because syria, look, there isn't iraq or nothing. >> right. >> iraq has to be put into its context. john mccain and lindsey graham were two of the cheerleaders even before bush came in, right? there was a whole group of them in the senate saying we needed to invade iraq. along the way when they realized there were no weapons of mass destruction, when they realized this was a complete quagmire, the thing they said it would never be, what they actually said was toent worry about it because we've got another rationale here. we're going to spread democracy. remember? freedom on the march? this is a language they don't understand. culture they don't understand. where having a large foreign invasion has a long and sad track record of failure. now, that's not to say it cannot be done. you know, look at the different kind of model that this administration took when it came to libya. right? we can actually help people on the ground and do so in a way that does not jeopardize american lives and can respect the culture. if you're going to push democracy it needs to come from people on the grou

another election you have somebody close to him but the internal friction in iraq is open so i don't think if medical stays ornot that will stop right we know there's a lot of people supporting and also i can't stand us in the u.s. as well as in iraq john macaroon our political analyst thank you for your opinions . the hunger strike in guantanamo bay is entering its sixth week can still there is no resolution in sight is started after detention facility officers began searching and in some cases seizing and confiscating personal belongings of detainees including their khurana omar the guy is a former get mowed detainee he spoke earlier today with r.t. international about his experience inside of the facility here's part of that interview. them anything bad things that happened then the beginning is there's a systematic torture where everyone goes to where they are. stripped out of their clothes for example and they sometimes sexually abuse the physically abused like myself and others we were physically beaten up until as you can see my right eye has been the sight in my right eye has been lost they tried to g

all day will i want to talk about iraq today and what do you think what do you think that iraq today think about or place should be called interventionist so show me somewhere in what i've written where i'm an interventionist i want to u.s. troops out of iraq as soon as possible root publicly that president obama needed to get us troops out of iraq that wasn't helpful i've never advocated intervention anywhere john what about you accountability i wonder i wonder how many convenience store thieves or drug dealers or first degree murder douglas would like to say in defense of let's not really to get the past when a crime has been committed the perpetrator is held accountable that's how the rule of law works ok the bush administration manipulated evidence and intelligence and lied to the american people insinuating that iraq and saddam hussein had some connection to al qaeda nine eleven which there was none and that they were they represented even the remotest threat to the united states which they did not and they justified it that way it legal war of aggression those are war crimes in the words the

is an ancillary job and there is a high revel of rotation of people coming back from afghanistan or iraq, whatever the case may be, but we also reach out to squadron level training. it really comes down to meeting with your cooperating agencies and training together on a frequent basis and having good and open dialogue. >> as i look back at that map here, knowing we were heading into that time of year where we're going to hit significant fire weather and knowing northern california as we are now but eventually southern california, one of the most effective ways to stop the fires from growing is that initial attack, which means we need to be able to quickly put resources up in the air and move them. i guess my question is from a national guard perspective, from a naval perspective, with the helicopter resources down there, do you feel you would be able to quickly move those resources and you have the agreements in place. we'll start with the national guard and work on our way down. >> although we're advertised as a one week a month and two weekends a year, i've got crews on pretty much ev

at the tenth anniversary of the start of the a walk or iraq war two car bomb attacks hit the country killing at least ten people overall the war has claimed thousands of lives and cost many billions of dollars still a decade on arguments continue over one of the most controversial u.s. policy decisions or he's a guy named sheik young reports. i know. there's no greater cost to more than shatter human lives the u.s. invasion into iraq resulted in the deaths of almost two hundred thousand iraqis according to various estimates the deadly metals released by bombs and bullets continue to kill. in fallujah more than half of all babies who were conceived after the start of the war were born with birth defects the infant mortality rate there is disturbing. on the u.s. side the war took the lives of four thousand four hundred eighty six soldiers when you talk a country the size of iraq everyone knows someone that was killed. in the states when you're here less than one percent of people participated in the war so at this point most americans have turned that off it's as though it didn't happe

