understand this is an ancillary job and there is a high revel of rotation of people coming back from afghanistan or iraq, whatever the case may be, but we also reach out to squadron level training. it really comes down to meeting with your cooperating agencies and

horrific injuries that doctors are describing as something you would see from a battlefield in afghanistan or iraq that we've -- soldiers have suffered for the past ten years or more. they are -- limbs blown off, traumatic head injuries. the youngest victim is a two-year-old boy. we can report that he is being prepped for surgery right now at boston's children's hospital. now, many of the victims didn't make it to the hospitals right away, but there's a good reason for that and that is because there were so many emergency workers on the scene at the race itself that they set up triage centers to treat them first, to stabilize them. they didn't want to rush them in here. they wanted to stabilize their systems and get them here safely. now, the tensions are still very, very high around this area, especially at the hospitals. at this parking garage behind me a little while earlier swat teams were sweeping floor to floor because of a suspicious package and we are told that tufts hospital here in boston had to evacuate their emergency room for a little while when there was another suspicious package th

understand this is an ancillary job and there is a high revel of rotation of people coming back from afghanistan or iraq, whatever the case may be, but we also reach out to squadron level training. it really comes down to meeting with your cooperating agencies and training together on a frequent basis and having good and open dialogue. >> as i look back at that map here, knowing we were heading into that time of year where we're going to hit significant fire weather and knowing northern california as we are now but eventually southern california, one of the most effective ways to stop the fires from growing is that initial attack, which means we need to be able to quickly put resources up in the air and move them. i guess my question is from a national guard perspective, from a naval perspective, with the helicopter resources down there, do you feel you would be able to quickly move those resources and you have the agreements in place. we'll start with the national guard and work on our way down. >> although we're advertised as a one week a month and two weekends a year, i've got crews on pretty much ev

if they are sitting on a mountaintop in afghanistan or iraq, we can take them out. it is one of the things we can talk about here today, our inability to replicate that kind of success here. there are troubling links between organized crime in mexico and terrorist groups overseas. in order to meet these new challenges and continue to improve our security efforts, we have to evolve our approach. left to become smarter in how we deploy our limited resources and focus in addition, it's important to note that while most of the security data is focused on our ports of entry much of the illegal traffic comes through our actual ports. since 9/11 we have made tremendous improvements in how people are screened. today, all travelers must present a secure id at the border. they're automatically screened against our government's law enforcement immigration and terrorism data bases in order to ensure that dangerous people are not allowed to enter our country. but we continue to be faced with infrastructure challenges. after 9/11 travel and trade have ramped up in recent years. a

todd movement you will see jihadist fight in syria or afghanistan or iraq and also non chechen jihadist to gain battleground experience i don't think they were chechen the videos did not focus on chechnya but the hot around the world with the middle east and asia and they need to displace the infidel to create hegemony by putting that with its clear agenda of the radical islamist. no doubt about it that is the agenda of the al qaeda and the muslim brotherhood except they don't use violence overtly to oppose their agenda. lou: their presence year we would see a very similar police presence. half this seems to be utterly credible police presence talking about one terrorist 19 years old who has carried out a terrible terrible crime against the american people. but is this response typical if these occur because it is massive and today we learned it is unsustainable to break away from this and change direction. >> is a lesson learnt. -- it is a lesson learned. they have capability for this. there needs to be a focus on these explosives like the bomb saw what -- bomb squads and they need to

we're not afghanistan or iraq. and no, i think -- i'll make this prediction. people will feel safe in boston fairly soon. part of the answer, though, is, look. i have to repeat this. maybe -- let's reduce the resources. no, let's continue to build up security and then by the way the practical matter which is very expensive for the city of bos n boston. overtime. a whole range of people mobilized. i hope we can find revenue. i hope from the federal government so that boston doesn't have to pay for this absolutely necessary expenditure for cutting back on other important services down the line. >> you talk about revenue and inf infrastructure and having the capabilities necessary to repond to something as atrocious as this. do you feel like you're capitalizing and making political hay of this event that happened? >> that i'm capitalizing? >> well, that you're making a political argument about revenue right now. >> yes, exactly. i'm talking common sense. i'm saying that if the sequester had gone through, we had not had enough money we couldn't be able to do this.

