think we are really fighting al qaeda they are now. it couldn't be further from the truth. that may be where we've decided to fight them. they w

people have and iraq. to say too bad too late we've lost 3600 troops and it's time to go home i think is a shortsighted perspective when it comes to this global war were fighting. our enemies are fighting a global insurgency, not just in the middle east but we've seen repeatedly in europe with the bombings recently in glasgow and then throughout europe. the threat is real. the enemy is out there and we can decide whether were going to continue to fight them with the right -- i wouldn't be here this morning it was a same strategy that was years while i was in iraq. i wouldn't be here defending that policy. that was a failed policy. >> what would you be say? >> it's probably time to adjust strategy. we need to change strategy. [inaudible] >> mccain has voiced this. it's that with continued losing american lives as a fill strategy. either adjust strategy or pull the troops out. i totally agree. if there was up late to adjust rank i would be jumping on the table saying get our servicemen and women out because

okada did not choose to make iraq the frontline the united states did okayed it was not an iraq prior to us invading the country. as an aberration is a few soldiers who chose to do this on their own. very damning for the highest brass in the military being complicit in the actions i thank you for takingi the time. >> thank you. the administration did itself a great disservice trying to tie alis qaeda to saddam hussein in 2003 in doing h so has made peoe step back i don't thinknk were really fighting al qaeda there now. but itt cannot be further from the truth that may be where we decided to fight them. they want to fight us. they have decided america needs to go down. >> with the caller was saying is al qaeda was not there before we entered iraq. >> acquired it was looking for any battlefield to fight the americans inme afghanistan first part we get rid of saddam hussein they decide that'sid a second front. whether or not that's the right decision it is for the history books right now. but where we are is in a battle with al qaeda and iraq and needs to be t completed. if you look at t

so we have a wealth of knowledge about, about what has happened in iraq. and my fear is that the bombing in gaza has been much more intense than bombings any well. and so i would expect to see a lot more damage to the public health in gaza compared to iraq. and you up, we have shown that titanium cadmium from you. all of these are metals that are supported by it's huge industry behind them that feeds into women's manufacturing. it's important for us to recognize a lot of these metals are not normally found in high toxic levels. in our environment, they appear when it place is barbaric. we bumped like there was in iraq. and now there is in, in the gaza an in syria. that is when we see these metals released into the environment and people would, he held them, they would eat them in the food that they eat in multiple ways. people get these metals into their bodies, particularly sensitive. are old people, young people and women who are pregnant when i see these images, although i just want to share the testimony of dr. muhammed to hear, who volunteered in gaza

has about 2000 troops in iraq, about 900 in syria. they are there to counter isis. what impact do you think that will have, the more isolationist or america first agenda? >> we had three presidents in a row, all of whom have wanted to reduce our force posture overseas, focus here at home. at times when we have done that we saw the disastrous withdrawal from afghanistan. pres. biden: thanks for your patience. been a long day.

invasion of iraq, a local group became al qaeda in iraq, its first affiliate. al qaeda in yemen was established in 2006, you know, and part of this is conditions in the islamic world that led to the growth of these groups and connections and communications. in 2009, al qaeda in yemen and al qaeda operatives in saudi arabia merged and al qaeda in the arabian group in in north peninsula. a group in in north africa became al qaeda and the islamic maghreb after 2006 or seven, al shabaab in somalia declared allegiance to al qaeda in al 2012. qaeda in syria was established under various names with the beginning of the syrian civil war. and then the only and then al qaeda in the indian subcontinent was established by ayman al zaw zawahiri, the emir of al qaeda in 2014. taking advantage of conditions in various areas and sending emissaries was how they expanded. it's one of al qaeda's successes in the islamic state as well in being able to spread their reach after 9/11. >> i have one quick follow-up. so how should we think post metastasizing about the significance of a

