our guest is general coal ln powell. -- colin powell. don't go away. >> larry: back with general powell. the united states troops in afghanistan, 100,000. obama says there will be a draw down of the surge troops in july. reports say the united states is eyeing a plan to end combat mission there in 2014. >> well, 2014. >> is this his vietnam? >> we shouldn't make these kind of comparisons. they're totally different situations. 2014 is the date agreed upon in general by president karzai and by our administration. >> larry: seems forever off? >> several years off. now what president obama has said when he sent in the additional troops was that he would take a look in july and try to begin or begin -- a little unclear exactly what he, what the various officials in the administration say, but begin the draw down of our overall troop level in afghanistan in july of next year. it doesn't mean we are pulling out 100,000 troops. i don't know how many troops we will pull out. and he has said, and his associates have said, inside the national securi

we're back with general colin powell.er boarding, the president kind of defends it i guess in the book. do you? >> you know, when we were going through this, america had just been struck, and we were trying to make sure we were protecting the american people in every way possible. and the intelligence agencies came forward with some procedures they wished to use to get as much information as they can. and we all talked about things and we were concerned about the fact that we had responsibilities under international law. i think all of us felt that water boarding was, if not over the line, very close to the line. but the president of the united states, who has responsibility to protect the american citizens, felt that in that circumstance water boarding was appropriate and as he clearly said he approved it. he takes responsibility for the approval of it. i think subsequently, as you kind of go down the years and take a look at what has happened over the years, i think it could be called now torture. you know that the cia

ahead on "the last word," lawrence o'donnell talks to lawrence wilkerson, former chief of staff to colin powell, they'll be talking about mr. bush's book tour, which is as close as i'm going to get to an interview with him. >>> next on this show, sarah palin's cookie offenses. it's crumb-y. sorry. [ gobble, gobble ] [ female announcer ] great wine, great price, gobble it up. [ gobble, gobble ]

think had obama not one, i would have voted for colin powell. i always look at if they have a military background. host: thank you for the call. we're getting a call from ohio. caller: in 2010, they call for republicans. the democrats made their bid. it was easy to fight against bush. we still have the war in afghanistan going on. i am in columbus.

colin powell and, of course, others can speak to colin powell better than i also had grave reservationswhen the japanese said we're going to attack america, yamamoto said, okay, if you're going to do that, i think we have to attack pearl harbor because the japanese really wanted to control southeast asia. they needed the resources of southeast asia so they could prolong the war in china which had become a quagmire. quagmires always produce quagmires. you know, there's never an end to this. and yamamoto said, well, if you attack southeast asia there's the philippines down there and america in all likelihood will come into the war, we have to have a preemptive attack on pearl harbor so that we can delay the american fleet from coming over. and i think if we can pull that off, we can delay the american response for six months or a year. that will give us the time to consolidate our position in southeast asia and our hope is that this will demoralize the americans and instead of pursuing a long war against us in asia, they will cut a deal and leave us with some of the things we need for our

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one is colin powell.[laughter] >> guest: it is a big book but i actually threw away one gigantic section in the book in which i compared japan's holy wall with and i decided it was too much. then i threw away programs and one was comparing the japanese policymakers and the american policymakers to show the diversity and the capabilities with each side. also to show the small calls the for making policy on each side with the imperial presidency and within the emperor system and the natural comparison that moved from the book was colin powell and the man who conceived of the mastermind of the attack on pearl harbor. the point is in both cases you had very, very smart people who on principle were opposed to the war. moto said absolutely making a terrible mistake. he tells his superiors to go to war against the united states. you can't win. and yama moto had been to the u.s. on two locations as an attache. he knew washington very well. he was a pro. he went back to the japanese war in 1904 and 1905, and he wa

i know that colin powell had the same concerns. but it is also incumbent upon students, graduates, undergraduates, to strike out and do something a little different. go to another country, learn of language, dedicate yourself to understanding the world better. because the foreign service of the united states of america should not be so white. tavis: let me connect that back to the book, specifically the fact that dr. king spent a lot of time in birmingham. you talk about the fact that your father did not march with dr. king, although they were in birmingham. tell me more about that decision. >> my father did not, although people like my father, middle- class of birmingham, did many things in support of the civil- rights movement. both teachers, when the students when not in the streets to march, the birmingham school board wanted the teachers to turn over their names so i could keep them from graduating, and teachers falsified the names. our family also participated in the boycott of downtown birmingham stores and held food drives