. >> the shoot out was going on not in afghanistan or iraq but this is in a neighborhood with this kind of neighborhood. it is amazing there weren't more people in the middle. stay right there we have fox news justice producer mike levi levine. >> they are finding out everything they can about these two suspects now that they have an identity on him. they are researching whether they came from overseas or military training overseas. >> is there anything indicating that they did have military training? what makes them think they might have had that or might be from overseas. >> the quote i was given is there's something that tipped them off to the fact that they should look into it. i don't know what that is. >> the officers said that impromptu press conference on the street corner a few mints ago they said these guys are armed dangerous and they are terrorists. they came here to terrorize. they are not from massachusetts. >> i don't know. >> federal sources have to investigate all potential a ang ang -- potential angles. >> we want to bring bill hemmer in. any reaction to the latest new

that authorities disarmed two other impro-advised explosive devices or ied's the kind used in afghanistan or iraqat report from the associated press. also there are reports that police are investigating a man who was hurt in the explosion. we don't know more than that at this juncture except that he is in the hospital. president obama has addressed the nation and promised justice. but he made one mistake. the president called the attack a tragedy. it was not. it was a vial act of violence. designed to kill innocent people, including children. i was just in boston yesterday, and this makes me sick! so far no one has claimed responsibility for the attack. perhaps it's a coincidence but this week marks the anniversary of attacks in oklahoma city, columbine, colorado, and virginia tech. also the waco assault in 1993. joining us now from washington congressman peter king, a member of the house homeland security committee. so, congressman, what can you tell us tonight? >> well, as you said, bill, this is absolutely horrific. it's detestable and has only the marks of a terrorist attack. in fact, the way

now that has been something that we have pointed out that if, adversaries did that in afghanistan or iraq we would say how dare you this is evidence of how bad they are. there have been reports that we may have conducted strikes in a similar manner. don't know whether they are confirmed or not. what i am getting at here is that a civilian political appointee lawyer operating under a very different set of laws and priorities looks at that issue and the question of what tactics you might bring, what rules of engagement you operate under very different than a military lawyer would. and so that's part of the importance of whether these do shift from intelligence agency to military but also whether they stay in the complete black ops world. or whether we own up to the fact that hey, these are not covert operations any more. they're frankly not so covert. and we need to stop running away from them and embrace the fact that we are doing them and these are the rules we're going to operate under and actually stick and follow those rules. >> to give you an example of the strange contradictions that

policy in iraq or afghanistan whether there were mistakes.ther we could have done things differently but the issue here is that, this war with radical islam goes back many, many years. the islamist thinker who influenced usama bin laden made it very clear that one reason he was pushing islamist militancy was because of deddid he general asy in the west. usama bin laden said in 2002 letter in the united states, he made it clear not only wanted the u.s. to stop backing israel and objected to the u.s. moral degeneracy. this is cultural war. this is not just about u.s. policy. this a fight that goes back hundreds of years. jenna: if i could to wrap up the segment, michael you first, fred, i will give you the last word what is the one thing we can do to have the control to do it that will prevent terror attacks on our soil or otherwise? what is the one thing we could do, michael? >> we can kill the enemy with much greater force when we find him and we can stop supporting the saudi tyranny and israelis and not fight other people's wars. what in the

or delayed death. >> like being in iraq or afghanistan with an ied. >> it looks very much the same. and as you said, incredible response by the emergency teams there in boston. thank you. >>> now we want to turn now to pierre thomas for more on the investigation. pierre, anything new at this hour? >> the information we have, there's a person at a local hospital up there in boston that they are talking to tonight. trying to get a sense of whether he's simply a witness or something more. that person's background is being checked as we speak. they're trying to get a mosaic of his life and determine whether he was involved or not. the other key thing going on, they're looking at the crime scene, trying to get pieces of those bombs, those two portable devices left at the scene to give them an indication of, is there a signature, a particular group or organization that uses these types of bombs? that will tell them a great deal. >> any sense, are they still going door to door, car to car along this 26-mile route? >> one of the things complicated the situation, a lot of people left their p

