forces in iraq. sunni's to rise up and this is of course the last thing we can we can hope for the for those of us who want stability in iraq but just one more one more point i'd like to me you know i'm also an iranian i mean runyan and he's really not the most popular countries in the middle east right now but in terms of in terms of. iranian history one thing i have to say is that you know what the west did in iran the toppling of dick and and the history of the west what it did to iran i blame the west for many things but i also think that we do people of the middle east have to look at ourselves also to see where we can bring reform where we can bring change and where we can stop outside powers basically taking advantage from us for their own goals ok pepe it seems to me just means that it's like there is a great difficulty for the people of the middle east to assert themselves and remember this region was colonized god one i know i don't want to go about too much into history but this is this is

forces in iraq. sunni's to rise up and this is of course the last thing we can we can hope for the for those of us who want stability in iraq but just one more one more point i'd like to me you know i'm also an iranian iranian and israeli not the most popular countries in the middle east right now but in terms of in terms of. iranian history one thing i have to say is that you know what the west did in iran the toppling of dick and and the history of the west what it did to iran i blame the west for many things but i also think that we do people of the middle east have to look at ourselves also to see where we can bring reform where we can bring change and where we can stop outside powers basically taking advantage from us for their own goals ok pepe it seems to me interesting there is that there is a great difficulty for the people of the middle east to assert themselves and remember this region was colonized god one i know i don't want to go back too much into history but this is this is the realit

forces in iraq. sunni's to rise up and this is of course the last thing we can we can hope for the for those of us who want stability in iraq but just one more one more point i'd like to me you know i'm also an iranian iranian an israeli not the most popular countries in the middle east right now but in terms of in terms of. iranian history one thing i have to say is that you know what the west did in iran the toppling of dick and and the history of the west what it did to iran i blame the west for many things but i also think that we to people of the middle east have to look at ourselves also to see where we can bring reform where we can bring change and where we can stop outside powers basically taking advantage from us for their own goals ok pepe it seems to me interesting there is that there is a great difficulty for the people of the middle east to assert themselves and remember this region was colonized god one i know i don't want to go about too much into history but this is this is the realit

forces in iraq. sunni's to rise up and this is of course the last thing we can we can hope for the for those of us who want stability in iraq but just one more one more point i'd like to me you know i'm also an iranian iranian and he's really not the most popular countries in the middle east right now but in terms of in terms of. iranian history one thing i have to say is that you know what the west did in iran the toppling of dick and and the history of the west what it did to iran i blame the west for many things but i also think that we do people of the middle east have to look at ourselves also to see where we can bring reform where we can bring change and where we can stop outside powers basically taking advantage from us for their own goals ok pepe it seems to me interesting there is that there is a great difficulty for the people of the middle east to assert themselves and remember this region was colonized god one i know i don't want to go back too much into history but this is this is the re

forces in iraq. sunni's to rise up and this is of course the last thing we can we can hope for the for those of us who want stability in iraq but just one more one more point i'd like to me you know i'm also an iranian iranian an israeli not the most popular countries in the middle east right now but in terms of in terms of. iranian history one thing i have to say is that you know what the west did in iran the toppling of dick and and the history of the west what it did to iran i blame the west for many things but i also think that we to people of the middle east have to look at ourselves also to see where we can bring reform where we can bring change and where we can stop outside powers basically taking advantage from us for their own goals ok pepe it seems to me just means that it's like there is a great difficulty for the people of the middle east to assert themselves and remember this region was colonized god one i know i don't want to go back too much into history but this is this is the reality

saddam virtually seals iraq off from the west. in a 1998 letter to president clinton, paul wolfowitz, donald rumsfeld, and other leading neoconservatives urge the president to take action to remove saddam's regime from power. the neocons align with an urbane iraqi expatriate named ahmed al chalabi. he heads the iraqi national congress, a group of emigres and defectors lobbying to get rid of saddam. >> i say to you now the opposition is united in its aim of getting rid of saddam and establishing democracy in iraq. >> he was a very impressive and effective spokesman for the iraqi opposition to saddam. >> a very slick operator who was skillful enough to convey the idea that he could step in as a new leader of iraq. but that was totally divorced from realities on the ground. >> i george walker bush do solemnly swear -- >> when george w. bush is sworn in january 2001, rumsfeld, wolfowitz and feith take the reins of defense department policy. vice president cheney has reversed course and now supports regime change in iraq. motive awaits

