president george w. bush has put off a visit to switzerland signing security concerns but human rights groups say they've prepared a criminal case against him on challenges on the rising tour and that he's simply scared of arrest for more on this as cross live now to london speak to german national. many thanks for being with us here on our say so what exactly is the case against george w. bush. it's difficult to know where to start my understanding is the center of a complete constitutional rights has a two and a half thousand page document they're releasing in the next twenty four hours in geneva but it's difficult to know where to start with george w. bush because it's an entire car drew of people it's dick cheney it's called rumsfeld is dick cheney's chief of staff we don't have rumsfeld's memoirs this is about illegal wars and so on but this case i think centers around two individuals in particular one of whom i've met a cameraman for a qatari satellite t.v. channel who was incarcerated in guantanamo for

george w. bush, what do you think would be the shortcoming is mentioned, what was achieve? >> well, i'm 78 years old. i've lived a third of our country's history, and almost every republican president was considered not very swift. dwight eisenhower play too much golf they say. he had a poor syntax. my goodness, gerald ford they said play too much football without a helmet. [laughter] didn't matter that he going to yale law school. did matthews one of the world's leading experts on u.s. budget having served on the appropriations committee. >> not to mention the best athlete at the white house. >> exactly. they contend he was a stumbling him. you go from one to another. ronald reagan. he has been characterized as an amiable dunce here and then people read his letters and saw that this man was thoughtful, knowledgeable, and while not a micromanager, a strategic leader. and a superb and highly successful strategic leader. george w. bush was described as not curious, not knowledgeable, and he had gone t

and one more note about george w. bush's canceled an appearance in denver tomorrow because wikileaks founder julian assange was invited to speak by video link to the same gathering the global leadership summit. the former president said he would not take part in the same forum as someone who, "has done great harm to the u.s." and still ahead, production on a tv comedy stops by a radio drama. dio drama. 3q ( woman ) even with an overactive bladder, i don't always let the worry my pipes might leak compromise what i like to do.q i take care with vesicare, because i have better places to visit than just the bathroom. ( announcer ) once-daily vesicare can help control your bladder muscle, and is proven to treat overactive bladder with symptoms of frequent urges and leaks, day and night. if you have certain stomach or glaucoma problems, or trouble emptying your bladder, do not take vesicare. vesicare may cause allergic reactions that may be serious. if you experience swelling of the face, lips, throat or tongue, stop taking vesi

and the boldness of what george w. bush did galvanize the situation. >> and made it more successful. >> they deserve a lot of credit. >> how much should they be judged by success? if lyndon johnson the vietnam war and did? would we look added great war leader? haq who heads ecap taka. >> guest: it seems to me that wars are a series of catastrophe ended by success or victory. they're untidy, difficult, hard, the enemy has a brain and eisenhower said the plan is worth less. planning is everything and the plan is worthless. >> host: that is rumsfeld roles, it is a rule that i quote from someone who is more intelligent than i am. >> but it is true. every time you try to do something every offense has a defense and a defense has an offense. i think we are unlikely for a period of time to end up with a clarity of world war ii because of the nature of the world we are living in. it is asymmetric, and ever-changing and it is a challenge for our leadership and challenge for our country. with a growing finality of the weapons, what b

i think george w. bushadministration comes in for more criticism i think in my book, but both administrations did not respond to the uss cole. mike sheehan who was ambassador for counterterrorism famously said after the cole attack what's it going to take, al qaeda attacking the pentagon before we respond. at the lame-duck clinton administration didn't respond, and the new bush administration didn't respond part because it didn't happen on their watch. and osama bin laden, some and took lessons from the. when they were preparing the 9/11 attacks, one of the things i try to say in the book is 9/11 was a strategic failure for al qaeda. at the time it seemed like a big success. it didn't achieve any of the goals within the organization, but one of the things al qaeda has said many years later is 9/11 was cleverly conceived to get you and i says to invade afghanistan, we believed them to what they really expected was the united states to pull out of the middle east, you know, the saudi regime and the regime in

i think when you look at george w. bush, he is somebody who like i said, from my perspective, he makes very quick judgments about people. and they are often what i would consider to be fairly emotive impressions. he's very interested in important people well up. one the things he talked about a lot in the book is how many different individuals he saw get tears in their eyes. that's an important characteristic for him. >> julian zellier -- zelizer is author of many books. most recent edited by him. the subtitle here is "first historical assessment." dr. zelizer, when we will start seeing books that have subtitles that say reassessment? >> that will happen. i think the caller mentioned two presidencies, eisenhower and reagan that had pretty big reassessments. both were seen as presidents who were light hearted, not serious, presidents driven and controlled by their advisors, rather than very dominant figures. we learned that was wrong. and i think what happened in both cases, and in those cases, archives really mattered. as w