we bump like there was in iraq . and now there is a in, in gaza, an in syria, that is when we see these metals released into the environment and people would entail them, they would eat them in the food that they eat in multiple ways. people get these metals into their bodies, particularly sensitive. are old people, young people and women who are pregnant. when i see these images out of gaza, i cannot help but to think what is happening in the bodies of hundreds and thousands of pregnant women in gaza. what is happening, and i know it to be happening, is there in hailing their e think they are living in a place of highly toxic metal content. and these metals end up in her bloodstream and in her features, and it's impacting fetus. so it is critical for us to stop this genocide. and again, it's going to have an impact on generations to come just to give people a context on birth defects and the numbers of birth defects. sorry, so sorry to interrupt, as just as the numbers of the rest, the effects that you have in your

can you tell us about your findings in iraq? the thank you. yes. um, since 2011, we've been studying impacts of war contamination on multiple you up to cities in bus route in about the info to join hawaii. just a non syria. we have collected samples of children with birth defects and their parents and where they live. and what we have shown significantly is that the closer family lives to a us military base. the higher the chances of that family, having a child with birth defects, basically linking distance to a military base, which is a source of pollution in the middle east. places where the united states has military bases anywhere else. i think the us right now has over 500 military bases in different capacities. so that is one thing we have shown. we have also shown that metals like latin american, we are extremely high in samples of children with birth defects. when you compare it to children who are healthy, we have shown that the same metals are high in the bodies of the parents. so we have a wealth of knowledge about about what has happene

a lot has changed in iraq but this executive order is still on the book. no one has ever repealed it. it's not really being actively used by the administration but if one wanted to, they could. and that kept on come canning up a lot in my research on these executive orders in the foreign policy space was there's just a lot of undergrowth, if you will. there's a lot of like just junk eo's that have overtaken by events politically in the real world. i think the issue that most abuses of executive orders in world of foreign policy don't really come from executive orders orders but other things like acts of congress, the patriot act comes to mind and congress sort of willingly advocating roles to the executive branch. congress saying, okay, mr. president, you can do what you want and we will for some reason like never repeal, like never review them and leave them on the books for decades and decades for military action as -- as the executive branch sees fits. that's a problem. we should fix that problem. we should repeal and replace, repeal for and not replace

one on ukraine and one on iraq. regarding ukraine, can the pentagon provide the number of ukrainian f-16 pilots that have been trained in the u.s. even if you have to take that question? and can you provide us with a general idea of the u.s. support for the f-16 pilot training program under this administration's tenure? and my second question on the actions against isis, can the pentagon explain a little bit more about what exactly happened in the iraqi mountains? were the fighters that conducted air strikes all u.s. aircraft? did the f-15's, f-16's conduct preplanned air strikes as part of the operation? just trying to understand that more. secretary singh: thank you. on your question on the isis strikes, i think you're referring to that if a few weeks ago. i think central command put out all that we're going to on the strikes. but for more information i'd refer you to them to speak to that operation. on the frveg-16 program, i think you're pretty well versed on it. we've trained -- we are a co-lead on the care cap

i assume that's our wars in iraq and afghanistan. do you think our troops are committing genocide in iraq and afghanistan? >> senator, i do not. i think our senator, our troops, as you know, as so many in this committee know, did the best they could with what they had. we're not the outcomes. and tragically, the outcome we saw in afghanistan under the biden administration put a stain on that. but it doesn't put a stain on what those men and women did in uniform, as you know full well, senator. >> thank you. mr. >> thank you, senator cotton. at this point, i offer i ask unanimous consent to offer into the record a letter submitted by omar abbasi, son of former city council president of samarra, iraq, who worked with mr. hegseth in iraq. without objection, that will be entered. senator gillibrand. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you. mr. hegseth. i do want to thank you for your service, and i want to thank you for your willingness to serve in this capacity. >> thank you, senator, i have many concerns about your record and particularl

the iraq national stabilization emergency. this was issued by the george w. bush administration after the fall of the saddam hussein regime in '03. it provides for things we are going to do in iraq to try and stabilize it and specifically going after certain political entities that existed in iraq under the saddam hussein regime the administration was trying to get out of there. that was over 20 years ago now. a lot has changed in iraq. this executive order is still on the books. no one repealed it. it is not being actively used. if one wanted to, they could. that kept on coming up a lot in my research on these eo's. there's a lot of undergrowth. junk eo's overtaken by events politically that have not been repealed. they kind of exist. weird state laws, you cannot cross from one county to another while holding a duck on your head on a thursday or something. if that level of thing. no one is actively using it to conduct themselves in policy but they exist. no one has gone through the trouble of clearing the brush and figuring out which one of these do we need?

