president, i certainly -- we're here about general petraeus. i'm a member of the senate intelligence committee. i have had a chn chance to visit with him on a number of occasions in his capacity as general as well as now the nominee -- soon to be the new c.i.a. director. and i would just simply say that i don't think for our national security's sake that you can have two better nominee nominee. the former c.i.a. director who has been confirmed by this senate as the new secretar secrf defense taking over from an extremely good and competent secretary of defense, secretary gates -- and of course those leon panetta -- and then for his shoes as the leader of the c.i.a. to be filled by general petraeus. and what is happening today is illustrated by the motis operandi of the takedown of bin laden. it is a marriage between the military community and the intelligence community. painstaking years of effort to get the intelligence since bin laden went dark, after he slipped through our fingers in torah bortora bora wand we knews communicating through a co

and general petraeus and bob gates and secretary clinton all argued for the larger number and they would have gone larger. that was seen as a victory for petraeus. >> larger number which was essential in their opinion for a counterinsurgency program allowing to move in troops, clear an area and hold that area. >> the taliban who had been giving protection to al qaeda and allowed them sanctuary and brought on 9/11 had the momentum in 2009 and president obama to his credit announced a surge. that surge has worked very well. i think the president deserves a lot of credit for that. it has reversed the momentum. the debate is everyone wants to wind this down but how rapidly to wind it down and there was not only divisions within the administration in which petraeus, gates and clinton were arguing let's do this slowly and let's have two more fighting seasons, this season and next year and joe biden widely reported was arguing for something faster. this is closer to the biden position which is the reason why -- what is this fighting season? you mentioned joe klein earlier tonight. he said the f

general david petraeus. the trains was on capitol hill today to be confirmed as the next director of the central intelligence agency in truth my goal uniform has always been to convey the most forthright and accurate picture possible. i have to be sure offered more positive assessments than the intelligence community did but although he's been lauded as the man responsible for america's strategy in iraq former c.n.n. pentagon correspondent jamie mcintyre says he has his detractors a lot of people see him as very ambitious very calculating playing the system telling the american people what they want to hear. and a lot of people also some critics also think that the success that the u.s. is tolerating in iraq is vastly overstated and despite his star power some in the military say for trances better at navigating the media and washington in a battlefield it's called the green zone hero these are your senior officers who never actually saw any action who have never themselves been under direct fire and have ne

general david petraeus. madame chair, as you indicated earlier, in a literal sense, and general petraeus needs no introduction. i want to take just a few moments to describe what i believe david petraeus has meant to our country and why i'm confident he will be a superb director of the cia. general david petraeus is the most distinguished general officer of the united states armed forces of his generation. degeneration contains a number of very impressive general officers. he is a true american hero who has twice been called upon by our commander in chief to assume leadership of a faltering war effort and twice he not only answered the call but lead our forces out of the jaws of defeat and on to the path of the victory. to my knowledge, no one else in american history shares that record with david petraeus. at a moment when cynicism too often infuses our national politics and partisanship too often affects national security, general petraeus has won the confidence, gratitude, and respect of the american peop

>> i go back to what general petraeus and general rodriguez did. general petraeus along with general rodriguez and general campbell, who basically ran the campaign in the east for the last year to refocus it, to my writ from the border of pakistan and kabul, and to pull forces out of this very remote places which none of us thought were strategically significant. this layer approach to ensure that we could protect the capital and deal with the hakani and make it difficult on their network. >> thank you. my time has expired. >> admiral, you are here at an interesting time. secretary, you have been back year month after month. i just want to say thank you for your service. i knew we do not see eye to eye, but you are out front and doing what you think is in the best interest of the nation. i have not heard anybody talk about our strategy. i have no idea what the troop numbers are supposed to be. i am not a military planner, but i know what our troops are capable of. i know that higher numbers are better for a counter insurgency operation. we could ma

general petraeus knows our enemies. at the same time he has also built close relationships with our partners and allies in the middle east, south asia, the atlantic community and around the world. he's proven himself to be a capable leader of organizations that are even larger than the cia and. and because, as you said, madam chair, he is not just a soldier, but a scholar as well having earned a ph.d. at princeton. he is very well suited to oversee and demand the highest standards in the critically important analysis done by so many who worked at the cia. after all he has done, general petraeus certainly would have been well justified at this point in his career to seek a quiet personal retirement. but fortunately for the rest of us, service to because larger than himself is a general david petraeus' creed and personal destiny. the skillful men and women of the central intelligence agency will be in very good hands when he is given the opportunity to be their leader. and all americans who will be fortunate indeed and sa

