go in conjunction with that we believe that the keystone pipeline will be approved by the obama administration and it was just stalling tactic until after the election so you could support it secure part of his base and he's also let's not forget has opened up areas of the arctic drilling so we're going to see all of that and by the way just want to jump back one moment about the wars you know how they say the generals keep fighting the last war the reason we're saying about peace and this is very important i was brought down to the junior military institute in two thousand. about new millennium warfare people such as general anthony zinni who ran the panel after i spoke about it generals always fight the last war with we get involved in this keeps expanding you're going to see world wars of weapons of mass destruction you're not going to the death thirty five you're going to have suitcase sized nuclear weapons you're going to have body a logical warfare you're going to have dirty bombs and to put this into perspective look what hurricane sandy did to new york and the area by just flooding som

the obama administration has a clear policy of avoiding intervention. what do you think should be done more in syria? >> syria is a complex issue. i was the author of the syrian accountability act, which passed both houses of congress and signed by president bush in 2004, slapping sanctions on serbia for the first time ever. -- syria for the first time ever. we knew in 1979 that syria was an acre and a better of the -- abetter of the assad regime. it put sanctions on serbia for doing all these horrendous things, including supporting terrorism, for occupying lebanon, and other things. assad is a bad guy. his father was a bad guy. the assad dictatorship has ruled for 40 years. the have been ruthless in their power. ally in then's main region. i think it would be a blow to iran if the regime were to fall. we are very cautious. we do not want to get involved in any more wars. think it is enough. i do think there are a lot of things we could be and should be doing to help the opposition and syria. >> such as? >> rough finally recognizing the opposition. we'r

the obama administration has tried to find a compromise. so far they hadn't found one that made people happy but there are a couple of deadlines this year and so they're gonna have to revisit this issue and so that's something that is going to be argued out. >> right. >> go ahead, kevin. >> i was going to say, the courts are really the place to watch this because i think, as kim said, there's more than 30 lawsuits that have been filed about this and the very early ones that have come back, the courts seem to be fairly skeptical about the administration's ability to force a catholic institution, for example, to provide contraception. >> the bishops fought hard on this one. how does that leave their relationship with the white house? >> well, that's exactly where i was going to go, because i think that in the wake of the election there were, i mean, first of all, the catholic church has been divided in its attitude toward president obama. the catholic vote split almost down the middle, very slight lead for obama largely because of his overwhe

go in conjunction with that we believe that the keystone pipeline will be approved by the obama administration and it was just a stalling tactic until after the election so you could support and secure a part of his base and he's also let's not forget has opened up areas of the arctic drilling so we're going to see all of that on by the way just want to jump that one moment about the wars you know they say the generals keep fighting the last war the reason we're saying about peace and this is very important i was brought down to the junior military institute in two thousand as the keynote speaker to talk about new millennium warfare. the panel. generals always fight the last war volved and this keeps expanding pins of mass. murders that a losing wars an ongoing wars with very fearful of the next war and they're all still working behind the scenes or out and it really is going to be peace or perpetual war we may not have a future to predict thank you so much for coming on i want to get you back on and talk about the economy the fiscal cliff all that stuff will have to get you back on again soon

this is, as i say to my difficult decision, but certainly not the end of susan rice in the obama administration shows by a wide margin in this just today, president obama should have sent our troops to benghazi upon learning about that terrorist attack against our consulate. your reaction? >> it does not surprise me. i tell you, although some people have said susan weiss -- susan rices withdraw will now allow benghazi to sink beneath the red-green, i really don't think so. i'd think it will have the opposite effect. i think senator mccain has already made that point. the controversy over the potential nomination was diverting attention. with that cloud removed i think those who want to focus on it will be able to, and it will now be very hard for the obama administration to hide behind the pretense that this is just a way of getting susan rice. that is why the testimony next week could be so important, if she shows up, which i guess is now in doubt. lou: there seems to be some ambiguity about all of that from the side of the state department's. we are getting some considerable suggestion from t

