so what happened in iraq didn't stay in iraq. but the reason this created a shock wave is it changed the whole balance of power in the middle east because the sunnis always ruled and then as you mentioned with the iraq invasion, a shiite-led government came to power in part because of the united states, and i think this made the shiite-sunni tension a threat for survival. each side believing it is an existential threat to fate. it wasn't just a matter of territory which you write about it. take us through -- how does isis instrumentalize its notions of the shiite to try to gain support? not about the brutality but how does it instrumentalize the notion that the shiite are not real muslims. >> guest: as you said, i spent a great deal of space talking about maliki. there was a shift in iraq and he formalized this in iraq and in 2010 it presented a major water shed in the mutation of al-qaeda in iraq to what would become isis. i have a chapter on iraq and showing the drivers and motivations and the inspiration behind the rise of isi

we have seen such forces at work in iraq. the yazidi christian and some of the shia communities are under enormous pressure to survive under daesh's genocidal efforts. iraq once vibrant jewish communities struggle daily under the daesh's efforts at ethnic cleansing. some virtually extinct in their homeland. so we gather to fight for religious freedom for all. we strongly present -- support religious freedom not only because it is the core basic fundamental universal human right, but also because respect for religious freedom is instrumental to peace, security and development around the world. no nation can fulfill its potential if its people are denied the right to exercise their freedom of religion or belief. nor can it have the stability that is known for peace, prosperity, for advancement, for trong democracy if the nation. and the members of some groups simply because of their religious practices are declared functionally or by law to be second class citizens. all that does is drive religious life underground resulting in

al qaeda and iraq was formed as a result of the u.s. led invasion and occupation in iraq. if you asked of all the reasons you have mentioned what is the most significant in the rise of al qaeda in iraq i would say the u.s.-led invasion. why? it destroyed state institutions, it it suspended the army and the security forces, it was seen by sunni arabs in iraq as a minority invasion and political escalation of the muslim community that dominant narrative in iraq. iraq was on a silver platter to iran and the new ruling elite that they were brought by the american so all these factors contributed to, i mean the u.s. invasion in iraq is really created it. if you asked me and i know you have a book coming out in basically opened the gates in terms of deepening the sectarian breath between sunni and shia. a man by the name of zach are a hoot came from afghanistan in 2003 windows u.s. in iraq almost before the u.s.-led invasion a train 2003 and 2006 when he was killed by the americans and zarqawi was able to establish sharia in arabic social bases for thousands of fighters because

the pub in iraq is there's external from iraq. everyone trying to support their group, and weakening all the others. this is a problem. we need a real democracy, a real implementing of rules of democracy and human rights, reducing such intervention, for helping, okay. i think to put solution about the crisis on the ground we need to divide it in short-term and long-term. short-term we must deal with the crisis. we must deal with the abducted women urgently. not just to talk to we must deal with victims of chemical weapons and deal with the women and children according to unicef. now have about 2 million children in danger. for the last for the ongoing tenures, how will they draw? they will be a real source of criminal action in the future. i think the best way to empower the local ngos, support them, supported by training, supported by establishing human rights institutions in europe i think. this is a message from us to georgetown university, thankfully, to study this issue and to help the iraqi people to establish institution sp

money in iraq and outside iraq to the facility. we are working in media work, depending on simple facilities, many agencies rather than official media attending international efficiency to increase the suffering of our people because suffering, with the century. >> [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> [speaking in native tongue] [laughter] change we are working in an organization, the head of this organization. [speaking in native tongue] >> in 2005, officially in charge of the center of this organization. [speaking in native tongue] >> then i became a consultant for information and media for the same organization. [speaking in native tongue] be change currently number 3 in the community. [speaking in native tongue] >> an organization for development and culture in the community. [speaking in native tongue] >> a member of the council of diversity, the united council for religious dialogue and in this council. >> thank you very much. i will ask one question. i can ask anything i want. working in a variety of or

we finish is a very small community in iraq. most of our people left iraq. so i think it is all right to ask for that to govern ourselves. >> there is a woman right here with a microphone right on the i/o. >> father, my name is aaron walsh. i just want to clarify something you had said, which i think naomi might have alluded to. you said that the government placed a mayor to run your city who happened to have been muslim. he was not democratically elect it. had he been, he might have been christian or muslim. therefore you are calling for democracy so all of you can choose to your mayor would be to run the city. is that correct? rather than being an agent of the sitting government. is that correct? >> the democracy for christians is not democracy just for others. >> right. you are saying that there was no democracy, that the mayor was installed in the city and that created most of the problem. >> that's why we have many problems. >> okay, thank you. >> i just want to quickly clarify, there are elections and democracy that exists, concerned up a political inf