forces in afghanistan general david petraeus is set to become the new cia chief the u.s. looks to be moving away from his heavy approach to war as washington stands for a master of pullout from afghanistan by the generals ascend to his new role behind the wheel of global covert operations raises doubts that he can be impartial are descaling ford has more. and he's been called the rock star four star he is without question one of the finest officers and military minds of his generation the architect of modern counterinsurgency i'm asked quite often as are all of us what do you think should happen in afghanistan and my first response is well whatever general petraeus says that's the direction in which we ought to go that's the kind of respect i have for you general david petraeus. to train as was on capitol hill to be confirmed as the next director of the central intelligence agency in truth my goal in uniform has always been to convey the most forthright and accurate picture possible. i have to be sure offered more positive assessments than the intelligence community did bu

you're going to introduce general petraeus and then the general will speak and will do our culinary. the gentleman would like to recognize your wife holly petraeus one edition to be picky behind her success is also serving the nation at a recently becoming the assistant director of the consumer financial bureau where she is in charge of protect them in assisting the servicemembers. we're delighted to have you here this afternoon. this nomination comes in the midst of a significant change in the national security challenges and posture of the united states. military and intelligence gain in afghanistan and pakistan have for the first time in years shifted the momentum for the taliban to the united states and coalition partners. these gains are still reversible. president obama announcement to withdraw of the surge troops will have an impact on operations after the fighting season and i'm sure members who want to hear your views, general online as well as sunday over a generation. the death of osama bin laden and his cia intelligence operation carried out by the united states special fo

welcome general petraeus. want to join everyone in congratulating you and expressing my profound gratitude to your more than three decades of extraordinary service to this country. you are more than simply filling a position at the helm of the c.i.a. you a man of our times during this pivotal moment in this country, the challenges confronting the agency and this country and the fact that you bring a real world operational experience on the backdrop in afghanistan and iraq and the commander over the u.s. central command and so i want to congratulate you and also say thank you to you and your family and magnificent wife holy. we -- holly. we owe you a dremmed amount of gratitude. -- tremendous amount of gratitude. i would like to go back to the question of afghanistan because obviously people in this country rightfully and all the sacrifices that the military families and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, those who have been injured during the course of this decade-long war, it is about where the futur

forces your own have to go out there as general allen kind of getting the short end of this general petraeus gets to leave i know the war well i think it's going to be difficult for general allen like it was difficult but yet although there are only a few general petraeus left iraq to really do the hard work of seeing this breakthrough it's very easy to commit if you get a lot more troops to make temporary gains the real question do you make durable goods and i thank you very much for joining us thank you. for. all our tuesday edition of show and tell is just ahead and last last week we told you about an alpha let's you record the police as a major ok to that story of getting around that may come back also ahead has president obama turned into dick cheney that's the argument being made over how the obama administration is handling the case involving reporter james risin and his confidential source as i think back to mr simone. into that only the military making it seems to do the work to bring justice to accountability. i have every right to know what my government's doing you want to know w

forces or your own act together as general allen kind of getting the short end of the stick general petraeus gets to leave another war well i think it's going to be difficult for general allen like he was difficult which at all is there only if the general petraeus left it would rock to really do the hard work of sitting just stay through it's very easy to commit if you get a lot more troops to make temporary gains the real question do you make dorval gains and i thank you very much for joining us thank you probably. well our tuesday edition of show intel is just ahead and last last week we told you about an alpha let's the first war of the police as a major update on that story of a good environment when we come back and also ahead has president obama turned into cheney's that's the argument being made over how the obama administration is handling the case involving reporter james risin and his confidential source but i think that it's a signal. that only the military making use of this if you don't work to bring justice and accountability. and i have every right to know what my government'

that is true of all presidents, and i, and at general petraeus for emphasizing that -- i commend general petraeus for emphasizing that. the speech and position lacks clarity toomey. i do not know -- to me. do not know right now why we are continuing to stay there for two more fighting seasons. to get to the negotiating table with the taliban? is that what it is about? i don't know anyone who realistically think that afghanistan will stand alone when this is over. >> colby? >> what i heard him say is that he will keep 68,000 troops on the ground and afghanistan for the next three years. he is going to have a 70,000 troops out there to help stabilize the situation so that the corrupt, it karzai regime can have negotiations with the taliban. the of what we pay in iraq. 40,000 people -- 4000 people killed, 30,000 wounded. we get the word this week that the iranians and iraqis enter into economic cooperative agreements, syria and iran and the iraqis are building a pipeline into arab countries. we did all that for that? out of afghanistan, what are we going to get out of that? >> nina? >> what

