malaki is a very tough leader. he perceives that someone's coming after him, whether the person is or not, but if he perceives it, he goes right after that person. he's a very tough guy. he doesn't like to macon sessions to people because he's concerned that that looks like some kind of weakness. >> well, ambassador, the question. >> very hard line. >> the question is here, and i think hala brings up a very good point. nuri al malaki is seeing as playing both sides to the middle. the question most people ask, why is he still in power? you know the politics behind this. why is nuri al malaki still in the position he's in now? >> well, his party had 89 votes. allawi's party which was where many of the sunnis were had 91. you needed 163 to get a majority of the parliament. allawi was never able to move i don't understand 91. malaki who worked day and night on it was able to put together coalition partners and able to get the majority. that's why he's in power. it had nothing to do really with the u.s. installing him b

three years when this administration came into power, they immediately started pushing away from the malaki government. he had choices. he had a long term strategic relationship with the united states. he has nefarious activities and he has to be influenced and controlled which we were doing when ryan crocker was there. over the three years, malaki has moved away from us, hardened his position and moved closer to the iranians. at the same time he has been pushing back on some of the democratic reforms and consolidating. in doing this, he has created this political space between the sunnis and sheas. sunnis feel very, very insecure about this. extremists are between the political space and now taking advantage of this situation. it will get worse before it gets better. >> shannon: that was going to be my question. will it resolve at some point, will it get better or is it going to evolve? >> dangerous thing we have in front of us, if malaki continues down the road he is on, he is disenfranchising the sunnis who joined the political process. that what brought the level of violence down so sig

a lot of malaki's opponents are, in fact, criticizing him of trying to consolidate power.still reaip takens full control over the national portfolio and the ministries of defense and interior. and just today, t.j., the irakia block with and that is the largest block in parliament. they are suspensioning their membership because they say this is a stagnant government and the prime minister has no intense of sharing power. the deputy prmt went so far as to say, t.j., that the prime minister himself is a dictator. >> and one thing we are used to is freedom of the press. but there is an incident involving one of our own, even. can you tell us about it? >> yeah. when we speak about democracy, one automatically assumes that freedom of speech preserving that is one of its main koern cornerstones. one of our iraqi cameramen who has been with us for years went to film a demonstration. at the end of that, he was dragged down an alley way, all of this happening in plain sight of the iraqi troops who were there. he was beaten up, his camera was taken off of him. he went to one of the

critics say no. >> is there any reason to trust malaki? >> no!rter: tom ridge at a protest outside the white house today. iraq's closest ally now is iran. >> the single greatest terrorist organization in the world is iran. >> thanks to the sacrifice, iran will now choose its own friend and go its own way. >> ted koppel will take journalists to iraq to see what it's like in a war-torn koun tru while america completes its withdraw. that's not the only debut. chelsea clinton will also be on for the first time. rock center right here on nbc bay area at 10:00, followed, of course, by nbc bay area news at 11:00. where he will well, a veteran nonprofit group is the latest victim of a supermarket credit card scam tonight. they did the right thing, they checked their records after shopping at the fremont store. and yes, there they found it, $3,000 in unauthorized purchases wrapped up on their card. they say that money would have gone to care packages and homeless veterans at local shelters. the secret service is also investigating the case. we certainly h

they think that malaki is going to make a grab for power, that there's going to be ethnic cleansing andunnis are going to be forced out. i mean, the indictment -- not the indictment but the arrest warrant for the vice president is a really bad sign and they are taking it as a bad sign and they are preparing for the worst. >> so you're talking about the prime minister who is the vice president who has a warrant out is sunni. you talked about the fact that many of the attacks have the hallmark of an oal qaeda affiliate. how much do you think is score settling or a power vacuum? >> reporter: san yjay, all of tt morphes together. it appeared to bear the hallmarks of al qaeda oral kw a qaeda-linked groups. and a vacuum is created and that vacuum tends to be violent extremists on both sides of the spectrum, groups that don't believe that dialogue is the way to settle political disputes but rather violence is. a great concern is that this is once again going to set off that cycle are tit for tat, sunni verse is shiite attacks. >> there are still contractors in iraq, many concentrated at the em

. >> i have absolutely no doubt that these decisions are being made based on what prime minister malakiieves is best for iraq, not based on considerations of what iran could like to see. >> there will be no military bases. more than 400 u.s. troops died. they have a moral obligation to build a future worthy of their sacrifice. in washington, i'm emily schmidt. >>> in hollywood has chid. this video was taken on friday. it shows a gunman firing at passing cars on a street. 40-year-old john rather berry died of a head wound. he worked with michael jackson to the spice girls. >>> the ferris wheel had a box that fell loose and took a landing on the carriage below. the safety inspections are supposed to happen daily and they check at least once a year. >>> broke spending fuel into a berkeley creek passed a test last week. the crews spent the day vacuuming diesel. the state is investigating why the generator malfunctioned saturday with three quarters of it went into strawberry creek and some even made it into san francisco bay. >>> homeowners removed their smart meters due to health concerns.

