the first volume begins where the liberation of europe begins in north africa in 1942 with ht invasion of mobilized measure morocco, algeria, moving north to the med mediterranean to the invasion of sicily in southern italy and 1943 #, and then the third volume, this one that just came out beginning on the eve of the invasion of normandy, rome fell june 4th, 1944, and, of course, -- of course, d-day, and normandy, this final volume tells the final chapter of the story through ve day, vehicle try in europe in 1945. >> host: army at dawn, why begin in north africa? >> guest: because that's where the story really begins. the decision was made by franklin roosevelt at the urging of winston churchill to not try to cross the english channel in 1942 or 1943 partly because the american army was green, green commanders, and partly because we didn't have the landing craft and the other materials necessary to undertake that enormous feat, so roosevelt, contrary to the advice of almost all the senior military commanders agreed to invade north africa in november 1942, and that took place on novembe

he has been in sicily in north africa. he has been relieved of command he recognizes that the windy are going badly and and he basically tells them part of this. and he never knows if he is going to be awarded the medal of honor. and that he's going to get his own division. ninetieth division. eisenhower has just approved of this. so he is an extraordinary character to write about. like you guys come i appreciate him for what he is. he is a beautiful writer. i heated to say goodbye to him when he died in july of 1944. >> caller: hello, thank you for taking my call. hello, i have read two of her books. the first of the trilogy, and i am well into the third. the first question is about the commander of the second quarter. the allies tried to cut off the germans from tunis and they failed to do that in a rush from the invasion area. they were in disarray, they had defensive positions and they had to defend quite a front. now, then a disaster was passed. but it was replaced after that and laugh proudly recommended his replacem

in the middle east and north africa during korea. [laughter] so i have just finished manchester's third volume on churchill, and i wondered what your reaction was to that book. >> guest: thank you, russell. i don't have any reaction because i haven't read it yet. i read the first two and then, of course, manchester died before he could finish the third one, and know that with a co-writer that third one has come out, and it's generally been well received. but i've not gotten around to reading it yet. i will. it's on my list. >> host: and the next call comes from guy in similar on, colorado. guy, you're on with rick atkinson. please go ahead. mr. >> caller: mr. atkinson, a pleasure to speak with you. i've read "the old breed," famous for its first person account of the horror faced by a marine corp. infantryman fighting in the pacific. i was quite moved by it. my question is can you recommend a similar book written by an american soldier who fought in the european theater? thank you. >> guest: well, you know, i rely on first person acc

he did not step in to stop the deportation of jews in italy were north africa for that matter.many of the survivors@ many of the survivors claim that they were simple soldiers not part of the not the ideology and this was false. they were very much a part of the death machine of the third reich. and that is why people like that end up in prison. >> host: you're watching booktv on c-span2. this is mr. rick atkinson. we have a caller from california. >> caller: hello, thank you for your book. there seems to be extraordinarily sustained in burgeoning interest in world war ii. especially regarding the civil war, let alone world war i. i wonder what factors you tribute to vets. >> guest: thank you for that question there was an interest in the civil war and there are cycles. in the 1890s we saw a resurgent interest with ken burns and there is no shortage of history coming out about the civil war and i think we visited, in the case of world war ii, more or less after-the-fact. i believe that what we are seeing now is of the 16.1 million in uniform from about 1.3 american veterans are

and he shows up in north africa having a little combat experience call wounded in world war 1 unlike eisenhower and bradley who have no combat experience from world war i, he is a difficult man to love, no doubt about that. he tends to be somewhat imperious, but self-absorbed, extraordinarily ambitious. has a first for publicity that is beyond belief. what you find when you get to italy where clark is the commander of the fifth army, a man who cares about his soldiers, is attentive to their welfare, personally brave and like some of the stories that have been told about him and yet is insubordinate at times particularly when it comes to dealing with the british, makes certain decisions that are simply indefensible, pressing on to rome, so i find personally that he is a mixed bag, you can see mark clark as somebody who is able to handle 23,000 american battle deaths in italy. not everyone is put on this earth able to handle that kind of pressure. he is a guy who can deal with the pressure of heavy casualties. on the other hand he is the man who clearly has flaws as a commander. eisenh