s 2016 iraq humanitarian response plan were funded as of that day. so we convened the pledging conference for iraq last week here in washington and are following up with its conference focused on restoration of l liberated communities. as i noted last week our international partners pledged over $2 billion gofor humanitarn efforts, demining, stabilization which will help meet the needs of millions of iraqis who have been displaced or otherwise affected by isil violence. including our contribution that we announced last week, the united states has provided more than 914 million in humanitarian assistance for vulnerable iraqis in iraq and in the region since october 2013. in addition, we have contributed more than 5.1 billion for including 2.8 billion within syria alone to provide emergency food assistance and cash assistance for emergency needs, funding for shelters and much-needed counseling and protection programs to the most vulnerable including children, women, persons with disabilities and the elderly. the result of these conferences will play a

we need to look at iraq. what is iraq like this?to any of us, any iraqis, any of the truly feel safe in this country? >> a very important question. >> i mean, i think iraq has been through a lot as a state. actually my graduates work was in iraqi history, and i think a lot of nation-states in the middle east have had similar track record, like countries in the west before. and i think that iraq can remain because i still see a lot of the iraqis sentiment and identity and nationalism and patriotism in places. but i think iraq will look very different i think iraq will be more local, more fragmented. vacuuming everything for the kurdistan region. i think that sometimes people exception lies iraq or kurdistan, and actually had similar issues in the past. kurdistan has had issues as well with wars within. i think that for this to be resolved, irbil and baghdad have to come to a solution. they have to come to agreement about revenue sharing, about the disputed territories, about politics. and i hope that can be together because i think t

and messed up the iraq thing. he was more inclined to listen to paulson. >> would you like to discuss the saudi arabia oil during the time of both bush wars? >> i'm not qualified to do that but you raised the question. it is an important consideration. i don't know the details sufficiently to give you an answer. [applause] >> jean edward smith will be here signing books. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> welcome to jackson, mississippi and booktv's live coverage of the mississippi book festival, now in its second year, the festival hosts the state capital throughout the day. he will hear from justin ward, krista sanders, trent lott, john meacham and many other authors talking about topics such as civil rights, education and southern history. booktv on c-span2 is live coverage from the mississippi book festival, it starts now with a panel discussion on race. ..

syria, iraq, gaddafi in libya. so really what those strong individuals, along with looking out for their own power, was they were trying to create a national identity in places that did not have a strong want to begin with. is saddam hussein the way he is because iraq is the way it is, or is iraq the way it is because of the way saddam hussein is? scott: so there was the first invasion in 2003, what takes their place? you have rubberstamped parliaments in places. what filled the void was a reversion to tribal allegiance, clan allegiance, sectarian allegiance. and when the americans went into iraq, they had no clue what they were walking into. that there would be this withering out along these lines. charlie: did they even raise the question? scott: that is a good question. people that knew something about iraq at the time, i think they raised the issue, and they were brush to the side. they were considered unpatriotic for suggesting this to be anything other than a cakewalk. we would be greeted as liberators. let's

iraq war had even started.t has kind of played that way. and how that plays to america's --mies is again, just like this notion that you can lead americans out. play a waiting game, eventually the americans will get tired and leave. i think that has always been, and that part of the region -- charlie: lose interest. afghanistan, but is what happens in afghanistan. we helped the russians, and then we let it, when it became, a state controlled by the taliban. juliette: scott: that is right. charlie: so what should be the role of the united states than? scott: at this point, it is funny when people talk about the administration's policy. i don't think there is a policy. administratione is reactive to events, to the next sort of explosion that comes along. that said, i am not sure what a forward-looking proactive policy would look like at this point. libyaabsolutely see that is going to get worse again. what i worry about with libya is that, that has some american attention right now because they are trying to cinc