. >> al-malaki asked to come to arlington national cemetery, where thousands who died in iraq are buried. and for barack obama, a warning to the overbearing neighbor of iraq. >> we are partnering for regional security. other nations must not interfere in iraq. the sovereignty must be respected. >> america said he sought a normal relationship with iraq and the prime minister acknowledged the concerns. >> we will not allow others to interfere. >> barack obama has kept a promise, that the military involvement of america is at an end. about 6000 troops remain there. the embassy remains behind in baghdad. we should expect engagement that we don't hear about on intelligence and counter- terrorism. and there will be training programs, but otherwise the americans are leaving behind this fractured democracy. just a week ago, a vicious sectarian bombing -- killed scores of pilgrims. and much now rides on whatever tactical ability has been given to them by their american trainers. and as they begin a new chapter, it remains an object of strategic competition. america wants a democratic ally and ira

sunday, vice president joe biden talked with by phone with prime minister al malaki.ir conversation comes amid fears of a sectarian split after the shiite coalition issued an arrest warrant for another leader. >>> it is a sign of the strained relationship between the u.s. and pakistan in the month following the raid that killed osama bin laden. the new york ciin new york timee could be limits on u.s. drone strikes along with the number of u.s. spies and soldiers on the ground. tensions were heightened last month after an american air strike killed 26 pakistani soldiers near the afghan border. despite that, u.s. officials ensure the relationship will endure. >>> now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. hundreds lined the banks of the delaware river for the 59 angel reenactment of george washington's crossing of the river. the surprise event turned down a band of british mercenaries turning the tide of the revolutionary war. >>> although he had a very busy schedule over the weekend, st. nick managed to pull off some exciting stunts on the p

sunday, vice president joe biden talked with by phone with prime minister al malaki.ir conversation comes amid fears of a sectarian split after the shiite coalition issued an arrest warrant for another leader. >>> it is a sign of the strained relationship between the u.s. and pakistan in the month following the raid that killed osama bin laden. the new york ciin new york timee could be limits on u.s. drone strikes along with the number of u.s. spies and soldiers on the ground. tensions were heightened last month after an american air strike killed 26 pakistani soldiers near the afghan border. despite that, u.s. officials ensure the relationship will endure. >>> now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. hundreds lined the banks of the delaware river for the 59 angel reenactment of george washington's crossing of the river. the surprise event turned down a band of british mercenaries turning the tide of the revolutionary war. >>> although he had a very busy schedule over the weekend, st. nick managed to pull off some exciting stunts on the p

get blue helmets to protect them and tell malaki you're not closing the camp until the u.n.sioner for refugees has a chance to review them all. they're all protected under the geneva convention. they're all looking to be settled outside of camp ashrab. the the president -- >> we heard you loud and clear. thank you both very much. a pleasure talking to both of you. for some, it's a lifelong passion. for others, it's something discovered yesterday. we all have things that speak to us. they drive us to get up early, and stay up late. getting lost in the things we love has never felt quite like this. and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. >>> tomorrow night, the man who not only had a front row seat to history but also wrote the book about it.

president obama met with the prime minister al malaki met with him in washington and he vows to give birth to an independent free and sovereign iraq. the president making a special trip to fort brag north carolina on wednesday and he thanked u.s. troops for returning home in iraq and helping them to create a independent state. >> panetta officially shut down the war . speaking before 200 troops. panetta told them lives lost were not in vain. we'll go back to our fox news programming already in progress. really, head & shoulders is for more than dandruff? yeah, it does seven great things like ving me a healthy scalp and great looking hair. you should make that eight things. dude, why don't you just use the stuff? [ male announcer ] head & shoulders: seven benefits. every bottle. [ male announcer ] head & shoulders: where they grow america's favorite wpotoes. idaho, everyone knows idaho potatoes taste great. but did you know they'reood for you too? they're high in vitamins and potassium. and idaho potatoes are now certified to carry the heart checkmark from the american heart assoction

and after meeting with iraq's prime minister malaki today he said the u.s. is about to begin a new chapter launching a civilian mission to help iraq rebuild but it's unlikely that u.s. troops will ever return here. we were able to grab a few moments with the vice president today. he became passionate when asked whether americans have a moral obligation to thousands of iraq war veterans now returning home. >> every american business out there, if you want somebody who knows how to handle pressure, billions of dollars worth of equipment, who knows how to operate under fire, hire a veteran. we have an obligation. they fought over here. they have gone through these god awful sands and deserts in the middle of a war. they are in god-forsaken places in afghanistan. they shouldn't have to come home and fight for a job. >> reporter: what is happening here is described as the largest movement of military equipment since world war ii, brian. no one is quite sure what will happen to iraq after the withdrawal. the vice president says the u.s. will have a, quote, robust