operationsrrorism have been in north africa for a while now. re seeing operations across northern africa. they have been happening for over five years now. some of these have been under the auspices of other countries, like france, other allies, and they will continue into the foreseeable future. >> what do you hope the military and intelligence communities will learn from the revelations in your book? >> i think they will work to stop de-conflicting operations. different areas of operations begin to step on each other and that gets people killed. that is something that needs to be corrected. >> what about the role of private security contractors hired by the cia? away, its not going will be around. the cia will continue to utilize security contractors. been your view, what has the effect of that, the hiring of security contractors by the cia and military? >> it has the affect of outsourcing mechanisms of the cia would have done themselves. they require security detachments to go into certain areas. it is happening, i do not expect it to stop an

we've brought a lot of expertise in on the middle east, and north africa, and from time to time we have to reinforce that, and, in fact, david is holding this position, since he -- highly regarded civil servant. shows the importance that we get to this, and if you were taking steps to the moment to increase the number of senior diplomats. we're working on these issues in the foreign office. so i think this is an area which is occupied a large portion over the last year, an increased proportion of civil time. >> can i turn to the situation in syria? and i hope you've had a chance to look at the article in the "daily telegraph" this morning. forge me. it's tucked away on page 14. and it's a report from syria of the top rebel commander, the portrayal of the prime minister's abandoned plans to arm the syrian opposition, and the report says that downing street confirmed last night that mr. cameron had roomaled out arming the opposition. is this an accurate report? >> no. there has been no change in the government's policy on this. as you know as said to the house, many times, we've made no d

to some fancy halls of negotiations on international finance, i went to kabul, baghdad and in north africato think about much more difficult problems. we had to put a new currency, a new monetary system in place in iraq. one of the most difficult things i've ever had to do. it was frustrating in a sense would call on ideas and people were not used to that but it's also really amazingly rewarding. it worked. the theories work and were able to get the financial system up and running with a lot of cooperation from the iraqis and i would say the combination of frustration, if, to me, the frustration of policy in general is that we have gotten off track because it's frustrating, almost tragic that we had a good set of, i say we, i mean america, had a good set of policies in place for nearly a quarter of a century. and we are not there now. it's very, very frustrating to me to see this slow recovery and problems that other countries, to. >> host: you also write about paul on new and "first principles." how did he do? >> guest: he wasn't there too long. he left pretty early. there were some disag

british foreign secretary william hague on the situation in the middle east and north africa.then questions from members of the british house of commons were he addresses concerns over syria and the likelihood of military intervention in egypt. this is a little more than 45 minutes. >> the secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs. secretary william hague. >> i will update the house on the uk's response to events in the middle east and north africa. members on all sides will be concerned about the situation in egypt. offeringsy in cairo is assistance to british nationals and we advise against all nonessential travel to egypt outside the red sea resort. thede clear last week at united kingdom does not support military interventions into democratic politics. although we recognize that many egyptians welcomed the action that was taken. i have been in close contact with the acting egyptian foreign minister, and i have emphasized the importance of an urgent return to democratic processes and express our deep concern over the deaths of 50 protesters. the egyptian autho

staying in north africa, feelings are running high in tunisia. a funeral is underway. the opposition leader was assassinated on thursday. mourners have been taking part in the funeral procession in the capital, tunis. he will be buried alongside fellow opposition leader who was murdered in february. the same gun was used to kill the two men. the government says that radical is killed them both. the u.s. says it will not seek the death penalty or torture -- or use torture if edward snowden returns home. it is the latest step in washington's campaign for extradition from russia. snowden has been living at moscow's airport for over a month to escape detention from the usa. a russian government spokesperson said russian never had and never would extradite anyone. the u.n. china have averted a trade war. yours trade commission or says the two sides have reached a deal to establish a minimum price at which china may sell solar panels within the european union. the deal comes weeks before brussels was set to impose high duties on chinese made panels. to north korea, where pyo