actually for if you do mention something very important seven people under the obama administration charge into the espionage act that's more than any other presidency in the mirror in american history combined this is a very archaic act the espionage act of early twentieth century is still being used today and under the obama administration seven times and bradley manning is sort of become the poster child for whistle blowers and the message and the dangerous message and dangerous precedent that this sets for people that may be in the military federal employees or the average citizen that wants to blow the whistle on something that they see happening that they know is wrong and then seeing kind of the effects of what's happened to bradley manning being detained for how many how many how many days one hundred eighty days. terry confinement up until. pretty is on the front of the boards and this country this last year could not agree with you more i mean and we're talking about this being the story of the year sign new year's eve since the first day of two thousand and twelve this was this

to order call tty: 1-800-544-3316 s the obama administration -- because the obama administration promised something for these religious organizations, but the court said, we want more than a promise. >> yeah. there is an initial rule by hhs. burr they said, there's a safe harbor for the organizations, they are trying to work out the status as a religious employer. the court said what you argued d with us, we will hold you. at well, the government represent to the court it would never enforce the rule against these universities. there will be a different rule for them, eventually. we take that as a bibbing commitment and we take the government at its word and will hold them to t. they are ordering the obama administration to report every 60 days on the status of this rule and how they are going to guarantee that these oarkz organizations do not have to comply. >> greta: that's a big decision. the little sisters of the poor. >> this is a religious order this says if they are forced to comply with this, they can't do it. it goes against their beliefs. they run services for elderly people and

what you're looking at is people, perhaps, moving to get ahead of the obama administration's new andhly unattractive tax plan for investors. big winners on the day, financials, citi group stock up after announcing they are laying off 4% of the work force, cutting cost, bank of america and travelers example of the financialses movg higher. marathon, chevron, conoco all higher. crude oil down for a second straight day closing under 88 a barrel, an ten yeartreary down to 1.59%. no progress in resolving the fiscal cliff today. i know, you're not surprised by that, but we can report there were, well, some contact between the two principle players in the negotiations if there were negotiations. president obama and speaker john boehner actually talked to one another. it was on the telephone. it was not the face-to-face meeting the speaker says is necessary, but it was the first time that the two men have spoken in a week. for the latest on these stalled negotiations, we turn to fox news chief white house correspondent ed henry forhe report. >> trying to lay blame for stalled buet talks on r

it certainly looks that way i mean there's as you say there's seven cases here in the obama administration depending on how you count them two three or four during all presidential administrations before at least in terms of espionage act cases related to leaks and so it does seem to be a trend to really either have a zero tolerance and force one policy or at least some kind of much stricter more rigorously enforced when you're in the question's going to be is it fair to charge some people with felonies for the kinds of violations that other people in the past have gotten a slap in the wrist for or maybe just lost their clearance or their job yet you know whether or not it's a tragedy and them we are seeing that the seventh person now and this is kind of raising suspicion that. whistleblowers are accused whistleblowers are are being singled out are there is a there's a crackdown on those that try to blow the whistle. yet i mean in several of these people could be characterized as whistleblowers i'm not sure this latest case the seventh case is the best example of that because he was sendin

now there's no doubt that wednesday's launch has deepened that rift but the obama administration has few choices but to continue the dialogue with north korea while increasing pressure with sanctions. >>> insuring americans have stable prices and are employed, these are two goals of the chair of the u.s. reserve is charging ahead with. it seems like ben bernanke has specific numbers if mind. >> he does. he says he and his colleagues are not going to stop until they see the numbers become a reality. they will keep interest rates close to zero. that's until the unemployment rate falls to 6.5%. federal reserve officials gathered to discuss measures to support the committee in a two-day meeting that ended wednesday. they say it continues to expand at a moderate pace approximate while unemployment was down slightly second-degr the aim of this program is to drive down interest rates. for its next step the fed will start buying the same amount of treasury bonds in january. that's on top of the 40 billion each month it's buying in morning bonds. analysts say it's an unprecedented move for th