>> well, we have been having very intensive discussions with president -- prime minister malaki and various members of the government last night through into the morning in the oval office with the president, and we certainly are looking forward to a normal relationship between two sovereign countries. the outlining for the actions was set prior to this administration coming into office in 2008 when the bush administration agreed that our military presence would end at the end of this year, and that is going to happen. we hope, in fact, that our troops will be out in time for christmas, and then we will be taking on a case-by-case basis requests for additional assistance of which there are many coming from the iraqis. certainly, in the security and the military training arena, there is quite a long list of requests, and we are looking forward to evaluating those and fulfilling them wherever possible. we are going to be working on police training, which is getting underway. we have a number of agreements that have been worked on under the strategic framework adopted back in 2008, so we're on

malaki says his country has high aspirations for the relationship between the two nations. the president called for a return of a surveillance drone captured by iran. reports say their experts are in final stages of recovering data from that drone. tehran displayed nearly intact drone and called it's capture a victory for iran. u.s. officials say the aircraft was not brought down by iran. and defense secretary says he doubts iranians will return it former assistant coach faces his accusers in court but there are questions about what the prime eye witness saw. [ female announcer ] what's so great about...jcpcash? no exclusions. with jcpcash get 10...15 or... $20 off. storewide. unlike other stores, we don't make you come back to save! get up to $20 off with no exclusions. we make christmas affordable. you make it yours. jcpenney. okay, so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. that's yours. lower cholesterol. lower cholesterol. i'm yummy. lower cholesterol. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste

and more important, al malaki will send a message that they will not have undue influence for iran or be a surrogate for iran in the middle east. >> as the president meets with the prime minister, u.s. troops are continuing to pack up and leave. >> and jim axelrod has the latest for us from baghdad this morning. >> reporter: good morning, erica. the department of defense won't say exactly when the last u.s. troops will leave for obvious security reasons. but at this point, there is fewer than three weeks left before the end of the year, and that of course is the deadline to have all u.s. troops out. more troops cross over the border from southern iraq into northern kuwait every day. there are now somewhere near 5,500 u.s. troops left in iraq. deployed among three u.s. bases still operating here. it is an enormous undertaking. one officer we spoke with calls it the biggest logistical operation undertaken by the military since world war ii. but so far, it all appears to be going quite smoothly. >> for me and my soldiers, it gives me great pride to be able to be a part of something as bi

malaki is plague a dangerous game. towards the iranians but at the same time he doesn't want them to have undue influence in his country. the fact of the matter is they have significantly more influence today than they had two years ago, and once the united states is out, completely at the end of this month their influence is going to grow. martha: general, always good to see you and get your thoughts on all of this. thank you, sir, we will see you soon. >> take care, martha. martha: you too. gregg: he has been missing for nearly a month now. find out who may be getting custody of michelle parker's three-year-old son and daughter, plus this. >> if i'm president of the united states we are going to get rid of obamacare. >> i'm committed to getting rid of obamacare. >> who can look obama in the eye and say obamacare is an abomination for this nation. and i'm going to do that. >> could it be too late for that? could they even do that if they tried. coming up new terrance that even if the supreme court strikes down the law

biden met with the prime minister nuriel malaki. you can hear more on that on the "today" show after news 4 today. >>> maryland state health officials are commissioning a review of security at a local mental facility. two consultants will look at facility at clifton heights medical center. the final report is expected by february. an official says the hospital is still in crisis mow after two murders back in october. >>> today, montgomery city's health committee is expected to vote on a new curfew for those under 18-year-old. a few weeks ago, at least 70 teens were involved in this incident. the full council could vote on the proposal as early as next week. >>> one of washington's holiday traditions takes center stage this weekend. thousands of spectators are expected to watch as president obama lights the tree. this was the scene at last year's tree lighting. if you've got tickets to today's event, the gates open at 3:00. the lighting does mean several road closures, though. 15th street will be closed to traffic between east street