the invasion of north africa in 1942, there was no mention of the british even being involved in the american press at first. so it was a very interesting relationship between the three of them, stalin churchill and roosevelt. see one of the unsung heroes in the book is one of churchill's many aides, the direst who was also a flamboyant man himself and it seems as if he really got fly on the wall events and his work quite a bit. >> he shouldn't have kept a diary and he knew it. he could have been imprisoned for quite a long time but that diary opens the window on churchill in private life during the war and everyone uses it. it's just absolutely marvelous because colville was with the prime minister at chamberlain's funeral if you will at dinner many many nights. on his foreign journeys so colville, colville's diaries are more accurate in the sense that churchill's remembrances. if colville wasn't there we only had churchill's work to take for everything and his word at times was self-serving. >> and another unsung hero from what i could tell is molly patrick downes who i had not pai

meanwhile, do have a north africa and middle east country.rtility has come down some but it's still very high. and longevity is that big. so these are very young societies. and somehow, many of them have gotten organized in such a way that people don't have much to do. and the information and communication age which i talked about in the book, nowadays the people in charge do not any more have a monopoly of information or the ability to organize. that is entirely changed. so, in the mill least we see the a spark. some one indonesia. all he wanted to do was start a business with fruits and vegetables. and the regulators wanted to get a bribe from him. they refused and squashed him. how do you expect me to make a living? i just wanted to work. it does a lot for you. you get some income for work and feel i deserve that. i did something and i got paid for it and deserve it. so, i think that in that turmoil, we are seeing in the middle east and north africa. that is going to settle down until people have something to do that's constructive. i know

s response to events in the middle east and north africa. members on all sides will be concerned about the situation in egypt. our embassy in cairo is offering assistance to british nationals, and we advise against all nonessential travel to egypt outside the red sea resorts. i made clear last week that the united kingdom does not support be military interventions into democratic politics. although we recognize that many egyptians welcome the action that was taken. i've been in close contact with the acting egyptian foreign minister, and i have emphasized the importance of an urgent return to democratic processes and expressed our deep concern at the deaths of over 50 protesters. the egyptian authorities have announced an interim prime minister and a timetable for new elections. this process should be inclusive, in our view, open to all parties and lead to free and fair elections. this should, therefore, mean the release of political leaders and journalists, agreement on a new constitution and the checks and balances of a democratic system a

now, at this time north africa was essentially controlled by the french. you had the three colonies, morocco, algeria and tunisia, all french colonies. these colonies were run by the french government, the government that essentially surrendered to nazi germany in 1940 when france fell, and they were allowed under the terms of that armistice to hold on to their colonies in north africa. so presumably, when we invade north africa in november of 1942, we're going to be facing french troops, ironically. now, f, the r hears -- fdr hears churchill's arguments for first setting our troops against the germans if north africa, and he agrees. george marshall, when he finds out that the president has abandoned the original plan for the cross-channel invasion in 1943, is appalled. he realizes that if all of the men and material are sucked off of that campaign that's being arranged out of europe across the channel, that you'll never be ready by 1943. and, indeed, d-day, the invasion of normandy, doesn't take place until june '44. when eisenhower learns that the presid

. >> woodruff: and to the unrest in north africa, more than two years after the arab spring. today both islamist and secular forces took to the streets of tunisia and egypt. at least two egyptian protesters died in clashes outside a mosque in the coastal city of alexandria. margaret warner has the story. >> warner: music and pro- military chants filled tahrir square today, and army helicopters buzzed overhead. as tens of thousands of egyptians turned out to endorse general abdel-fattah al-sisi and the military's ouster of islamist president mohammed morsi on july 3. >> ( translated ): i have come to support the decision of general al-sisi. has done has stopped us from working. we don't have any money to spend on our families. we have no work. >> warner: al-sisi had urged a huge turnout, saying it would give him a mandate against violence and terrorism. islamists called their own mass demonstrations too. while both were generally peaceful, fighting led to deaths and injuries in several cities. there was also new tension over morsi's fate. state prosecutors announced they're in

