mr. hussein, thanks very much for joining us.to update us, first of all, on this iraqi military crash. the pilot was killed trying to bring badly needed supplies to the religious minorities who are stranded. we know alisa rubin, correspondent for "the new york times," she was seriously injured, a concussion, broken wrists, an yazidi member of the iraqi parliament was on that helicopter. what happened? what can you tell our viewers? >> yes, we have got trhree iraq helicopters and these helicopters bring people to the mountain of sinjar. some journalists and other members of parliament or government. to see the situation on the ground. this helicopter was there on the ground and while moving, it hit a rock there and then the pilot passed away unfortunately. the others, the other people who were in the helicopter, some of them, they were slightly injured. the journal it's from "the new york times" is in good shape. she is in hospital. but she has been treated already. and i think within a short time she will be in turkey. >> she'll

mr. hussein's rule and nearly all were imprisoned by american forces. how much is our initial decision making in the iraq war where we disbanded the iraqi army and engaged in this policy of de deaf -- of de-baathification. how such that continuing to feed resentment and divisions within iraq? >> no question the mistakes made during the initial u.s. invasion into iraq. baghdadi was once himself a detainee. i remember talking to a few u.s. military commanders who said it's only a matter of time before these guys' identities are proclaimed publicly and we recognize them as having formerly warn those orange jump suits. so what we're looking at a colossal failure across all levels in terms of the u.s. strategy in iraq from the beginning but also until the very end. withdrawing troops and more importantly, look, if these guys are indeed, and i mean, the intelligence and military council levels of the isis' upper command are not just iraqi soldiers under saddam but former muqabarat agents. they are adept at embedding and integrating within the soonny communiti

mrs. thatcher said, "i believe saddam hussein is going on into saudi arabia, that he is not going to stopds, and it's going to be one country after another." and president bush says, "i agree, and i think he must be stopped." and he said, "let's go around the world and see who's with us and who's against us." >> one of the extraordinary things about george bush is when he became president, he knew most of the other leaders in the world. >> it's only with friends that you can take off the gloves and talk from the heart. >> and he cultivated those friendships. they weren't just acquaintances for him. >> he was absolutely the pioneer of telephone diplomacy. his capacity more than anybody else i ever knew simply to pick up the phone and talk to people. there suddenly out of the blue was the leader of the free world. >> he called when there was no purpose to the call. when he wasn't asking for anything. and well before the gulf war he built a web of relationships across the entire world with leaders that when it came time to put the coalition together you had people who were willing -- they we

mr. secretary, not even george bush when he was hyping the war in iraq called saddam hussein an imminent threat, he called him a general gathering. over time, should the public start getting prepared for another long hard slaugt? >> well, i think the evidence is pretty clear. when you look at what they did to mr. foley, what they threaten to do to all americans and europeans. what they are doing now, i don't know any other way to describe it other than barbaric. they have no standard of decency, of responsible human behavior. and i think the record is pretty clear on that. so yes, they are an imminent threat to every interest we have, whether it's in iraq or anywhere else. >> you've heard me speak, i think, about the fact that we've gone from both a narrow focus in al qaeda to the recognition in the aftermath of the arab spring and the disenfranchised populations that have a lack of governments and failed states, declining nationalism, you heard me talk about all that. we actually have groups that now kind of are loosely connected, in some cases, affiliated, that run from afghanistan acr

removing the taliban in afghanistan and removing saddam hussein has been frittered away by the policies of this administration. >> every poll i have seen, mrve, with all due respect to you. every single poll i've seen says americans regretted going into iraq. no, look, look, look, absolutely. >> we won it and obama gave it away. that's the crux of the matter. that's why people regret it look back now. >> why is it not stable? i'm sorry? >> i don't think the g.o.p. can exploit it to the max because americans say look, iraq, why did we do it in the first place? >> look, what's going to happen is until there is a republican nominee in 2015 or 16, the republicans are not going to be able to speak with one voice. but the question is going to be in 2016 between a republican and a democrat and the question is going to be the republicans are going to say we need to have change from the failed policies of the obama administration and interestingly enough we may have a democrat who says i may have been part of the obama administration we need a change from the failed policy of the obama creation. that's a difficult dance for the democrats, more diff

hussein's former calico weapons facilities. now we're going to discuss the situation further with the president of the arab lawyers association thank you so much mr almatov for joining us today to talk about the situation in the region how the job is are focusing of course on capturing objects of strategic importance as we have reported so how do you size up the prospects of this so-called smart war. i think probably the report should reflect that it is actually though there are these fighters the militants but in fact it is the people in that region who are supporting you one would have to understand these groups these militant groups are not working a nice addition to what is good in the environment they are they are supported by the people and they have because they are the people out there who are paying the price for this militancy of the same time they have to make a choice between the two evils whether it is maliki or the militants and the militants treating them much better than maliki and i think at the present moment if we continue to accuse all the uprising as being isis or we would be doing yourself a disservice because we have demoni

mr. secretary in july you painted them as an imminent threat and not even george bush called saddam hussein an imminent threat. he called him grave and gathering. you talked about defeating isil over time. should the public start getting prepared for another long, hard slog like secretary rumsfeld talked about fighting al qaeda in the fight to eliminate isil? >> well, as to the comment about an imminent threat i think the evidence is pretty clear. when we look at what they did to mr. foley, what they threatened to do to all americans and europeans. what they are doing now, and i don't know any other way to describe it other than barbaric. they have no standard of decency, of responsible human behavior, and i think the records are pretty clear on that. so, yes, they are an imminent threat to every interest we have whether it's in iraq or anywhere else. you've heard me speak about the fact that we've gone from a narrow focus on al qaeda to the recognition that in the aftermath of the arab spring and the disenfranchised populations that i've described a lack of governance and sanctuary, failed

mr. secretary, in july, you pained them as an imminent threat, not even george bush when he was hyping the road to the war in iraq called saddam hussein an implement threat. he called it grave and gathering. general dempsey you talked about defeating isil over time. should the public be start getting prepared for another hard long slog like rumsfeld talked about fighting al qaeda in the fight to eliminate isil? >> as to the comment about implement threat, evidence is pretty clear when we look at what they did to mr. foley, what they threatened to do to all americans and europeans, what they are doing now, the -- i don't know any other way to describe it other than barbaric. they have no standard of decency of responsible human behavior. and i think the records are pretty clear on that. so yes, they are an imminent threat to every interest we have whether it's in iraq or anywhere else. >> you've heard me speak i think about the fact that we've gone from a narrow focus on al qaeda to the recognition that in the aftermath of the arab spring and these disenfranchised populations i've described, a lack of governance and sanctuary, fail sta