the vietnam analogy with iraq -- our people were making the vietnam analogy in iraq before the iraq wareven started and it's kind of played that way, and how that plays to america's enemies is, again, just like the vietcong, the notion that you can bleed the americans out. you play a waiting game and eventually the americans will get tired and leave and i think that's always been the idea in this part of the region. >> rose: or lose interest. yes. >> rose: in afghanistan, that's what happened. >> yep. >> rose: we helped the mujahideen and then it became a state controlled by the taliban. >> that's right. >> rose: so what should be the role of the united states, then? >> boy, you know, at this point -- it's funny, you know, when people talk about the administration's policy in the region, i don't think there really is a policy. i think that the administration is completely reactive to the next sort of explosion that 3 comes along. i mean, that said, i'm not sure, you know, what a forward-looking proactive policy would look like at this point. i can absolutely see that libya is going to g

but especially in iraq and the kurdish regions. as undp deputy for iraq has reported, the campaign to free mosul from isil control could adversely affect well over a million people in the short term, and this would make it one of the largest humanitarian crises of recent times. the kurdistan regional government already posts to more than 1 million idp is released this plan to support five new cameras supported by the international community that can house up to 420,000 people. unhcr seeking funding that ended anticipates it will work with the krg to build them. they need sufficient resources for all these efforts because, as you know, up until july 20, just last week, only 41% of humanity needs identified either u.n.'s 2016 iraq humanitarian response plan were funded as of that day. so we convened a pledging conference for iraq last week in washington, and following up with this conference, focus on restoration of liberated communities. as i noted last week, as i noted earlier, lessig our international partners pledged over $2 bill

oba obama bin laden said we are laying a trap for iraq.hey are going to invade iraq and this is the time to pour this the country and create the jihadism. that's what happened to claim the president of the united states is a terrorist and every time i argue with the trump supporters, they're saying, he didn't mean that. donald trump went on how howet today, and he said clearly you mean he's just -- by withdrawing from iraq -- >> let's wroroll it. >> yeah. >> last night you said the president was the founder of isis. he lost the peace. >> he's the founder of isis. i do. he was the most available valuable player, award, her, too. >> he's not sympathetic to him. he hates them. >> by using the form "founder," they're hitting with you on this again, mistake? >> no, i think everyone's liking it. let me ask you, do you not like that? >> i don't. >> go ahead. >> most valuable player. this is the republican candidate for president of the u.s. calling the current commander in chief a terrorist, okay? there is no way to parse this otherwise. this is

i wrote a book dealing with the first iraq war and it was critical of bush's decision in iraq. before i begin, let me make two remarks to put the biography and context. first when it came to national security policy george w. bush was absolutely in charge. all the decisions were his. he was indeed the decider, as he called himself. after 911 and everything, he was not a fan of condoleezza rice or anyone else. he was the driving force. whether it was snooping or the war in iraq, these were all personal decisions made by the president. everyone on the administration fell into line. the nsc was established by the congress in 1947. the idea idea behind it was to prevent the concentration of power in the white house that happened under fdr in world war ii. it was designed to bring the secretary of state and secretary of defense military leadership. you were to discuss national security issues. in his eight years in the white house he presided over 314 meetings of the nsc. he appointed george bundy as his security advisor. neither truman nor eisenhower had a national security advisor

aac's wife rebecca came from northwest iraq. 12 tribes of israel were born in northwest iraq. a markable spiritual revival of nineva, urred in resent day held by isis. and about one year ago, you saw the pictures of the tomb blown up by isis. daniel in the lines then. both daniel and ezekiel are buried in iraq and too many is said to bring christianity to the land. village.little a phrase not heard outside the middle east, first is the saudi people and then the sunni people. 150,000 people in 1948. when i asked, there are fewer than 10 elderly jewish individuals living there. one person said, perhaps only four jewish individuals left. in 2003, iraq's christian population numbered 1.5 million. today, at roughly 250,000, and the catholic priest told me today perhaps only 200,000 remain. others immigrated to the west. 17 christian families leave iraq every day. in six years, a report came into england saying if the west does not do anything, there will be no christians left in christendom. many of those who remain have become involuntary nomads in their own lands, displaced one,

most of iraq. even the northern part of saudi arabia. zarqawi, he named it.ate that we still will be dealing with years from now, he created. >> the terrorist group known as isil must be degraded and ultimately destroyed. >> i think zarqawi absolutely laid the foundation for the islamic state and he convinced people it was achievable. >> it's an ideology, it's a belief system until we change the behavior of this radical form of islam, we're never going to defeat this crowd. >>> as a former fbi agent and chairman of the house intelligence committee, i had oversight of all 16 of our nation's intelligence agencies. my name is mike rogers. i had access to classified information gathered by our operatives, people who risked everything for the united states and our families. you don't know their faces or their names. you don't know the real stories from the people who lived the fear and the pressure up till now.