paris, madrid, milan, take a look at that in the 30s due to the very hot heat moving in from north africa. i'll leave you for the extended forecast. @ ♪ >>> just a reminder of our lead story this hour. a train has derailed in northwestern spain toppling passenger cars on their sides. spanish national railway has not released the casualty figures, but local authorities say at least 47 people are dead. spokespersons for the railway company say about 200 passengers were on the train when it departed the capital madrid. it went off the tracks near the city of santiago de compostela. it's not clear yet what caused the accident. now, details are still trickling in. we'll bring you updates as they come. all right. and that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks very much for joining us.  2:00 p.m. >> good afternoon and welcome to the woodrow wilson center. this is america's living tribute to its 20th president. just a memorial like some some of the places you visit in washington d c. you may have noticed that on your way and. the upper floors of this memor

meanwhile, you have a north africa, middle east countries, fertility has come down some but it's still very high. the longevity is not that big. so these are very young societies, and somehow many of them have gotten organized in such a way that young people don't have much to do. and information and communication age want to talk about in the book, nowadays the people in charge do not anymore have a monopoly on information or ability to organize. that is entirely changed. so in the middle east we see the arab awakening, and the sport, only a spark, this little guy in tunisia, and all he wanted to do was start a little business selling fruits and vegetables. and the regulators wanted to get a bribe from him. he refused and they squashed them. how do you expect me to make a living? he just wanted to work. and worker commune, does a lot for you. work do you dignity. work, you get some income from work and you feel i deserve that, i did something and i got paid for it, deserved it. so i think in the turmoil we are seeing in the middle east and north africa come it's not going to settle do

paris, madrid, milan, take a look at that in the 30s due to the very hot heat moving in from north africa. i'll leave you for the extended forecast. >>> and that is all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: president obama put a spotlight on the american economy today, while accusing washington of taking its eye off the ball. good evening, i'm judy woodruff. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the "newshour" tonight: we recap the president's speech, including his pledge to fight for the middle class with new investments in jobs, education and homeownership. >> woodruff: then in an exclusive interview, the majority leader of the senate expressed optimism that congress will start to be productive again. we talk with nevada democrat harry reid.

built a thriving country, absorbing large numbers of jewish refugees from around the middle east, north africa, and europe. they say, if we partner with the palestinians, the palestinians have to absorb the refugees, their descendents of people who used to live in what is today israel. will not of an accord radically alter the demographic balance of israel and change it into something other than a majority jewish state. a practical declaration from the palestinians, i do not think most israelis are obsessed with that, but the terms of an accord have to be such that israel is not flooded with millions of descendents of palestinian refugees, because that would be the end of israel as the planet's only majority jewish state. >> on the issue of settlements in the occupied territories, the palestinians again have maintained this line that as long as settlements continue to be built on this land, israel is not serious about making peace with us. that was another of the palestinians preconditions. they demanded to other things. they demanded that talks take place on the basis of the pre- 1967 lines,

a desirable outcome you know of the of the libyan intervention in mali and how it affected the north africa so again these are all threats to global security that are quite interconnected is it all worth. having read of one leader that you perceive as hostile and illegitimate well you know it's a very philosophical question too to what extent opposition. actually has to use force to prevail over sometimes tyranny i mean look with your company i mean the nine hundred seventeen. has been a revolution and i think in st petersburg you needed that ship forgot the name of aurora which this is this is this was this is a situation room made a big difference i mean the french revolution to have succeeded it was against tyranny now i want to shift to one more question and one more implication of the syrian conflict which i thing is right up your alley and this is the issue. refugees now i know that a couple of years ago you call for the book on the. refugees in in a conflict since the syrian refugee issue is so pressing these days according to the u.n. more than one point five million of people have