did you have a combat infantry badge in iraq, or were you there just as a chaplain? i do not have a combat infantry. i'm not in the army. that is an army designation. i'm in the air force. i do have my iraq service medal. being there just as a chaplain -- i'm a member of the united states air force reserve. i'm a full member of the military. i served in the role as a chaplain, which is a role just like all the other servicemen and servicewomen. i was there and part of that. what you have to look at is everybody has influence. your calls, your letters to your own congressman has influence. dollars goes back to what i feel is best in my conscience, -- it always goes back to what i feel is best in my conscience ford what i think is right my district, what my district thinks is right. i think sometimes we look at things and we just assume that there is influence from outside factors. i was there. i understand this. i work everyday to make sure our country is safe and that our people people have access to an economy and life that i have had. host: tell us something about b

and your beautiful comment about iran has stepped in many times as the enemy, or iraq - to see players on a field of sport exchanging symbols of peace warms my heart, because that's what goes on. at the same time, i'm not naÏve about where we draw our mythic elements from, and they come from the vastly predominant christian symbol system that works its way into other forms of mythic behavior here. i've been trying to get you in here. >> well, fine. all of this really makes more desirous of saying this, and that is, i think as basic as the flag symbol for america is the horatio alger story. that is onward, upward. we believed it for our children, but the children aren't seeing it come true in today's society. the child no longer, by getting the extra education, is going to get a better job and lead a better life than his parents. traditionally, from the beginning of the united states, it was always, "you can succeed," and now, it's disillusionment. these mbas and whatnot can't get a job of any sort because they're too qualified. so this means a whole economic upheaval, but also the disi

goal or. iraq. coming up on my. clock. coming on. the back.

afghanistan is just it's very hard to gather data in afghanistan or iraq dobro did inform me that they do have yemen and somalia drone strike you know we decided at the very end just to stick with this time because there is a very clear story to be told there is a tactic there's a timeline you can sow and sharath of zines there's a huge increase when obama takes over that increased in two needs to grow and that's really what we want to stick. with that rather than trying to muddled up with a bunch of other countries but we do plan on expanding this this was a project that we did on our own dime and so it's just a matter of getting back to client work millions are referred and then coming back to this unless of course we can find somebody out there who can help fund us with agreements or something you can see me doing and let's look at another image you guys created at some of the arms and ammunition that are important export i love the same engines amazing if we can take a look at that what exactly are we looking at here of course we know that guns are the largest export of the u.s. i

one defend saddam hussein but it has no bearing on whether or not the war was justified whether or not iraq would have been fine without us interventionism douglas what kind of legacy does this leave the united states in the region ten years on do you think. it's deeply ambiguous look again no one's defending going into iraq it was not a good idea if i'm not clear about that it was not a good idea for us to invade iraq you have a cat he said you admitted it was crystal english phrase it was criminal a good thing that nasa because of bad decisions august you know if you next that's just the way the world war criminal iraqis are now a minute forward which gets there in harlem entry democracy the oil is flowing and we're going to see what happens in the next round of elections jeff go ahead jeff douglas admit douglas take that step then it wasn't just a bad idea it was criminal it was flat out a criminal act. douglas correct that's your opinion ok you don't that's his opinion no that's a matter of international law that the bush administration knew that you know what they were saying was was n

people view it as a balancer prior to the invasion in terms of the region, especially iraq would not bandwagon with iran or the united states, but what would be the strategic vision for the future? thank you very much. >> i did not quite get it. >> can you paraphrase it? >> iraq's strategic vision going forward. >> consensus is that we will somehow reach the next election, but it is painful, and the next election, a lot of hoping that they will produce something which is all the factors indicate that this something different is not going to be radically different. whether it will turn down or turn up, that remains to be seen, but i am an eternal optimist. >> we have run a little longer. please join me in thanking our panel, not just for what they have done here this morning, but for each of them, their years of service in the effort stabilize iraq and try to create a better future for the iraqi people. all three have served at great personal peril in a variety of positions that have made an enormous contribution to the future of iraq, and it is for that principally, in addition to their comments this morni