that's what iraq and afghanistan, in my view, has turned on. and not whether or not the army didn't have field manual 3-24 in 2003 if iraq instead of 2006. >> okay. we're going to open it up to questions from the audience. please, state your question in the form of a question, please give your name and affiliation and wait for the microphone to come to you. the gentleman on the far right here in the back. yeah. >> my name is -- [inaudible] malik. recently arrived in washington. i'm an assistant professor, national defense university islamabad and currently 2013 fellow at sais, the south asia program. my doctoral research was on afghanistan, just for context. i agree that there's been a lot of problems, and i'm going to put this in the form of a question. there was a dire lack of understanding of afghanistan, the linkages between tribes, power bases and how, for example, karzai is utilizing different tribal bases, tribal families, ethnic groups to maintain himself. so it's not a bad thing in itself that he's trying to do that to maintain power in the country. any

or delayed death. >> like being in iraq or afghanistan with an ied. >> it looks very much the same. and as you said, incredible response by the emergency teams there in boston. thank you. >>> now we want to turn now to pierre thomas for more on the investigation. pierre, anything new at this hour? >> the information we have, there's a person at a local hospital up there in boston that they are talking to tonight. trying to get a sense of whether he's simply a witness or something more. that person's background is being checked as we speak. they're trying to get a mosaic of his life and determine whether he was involved or not. the other key thing going on, they're looking at the crime scene, trying to get pieces of those bombs, those two portable devices left at the scene to give them an indication of, is there a signature, a particular group or organization that uses these types of bombs? that will tell them a great deal. >> any sense, are they still going door to door, car to car along this 26-mile route? >> one of the things complicated the situation, a lot of people left their p

iraq and afghanistan. the veterans' mission has a map looking at veterans under the age of 25, so those who could have likely served in afghanistan or iraq. the percentage of the u.s. population is .9%. in five states that is up near 2%. 1.9%, including hawaii and alaska. we go back to howard who is a veteran. good evening. >> yes? >> go ahead. howard, you're on the air. >> i like this program so far. i have ptsd and i applied for benefits that i was denied. >> why were you denied? >> i don't know why. they didn't say. >> are you considering filing an appeal? >> yes, i filed an appeal yesterday. since 19 -- i can't think right now. >> howard, where did you serve? >> i served in vietnam. i was a combat medic. >> patricia, do you have lounge the appeals take -- how long the appeals take? how long does it take to get the appeals considered? >> considering the backlog is quite large, the v.a.'s goal is get the claims done within 25 days but 70% of the backlog is past the 25 days. it could be quite a long time. it is not uncommon that vietnam veterans are part of this appeals and claims -- new claims process because there has been a lot

it really is something like you see in afghanistan or iraq. looking at what is left after the bomb explodes. one of the things that happens is bomb makers over time tend to put their bombs together the same way. and that is the bomb maker's signature. so they're looking at how was the bomb put together? what are the parts? where could those parts have come from? what kind of detonator? what kind of explosives? this is the kind of thing that gives them a picture of what might have taken place. now whether it is domestic or foreign terrorism certainly does remain to be seen. but at least one foreign terrorist group already is claiming they didn't do it. this is the pakistani taliban. they're issuing a statement saying, "wherever we find americans, we will kill them, but we don't have any connection with the boston explosions." that coming from the so-called pakistani taliban, ttp. they claimed responsibility for the failed 2010 bombing in new york's times square. but these are all clues, all things that investigators are going to be looking at i

and that is they will say, look, i've seen images from places like ghaza, afghanistan or iraq where women are raped and children are killed. it's not necessarily large cells of people who would commit acts of terrorism. it's people who would then break away and say everybody else is talking, i'm going to do something about it. >> phil, thank you very much. we'll come back when we have some more details. look, right now, you just don't know. it's part of the frustration of covering this, part of the frustration of dealing with it at home. >>> there's tremendous manpower on the ground here in boston. the reason they're locking down the city is for safety. it's not for a sense of disadvantage. they have tons of manpower. they have been closing the circle on this individual. they have to be very careful because of the role of explosives in this situation. >> they don't want to have a mistake. when you get to the end of this, they don't want to have a mistake. the president is being briefed right now on what's happening. breanna is at the white house right now. >> reporter: this is a briefing,