without being kidnapped people's daily lives were not so deadly and this is what the occupation did to iraq so one one describes the consequences of the u.s. led occupation one is not justifying saddam's crimes one is pointing out that a country like iraq a great civilization has been brought down to its knees by this direct occupation the brutality of the occupation sort of past saddam's regime the tortures in the prisons of our book raban other secret prisons prisons set of past what saddam's torture chambers that so one is trying to see where iraq has travelled following the fair teen years of sanctions following the the brutal occupation and this is what we are trying to resolve in iowa as well what is the future for iraq having traveled this through this bloody carnage and the united states today it's trying to further destabilize iraq so that it can have a regime in baghdad that only says yes and what washington wants and this is not easy to achieve that is why washington despite iraq occupying iraq still facing enormous opposition within the country even within parties that have coop

led occupation did in iraq and how it destroyed iraq one is not trying to say that saddam's regime was a bad offer oses. dictatorship the thaws a dictatorship that killed many thousands of people with wage then i get water if i get action against iran et cetera et cetera but the people who are most people in iraq who are.

iraq. he just got at west point as i said, one of the top students. he chose to go into the armor corps because the big war that the army is preparing for was going to be united states versus soviet union on the plains of your. he even studied german at west point. he got fluent in the link which because that's where he would be spending most of his career. so on the plane to iraq. you might remember, we did a months worth of bombing, and then a mere four days of ground operation, and just completely destroyed the iraqi military. so there he is, looking around at the end of this, he's realizing we just destroyed the fourth, the world's fourth largest tank army in four days. a few months before this, the soviet union went up in smoke. the cold war is over. and he's thinking what am i going to be doing the rest of my life? what is the army going to be doing the rest of my life? he came with the idea that nobody is really ever going to challenge the united states again in a head-on contest of

he was wrong about how the iraq war would go. he was wrong about how the iraq war would end. early on he was not just a yes vote for the iraq war. he was an enthusiastic proponent of how good an idea it would be to start that war in iraq. it was a bad idea to start that war in iraq. we can say that now, right? is it controversial to say that the iraq war was a bad idea? aren't we sort of all on board with that now? at the outset of the iraq war john mccain, of course, was not alone. john mccain and chuck hagel both supported the iraq war initially, as did people like john kerry and hillary clinton and joe biden and dianne feinstein and chuck schumer and 24 other democrats in the senate and all but one of the republicans in the senate all voted yes. and yeah, there were democrats who were against the war from the beginning. and that one republican, lincoln chaffee. but there were enough democrats who said yes and went along with it. that's part of the reason the war happened. the difference over time is that republican chuck hagel and most of the democrats who were wrong about

he told gorbachev, but it's not all that over iraq.us not divide ourselves over saddam hussein. after all, there are far bigger things than this contribution which is going to be over very soon. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much, dr. engelke. i'm going to miss two other people to join us on stage. first it was like to have larry napper join us on stage. graduated from the 1969. he's a career foreign service officer who served this country as ambassador in kazakhstan and was the deputy chief of missions in romania where he received the state department distinguished honor award at the embassy during the overthrow of prochaska. i beg to ask randy has to join us. in 1967 received a regular army commission in the comfort tree. he surrendered after every level in peace and war from platoon leader to deputy commander of u.s. pacific command. during desert shield and desert storm he commended the 22nd brigade, blackjack or get on the first calvary division. lieutenant general house seabee brigade against saddam hussein making multi

i and iraq is falling apart very quickly.e are facing an insurgency we don't know what to do with like all the officers who are there have not been trained to fight this sort of war. it was not in the manuals and they didn't know what to do so they do what they usually do which was to bang down doors and arrest people. anyone who has read kahlÚa would have known as counterproductive because you end up killing the wrong people and you inflame -- you make them mad so the insurgents is flaming and meanwhile petraeus in mosul decides to put into effect the ideas in these books he has been reading. he and his guys start setting up an election for the new district. they vet the candidates candidatecandidate s and they said that the elections. they bring in fuel trucks. they reopened the university. they get communication systems going. they get some iraqis to open up newspapers. he opens up the border to syria along northern iraq. he does all this on his own. he is not doing it in the coordination of anybody washington, baghdad or

the surge in iraq, the fact is almost everybody opposed the surge in iraq.f you want to get after all, get after hillary clinton. get after barack obama. get after the entire joint chiefs of staff at the time. they are all against the surge. and you can make the case that it still has that were janet's ultimate strategic objectives for reasons i discussed in the meantime to cost a lot of money and probably when does the next or american soldiers died in the implementation of the surge compared if you just pulled them out. was that worth it? i don't know. we don't guy at, but it's not a clear-cut fact that the surge worked and we won in that of thing. as for the jewish lobby question, let's get real. the israeli press -- i'm jewish. the israeli press refers to the jewish lobby. aipac has had this thing going for years, were anyone who criticizes israel sayer anti-somatic. you're really talking about should, not israel. if someone says the lobby, they sayer anti-somatic because you called it the jewish lobby instead of the israel lobby. it's playing with words

