he accused iraq's shiite prime minister nouri al-maliki of ginning up the case. he insisted today he'll remain, in effect, an outlaw rather than return to iraq to seek a new trail. >> i consider this a medal on my chest and a cost that i have to pay in return of my absolute dedication in serving my country iraq and my people the iraqis. >> warner: all of which which raised new questions about iraq's ability to bridge sectarian division and share power among imagine swrort shiites, sunnies and curds. in washington, that issue was much on the minds of state department officials today. >> we are concerned about the potential for an increase in unhelpful rhetoric and tension on all sides. and we call on all of iraq's leaders to continue to try to resolve their disputes consist tent with the rule of law. >> warner: instead major new violence erupted sunday in iraq as bombings and shootings in more than a dozen cities killed more than 100 people, one of the highest death tolls this year. none of the killings were directly linked to the hashemi case but al qaeda has cla

and fair trial. >> does it mean the trial without the government of north al-maliki? >> the problem we are facing, james -- the case of the accusation. let us talk about how to put an end or how to find a suitable exit for the current political impasse we are facing. >> the presence is clear enough. on sunday, more than 100 people were killed in bombings and insurgent attacks. it was one of the most violent days of the year and a sign of the continuing rifbetween sunnis and shias, a division made clear by the case against the vice president. >> this is "gmt" from bbc world news. the headlines -- china's premier told of the world economic forum that his country is on track to hit growth targets for this year. pakistan that a spy agency regards america as its worst enemy, according to a doctor involved in the search for osama bin laden. time for business news. we will focus on wen jiabao. no one could dispute of this extraordinary transformation of the country in the course of the last decade, but it is the here and now that your people are bothered about. >> absolutely

this has not happened, and you've had sunnis claiming that al-maliki is become aing dictator.e has been described as saddam-like, and the sunnis are not being named to position that is they were meant to be named in and are being pushed to the sidelines out of key posts. this is where this comes from, and al hashmi, who was widely supported within the sunni community, now gets wind that he is going to be charged with capital crimes. he gets up north to kurdistan and across into turkey. >> is he powerful? does he have any sway whatsoever now that he is out of the country? can he do something? >> he doesn't have any sway, but he has a lot of support among sunnis, and this is where you are seeing violence wrap up. it's the local al qaeda affiliate, the islamic state of iraq. it's kind of an umbrella group. you have al qaeda certainly involved, but you also have sunni islamist groups and remnants of the old saddam ba'ath party who are behind all this violence, and it's just getting bigger and bigger and bigger. you know, every month there's been a major coordinated attack. >> why

you mention that everyone at every level has talked to al- maliki about that and you will continue. what is his response when you say you would like him to cooperate with us in our interests? what does he exactly say in response to our efforts? >> the response is typically to express concern about the events in syria. they are very clear that both the prime minister and other iraqi officials have no interest in saying the current government continue, that they are no friends of that regime, that regime has been hostile to them in the past and allow terrorists to come into iraq and been harmful to democracy and institutions and the people in iraq. they are interested in seeing that there is a clear outcome in syria that protects their interests. there have been a little trouble seeing that. >> what about the aerospace issue? why are they continuing to cooperate with iran and that effort? what can they tell you specifically regarding that? what is their response? >> they say engage in all parties and they will not allow their air space and ground to transport troops and they have inst

he talked to prime minister maliki twice.ongly and he was engaged on a weekly basis. i do think that had an effect on iraqi politics and there was an extraordinary request that president obama made to the president of iraq to resign his position to make way for another person. it's hard to make that kind of request when you don't have an ongoing relationship with your iraqi counterparts. >> the book is "endgame." thank you for being here. jim miklaszewski, thank you as well. when we come back, paul simon joins us on set. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. even better than we did before ♪ yeah prep yourself america we're back for more ♪ ♪ our look is slacker chic and our sound is hardcore ♪ ♪ and we're here to drop a rhyme about free-credit-score ♪ ♪ i'm singing free-credit-score- dot-com...dot-com ♪ narrator: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com ♪ ♪ hi dad. many years from now, when the subaru is theirs... hey. you missed a spot. ...i'll look back on this day and laugh. love. it's what makes a

