we still see weapons moving from iran into iraq. iran into iraq. we have not seen any adjustments made sense the problem with the elections in iran. they are maintaining themselves in a steady state. >> you have a sense that the iranians are positioning themselves for further action? there is the dramatic instances over past years. what appears to be the running game plan? >> -- to be the i iranian game plan? >> what we have seen is a bit of a slowdown of support. i would like to say that has to do with the pressure that we have put on. we have made it difficult. we have been able to go actor and reconcile with some of the groups said they initially were supporting. we unable to go after some of the sarah gets. i think that has contributed. they realize that in february of this year that some of their strategy was failing. they fought against the security agreement. it was signed. the candidates that they were looking for support did not do well. following that, they have done a bit of review of their strategy. however, they are still training and

can do that is by being at a border post like this and try to speak to the people crossing from iran into iraq. they do that on a daily basis here. i have to say that most people have been very nervous about speaking to me, told foreign journalists. some have refused. others have said are not ready to go on camera, because they say there are secret service, iranian secret service agents you're watching and listening on the iraqi side of the border, they say. i managed to speak to one man named habib. in some little town not far from here, but inside iran. he said there was a coup d'etat by ahmadinejad. he believes ahmadinejad stole the election. he said we have the right to press dissipate in the types of demonstrations in iran, but it was -- he said he wanted to participate in the types of demonstrations like there were in the capital, but it was not possible. another man told me he was supportive of ahmadinejad because he helps poor people. he helped me by my truck, he said. everyone pretty much said the demonstrations are over. some people say there is still a heightened police presence, bu

into iran. these are iranian kurds that have made the journey into iraq to pick up their next assignment. this is the duty free region, every kinds of alcohol being stocked here and shipped to the mountains smuggled into iran. >> the majority of iraqi kurds are muslim, but here there is no restriction of selling or consuming alcohol. >> french wine. >> since the revolution three decades ago, alcohol has been banned in iran. anyone cut drinking more than three times could face the death penalty. >> i have been shot and the islamic republic has caught and jailed me. >> the illegal source of alcohol is the main income. here this young one is 15. and has been smuggling for years. >> i lost my father and have made money for the family. >> these men wait to cross the border, sometimes the iranian border guards can be persuaded to cross with heavy bribes. but often shoot them. >> the iranian fire is on us, sometimes we run away. if they catch us, they execute us. >> in the past century many have come and gone on both sides of the border. but little change of the people in this region. >> with the

into iran. these are iranian kurdsho have made daerous journey ross the border into iraq to pick up their next consignment. is is t duty free region of kurdistan. every kind of alcohol can b bought here d shipped and smgled into iran. th majority iraqi kurds are muslim, but here, there is restricon on selling more consing alcohol. french wine. since the islamic resolution three decades ago, alcohol has been baed in iran. anyone cght drinking more than three times could facthe death penalt >> i have en shot. he islamic republi has jelled me for smuggling seven tim. i got six months each time. >> in the hnic kurdish encla on either side ofthe border, the illegal flow of alcohol is the main source of income. fo many kurds, this is risky job is the only way to surve. this man i15. he's been a smuggler for two years. >> i lost my fatr. i'm the only oneeing true to my famy. >> these men are awaiting to load their horses and oss the border. sometimes the iranian brder guards can be peradedo let them pass for a hefty bribes. but oftenthey shoot smugglers and their horses. >> iranian police ofte fire on us and we

never mind that the war in iraq was terribly badly managed for all kinds of reasons that we don't have to go into. so iran may be a very different situation, but the same kind of skepticism that exists in the american public today may transfer to iran, and iran clearly is doing a lot of things that are very, very, very difficult for us to deal with. and for the muslim and arab world to deal with, namely, trying to undermine regimes that don't in a sense follow their line. they are certainly trying to undermine the regime in lebanon. they are certainly trying to do it in egypt. they are certainly trying to do it in sudan. and there is a sort of export of a coined of radical muslim -- kind of radical muslim belief. by the way, saudi arabia has a large role in that because of their export of the wahabi dimensions of islam which many people think is a fairly radical regime. but it's something we have to find, we as a country and the west as a group of countries are going to have to find some way to deal with and to particularly if it turns out that iran's regime is as radical as they sound. and they do have t