busy day here, iraqi prime minister malaki visiting. he'll be in a press conference, lots of meetings and a wreath ceremony at arlington. ♪ ♪ when you have tough pain, do you want fast relief? try bayer advanced aspirin. it's not the bayer aspirin you know. it's different. first, it's been re-engineered with micro-particles. second, it enters the bloodstream fast, and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. the best part? it's proven to relieve pain twice as fast as before. bayer advanced aspirin. test how fast it works for you. love it, or get your money back. [ male announcer ] know the feeling? try acuvue® oasys brand contact lenses with hydraclear® plus for exceptional comfort. it feels like it disappeared on my eye! [ male announcer ] discover why it's the brand eye doctors trust most for comfort. acuvue® oasys brand. >>> newt gingrich made plenty of enemies as house speaker in the mid-'90s and lindsay graham who led a coup in '98 admits he might be a kinder, gentler newt this time around. >> he's been out of government for a

we're still watching this for you, president obama and iraqi prime minister nor i ar malaki expected and addressed the gathered journalists about their meetings in the oval office and the way forward in iraq now that the u.s. troops are coming out at the end of the month. jenna: big issue and we'll carry it will live when it happens. also in d.c., the supreme court announcing it will rule on arizona's controversial law that's cracking down on illegal immigration. the timing of this, all very interesting, and shannon bream has been watching this closely from washington. shannon. >> reporter: hi jenna. it is official, the supreme court has decided to wait until the contentious fight over arizona's immigration law, portions of it are in tact while other parts have been struck down by the lower court. the judges will now have to decide if arizona went too far when it passed sb1070, the position held by the obama administration. here's former assistant attorney general tom dupry. >> the administration has taken an aggressive approach saying the states should not be regulating this area, t

the fear this week, the malaki visit, i was talking to others, shows just how the u.s.ng out, that somehow that iran is going to fill this vacuum of becoming iraq's closest ally. >> well, iran has made an enormous role already and changed the dynamics between these two countries and the tensions. but the fact is once the united states withdraws some of the old tensions between those two countries who fought an eight-year war. >> you do think it will rise up? >> i think it will. i think the difference between arabs and perfectisians will be much more visible. iran is also very heavy handed in iraq trying to enforce its inferior commercial goods trying to take over the center of learning and saying it's iran not iraq. that there are a lot of long standing differences between these two countries that will emerge. iran is clearly one of the big winners out of the u.s. intervention in iraq. >> it does seem financially they are throwing a lot of money in iraq. it's not like we haven't thrown, the united states government hasn't spent a lot of money there as well. but with the

beginning with iraq, iraq's prime minister at the white house today, norry al malaki and barack obama ahead he to the day just three weeks from now when nearly all u.s. forces are expected to be out of iraq. >> throughout the region we'll see a new iraq that's determining its own destiny, a country in which people from different religious sects and ethnicities can resolve their differences peacefully through the democratic process. >>> also it this hour, we are watching the markets as you can see the dow down 216 points here, two hours from the closing bell. the p markmarkets are down beca growing doubts over the european debt crisis also are over intel. >>> also breaking today, arizona's tough immigration law going to the u.s. supreme court, they'll decide whether the state can enforce it as the obama administration is fighting against it. a ruling expected in june. >>> mitt romney stepping up his attacks on newt gingrich. want you to listen to how the former massachusetts governor characterized the apparent front-runner now in this race. >> erratic, outspokenness which may be great

al-malaki has a favorable rating only among shia. alawi has a favorible rating in sunnis and kurds. he is more popular overall, rating all the people in the country. muqtada al-sadr is more favored among shia than anyone we surveyed. very lowe among sunni and kurds. the issue of the people of iraq being conflicted comes through. the fact that americans have a weird but the partisan split also comes through. one cannot blame the people of iraq from beet -- for being conflicted and divided after years of ruthless rule and occupation and accompanying this, terrorism and ethnic cleansing, the country -- they are somewhat dysfunctional, and the people of iraq are worried about the future. they do not quite see their way through to the future. i will leave it there and we will see what the people here have to say. >> thank you very much. a couple of surprises here, the things we expected and things many of us did not expect. skip was the ambassador to kuwait, and he has a unique perspective on these issues. >> thank you. it is nice to be here today and thank you for your presentation. i w

so clearly, malaki being problem is among many people's minds and there may be some connection. bill: the future is still unsure. amy kellogg watching events out of london. thank you, amy. 10 minutes past the hour. martha: very tough situation. a lot of people warn that this may be the way it goes. didn't think it would be quite as quickly as it has. let's take a look. those are a few of the stories in "america's newsroom." how about this one? she was stuck in a snow-filled dutch for 10 days. we'll tell you how this college student survived to tell us what happened. bill: a game of chicken on the hill. karl rove in minutes. what he thinks republicans should do now. we'll ask him moments away. martha: he may not be running for president but chris christie keeps in close contact with mitt romney. i will ask the new jersey governor if there could be a bigger role for him in 201. >> we have a very candid relationship with each other. he calls and we talk all the time what is going on in the campaign. he asks for my thoughts and i give them to him. >> have you talked about a vice-pre