government now it's not really a condition that surround the ija in the whole middle east and north africa where the muslim brotherhood and the al-qaeda linked networks are being supported by outside countries saudi arabia qatar states great britain so it's not only egypt existing in a very dangerous world and of course we have a very severe economic crisis which is media economic conditions in egypt very severe and i think what the jury is looking for and i think maybe the third pictogram grotty as acting prime minister is to provide some stability. in the face of what's happening to the leadership of the muslim brotherhood wants we'll leave it there thank you very much indeed lawrence freeman editor of executive intelligence review magazine good to hear your thoughts thank you. just a reminder now of our breaking news this hour and at least two people have been killed after a crash landed at san francisco international airport authorities confirm that sixty one people have now been hospitalized these are pictures from the scene there where the boeing triple seven came to rest off the run

the immigration that comes from africa from north africa it's been going on for quite a long time but now it's how can i put it accompanied by a new type of mass immigration which is immigration by the roma coming from eastern europe we now need to be reasonable and get. hoarders to say mean police borders and check points like before will come of all we were like before yes yes i think freedom for people comes from control over its borders not just in terms of human traffic by the way but also in terms of capital flow and also products were at a hotel full of open doors where everybody can come in and do whatever he likes sell whatever he likes there you go i think preserving and protecting france's interests begins with control that doesn't mean we close the borders it means we control the borders we open them if we want to open them and we close them if we want to close them and in that way we can protect the economy and the well being of our country. so i was thinking even if the european community or the e.u. cease to exist globalization is something much bigger and deeper and wi

these probe morsi supporters so angry today they accuse washington of double standards on mideast north africa responded paula slayer there in paula's posting regular updates on the situation in egypt on a twitter feed that she looks into the dilemma faced by washington which want to cut aid to the egyptian military if it does the day admit that a coup has taken place follower than for the latest on. a senior advisor to the muslim brotherhood you heard her dad told me earlier that the group's members are ready to put their lives on the line in the stand against the military. it's a military coup against a democratically elected president a thursday it has never had despite the performance you don't bring down presidents because of that bad performance otherwise most part the countries of the world's brothers would have been brought down what you do is you engage in parliamentary politics to bring up a government that's capable of delivering on its promises and you cycle in every turn what happened at the moment is that the military coup took over the government and they have almost overnight r

cairo a middle east north africa. now paul is posting regular updates on the developments in egypt over on twitter one of the latest tweet she says the interim government praising washington for effectively backing the rising against morsi you can follow her at paula slee underscore the muslim brotherhood urge mahmoud morsi supporters to do was to take the streets tomorrow for a series of massive rallies against the military many fear the demonstrations will lead to more clashes and bloodshed but present to me me a writer an islamic movements believes the ousted government had a real opportunity to run the government and the country with the military blocking their every move. the major fault with the situation in egypt is as we had an elected president who had no loyalty or sympathy from any of the make it institutions of the see this is the home he was against the police was against them the media was against them and they usually was against him and finally although he fought so that the army with my hands the poor

department of state has funded the middle east north africa trust to promote this type of democracy so i don't think that the administration is acting deliberately in contradiction i think what we have are many nations out there particularly in the gulf that are not as supportive of their peoples as they should be and this is going to be a problem this is going to create more problems for those ruling powers that it is for the rest of us the arab spring is just one indication of that came matthew go ahead i mean you we have the saudis exporting jihadism in syria and that's an ally of the united states and i obviously don't condone that sort of behavior at all but i'm interested in the you know the i agree with what that has to be a review of this sort of stuff and i'm not sure how it could be potentially implemented but i think you know the military aid should really be what we focus on cutting back and i think you know like i said before let's grant i don't agree but let's grant that foreign aid is worthwhile doing and it's a good thing for governments to do even maybe we should you k

the immigration that comes from africa from north africa it's been going on for quite a long time but now with how can i put it accompanied by a new type of mass immigration which is immigration by the roma coming from eastern europe we now need to be reasonable and get our borders back to sea means police borders and check points like before. we were like before yes yes i think freedom for people comes from control over its borders not just in terms of human traffic by the way but also in terms of capital flow and also products were at a hotel full of open doors where everybody can come in and do whatever he likes sell whatever he likes there you go i think preserving and protecting france's interests begins with control that doesn't mean we close the borders it means we control the borders we open them if we want to open them and we close them if we want to close them and in that way we can protect the economy and the well being of our country. so i was thinking even of the european community or the e.u. cease to exist globalization is something much bigger and deeper and wider than