president george w. bush has canceled a visit to switzerland citing security concerns but human rights groups say they've prepared a criminal case against him on charges of authorizing torture and that he simply scared of arrest journalist. believes it's unlikely bush will be held to account by an international court. my understanding is the center can constitutional rights has a two and a half thousand page document they're releasing in the next twenty four hours in geneva but it's difficult to know where to start with george w. bush because it's an entire car drive of people it's dick cheney it's called rumsfeld is dick cheney's chief of staff we don't have rumsfeld's memoirs this is about illegal wars and so on but this case i think centers around two individuals in particular one of whom i've met a camera man for a qatari satellite t.v. channel who was incarcerated in guantanamo for years and we mustn't forget forty eight year old died a few days ago after being going to him for nine years also without ch

message about we need to see change and needs to happen now now suddenly we hear the name george bush a lot again george w. bush of course and his freedom agenda and everyone now is debating whether he was right or whether he was wrong what's your take on well george w. bush did not invent the freedom agenda in fact george w. bush the reformers in these countries many of them went underground after the iraq war started they became associated with democracy and democracy for a time was a bad word in the arab world it should never be a bad word we should be proud of democracy but the reformers were afraid and there were instances as well where they would come out into the streets in particular in cairo in two thousand and five. and the bush administration turned its back to the many democracy activists got sent to prison so while the vision yes democracy nearby world they did talk about they did not create it and certainly when it came to implementation there's nothing on the record that looks like what just happened today do you think that what did happen today also kind of proves that we don't necessarily

the relationship that george w. bush had the chains lore was -- chancellor was not based on the fact that george w. bush -- it was based on the fact that germany as a nation has interests. they do not fully coincide any longer with nose of the united states. it's impossible to pretend we're in the middle of a cold war and this relationship continues to exist, and if you take that president down and put a different president in, they wind up with the same relationship, and it's not a personal relationship. it's not that they get along or they don't get along or like each other, but germany is a nation of many people. the united states is similarly a nation. the president is the end product of that. at times he leads, but he leads best when he's going to the place we're going anyway, and obama is perhaps a clinic in the limits of foreign policy. >> host: yep, that's right, or certainly in rhetoric, there's no question about that. >> guest: you can turn the rhetoric into many, many volumes of policy papers. his essential as

the relationship that george w. bush had with chancellor merkel was not based on the fact that george w. bush was at last there came a been. is based on the fact that germany as a nation has interests. they do not fully coincide any longer with those of the united states. it's impossible to pretend where in the cold war, and if you take that present out of a different present in, he's going to wind up with the same relationship and it's not a personal relationship. it's not that they get along or they don't get along or they like each other. germany is a nation of many millions of people. the united states, similar nation. the president is the end product of that, that at times can lead but he leaves that's what is going to the place where we are going anyway. and obama is perhaps -- >> host: are certainly the limits of rhetoric. there's no question about that. >> guest: he turns rhetoric into many, many volumes of position papers and policy papers. is a central assumption i think at the beginning was that u.s. german re

is basically new and very little is restricted. >> a couple of weeks ago we did a program with george w. bush sitting in right there. laura bush's on your board? >> she is. >> behind, a famous texas named -- ray hunt and sarah perot? >> she's an alumni. >> is she married here? >> ross perot, jr.." she is an smu alumni so we are pleased to have them be part of our family. >> how big is your board? >> 42. we have the president of faculty senate, a voting student, and alumni, and three bishops from the united methodist church on the board. it turned over more or less every four years and people have to be reaffirmed. there is a term limit of three four year terms and there can be exceptions. by and large that is stayed with. 42 is a good size and it obviously cannot leave governed university but encourage others to be a part of the university. >> go back to the first moment you tried to get george w. bush to bring his library and museum here on this campus. >> the first time we set it in action when he was running we said, "would it be nice?" after the vote in florida, the next morning, i walked

and in 2006 it was george w. bush's state department that removed libya from its list of nations that sponsor terror. gadhafi had agreed to end a suspected nuclear program, and turned his equipment over to the u.s. he also agreed to pay millions of dollars to the families of victims of pan am 103, bombed by libyan agents in 1988. it was a diplomatic truce after years of hostility. in 1986 libya was accused of bombing a berlin nightclub frequented by u.s. soldiers. ronald reagan retaliated, ordering an air strike against gadhafi's tent, accidentally killing his young daughter. gadhafi escaped unharmed. >> today we have done what we had to do. if necessary, we shall do it again. >> reporter: all through the 1980s, the u.s. said gadhafi was letting plo and ira terrorists train in libyan terror camps. his hold on his people was absolute. gadhafi's iron grip began when i overthrew the king in 1969. now gadhafi himself appears close to being on the losing end of another historic change. andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington.