on the ground in syria and iraq, isil continues to lose advertorial. tragically however, we have seen that isil still has the ability to direct and inspire terrible attacks. we have seen terrible bombings in iraq, jordan, lebanon, saudi arabia, yemen, afghanistan, istanbul airport, a restaurant in bangladesh. bastille day celebrations in a church in france, and the musical festival in germany. in fact, the decline of isil in syria and iraq appears to be causing them to shift to tactics we have seen before in encouraging high-profile terrorist attacks. as always, our military, diplomatic, intelligence, homeland security, law enforcement professionals are working around the clock with other countries and with communities here at home to share information and prevent such attacks. over the years, they have prevented many, but it is still very difficult to detect and prevent lone actors or small cells who are determined to kill the innocent and willing to die. that is why we will keep going after isil aggressively over every front of this campaign. our air

especially as the government of iraq and its partners continue to liberate territory from daesh. in addition we have started to use satellite imagery to look for mass graves behind daesh front lines in syria and iraq. the delegations from abroad to participate in the conference have photos of some of these satellite pictures in your packets. seven, relatedly, to atrocity accountability, the extraordinary attention salute to in the earlier conversations, that will accompany the return of displaced communities to their homes and businesses that have been occupied in some cases by former neighbors, damaged or destroyed during the course of the violence. this must involve transitional justice and reconciliation efforts another measure to prevent or minimize reprisal violence on all sides. credible, inclusive, judicial, investigative capacity is critical to give all of those displaced hope that there will be justice. simultaneously religious and community leaders must take the lead in reconciliation, in peacemaking. cycles of violence must end and it will not happen unless all of us a

iraq or kurdistan.he thing that struck me over and over again, these tended to be the foot soldiers. i am not saying there is not an intelligentsia. and the foreign fighters might be slightly different, but among the 90% who make up the grunts, the foot soldiers of isis, a couple of things that typified them, none of them had been radicalized in mosques. most of them had never read the koran. they joined isis for the same reason that guys join inner-city gangs, because their buddies did. justhad no future, and in this powerless, impotent life that they had, it looks better to live large, as awful as that might be for a couple of years, then to continue in this existence. time and again, i discovered that these guys who joined isis, it was not at all for religious regions. it was about power, about the power that comes in picking up a gun and lording it over other people. read as american readers this story about the fracturing of the arab lands, in your analysis, has american intervention made things be

and indeed supported the original invasion of iraq. and so, you know, we can't -- thank god for cnn all day today, which is actually holding donald trump accountable in a way that other people don't seem to be able to. what he has to do is talk about what he would do different, how is he going to make a different choice than the president and the military is currently making, which is doing everything they can to try and destroy isis. he doesn't have a policy answer so all he's doing is sort of creating this trumped up, no pun intended, rhetoric about the president. it isn't true. >> i want to read this. you can pick any fact check. it says trump is pointing to the withdrawal of troops in 2011 under obama as a founding of isis but experts say at the expansion of the islamic state cannot be pinned on troop withdrawal alone, corey, if at all. there is the fact that george w. bush had signed the agreement and set the date for that withdrawal. it is a massively complex problem, according to foreign policy experts at the research institute

on the ground in syria and iraq, isil continues to lose territory. tragically, however, we have seen isil has the ability to we've seen terrible bombings in iraq, jordan, lebanon, saudi arabia, yemen and afghanistan. attacks on istanbul airport, a restaurant in bangladesh, bastille day celebrations at a church in france and a music festival in germany. in fact, the decline of isil in syria and iraq appears to be causing it to shift to tactics we've seen before. an even greater encouraging high-profile terrorist attacks, including in the united states. as always, our military diplomatic intelligence, homeland security and law enforcement professionals are working around the clock with other countries and with communities here at home to share information and prevent such attacks. over the years, they prevented many, but as we've seen, it is still very difficult to detect and prevent lone actors or small cells of terrorists who are determined to kill the innocent today, we are going to keep going after isil aggressively across every front of this campa