now today will take a look at a new investigation that shows general david petraeus fudging numbers calling innocent civilians members of the taliban also talk about oscar grant's killer being released from prison and how the community is reacting adult find out what the he'll a party is all about but first let's take a little look at what the mainstream media has decided to devote their coverage to moments in the real story. now you'd think that after two weeks of nonstop coverage the media would start getting sick of weiner gate but otoh they are marching on actually they're hanging on to every single new picture that's really every word of disapproval to every little thing that nobody else in the world really cares about. the big news from coast to coast for years the white house saying president obama believes new york congressman anthony weiner's actions have been you know appropriate and a distraction here was. how do you get from gee i feel badly for this guy pretty well once. calling for him to consult out of congress paychecks papers around the country today as they always do in wa

your own act together as general allen kind of getting the short end of the stick a little bit general petraeus gets to leave another of war well i think it's going to be difficult for general like it was difficult but you have over there only have to general petraeus left iraq to really do the hard work of seeing this through it's very easy to commit if you get a lot more troops to make temporary gains the real question do you make durable goods.

>> i go back to what general petraeus and general rodriguez did. general petraeus along with general rodriguez and general campbell, who basically ran the campaign in the east for the last year to refocus it, to my writ from the border of pakistan and kabul, and to pull forces out of this very remote places which none of us thought were strategically significant. this layer approach to ensure that we could protect the capital and deal with the hakani and make it difficult on their network. thank you -- >> thank you. my time has expired. >> admiral, you are here at an interesting time. secretary, you have been back year month after month. i just want to say thank you for your service. i knew we do not see eye to eye, but you are out front and doing what you think is in the best interest of the nation. i have not heard anybody talk about our strategy. i have no idea what the troop numbers are supposed to be. i am not a military planner, but i know what our troops are capable of. i know that higher numbers are better for a counter insurgency operation

hey there exactly i guess i wanted to start out by asking you what do you think general david petraeus brings to the table going to the cia well let's face it you know that incredible amount of experience in on the ground experience we've seen a huge change over time it would last ten years really the experience of the military has had that has impacted all of those men and women who've been involved he brings out to the table in a sense that's good but there is a negative to contention we cope with it and that's the fact that you see this sort of worry never winds to the point at the agency could potentially be swallowed up by the department of defense when you start talking about dollars and actual power you realize just how much bigger he is going to take you back to two thousand and one thousand to two thousand three hundred dollars rumsfeld the secretary of defense and what we saw back then was this effort by the pentagon to essentially swallow not the roles of the state department and in fact the successfully did that in many ways the fear is that some of the roles that you see i

general pa petraeus has establid a productive relationship with general kayani. i hope to follow where leverages the role of the isaf commander, we can continue to place the kind of emphasis that we need to with the pakistani government and military to continue to pressurize those safe havens. in the end, it's a decision that they will make. but they -- in my role as the operational commander, i'm going to leverage every possibility that i can for cooperation across the border to build habits of cooperation, habits of partnership, and hopefully from there as we continue to evolve our relationship overall with pakistan, this will be a mechanism that can provide a bright spot for additional cooperation later. and i think here is an important opportunity with pakistan. >> thank you, sir. admiral mcraven, you noticed that you said, you know, the -- there's some fraying at the edges potentially with everything that's happening. that's rightly understandable. not like you can all of the sudden press a button and get a special oped guy ready to go. what do you anticipat

i used this chart both with president karzai and general petraeus with we need to do more to lower the opium production and the narcotics trade. general james jones said that he believes that these funds go directly to fund the taliban and he, of course, says it goes to fund the issue of corruption. now, when general petraeus was here the last time, i held up this chart he kindly told me new information out there. and he showed me a new chart. in 2010 there was a 48% decrease as a result of our counternarcotics efforts, also there was disease among the crops. but also that there's been a 34 warm-up % increase in our nationwide drug seizures in afghanistan, clearly egg showing that this was the result of activities of increased focused. admiral, with our reduction in troops we'll go back to our eye off the ball and we may again see a surge in narcotics. what assurances can you give us with the lowered number of troops that we'll be able to maintain a counternarcotic strategy to reduce opium production and the funding of the taliban? >> well, i think we will continue to press on this iss

