and fred kagan of the american enterprise institute. >> one thing iran has done very well arguably better than the u.s. is it has had very strong ties to each of the political parties. it has, you will find the leaders of all the parties have visited iran. some of them have houses in tehran. there is a lot of links with the kurds, with obviously with the shiites, the iranians, most of them shiites and with the sunnis. so iran is a constant factor and in communication and very much on top of what is going on in iraq. will they influence it disproportionately is what we can't quite tell yet. >> in iraq after many long years of casualties and difficulties, there has been some success. and i think it's the goal now ought to be to consolidate that succeed ses and also to use what

kimberly kagan, president of the institute of the study of war, a washington think tank-- she was infghanistan for four weeks this summer as part of general mcchrystal's strategy assessment team. the views she expresses are her own. and thomas johnson, a research professor at the naval postgraduate school in monterey, california-- he co-authored a piece on foreignpolicy.com this past week titled, "afghanistan is today's vietnam." and welcome to you both. kimberlie kagan, i'll begin with you, admiral mullen calling it not just serious situation in afghanistan but deteriorating. do you agree with that and what is the evidence you look to to tell you that? >> i do agree with add mir mullen's statement because the taliban has actually been growing in its capacity to affect the population of afghanistan. to perform certain functions that we think of as government functions such as taxing the population. and also intimidating the population through assassination campaigns and through occupying towns and villeages throughout afghanistan. this is a sign of growing taliban control in southern

kagan tried talking about the health care bill but the roaring chants deafened his attempt.everal elderly people covered their ears and grimaced at the level of noise. in addition to congressman kagan, democratic house majority leader steny hoyer was in upstate new york today when this happened -- >> why would you guys try to stop a health care bill in three to four weeks when the president took six months to pick what he wanted for a dog for his kids? >> 95% hasn't changed since the bush administration. >> you're lying to me! >> that's right. what are you waiting for? >> i don't have sophisticated language but i recognize a lawyer when i see one. >> what happened to congressman hoyer there and congressman kagen is happening to democratic members of congress across the country. check out this scene outside of a health care event held by democratic senator chris dodd today. senator dodd, of course, announced just on friday that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. >> barack obama clearly said all you should do is take a painkiller! we don't just give chris dodd painkil

wisconsin democratic congressman steve kagan got an earful during a town hall meeting in green bay monday night. an overflow kraut voiced strong opposition to current plans for healthcare reform. here is a sample of how things went. >> no healthcare bill! no healthcare bill! >> the green bay gazette reports, quote, the event were a shouting match. the mob one. kagen tried to talk about the healthcare bill but the roaring crowd deafened his attempts. several elderly people grimaced at the level of noise." you can see there and throughout the country, many people oppose healthcare reform because of a belief that it gives the government too much power. there are those who think current proposals do not go far enough, however. liberals and others want the government to run almost everything. correspondent molly hennenberg shows us how the war is being waged over a single-payer system. >> it's a battle of the vidio clips. today, this salvo from linda douglas of the white house who office of health reform. >> the people who always try to scare people whenever you try to bring them health insura

and fred kagan of the american enterpre institute. >> one thing iran has done very well guably better than t u.s. isit hasad ry strong ties to each o e politicalarties. it has, u will finthe leaders of all the parties have visited iran. somef them have housesin tehr. there is a lot of linksith the kurds, with obviously with the shiites, the iranians, most of them shiites and with the suns. so iran is aonstant factor and in communicatn and very much on top ofwhat is going on in iraq. wi they influencet' it disproportionatelys what we can quite tell yet. >> in iraq after many long years of casualts and difficulties, there has been some success. and i think it'sthe goal now ought to be to consolidatthat succeed ses and also to use what leverage we haveo try to influence polical developments in the rit way and that involves arab issue but alsonvolves weighi in if we think there are abuses onthe part of t iraqi government and there is some concern tha it might be ving in a littleit of a authoritarian direction. >> i think the rolwe play is a role continng to encourage iqis not to use olenc

democratic congressman steve kagan got an earful. >> and the white house and congressional democrats say this is an orchestrated or, quote, manufactured effort by republicans, and special interest groups. >> there are groups that are -- have spread out people across the country, to go to these things. and to specifically generate videos that can be posted on internet sites. >> it disrupts the message. the story becomes the disruption. not the message. >> in fact, the democratic party has put out a new web ad, called, quoted, enough of the mob. >> this mob activity is straight from the play book of high-level republican political operatives, they have no plan for moving our country forward. so, they have called out the mob. >> trevor francis with the republican national committee, disputes that and says these are americans with legitimate concerns. >> people are doing this on their own volition. >> top senate democrat harry reid says members of congress will continue to press for reform, quote, in spite of the loud, shrill voices trying to interrupt town hall meetings. republicans say

kimberly kagan is the president of the institute for the study of war. she's a military historian who has toured the u.s. military academy at west point, yale, a georgetown, and at american university. she has conducted six battlefield circulations of iraq since may 2007. she was an adviser to the commanding general. i think it is now two tours in afghanistan for centcom and for the general. she has participated formally in the joint campaign plan assessment team for the multinational force of iraq and has a host of other advisory roles to the military. she's the author of "the eve of command," and "surged, a military history." finally, we have our very own bruce riedel, senior fellow in the foreign policy program at brookings. bruce riedel has had over 30 years experience in the cia as an analyst but more recently has worked in a senior capacities at the national security council where he has been an middle east adviser and a south asia adviser to three presidents. bush, clinton, and bush. he has also served in a senior position in the defense departmen

kagan says both sides of the debate should be able to find some common ground. >>> the father of a california national guard minnesoman says take down a tattered american flag until his son comes home. his son put up that flag when he left for his third tour of duty in iraq 11 months ago and it will stay there until he returns safely. >> i don't see it as being disrespectful to the flag, i see it as keeping a promise to a son that you love and made a promise to him. >> corporal paul haros is due to return this week. >>> the boston police offer suspended after sending a biting e-mail. justin barrett says the city violated his civil rights by causing him mental anguish and emotional distress. barrett sent an email that included a racial slur. boston's mayor and other officials have called for his dismissal. appearing on "a.c. 360" last night. barrett reiterated his side of the story. >> i did not mean it to be offensive, i served my country, i volunteered to go to iraq and i served my city of boston. if i'm charged with a crime, i want the chance for a fair hearing, that's why i got my attorney

. >> stephanie kagan, wmau. i just want to understand the independence of the report since many of these things have to do with detection and treatment and advamed is a diagnostics and the statistics that you put out. >> yeah, let them puthat out. we pride ourselves on conducting our studies according to peer-reviewed standards and we do intend to submit the report for publication. i think our methodology is well documented in the report itself. and certainly any aspect of healthcare reform and health policy, you can pick out a pmrtion of it and say this is particular interest of treatment and advamed is people who invest in medical technology and so we certainly do address the benefits of treatment. we also speak very much to prevention, which in the case of obesity, for example, is behavioral and does not involve devices. we pointed out that substance abuse is one of the most devastating issues, substance abuse and mental health in terms of oductivity. and here the treatme is primarily pharmaceutical rather th