or not see. a clear image of iraq after a facial. twenty day taxi trip through the country. the roads full of danger. clear evidence from north to south. the route of iraqi tragedy. after the war waiting for peace. by god taxi on r.t. . when you have nowhere to live. when you don't have a family. when you have no one to ask for help you can always count on. this man is respected by criminals and authorities alike fields out its convicts anonymous people like he used to be. done for the homeless on out say. choose your language. because we know if they sell some of. china's the fumes the concerns get to. choose the opinions that invigorating. choose the stories that impact the life choose the access to your office. it's been ten years since the war in iraq next year it seems pretty strange withdrawing from afghanistan and it provides a time perhaps for affection not just to look on what's gone past but also with the prospects of intervention in syria war with iran looming almost lessons can be learned from pos decisions and we look forward to the feature but to help us talk m

you have the va and it's longer to the newest veterans specifically if you fought in afghanistan or iraqinstead of getting better this problem has gotten worse and is trending in the wrong direction. the vba, and this week the house committee of veteran's affairs called on the head of the vba to testify about the insane backlog. and alison hickey has a department to fix it by transitioning to an all-electronic system. >> with the benefits we achieved in end to end digital filing capability veterans can file a claim online. >> the goal over all was to fix the problem in two years, and some say the va is doing the best it can. this person here, it called on alison hickey to resign her job. the longest organization of iraq and afghanistan veterans, they have now publicly announced they want president obama to intervene, to personally take charge of this problem to appoint a presidential commission to figure out how this fix this thing. and the veterans spent the week this week in d.c. as part of the lobbying effort to storm the hill. there are efforts to ending the va backlog. a lot of amer

. >> e all know how fragile the political situation is in a country like lebanon or iraq. we all know the extreme economic difficulties. we know the palestinian-israeli conflict is just around. how sensitive the gulf area is. if the world wants to avoid a possible explosion in the middle east it is essential that this conflict be stopped. that everybody gets together to make this conflict stop. conflict hass created a jumble of government and rebel-held regions. divided loyalties -- reporting from a northwest province. >> the rebels control the town, but the government is still paying the wages. the realities of life may politics complicated. >> the situation is not good here. people will tell you they support the regime, but really those they support are those who give them bread. >> many people here are still reluctant to criticize the government. for some it is about living in fear for 40 years. for others it is loyalty to the past. for some it is about every day conditions. >> we still need the government. there are 10,000 government employees here. the government stil

from vietnam, and we did not prevail fully judging from circumstances now occurring every day in iraq or in afghanistan in the conflicts in iraq and afghanistan. if we wish to do so, we could have incinerated their populations. we could destroy them. but that is something, thank god, that democracies do not do lightly unless they feel themselves totally threatened. and i think that's an important consideration to bear in mind, because we are today facing the prospect of regional wars if which we'll be fighting aroused populations and not formal states capable of threatening us. what goes on in iraq today poses no military threat to the united states. but it is a geopolitical consequence of some cost to us. the same is true of afghanistan. and god knows what'll happen after we're out of afghanistan in the region as a whole. the a war with iran would certainly spread to iraq and through iraq to syria, to lebanon and jordan. it would engulf western afghanistan as well which is relatively peaceful and where shiites live, and iran would be able to extend the conflict of war to there as well.

then to do the same thing now that's just wrong we're not learning the lessons of iraq it doesn't bring peace shocking or mind when militarily but the weeks that followed cause an awful lot of deaths among civilians when we're talking about me now with hindsight saying that the wall in iraq was wrong at what point even that whole face it will point to dean saying it wasn't the right thing today well the real problem is you discussing whether you should do it i came back and told tony the americans are go in him with or without riedel make the difference they're going in. and i said to tony that for it's almost regime change but we were already into the the. because we were the politicians remember nearly two hundred people of our own people died quite apart from thousands and many thousands of civilians once you're in the war you get behind your troops you do not then have the arguments but now it's ten years on i'm looking at how i went through that process of change i think it's right to say now not to clear my conscience because i must accept the responsibilities for the part i played in that decision

