james robertson,j jr. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. myould say david was one of toughest students and i do remember. player that ill taught, and he did not take the midterm exam. it flatlyal he failed so i gave him an f. he came to me and said i do not believe i deserve an f in this course and i say you deny either but that is as low as the course goes. not-- and i said you do either, but that is as low as the course goes. [laughter] i want to thank the park service. one of the first actions you learn in graduate school is simple -- any nation that forgets its past has no future. comingm grateful to you out this evening to remember a point in american history that cannot and must not ever be forgotten. june 3, 1864. the civil war became a more advanced as of the war years past. 1864, soldiers using rifles supported by suitable and well-placed artillery simply could not be dislodged by any sort of frontal attack. it became indelible early in june pine thickets, eight miles a way for richmond. declare, "theater assault at cold harbor was

in keynote remarks, civil war scholar james robertson describes union general ulysses s. grant's crusade to "destroy the southern confederacy," was culminated in the last major battle of the campaign a cold harbor. there, mr. robertson says confederate general robert e lee earned his greatest and final victory of the war, but it was not enough to stop grant from continuing his march and beseechingly and his men at petersburg. the richmond national battlefield park organized this hour-long event. [applause] >> good evening. i and the pastor here at the fairmount christian church and we are really sad that you are here tonight. we know we were much anticipating being over at the battlefield, but we are glad you could be with us tonight, and i would ask innocently begin our evening with a word

it's all over the heyday of jerry falwell and james dobson and pat robertson. it's done. this isn't a movement anymore. these are fragments of frustrated people. and i think that we speak too soon. if we think that just because the first but i will call the founding generation of the organized christian right scott falwell's and the dobsons have retired or passed away and if the christian right is a spent political force, and i think that journalists and scholars are often interested in the news and interested in the news stories and they may often seek out the exception. they may overemphasize the degree to which the younger evangelicals are dissenting from their parents conservative posix. so i think the christian right will be around for a long time to come. with that said i do think that there is a very real questioning and assorted self introspection going on among the younger evangelicals that is in many cases involving exploring new avenues of the theological heritage. there is an effort of the younger evangelicals to recover other ways of being christian in the we

robertson, cnn, london. >>> meantime a cnn military analyst is praising the way sergeant bergdahl was brought back into u.s. hands. james spider marks calls this a magnificent >>> it speaks about the united states focus on never leaving a fallen come read behind. it hung with it for five years. the tremendous training and execution of the soldiers to do this transaction in a peaceful, nonhostile way, that's like brain surgery on a ship. it's just a wonderful story across the board. i tell you, there will be cynics out there, we don't negotiate with terrorists. look, this is nothing but a wonderful news story and as an intelligence guy, i have to tell you, these taliban that are going to end up under certain conditions, we'll have a great opportunity to watch them very closely over the course of this next year to ensure their reintegration as the conditions laid down. >> the chairman of the u.s. house intelligence committee said he's pleased about bergdahl's release. take a look at this republican mike rogers says, quote, this fundamental shift in u.s. policy signals to terrorists around the world a greater incentive to

robertson, arwa damon. stay safe. now, phillip mudd, long serving with the fbi and cia, military analyst, retired major army, james spydere focus should be less on, getting back territory and more on leadership positions in isi sichs and whether or not have safe havens. >> that's true. i followed the guys for 25 years, cia, somalia, yechl men. in baghdad, worry geography, boston, new york, chicago. two things thinking about in my old position. first when the battle lines start to stasbilize. terrorist leaders say i have a bigger vision. as osama bin laden did. this revolution has how to go to the head of the state. washington, new york, london. >> a caliphat techle. >> correct. if they get stability for a terror organization. you need visionary leaders, look at a somali, yecmeni kid. your target is overseas. takes people rare in the terror world. if you get those. game on. we are in trouble. we don't have it yet. potentially in the future. >> general morris, talking leaders who can execute operations. i mean u.s. officials say five of iraqi's army, 14 divisions are combat ineffective. that's shocking. why are they so bad

robertson been with us. michael weiss, a writer for politi politico. a u.s. marine who saw combat in fallujah, iraq. crucial to this whole story. and major general james williams, a retired u.s. marine commander who also has some valuable insight when we discuss when's going on there. thanks to you all for being with us. major general williams, let's talk a little bit about what you did back there, we laze to have that turnaround with a major shift in how the insurgency went on. do you think they're in the mood to be turned around again? >> well, i think that's really a good question, michael. of course, at the time i was out there, nic robertson was there, in fact, a couple meetings with me and good to see nic again. you know, the challenge i think we have right now is really to find what the issues are and you've talked to the former prime minister. we have had discussions with ambassador crocker today. and when you look at the challenges, this sectarian battle in my mind has always been about the economics of it. and so, essentially, the iraqi government has essentially disenfranchised the sunnis and their only way to deal with this is to fight bac

robertson reporting live for us. i want to dig deeper into the crisis. james spyder marks is a retired major general in the u.s. army. jacob siegel is a reporter with daily beast and an army veteran who served in iraq and afghanistan. welcome to you both. >> thanks, carol. >> general marks, these terrorists -- >> thank you for having me. >> you're welcome. i'm glad you're here. general marks, the terrorists are vile, the people that tweeted out images of crucifixions in syria. should the u.s. get involved? if it does, how intimately? >> the united states has an obligation to get involved and just not necessarily with military force and diplomatic efforts but the key issue right now is, carol, someone, whether it's the united states or it's a coalition of the willing needs to step in and stop the bleeding. if the united states wants to try to build capacity for the isif, the iraqi security forces, that's a secondary step of stopping and holding the advances in place right now. to build capacity there may not be sufficient time and that's the concern i think the administration's dealing with right now. >> jacob,

robertson in a minute. i want to talk to our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto in jordan. a man who commanded the marine division during the iraq war, james williams. general williams, you're a straight talking man. what is the first element of american advisers? what are they going into? they've got to assess the situation but now you have shias who are marching in baghdad and they're ready to confront isis, the sunnis. >> well, you know, first of all, they're going to have to make contact with the military government in terms of working with the ministry of defense. they'll have to be assigned to various units of the iraqi army and make an assessment of the situation. remember, they're in an advisement role. in this advisement role, they're not going to be in direct combat but they're going to direct the individual iraqi army elements on how to resolve their issues from a military perspective. >> you know, general, you talk about the iraqi army. but now you've got the shiite forces and also sunni of isis, iraq, various tribes that are now following this. how is the iraqi army the one who is ultimately going to gain control of this situa

robertson, arwa damon, stay safe. digging deeper with counter-terrorism analyst phillip mudd, a long serving veteran of the fbi and cia, and retired army major general james the u.s. should be less on getting back territory and more on leadership positions in isis. and whether or not they have safe havens. >> i think that's true. i followed these guys for 25 years. you follow them in somalia and yemen, you start to learn lessons. they're coming over the barricades, boston or new york or chicago, two things you would be thinking if you were in my old position. first is when the battle lines start to stabilize, real serious tara leaders start to say i've got a bigger vision of this revolution. that is as osama bin laden did, this revolution has to go to the head of the snake. that's washington, that's new york, that's london. >> not just a caliphate but international. >> that's correct. the second issue if they get the stability that have space for a terror organization, you need visionary leaders to look at an 1-year-old saudi or yemeni or somali kid in a trench and say your target is not just a local police station or nuri al maliki. your target is overse