according to manager burrs budgeted giants outfielder maliki cabrera will not be on the playoff roster when his suspension for failing a drug test comes to an end last month and a linebacker joe mays was fined $50,000 and suspended one game for the hit on texans quarterback matt shaw of the day was so violent and not his, it's a part of the part of his ear off the play in denver next sunday. then he was vicious. >>> as much as they do to try to protect the game seems like it gets worse. >>> at that holsteins ordeal about the guys starting players you would think that this/i still think the target and they just don't talk about it. we don't call this our company, we call this our mission. green toys teaches children that if i have a milk jug and i stick it in the recycling bin it can turn into something new. chase allows us to buy capital equipment to be able to manufacture in the states to the scale we need to be a global company. with a little luck green toys could be the next great american brand. find what's next for your business at chase.com/mainstreet dad, we want pizza. you guys

al maliki is a shiite. i think you get the picture here. that vp is in exile in turkey.clared his innocence. >> i totally reject and will never recognize the unjust, the politically motivated verdict, which was expected from the outset of the trial. >> coinciding with the verdict, a wave of bombings. look at pictures. they are becoming familiar elsewhere. they were up familiar at one time. this time more than 90 people wounded -- 90 people killed and 300 wounded aacrocross the coun. sunni insurgents belonging to al qaeda in iraq claiming responsibility. you might sum this up in one word. mess. ivan watson is monitoring the developments from istanbul. last i checked the americans spent over $800 billion and a lot of blood in trying to ensure that iraq was somewhat stable. is this headed towards complete loss and a waste of our time and energy? >> reporter: well, it certainly doesn't look good. sunday's bombings killing 94 people at least, more than 300 wounded last summer as a result of similar bombings, the worst violence and death toll in nearly two years, and the count

despite prime minister maliki's claim that iraq is at them for business, most interested investors and trade partners are challenged to get a visa or a definitive answer from the government about tender bidding processes. according to the world bank, iraq's lasher implemented a policy that made it more difficult for iraqis themselves to do business. i look forward to your ambassador beecroft insights in the security situation as well as the use of the prospects for economic improvement and political stability. the lat reports on the current status the administration needs to eliminate the united states intentions in iraq for the long term. some significant times housing has occurred, the iraq operations are enormously expensive. how does the administration defying u.s. goals in iraq? what are the prospects for achieving these goals and what resources will be required over the long-term? and looks very to your testimony and i thank the chairman for this hearing. >> thank you very much, senator lugar and thanks for your personal recollections of chris stevens. we do appreciate it very mu

president says he is being targeted because he's sunni muslim and he accuses prime minister nuri al malikiwards a religious divide. >>> the 7-year-old survivor of that mass murder in the french alps has come out of a coma and her 4-year-old sister has returned home to england. they were the only survivors of a deadly shooting wednesday j. t prosecutors say the girls' parents plus a woman believed to be their grandmother and a female cyclist were all shot twice in the head. killer is still at large and police have not ruled out robbery as a motive. >>> in western nicaragua, more than 1,500 people had to evacuate their homes today when a volcano erupted. officials say it shot gas and ash more than two miles into the sky. a government website says as many as 20,000 people may be affected. >>> when i say united arab emirates, you probably think sun, those beautiful skyscrapers like that, the crystal clear blue waters and pristine beaches, of course. frankly, that's the appeal for many who actually vacation there, but today we're heading to dubai, the uae's tourism and trading hub for a very di

and asked him to stop the overflights and maliki said no.it is a sign i think of the fact our influence with iraq which we spent so much blood and treasure to lib rate from saddam hussein, even they are saying look we're not going to listen to you. iraq is in a tough neighborhood. remember if we're not there, remember we pulled out lock, stock and barrel. jon: no bases on the ground. >> no residual troops. we could have left 10,000 or so and negotiated and sought that. we're out now. so our leverage is really low. meanwhile iraq has to live next to iran which is a power in the region. maliki, the prime minister of iraq, has to decide where he wants to pick his fights and he said basically joe biden, forget it, i'm going it iran. jon: better to tick off joe biden than the mullahs next door. >> that is exactly right. jon: what is the solution? the president gave one of his first big speeches in cairo promising to reset relations with the muslim world. >> clearly i think one of the things you have to do is, probably the most important thing you