i might never have gone to iraq. alcohol, i am careful in the book, this is not a book about addiction. there are some excellent books that speak far more eloquently than i do. i don't want that to be a distraction in terms of how i deal with alcohol. that is something a lot of soldiers and anyone recovering from trauma deals with, to find a way to self medicate. for me it was alcohol. the heart condition continued to worsen. cardiologist had told me that it would. i faced my own deathbed. i started writing about iraq, i am aware the clock -- as healthy as i am. to hurry up and be as honest. >> host: the policy debates is a very personal story of your experience in your life, you came to dc, and have responded to some of the comments that have been made on the presidential campaign returning to waterboarding with enhanced interrogation techniques, what process factored into a life story. >> guest: when i spoke to the washington post, and some would support me. all of them broke contact. that was a difficult thing. kn

we needed iraq focused information and there was a need to broadcast local news about iraq while the rest of the middle east was sort of by the pan arab channel. >> host: how big is mbn? budget? employees? >> guest: mbn is about 600 employees over here in the u.s. we have correspondent said -- correspondents all over middle east and a budget of $10 million to support all of the different activities. we have maintained the staffing level but done some internal reallocation to accommodate and adapt to some of the changes that have occurred in communications in the middle east particularly in the area of digital media. >> host: what kind of technology do you use? >> guest: well, we have an hd channel. we have some standard definitions channels. we use satellite which is a benefit to us because the most poplar channels in the middle east allow people to tune in in an unfiltered way. we have fm channels in countries that allow that. and social media is on the world wide web available to anyone not just people in the middle east. >> host: potentially how big is our audience? >> guest: as a

a long shadow of darkness over iraq. [speaking in foreign language] >> interpreter: this issue calls for action by the international community in the way of support, continual support, to help and preserve the dignity of the victims. [speaking in foreign language] >> interpreter: there are 80,000 people who have been forced out of their homes, 5,000 living in greece and 52 mass graves. bill >> you want everything i tell. >> okay, yeah. >> interpreter: these are the demand of the yazidi community. [speaking in foreign language] >> interpreter: the international protection for the yazidis, the christians and other minorities, in accordance with legal procedures that safeguards their presence, they're administration, and protects them with international and u.n. guarantees. [speaking in foreign language] >> interpreter: referring those who commit crimes against the yazidis and other minorities to international courts through the following steps. [speaking in foreign language] >> interpreter: referring the file of the yazidi

to isis and iraq and syria. your very own national comment -- counterterrorism operation all ofnd that despite the decisive defeat of the coalition has dealt isis on the battlefield, they have expanded toir threat worldwide include as many as 18 operational bases. in the six years you have been feeling of there any personal disappointment there is not been more progress? and any discussions you've had with the u.s. military and intelligence agencies, have you come up with any new ideas on how to deal or defeat isis. every time there's a terrorist attack, i feel disappointment. because i would like to prevent all of them. that is true not just when the tax and europe or the united intes -- the attacks are europe or the united states. when you read stories about attacks in lebanon or iraq or or distant parts of the world that don't get as much attention, they get my ticket. because that is somebody's kid and that is somebody's mom and that the somebody who was just going about his business. and mindlessly, sensele

war in iraq and afghanistan. and then a discussion, with authors and after that, mark on his book, 1941, fighting the shadow war, later a conversation on the involve meant of the middle east. ♪ ♪ >> washington journal live everyday with news and policy issues. coming up thursday morning, natural resources editor will join us to discuss the 1900th anniversary of the park service. and the series. an interview with mike reynolds, for the national park service. he'll talk about the national park service, and the supportive cast, from the government and public. michael, washington post investigative reporter, and mark fisher for the post, will discuss their biography, trump revealed. it is the light of the republican nominee. it was published this week. be sure to watch the journal. 7 eastern thursday morning. >> now a former state department official talks about u.s. foreign policy since the nine 11 attacks. he spoke at politics and prose bookstore in washington. >> we're very pleased to have call weston. he joined t

first back to isis and iraq and syria. your very own national counterterrorism operation has found that despite the decisive defeats we have dealt isis on the battlefield, that they have expanded their threat worldwide to include as many as 18 operational bases. in the six years you have been dealing, do you feel any personal disappointment, that there hasn't been more progress? and in any discussions you've had with the u.s. military and intelligence agencies, have you come up with any new ideas on how to deal or deceit isis? -- defeat isis? president obama: every time there is a terrorist attack i feel disappointment, because i would like to prevent all of them. that's true not just when the attacks are in europe or in the united states. when you read stories about attacks in lebanon or iraq or afghanistan or distant parts of the world that don't get as much attention, they get my attention. that is somebody's kid, somebody's mom, somebody who is just going about his business. mindlessly, senselessly, this person was mur