you've got ground troops in iraq. we do have some folks in israel. obviously, you've got american citizens, you've got embassy folks there. you've got the u.s. naval personnel, we've got air forces deployed throughout the middle east. you've got a considerable footprint in the middle east that are all in various levels of exposure. if it was a broad regional conflict. now, we're capable of defending ourselves. your military is extraordinarily capable in so many ways. and i know general carilla, the commander of centcom has taken all the appropriate force protection measures for his troops. so our guys are at risk though, nobody should underestimate the levels of risk. our people are at in the middle east right now. host: let's move into europe if we can, the situation in ukraine. some people have described it as a stalemate. how do you see this playing out next? and what, what's your, what's your takeaway at this moment in time about that conflict? gen. milley: well, i think it is a strategic stalemate so tactically, at the tactical level, you're get

the pentagon hated more than $500000000.00 for the correct coverage of the iraq war. there was a very large project. it was the biggest contract, the americans awarded to anybody outside of america. the contract vonny was also 1000000000 us dollars. so that's quite a having a contract. and so i news big june of this month and wells worked at bell impulse into over several years. i was working for you loans and i was contacted by an agency i worked for a while at the time. they were like kind of a recruitment agency for just tv and they said there's a job. some people would like you to go in interview for buddies based internet and i was, i told the same size and i think i'm quite happily going to look at that time. so i went along to the interview. he was in a building central london. and it was all very kind of an income, secretive inside of it. and it felt like you were in a building. it wasn't normal. and then there were armed guards. so then i knew things weren't, you know, i just assumed i'd be doing some kind of news, the type of things for them. and that was th

the war fighters in the iraq surge. there was a campaign in 2008, senator, barack obama versus john mccain. we believe john mccain would be the right person to win and we spent more. i'm glad for the record. >> i will ask to be entered into the record, mr. chairman. >> without objection. >> these tax returns are yours. they have your signature. and i'm going to ask that me embers of the committee review them. they're the only documents. i've asked for others. i've asked for the f.b.i. report that would presumably documented and should have documented this kind of financial mismanagement and these are the 990s from that organization by the year of 2011 donors had become so dissatisfied with that mismanagement they ousted you and merged that organization with military families united and thereafter you joined a second organization as executive director. >> in between i went to harvard university for two years and afghanistan. >> i want to ask you questions about concerned veterans for america. again another set of tax ret

and then the other thing was iraq invaded iran. and so all the oil supplies from iran and iraq were lost to the world. all supplies. and so the the price of oil more than doubled in just 12 months. so there was an enormous inflation and interest rates went up over in all the nations of the world. so those three things combined to cause my defeat. but i've had a good life since then. well. you seemed a little at the time. well, because i read this book and of teddy kennedy, you note with some pleasure that you're kicking him around pretty in the primaries. well i did i beat him 2 to 1 in the primaries. well, he says with some glee. yeah but but he wouldn't go down. no, he never did give up, which was distracting to democratic reelection effort. well, obviously it was. the democratic party was split, and one of their failures that i mentioned in the afterword that i wrote was my leadership of the democratic i treated it as a secondary responsibility of me as a president. i was president of united states. first of all, i was the leade

and muslim allies i helped immigrate from iraq and afghanistan.iform, my mission never stopped. now it is true and has been acknowledged i don't have a similar graffiti to defence secretaries of the last 30 years. but as president trump also told me, we have repeatedly placed people atop the pentagon with supposedly the pentagon with supposedly the right credentials. whether they are retired generals, academics or defence contractor executives. and where has it gotten us? he believes and i humbly agree that it is time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm. a change agent, someone with no vested interest in certain companies or specific programmes or approved narratives. my only special interest is the war fighter. deterring wars and if called upon winning wars by ensuring our warriors never enter a fair fight. we let them win and we bring them home. like many of my generation, i have been there. i have led troops in combat, i have been on patrol for days. i have pulled the trigger down range, herd bullets whizzed by, flex curved insurgen

