hit and run ambush attacks in western iraq in on bar problems in particular. targeted assassinations of key security and political figures and a general effort to in a sense show that they still existed and to deny full control of towns and roads by iraqi forces backed them and that enabled them to sort of keep going and as events in syria then. got worse for the syrian government there was a bigger open space for them to organize and recruit and they staged the major comeback of two thousand and thirteen fourteen ok so regrouping hit and run tactics where can they regroup now if as the iraqi government has said they are in control the iraqi forces are in control of the towns the cities and even the deserts at this point i think what's missing from this debate is reading first of all as to. enter fi what's eisel who are they do is there such a thing this is number one number two i think what's missing from the debate is that everybody's dealing with the symptoms rather than finding the causes of gods and the questions they only are someone about it causes in a

they iraq and saddam hussein is the real problem. new goals were defined change the regime in baghdad to subjugate iraq a simpler objective. and that of destroying the elusive terrorist. september nineteenth those in support of eliminating saddam hussein meet at the ministry of defense the pentagon. they all began asking questions about how long can we continue this policy aimed at keeping saddam under control and that inclusion they came to was not much longer the day after the meeting at the pentagon president bush addresses congress. it is a historic moment the nation is united bush names the culprits osama bin laden al qaeda the taliban regime in afghanistan our enemies are radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them. no mention about iraq but he warns our war on terror. begins with al qaeda. but it does not in there. tony blair the british prime minister and guest of honor applause it's symbolic of the unwavering alliance between washington and london. the taliban are quickly driven out of kabul and al

to attack iraq. this change in priority worries the general who on february nineteenth two thousand and two confides in bob graham of florida senator and chairman of the senate intelligence committee. after a briefing which was quite upbeat with the progress that was being made the general asked me to meet privately in his office and the first thing he said was we're no longer fighting a war in afghanistan i was stunned by that and i asked him what the mean and he said that some of the important personnel such is special operations units were being moved from afghanistan to get ready for a war in iraq. bush's decision is fraught with consequences the fight against terrorism is put on the back burner in favor of a conventional war in the middle east not the most predictable region in the world . in early two thousand and two the military machine is set in motion all the trimmings is to convince the public of the need to go to war with a country that seems far removed from the tragedy that struck ameri

it eludes to a secret sale of uranium to iraq by may share. the german secret service offers its support as well. it's provides the americans with revelations made by an iraqi defector code name curveball he claims baghdad is making biological weapons in its mobile aboard its roots. or ship date as. the war to liberate iraq went for bush a crucial barrier remains to be overcome before he can go to war congress the american president must ask congress for the green light before launching the country into a war. in august and september the drumbeats of war in iraq started get louder and louder and there were some indications that the president would soon be calling on congress for an authorization of war against iraq. a mere formality as bush holds the majority but bob graham will try to stall. this race too. and one of the questions was we'd like to review the national intelligence estimate on possible war with iraq and the answer was there isn't a national intelligence estimate. what graham is asking for is a top secret document an estimate of

dilated military authoritarianism again, in iraq. arab socialism in iraq and syria. communism in south yemen. now we deal with islamism. the good news is that it too, is failing. the bad news is that the underlying issues of governance, which led to the failure of every other-ism, are still untreated. and if we are unable to help of friends in the area get to a better place on these issues, you are going to see a successor to islamic state. i do not know who. i do know that it will not be business for us. there is a second inflection point that i hope we would have a chance to address today. united states designed and led the post-world war ii international order. that leadership changed for the attitude to leadership changed over the last eight years. president obama spoke of not being able to do everything, certainly true. too often i think it became an excuse for not doing much of anything. sadly, i think that we are seeing some continuity between the administrations. from president obama to president trump on this issue. are we going to lead? if not, who will? if

military lying about the impact of its airstrikes in iraq joining me to discuss this as a matter card the co-author of the new york times magazine investigation the uncounted and john tyrann executive director mit center for international studies and author of the the book. deaths of others the fate of civilians in america's wars thank you both for joining me from the muslim why did you set out with your co-author on and go poll to conduct this eighteen month investigation into civilian casualties in iraq what prompted you and what did you think you would find well it wasn't just the scale of bombing or the tens of thousands of airstrikes in both iraq and syria that have been carried out since august twenty fourth we didn't hear a lot from civilians in the coalition itself was not investigating on the ground and so both on and then i really wanted to do a systematic sample looking both at those airstrikes that successfully hit legitimate isis targets and those that resulted in civilian casualties or deaths and so by going to three different isis territories downtown downtown shura and