iraq... but syria is their sanctuary wechlt need to focus on syria the way we focused on afghanistan. we eliminate that sanctuary that takes some of the sting out. >> it takes teem. also when it invaded iraq you saw the ter pickup trucks unchallenged. in part, it appears as if the people who lived in the communities were sympathetic to their arrival. they saw it as a better alternative to persection they face in their own government. how do you counter act that? >> we need to do it and try it. we were not doing it. that's the very thing, craig. i think we're not taking carry of now. we're not trying to help the together again here. you got to look at this from a real big perspective. guess who is helping asad? russia. russia is fighting for the syrian government in there. we can't have that. so, are we trying to fight that on the ground? no. as far as i know we're not doing anything to try to help the main people, the main body of the themselves against asad. asad has go. are u sha doesn't wa

invasion of iraq in 2003. we'll speak with journalist scott anderson, author of "fractured lands: how the arab world came apart." his story takes up the entire print edition of the "new york times magazine." but first, -- we will speak with pulitzer prize winning reporter james grimaldi of the "wall street journal," who has covered the clinton foundation for years. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. a series of bomb blasts in thailand have hit three of the country's most popular tourist resorts killing four people and wounding dozens. there were at least 11 explosions in total. no group has claimed responsibility. the blasts comes days after the country voted to accept a military-backed charter in a referendum. human rights watch warned that thailand is moving toward become a military dictatorship. brad adams, the group's asia director said -- "instead of the long-promised return to democratic civilian rule, the new constitution

. >> he made it clear, we could lose in iraq. ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> my fellow citizens, at this hour american andtion forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger. >> every politician wants us to go crush an army. they give us their flag, and we can all go home and everybody is wonderful, like a world war ii victory. that shit ain't going to happen. ♪ >> in the battle of iraq the united states and our allies have prevailed. [ cheers and applause ] >> the united states and allies invaded iraq in the spring of 2003 and there was a set of assumptions that proved to be wrong. one, that we would be accepted as liberators, and two, that there would be the ability to turn the keys over to a follow-on government after saddam hussein was thrown out of office. >> we got him. [ cheers and applause ] >> saddam being captured, all of a sudden you had all this like sense of relief. okay. maybe you've got these top ten guys the army's going to capitulate, they're going to give you their banners and we can all go home. forget i

meaning if iraq, although we do very well in iraq. >> are there any special issues that you deal withs a woman executive producer, producing a middle east show or that you do segments that women on issues women face in the >> you're asked to do the show, it's a bigger mission but for me it is always been personal women and children's issues. i'm a mom with three kids so the middle east, by our standards it is not a friendly place for women and kids. so we have done inordinant amount of stories about the difficulties of life across the middle east. i have a show which, i didn't make up the title, but called one woman is worth 100 men. okay. so, and that is, we just launched it. we're getting some nice press out of it already and there isn't, there aren't enough people telling the stories of how difficult it is to be a woman and a girl child. so how many stories have we done on child marriages i can't count. over the seven years on high amount and other talk show i do. nine-year-olds getting married and why. when the traditions and when will it change and government, some governments do

on the ground in iraq, local forces keep pushing isil back. in a major success, iraqi forces with coalition support finally now they're clearing fighters for more areas up the valley and iraqi forces retook the strategic air base, just 40 miles from mosul, now the last major isil stroke hold in iraq. given the success, the additional 560 u.s. support personnel that i ordered to iraq last month will hi turn this base into a logistical hub and of local forces backed by our special operations forces and air strikes continues to take the fight to isil as well. the coalition is fighting its way into the town, a gateway for isil fighters coming in, and terrorists heading out to attack europe which is why isil is fighting hard to hold it. as isil's beaten back we're gaping vast amounts of intelligence. thousands of documents, thumb drives, digital files which we isil's networks and stop foreign fight ers. we also continue to intensify efforts against al-qaeda in syria, no matter what name it calls itself cannot be allowed to maintain a safe haven to