i assume that's the wars in iraq and afghanistan. do you think our troops were committing genocide. >> i do not. our troops as so many on this committee know did the best they could with what they had. tragically the outcome we saw in afghanistan put a stain on that but not a stain they did in uniform. as you know full well. >> at this point i ask unanimous consent to offer into the record a letter submitted by omar obassa former president of iraq who worked with mr. hegseth in iraq. without objection that will be entered. senator gillibrand. >> thank you, mr. chairman and thank you, mr. hegseth. thank you for your service and i want to thank you for your willingness to serve in this capacity. i have many concerns about your record and particularly your public statements because they are so hurtful to the men and women who are currently serving in the u.s. military. harmful to morale, harmful to good order and discipline. if you are saying that women shouldn't be serving in the military -- i will read your quotes. the quotes themselv

china, afghanistan, iraq and so forth. go down the list. i said about 40 things i had to address that was still there and one of the reasons i wanted to write the book. i was surprised of how frank and unadull tear rated about individuals that i had to face in the future or looking back on before i made mistakes and i thought it would be the unique and i use that word carefully, unique picture of what the presidency is from the point of view from someone holding that office. i hadn't been in politics very long. i was 38 years old. i served a long time in the navy a head of time. when i got to the white house, i never been to washington before except as a visitor and i wanted folks to know what a president thinks when he is confronted with the challenges and disappointments and successes and happiness and sorrows sometimes. and sometimes regrets and sometimes thankfulness. i wanted to have it the way it was. and i had over 20 volumes of notes. more than 5,000 pages of notes and i cut it down by about 80% which i'm sure people buying the book

has about 2000 troops in iraq and 900 in syria.y are there to counter isis, what do you think that is -- the impact that will have the more isolationist or america first agenda? guest: we have had three presidents in a row, obama, trump and biden wanting to reduce our force posture and remove ourselves from a lot of these conflicts and focus at homes. at times we have done that we saw the disastrous withdrawal afghanistan and his successful efforts against isis but the challenge where he allowed the turkish government to go after our allies the kurds as well. there are challenges with our allies and adversaries oversee. the real fact of the matter is at the end of the day it is better for the united states, americans and allies to fight the adversaries where they are in the middle east and elsewhere rather than allowing them to plan and plot attacks against the united states, europe or americans and europeans around the globe. if we are going to win the effort or be successful at staving off attacks we have to conduct operations ov

, and afghanistan, and having taken charge of his platoon days before deployment in iraq, he led his platoon through 5 months of combat, and ranging from air assault raids to defense of a forward operating base. the evaluation goes on describe how his platoon remains physically and mentally red and captured an an al qaeda cell leader in iraq, and described his leadership skills in supporting hits squads. and another report, described him as an absolutely outstanding officer who was, in intelligent, mature and extremely gifted had become a tremendous asset to his ab battalion. these evaluations should be crucially important in coming senate committee hearings, a tremendous by the way breaking news report from fox news digital, and it should put to rest at least some of the unproven allegations leveled at hegseth years ago, allegations that have nothing to do with his military fitness or overall leadership skills. now, veterans rallying around pete hegseth and his nomination to be defense secretary, today an indoor rally spearheaded by senator tommy tuberville, and conti congressman ke

the war fighters in the iraq surge. there was a campaign in 2008, senator, it was barack obama versus john mccain. you and i believe john mccain would be the right person to win. and so we spent more from that organization. i'm glad they're in. >> for the record, i'm going to ask to be entered into the record, mr. chairman, without objection, these tax returns are yours. they have your signature. and i'm going to ask that members of the committee review them, because they're the only documents i've asked for others. i've asked for the fbi report that would presumably document it should have documented this kind of financial mismanagement. and these are the nine 90s from that organization. by the year of 2011, donors had become so dissatisfied with that mismanagement, they, in effect, ousted you. they merged that organization with military families united. and thereafter you joined a second organization as executive director. >> in between. senator, i went to harvard. >> i want to ask you questions. i want to ask you que