iraq near the iran border. kurdish official space the americans were arrested when they went in a iran -- into iranian territory without permission. one security official says the missing americans were tourists on an outing. we will have more on this story when the news becomes available. >>> also in iraq, six bombs went off within minutes of each other near shiite mosques across baghdad today. at least 26 people were killed and 67 others were injured. those attacks targeted worshipers leaving friday prayers. the bombings shattered a period of relative calm in the iraqi capital. those attacks also underscored concerns about the abilities of iraqi security forces to maintain security gains now that u.s. troops have withdrawn from major urban areas of iraq. >>> iranian president, ahmadinejad, was a bit on the defensive today. in a televised speech, he dismissed his critics' claims that his relationship with iran's supreme leader soured. ahmadinejad said there's no rift nora feud. he said his relationship with the supreme leader is like that of pear and son. ahmadinejad accused his rivals of trying to drive a wed

iran/iraq war. in 1929 revamping of the revolution. turning the office of the leadership from a regular office of leadership into into an absolute office of leadership and created the expediencey council because of the conflicts that existed in the country or the rise of the reformist politics. none of these events have been as significant as far as i can tell and as far as i'm concerned, the significance of these events lie in the fact that throughout its life the islamic republic has relied on two basic institutions to manage and moderate political conflicts and fundamental conflicts. and those institutions where elections and the office of the -- and in this situation, both of those institutions faded and fade significantly -- failed and failed significantly and miserably. elections, amazingly the 29th, this election was the 29th. that we just witnessed in the islamic republics. 30th -- 30-year history have been a matter of choice to manage mass participation while the office has been the ultimate overseeing arena where competition is regulate and negotiated. not necessarily totally managed because this competition goes out of contr

if we get into iraq and the government about malachi allies with iran, the israelis will really be scared. >> i am curious to know the panel's thoughts on the movement to privatize industry in iran and with the overpopulation getting to the age to gain momentum will lose momentum or have any lasting social or political e facts? >> there is a lot of progress made under khatami. what has happened unfortunately over the last three years the privatization program has gone awry. ahmadinejad said it up hough -- so the foundation by the irg sea are really taking over the companies procure not seen the type of privatization you saw until about 2002 or 2003 and a lot of ways iran has gone backwards over the last three years. you saw liberalization in the banking system, a private banks taking off that could lend to companies on the basis of the credit. i would hope if you have a new president you may see some revitalization program but right now it is a nest. >> n/a a possibility behind-the-scenes rapprochement between iran and israel they have connections that have never been made by reaching an

confirm that three americans have been taken into custody in iran after they reportedly crossed the border without permission while backpacking in northern iraqpresident thanked congress today for giving the cash for clunkers program a much-needed boost. congress passed legislation extending funding for that program that allows consumers to trade in their less fuel efficient cars to upgrade to more fuel efficient models. >>> senator chris dodd announced today that he has been diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer. dodd will undergo surgery during recess next month. he says he feels fine and plans to seek re-election next year. >>> cautious optimism about today's gdp report led to a mixed close on wall street. the dow jones industrials added 17 points. the s&p 500 up a fraction. the nasdaq down almost 6 points. a quick programming note, president obama's national economic council director, larry summers, will be on "meet the press" this sunday. now back to "hardball." >>> welcome back to "hardball." karl rove gave closed door testimony to the house judiciary committee regarding his role in the firing of those federal prosecutors back in 2

iraq. it is not an issue in iran. the revolutionary guards are in much more powerful positions then we think. if that is the case, we are moving towards a dictatorship. we are moving into not a military dictatorship, but they dictatorship of thugs. the military is completely out. the past 72 hours, there have been military maneuvers. the army, the navy, the air force -- i have no idea what that means. the military is having maneuvers. if we're going to go towards a dictatorship of the thugs, that is very frightening for us and for israel. i do not know what israel is going to do. i think discipline is waiting. we do not know which direction we are going. >> we are both at a crossroads and out of time. let me underline the fact that one of the themes of the presentations is how much we do not nel. being -- we do not know. being in that situation, we are best device to collect as much information as we can and not take any action right away. please join me in thanking our speakers and thank you all for attending. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2008] >> how is c-span funded? >> i don't