i would sort of use colin powell's metaphor with me about that incident and others too. he said dick cheney knew exactly how to rub the president to get his cowboys instincts to come out and his 45 to be unleashed. i think that's what dick cheney did. and the president's protests to the contrary, notwithstanding. dick cheney was more successful than not. >> are you going to take care of this guy or not? that's the language you're talking about. >> exactly. >> he also talked about the missing weapons of mass destruction. >> your words, no one was more sickened or angry than i was, when we didn't finds weapons of mass destruction. you still have a sickening feeling when you think about it? >> i do. i do. >> was there ever any consideration of apologizing to the american people? >> i mean, apologizing would basically say the decision was a wrong decision. and i don't believe it was the wrong decision. >> if you knew then what you know now -- >> that's right. >> you would still go to war in iraq? >> i first of all, didn't have that luxury. you just don't have the luxury when

i thought colin powell's remarks were right on.e mid-term elections meant, i don't think anybody knows but one center colin powell touched on, jobs, jobs, jobs. people were feeling unsure about the economy. they don't feel -- they see the markets going up but their own situation is not improving. they're disappointed, they're frustrated, they're scared. they want to see some real improvement in their lives. i think what colin powell is saying the president has to focus on that. he hasn't. one day in indonesia, next day in portugal, next day talking about something totally unrelated to jobs and the economy. >> it's hard tofor both sides t govern with ideology call extremes who have an 8. on the far left an agenda and far right an agenda and presidents have to constantly tune that out if they're going to succeed. do you think this president wasn't as effective tuning out the big agenda items? we got elected, we own washington and will push our own agenda, instead of what you said, first, we have to get people back to work? >> absolut

colin powell knows how to get it done.a still doesn't have a clue on how to win in washington. >> but in that sense, hillary clinton was right. you could argue her 3:00 a.m. ad was right. >> are you talking about a team? we'll talk more about this. willie, though -- >> watch the bird. >> i don't see a bird. >> mika, you're going to love this story. sarah palin shows up at a pennsylvania school where they're considering banning sweets with a giant tray of cookies. we'll show you when we come back. when it comes to investing, no one person has all the answers. so td ameritrade doesn't give me just one person. questions about retirement? i talk to their retirement account specialists. bonds? grab the phone. fixed-income specialist. td ameritrade knows investors sometimes need real, live help. not just one broker... a whole team there to help... to help me decide what's right for me. people with answers at td ameritrade. get up to $500 when you open an account. to bring you a low-price medicare prescription drug plan that has

i don't think colin powell is walking away from that.he hopes thatdy blow plassy would work and we wouldn't use military. all of us hoed diplomacy would work. there is an instructive scene in the book where he is saying the military option is a concern. at one point in time i said if diplomacy runs its course, would l you support military action in iraq? he said he would. >> greta: i guess i had a sense as he was exmilitary at that point. he had spoken to the c.i.a. and he was making the case that for some reason i always thought that he made a big blunder. >> that he did. >> he never -- >> blunder being -- >> greta: that there was weapons of mass destruction. >> he's thorough and he wouldn't have gone to the u.n. unless he was convinced intelligence available to all of us was real. it turns out it wasn't. he made a very compelling presentation. that convinced the u.n. to and the world that our intel jeps ruse right? it wasn't just our intelligence, but intelligence of all major intelligence agencies around the world. amazing thing is th

today by the america's promise alliance, a nonprofit group founded by former secretary of state colin powell. at an event in washington with education secretary arne duncan, powell said he was encouraged but there's much more to be done. >> what we have to do is get everybody in the country-- businesses, political organizations, nonprofit organizations-- to all come together in a coordinated way to get into the lives of our kids, to get into our schools and give those schools resources that the kids need in order to be successful in life. there's no child that starts out in life wanting to be unsuccessful. no child starts out wanting to be a dropout. >> warner: among the good news, the national graduation rate hit 75% in 2008, up from 72% in 2001. and the number of so-calld dropout factories-- high schools where fewer than 60% of freshmen graduate four years later-- declined to 1750 in 2008, down from some 2,000 in 2002. 29 states improved their graduation rates through such approaches as setting up early warning systems to flag struggling students. raising the compulsory attendance age, tak