anyway, an iraq and fox news digital evaluators described him and this is in iraq, ab sleuthly outstanding officer who was -- absolutely outstanding officer who was intent intelligent, mature, extremely gifted and had become a tremendous asset to his battalion and contributed immensely to the battalion's performance during the past six months. that's just one of many paragraphs of extraordinary evaluation. nothing like this report has come out thus far. nothing like this report has come out, and it just seems to me that all these -- i regard them as service connected louis personal attacks on him and have nothing to do with his personal service and the armed services personnel have to get hold of this fox digital story. >> that will be brought up tomorrow, larry, when we start the hearing. i think it's around 9, 9:30 in the morning. you'll hear most of that come from obviously the republican side talking about experience, talking about the things that have been accomplished by pete. on the other side, you'll hear personal stories, you'll hear them going after his personal life, things that

i was a cia officer and add three tours inside iraq and have worked for four different secretaries of defense, democrat and republican, proudly come and watch them make decisions that literally determined the life-and-death of americans in the dark of night. i'm also a democrat representing a state that trump won. we won on the same valid. so i understand the president trump has the right to nominate his people. we are going to have policies we disagree with. all of that comes very standard. what i think i'm most concerned with is that no president has the right to use the uniformed military in a way that violates the u.s. constitution and further taints the military as that apolitical institution we all want. our founders designed a system so that we weren't going to use active duty military inside the united states and make american citizens potentially scared of their own military. we went through our own experience with that with the british. as the secretary of defense, you will be the one man standing in the breach should president trump give an illegal order. not saying he will

the 2nd iraq curtis were directed over what they saw as broken government promises. tension also ran high between iraq, a neighboring year on the some of the army was the and i had at the kind of stuff i didn't even have been invented a while. i'm on the who owners valued a whole of it to be lazy and most of the 100 data on the what the eat on the fee for the show here on to $70.00 with this i was just doing that the what this the she got it makes a lot of a shot when the to the initial what kind of down. okay. take a little 0. it was not at the how did you why what was that? what is a good movie? it was the high that john? sure. yeah. on and yet i'm a card visa and then for kind of the, i mean you can be if you sent it over to say we all of us have been back of on order for us box. so they either quoted the image over the income in human. okay, then should i hold on one, then i'll come in to go on the hand of putting the arrow out for you and i know it doesn't with all the and yeah, not, but he's so dumb assent fee and that door for the most part study and hot and no miami had that

the warfighters in the iraq surge. there was a campaign in 2008, senator barack obama, if i john mccain, ask you and i believe john mccain would be the right person to win. and so we spent more from that organization. i'm glad they're in. >> for the record, i'm going to ask to be entered into the record. mr. chairman. >> um, without objection, these tax returns are yours. >> they have your signature. and i'm going to ask that members of the committee review them, because they're the only documents i've asked for others. i've asked for the fbi report that would presumably document it should have documented this kind of financial mismanagement and these are the nine 90s from that organization by the year of 2011, donors had become so dissatisfied with that mismanagement, they, in effect, ousted you. they merged that organization with military families united and thereafter you joined a second organization as executive director. in between. >> senator, i went to harvard. >> i want to ask you some questions, and i want to

the lead were notoriously effective and routing out insurgencies in iraq and afghanistan for over a decade. the 2012, he was nominated by the rock obama to be the director of the defense intelligence agency. mike quinn brings to this position, decades of experience in military intelligence. his knowledge of the 21st century battlefield is unsurpassed. 3 years later, the one time democrats had become an avid supporter of candidate from bach her up. that's right. yeah, that's right. correct. and would soon become president trump national security advisor, but just 22 days into his term. trump fired him for lying about his interactions with russia. the evolving and eroding level of trust as a result of this situation is what led the president to ask for general flint resignation. and general flint would soon enter a plea deal with the f. b i is prison sentence was under review. when trump pardoned him in december 2020 less than a month before leaving office, mike flint and i served together for many years and were very close friends. i disagree with him politically. i am disappointed by the n