department of state has funded the middle east north africa trust to promote this type of democracy so i don't think that the administration is acting deliberately in contradiction i think what we have are many nations out there particularly in the gulf that are not as supportive of their peoples as they should be and this is going to be a problem this is going to create more problems for those ruling powers that it is for the rest of us the arab spring is just one indication of that came matthew go ahead i mean here we have the saudis exporting jihadism in syria and that's an ally of the united states and i obviously don't condone that sort of behavior at all but i'm interested in the you know the i agree with what that has to be a review of this sort of stuff and i'm not sure how it could be potentially implemented but i think the military aid should really be what we focus on cutting back and i think you know like i said before let's grant i don't agree but let's grant that foreign aid is worthwhile doing and it's a good thing for governments to do even maybe we should you know focu

department of state has funded the middle east north africa trust to promote this type of democracy so i don't think that the administration is acting deliberately in contradiction i think what we have are many nations out there particularly in the gulf that are not as supportive of their peoples as they should be and this is going to be a problem this is going to create more problems for those ruling powers that it is for the rest of us the arab spring is just one indication of that came matthew go ahead i mean here we have the saudis exporting jihadism in syria and that's an ally of the united states yeah and i obviously don't condone that sort of behavior at all but i'm interested in the you know the i agree with what that has to be a review of the sort of stuff and i'm not sure how it could be potentially implemented but i think the military aid should really be what we focus on cutting back and i think you know like i said before let's grant i don't agree but let's grant that foreign aid is worthwhile doing and it's a good thing for governments to do even maybe we should you know

department of state has funded the middle east north africa trust to promote this type of democracy so i don't think that the administration is acting deliberately in contradiction i think what we have are many nations out there particularly in the gulf that are not as supportive of their peoples as they should be and this is going to be a problem this is going to create more problems for those ruling powers that it is for the rest of us the arab spring is just one indication of that came matthew go ahead i mean here we have the saudis exporting jihadism in syria and that's an ally of the united states and i obviously don't condone that sort of behavior at all but i'm interested in the you know the i agree with what that has to be a review of this sort of stuff and i'm not sure how it could be potentially implemented but i think you know the military aid should really be what we focus on cutting back and i think you know like i said before let's grant i don't agree but let's grant that foreign aid is worthwhile doing and it's a good thing for governments to do even maybe we should you

north africa middle east correspondent. deb a senior advisor to the muslim brotherhood he told me the interim leader who has been backed by some of the wealthiest countries in the region has no authority to leave the country. well any everything in the there's something wrong is that we have a government does a lot of things wrong but that's not an excuse for a military coup and i can't see how many people are making that excuse that it's ok to have a military coup similar to what the idiocy that we've heard from some of the world leaders and other western leaders that all military coups are a new form of bringing about democracy that is this is a new level of intellectual look this is not acceptable now this is the twenty first century political scenes are governed by politicians by democratic means if you want to bring down a government you go to the ballot box and you don't go brushing up to the military because you failed as a political leader or you failed as a political party at the end of the day it's easy to collect

with the changing dynamics in this area, egypt is a very important country in the middle east and north africathe dust settles and their sorting out what kind of government, treating the people and their place in the region. we do know saudi arabia and kuwait among others providing substantial aid to the egyptian with the fall of the government, do look upon that as a positive one as egypt itself when they desperately need that money, but also for the region. >> i believe it is positive, it is positive because it is good to have the arab states to provide funding to do so for the other western countries that may have fulfilled to the past. we have to wait to see how things turn out. that does not mean we turn our backs, but stand back somewhat and wait until conditions develop before we start providing a lot of a begin. lou: turning to afghanistan, considering is your option wishes the withdrawal of the troops from afghanistan next year. a wise course? >> with the strategic marks to pakistan, we need some sort of commitment to not only keep an eye on the commitment that we and sacrifices we ma