and senate leadership, all the relative committee shares, and our military leaders, including colin powell. in 2010, before the national hispanic caucus, president obama stated he would do whatever it takes to support the efforts to pass this bill, so he can sign it into law on behalf of students seeking a college education and those who wish to serve in our country's uniform. it is the right thing to do. steve li is a junior in city college who aspires to be a health care worker. he graduated from george washington high school as well as hoover middle school, where he was an editor and reporter for the school newspaper and ran on the track and cross-country team. he is scheduled to graduate in september 2011. he entered the u.s. when he was about 12 years old and was ordered removed from the united states to peru when he was 14. he has no knowledge of the deportation because he was a derivative beneficiary of his mother's political asylum application. when the judge denied that her status, that denied his status in the u.s. where he was a minor. he was never reformed -- he was never infor

when colin powell became the chairman the cold war was ending and many were clammerring for a plan. the peace force altered american strategy from containing the soviet union to an approach in effect today built around core capabilities. defense sunday spending was -- spending was cut by 25%. but its vision yielded a smaller but more capable force. this time around troop cuts will come after iraq and afghanistan are done, but unless the military services work together strategically to determine core capabilities they will be forced to accept the future shaped instead by hasty and ill-considered program and budget cuts. thanks for joining us for this week in de

>> i don't know, use the term -- colin powell said body blow. the president said shellacing.re beat badly. i understand that. i also understand what doing the right thing is, and i don't think the voters went to the polls and voted ted strickland out of office because they want to give more tax cuts for the richest people in this country and they want to block unemployment insurance for people who have earned it. it's called insurance, not unemployment. >> senator, you are a smart. you have been around for a long time. what do you take as the lesson? you say -- but it's not. what is it? >> i think it's partly -- i mean, i think we didn't focus enough on jobs, clearly. i think the health care was the right thing to do. it took way too long to do it. the focus should have been more on jobs all along. i think we know that. i think we did the right thing. the recovery act created three million jobs. >> we're moving forward? >> i want to work with republicans. i want to work with my new jersey senator rob portman on figuring out job creation, but i don't want to do it -- >> let me

earlier this week, i met with former secretary of state and retired general colin powell at arlingtoneen here for the last hour or so, you just hear the band play over and over and over again, you realize just how many veterans are -- are dying every day. >> yeah. we are seeing the world war ii generation pass through and then the korean war generation comes along and even my generation, the vietnam war generation. but, the one thing they all have in common is that every one of these funerals and every tombstone that you see here represents an american who served his country. and when i walk through arlington, what strikes me is when you look at these headstones and tombstones, you can't tell what color they were, what part of the country they were from, were they rich, were they poor, if you get close enough, you'll see the name, you'll see what service they served in and you'll see a religious symbol. but when you step back and just look across and see them lined up the way they are, 300,000 of them, you see all the greatest generations of americans, not just the world war ii genera

wasn't colin powell off -- he wasn't enthusiastic about the war. >> but he never really laid his stars on the table. he just raised and caved. look, if you break iraq, you're going to own it. and he didn't say, don't do it. chris: high human interest story. this is the book we've gotten a look at. the president said his father supported the war effort. is that true? >> boy, i spent eight minutes in one interview with bush going around this question. what about your father's recommendation? well, i don't remember. well, we talked. maybe we should get him on the phone. and i said, but -- but here at the end of eight minutes, here's what he said, he said in terms of strength, i appeal to a higher father. his god. and we never got any information at that point about the lower father's recommendation. now it comes out in the book where he says he supported it. i know that when brent scowcroft, who was busch sr.'s national security adviser wrote this editorial in "the wall street journal" saying we don't need to invade iraq, he faxed that to bush sr., who essentially approved of it. so we ha

and senate leadership, all the relative committee shares, and our military leaders, including colin powell. in 2010, before the national hispanic caucus, president obama stated he would do whatever it takes to support the efforts to pass this bill, so he can sign it into law on behalf of students seeking a college education and those who wish to serv