has about 2000 troops in iraq about 900 and syria. they are there to counter isis. of that will have more, you know, isolationist or america first agenda. >> well, look, we have had three presidents in a row, obama, trump and aydin who of all wanted to reduce our force posture, remove ourselves from a lot of these overseas conflicts, focus here at home. at times a we've done that we seen the disastrous withdrawal from afghanistan. we sought against isis. but then, the challenge where he allowed the turkish government to go after allies and so there are challenges in our relationship with our allies and our adversaries overseas and the real fact of the matter is at the end of the day, it is better for the united states and americans and allies in europe to fight these adversaries where they are whether it's in the middle east or elsewhere rather than allowing them to plan a plot toxicants our home in the united states organs europeans in europe organs americans and europeans anywhere around the globe. the real truth is if we witness effort or even be successful at st

house and then who did they hired to build thousands of houses in iraq? joe biden's close family member, who you guessed it, had no in the industry and no experience in iraq. a company official bragged that it helps to have a family member of the vice president, his partner. the family member put it more bluntly by saying there's a line of 740 sevens filled cash ready, invest. now let's follow the money south again. as reported in the press, yet another close family member of joe's set his sights on costa rica and where millions of dollars flowed from the obama-biden in taxpayer back loans to projects linked to yes that same family member. these aren't isolated incidents. it is a deliberate pattern of conduct. and that's just he did as vice president. imagine what he'd do as president. how many american families would be allowed to get away with this? why should there be one standard for the elite political and another set of rules for the rest of us? when millions of americans voted for donald trump, they knew he'd be different. and he is. he's a tough,

build its caliphate the actual territorial caliphate they controlled a huge chunk of land between iraq and syria and that caliphate was undone and defeated. and that was completed under president trump's watch during his first term with taking back brca. so i believe the incoming administration like this administration will continue to show a strong interest in not allowing it to you rear its head again and as subseven said a critical part of that is making sure we enable syrian democratic forces to do the job they've been doing in the interest of everyone securing the foreign terrorist fighters who are there as we continue to work to repatriate the fighters and to repatriate their families to countries of origin. we have been working closely as well with our allies and partners in turkey which has legitimate concerns of course the pkk and terrorism to navigate this transition and to navigate it and away that i think leads to a resolution including the overtime with the integration of the syrian democratic forces into syrian national forces including with the departure of foreign membe

build its caliphate the actual territorial caliphate they controlled a huge chunk of land between iraqnd that caliphate was undone and defeated. and that was completed under president trump's watch during his first term with taking back brca. so i believe the incoming administration like this administration will continue to show a strong interest in not allowing it to you rear its head again and as subseven said a critical part of that is making sure we enable syrian democratic forces to do the job they've been doing in the interest of everyone securing the foreign terrorist fighters who are there as we continue to work to repatriate the fighters and to repatriate their families to countries of origin. we have been working closely as well with our allies and partners in turkey which has legitimate concerns of course the pkk and terrorism to navigate this transition and to navigate it and away that i think leads to a resolution including the overtime with the integration of the syrian democratic forces into syrian national forces including with the departure of foreign members of that f

veteran army captain who was the ceo of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america.t's good to see you again. how do you think pete hegseth did? >> i mean, he clearly made it through the hearing itself. i think it was an unfortunately, a very short hearing. i don't know that enough questions were asked and specifically questions about his efforts to actively lobby to get convicted war criminals pardoned. and these are men who weren't indiscriminately targeted by washington politicians. these are men who had men serving alongside of them, who's experienced the same horrors of war as him, who felt he crossed lines we should not cross. they risked their reputations in some cases, but also had the courage to speak up about it. and we should be concerned that we are about to have a secretary of defense, potentially, who seemingly thinks war crimes are okay. that is a big problem for our national security, and it puts our troops at risk. >> there is a question. i mean, i think there are two major right buckets of questions that he was asked about. one about his experience

i have two questions one on ukraine and one on iraq.regarding ukraine and the pentagon provide the number of ukrainian pilots been trained in the u.s. even if you have to take that question and can you provide us with a general idea of your support for the pilot training program under this administration's tenure and then my second question on the actionsti against isis cannot pentagon explain a little bit more about what exactly happened where the fighters have conducted preplanned airstrikes as part of this operation just trying to understand that a little bit more. >> thanks christopher. onin your question on nice strie you thank you are referring to a few weeks ago. i think central command put out all that we are going to on the strikes but for more information i would refer you to that operation. on the f-16 program i think we are well-versed on it. we are acholi on air capability coalition. we have trained a handful of ukrainian pilots for that training took place here in the united states but of coursee other countries hosting tr