it's about iraq.e should have known that this was john mccain's hangup on this when his questions to chuck hagel during his confirmation hearings this month could not get past the iraq war, which is over. but john mccain's obsession with it did have the silver lining of giving chuck hagel a chance to elaborate on his position on it. >> you continued on and on for months afterwards talking about what a disaster the surge would be, even to the point where it was clear the surge was succeeding. do you stand by that -- those comments, senator hagel? >> well, senator, i stand by them because i made them. >> were you right? were you correct in your assessment? >> well, i would defer to the judgment of history to sort that out. >> the committee can deserves your judgment as to whether you were right or wrong about the surge. >> i'll explain why i made those comments. >> i want to know if you're right or wrong. that's a direct question. i expect a direct answer. >> well, if you would like me to explain why. >

nor was bush particularly persuaded that iraq's aggression carried strategic concerns are that iraq mightay turn its oil wells into dangerous weapons of mass destruction. each of these reasons in time influenced bush's thoughts, his actions, and his statements in the months to come. none, however, not freedom, evil, human rights, democracy or wmds affected his thinking in the first few days of august. bush was instead, and this is important, bush was instead persuaded by the growing realization that he stood at the moment in the course of history and this is my second point of the evening. as scowcroft explained in the second national security council meeting, after having time to collect his thoughts and marshal his arguments quote, my personal judgment is that the stakes are such a to accommodate iraq should not be a policy option. there is too much at stake, end quote. scowcroft had earlier in fact made this point to president bush and a far more intimate setting. when the two flew on a small plane to a small airfield in aspen, the regular air force one being too large to land, enter y

but i do think that the american intervention in iraq gave the people of iraq a certain opportunity, whether they're going to take that opportunity and use it for the betterment for the country is up to them now. >> there's no question that saddam hussein's departure from his position and leadership in iraq has been beneficial to iraq, but the question is whether the current leadership situation in iraq is sustainable going moderate with the americans reducing their involvement in their presence. >> i think it's a ge that's up to the iraqis. >> to the israels have a point of view? is there an official point of view that israel has with regard to america's involvement in iraq? >> no, but we do hope that a peace loving and democratic government persists in iraq, that it adheres and that it enters into a peace process with us. we have no animosity, toward the iraqi people. we'd like to have peace with them. a great number of people, citizens of my own state of israel, came from iraq. they were forced to leave back in the early 1950s and we'd like to have peace with the iraqi people. >>

forces iraq. this represents a herculean undertaking and if confirmed i will do everything within my power to help set the broader conditions for success in this most important endeavor. meanwhile, one must simply watch the evening news understands that the world we live in remains complex and extremely volatile. much of the instability and associated challenges remain in the centcom area and what we have to be pragmatic we must always be prepared to respond to contingencies whenever and wherever they occur around the world. if we truly want to have an effective and lasting impact in the region, our friends and allies must be assured of our support and our potential adversaries must understand that there will be consequences for their actions. as this past decade of conflict has clearly demonstrated, success, success and our many endeavors would require effective application of the full continuum of our nations instruments of power and influence. the military as well as economic and diplomatic and

occupied iraq and now 12 years later we're not sure what our mission is. is our mission to eliminate taliban? that never was our mission. is it nation building? um, is it sending children to school? is it building sewer systems? is it going after al-queda? all those factors are complicated, but they have to be carefully thought through. (instrumental music) >> economic interests have always played a significant role in u.s. interventions around the globe. >> i would argue that the strategic interests are more obvious than the economic ones, although if you look closely enough you'll find that the two are almost inextricably intertwined. if you look at all interventions that the united states has engaged in from kosovo, to bosnia, to somalia, uh, to libya, to iraq, for that matter, you will find an economic component. >> maintaining access to certain markets, most often oil, is a common consideration. the u.s. drove iraq out of kuwait in the 1991 gulf war not just to protect its ally from foreign belligerence, but to protect the flourishing oil trade as wel

would have to attack iraq.you have the media, which is supposed to be the fourth state, not part of the state. talk about its role. >> we just heard colonel wilkerson say that we were all wrong, >> in him from a few minutes ago. in fact, we were not all wrong. as a matter of fact, many experts and researchers from the get go in 2002 were saying that the administration case for weapons of mass destructiony guests on "democracy now!" demolished those claims from the bush administration in real time. the organization where i work, the institute for public accuracy, put many news releases documenting the falsities coming from colin powell's office and the entire administration, including the week he gave his now infamous speech at the united nations. we had u.n. weapons inspectors like scott ritter demolishing many of those claims being made, again, in real time. what we've heard again today, and i think is very disappointing, from the former chief of staff of colin powell, is the reiteration of the supposedly this