and running the obama administration was talking about it but then it fell offer the map. what do you see going forward in the governor's race and if you are getting some pressure from the democratic party to finally make this a competitive state again. >> i haven't been on the job long enough to tell you that we worked deeply on arizona -- i haven't yet. arizona is changing. there is no reason why we can't win the governorship there and i suspect that there are many in arizona who feel their current leadership is not balanced. obviously, they wish they had a different governor. there is a huge opportunity for us there to say, hey, we think we can elect an democratic governor who can create jobs and be more balanced and stable than what you are used to. >> i want to ask you about texas. rick perry has been in office since 2000 and it is more than 20 years that texas has elected a democrat and that was ann richards. why is it so hard for texas to elect an democratic governor? >> something in the water. texas is a tough state and we acknowledge that. >> is it going change in

the fault lies at the highest level of the obama administration. we will check in with charles krauthammer on the explosive findings, next. try running four.ning a restaurant is hard, fortunately we've got ink. it gives us 5x the rewards on our internet, phone charges and cable, plus at office supply stores. rewards we put right back into our business. this is the only thing we've ever wanted to do and ink helps us do it. make your mark with ink from chase. tomato, obviously. haha. there's more than that though, there's a kick to it. wahlalalalallala! smooth, but crisp. it's kind of like drinking a food that's a drink, or a drink that's a food, woooooh! [ male announcer ] taste it and describe the indescribable. could've had a v8. >> sean: welcome back to "hannity." an independent review board releases a staithe -- scathing report on the september 11 attack and places the blame squarely on the state department. reading in part, quote... >> sean: and the report is causing waves in washington. four state department officials have now resigned. accord

lies at the hit level of the obama administration. administration. we will check in let's give thanks - for an idea. a grand idea called america. the idea that if you work hard, if you have a dream, if you work with your neighbors... you can do most anything. this led to other ideas like lerty and rock 'n' roll. to free markets, free enterprise, and free refills. it put a man on the moon and a phone in your pocket. our country's gone through a lot over the centuries and a half. but this idea isn't fragile. when times get tough, it rallies us as one. every day, more people believe in the american idea and when they do, the dream comes true. we're grateful to be a part of it. >> sean: welcome back to "hannity." an independent review board releases a staithe -- scathing report on the september 11 attack and places the blame squarely on the state department. reading in part, quote... >> sean: and the report is causing waves in washington. four state department officials have now resigned. according to the a.p., two of them are deputy assistant secretary

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among our guests, middle east expert, also the obama administration gearing up to unleash dozens of new job killing regulations in the presidents second term. a live report on one of the agencies issuing many of those rules, environmental protection agency. and the author of the brand-new book, the five cohost joins us tonight. we begin with a political fallout of another tragedy, september 11 murder of fourwe americans in benghazi. susan rice yesterday withdrew her name from consideration too be secretary of state. the move comes after weeks of iticism over comments rice made regarding the attacks in benghazi in an interview with williams, she was asked if she was blameless for the controversy. thi speak i don't think anybody is ever fully blame, but i didn't do anything wrong, did not mislead, did not misrepresent, i dithe best with information united states government had at thete time. >lou: here's what ambassador rie did say five days after onl benghazi. >> the best information we have today is this was not a pre-planned, premeditated attack.th what happened initially was a spontan

i'm not saying you sell your soul to the administration. >> so what if you lose access to obama. you know why people don't want to lose -- the american people don't care if a reporter isn't going to have access to the obama administration because what is coming back as a result of having that privilege powerful access. lack of transparency, more confusion, more uncertainy and lights. why in the world would a reporter be concerned about whether they are going to get more of that fed to them, those lies the uncertainy the murky answers to questiohuqw being asked. i wouldn't care about having access. >> i'm with you. look what has happened with this benghazi investigation state department did a conference call and left fox news off when they wanted to brief them the day before the people went to capitol hill many cia had a briefing, fox left out. memo released by the intelligence and who didn't get the memo? fox news. all these other news organizations will eventually give it us to. they are trying to punish fox because we dare to ask them questions what are the facts on four murder

