now how would you compare president obama has administration to the bush administration with the exception of the formal ban on torture i'm honestly not seeing a lot of difference between the obama administration in the bush administration except maybe that the obama administration has killed far more people using drones than the bush administration ever did but i've believed from just about the beginning of the obama presidency that this was really an extension of the bush counterterrorism policy there was nothing new and gentle and i know that you've worked with with whistleblowers what do you think how do you turn view president obama and compare that to the bush administration especially in light of him saying that his administration is going to be one that is transparent well first of all i should say that both john and i have voted for obama so this is not being an anti obama thing but obama took the bush secrecy regime and expanded that by an order of magnitude everything including classification numbers have gone up the number of people being targeted for assassination has gone up

which that article was written in zero seven during the bush administration it was critical of this unilateral executive authority of the president having virtually limitless authority in cutting out congress and the courts and participating in that process but interestingly you know the last couple of years while he's been in the white house with president obama that's exactly what this administration has done as well but again i don't know that i would be as much of that to mr mcdonough as personal beliefs is the role that he's in the game he's he's not the principal he's carrying out the you know the orders of the people that he works for in this case of the president and certainly this president has followed a lot of the. bush policies is for is exercising unilateral authority as commander in chief despite all the things that he said he was going to do less was scarce the current situation in iraq this country was under mortal rice these days than it's been in inquiry years can you talk about the volatile situation that the country is and specifically the roles that the prime mi

you know one of the warmongers where you know later on during the bush administration he was critical of the administration for a politicizing some of the national security issues like the warrantless wiretapping program he was very critical of them trying to make a political issue out of that and penalize people that spoke up and said maybe you know there would be more visibility which again has been an interesting contrast to the obama position which has been. at least as much if not more secrecy than the bush administration and certainly mr mcdonough has played a played a role in perpetuating those policies and he you know he as you mentioned he played a role in starting wars in afghanistan and also in iraq and he's also playing a key role in ending it so does this kind of make up for the role he played in starting it really well. i don't know this is really fair to keep score because again i think he was acting on behalf of the principles that he worked for the time whether it's the president now senator daschle back then i don't know that i would read too much into his background

not keep him from being -- back under the bush administration. that should not keep him from being confirmed. he is a real vietnam veteran, chuck hagel. that is not what is controversial about him. he is a very outspoken politician. he was a republican senator, but it is the republicans who do not like him now because he supported president obama in the 20 12th and also because of the things he said. is about three things ash in 2012 and also because of the things he said. -- who do not like him now because he supported president obama in 2012 and also because of things he said. it is because of three things. most importantly, he called one of the most powerful pro-israel lobby groups in washington pro -- jew is -- row-jewish -- rpro- jewish. >> is looking -- is it looking like he will get calm her -- is it looking like he will get confirmation? >> some i not vote for him because of his aggressively gay comments -- some might not vote for him because of his aggressively gay comments. it will be an uphill battle. >> thank you so much from washingt

not keep him from being -- back under the bush administration. that should not keep him from being confirmed. he is a real vietnam veteran, chuck hagel. that is not what is controversial about him. he is a very outspoken politician. he was a republican senator, but it is the republicans who do not like him now because he supported president obama in the 20 12th and also because of the things he said. is about three things ash in 2012 and also because of the things he said. -- who do not like him now because he supported president obama in 2012 and also because of things he said. it is because of three things. most importantly, he called one of the most powerful pro-israel lobby groups in washington pro -- jew is -- row-jewish -- rpro- jewish. >> is looking -- is it looking like he will get calm her -- is it looking like he will get confirmation? >> some i not vote for him because of his aggressively gay comments -- some might not vote for him because of his aggressively gay comments. it will be an uphill battle. >> thank you so much from washingt

