well, nbc news chief foreign correspondent, richard engel, and medal of honor recipient, colonel jack jacobs, to give all of us some context. jack, let's start with you. you were explaining before you walked out here that the first rule when you sign up to be a soldier is don't go down an unsecured road. how does that sort of template for being in the military reconcile with the most recent events and the way we've been administering this war in general? >> well, very badly. you're not supposed to go down any road until it's been secured to the flanks and to the front. it doesn't matter whether you're going down a road in the middle of the desert or in an urban area, you can't go down a road unless you've secured it. but to do that, you need to move troops to the flanks. and we don't have the troops to do it. as a result, we've just decided that we're going to take the chance and have convoys go from "a" to "b" or buses in this case without any security, relying in this case on local securities, that is the afghans. >> it seems, richard, that this is almost a policy decision. that we know th

news foreign correspondent, ayman mohyeldin, and retired army colonel, medal of honor recipient, jack jacobs. it's an honor to see both of you. your gut reaction on the news, jack? >> sooner rather than later. save money, save lives. we were coming home in any case, and the president looks quite presidential by saying, we're not putting up with this stuff, we're leaving. >> and your two cents when you look at the dynamic? >> i think it's part of the changing landscape in the middle east, a very historic opportunity. as you mentioned, this is not necessarily an agreement about withdrawal. it was more of a failure an agreement and that's why we have come to this dead end road. >> what does it say, jack, about the way that america is allocating the lives and military resources of our nation, globally, that the decision to extend or not extend those resources is not based on strategic imperatives set at centcom or the pentagon about what our mission is, but is set based on whether we can cut an extension immunity deal with another government. >> well, it shows we don't plan very well, does it? o

retired army colonel and msnbc military analyst jack jacobs joins me now.orning, chris. >> obviously, the worry is what's going to happen with the americans leaving iraq is that it's unstable and that provides an opening for iran. so the pentagon's drawing up some kind of alternative. what do you see as the alternative? >> well, we've always had alternatives in the region. don't forget, because we're fooling around in iraq instead of chasing after the bad guys in afghanistan, we've lost a lot of influence in the region. iran is the big winner, and so is turkey. we don't want that to happen because that's destabilizing particularly to the people you're talking about in the gulf cooperation council and to the region generally. there is actually no alternative than to keep a foothold there. don't forget that we have 99-year leases on lots and lots of air bases including that in kuwait right on the border with iraq. and it's from those areas that we would launch a couldn't atta -- couldn't attack. >> it's not going to happen. even iraq's chief of staff says ira

retired colonel jack jacobs and nbc analyst and congressional medal of honor recipient. >> most people don't have any connection. there's no skin in the game. you have to knock on something like 150 doors today before you'll find a household from which somebody is serving. >> reporter: thus much the country soured quickly on a war that seemed endless or pointless and unquestionably costly. no surprise, then, that many greeted the anoinsding of the war with bitterness. retired certainly chris tschida injured himself. >> we're losing family members that -- for no reason now. i lost three -- three of my best friends out there. >> reporter: and laura sharma in los angeles who will get to hug her someone to a few weeks. >> we should have never been there. >> reporter: the war and now the post war is controversial as ever. mike tibeebi nbc news, new york. >> sports, highlights. plus we'll tell you how those summerlike temperatures will last and the latest controversial brewing over ca sco mayor'saign.caaign. and this time the accusation center on his supporters. keurig has a wide variety of

retired colonel jack jacobs, a nbc analyst and congressional medal of honor recipient. >> you have to knock on something like 150 doors today before you'll find a household from which somebody is serving. >> reporter: thus much of the country soured quickly on a war that seemed endless or pointless and unquestionably costly. no surprise then that many greeted the announced ending of the war with bitterness. retired sergeant chris toshida, injured himself. >> we're losing family members that for no reason now. i lost three of my best friends out there. >> reporter: and laura sharma in los angeles who'll get to hug her son in a few weeks. >> he should have never been there. >> reporter: the war and now the post-war as controversial as ever. mike taibbe, nbc news, new york >>> nbc's richard engle is here with us tonight. you have been in the thick of it so many times with troops i know you're still in contact with. what are you hearing from them about the end of this war? >> reporter: when you spend time with troops they become your friends. we are still in contact via e-mail and faceboo