if this one was killed by someone who was a bomb maker from iraq or afghanistan, there are signatures of those types. >> and fbi investigators as it will take some time to examine the evidence. authorities are using security camera tape and cell phone video that returned in to police. >> d.c. and other cities have increased security at landmarks, and buildings and transit after this. pennsylvania avenue outside the white house was closed to pedestrian traffic and metro transit police have canine units and extra patrols at l'enfant plaza and other stations. there's no specific threat against d.c., but city leaders are not taking any chances. >> any time there's an incident anywhere nationally or internationally, until we have had enough information to feel comfortable there is no potential connection to washington. >> the university of maryland, maryland state police, and restored as county police have also increased security. an emotional tribute to victims of the boston explosion. >> some students at george washington university held a vigil just hours after the bombing. one student

image of chechnya absolutely ravaged country that's pretty much what you would see happening in iraq or afghanistan whereas if you look at the capital of grozny and today you would you would be amazed you would think it's or sydney or any other extremely civilized inhabited very i would say peaceful town or city even what exactly separates an act of terror from any other violent attack that's a question peter of well put to his goes on cross talk in the wake of the boston bombings here's a preview. why is boston cold terrorism but aurora sandy hook tucson and columbine not the muslim community in america today in fact is asking that same very question that why are some things able to terrorism worse is another which is not but more importantly the discussion that is going on in the dinner tables on the dinner tables these days among muslim families is that law is it that always a non muslim when somebody goes to. the hold that they're all of is insane but when a muslim commits an act of terrorism that they're all is perfectly fine psychologically i completely disagree the definition of terrorism th

iraq and afghanistan wars. not to mention the thousands of civilian lives lost and the veterans who return home physically and mentally wounded. whether it is in iraq or afghanistan, we cannot continue to spend money that we don't have and neglect the american people. i hope the people of this country and my fellow colleagues share in my outrage and concern because it would be almost a sin if we continue to spend this money without any accountability or very little to speak of. mr. speaker, yesterday i visited a solder from my district in north carolina. he was at walter reed hospital at bethesda. his father called me four months ago and said i really would appreciate you see my son. he's lost a leg. he's lost fingers. he's badly burned. mr. speaker, it was humbling to go to walter reed yesterday to see this young corporal. but he is what makes america great. his attitude is excellent, not complaining about his injuries. and i just pray to god that we will realize that if we don't stop spending the money we don't have, that young men and women like the corporal in the years to come will not get benefits because we will be financially broke. that will

or some sort of radio controlled device. >> again, we heard our own consultant dick clarke say this would have been about the size of an ied in iraq or afghanistan. >> it probably was. again, it was a powerful blast. and people felt that. but it wasn't enormous. and those blasts in afghanistan and iraq that do so much damage look to me to be about the same size early on in the war. you could probably put them in a backpack and no one would really notice. they obviously got bigger and bigger as the war went on, but a very small device can do so much damage. >> and we're following breaking news development at jfk library. they've just tweeted fire in the building is out, appears to have started in mechanical room of new building, all staff and visitors accounted for. >> yeah, but no injuries reported. again, some people think it's related. who knows, it may be some sort of electrical fire. anything today after that bombing at the boston marathon would be suspicious. >> and, martha, going forward, officials taking nothing for granted. you see the helicopter over the scene there. the federal aviation administration has closed down the air space abov

in the last decade or so afghanistan and iraq along with across american and coalition forces in the gulf and so there has been a fairly standard british military presence in the gulf. since. ninety ninety. and this. this latest round of. announcements by the british ministry of defense is really related to the situation in the desert situation after the drawdown in afghanistan next year. forgive me but how would the u.k. potentially committing to the security and well being of the gulf states tally with the questionable human rights in some of those countries. well britain like a lot of countries around the world. of different political complection. has longstanding sort of trade and even defense ties with gulf countries and of course in the case of russia with. sustained international interest in the persian gulf. it's a matter of governments dealing with whatever. existing regimes are in the gulf. and that it's always been the case. and very briefly if you can often a financial point of view is this the right time for britain to me beefing up its major presence in a region where t