military in iraq and afghanistan and massive craters known as burn pits open burn pits were outlawed in two thousand and ten so why are they still being used in the united states there was always a yellow haze over there. and everybody that you talked to had some type of response or you issues with it showed that i had a titanium aluminum iron chromium steel. silica in my bones there's nowhere else that i could have got modalism along i've never worked in anything that would have exposed me to. millions of pounds of munitions and other waste or burned by the pentagon in the united states every year there are nearly two hundred open air burn pits in the u.s. an investigation by the news website pro publica has revealed these sites have little to no oversight and residents living near the burn pits report respiratory by roid and other health problems health problems that more than one hundred thousand military veterans have also reported to a burn pits registry set up by the u.s. department of veterans affairs or v.a. it's not just us better ins and citizens that say they're affected s

talks in the ethiopian capital addis ababa is the latest attempt to and four years of conflict in iraq today with all of our top stories up front is coming up next i'll speak to you after that in about twenty five minutes time. he's the former somali refugee who now serves as canada's immigration minister under justin trudeau but how good is the canadian government actual record on immigration and asylum issues and what does this minister make of donald trump's. i'll ask him that hussain. ahmed hussain thanks for joining me on up front at a time when the world is facing massive refugee and migrant crises which have prompted a lot of western governments to effectively close their borders and crack down on quote unquote illegal immigrants canada at least in terms of rhetoric has taken a very different stance a more positive stance welcoming refugees praising immigrants why. well first of all we're also against irregular migration but having said that as a country and as a society we have historically embraced immigration regular and orderly immigration and a well managed immigration syst

that is exactly what we've seen i think in iraq. with the presence now of a number of shia militia backed by iran, well-armed, looking for a new mission after islamic state, they take their orders from tehran, not from baghdad. a fundamental understanding we should all have is iran history and its geopolitical assessments. the shah of iran had projected force beyond his borders with conventional forces. it was the shah's iran who seized three islands from the united arab emirates. it was the shah's iran who basically sent a mechanized infantry brigade into oman to help the sultan put down a rebellion. the islamic republic is doing same thing with different means, using militias rather than regular forces under the command of soleimani and we now see a resurgent iran in the region. the only way i can, seeing that confronting iraq directly. sadly they have moore instruments there than we do. it would be by sustained engagement. >> to build a stronger central authority to build a longer term commitment. it does not take forces. it does

iraq is totally liberated from eisel the message from the country's prime minister after a three year fight against the armed groups so is the war against ice already over what does it mean for iraq's future this is inside story. hello and welcome to the show i'm sam is a dan it's all in the name of the islamic state of iraq and the levant two thousand and fourteen isolette outs taking over nearly all of iraq in syria but three years later and billions lost iraq's prime minister had the law by the says his military has defeated the armed group. and now out of the calm the have the right honorable rocky's your land has been completely real approaches your cities and villages have been returned to the nation the dream of liberation has become a reality we achieved victory in difficult circumstances and with god's help steadfastness of our people and the bravery of our heroic forces we prevailed has been a long road to get to this point the battle for most all alone took months almost a million people had to flee and thousands left behind were killed more than eight thousand homes were r

you know, i once wrote after the iraq invasion that the iraq oil belonged to the people of iraq juste oil in alaska, you know, generates benefits in alaska, permanent fund for citizens in iraq. it's one way to get rid of the hypocrisy in iraq is to give the ir iraqi people a chance. donald trump is talking openly to the victor goes the spoils. it is a valueless, really gross comment. >> steve, the fascinating thing about listening to trump in the 2011 discussion with the "wall street journal" he says, i heard we went in to iraq for the oil. he said it as if that's what president bush was saying. he said, we're doing it for the oil, we're doing it for the oil. and prush wesident bush was ada saying, we are not doing it for the oil. and here's the president now saying, i'm thinking of going back in there for the oil. >> there's a lot of criticisms people can have about why we went in to iraq, the wmd issue and others. but those -- as someone you and i read every speech george w. bush gave on iraq and also cheney, who was an oil man. much more so george bush. he wrapped it around the fa