. >> pulled colin powell from a burning cheap. laid a cool washcloth on mother teresa's forehead during a cholera epidemic. i had lunch with dick cheney. >> you are here for the money. >> that is correct. >> sunny optimism carries the day. "morning glory" has a light touch, good performances, an incredible story. it is good news at the movies. and a weekend best bet, along with "social network," " whiteford superman," and more. -- "waiting for superman," and more. a disney musical based on "proposal" reminded me of "-- " repunzel" reminded me of "beauty and the beast." >> "tangled." >>> none of us expected to see this much. >> take a tour of the martin luther king memorial site with one of his closest friends. it is >>> the dr. martin luther king jr. memorial site on the national mall is nearly 60% complete. but you would not know it because the location is blocked off and no one is allowed inside. >> it has been 42 years since andrew young witnessed his friend and colleague's, martin luther king, jr., assassinated. >> we were in

i will be honest with you, i think had obama not one, i would have voted for colin powell.s look at if they have a military background. host: thank you for the call. we're getting a call from ohio. caller: in 2010, they call for republicans. the democrats made their bid. it was easy to fight against bush. we still have the war in afghanistan going on. i am in columbus. you never see obama go through the neighborhoods. these are the people live and die obama. obama never goes and sees them. he has these big stadium events. those are his people and he just ignores them. you don't hear obama say anything about. the president has to stand for something. >> margaret is joining us from nashville, tennessee. >> thanks for such a great service. anke to all of the democrats. -- thanks to all of the democrats who fought for what they believed then. also thanks to all the service members. host: we have looked at kentucky, ohio, arkansas, wisconsin, colorado, nevada. washington state, california, the governors' races and the governors. all the speeches are available on our website. you

treaty how about former secretaries of state and secretaries of defense you have jim baker and colin powell and former national security advisor stephen hadley all from republican administrations saying you have to ratify this treaty so you have the establishment of the united states saying this is good for our security this is essential for the u.s. russian relationship and on the other side you have a handful of washed up hundreds complaining about this and senator kyl trying to milk this for all the pork that he can get up till now the white house has been trying to have a gentlemen's agreement with senator kyl well it turns out that senator kyl is no gentleman and so now they are what i working with any gentlemen on this one here are the gloves are off in the battles beginning this is going to be fun but tell me this i mean that really the ball is in harry reid's court right now because all he has to do is he has to call a vote so cannot force this if on can they not just go ahead and name a date well there are some considerations so traditionally what you'd like to do is have the minor

former secretary of state, colin powell says he believes the reason democrats did so poorly in the recent election is that president obama lost focus and should have done more to help the economy. powell's speaking on "larry king live" and commented on the president's remark that he got shellacked in the election. >> he got shellacked. i think it was more than that. i think it was more of a body blow that he has to figure out how to come back from. asked about sarah palin, he called her a fascinating person, a political celebrity and political force. but he says the tea party movement she has embraced has fiscal goals that are not achievable. >>> back from his post-election vacation, governor-elect jerry brown is facing a state budget deficit that's even bigger than projected. brown is meeting privately with advisers on how to come up with ideas on how to tackle the deficit that's grown from $12 billion to $25 billion. commits say there's nothing easy that's left to cut. >> the cuts have been so severe, so sustained over the last three or four years, and the economy is in such bad shape r

one of his outside advisers is colin powell, the former secretary of state and chairman of the jointchiefs. at a crucial point, obama called call in and asked him, first powell says to him, look, don't be guided by the left or the right here. don't be driven by the media. do what you think is right. on these of the strategy decisions last year, powell comes in and says, just because the military is unanimous in their advice doesn't mean they are right. you're the commander-in-chief. there's only one commander-in-chief. there are other generals you can get. if necessary to about five minutes left with bob woodward. >> caller: yes, good morning. the morning, mr. woodward. listen, i have a nephew in the 101st airborne. might daughter was deployed to afghanistan. me and my family palu more attention than i think the most americans to what's going on over there. i have to question. the first one is, vice president joe biden was put on the ticket supposedly because of his expertise in foreign affairs. however, when it comes to this war in afghanistan, his ideas seem to be ignored, i believ

and i told him sincecall in paul had something there, that i could put my -- since colin powell put his papers there, that i could put something there. i think the record is clear, even though i have not talked with the president or read his testimony, and my lawyer told me that i should not read the testimony of the witnesses because that would confuse -- >> mr. rangel. >> i am saying that they wanted me there more than i wanted to go to city college. there is also a question of -- i know counsel will say this, nobody at city college told me about the gifts at the office. >> i reclaim my time, madam chair. i am perfectly satisfied with a clarification, the way this thing came together. he retained a forensic accountant to go through not only your financial disclosures are also your tax returns for those 17 years. and they estimated what your taxes would have then as besst had to filed their tax returns during that time frame. most of that was beyond the opportunity for the virus to compel you to pay those taxes. have you given any consideration to voluntarily paying those back taxes to