administration -- >> so what? so what if you lose access to obama? you know why people-- the american people don't care if a reporter is not going to have access to the obama administration because what's coming back as a result of having that privileged, powerful access is this lack of transparency. it's more confusion. it's more uncertainty and it's lies! so why in the world would a reporter be concerned about getting more of that fed to them, those lies, the uncertainty, the murky answers to so many questions being asked. i wouldn't care about having that access. you know what the result is. >> i am with you. look what has happen in the benghazi investigation. state department did a conference call and conveniently left fox news off when they wanted to brief them the day before their capitol -- their people went to capitol hill. the fbi had a briefing and fox news was left out. and who didn't get the memo? fox news. but the other news organizations will eventually give it to us. that's theirey of it. they are trying to fiduciary fox because we dar

the year of the obama administration what we need an environmental review which you do in any big project but the republican congress said in order to prove the pipeline obama would have to waive any environmental review well you know the guys running for reelection is not politically suicidal so he said i will not approve it under those conditions that held it up republicans overreached and people want oil but we know that right now the cia. long term analysis is that without the canadian oil the u.s. already will be in surplus because in north dakota elsewhere we know a tremendous amount of shale oil oil out of the ride certainly we can keep this conversation going on unfortunately we are at a time mr pals appreciate you coming on that was investigative journalist greg palast. before we go it is that time of the year again where we start to say goodbye to two thousand and twelve google is out with their two thousand and twelve year and report that looks at some of the big events across the world the this year and report flashback news stories that gained worldwide attention and if you n

the filmmakers are close to the obama administration and are not try to push a particular agenda from the bush-air or anything like that, but there's this fascination on the part of american media and probably the american public, with this unlimited use of power. even the most despicable kinds of power than skillfully and precisely can lead to something for the greater good. of course, this is the argument used by despots and terrorists for a very long time. the last time i was on the show were talking about an ally in afghanistan who i have documented a campaign of torture and extradition torture. >> an afghan warlord. >> an afghan warlord and kandahar. who is still there and still receiving u.s. funding and still bleeding and police force that we quit. that sort of language, more justification of this kind of behavior i think is linked to some of -- just like the shady moralities we have had to engage in. >> thank you, matthieu aikins, for being with us. we will have a link to all of your pieces and democracynow.org matthieu aikins is based in kabul and his most recent piece just c

heightened degree under president obama drone seemed to be president obama's weapon of choice the use of them spiked under his administration obama has two hundred eighty three strikes in pakistan that is six times more than bush drone deaths under obama are four times higher than bush while this chart here puts it into perspective we see during the bush years strikes were minimal but then you see them skyrocket after obama was elected the peak being in two thousand and ten and while it's decreased since then it's still much higher this year than it ever was under bush so despite the promise to take a drastically different foreign policy approach instead it seems when obama's foreign policy doesn't near or that of bush actually takes it a step further and the axis of evil remains just as much of a threat under president obama. we turn now to another case of police brutality we saw many violent examples of it during the occupy wall street movement when that when that movement was in full force but now a journalist is suing the los angeles police department reporter calvin mealamu of los angeles a city news service says polic

no military conditions commissions a bad idea get fired and three your court fight with the obama administration you also wrote what does obama actions regarding sigh and me say more support for foreign celebrity than american veteran thanks for your service yet right colonel davis say your quote of the day that we sort of enjoyed was a side gets the hand i get the finger talk about the distinction that you're drawing here well you know i wrote an op ed. late in two thousand and nine and i saw him veterans day saying that the obama administration backpedaling and reviving military commissions at guantanamo was a bad idea that having a double standard prosecuting some cases in federal court and others in military commission was setting a double standard and i got my terminations notice from my government job shortly thereafter and for those who don't know you have we have you on the show quite a bit for it but for those who don't know you worked at guantanamo bay for something years as a prosecutor there goes the chief prosecutor from two thousand and five into thought to two thousand and seven a