ahmed salmani is one of iraq's best-known sunni politicians. he monitors videos that militiamen share on social media. he says this video shows hezbollah brigades militiamen at the razaza checkpoint in anbar province. >> navai: oh, god! it shows a man in militia uniform cutting off the ear of a prisoner. >> navai: that was horrific. that was razaza checkpoint? this is where the men are going missing? >> navai: relatives have given ahmad salmani the names of over 2,000 men they say disappeared from razaza checkpoint. he says militia insiders have told him the abducted men are in a network of prisons run by the hezbollah brigades around the town of jurf al sakhar. >> navai: does the government know this is happening? >> navai: the defense minister has since left his position. he doesn't reply to my request to talk to him. i ask vice president allawi about the militia prisons. does the government know about the secret prisons run by the shia militias? >> definitely. but they don't want to confront these secret prisons because they are held and con

an iranian militia and demanded they leave iraq. prime minister haider al-abadi said no, calling p.m.f. fighters iraqi nationals and the hope of the region. but the u.s. is pushing back. intensifying tehran and washington's long standing proxy conflict in iraq. for the pbs newshour, i'm reza sayah in kirkuk, iraq. >> o'brien: in reza sayah's final report tomorrow, he will look at the tacit partnership between the u.s. and iran to defeat isis in iraq, and where that common goal ends. >> o'brien: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: making sense of a state budget crisis that's been blamed on tax cuts. and, a brief but spectacular take from an award-winning poet. but first, we return to our series of conversations about sexual assault and harassment around the country. yesterday, judy woodruff recorded this discussion about the extraordinary challenges low-wage service workers face when they come forward to share their stories. >> woodruff: every day in the u.s., about 50 people are sexually assaulted or raped in the workplace, acc

of iraq was based on the false pretext. in the past the international criminal court has been accused of racism and imperialism by pursuing predominantly african politicians the probe into british soldiers alleged war crimes would see the court investigating one of its main back as victims and their families will be hoping to see the i.c.c. deliver justice where the british government wasn't able to. see london. to merge with the bulk of funding for research to wipe out disease spreading pests such as malarial mosquitoes comes from a us military agency and the environmentalists who trace where the money's been coming from a concern that the technology being developed might get misused or even lead to an ecological disaster. what's concerning about a dream dr is the genetically engineered organism that's designed to spread and it will spread inexorably until it takes over an entire population so that means you just have to release one single specimen of this organism say a single mosquito or a single mouse and then through s

sorry, iraq. >> i think the files will rewrite the history of the iraq war. we have already learned things from these files that nobody knew previously. for example, bin laden was receiving fairly regularly, although we haven't fully cataloged them yet so i'll stipulate that. fairly regularly, audio reports from his commanders in iraq. so they weren't giving one of these hand-written letters or a typed letter like other subordinates. instead they would record a summary of the weekly events or however long a time line was to explain what was going on and what their thinking was. and these are very in-depth reports, talking about the political situation, talking about the economy, surges see groups, very granular stuff. >> and this is al qaeda and iraq under al zarqawi. >> and afterwards. this is the direct isis. and one of the big debates spawned in the counterterrorism community and elsewhere, and also between isis and al qaeda was whether or not isis was really part of al qaeda past 2006 when they first declared the state of iraq. i think the files will end

well, in terms of iraq, where do you think iraq is today? is iraq stable today? gen.etraeus: well, iraq is obvi-- the situation is obviously improving. with our help, the iraqi security forces have been reconstituted, retrained and reequipped. we're enabling them now with the so-called intelligence surveillance reconnaissance assets, drones, precision stke, and the industrial-strength ability to fuse intelligence gradually taking back from the islamic state those areas that they seized. we'll eventually defeat the islamic state that is the army in iraq. we'll have to then help the iraqi security forces focus on the residual insurgent and guerrilla elements and the terrorist cells. but really the issue is not these battles. i've said for two years, even from the darkest days, that ultimately the iraqis would prevail in this with our assistance and that of our coalition partners. the real issue is the battle after the battle. after the battle of mosul, can the political figures there, the leaders of this very diverse--? you know, the human terrain up in ninewa province

thank god that was hugo should ask their forests in iraq. now let's return to our top story this hour because donald trump has announced that the time has come for the u.s. to officially recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel there was already a wave of criticism to the proposal across the muslim and arab world from also gave the green light to moving the american embassy to jerusalem from tel aviv well that came out how a show from the palestine solidarity campaign joins us live now for some reaction to this. good evening a controversial proposal to say the least do you feel for some a feeling that this could actually unify the arab world against israel what are your thoughts. but first of all it's an irresponsible act it's an illegal act and it's illegal because jerusalem is jerusalem is illegally occupied united nations security council resolution after resolution testified to that the judgment on the illegal israeli war testifies to that so here we have an american president sanctioning something that is illegal iraq acknowledging