either in iraq or afghanistan advising u.s. forces and working with them, local authorities and others. there's a medal for heroism that wasn't common not only for the amount of time he was posted in iraq and afghanistan, but also for the rage of his contacts and the depth of his involvement with american troops and local civilians. his new book the mirror test recount his personal journey and provides a close-up for any emotional portrait of the war that america has been engaged in now for well over a decade. he's very critical of america's failures and conflicts and remind us of the tremendous human cost of conflicts of the dead and wounded troops and of the many civilian casualties. it ended in a helicopter crash killing the marines and one navy command. it remains the single largest casualty incident in iraq or afghanistan and one for which he feels personally responsible. he reminds us from the title of the book through to the last pages how important it is for all of us as citizens to reflect on what this has meant. his w

and syria. -- and angs in iraq few hundred in syria. but bombings in iraq have shown the threat remains high. pres. obama: it is difficult to detect lone actors or small cells of terrorists who are determined to kill the innocent and are willing to die or that is why we are going to keep going after isil aggressively. martin: but as the world grapples with that conundrum, america seeks to use its military power to deny the i.s. group a safe haven. safety concerns have prompted the cancellation of one of europe's largest flea markets. that takes place in the north of france. it was scheduled for early september, one of the most famous events in france and beyond its borders. the ongoing terror threat has forced its cancellation. or than 2 million visitors were expected to walk the city streets for the event. this is a heartbreaking decision for me to take, even a frightening one. it is very difficult. i think we have to suspend the 2016. it is clear that we cannot ensure optimal safety, and i want to be clear that after all the decisions

in iraq, we keep pushing isil back.lition sport -- and now iraqi forces retook the strategic air base just 40 miles have mosul. the last major isil stronghold in iraq. the additional 560 support personnel i ordered to iraq last month will turn this base into a launch pad for iraq forces as they push into mosul. ? syria, a coalition of local forces backed by our special operations forces and air strikes continues to take the fight to isil as well. they are fighting their way into the town of monditch. a gate way for terrorists coming in and coming out to attack europe. as isil is beaten back we are getting vast amounts of intelligence that we will use to keep destroying their networks and stop foreign fighters. we also continue to intensify our efforts against al qaeda and syria. they kboth acannot be a safe haven to train and plan attacks against us. two years ago, isil was racing across iraq to the outskirts of bag dad itself and isil looked invincible. since then they lost in many locations including fallujah. isil lo

. >> you have an extraordinary history in iraq, you know iraq better than just about anybody else or certainly as anybody else who is at your level of the military serving there so hon honorab honorably. i want to ask about what donald trump has proposed. he basically said one of the big things that led to isis was their control of oil. he all along, he reiterated it today, was saying to the victor should go the spoils or in the olden days that's what they said. he said we should take iraq's oil. we should have the oil. early on in an interview with me, he said send in u.s. troops, surround iraq oil fields, surround the oil fields, get u.s. companies in to take the oil. does that make sense to you as somebody who served in iraq? is that actually something to take a sovereign nation's oil? >> well, we clearly made a big mistake departing iraq in 2011. i don't think your listeners understand but we are looking at about, i'm not sure of the exact numbers, but in some recent assessments this year, 2016, they were making around $1.5 million a difficuay from oil on black market, this is is

so this was a complication in iraq.ivilian contractors, the military viewed us kind of outside of the chain of command and they were quite sure how to deal with us and thought maybe they should defer to us but as contractors all of us with the interrogation program had prior military. so we still thought of ourselves as kind of win in the chain of command and we knew where we fit whether we been a sergeant in the five or six or mp4, even though we were out of uniform, all of us still found ourselves acting the way we had before where we were visiting to staff sergeants or tenant captains so it was a bizarre kind of interaction between the two and i'm not sure anyone, even to this day knows quite how it was supposed to go. >> host: so you are a contractor, interrogation specialist. you arrived in baghdad, essentially make your way to the abu gharaib prison and tell us about abu gharaib and maybe the first sign that you had that things work quite what they should be there before i still, i've asked this question a lot abo

iraq is in chaos, and isis is on the loose. isis has spread across the middle east and into the west. in 2014, isis was operating in seven nations. they were in seven patients. terrible but that's what it was. today they are fully operational in 18 countries with aspiring branches in six more for a total of 20 more, and many believe that number is actually 28-30 countries. they don't even know. a situation is likely worse than the public has any idea. a new congressional report reveals that the administration has downplayed the growth of isis with 40% of analysts saying that experienced efforts to manipulate their findings. they are trying to make it look much better than india's. it's a bad. at the same time, isis is trying to infiltrate refugee flows into europe and to the united states. iran, the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism, is now flush with $150 billion in cash released by the united states, plus, if you remember from two weeks ago, another 400 million in actual cash that was obviously used for ransom. worst