the maliki ke malikis is in the camp of the iranians.ountry is in danger of breaking up into sunni and kurds. we won the war and lost the peace. all the president does is tell people we are withdrawing. the al-qaida, the taliban and others draw the appropriate conclusions, and of course in syria, here is people standing up and literally sacrificing their lives and not only will we not help them by giving them arms to have -- so it would be more of a fair fight, when is the last time you heard the president of the united states say a word in behalf of these people who are being mass occurred? they take all these lessons, and then they draw appropriate conclusions. martha: yeah, you know, when i listen to hillary clinton talking about the movie, to me it is so striking, you know, and i am asking this to you, are we looking at a situation that we may see pass and settle down in the coming weeks, or will we look back and see this moment and the brutal assassination of chris stevens, and three other americans as a turning point that opened a

the maliki government has gone in on two occasions. they surrendered their arms to our military. we want to encrage our euroanllorettle this and talk about regime change. if you want to avoid the war and agree sanctions aren't workin let's start supporting publicly the democratic opposition. take a loo at the countes in thedl ea. t we start. >> governor ridge, good to have you on the program. thank you so much. we'll be watching you later today. thank you joann and mitch. >>> nbc'sobtas the call was atrocious. i asked him what the nfl is going do about it. he's coming up. >>> we have sad news to pass along, this in the last few minutes. legendary andy williams died last night at his home. nc. hdd he had 17 gold, three platinum records. he was best known, of course, if singing "moon river." he had his own show on msnbc. it launched in 1962, and an annual christmas show o. ♪t's t bim o the year ♪ it's the hap happiest season of all ♪ [ male annou ] oushsu you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your all

>> i think it shows the influence iran has over the maliki government in iraq and is using iraqi airspacehese reports are correct, to resupply syria. this is a critical fight in syria for iran. it goes to its arc of hegemony across the region, hezbollah, terrorist group in lebanon, to me it is not surprising that iraq is allowing these flights. not surprising iran would try to use the overflights is supply syria. jenna: why should iraq listen to us? >> i think it is very unlikely iraq will listen to us. i think the administration's decision to pull out combat troops simply allowed iran to increase its influence over the maliki government. that is one of the reasons i'm worried about stability in iraq itself. it was one of the consequences entirely predictable when this withdrawal went forward. jenna: but iran has been involved in iraq and iraqi politics now for a while, ambassador, right? we've seen this before. iran's technology has been responsibility for killing our troops in iraq and afghanistan. >> right. and i think the iranian influence in iraq has also been steadily increasing ove

you mention that everyone at every level has talked to al- maliki about that and you will continue. what is his response when you say you would like him to cooperate with us in our interests? what does he exactly say in response to our efforts? >> the response is typically to express concern about the events in syria. they are very clear that both the prime minister and other iraqi officials have no interest in saying the current government continue, that they are no friends of that regime, that regime has been hostile to them in the past and allow terrorists to come into iraq and been harmful to democracy and institutions and the people in iraq. they are interested in seeing that there is a clear outcome in syria that protects their interests. there have been a little trouble seeing that. >> what about the aerospace issue? why are they continuing to cooperate with iran and that effort? what can they tell you specifically regarding that? what is their response? >> they say engage in all parties and they will not allow their air space and ground to transport troops and they have inst

. >> there's no love lost between the government of nouri al maliki and the iranians.ve left iraq, they don't have the capability to defend their air space, even if they wanted to, we don't have a presence in there and they don't have the capability to do anything about it. so if iran wants to fly over their air space, we have left nothing behind to help them with that. >> given our unreliability as you put it, let me ask you, where do you go on the iranian nuclear bomb. suppose we wake up one morning and iran has a nuclear bomb. what would this administration do? do they have policies? two they have contingencies? what do you think their next step would be? >> they have been so focused on convincing the world that the iranians can't have a nuclear weapon, we're going to wake up one day and we're going to find out that they do have it and we haven't fought our way through the next steps, this administration denies that they are considering any type of containment regime, but quite frankly, that's probably what we're going to end up with. >> speaking of denial. until ve