who felt that there was no need for a post opposed invasion plan that regime of the bush bush george w. bush was such a catastrophe all of them were arrogant managers rumsfeld the most arrogant of all a reckless person someone who most people in washington and around the world consider to be nothing but a thug with a thug in a in a pinstripe suit so now that they've had this catastrophe on their hands they're playing the blame game colin powell will blame rumsfeld rumsfeld will blame everybody else but himself and of course i think this only makes the administration look what it really is as as a bunch of fools arrogant part of an imperial empire thinking that military supremacy and it alone could dominate world events when the rest of the world is unwilling to go back into a nineteenth century mode except being themselves as nothing but pond in a geo strategic chessboard led by an american empire so rumsfeld has a problem i think it's the blame game i think it all fell. away that he's this is. the way now take it away. only it was business news we have time for russian and the major gazprom

president george w. bush has canceled a visit to switzerland citing security concerns and came after human rights groups threatened protests and called on the swiss government to tame bush for authorizing the torture of suspected terrorists journalist option returns he believes it's like it's unlikely bush will be held to account by an international court. it's difficult to know where to start with george w. bush because it into a car drove people dick cheney it's call romas filters dick cheney's chief of staff we don't have rumsfeld's memoirs this is about illegal wars and so on but this case i think centers around two individuals in particular one of whom i've met a cameraman for a qatari satellite t.v. channel who was incarcerated in guantanamo for years and we mustn't forget forty eight year old guy a few days ago after being going to her for nine years also without charge of course and tortured by the international law has proved pretty useless when it comes to torture will any of these come to pass to a

dams, nuclear power plants and targeting former president george w. bush. president obama was briefed on the fbi's plans before they moved in to arrest him, and pierre thomas set out to learn more about the saudi arabian and his plans today. pierre? >> reporter: diane, the sources i've been talking to on the phone all day say this case is scary. exactly what they are worried about. one official said the suspect is, quote, the real deal. a bona fide threat. >> reporter: the fbi says the evidence is clear. this man, khalid aldawsari, a chemical engineering student from saudi arabia, was planning a murderous campaign. >> this guy appears to be very serious. >> reporter: the potential targets? president george w. bush's dallas home, referred to as the tyrant's house. streets in new york for possible car bombs. nuclear power plants. dams in california and colorado. backpack bombs for a dallas nightclub. and even, the fbi says, studied how to turn dolls into bombs. in his apartment, the fbi said it discovered a bomb-making factory. a hazmat suit, lab equipment, w

agenda is and for that you have to go back to george w. bush's time after september two thousand and one when he proposed to the g. eight a greater middle east project and the greater middle east project he likened to the economic transfer transformation of russia and the former eastern european economies in the soviet union a major liberalization free market introduction across the. arab world or the northern africa region going and the greater middle east keep in mind wasn't simply the middle east it was a map that went from gibraltar the borders of morocco all the way over to the borders of china tibet and and compassed a swath of land that would simply cut off the oil rich lands of africa and the middle east both from china and also the economic flows to russia so it would be a major geopolitical strategic development and that's that's what we're seeing on the fold now it was put on hold after the us invasion of iraq and afghanistan but the iraq afghanistan ploys have to be seen as part of this greater middle east project it's a major as a mo

a world order in which the murder laws are enforced in which the bush doctrine isn't forced george w. bush's doctrine said if you arm a terrorist namely someone who kills civilians you are a terrorist i agree with president bush entirely but by his definition he himself was a terrorist as is the current us government because when you're arming regimes that kill civilians you're breaking the law politicians can still get away with that today there are no international institutions the work of the international criminal court won't step in and arrest mubarak or arrest obama so the people have to do it themselves and that's what they're starting to do in the streets of egypt this is very inspiring ok it's not just a lesson for the arab world this is a lesson for americans for people everywhere stand up for your rights revolt and stand up if your government is depriving others of their rights ok me media want to reply to that yeah i mean you know i think that that's the that's right what you've just said i mean that is to say it's important that. you know we observers people in the media really