iran retaliates against us, like it or not, we will be drawn into a war with iran. more and more casualties, in afghanistan, probably renewed the violence scale in iraq.necessary in any case. so i think that we have to be very clear about our own interests, and not allow ourselves to be dragged into a conflict when we do not need, and it's not necessary. i repeat, we do not know if the iranians are building nuclear weapons. all we know is they have a ambitious nuclear program. they may be, and they may not be. we secondly could detour them, because we have detoured much bigger countries, and why shouldn't we be able to detour iran? >> dr. brzezinski, i agree, the united states can detour iran. but the israeli position is they cannot be allowed to continue with the program, and he cannot be allowed to get nuclear programs. that's the threat to the israeli nation. even if we tell him not to move, he would move on his own. >> what does that mean? the moment the iran's get their first bomb, they will get national pleasure by blowing up tel aviv? that's national propaganda. and why don't they stage a big employ and announce that they will give up their nuc

iran to north korea's missile threats and the wars in iraq and afghanistan, stalemates still in the middle east. president obama has already faced an array of foreign policy challenges, just six months intois presidency. so with that six-month mark, michael o'hanlon joins us now. let's talk first about the ayatollah in iran today, pushing back very hard, so the leaders in iran pushing back hard against rafsanjani and the other protesters from the friday prayers. . >> hi, andrea. i think we have to assume on iran that in the short-term, the more repressed elements of the state will prevail. ahmadinejad, ayatollah khamene. as you say, they're already pushing back against protesters and cut back the street protests to a very small size. even if those protests continue, they are not at the tens of thousands of size we saw initially. so in the short-term, the hardliners will win, but there is enough ferment in iran to give some longer-term hope, unfortunately, not soon enough to address the nuclear crisis where iran could have a bomb, but over the longer term, somewhat hopeful. >> hillary clinton is in new delhi today, wrapping up a three-day trip to india. interestingly, she did not couple t

reason the stock has gone up is we fell into such economic turmoil and that wasn't really anticipated at the time he starting to slip. it was much more on iraq and irannd that helped jump mccain. when you look at mitt romney's experience in business that might be one thing they look at to say maybe he would have been good. >> remember that mitt authored a book about his experience at the olympics and a lot of people look to him as the ultimate turnaround artist. so, if our country is in a situation -- you led the segment right, this is so far out. but if we are in a situation in a couple of years where we have not come out of this economic collapse, if we are still struggling and we need somebody who understands business i think people will gravitate toward him. martha: but you think he is not the guy. you think we need an iron lady. >> you have to look at the republican primary field. romney has the substance area cornered and i think that is what republicans are hungry for. but sarah palin has the emotional side and huckabee has the spiritual side. romney did a bit of a reinvention madonna style and he will take you for healthcare i don't think tha

protests in iran, potential union issues when it comes to an oil deal in iraq, and even some supply output concerns in nigeria. and then just about every trader said no one wanted to be short going into the weekend. take a look at the whole day just with oil. it finishes off the highs a little bit, but this is the first up week in four weeks. so it's a very strong finish. look at the whole complex, actually, reformulated heating oil, strong throughout the day. you take a look.. it lagged toward the end but held up the double digits percentage gains from yesterday, which is really important. i just want to point out with the metals, they sort of trended sluggishly with the rest of the commodities today. but all to the up side for the week. and also, copper up nearly 10%. some people betting on a bit of a rebound here. back to you. >> all right, schak. coco's going crazy too. you know who else is going crazy, the stock market. let's wrap up the week that was. i'm joined on the floor by lee munson chief investment portfolio asset management. and david darst at morgan smith barney. the guy with more business card print than anybody ever. >> thank you. >> we're having the best week for st

iran and iraq economy. friday president obama will have an audience with the pope. >>> the real world is turning into a biger trying to interview an onlooker about the show was interrupted by a real world camera man. some people are twittering their every move. >> it's the first time i think real world has had to deal with twitter, and it's not good for the real world people. >> well, people living nearby the house say it's becoming a nuisance with camera lights on all the time, security guards and tour bus drive-bys. >>> the repair shop owner took a jaguar home and didn't pay a highway toll. he agreed to keep the car at the shop until the guy could pay the bill. the shop owner said, hey, he just wanted to make sure the jag was running properly. he drove it 87 miles, though. he says that's from test drives and the trip home. >> i'm not out sporting around in this car styling. i've got one of my own. >> i don't think a dealership would drive my car home. >> the shop owner did get a ticket. he said he could have gotten permission before he drove the car home. but he says if the man doesn't get his car soon,