this time, i think joe biden is the winner here. >> there's no question that general petraeus wantedraw down, and that he wanted to leave basically most of the troops in place through next year, through the next season, and that's not going to happen because of this. >> thank you both so much. fascinating discussion. we are getting closer and closer, minutes away from president obama's live address to the nation on u.s. involvement in afghanistan. wolf blitzer and anderson cooper up next. this past year alone there was a 93% increase in cyber attacks. in financial transactions... on devices... in social interactions... and applications in the cloud. some companies are worried. some, not so much. thanks to a network that secures it all and knows what to keep in, and what to keep out. outsmart the threats. see how at cisco.com cisco. wolf blitzer and anderson cooper wolf blitzer and anderson cooper o e right underneath our feet, and all we need to do is change the way we're thinking about them. a couple decades ago, we didn't even realize just how much natural gas was trapped in rocks

army general petraeus is set to become the next cia chief but opponents question if the outgoing commander in afghanistan is fit for the job. and al cried from families in the news the government of allowing abuse of a controversial pesticide which they say is killing their children. which is hardly coming to live from moscow i'm marina joshua welcome to the program the u.k. failed to track detainees handed over to the us neglecting to protect them from possible abuse the shocking revelations forced through by british m.p.'s expose a secret agreement over the treatment of prisoners passed over to washington by a london daniel bushell met one victim who spent years in america's most notorious overseas prison. murat kurnaz was a wristed on the streets and sent to guantanamo for torture after five years america released him without charge to this day the us has given no explanation all said story couldn't as is suing george bush's lawyer alberto gonzalez for ruling tool sure is legal interrogators from the land of the free are free to cause quote simulated drowning rape instrumentality impair

commander in afghanistan general petraeus a set to become the next cia director but opponents question if the new chief spy will object to really assess the progress of american conflicts. and families in india accuse the government of allowing the use of a controversial pesticide which they say he's killing their children victim groups claim applying the chemicals is causing a generation of the foreign children who don't live just in their twenty's. so our lines here are he'll be back with the top stories in about thirty minutes time before they are the spirit of our and he's guess debate why president obama's announcement to withdraw thirty three thousand u.s. troops from afghanistan wasn't welcomed by either as i were activists or military officials. you can. still. welcome to cross talk computor all about exit strategy obama's long awaited plan to start drawing down troops levels in afghanistan is in play but is it a real drawdown or just a reduction of the so-called surge of eighteen months ago did obama capitulate to public opinion over military needs and will american and nato t

if you remember, back then, he said to general petraeus and general mcchrystal running the war you can have the troops you want, not all the trooms but 30,000, it became -- troops but 30,000, it became 33,000, we'll put a time limit on it, a surge, and we'll start drawing down in july of 2011. in a sense, why now? because this is the calendar he set. the kind of broader piece of that and it connects exactly with what martha was saying, though, is -- and why didn't he give them a waiver from the calendar? they were saying ok, we've had these successes. can we have a few extra months? gwen: not only that, they didn't get all of the troops in there until last september. so they may say this is 18 months. but it isn't really 18 months. >> right. and there was a palpable desire, a yearning on the part of the president and his staff to draw that line, to make sure number one, one of the themes you heard from him in this announcement was promise made, promise kept. i said we would start to draw down in july 2011. we're starting to draw down. but there was also a fear of getting nibbled to dea

army general petraeus is set to become the next cia t.v. but opponents question if the outgoing commander in afghanistan to stage for the job. ukraine's x.-treme or goes on trial over charges of abuse of power allegedly losing a country hundreds of millions of dollars energy deals. and all cry from families in india who accuse the government of allowing the use of the controversial pesticide which they say is killing their children. also in business so you will is mixed up dropping four point six percent the session before why is this happening how this affecting the russian market join me in twenty minutes from . now watching r.t. coming to live from moscow marina joshie welcome to the program the u.k. failed to track detainees handed over to the us neglecting to protect them from possible abuse the shocking revelations forced through by british m.p.'s expose a secret agreement over the treatment of prisoners passed over to washington via lawns and daniel bushell met one victim has spent years in america's most notorious overseas prison. c