the wars of the bush administration are being fought throughout the obama administration. think it was the election of the first african-american president in this country, a country grounded in the legacies of slavery and genocide, that was what transformed the view for a brief moment at least of the united states around the world. it wasn't hillary clinton. it was the election of the first african-american president. but i think that this question of the mill titarization of forn policy is very much at play right now. it has been for four years. it's that and the combination of special envoys, if you will, as sort of the institutional way that it happened that hillary clinton was not in charge of policy in pakistan, in afghanistan, in iraq, in israel/palestine, it was completely abandoned, that was all run through the white house. i would say those policies have all failed and i don't hold hillary clinton -- >> so that's to hillary's credit, right? >> she certainly didn't make them succeed. >> no, but listen -- >> she was wrong. >> i want you to respond right after a qui

the man who came out of the bush administration, identified with they call it enhanced interrogation techniques. one might call it torture. drone attacks. these are the serious issues that have to be looked at diversity and always. >> i think you raise a good point. which seats women are in. there are three seats with women as treasury secretary, defense secretary and veterans' affairs and back to that photo, the fiscal cliff conversation that where women are sitting, the first woman ever appointed, was the labor secretary. we have a good history of women in the labor position. what about treasury secretary and defense? what difference does this make? so where they sit really matters. >> one thing this issue brings up so -- the idea of these kind of disingenuous attacks from republicans on this. which has been interesting to me because i tweeted out the photo

, the continuum of the bush administration to the obama administration.ennan doesn't just come out of the bush administration he's been there for four years of president obama. and they're involved with the drone program. i just came from qatar where i was discussing climate and i went to al jazeera are and interviewed the only journalist held at guantanamo for years. he was never charged and released after six years. held in afghanistan and guantanamo. he was tortured and constantly interrogated about who were the bosses at al jazeera are. an astounding story of how this man was held and after freed after a 400 day hunger fast. the reason i raise this is when people watch the senate confirmation hearings of john brennan, he's an example of one of the few voices of the voiceless that can describe the reality of what's happening on the ground add guantanamo. this is not just about jeanne brennan. it goes to president obama as well who promised to close it and it's now the fourth anniversary of president obama promising to close it. >> and congress blocked

no one in the bush administration or the obama administration has assets. this concerns the rights of americans and the pocketbooks of americans. >> why is there not more outrage? >> i cannot speak for the people. the fourth amendment, the issue of protection against warrantless searches -- how was that written? with what in tents. none of the legislation -- with what intent? warrentless searches, that is the concept for which the fourth amendment was created. >> for their non-state actors in sleeper cells in 52 nations of the world, meaning al qaeda? the most successful mass sincelty vinson's 9/11 -- 9/11, the ft. hood shooting was under the influence of a man in yemen. are we saying we will stop intercepting communications? >> that is not the issue. the issue is whether or not there has to be checks and balances. no one is saying in a kind of surveillance is off of the table. the question is whether or not there is card launch -- carte blanch to do it. >> a judicial function in court has to give a yay or nay. having an open court decide whether or not a p

of a program that started under the bush administration you know their allies is trying to turn into something you know about it's nonsense it's political grandstanding kelli in elmwood park illinois birth. so i just have a comment and i'd like your opinion on it i'm still furious at hearing that obama is not and wasn't born in america i. this is true every republican out there if that were true what is that came from the cool. both of them spending millions and millions and millions who wins the election don't you think mccain would have investigated this and would have found out the real truth is that he is not eligible kelly kelly this is this is tony totally and thank you for the call this is totally phony baloney argument and really what it is is it's metaphor a bunch of paranoid white people saying hey have you noticed that there's a black guy living in the white house that's really what it's all about that's the whole birth thing summarized right there in one sentence steven a diamond bar california i want to talk about taxes yes i'm really really surprised about the mentality