now his artifacts from morocco, and north africa, are bought by collectors all over the world.y beautiful. tell me about that. >> amber, coral, shells. these used to be currency. these shells. >> how old is this? >> early '20s. the amber is millions of years old. >> how much are you selling it for? >> by weight. quite heavy piece this one, 429 grams. so it comes like 42,000 -- >> so that's how much in dollars? >> almost $5,000. >> about $5,000. >> almost. >> should we look at another floor? >> oh, yes, follow me. there's a nice collection of things from sahara. >> so you travel a lot? >> not like you. >> oh, this is for pounding -- >> yes, this is from the gon tribe. from mali. >> how much will this sell for do you think? >> around $300. >> really? for this? that's very reasonable. i'll be buying that. that's going to be an old friend. >> also memory. >> also memory of tangier as well. >> majid suggests lunch at andalous, a local's only place nearby. >> as a moroccan, so many people come with a romantic notion of a tangier they read about in books. do people have a realistic ex

war in afghanistan and often subjected to the ongoing drone wars across the middle east and north africa and the pakistani government made an effort to answer some of these questions and a three hundred page report which was kept secret at least kept secret until this week when it was somehow obtained by al-jazeera and made public so what exactly can be gleaned from this report r t correspondent erin aid has more. according to a published copy of the official pakistani government investigation into osama bin laden's life and death quote gross incompetence and collective failures by pakistan's political and military leaders allowed the al-qaeda leader to evade capture while living in pakistan for years now the report referred to as the abbas abad commission is a scathing critique of how and often the net pakistani political and intelligence infrastructure allow the world's most wanted man to live in pakistan for nine years six of them in a compound in abbottabad less than one mile from a pakistani military academy now pakistan's military and political leaders were furious about the action

also today colonel george bristol who is leading in the special operations task force in north africahen terrorists stormed the conflict. sources say he confirmed with other military brass and told lawmakers that despite white house claims u.s. officials were not prepared heading into the september 11th anniversary for an attack. >> i could hear the colonel's voice today, the passion and the heartbreak because of the american lives that were lost due to decisions that were made and misrepresented through a press release from the administration. >> reporter: meanwhile the congressman leading the charge for a bipartisan select committee to investigate as to why the cia had an outpost there. >> even less known is about where the other americans, the cia and tanks, what was the annex, when was it established? >> reporter: fox is as reported with multiple military source as saying they are living and walking around freely in libya. sources indicate they have had eyes on the suspect since last november, but at this point there was no indication that american officials have spoken with them.

challenges in north africa. challenges as he still seek to pursue iran's -- to deteriorate to challenges as we seek detour iran's nuclear ambitions. how do we get our british allies to intensify in these areas with us? >> thank you for that question. it raises an important topic. or topics, i should say. the defense and security cooperation between our two countries is unrivaled. it is precisely because the cooperation has been going on are so long and is strong, i would make to never be complacent. and aakes a lot of work talented team. if confirmed, i will engage with the team and engage on clinical, economic defense and security on all of those issues. that all comes into lay. confirmed, i would welcome the opportunity to work closely with you and your staff and this committee to make sure that it remains just as strong as it is today. >> i appreciate that. i am concerned about iran. today you have one about ourice of votes concern of iran's march toward its nuclear ambitions. we need bridges continued leader

it begins not in europe, but in north africa where we invaded with the british in november. north, looks at the invasion of southern italy, which we also did with the british in 1943. and then the final volume picks one the invasion of northwest europe, particularly at norman d in june of 1944. so it tells the tale over the course of 2 years in 3 volumes. >> did you set out to write a trilogy and especially a trilogy of three thick books? >> i did. it started as a trilogy. that was the plan from the beginning. >> we're take -- it's great to meet you. it really honestly is. >> thank you. >> here it is. you know what, it would be a great present for someone. you know, if your grandfather fought in the war and you're looking for a holiday present, get out of the way. it's a great read. it's a great mirror of 2013. >> and some never-before-seen photographs in the middle. >> that's true. >> we are taking a break and coming right back with more of the eyewitness news morning edition. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, >>> 5 until 7:00. here come your updates from sharon and marylanders are expected