i use the chart both with president karzai in general petraeus to show that we need to do more to lower the opium production and the narcotics trade and general jones says he believes these funds go directly to fund the taliban and also goes to find the issues of corruption. when general petraeus was here i held up the chart he kindly told me there was no information as to what successes we have had and sent me a new bar chart. it shows in 2010 there was a 40% decrease as a result of the counter narcotics effort and disease with the crops but also 341% increase of the nationwide drug seizures showing this is a result of activities of increased focus. with the reduction of troops my concern is we go back to a period to take our eye off the ball and see a surge in narcotics. what assurances can you give us lowering the number of troops we can maintain the counter narcotics and strategy to reduce opium production and funding of the taliban? >> we will certainly press the issue. just showing the charts charts, look at the levels over the years and it is a way of life that will not go away q

that's math, not strategy. >> general petraeus, are you saying, give us more time, don't take, what's the number, five, ten, don't take more than that, give us more time this year? >> well, again, look, the decision ultimately is the president's. our job is to provide options and then to assess levels of risk. it is ultimately the president's decision. and of course the congress needs to -- we need to have congressional support. but they also need to understand consequences. >> congress keeps saying in essence, hey, we've had a $10 billion a month is unsustainable. >> the cost is already coming down. we will be spending $40 billion a year less on these wars in 2012 than we did in 2011. you have to ask the question, what's the cost of failure? we've invested a huge amount of money here. we've invested 1,254 lives up to this point. so what's the cost of getting it wrong? congress -- congress is almost always impatient. i remember in the spring of 2000, they said this is lost. >> short-term thinking? >> yeah, absolutely. i can say that since i'm leaving in a few weeks. >> and leaving thi

>> the recommendation came in from general petraeus and general mattis with respect to their arrival time which was beyond the first of july. they were in final training, headed to a afghanistan. the recommendation came in the in light of the fact that we were going to start withdrawing troops this summer, that we would have to make decisions. they were in a good position for us to make a decision whether they should be diverted or not. based on the conditions on the ground with respect to where general petraeus was, he, then, made a recommendation to general madison and it was a decision here in the end which diverted these units in a timely way. it was to try to take care of them, not get them headed in one direction and then have to point in another direction. based on the overall plan which was to draw down some number of troops even though that drawdown has not started -- the decision has not been made but certainly with the expectation there would be some truth to that would come out, the decision has not been made and given they would be a part of that. >> the drug and has not

petraeus. they don't like him. they feel he has a harsher edge than general mcchrystal did.intment was seen as bad news in islamabad. general petraeus has a stronger force of will than any military officer i think i've ever encountered. we saw this in a iraq. he really bent that story around his determination and president bush's. he has had less success frankly in afghanistan. one thing that petraeus is very good at, i've seen this over many years of traveling with him, is using often unlikely back channels. he's good at finding people who can get him access to people in places that are important to him as a commander. it's a skill that's quite unusual and in truth it's a skill that is not found widely in this administration, so i think the ability to be operational, to head out on quiet missions, to meet with heads of state, heads of other intelligence services, to get business done on that level, i think general petraeus will be quite good at. >> david ignatius, thank you so much, great pook. i thoroughly enjoyed it. >> thank you fareed. >> we will be right back. when you

commander in afghanistan general petraeus is set to become the next cia director of the policy question if the new chiefs five will definitely assess the progress of american conflicts. and families in india accuse the government of allowing the use of a controversial pesticide which they say is telling their children victims groups claim applying the chemicals is causing a generation in the form children who don't live to see their twenty's. one actually explore the divisive figure of the father of the russian revolution. hello and welcome to the show on this week's program i'll be exploring that is life in moscow of all straight leaders change the course of the straits starting off the red square next to the magnificent moscow kremlin tony martin and bruce as we take a look at his epic journey and visit various landmarks associated with his life and that's. one of the main names associated with russia fully eight hundred seventy s. let me in she choses to name living in nineteen i want as one of the leading political figures and revolution we think of the twentieth century he changed

commander in afghanistan general petraeus is set to become the next cia director but opponents question if a new chief spy will object that we assess the progress of american conflicts. and families in india excuse the government of a while in the news of a controversial cast aside which they say is killing their children victims groups claim applying the chemicals is causing a generation of to form children who don't live to see their twenty's. so the headlines the next week or a divisive figure of the father of the russian revolution then. hello and welcome to the show on this week's program i'll be exploring that is life in moscow of australia to change the course of history and starting off here on red square next to the magnificent moscow climbing kill me martin andreas as we take a look at his epic journey and visit various landmarks associated with his life happens to. men in the main names associated with russia only eight hundred seventy has gotten me into nando's chose his pseudo name living in nineteen i want as one of the leading political figures and revolution we think is