>> because of the disastrous evacuation of iraq, at a point where obama himself said iraq was stable and independent and had a chance to succeed, because of that, anything that we do to kick isis out of iraq, to weaken isis, to actually attack the sunnis who are supporting isis, is necessarily a gain for iran. iran is now the dominant power in iraq as a result of our withdrawal. that would not have happened had obama not made this terrible decision in 2011. so we have to choose our poisons right now. the more immediate one is isis. but the long-range consequences are, as you suggest, that iran will become the dominant power, even more than it is today, and will have undone everything that we did in iraq in those terrible years where we actually won the war ending with the surge. >> charles, as always, thank you. >>> should scientists be allowed to grow a human organ inside an animal? would you want that organ transplanted into your body? questions of science and ethics, when we come back. >>> researchers are preparing to take another big step toward a brave new world. they want to ex

since then in iraq, isil has , at sinjar, and routnow at falluja. in syria, isil has lost in numerous locations. they lost territory across vast stretches of the border with turkey and almost all major transit routes in ira tell taracca. in syria, they have lost in numerous locations, losing territory. isil has not been able to reclaim any significant territory they have lost. i want to repeat, isil has not had a major successful offensive operation in syria or iraq in a year. even isil's leaders know they will be losing. in the message to followers, they are i think recently a technology thatsingly a they may lose the key cities. we will keep hitting them, pushing them back, and driving them out until they do. isil turns out not to be invincible. they will inevitably be defeated. but we do recognize at the same time, that the situation is complex and this cannot be solved by military force alone. that is why last month, the united states and countries around the world, pledged more than $2 billion in new funds to help iraq stabilize and rebuild com

i have long said that we should have kept the oil in iraq. [applause] i said it over and over and over again. another area where my judgment has been proven correct. i just set it so many times, virtually every time i was interviewed. keep the oil, keep the oil. according to cnn, isis me as much as 500 million in oil sales in 2014 alone. that's before they really got started. fueling and funding its reign of terror. if we had controlled the oil, like i said we should, we could have prevented the rise of isis and iraq. both by cutting off a major source of funding and through the presence of u.s. forces necessary to safeguard the oil, and vital infrastructure products necessary for us to have the oil. i was saying this constantly and consistently to whoever would listen. i said, keep the oil, keep the oil, keep the oil. don't let somebody else did it. if they had listened to me then, we would've had the economic benefits of the oil which i wanted to use to help take care of the wounded soldiers, and families of those who died in the war. [appl

the most about iraq right now? >> iraqi politics. we'll defeat the islamic state. that's going to happen. it's just a question of how l it takes. but it's a rocky politics that have to become more inclusive if you cement the gains on the battle field. >> reporter: when the next president takes office, what's the best-case scenario he or she will face in iraq? >> the best-case scenario would be one in which the islamic state has been defeated on the battlefield, and its terrorist cells have been reduced dramatically, and even the residual grill as and insurgents are on the run. politics in baghdad have been sufficiently incsive so that the sunni aabs of iraq once again feel a stake in the success of the new iraq, rather than in its failure. >> reporter: what's the worst-case scenario for the u.s.? >> the worst-case scenario for the u.s. is if the situation goes seriously south for some reason and all of a sudden, we find ourselves having to really augment our forces and perhaps even get them more into the actual fig

on the ground in iraq, local forces keep pushing isil back.n a major success iraqi forces with coalition support finally liberated fallujah. now they are clearing isil fighters for more areas up the euphrates valley and iraqi forces retook the strategic air base just 40 miles from mosul, now the last major isil strong hold in iraq. given the success, the additional 560 u.s. support personnel i ordered to iraq last month will help turn this base into a logistical hub and launch pad for iraqi forces as they push into mosul. meanwhile in syria, a coalition of local forces backed by operation forces in air strikes continues to take the fight to isil as well. the coalition is fighting its way into the town of mombich a gateway for terrorists heading out to attack europe which is why isil is fighting hard to work it. we are gaining vast amounts of intelligence, thumb drives, digital files, which we will use to keep destroying and stopping foreign fighters. we will also continue to intensify efforts against al qaeda which no matter what name is calls