as counsel and chief of staff to the former president, david addington was the bush administration'sddington believed that wartime presidents should be granted extraordinary powers and was widely considered to be the driving force behind the bush administration's embrace of enhanced interrogation techniques and electronic surveillance. back in 2006, david iglesias of the "washington post" described addington as the bush administration's ideological enforcer. most mornings during the first term, he would join the staff meeting in the white house counsel's office and take potshots at anyone he regarded as insufficiently committed to the president's agenda. it was very surprising if anyone took a position more conservative than david. and this was a very conservative office, recalls one former colleague. he was the hardest of the hard-core. it turns out this hardest of the hard-core right wingers just landed a cushy new job at jim demint's heritage foundation. it's what "new york times" columnist paul krugman calls wingnut welfare, getting a better-paying job in the private sector after

started doing these things. >> rose: is there difference what the bush administration did and what the obama administration does. >> obama administration does not enhance in interrogation techniques or the -- it ended during the bush administration. the obama administration has other stories. they engage in drone attacks. but torture has been a no-go. >> rose: raising some questions about what drone attacks are. it is called the killing of so is ma bin laden. did torture play a role in finding osama bin laden and killing him. >> yes it did. it played a role it didn't play a key role but definitely speaking specifically, the fact that there was this fellow called ahmed from kuwait surfaced in a number of the early coercive interrogations. at the time the interrogators and the c.i.a. didn't know who that was in particular so i would have to say the most important piece of information and i don't know how we obtained it exactly was connecting that from kuwait to a real person ahmed. that was really the key. so i think those who argue that the hunt for bin laden really gained traction when

bush administration and in its current role in the ongoing targeted killing program so the a.c.l.u. is saying brennan's nomination should not move forward until the senate determines whether his past actions of war within the law do you expect the senate will in fact do that so far doesn't seem like a very confident. i'm not confident about that but i do think that what you might see in some of the questions that surround you if we could get out of the sort of partisan air and us of that issue you might start to look at brennan's possible role in leaks around national security successes in the obama administration and i think this brings up something really important because the administration has been unbelievably aggressive in going after whistleblowers. throughout the entire course of the administration and at the same time there's also been a certainly somebody who's been leaking and certainly some people think it's been brennan himself the process of u.s. foreign policy victories drone strikes and things like that so if you get into some of the issues around his possible weaken

the bush administration kind of a complete pass on the thing in fact issued a joint press release saying everything's fine but the dead people were still dead . you know this is this is this is what happens when people who think government should be small and shouldn't be if i don't think that that's a terrible human tragedy but done by humans and that could still go on tomorrow this is what the same problem could happen tomorrow to no matter how many facts are working for the f.d.a. but to bring this back to the problem is social mobility in america one of the lowest rates of social mobility in the developed world here in the united states and that's kind of what the american dream is founded on this idea that people who were born poor can become in the middle class or should come wealthy so that's obviously not working we have more people in poverty in that in recorded memory here at least and at the same time we have tax rates lower than they've ever been on corporations and on extremely wealthy people we have regulations numbers are few and far between ok they were lower than under r

i think it was the bush administration, right? >> lee at water? >>leeiacoca. >> he said "where eagles dare" and he came and sang it? >> somebody in the bush administration. >> you guys are laughing. wait until half time. and having parents sent to an asylum. does the state department want to help you date? yes. >>> is the heartbreak a matter for the state? the u.s. government has released tips for identifying dating scams. among them from the state department, the scammer asks for money to get out of a bad situation or to provide a service. photographs that the scammer shows of him or herself. i have done that. the scammer gets into bad lug and -- bad luck. it is what happened to bill in real life. our nation's cautionary tale of manti is shedding more light on his plight. the line backer said he learned his fake girlfriend was voiced by a woman and the mastermind of the hoax admitted to such. on thursday katie couric played some of the voicemails from te'o's personal sweetheart. >> you provided us with some voicemail messages. let's listen to one