a koran for target practice, president bush actually apologized to iraqi prime minister nouri al maliki>> he apologized for that in the sense the that he said, we take it very seriously, we were concerned about their reaction, we wanted them to know that the president knew that this was wrong and that the commanders in the field had publicly reprimanded the soldier and removed him from iraq. >> this was always one of the most admirable dimensions of the bush administration. and a real achievement. after 9/11, it was entirely possible that the country could have lapsed into anti-muslim sentiment. the bush administration legitimately fought to keep that from happening, and they largely succeeded. let's turn to congressman keith ellison, who was also the first muslim member of congress. congressman, good to have you here tonight. >> thank you. thanks for having me. >> the bush administration understood the value of diplomacy in the muslim world, in particular, in keeping relations with the muslim world strong, because of possible dangers to america of letting the country fall into anti-mus

supporting many of these militia groups, the same militia groups they were supporting that prime minister malikiopposed at some political cost to himself within the shia community. so i think the iranians continue to be very aggressive on the ground in iraq and now they're aggressive in the overflight. now we've known for some years that iraq does not control its air space. it does not have, you know, interceptor aircraft that can go up and take care of its air space. so there is a definite problem there. and i'm sure it is something that's going to move very much to the top of the agenda in trying to deal with. >> chris hill, thanks so much. as always. and we'll be right back with more politics. the romney campaign, is it looking for a re-set button? or . i love new technology, so when i heard that american express and twitter were teaming up, i was pretty interested. turns out you just sync your american express card securely to your twitter account, tweet specific hashtags, and you'll get offers on things you love. this totally changes the way i think about membership. saving money on the thi

particular, there is a concern or maybe an allegation might be too strong a word that prime minister malikis becoming more and more authoritarian. i want to get your sense of adding your sense of the overall politics because that of course will be the underpinning of progress. they can't make progress to the extent we would hope unless they can manage those political differences. so i went to get your sense of the item that do to further advance those areas of cooperation and consensus. >> are clearly or divisions in iraq and differing interests. what we see and that is encouraging is the parties and they have disputes, when they have differences, that at the end of the day they come together to talk and negotiate their differences and they continue to function as democracy. they continue to work in the legislature and the council of ministers and outside of an unofficial processes to work out their differences and find ways forward. this often times a protected process and doesn't move at the pace we would like to see her with the efficiency would like to see. but our role is largely to en

the case has sparked a crisis and fueled resentment against the prime minister nouri al-maliki, a she'ite who is critics claim is monopolizing power. >> heather: to syria, a car bomb killed at least 17 people and wounding dozens more. syria's official news agency saying the dead are all civilians. warplanes also reportedly pounding a residential district a day after rebels overran about a racks in the city. dozens of people were killed and wounded in that attack. meanwhile, secretary of state hillary clinton says she is pessimistic about closing the gap with russia on how to diffuse the crisis. clinton says if russia refuses to go along with the u.n. sanctions, then the u.s. and allies will increase their support for the syrian opposition. >> a christian pastor is getting his taste of freedom after spending three long agonizing years inside an iranian prison. he was awaiting execution for refusing to renounces his christian faith and then the charges were tossed out. lauren green has more. >> reporter: within 24 hours, the iranian pastor went from facing death to being a free man. for the

maliki, no friend of mine, says i can't come back in the country, but if i put myself in maliki's situation, leader of iraq, and i know boim said we're leaving, -- obama said we're leaving, not leaving anybody anything and we're leaving and you see americans pulling out, you see all in radical stuff going on across the border in iran, you realize america's not going to be around to keep any stability, i'm going to have to start doing what iran says. and so what do we do? we created a country -- we had a victory. everybody said, even though president obama as a senator, was against the surged, we worked, we won and then he pulls us out that he snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory. and now you got iraq that is under a heavy influence by iran. thank you, president obama. we got a syria that we got syria that is run by a tyrant. perhaps syria was the only place we should have intervened and this president still hasn't gone in to help there. oh, no. because the 57 states that make up the organization of islamic conference, they were all for us going into egypt and going into libya and taki