the major sunni backed coalition threatened to walk off the job saying prime minister al malaki is tryingo marginalize his rivals. >> bad news for iraq. from "the times" paul mccartney is putting-on-ate album that pays tribute to the music that inspired he and john lennon in their youth calling it the songs that inspired the songs. it features two original tracks and is due out in february and i cannot wait. >> from our parade of papers in "the boston globe" the red sox are making themselves at home in florida at the team's spring training facility in ft. myers. the new jetblue ballpark is a replica of fenway with identical field dimensions and even a green monster in left field. a fabulous park. >> fantastic. >> i love fenway. >> i love jetblue and jetblue park in ft. myers. >> i love it. >> i guess we have to go to ft. myers now. >> i've been promising my son. we've got to go there. >> let's do the show from ft. myers. >> all right. with us now chief white house correspondent for politico mike alan here with the morning playbook. i take it there is a big story brewing in iowa that's cal

but as prime minister malaki explained to us, the administration at that time and for the foreseeablehe number of troops and missions it would propose to keep in iraq. for weeks after, the administration failed to make a proposal to the iraqis, and when the iraqis finally united together in august and publicly asked the administration to begin associations, the response from washington was again characterized by delay. this ensured that a serious negotiation could not begin much less succeed. i novak is a sovereign country. i know it has an elected government that must answer to public opinion. and i know there could be no agreement over a future u.s. military presence in iraq if iraqis did not agree to it and build support for it. so this is as much a failure of iraqi leadership as it is of american leadership, but to blame this on the iraqis does not excuse the fact that we had an enormous amount of influence with iraq's leaders and we did not exercise it to the fullest extent possible to achieve an outcome that was in our national security interest. in fact, in the view of many, th

especially with al-malaki visiting yesterday. go get the book.s right there called "we got em" and you actually did. and thanks for doing that and thanks for your service. >> thank you and thanks for having me on. >> all right, colonel. coming up straight ahead, they locked them up but they can't contain his charm. the prime suspect in natalee holloway's death attracting some female attention. and one city boosting the minimum wage to an all time high. sound like a good idea? stuart varney never gets here on time. we always catch him walking in. the money has to come from somewhere, he says. but first, happy birthday to stuart varney's high school classmate, taylor swift. people love the surf & turf. you can't go wrong. [ male announcer ] don't miss red lobster's surf & turf. 3 grilled comnations all under $20. like our maine lobster with peercorn sirloin, or our new baconrapped shrimp with blue cheese sirin for $14.99. i'm john mazany and i sea food differently. my dis best absorbedlcium in small continuous amounts. for $14.99. only one calcium

but as prime minister malaki explained to us, the administration at that time and for the foreseeable future had not given the iraqi government the number of troops and missions it would propose to keep in iraq. for weeks after, the administration failed to make a proposal to the iraqis, and when the iraqis finally united together in august and publicly asked the administration to begin associations, the response from washington was again characterized by delay. this ensured that a serious negotiation could not begin much less succeed. i novak is a sovereign country. i know it has an elected government that must answer to public opinion. and i know there could be no agreement over a future u.s. military presence in iraq if iraqis did not agree to it and build support for it. so this is as much a failure of iraqi leadership as it is of american leadership, but to blame this on the iraqis does not excuse the fact that we had an enormous amount of influence with iraq's leaders and we did not exercise it to the fullest extent possible to achieve an outcome that was in our national securit

but as prime minter malaki explained to us, the administration at that time and for the foreseeable future not given the iraqi government the number of troops and missions it would propose to keep in iraq. for weeks after, the administration failed to make a proposal to the iraqis, and when the iraqis finally united together in august and publicly asked the administration to begin associatis, the response from washington was again characterized by delay. this ensured that a serious negotiation could not begin much less succeed. i novak is a soveign country. i know it has an elected government that must answer to public opinion. and i know thereould be no agreement over a future u.s. military presence in iraq if iraqis did not agree to it and build support for it. so this is as much a failure of iraqi leadership as it is of american leadership, but to blame this on the iraqis does not excuse the fact that we had an enormous amount of influence with iraq's leaders and we did not exercise it to the fullest extent possible to achieve an outcome that was in our national security interest. in fa