but when word was leaked in november 2008, criticism about brennan's ties to the bush administrationenhanced tactics prompted him to withdraw his name from consideration. his letter to president-elect obama, it has been immaterial to the critics that i have been a strong opponent of many of the policies of the bush administration such as the preemptative war in iraq and tactics to include waterboarding. the fact that i was not involved in the decisionmaking process has been ignored. the extent of his opposition is murky. cia colleagues told "the washington post" they don't recall him raising objections and ruling out waterboarding rules out just one of the enhanced techniques used at the time. those included sleep deprivation or seeing them to remain in uncomfortable positions. 2010 brennan told "new york times" that he doesn't see them as one in the same. "i was somebody who did oppose waterboarding. i opposed different aspects of the enhanced interrogation program, but some aspects that i concurred with. for instance, if you grab somebody by the lapels and you say, oh, my goodness,

bush administration in southern california. it was norman lear and his wife, larry david, bob scheer. they were sitting around w eeping in their expensive soup about the fact that we were living in hell. rupert murdoch on the media. george bush was president. norman lear had his pulse on american culture for 30 years. why cannot figure out how to deal -- deliver a message that is important and happening? >> that is important. we can find messages that speak to people where they are. they can also have some satire like stewart or colbert. there is the idea of exposing with satire. it opens people's eyes to the hypocrisy and corruption of our politics. the problem is you want the captivating stories and images and vocabulary, but a lot of the colbert-stewart stuff is so absurd and over the top that people do not want to get engaged. >> that is where a large number of people get their news. >> i think the obama campaign was a pivotal point, bringing people in. now they leave. there is the possibility that people will come back in.

i think it was the bush administration, right? >> lee at water? >>leeiacoca. >> he said "where eagles dare" and he came and sang it? >> somebody in the bush administration. >> you guys are laughing. wait until half time. and having parents sent to an asylum. does the state department want to help you date? yes. for the new mattress models but sleep train's huge year end clearance is ending soon. for a short time, save hundreds on tempur-pedic mattresses. get the most highly-recommended bed in america at closeout prices. plus, get interest-free financing and free same-day delivery. why wait for the new models? sleep train's year end clearance is ending soon. superior service, best selection, lowest price, guaranteed. ♪ sleep train ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ for the state? the u.s. government has released tips for identifying dating scams. among them from the state department, the scammer asks for money to get out of a bad situation or to provide a service. photographs that the scammer shows of him or herself. i have done that. the sc

during the buss administration -- bush and administration, polls showed that most americans were opposed to torture. now, a majority of americans are ok with torture. you have to stop and ask yourself, what has happened? why has this become the picture of america? i am somewhat optimistic that this will be dealt with in the second term of the obama administration, perhaps there is some room for optimism and the national security front. i think there are a lot of different pieces that make up this puzzle that portrays a bad picture of america, and guantanamo is one piece of that puzzle. there is a question of indefinite detention, military commissions, the drum programs, which are programs with an s. terrace a military program and a set -- and the cia program. secrecy, persecution of whistle- blowers, war was wiretapping -- they are all pieces in this puzzle that in my view, as we sit in 2013, sitting together to present a bad picture of america. i'm hopeful that in the second term, the administration will put the pieces apart and clean them up and put them back together to -- to create a

>> nine 11 there were serious problems, the bush administration received a lot of briefings about thecoming attack, was told that there was going to be mass casualties, was told that there was a cell in the united states but members of the pentagon said this was all a big deception being done by bin laden to take everyone's eyes off of saddam hussein. after that, after the attack, they got very aggressive in terms of the policies they decided. policies they took on. what you see in this book is what went into the decisions, how fast they were made and sometimes how badly they were made but also some of them that came out clearly the right decisions. >> host: you use the word secrets and wise. what is one of the lies you found? >> guest: some of them have to do -- when you get down to it they have to do with simple things such as the knowledge they had within the government about the actual connection between al qaeda and saddam hussein. some of the most surprising things to me was there was a defense intelligence agency report, a classified report that came out in 2002 that specifical