joe biden was point person on iraq.he president of a construction firm met with his team in the white house and who did they hire to build houses in iraq? joe biden's most family member. you guessed it, and he had no experience in the industry and no experience in iraq. a company official bragged it helps to have a family member as partner. the family member put it bluntly by saying there is a line of 737's filled with cash ready to invest. let's follow the money down south. as reported in the press, yet another close family member of joe's set his sights on costa rica and jamaica, where millions of dollars flowed from the obama biden administration in taxpayer backed loans linked to the same family member. these aren't isolated incidents. it is a deliberate pattern of conduct. that is just what he did as vice president. imagine what he would do as president. how many american families would be allowed to get away with this? why should there be one standard for the elite political class and another set of rules for the

also with us iraq veteran, army captain and ceo of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america allison jaslow and staff writer with the atlantic, tom nichols. allison, i do want to begin with you. in watching the hearing today, we saw the allegations. we saw the controversies. we saw how democrats pushed him to get answers, how republicans warmed up to him. i want to know from his testimony, specifically, how you think the pentagon would change under pete hegseth. >> well, you know, i think it remains to be seen how the pentagon would be reshaped under his leadership. i hope we actually don't get to that point, even if people are beginning to accept the fact that he might actually be confirmed. and i think as it relates to today's hearing, like the most concerning thing for me was that senators didn't dig into the fact that he openly lobbied for war criminals to be convicted or convicted war criminals. excuse me to be pardoned. these were men who had men that were serving alongside of them. speak up, because though they experience the same horrors of war, they thought that they crossed lines

um i had an experience in iraq. won't go into detail here where the fact that washington had a different understanding of a military mission from the mission statement led to repeated confusions until we straightened it out, which was difficult because we weren't as civilians allowed to tamper with it. so you've got multiple levels. i don't know that i'm helping you answer that question except that you probably have to come at it from a variety of ways that questions which were asked whether the answers particularly whether the answers were tested against a reasonable expectation of success that i think is a repeated problem in our government. god knows how many action memos i've seen and my colleagues have seen which have a are called a strategy and have a list of actions, but they don't have any analysis of whether the actions are sufficient to achieve the objective. and, you know, my favorite joke is that if i want to go to the moon, i can jump up and down. 50% of my actions are going in the right direction. i'm

i did serve in kuwait and missions in iraq. it is incredibly important that i stress and i hope that, if confirmed, you continue to stress that every man and woman has opportunity to serve their country in uniform and do so on any level as long as they are meeting the standards that are set forward. we talked about that in my office. i do believe in high standards. i was denied the opportunity to serve in any combat role because i have a lot of gray hair. the policy has changed since then. i have been around for quite a while. for the young women who are out there now and can meet those standards and again i will emphasize they should be very high standards. they must physically be able to achieve those standards so that they can complete their mission. but i want to know, let's make it very clear for everyone here today. as secretary of defense will you support women continuing to have the opportunity to serve in combat roles? mr. hegseth: senator, thank you for your service. as we discussed extensively. >> it is my privilege.

you know, you've just got to stop bombing iraq. then of course you just continue escal. yeah, i, i'm trying to get, i'm really confused. the difference between isis and l. chi though. okay. maybe. maybe a topic for another program mark, go ahead. jump in. yeah. the current de facto ruler of syria in damascus. i'll gilani. he was the leader of isis in syria. right. the deputy advice is the leader in syria. and he then became the leader of jo, bought all moves throughout, re branded as i up to here. i'll show him, so what is the distinction? i, i, you know, i don't think there is one as well. so i is, this is most definitely back because they just over through, you know, whether you want to call it ices are all kind of, but the self is the, you know, they just over through the, the government in, in, in syria. so that is, you know, not something that is, it will have rubber cautions it will have a blow back. and i think that if the us in israel go about another 2 point, oh george w bush attempts to re make the middle east that inevitably it will fail, they will topple some