of those serving would likely care deeply and personally about how it was going retired colonel jack jacobspient. >> most people don't have connection. there's no skin in the game. you have to knock on something like 150 doors today before you'll find a household from which somebody is serving. >> thus, much of the country soured quickly on a war that seemed endless or pointless and unquestionably costly. no surprise then that many greeted the announced ending of the war with bitterness. retired sergeant chris injured himself. >> we're losing family members that for no reason now. i lost three of my best frebds out there. >> lawyer in los angeles who will get to hug her son in a few weeks. >> we should have never been there. >> the war and now the post war is controversial as ever. >> you know, alex, our good friend jack jacobs whom you interviewed many times who was for the war in the beginning and came to see that it was a mistake or came to believe that it was a mistake and worries now about the other question. not whether it's time to leave, but what happens now in iraq? and his fear is

joining me now, colonel jack jacobs. a good day to you, colonel jack.know specifically who in iran gave the go ahead for this plot? >> nobody really knows and that's what makes it intriguing. the mart money is on the qods force, part of the revolutionary guard, responsible for exporting revolutionary islam around the world and reporting directly to the supreme leader, ayatollah khomeini. so if you are going to put any money down, put it on the top of the iranian government. >> more terror plots by iran here in the u.s. how possible is that? and if it is, how many do you think we're talking about? >> i think there are a lot of them, but they're not necessarily directed towards the united states. most of the activity is directed towards others. as you mentioned, it was a plot to assassinate the saudi ambassador to the united states. if you had people like the qods force make a list of the top ten countries they would like to topple, the united states wouldn't even make the top ten. all would be in the middle east, including israel. egypt, syria and saudi

let me bring in army colonel jack jacobs.et me get your thoughts here. >> the big winner here is al-sadr. he was making it impossible to get consensus in the parliament. he is the winner here. >> some would argue that the troops are coming home. >> that's the other side. >> you are the colonel. they are coming home for the holidays and this negotiated process with immunity was several thousand. >> the president of the united states comes off nicely here as well. for the people who whom he said elect me and i will get them out of iraq, he's a hero. for the people who would like to see them stay, it's clear they were not going to stay and it's not his fault. he looks like a tough guy saying we are not leaving our guys here. >> those people who want them to stay, i have not heard consensus on what they want them to do there. >> the troops supposedly were going to be there to continue to train and conduct special operations, but that was going to peter out in any case. the guy who looks powerful here as a result of demanding that

a congressional candidate for illinois, colonel jack jacobs is an msnbc military analyst, and a communications director for the dnc. thank all of you for being with us this afternoon. tia i want to start with you on the ground there in kabul. what's happening? any major developments in that country? >> well, craig, what i can tell you is today soldiers in southern afghanistan did wake up to rocket fire, just proof that war is still going on in afghanistan. there are still areas where the battle rages. there's a large fight ensuing in the country, but there have been gains that have been made as well. we have to remember that. and although it has been afghanistan's longest war, we also have to remember it has also been afghanistan's most neglected war for several years it was known as the forgotten war. many people will tell you that war didn't really restart until 2009. >> you mentioned gains. what are some of the gains that have been made there in that country? >> well, even here just in the capital of kabul, when you drive around compared to what it looked like under the taliban regime you'r

jacob rashik. robinson cano. that somehow to slipped. >> but you got it. we will have a look at what is ahead on tonight show. >> jack black, steve martin, olen will send -- i went wilson. >> we are just back from the weather team. >> we had to make sure it is still clear out there. it is clear and it's cool. but there is a warmup headed our way before the weekend. most of the's tomorrow, mid 70's saturday and the low 80's for sunday and monday. chance of showers, but not until late in the day on tuesday, lingering through thursday. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> thank you for joining us. we will see you back here tomorrow night. >> announcer: it's "the tonight show from the new movie, "theig