. ♪ lou: the obama administration tonight ramping up dlomatic efforts to end seer -- syris bloody civilar and the fear assad could use chemical weapons against his own people. the military is prepared to use poisen gas bombs, secretary of hillary clinton flew to dublin to hold a meetg with her russian counter part and u.n. enjoy to syria meeting to discuss how they would end the now 21-month long conflict in syria and how to move assad from power. and there's no sign they had to reverse the support, and toda a senior lawmaker says the syria government is now incapable of functioning properly. just before the meeting with the russian foreign minister, secretary clinton insisted that the united states and russia share common goals in the region. >> trying hard to work hard with russia to stop the bloodshed in syria and begin a political transition to a post asad future the pressure against the regime in and aroundamascus seems to be increasing. lou: at home, leon pa net fa issuing the -- panetta issuinghe sharpest warning yet. >> the president of t united states made it clear there will b

, whose been leaning in on this more than most presidents-- >> the obama administration let shell got drilling in the arctic. >> as the ice melt there is, nine trillion barrels of potential opportunity. >> we're making a series of bad decisions, and those bad decisions reflect the political power of the fossil fuel industry. there no longer needs to be these bad decisions. we have alternatives. germany, the one large country that took serious this problem the germans announced they're going to soar past their target by 2020, and they think they'll be up by 65% all right this summer. voluntarilygermany, there were days that they used solar panels inside their own borders. they don't have florida texas new mexico to pad their statistics. they were showing that the engineering is there. >> germany raises a number of questions, and deutsche bank did a number of questions there was a greenpeace making the argument, it was deutsche bank saying there was a paradigm here. it begs this question. 2012 germany will reach their kyoto targets. the united states has pulled away. what other country

the obama administration is highlighting its policy shift, which places new emphasis on the asia-pacificegion. >> the primary long-term emerging threat which requires a large military, according to some, is china. the chinese understandably are very leery of the u.s. descriptions of its policy, including, including phrases like "pivot to east asia" and "united states has always been a pacific power." um, the u.s. always says that this not about any one country, but if i'm a chinese military leader i would take it to mean china specifically and they do. >> china has a very concerted blue water policy. they believe that they need to dominate the seas. they are, uh, they are extraordinarily worrying to india on the one side, to our other asian allies, and we have understood the imperative of resourcing a push-back in the pacific. the problem is we haven't understood that we need to spend to do it and we haven't figured out how to spend to do it. >> when i talk to chinese defense analysts and scholars when i visit china they don't talk about these legacy systems. they are happy to let us pat

the obama administration says the ball is in the g.o.p.'s court. republicans insist it's the president's turn to get serious about dealing with our country's debt. >> it's unfortunate that the white house spent three weeks doing basically nothing. >> this is a very carefully designed set of reforms. if republicans would like to go beyond these reforms, or they want to do it differently, they should tell us how they want to do it. >> i believe raising tax rates hurts our economy, hurts the prospects for more jobs in our country. >> shannon: as the sparring continues over the fiscal cliff, neither boehner nor geithner can say for certain that the country will not go over the edge. i'm shannon bream. america's news headquarters live from the nation's capital starts right now. >> shannon: we want to get to the budget standoff. peter doocy joins us live. there is time to strike a deal but not a lot. >> reporter: that's right. the speaker of the house john boehner made a point today to say there is not much time between election day and the end of the ye

obama administration obstructionist attitude has worn thin. >> norm eisen never my boss. just for those of you who do not know, we have been talking about the white house visitor logging. there is ongoing the vacation now over their status. the position of the white house remains these are the with-there is ongoing litigation over their status -- there is ongoing litigation over their status. the position of the white house remains that they are presidential records. it will be difficult for another president coming in to take them off line. the legal issue underlying it is important. i am hopeful that you win your lawsuits. i wanted to add that. >> it is better to have a firm like to stand upon if you are challenging the administration rather than rely on them saying, we will give you these records. >> a warhead lawyer -- our head lawyer says the courts are the best place to be right now. waiting for congress is like waiting for godot. when you get in court, the court has to rule. those rules are not optional for an administration. at the end of the day, it is more effec

