because in the wiki leaks cables it was revealed that general david petraeus who at the time was the centcom commander

i assume the alleged was probably put together before centcom started using the system. can you explain the reasoning here? >> center, but we have bald hill talk to that yet estimate center, what we have done as uses terminate the program office but not the commitment for the operational response initiatives. it will be put into the space command where it can be looked at in the broad context and we think it is the right decision as those focusing on the one particular approach, but to look more broadly at this initiative a lot of ways to do need to find a cost-effective way so that is our approach to the estimate i look forward to working with you to make sure we continue to get this right. we talk about small round golf courses on this front line and this is the way of doing that, but in space. let me turn to iraq and afghanistan. we ended our mission abroad and we are drawing down the forces in afghanistan, we proposed reducing the and strength in the service branches and a substantial number of aircraft ships and hermene brigade combat teams. after all that and more

i want to ask you the notion that centcom and the pentagon are looking over war plans sounds terribly ominous. does it seem ominous to you? >> well, yes and no. remember, ashleigh, there is a psychological war taking place, and what the united states and the western powers have been trying to do is to squeeze the assad regime, is to fight a war by other means, psychological war, economic war, and financial war. and what the remarks, what you have read, what you have seen the last couple of days, is part of the campaign to pressure assad and force him to basically transfer power to the opposition, to listen to the grievances and the aspirations of his people. >> i can't help but thinking that iran is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from syria. they are allied like perhaps no other country, and i'm wondering if this is a serious problem for the united states that iran may try to capitalize on the fact that we're considering some kind of military option at the same time the rhetoric with iran is heating up. >> you know, ashleigh, this is a very, very important question because, in cont

because in the wiki leaks cables it was revealed that general david petraeus who at the time was the centcom commander actually went to yemen and met with president ali abdullah saleh after this missile strike and the two of them conspired to cover it up in fact salis said will continue to say that the bombs are ours and not yours and so what with that kicked off a string of air strikes that president obama authorized some of which hit the intended targets and others hitting civilians or killing important tribal leaders or opponents of solids regime so i put all of that out there in response to your question because you have to understand the context of what we're going to talk about when we talk about what's going on in zinjibar in the south of yemen right now is three years of sustained airstrikes where a lot of civilians have been killed and even in cases where the so-called right person has been killed yemenis don't like the fact that the u.s. is bombing their country and so in may of last year a group calling itself sorrow shari'a the supporters of sharia law essentially marched into to

quite still the come on abc7 news at 5, some parents upset about controversial pliers centcom with students the school system cannot do anything about it. >> madonna, you just performed at the super bowl. what are you going to do next? i am arch campbell with entertainment coming up. >> coming up at 6:00, a story that will make you wish you could stop up on gasoline . it whee wheeeeeeeeeeeee! wheeeeeeeeeeee! whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee-he-he-heeeeee! whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee! pure adrenaline. whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee! everything you love about geico, now mobile. download the new geico app today. whee wheeeeeeeeeeee-he-he-heeeeee! >> it is a big week for madonna koppers the super bowl halftime and now a big screen debut as well. >> idid you know that she directs? she has directed other movies that no one has ever heard of, and i cannot think of their names. performing for 111 million people on the greatest tv show of the year, and now here is our plan. -- her plan. she turned 54 this summer, and no plans to slow down. ticket prices for her new tour are $300 +. madonna also directs movies. her m

has been interesting i am the black murphy brown do not to be in the middle of gangsters it is a centcom it is not dangerous but i stuck with them because as i told my feminist friends friends, i said people were stupid enough to discriminate against us because we're women they're in jail or dead you don't come after with men like us. we face discrimination, but they face annihilation. and my bet is a fisa with them and learned how to talk to them and they talk to me and i have to have a chance later, i would talk to the kids they looked at me in did not understand a word that i said. i should have been a white woman from pasadena they did not understand one word i said. and they would say she is white but she is down. translation, we cannot understand a thing that she says we don't know what she is talking about she looks funny and sounds funny but is here to help us so acceptors of a decided to call me lady lawyer in that world, it was terrific but i so appreciated me to learn enough about their world ecosystem that i could figure out how to help them in the women after they custody ou