even in maliki, prime minister maliki who's been there at various times that is supportive of the recount ryan crocker is sitting down and says they are watching i think the president ahmadinejad speaking in farsi and morality means a translator and he spent a lot of time in iran in the 1980's peace i'm surprised that you didn't know farsi. he says my god you don't know what life is like what it is like to be a second-class citizen. so that tension is there. i think it is just too early to tell how they play out and fit into the larger culture less. >> him with if you look at the crisis they are along that sectarian fault line more than on the arab fault line. that is quite interesting. i wanted to catch up on one story that is more recent from the 80's and the 90's. let's do this at the very end of george w. bush's presidency. this curious incident where some british naval officers were, you know, captured by the nrcc forces in the gulf and taken to iran and was such a dramatic moment and, you know, lots of memories of the hostage crisis came back. here are the brits, our closest ally wo

and there was an armed group where maliki's supporters were going in the krg and they said they wereot going to do that? maybe it is not a big deal. do you think that the payments are a sign at tensions lessening, or it is not a big deal and not important? >> thank you. another question? >> this is a question for matt. what are we talking about in terms of the amounts of money and time to repair those pipelines? in the case of the one that goes to saudi, what would it take for -- to get the saudis to agree to reopen it? is that a pipeline that actually would work fine if the saudis would only agree to turn it back on? thanks. >> good question. that was one of my 20. on this whole question of turkey kurk region, it strikes me as counter enter the best counter intuitive that the turks look at this to the eye of whether or not they are right to be independent. wherever they go down through a word which they will allow that kurds to get something like her kkirkuk. denise, you talked about the amount of money that they give. [indiscernbile] >> the relationship between -- [indiscernbile] i

president, nouriel maliki is not a high probability shot. mr. president, nouriel maliki, has spent his entire life in exile. he has a conspiratorial view of the world. he think there is a baathist behind a bush and most are trying to kill him. for much of his life that was actually a rational response in his environment. he spent most of his life in exile. this is the man you're betting on to be inclusive to create a iraq for all iraqis sunni and shia, arab and kurd. if this is going to work, mr. president, he will have to govern beyond his life experience. okay? and, this is figurative. this wasn't a actual conversation but fundamentally, i think what the president decided was, i got it. this is going to be really hard to do. i appreciate your analysis. send the brigades. okay. left and right-hand boundary. and at the time, and i still believe it, the president's decision was behind of here but it was between the left and right-hand bondary. oh by the way he had a personal video teleconference with nouriel malaki three times a month for the res

i can tell you it's unraveling, the latest being maliki allowing iranians to overfly iraq and bring weaponss one of the influences there. what i'm saying is we need more robust american leadership because that's -- if the united states doesn't lead, then i would ask who do you want to lead? obviously that's not a good option. by the way, could i just add, i know americans are war weary. i know they're tired of iraq and afghanistan, but we cannot allow that whole part of the world to unravel the way that it is proceeding to do now because of aa lack of american leadership. >> senator, you mentioned karzai in afghanistan. he issued a statement where he said he was very unhappy to hear about that film that had gone out. he said nothing about any of the embassies being overrun. look at the same situation, they've not really come out and condemned any of the attacks and you have people starting the look at the american aid that flows there, over $1.5 billion flowing to egypt. you point out more need to be done. right now the american public is going to push back and say they want to give less. h

maliki is denouncing the film as racist and called on muslims not to react with violence.der and chanting death to america. >> brian: let's leave the flags and burn his posters. that would make more sense. >> steve: all right. meanwhile, yesterday at this time we were telling you about how after the trouble started -- >> brian: just a second. elizabeth, you want to go? >> yes. >> brian: go ahead. >> steve: look how patient she is. >> gretchen: it's raining. >> brian: i know you have a network to run. >> gretchen: have a great day. >> steve: anyway, after the trouble started at the embassy of cairo, somebody inside sent out -- and it is presumed with the administration's approval -- essentially messages, some e-mails, tweets as well about essentially of apology, to the protesters. what's interesting, though, is we have now heard that al-qaeda is run by al-zarqawi hare. his brother was there at that event. so the embassy was, by extension, apologizing to the protesters, apologizing to al-qaeda. >> gretchen: to the protesters you're seeing right now. here was the original emb