iraq and iran is very undefined. it's a natural border with no fence separating the two. the concern is that these three americans may have accidently strayed into iranian territory. at the same time we're still trying to confirm a lot of this information. the u.s. embassy just saying most recently that they are still trying to track these three down. so a lot of this remains up in the air. but what we do know is that the three have been missing, not heard from since 1:30 p.m. today. the last phone call saying we're surrounded by the iranian military. >> we'll check back with you as developments warrant. and three missing american students along the iraqi-iranian border means a headache and a surprise to the obama white house. let's go straight to our correspondent dan lothian. what do they know at the white house? >> reporter: certainly a headache and a surprise so officials are looking into this case. i did talk to a senior administration official who told me the embassy in baghdad is investigating this report. he says we're using all available means to determine the facts in this case. the official went on to say that they take all detention

authorize the president to go into afghanistan and iraq and the majority of the american people supported him. but the caller makes a good point. we have a long history. iranad a democratic government and we would that of the british over through its in 1953 and put the shah and power, was no democrat, and authoritarian. between the war between iran and iraq we were helping iraq and the iranians remembered that. interestingly enough, iran- contra when we send the missiles to israel and israel sent it to iran so the iranians could use against the iraqis. host: he used the term illegal war in the reagan administration, talking about afghanistan, but the bottom line is eventually afghanistan was flipped and the russians were out and the afghanis reason why, but with our armed supported that was never cleared through congress. guest: it definitely was. if he saw the movie "charlie wulsin swarmer," it was congress who was pushing to send the equipment -- "charlie wilson's wore the tiered iran contra, that is why it was a scandal, because they did not get permission to send missiles to israel and sent to iran because they were using the profits to fund operation

authorize the president to go into afghanistan and iraq and the majority of the american people supported him. but the caller makes a good point. we have a long history. iranhad a democratic government and we would that of the british over through its in 1953 and put the shah and power, was no democrat, and authoritarian. between the war between iran and iraq we were helping iraq and the iranians remembered that. interestingly enough, iran- contra when we send the missiles to israel and israel sent it to iran so the iranians could use against the iraqis. host: he used the term illegal war in the reagan administration, talking about afghanistan, but the bottom line is eventually afghanistan was flipped and the russians were out and the afghanis reason why, but with our armed supported that was never cleared through congress. guest: it definitely was. if he saw the movie "charlie wulsin swarmer," it was congress who was pushing to send the equipment -- "charlie wilson's wore the tiered iran contra, that is why it was a scandal, because they did not get permission to send missiles to israel and sent to iran because they were using the profits to fund operatio

authorize the president to go into afghanistan and iraq and the majority of the american people supported him. but the caller makes a good point. we have a long history. iran had a democratic government and we would that of the british over through its in 1953 and put the shah and power, was no democrat, and authoritarian. between the war between iran and iraq we were helping iraq and the iranians remembered that. interestingly enough, iran- contra when we send the missiles to israel and israel sent it to iran so the iranians could use against the iraqis. host: he used the term illegal war in the reagan administration, talking about afghanistan, but the bottom line is eventually afghanistan was flipped and the russians were out and the afghanis reason why, but with our armed supported that was never cleared through congress. guest: it definitely was. if he saw the movie "charlie wulsin swarmer," it was congress who was pushing to send the equipment -- "charlie wilson's wore the tiered iran contra, that is why it was a scandal, because they did not get permission to send missiles to israel and sent to iran because they were using the profits to fund operati

about the iran-iraq war, then in 1989 revamping of the revolution that institutionally reshaped the islamic republic, turning the office of the leadership from a regular office of leadership intobsolute office of leadership and created the expediency council because of the conflicts that existed in the country or the rights of the reformist politics. none of these have been as significant as far as i can tell. and as far as i'm concerned the significance of the events lies in the fact that throughout its life the islamic republic has relied on two basic institutions to manage and moderate political competiti competition, conflicts and fundamental contradictions of the islamic republic. they were elections and office of the leaders. in this situation, both of those institutions failed, and failed significantly and miserably. elections, amazingly, the 29th that we just witnessed in the islamic republic's 30-year history, have been a method of choice to manage mass participation while the office has been the ultimate overseeing arena where competition is regulated and ultimately negotiated. not necessarily totally managed because, you know, as competition goes out of control once