. >> the stakes could not been higher for him but centcom still gave him a run for the money. romney won by about three points in michigan. that's 30,000 votes. in arizona he's holding on to a double-digit lead. what is next for the once and future front runner? brianne carter has a look ahead. >> while he has reason to celebrate, romney and all the other candidates looking ahead to major contests next tuesday. romney is currently leading in the delegate counts of his rivals say the race is far from over. and a home state victory for presidential hopeful mitt romney, who last night edged out his opponents to win michigan and arizona. >> thank you, michigan. this is a big night. thank you, guys. after weeks of the back-and- forth battle between romney and rick santorum, the two-state primary sweep gives the former massachusetts governor momentum. he summarized what his campaign is all about. >> i have a plan that will restore america's promise through more jobs, less debt, and smaller government. >> santorum says that he's not backing down. >> a month ago they did not know who

as for centcom, his fund-raising hard to stay in the race for a long haul. overnights and dorm release his tax returns. he paid a much higher tax rate, 27%, and romney at 14%. three years ago romney spoke out against a government bailout of the general motors and chrysler. many blue-collar workers in michigan have not forgotten. michigan has long been considered a stronghold for romney. he was born there. they lost in december 28 primary could be embarrassing. reporting live in northwest washington, tahman bradley, abc 7 news. >> let's check news around a world. iran says it's ready to restart talks over its nuclear program. this came after it claimed that it made major investments in producing nuclear fuel. it faces crippling sanctions and many believe the offer is a delaying tactic. it says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. it's 42 degrees in hyattsville this morning. >> still ahead norovirus outbreak on a local college campus. who is at risk and who could be to blame. >> how much would you say for a trip on the? dulles toll the why drivers cou

as you go forward, if centcom can start bringing in six figures pretty consistently, he will at leastd other things. >> promised on top with money and delegates right now. but the three victories, does that change romney's strategy? does he get more aggressive? >> e-mail after all, because he's in a compromise position still trying to convince conservatives that he can carry their banner. -- he may have to get more aggressive at. santorum is trying to position himself as the conservative alternative to barack obama. >> having his moment in the sun. and so much. >> checking news around the nation, there could be a deal between the states and the country's biggest mortgage lenders over foreclosure abuses. the agreement calls for bank of america, take the morgan chase wells fargo, citibank, and allied financial to give poor $7 billion. the money would be used for foreclosure preventive measures including refinancing and lowering loan balances. washington state authorities investigated as a practical response to the 911 calls in the powell family tragedy. there's a eight minute gap betwee

he ran centcom. overseeing operations in the middle east. he's been the army chief of staff and he's now the nation's highest ranking military officer and the president's top military adviser, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. general dempsey, thank you for joining us. >> thanks. i'm glad to be here. >> what would you say to those who argue that the united states should arm the opposition movement in syria? >> i think it's premature to take a decision to arm the opposition movement in syria because i would challenge anyone to clearly identify for me the opposition movement in syria at this point. and let me broaden the conversation a bit. syria is -- it's an arena right now for all the various interests to play out. what i mean by that is you have great power involvement. turkey clearly has an interest, a very important interest. russia has a very important interest. iran has an interest. what we see playing out is that, not just those countries, in fact, potential not all of them in any case, but we see the various groups who might

i assume the budget was probably put together before centcom started using the system. can you explain the reasoning here? >> senator, let me have bob talk to that. >> senator, what we have done, as you said, is terminate the program office but not the commitment to operational responsive spacish tiffs. it will be put into spatial command where it can be looked at in a broader context. we think it's the right decision as opposed to focusing on one particular approach but look more productly. a lot of ways to do it need to find cost-effective ways. that's a proach. >> i look forward to working with you to make sure we continue to get this right. we talked about smaller agile forces on the frontlines. this is in a way a form of doing that. but in space. let me turn to iraq. and afghanistan. we have ended our mission in iraq. we are drawing down our surge forces in afghanistan. we have proposed reducing end strength in all four service branches, substantially reducing the number of aircraft, ships, and army b.c.t.'s, brigade combat teams. after all that and more when adjus

i assume the alleged was probably put together before centcom started using the system. can you explain the reasoning here? >> center, but we have bald hill talk to that yet estimate center, what we have done as uses terminate the program office but not the commitment for the operational response initiatives. it will be put into the space command where it can be looked at in the broad context and we think it is the right decision as those focusing on the one particular approach, but to look more broadly at this initiative a lot of ways to do need to find a cost-effective way so that is our approach to the estimate i look forward to working with you to make sure we continue to get this right. we talk about small round golf courses on this front line and this is the way of doing that, but in space. let me turn to iraq and afghanistan. we ended our mission abroad and we are drawing down the forces in afghanistan, we proposed reducing the and strength in the service branches and a substantial number of aircraft ships and hermene brigade combat teams. after all that and more

lady centcom, please welcome suzanne bell. [applause] -- ladies and gentleman, please welcome suzanne bell. [applause] [unintelligible] >> we apologize ok'd to be a working on that. -- we apologize and we are working on that. the program will be available on our video library. we will move back with part of today's "washington journal." >> we're talking about in grass and -- an agreement on drilling below the maritime border. what is the agreement do? >> the agreement does several things and it has a significant impact, especially for u.s. companies. for 10 years, companies on the u.s. side of the border have been reluctant to drill in the area that gets within close distance to the border because if something happens, there was not a clear definition of who was responsible, who would clean it up if an accident drifted into the other country's territory, who would be responsible? this removes uncertainty from all of that and it will open up a pretty significant area, at least on the u.s. side. it may pave the way for greater d