forces iraq.his represents a herculean undertaking and if confirmed i will do everything within my power to help set the broader nditions for success in this most important endeavor. meanwhile, one must simply watch the evening news understands that the world we live in remains complex and extremely volatile. much of the instability and associated challenges remain in the centcom area and what we have to be pragmatic we must always be prepared to respond to contingencies whenever and wherever they occur around the world. if we truly want to have an effective and lasting impact in the region, our friends and allies must be assured of our support and our potential adversaries must understand that there will be consequences for their actions. as this past decade of conflict has clearly demonstrated, success, success and our many endeavors would require effective application of the full continuum of our nations instruments of power and influence. the military as well as economic and diplomatic and hav

iraq and afghanistan as parallel for two reasons. began to think about the relationship between the means at our disposal and the capacity to achieve our aunts and how the application of those means is likely to affect the and the game. the end state and syria is far from clear. we do not understand and know -- josh will forget more about syria than anyone among the four of us will ever know. this is an important point. the best analysis leads to the best policy. i do not believe this should constitute the broader issue of what is wrong with american foreign policy. that is not a fair test. the reality is, those who oppose a proactive role in syria, i do not abandon american leadership. i a not a declineist. i think america is an exceptional country. the dividing line, not between democrats and republicans, left and right, but between dumb and smart on the other hand. which side of the line does america want to be on? i would argue more consensus today than at any point and i can remember. that is one of the reasons the party had suc

and iran bush invaded iraq that sent a clear message to the north koreans if you like iraq are part of the axis of evil and the u.s. invades iraq you're next and that's when north korea said ok we're going to go for nuclear weapons they reopen the nuclear plants they kicked out the i.a.e.a. inspectors in other words they were reacting defensively to bush's threats. you know a lot of people don't realize that south korea isn't necessarily have beacon of freedom here i mean we have this hard line against north korea how we need to spread democracy human rights i mean talk about this hypocrisy a little bit well south korea was a military dictatorship tens of thousands of people went to prison for long times they were all tortured that was under u.s. military occupation the u.s. still has tens of thousands of u.s. troops in south korea it's an occupied country just the way iraq is or was. during that time if you said anything nice about north korea if you said that was a good regime you went to prison for ten years i went to north korea in one nine hundred eighty nine i traveled with a

and iran bush invaded iraq that sent a clear message to the north koreans if you like iraq are part of the axis of evil and the u.s. invades iraq you're next and that's when north korea said ok we're going to go for nuclear weapons they reopen the nuclear plants they kicked out the i.a.e.a. inspectors in other words they were reacting defensively to bush's threats. you know a lot of people don't realize that south korea isn't necessarily have beacon of freedom here i mean we have this hard line against north korea how we need to spread democracy human rights i mean talk about this park or see a little bit south korea was a military dictatorship tens of thousands of people went to prison for long times they were all tortured that was under u.s. military occupation the u.s. still has tens of thousands of u.s. troops in south korea it's an occupied country just the way iraq is or was. during that time if you said anything nice about north korea if you said that was a good regime you went to prison for ten years i went to north korea in one nine hundred eighty nine i traveled with a twe

list of the israel afghanistan, egypt, turkey and iraq. israel shouldn't be getting any aid from the united states. they don't need it from the united states. they don't want to get economic aid and they don't need the military, they don't face the threat of require and they have a pretty self-sufficient military industry, highly sophisticated and they can afford to buy the weapons they by. afghanistan, again, we are just feeding this criminal enterprise. who knows what is going to happen when we reduce our presence. pakistan, iraq, you all know what the problems are and the situations. but if you go and you look at the service structure and start with, say nuclear arms, think of the five to $6 trillion that we have invested in the nuclear arms that are in essentially an unusable weapon system faugh what are you going to do? we don't have them anymore. that is how many the country has built since the cold war. we still spend over 50, $60 billion a year on our nuclear component. in 2009 a sample committee, the adjacent committee of the mili

i think what hurt her most is her vote for the iraq war. within the confines of the democratic caucus, that war was the issue, the opposition to it. and the fact that she voted for it gave issue to barack obama, a state senator in chicago. he volted against it without worrying about it. she hedged her thoughts and voted for it. it seem like the doesn't have that kind of impediment if she runs. >> if you remember her biggest problem was working-class women, blue collar women. and yet by the end of the campaign she was racking up huge majorities in virginia and kentucky and pennsylvania and places like that. she was attracting working-class women. she was a rock star in scranton and pittsburgh and places like that. she learned to communicate as a populist. and i think she learned to save some money for contingencies. >> i learned a lot too. >> any money after super tuesday she would have been a nominee, but she spent all her money and went down the chute. >> if you run it next time, you'll be better. i've got that look from some those working