you know, you should know that the bin laden family funded george w. bush's first oil endeavor. you should know that, and he somehow makes that funny. i don't know how he does it. i do grapple with that. i don't always make it amusing. but i think it's every person's responsibility when they have a microphone and the ear of so many people to--yes, you're a comic; make them laugh. that's what they paid their money to see. but also edify in some way. don't keep lowering the bar culturally. the bar is low enough in our--you know, it's howard stern low. it's very low. and so i don't want to participate in that, in the de-intellectualization of our citizenry, you know? the book you wrote with ben stiller, feel this book, which is largely kind of a parody of self-help books, also had nuggets like this: is that--it also kind of drives your career, doesn't it? you're not doing the predictable. well, see, here's the thing, though. thank you for saying that i'm not doing something predictable, because i take it as a compliment, but true radicals probably see me as the biggest, like, sello

middle east you know you look at our policies around the world you recall the freedom agenda of george w. bush the god damn it we will bring democracy to these people no matter what it takes we will barge in interfere or starve wars kill civilians lose our own and democracy will come well today i believe the people of egypt proved that freedom agenda wrong no we don't need to interfere we don't need to tell the people of other countries how to live their lives or who to choose as their leaders no matter how good our intentions are you know we could not prop up their dictators give them billions of dollars in military aid every year but that's an entirely different story of course it's nice to wish democracy onto others but you can't force it so we need to stand back and let people make their own best. all right it's friday and that means that it's time for happy hour now this week we're going to do a little bit differently because we're just going to focus on one issue and that's because the biggest conservative party of the year is c pac is going on and thus there is just too much to make fun

the relationship george w. bush had with chancellor merkel wasn't on the fact that george w. bush allowed then, it was seized on the fact germany as a nation has interests as they do not fully coincide any longer with those of the united states. it's impossible to pretend we are in the middle of the cold war in this relationship to exist, and if you take that president and put a different president in regardless with the intent tensions are he's going to wind up with the same relationship and it's not a personal relationship, it's not that they get along or they don't get along or the like each other. germany is a nation of many tens of millions of people in the united states and the president is the end product of that, but he leads best when he's going to the place you're going anyway. obama is perhaps a critic in the limited foreign policy. you can turn their rhetoric and to many volumes of position papers and policy papers. his assumption at the beginning was that u.s. and german relations could have been with the work 20 years ago had not been for the unilateralism of geo

it's equally interesting to look at george w. bush and raise the question to what extent did he have the options that we like to do. we like to view our presidents with magical powers that they make decisions in a vacuum and create policies and people who speak to the president are semi magical and so on and so forth. pardon me to avoid the demagogues of washington it's extremely important to understand how little choice obama had. the relationship that he had with chancellor merkel was not based on the fact that george w. bush was [inaudible] it was based on fact germany as a nation has interests as they do not fully come inside any longer with those of the united states. it's impossible to pretend we are in the middle of the cold war in this relationship continues to exist. he's going to end up with the same relationship and it's not a personal relationship. it's not that they get along or they don't get along or the like each other. germany as a nation with tens of millions of people, the united states is the nation. the president

a couple weeks ago we did a program with george w. bush sitting in that chair. laura bush is on your report? >> -- laura bush is on your board? >> ray hunt is a famous texas named. who does sarah were lake? >> she is an alumni. she is married to ross perot, jr.. sarah is an alumnus so we are very pleased to have them a part of the family. >> how big is your board? >> it is 42. they had a number of official members. they had a voting student that boats for everyone else. we have three bishops of the united methodist church on the board. it turns over every four years. there is a term limit of three- year terms. there can be exceptions but -- 42 is a good size. it obviously has to govern the university andy encourage others to be a part of it. >> go back to the first moment he thought about trying to get george bush to bring his library here on this campus? >> the first time i set it at -- -action when he said we were running. we did not do anything until after the florida vote. after that vote i walked in to my director of executive affairs and said what do you kn

president george w. bush made a decision when he first came into office that he was concerned about the fact that iraq was firing regularly at united states and united kingdom aircraft that were supporting the united nations no-fly zone and patrolling in the northern and southern portion of iraq. the plans were being shot at almost every day. the only country in the war that was shooting an american and british aircraft. over 2,000 times they were fired on. the joint chiefs of staff advised me and the president that they were concerned about the fact that eventually one of our planes, a british plane on our plan would be shot down. killed were taken hostage. the third being the unit is this department of state had listed iraq as one of the country's on the terrorist list. there were a series of things like that by way of background. it next, the united states intelligence it is the spent a great deal of time and determined that they were convinced that the iraqi government had weapons of mass destruction, had