colin powell was here the other night. >> yeah. >> larry: he said he supports john mccain in this matterhole investigation by the military. let's wait until we hear from everybody. don't rush it. do you agree with that? >> we are going to see that shortly. there will be a report in december coming from the defense department on their recommendation. so as my grandpoppy used to say with the grace of god there will be confluence of the two. >> larry: we'll be right back with the better half. fiber one chewy bar. how'd you do that? do what? it tastes too good to be fiber. you made it taste like chocolate. it has 35% of your daily value of fiber. do it again. turn it into something tasty. this guy's doing magic. there's chocolate chips in here now. how'd you do that? right! tasty fiber, that's a good one! ok, umm...read her mind. what's she thinking? that's right! i'm not thinking anything! [ male announcer ] fiber one chewy bars. cardboard no. delicious yes. we get double miles on every purchase. so we earned a holiday trip to the big apple twice as fast! dinner! [ garth ] we get double mil

and the secret memo was to condoleezza rice and dick cheney and colin powell, then the secretary of state. it's a long memo in which rumsfeld said we have to have meetings and get serious about iraq and doing something about saddam hussein. now, i wish in the summer of 2001 wikileaks or somebody had been around to leak or provide that document so we would have known at that point, the secretary of defense was mightily agitated about iraq and wanted to do something. want topped see if regime change was possible and was laying out some quite radical options. that is a point where if there had been transparency or leak, that would have been very useful to people and, i wish there was more of that. but the stuff i've seen here, what does it tell us about what the government might do in the future that needs more examination? more debate? as we did not have in the run-up to the iraq war layer ti remaining moments with bob woodward right after this. >> larry: vice president joe biden was our guest recently and bob woodward's name came up in our conversation. watch. >> the white house shot down

the main was colin powell was waving anthrax. there were four rationales.ably did that to provide themselves a certain amount of coverage. but even when he said -- you did it on the show. saddam hussein was trying to get around sanctions. but if you follow that sound bite for another 15 seconds, he does say to reconstitute his weapons program. >> so he could get money so that he could use that money to reconstitute his weapons program. >> he was -- now, again, i see it in your eyes. you're like, but that's horse -- but whatever. all i'm saying is, it is there. it's not as black and white. you know, i think -- let me -- left always says, we're not black and white. i didn't like bush because he was so black and white and there's no nuance. do you think the left ever suffers from that same myopia? >> bad arguments persist everywhere. i'm trying to pursue bad arguments where are i find them. let me finish this point about bush. bush accepted that saddam wasn't pursuing weapons of mass destruction and changed the way he talked about the war, i think. he didn't d

colin powell was here the other night. >> yeah. >> larry: he said he supports john mccain in this matters wait until we do the whole investigation by the military. let's wait until we hear from everybody. don't rush it. do you agree with that? >> we are going to see that shortly. there will be a report in december coming from the defense department on their recommendation. so as my grandpoppy used to say with the grace of god there will be confluence of the two. >> larry: we'll be right back with the better half. calm down. i know that it is not your job. what i'm saying... excuse me? alright, fine. no, you don't have to do it. ok? [ male announcer ] notre dame knows it's better for xerox to control its printing costs. so they can focus on winning on and off the field. [ manager ] are you sure i can't talk -- ok, no, i get it. [ male announcer ] with xerox, you're ready for real business. >> larry: we're back. he's been on 49 times over the years. this is her first appearance. dr. jill biden taught three classes today at her school. she is, of course -- what are you, missus first lady? >

colin powell and bob gates and dick cheney, they'll all be here.was a proud moment for our country and we did the right thing. we had use for us to put down a dictator. and we set a goal. the goal was to kick them out of kuwait and we did and then we left. we didn't have mission -- we didn't expand the mission. >> larry: you don't want to think about a legacy, you do? >> only just that the children are decent and the grandchildren, honest and that they're giving and caring and they know that they owe a lot. that they're blessed and they owe a lot. >> larry: may i say something? i don't like to get personal but one of the great honors of doing this show for 25 and a half years is knowing you. >> oh, that's so sweet, thank you. >> larry: and you.