mr. bremer. mr. bremer, i was wondering if you could expand on these stories of the palates of $100 bills that were brought into iraq by c-130s that supposedly disappeared. if you were in charge of that theater at the time, you should have the ultimate knowledge. could you please inform us if those stories are true and do you recommend sending more pallets of hundred dollar bills? thank you, sir. >> well, to your second question, no, i don't recommend sending more pallets. let's be sure we know what we're talking about. the money that we dispensed, these hundred dollar bills in packets and so forth was iraqi funds that had been in escrow in the u.s. federal reserve bank in new york. the money belonged to the american people. it was not american money. it was the only way we could pay the expenses of the iraqi government was in cash. there was no banking system, banks were closed: under saddam hussein there were no checking accounts, there were no atm machines, there was no mechanism for electronic tra

mr. bremer. >> mr. bremer, can you tell me, do you think you've -- do you -- what's the chances that those nuclear weapons that could not be turned over, what's the chances that those come right out of iraq and all these democrats that won't call in are going to say that there was no al qaeda there, abu musab al zarqawi was killed right there -- >> okay, paul, i think we got your point. mr. bremer? >> well, i think qaddafi's nuclear program was his own program. it wasn't anything do with the iraqis. the intelligence just turns out to have been wrong and it wasn't just our intelligence about saddam, it was the french, israelis, british, germans, russians, people who even opposed our invasion there. i don't think the qaddafi thing had any relation to iraq. >> and the caller also brought up clinton and al qaeda. >> well, look, i chaired the bipartisan national commission on terrorism under president clinton and we reported in 2000 to president clinton that we saw a new terrorist threat arising, ladgely beca

mr. bremer. i look a c-span all the time.ese guys that you are bringing them theire asking opinion about obama when they are the ones who voted to use the army in iraq and they are the ones who caused this trouble. correctwrong, you can me. i haven't seen anyone on c-span in the last two weeks that can counter what they are saying and you are bringing these guys you like. i just don't get why this is happening. take itll, you have to on a whole, first of all. go to our website. c-span.org. coming up on "washington journal," we will be talking to paul bremer. ton we will be talking loretta sanchez, democrat, served on the armed services committee, she voted against authorization of the iraq investigation. we will get that voice in. first, dr. oz is up on capitol hill yesterday before the senate commerce subcommittee. testifying about weight loss products. senator claire mccaskill raised concerns about how dr. oz promotes these products on his tv show. take a look. [video clip] >> i do think i have made it more difficult. it is

mr. bremer, let me begin w the hear and now in the situation in iraq. you've got the front page of the "wall street journal" saying that the president believes -- has ruled out air strikes for now but then you've got the "new york times" saying that he is eyeing limited strikes, drone strikes like we have done in yemen. what is your take? >> well, i think there are two problems that need to be addressed that affect the american interests here. there's the immediate problem of these terrorists moving into iraq and there's a broader problem that we will eventually have to get to which is the collapse of the whole geopolitical structure that's been in place for a hundred years. on the first problem, the president identified a week ago in his statement on friday a week ago the interest the united states has in not allowing the isis terrorist group to gain foothold in iraq. i think that is a correct assessment of our immediate interest. my own view is that that will require military action by the united states. wlp t whether the president will come down on t

mr. bremer, good morning. good to see you. >> hi. >> i want to ask, as you know, the u.s. is weighing whether to get involved, how to get involved if it does so, but how much time is there to weigh options? isn't time kind of the essence? >> yes. and we have to recognize there are two things going on at the same time. number one, the possibility that this extremist group will take over. a very rich and central part of the region and use it as a base as taliban did in afghanistan for attacks on america. secondly, effectively the collapse of the entire post area political structure put in place a hundred years ago which threaten our friends and allies in the region. there's no time for a long debate. i hope the president now that he has had a weekend to reflect on it will make quick decisions to help the iraqi government. >> as you know, the mantra among both parties in washington is no boots on the ground. you've advocated for some troops on the ground. not combat forces, but some troops to help the iraqis in this situation. i guess the question, though, is it possible to j