was built by someone that was a bomb maker from iraq or afghanistan, there are signatures of those type of bombs. a former fbi investigator and he says it will take time to examine the evidence. authorities are also searching through tapes and any cell phone videos that were turned into police. many of the runners that crossed the finish line were caught on camera by a producer covering the race for the boston globe. ran for many people their lives from the blast, others went toward the smoke and the screens, and including this person. this was his perspective. he came to cover the race and left with images reserved for this dark moment. 14 seconds later, another blast. >> please, hurry up. >> he moved in, not knowing what would happen next. he and so many others witnessed a ghastly scene. >> everybody to my left went down. >> he was 20 free from one of the blast sites. his medical training kicked in. he tried but could not save a life. >> one gentleman had both legs blown off. the girl that i treated, i could not find any obvious injury to her torso. >> in this clip you see the first b

president bush gave a speech, he didn't say iraq or afghanistan but he did repeat one word. >> freedomedom freedom freedom. >> awesome. [applause] >> john: is this a psychological trick if he repeats it enough that's all that history will remember. >> i think freedom is his safe word. >> and 9/11. he said it a thousand times in every speech. if you do repeat the lie often enough it becomes the truth. >> john: i do think the greatest lie that we were told that the media repeated for years was we were attacked for our freedom that's not what bin laden said. if he didn't like freedom he would have gone an amsterdam. >> john: at one point in the speech bush specifically thanked vice president cheaney for his service and then added this. >> history is going to show that i served with great people, a talented dedicated intelligent men--a team of men and women who loved our nation as much as i do. >> john: he seemed to stumble over his words. do you think he was choking over the complete crap he was saying. >> i noticed that cheney wasn't there and saw that bush was sitting on cheney's lap. i

amount in the military as soon as you serve in a combat zone it doesn't in a combat zone like iraq or afghanistan but you don't wait five years that one of the things that happens in the war zone a citizenship ceremony where people automatically qualify for citizenship but it occurs all the time so it's long as you deploy. that to the war zone you automatically become a u.s. citizen but it's a complex process for those willing to get into it frankly this is one of the reasons why the military started basic training naturalization because people have the right to get their citizenship through military service but oftentimes the system wasn't catching up with them in the majority of non u.s. citizen serving are classified as legal but it is possible for undocumented immigrants to serve to where president obama alluded as much during an announcement signaling a shift in his deportation strategy in june of last year the boston globe wrote at this time president obama's decision last week to immediately halt the deportation of certain young illegal immigrants generated widespread joy and relief among

just see the pattern of injury, and i thought to myself, this is exactly like i was back in iraq or afghanistan. >> you're finding metallic particles, small metal balls, nails, screws in these wounds? >> that's right. we're not exactly sure what they are. whether they're bb's or metal ball bearings. we're also finding nails and screws and other pieces of metal. they're twisted and deformed. it's not clear whether they're from the bomb itself or the environment around the bomb. >> but the bomb may have hit other metal objects that then splintered apart? >> this is what i'm hearing, although i certainly don't know that for a fact. the operations that we have performed are identical to the kind of work we would do in the army at a forward surgical team or combat support hospital. >> well, again, we know there is heroism, large and small at all times at mass general, and we thank you so much for joining us. i know you've got at least five surgeries today. we'll let you go back to work. >> thank you very much. >>> and coming up next here, a nation on edge. other cities in america, after the tragedy

that kit looks like a member of infantry in iraq or afghanistan. this is what has happened since 9/11 as homeland security, lester holt was blunt about saying 9/11 funding. all these cities and towns now have these tricked out armored vehicles and the degree to which s.w.a.t. teams have changed and been upgraded has been dramatic and remarkable and we're seeing it in the streets. we're joined on the telephone by a doctor who has many, many fewer than six degrees of separation to this story. doctor, as i understand it, you live in watertown and the story starts when you heard gunfire last night. had you been aware of the situation at the m.i.t. campus prior to that? >> yeah, that's correct. i actually was watching the news while doing some work at home. saw a little later on saw police cars floodininto watertown along the charles river. and shortly after that, i heard gunfire and some explosions. when i heard the explosions, i knew that this was something very significant and called the emergency department to alert them to what was going on before