it said: "afghanistan does not equal iraq."e was not going to be the prospect of a dramatic improvement. but what our mission was in that year, which we did accomplish, it was to halt the momentum of the taliban because they were on the march to reverse it in some key areas, to accelerate the development of the afghan security forces, and select afghan institutions so that we could begin transition of some tasks, which we did, all while achieving the overarching goal, which is still a very, very valid and important mission for the united states in afghanistan. that is to ensure that afghanistan is never again a sanctuary for transnational extremists the way it was when al qaeda planned the 9/11 attacks there and conducted the initial training there. [♪] ♪ ♪ be more pbs up on articulate.r] coming the classically trained cellist larry gold has spent a lifetime orchestrating pop classics. today he's helping bring out the soul in r&b and hip hop. - well they're getting a depth of feeling from me. ey're getting i guess an intensity.

chief prosecutor say there is reason to believe that war crimes were committed against accountants in iraq. today here in moscow this is r.t. international coming in live to your screens every hour of the day i'm going to knowing welcome to the program in a move that's been met with worldwide condemnation the u.s. president has announced washington will officially recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel donald trump also sees the american embassy will be moved from tel aviv to the ancient city which has long been contested by israel and palestine huge protests broke out across the mideast upon the news. therefore i have determined that it is time to officially recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. well these are pictures of how parts of the muslim world reacted to trump's decision mass demonstrations broke out in the west bank turkey lebanon is also facing a backlash from other global leaders many say the move could have terrible consequences for peace in the region. no one has their eyes to play with the fates of either and so if people for the sake of one's personal ambition

sistani is iraq's highest religious authority.ghly 20 million shia followers say he strives to keep religion separate from politics and supports an inclusive iraqi democracy. he's increasingly viewed as a rival to iran's top religious authority-- the anti-u.s. supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei. ahmad lashkari is a senior cleric within the sistani movement. lashkari says the movement stands firm against political influence from iran or any other country. >> ( translated ): we try to maintain independence in this movement to prevent any unacceptable outside interference. >> reporter: when iranian-backed nouri al-maliki refused to step down as prime minister in 2014, it was sistani who pressured him to bow out, clearing the way for washington's favorite candidate, current prime minister haider al-abadi. when one of iran's top clerical envoys visited iraq in september, sistani reportedly refused to meet him. and nowhere among sistani's followers here do you see pictures of iran's religious leaders. >> ( translated ): our most impo

iraq's prime minister has declared its war against eisel is over. says troops are in control of the area around the iraqi syrian border after driving out eisel fighters i still advance on iraq three years ago and quickly captured a third of the country including important cities like mosul and felicia rocks announcement comes two days after russia said it had to feed it i saw in syria you had it up you know. out of the how about the number of iraqis your land has been completely really braces you know cities and villages have been returned to the nation the dream of liberation has become a reality we choose victory in difficult circumstances and with god so steadfastness of all people and the bravery of heroic forces we prevail douglas ollivant is a former director for iraq at the national security council he says pushing eisel out of its last held towns in iraq is a major blow to the armed group. note that the prime minister didn't say that there's no more ice soul in iraq he said they no longer controlled territory which is a true statement the ir

its chief prosecutor says there's reason to believe war crimes were committed against captives in iraq. from the studios of moscow money welcome to the program first that reaction to trump's decision that's been both vocal and violent protests being held right now across palestinian territories over donald trump's decision to recognize to rule as the capital of israel also gave the go ahead to move the american embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem which is long been contested by israelis and palestinians. is the latest video that we've got from the west bank we've been watching this for the past few hours now protesters have been burning tires and hearing projectiles that israeli security forces they've responded with tear gas and water cannon a producer from artie's arabic channel was caught up in the on last and is needed medical assistance a protest against from. across the middle east. therefore i have determined that it is time to officially recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. no one has their eyes to play with the fates of appearance of people for the sake of one's person

the country's prime minister says iraq now fully controls the border between iraq and syria. >>> one of the wildfires raging in the u.s. state of california, southern california, well, it is now 100% contained. crews are monitoring the liberty fire through the night. this as they continue to battle five other fires. at least one person has died so far. the state's governor calls the long wildfire season the new normal. >>> u.s. president trump has been praised and criticized for his decision to recognize jerusalem as israel's capital. it is a clear break with past administrations, but the status quo has never led to long-term israeli/palestinian peace. >> here is cnn's nic robertson on whether president trump's gamble will pay off. >> reporter: clashes like these in the past few days, stone throwing palestinian youth goading well armed security forces, a part of what world leaders openly worried might happen, following president trump's announcement recognizing jerusalem as israel's capital. the fears weren't misplaced. there have been casualties. yet this is only a partial picture.