launch a terrorist attack and its potential targets include the dallas home of former president george w. bush. the in wisconsin, the state assembly passed a bill which strips most public workers of collective bargaining rights. if that bill still has a long way to go. if no other states are taking up the fight over union rights for state workers. samantha hayes has the latest. >>reporter: the nextel is the state senate. a process that is expected to become more contentious as 14 democratic senators opposed to the legislation, republican gov. scott walker urged be a while lawmakers to return of the capital. >> i am asking is for 14 state senators to do with their colleagues and assemblies have done in the last several days and that's come back. >>reporter: state workers' protests and inside the capitol building shouting shame after the measure to pass the state assembly friday. the budget repair bill would require most government workers to cover more of their health-care premiums and pensions. in washington at the national governors' association meeting, the democratic governor criticized rep

arabian national has been charged with the bombing plot potentially targeting the former president george w. bush. he was detained in texas on a federal charge of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. more than 200 people remain unaccounted for in an earthquake that toppled buildings across the city on tuesday. more than a underbodies have been recovered, but no survivors have been found since the day after. how many people still require aid? i imagine the search efforts are still continuing, because it is turning to recovery operations? >> the official view is that the rescue operation is very much in full swing and will continue that way until such time that no one could have survived. it seems to be intensified. another research team is flying in to join the international colleagues from australia, the united states, china, and japan. certainly in the center, we don't get the sense that the rescue effort is diminishing. but as time goes on, naturally, concerns are being raised that perhaps time is running out for anyone still clinging to life beneath the rubble. >> do experts give ind

so, don't ask me about george w. bush. ask me about boone pickens when it comes to natural gas and comes to power in general and he has made an awful lot of money and -- in natural gas and things of that sort and he's my expert in the area. >> this is an e-mail from david l. smith, editor of the cassandra chronicles and cyclical investing. in mr. tyrrell's december 4, 2010 op-ed piece in the "wall street journal," you write: gene kirkpatrick and irving crystal and for a time daniel patrick moynihan were in crystal's words, liberals when were mugged by reality. then he goes onto write to you, the reality they were mugged by was the reagan revolution with the commitment to low taxes, minimal regulations, and strong defense, which have dominated the political agenda for two of the past three decades. long enough to evaluate the results of such policies. the data clearly reveal that the rich have gotten super-rich and the poor have become poorer and the middle class have mugged time pursuing the american dream, piling up mount

federal court later today after being accused of blowing up the dallas home of former president george w. bush. he was arrested yesterday. the justice department says along with plans to blow up president bush's home he also wanted to blow up nuclear power plants. he came to the united states in 2008. >>> the united nations security council could vote today to place sanctions on libya. last night protesters gathered once again for the demands. >>> overnight republicans in wisconsin state assembly passed a bill that would take away collective bargaining rights. that brought a sharp response from democrats. the controversial bill now goes to wisconsin state senate, but 14 democrats are still in neighboring illinois refusing to vote on the measure. >>> here in california governor jerry brown is trying to sell lawmakers on his new proposed budget plan. >> when folks say no vote, not american. it's not acceptable and it's not loyalty in california. >> the governor med his case in front of a special committee in sacramento. he's pushing for a special election in which voters will decide on tax resci

a saudi student in texas accused of targeting nuclear plants and president george w. bush. >>> losing it. libya's gadhafi in a spiraling rant, saying protesters are crazed on hallucinogens in coffee. and we learn how a dating website helped launch a rebellion.

chemicals online to blow up targets around the country, including the home of former president george w. bush. he's charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. he was arrested after a chemical supply company in north carolina contacted the fbi, saying the suspect tried to buy bombmaking chemicals from that company. our chief investigative correspondent, brian ross, is here. brian, we hear the terms, see something, say something, so much. it's a slogan that's in danger of becoming a cliche. but in this case, it proved to be very valuable. >> reporter: it worked very well. the company in north carolina and a second company in texas both called the fbi to alert them to khalid aldawsari. there was something very suspicious about him. a real lone wolf. and they feel this kind of program can stop that. >> a useful slogan in this case. and i understand you have an update this morning on another investigation you recently brought up. >> reporter: that's right. on friday, we reported on the failure of the big three rental car agencies to repair safety defects on cars before renting the

president george w. bush. he outlined what he thought ought to happen, how the department of defense could be brought into the 21st century, and any changes that are made tend to be made over the objection of the congress, the defense contractors, and the permanent bureaucracy. they are comfortable with the way it is. they concluded that is the way it ought to be, and a president comes into office with different views, there tends to be natural opposition to it. for example, the crusader program. i cannot think of a worse name in this environment, but it was an enormous artillery piece that took two aircraft to move anywhere in the world. certainly not something that was appropriate for the 21st century and the asymmetric warfare we are facing. the opposition to it was just incredible. the retired community in the army, the active duty community in the army, civilian contractors, congress -- i will give you an example as a data point. when i was secretary of defense in the 1970's, the defense authorization bi