absolutely ravaged country that's pretty much what you would see happening in iraq or afghanistan whereas if you look at the capital of grozny in chechnya today you would you would be amazing i would think it's or sydney or any other extremely civilized inhabited one very minor i would say peaceful town or city even. escalating sectarian violence in iraq has some locals fearing down the same road as war torn neighbors syria more than one hundred iraqis have been killed in clashes on terra tonks in just two days alone is the was paid to violence since u.s. forces pulled out of band of twenty eleven. comes in a deepening political turmoil with the government struggling to get key power brokers to work to get that middle east expert lawrence davidson blames washington for sparking the crisis by toppling the iraqi regime and failing to replace it with stable alternatives. in two thousand and four and we will move saddam hussein was the darling of the bad guy. nobody was that this is and go they do it all right search area actual violence or very very you know we removed every. thing else from

it looks like something you would see in afghanistan or iraq. >>gretchen: let's go to jennifer griffin. you have experience in this. what do you think it is? >> i think we just saw, it was an e.o.d. specialist, explosive ordinance specialist who just detonated, looks like a controlled explosion. that was probably a suspicious package. we just saw it move slightly. he definitely looked like he was part of an e.o.d. team. >>gretchen: was this near we t pe handcuffed? >> that's hard for me to say from this angle. >>brian: can't see here. if they detonated a package and it didn't have a secondary explosion, logic would tell you there was nothing in there. : detonated by the specialist. let's bring in jennifer griffith who has been watching this. what do you make of what's transpired over the last 30 seconds? >> i think what you're seeing looks to me like an e.o.d. specialist, a bomb specialist carrying out a controlled explosion. this used to happen all the time in jerusalem when we were covering suicide bombers. if there was a package left or somet

or visit our websites, www.c-span.org. guest: there are some legitimate problems. the first of with -- of which, that are in from iraq and afghanistane more located claims. critically, you could claim to or for injured -- injuries. iraq and afghanistan veterans have over 10 each. is that veterans are coming home with more consultative injuries. both mental and physical. these are things that take a while to develop. if you want to file a claim with the va, first you have to prove that the injury was done or exaggerated by your military surgery, and you have to have a valid medical diagnosis. these are difficult claims to develop. but it should not be so 600,cult that it takes 700, 800, 900 days when this was a predictable problem. in 2004, you could've looked down the road and seeing all of these problems. even four years ago, the va did not really start doing this modernization stuff in earnest until the last couple of years, and now it is too late. veterans are waiting so long for their veterans that they have to put -- for their benefit that they have to put their life on hold. it affects their access to care. host: luther is joi

but again, i think just pointing to iraq or afghanistan is a little bit too simplistic, because generally these radicalization cases come from a really dynamic mix of factors. >> and joy, the pause that i would put over all of this is, this all depends on you believing this suspect in this hospital bed, and i for one am going to reserve judgment on everything he's saying. >> yeah, and it's in his interest to say that it was the older brother, that it was the now deceased suspect who now cannot counter any of his claims. it is very much in his interest as a legal matter to say that he was following what the older brother was doing. so i think, yeah, we have to definitely take what he's saying on that into account. >> joy reid and alec lighter, thank you for joining me tonight. >> thank you. sto >>> now to a marine who lost his leg in afghanistan is helping with the boston bombers. he's live with what they can expect in recovery. >>> the sequester budget cuts are not just causing flight delays. now that air traffic controllers are being told to stay home, i wonder what assistant district at

being in afghanistan or being in iraq, anybody who has been over there and experienced ieds first-hand and close up, to think somebody would do something so abhorrent here, especially in a race like marathon. the timing was just horrible when you think about it. the majority of people that were coming through at that time of the boston marathon had worked to raise hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, for charities and good causes. those were the runners that were coming through at the time, and their families and friends that were supporting them coming through. it's a terrible time to see something like that where you've got this huge community effort trying to do good in the world in general, and to see something horrific like this happen. >> doctors are saying they're seeing a lot of leg wounds and lower extremities which seems to indicate the device was low to the ground. james, you were actually able to get out of the back of your store but you came back. >> i was. i had left through the back of the store to make sure everyone evacuated properly. i directed people to