iraq is very strategic.re's oil, rivers. when americans came and kicked out sadam, they didn't do it for our interests. they did it for oil and money. iran has expanded here not for our sake. they did for their own benefit. >> we pay a price as a people in iraq. >> reporter: iraqi politician muthana amin nader is happy to see isis defeated in iraq. but what he fears now is a dangerous proxy war between iran and the u.s. >> conflict between iran and america makes our people victims. we give a very expensive price it's time to say, enough bleeding in iraq, and destroying iraq. they should support us, but also keep away from us. >> reporter: with so much at stake here for the u.s. and iran, "keeping away" from iraq seems unlikely. how the two adversaries manage that high-stakes competition while they're here, may go a long way in shaping the future of iraq. for the pbs newshour, i'm reza sayah in baghdad. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: mark shields and david brooks take on the week's news

of american power in iraq brought tremendous hardship onto the people of iraq, on our country. >> smith: perhaps the strongest advocate for arming the rebels was samantha power, head of obama's newly formed atrocities prevention board, and author of the pulitzer prize-winning book a problem from hell: america and the age of genocide. >> and one of america's responsibilities in the world, as she sees it, is to step in and help protect the powerless. to help in situations where people are being victimized by brutal and despotic regimes like that of bashar al-assad. so for her, syria is the balkans all over again and rwanda all over again, and she's advocating a more robust response. she's saying, "we can't let this go on without stepping in." >> smith: but inside the president's inner circle of advisors, which included national security deputy denis mcdonough, there was a lot of resistance. >> and she ran into a brick wall, primarily with denis mcdonough, one of the strongest voices in the administration for not, you know, getting directly involved militarily in syria. >> smith: throughou

iraq says its war against so—called islamic state is over.seized large parts of syria and iraq in 2014, declaring it a caliphate, but has suffered a series of defeats in the last two years.

iraq may have been proclaimed a free for myself but the victory came at a huge cost for both civilians and the military and many men in the country felt it was their sacred duty to rid their land of terrorists and artie's but i've got reports on a volunteer unit which lost thousands to the she harvests but who sacrifice brought the defeat of i still. the valley of peace the largest cemetery in the world millions of buried here and recent years have seen an upsurge in new arrivals as an often don't walk. i says was the cause thousands upon thousands of iraqi fighters have. i'm here in coffins wrapped in the iraqi flag most of these were volunteers. this boy is sixteen years old he was forbidden to he still join the existence. these are all offices they were afraid of dying and their parents took the sacrifice. and. they are all here and we are proud of every single one of them behind this with the shame. he killed three hundred forty three isis fighters. seen those among those who volunteered for the hashtag or popular mobilization forces when the call went out three years ago they prov

he's now imprisoned in iraq. and he regrets signing up with this law mixtape. something that is on there's a lot that i regret i was part of a group of terrorists who did terrible things to people to civilians to children. to wreak served as a sort of poster boy for i asked propaganda efforts peoples with weapons and appeared in videos that incited violence. in. egypt. so this. has furnished the fighters with weapons and enable them to carry out operations. like the one in paris on nov thirteenth. is accused of killing for i.a.s. and faces the death penalty with that if anyone who commits a crime in iraq and is convicted on the basis of evidence will be sentenced according to iraqi law. tariq admits that he's guilty but he's still asking for help from his native country. so. it's not likely that he'll get it. like france and britain the belgian government opposes capital punishment but it does not want to assist terrorists even if the suspect is their own national. germany takes a different stance if the defendant faces the death penalty in such cases the forei

chief prosecutor says there's reason to believe the war crimes were committed against captives in iraq. hello from. moscow my name calling by welcome to the program this thursday it's now five pm. on what you can see at the bottom of your screen there and trump's decision which has led to a reaction as both a vocal and violent protests are being held across the palestinian territories over donald trump's decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel demonstrators are burning posters of the u.s. president and clashing with israeli security forces also gave the go ahead to move the american embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem which is long being contested by israelis and palestinians. therefore i have determined that it is time to officially recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. no one has their eyes to play with the fates of appearance of people for the sake of one's personal ambitions. good nor even policy to missionary christian rights in jerusalem will only fuel for the extremism and i don't mind the war against terrorism. they cannot oppose people's feelings and be