around the world by two thousand and eight many hoped by kuantan it will be left as part of the bush administration's marred legacy after all this torture house was the first priority for then candidate obama to close down here for yourself. i've said repeatedly that i intend to close guantanamo and i will follow through on that i've said repeatedly that america doesn't torture and i'm going to make sure that we don't torture those are. those are part and parcel of an effort to regain america's moral stature in the world. her personal well not so sure consider now four years later the prison is still alive and well in fact there are currently one hundred sixty six prisoners who remain in the gulag and shockingly over half of them have already been cleared for release but are allowed to leave for that reason today people all over the world are staging protests to bring awareness to an ongoing problem that sadly has garnered virtually no attention in recent years so talk to us now with the status of getting the horrific treatment of these prisoners in the real prospect of closing it down once and for a

the bush administration stopped short of threatening an american military response. for the range of countries that could be candidates for nato expansion in the future, i would rather not just go slow but probably not go at all. the us-russia relationship is too important. we are living with consequences of expansion in the 1990's and earlier part of the last decade. thank you.l priest price i am leon. i would like to ask members of the panel their thoughts on higher expenditure on the use of intelligence may be able to lower expenditures on operation for structures for equipment. it may have showed how hollow out the russian economy was. was it possible that hiring a small degree of higher expenditures on intelligence would have a big effect on lowering expenditures elsewhere? >> we have to differentiate between the functions of intelligence of collecting basic estimation and reporting things. rmation and hithin gs. both things have to be done. you will get more reliable payoff and more agreed payoff from the recording function than from the analytical one that you

>> the first reason is that errors of the bush administration were accused edited skiers behind themnd we also want to support the troops, so we confuse supporting the troops but not criticizing generals. we invade iraq recklessly on false premises. we waste billions of dollars fighting a war the wrong way for many, many years and strategically, we wind up knocking on the old work of power in iran to turn over iraq to iran basically. strategically not such a good idea either. so the bush administration makes so many mistakes, but at least on a smokescreen, which is hard to see in the military. it is time to rest the military tough questions. what if you guys learned? how would you adapt to? is rooted in history the roman army to mention they prided themselves on adopting tech access their enemies. it made me stop and think. what enemy attacked except we adopt to? you don't want to adopt random ieds, but it made me wonder, are the things we could've done, should have learned that we haven't? is john noggle has famous written about, the army used to be a learning organization. what is

started doing these things. >> rose: is there difference what the bush administration did and what the obama administration does. >> obama administration does not enhance in interrogation techniques or the -- it ended during the bush administration. the obama administration has other stories. they engage in drone attacks. but torture has been a no-go. >> rose: raising some questions about what drone attacks are. it is called the killing of so is ma bin laden. did torture play a role in finding osama bin laden and killing him. >> yes, it did. it played a role, it didn't play a key role but definitely speaking specifically, the fact that there was this fellow called ahmed from kuwait surfaced in a number of the early coercive interrogations. at the time the interrogators and the c.i.a. didn't know who that was in particular so i would have to say the most important piece of information, and i don't know how we obtained it exactly was connecting that from kuwait to a real person ahmed. that was really the key. so i think those who argue that the hunt for bin laden really gained traction w

if you look back to the first four years of the bush administration. it is the same dynamic. there was a lot of love for george bowers. things did not go south until katrina -- there was a lot of love for george w. bush. things did not go south until katrina. i think it is fair to say president obama has had an easier go of it in the media. i think journalists feel more comfortable about being a pro- obama than they have any other president than i am aware. tavis: i am glad you said it. there is a bias toward power. obama has gotten away and was not asking the tough questions. i digress on the point. thank you for going on the record to acknowledge what you did acknowledge. thes move on to the news of day. >> it is a fun book to read. tavis: it is a great read. now to the stuff we talked about today. it is a done deal. it is a region women in combat. t?at is your take on isn' >> i spend a lotf time with the memories. it's already blew my mind they were not in these roles. i think it is fine. my non-a violent, a pacifist streak says, do we need more people trying to kill people