the obama administration is pushing for new taxpayer support for wind projects. with our budget deficit soaring an intense debate is heating up over whether the government should be throwing your tax dollars at industry the first place. i asked robert bryce, senior fellow at the manhattan institute about this issue. let's start with the tax credit. >> sure. gerri: this is industry, let's face it they don't have a whole lot to show for themselves yet we subsidize them to the tune of $1.2 billion. why? >> remember the industry said we're all about reducing carbon dioxide. that was the whole argument. now it shifted we create jobs argument. if congress does not extend production tax credit we'll lose 37,000 jobs. they might get an extension but there is big push among utilities, a lot of groups to end the tax credit and it very well could be ended. gerri: it doesn't work that well. 84% fail to produce electricity when the demand is great. as a solution to our energy problems how would you rate it? >> it is not a solution and it is wholly dependent on electric utilit

do you think the obama administration should be trying to press israel will abstain?> i think what the obama administration needs to do is -- you know the mideast is in chaos right now and israel is going to be affected a versely by that. what i think the obama administration needs to do is become more hands on in trying to promote arab israeli peace, peace between the israelis and the palestinians. that involved a whole lot more things than just settlements. and i think it was a mistake for instance for president obama in his first term to come out and make the fight on settlements. every administration in the united states has opposed settlements because they create facts on the ground that promote opportunities for peace. but it was a mistake for him to go out and say no more settleme settlements, no more expansion settlements and the secretary of state said the same thing and the minute they push back they cave. if you're going to take that position, you don't cave. but i think what's needed is a hands on approach to the peace process, arab israeli peace involving

were killed this year alone by members of the afghan security forces word is out that the obama administration wants to leave around ten thousand troops in afghanistan to continue to train afghan forces and carry out special operations after twenty fourteen when according to the obama administration american forces are supposed to have completely left the country the afghan government has less than two years to agree or reject the idea the u.s. government may be looking at training armies abroad is a smart investment sort of like outsourcing makes sense in business it's cheaper than having u.s. troops on the ground no need to explain dead troops coming home makes sense from a lot of perspectives but that strategy has backfired more than once in the past eliminating populations that didn't want to see their military become a student of washington's wars in washington i'm gonna check out today's world news headlines now suicide bombers of attack to join us after a military base in the city of jalalabad in eastern afghanistan. two vehicles packed with explosives were detonated at the main gate th

where is the obama administration the investigation on me and what is your response to those. joining us on bradley manning are examples of the president being anything but. entirely disagree and in terms of investigations of that nature i would refer you to the department of justice. so as you can see there seems to be no effort on the part of the obama administration to talk about this or or any other issues about transparency when the issue was taken to the state department that spokesman p.j. crowley was more or less forced to resign after telling a university audience that the treatment of bradley manning was counterproductive and stupid so as far as transparency there does remain a huge gap in what's being said and what's being done to foster a more honest and open government. two years ago today tunisian fruit vendor mohamed bouazizi set himself on fire as a form of protest what followed has seemed to change the world forever but what has really changed as new governments form in middle eastern countries like tunisia and egypt how different really are the new bosses fro

occupations instead think of special ops and prophecy aren't just next destination libya the obama administration has received congressional approval to allocate money for a special unit reportedly made up of some five hundred people who will train the country's forces according to one libyan militia commander a team of americans is already in the country looking for recruits a major obstacle in their way a vastly divided society there isn't an army and libya now and the army is not going to be because whenever you try and get militias which have a legion says to a variety of rays of things that the national interest so they have allegiance to a drive or to a sect or to a religion rather than having allegiance to the nation or to the country you cannot build an army but with training and aid fully via the u.s. we have more pragmatic goals then uniting the army you were just teaching them the best way to fight this war training essentially because it's really about not so much about you know teaching people how to use rifles and how to use new equipment it's all about really more about indoctrinat