people have served in iraq or afghanistan coming back home a lot of people need help. i hope that this country realize is that issue as well. first question, please identify yourself if you what. >> there's been a lot of excellent reporting on the political, diplomatic and the military aspect especially from the american side, and the question that keeps coming back to me is how do the afghans look at this and it is not just one voice obviously of all afghanistan people, but especially from your research, and when you go especially beyond the tactics the different groups use what are the social causes that just won't go out and how do the people in afghanistan look at the future with different groups and why does it keep going on? >> there's an enormous degree of trepidation among the afghans and dangerous grounds that sort of generalized, but among afghans in various parts of the country i talked to from different ethnic groups there is a lot of anxiety about what 2014 brings as the mission ends. we haven't been entirely clear in our government in terms of communicati

it says that counterinsurgency wars, or the war in iraq or the war in afghanistan can be one as -- won long as the army and the military fights it correctly and the way it fights it correctly is by bringing better generals on board to transform their armies and get them doing the process, the procedures, and the tactics of counterinsurgency correctly. which brings us to iraq in 2006. after three bloody years of american occupation, people started to ask the same question again. what went wrong? the answer becomes bad tactics and generals. the solution is get a savior general on board, and he soon arrives on the scene, general,-- general david petraeus, with the surge of troops, turn the army around, do the tactics correctly and the war could be aut on a path to success. lowered level of violence, this had to do with a lot of other things. his belief that by turning the tactical approach of the army around is done by a savior general, this kind of thing could put these wars of counterinsurgency on the path to success. which then brings us to the war in afghanistan in 2009. people ask ag

i've spoken with had amputations related to motorcycle accidents or some received amputations for incidents that happened in iraq or afghanistanthey seem like very positive people. they just say, you know, this is who they are. and i aspire to be like that eventually. >> gentleman at the back? >> you've been through what they would describe as a life altering experience. explain what appears to be your positive attitude and what would be your mention to others? >> you've been through what appears to be a life altering experience. can you explain for us your positive attitude and -- >> mention for others. >> what is your mention for others? >> i think like i said earlier, it is a life altering experience. and if i didn't have the support system in my family and friends that i do, i think i would be devastated. i don't think i would have a positive outlook. but it is so hard for me to focus on anything negative. because they're always around. i have hardly any time to myself to really sit there and dwell on it. if i do find myself, my mind kind of going there, i try to turn it around and say you can't sit there and say what if.

or some sort of radio controlled device. >> again, we heard our own consultant dick clarke say this would have been about the size of an ied in iraq or afghanistan. >> it probably was. again, it was a powerful blast. and people felt that. but it wasn't enormous. and those blasts in afghanistan and iraq that do so much damage look to me to be about the same size early on in the war. you could probably put them in a backpack and no one would really notice. they obviously got bigger and bigger as the war went on, but a very small device can do so much damage. >> and we're following breaking news development at jfk library. they've just tweeted fire in the building is out, appears to have started in mechanical room of new building, all staff and visitors accounted for. >> yeah, but no injuries reported. again, some people think it's related. who knows, it may be some sort of electrical fire. anything today after that bombing at the boston marathon would be suspicious. >> and, martha, going forward, officials taking nothing for granted. you see the helicopter over the scene there. the federal aviation administration has closed down the air space abov

time telling cnn that this kid laying in a hospital bed is mentioning the wars in iraq and afghanistan for what they did or alengedly did here in boston. >> it seems like he is upgraded. he's in fair condition now, according to the hospital which released that information with the approval of the fbi. now, the other families of the actual victimings of this bombing want him out. >> it would need to happen when he's stable enough to move. there's an mci plymouth, it's a jail, prison, that they also have medical treatment available for. that's not uncommon. they would poszly take him there as he waits for all the court appearances. the why is the families just want him out. they don't want him in the same hospital as their loved ones who are lying there, basically, because of this guy according to the police. >> you know, you and i were standing live at cnn when there was a shooting at mit. and then there was that carjacking. and it's still so sketchy, the details, but i know you found a little bit more on how it all pieces together. >> yeah, we at least know now that the carjacking took place when the older