but i think for me if you, when was the critica error or the critical misjudgement was iraq. and that took away, the war in iraq in 2003, that took away everything. i mean that, the planning for iraq ban there 2002. and we took our eye off the ball. all the resources, all the money, everything. >> but we didn't stop fighting. you know, we had 20 some odd thousand troops there. and we took on the responsibility of creating a new government. and i don't think we had to take on that responsibility. we could have turned it over to, you should pardon the expression, the united nations. but for us to start doing it, you know what the inevitable result is. if we're not succeeding we have to do more. if that doesn't succeed, more yet. >> rose: and the lesson is? >> the lesson is don't. you know, you can go take, go, you go give military punishment and that's necessary. the taliban, al qaeda couldn't be allowed to get away with it. but we don't realize that we don't have the capacity as strong as we are to go remake nations particularly nations that are failed states and are at civil

done by massive and direct western military intervention invasion and occupation as in the case of iraq or if it's done you know somewhat more standoffish fully or indirectly by relying on local proxies and providing air support like we did in libya or if we are providing support for local proxies as we are in in syria it doesn't work it produces massive political carnage it does not create stable political outcomes and it and its aftermath and you want to jump in there. yeah i mean. i think in general that's acceptable but there are exceptional circumstances in which we should not go down the route of for ever ruling out intervention in countries in which dictators are butchering their populations if the population is homogenous if there is a credible opposition in place then intervention by the international community is necessary and warranted in the un with the are two people the right to protect doctrine gives that legal cover but the most important point is the day after and i think often we get the day after wrong as we saw in the several examples that came up in libya iraq but else

. >> more than 50,000 americans have been wounded in battle in afghanistan or iraq.ombat operations. >>> taco bell is now the latest company to acknowledge that some of its ground beef in europe was actually horse meat. the fast food chain apologized to customers as it pulled ground beef products from its three british outlets. authorities say the fraudulent labeling poses no health risk, but many companies are pulling their products anyway. other affected businesses include burger king, nestle, and tesco. taco bell says its restaurants in the u.s. are not affected. >>> mcdonald's is shrinking its menu, at least for now. the worldest largest fast food chain will stop selling the apple walnut salad and may discontinue the angus third pounder. there are reports mcdonald's is eliminating some of its less popular menu items to introduce new products for the spring and summer. >>> could the westminster dog show be at the center of a dog poisoning scandal? one of the dogs who competed in the show earlier this month, the owner says her dog died four days after the competiti

like david petraeus as the difference between huizenga the allied expeditionary forces in normandy or iraq as a magnitude jimmy roosevelt fdr's son wanted to run as a democrat. he could run with both parties and have different vice presidents with him. it is delivered and start off in a very bad way. i sure that you all know the story of the crisis which began with a story that nixon supported by a group of millionaires, a secretive group of millionaires and there was a lot of pressure to get him off the ticket and eisenhower wanted him off the ticket and long story short, mix and went on television and explained to himself and reveal all his finances and talked about the dog checker's he wasn't going to give back and defied eisenhower's orders to resign. he said right to the national public committee basically circumventing eisenhower's right to remove him from the ticket, but from that moment on, things were never the same even though they did become closer and the work together. eisenhower, nixon later wrote he was a scar that never healed, and julie nixon in her book about her mother s

he didn't kill himself in afghanistan or iraq.lled himself in his apartment in houston, texas. >> wood: that brotherhood doesn't stop, doesn't end. doesn't end when we take off the uniform, doesn't end when we come home. doesn't end 60 years from now. i knew clay was struggling. i knew he would... had been suicidal. and i... you know, i didn't... there was more i could've done, and i owed it to him to do it, and i didn't. >> pitts: you ever get angry with him about it? >> wood: yeah, i cuss him out all the time. i mean, the fact that i had to come in here and do a "60 minutes" interview, and revisit all these things, i cursed him on the drive over here. i'll curse him on the drive home. >> pitts: you blame him some? >> wood: unfortunately, yes, i do. you know, i'm having a wedding in six months, and there's a groomsman's spot that's not going to be filled. you know, it's like... of course i'm angry. >> pitts: i'm struck by how everyone who was close to clay, that each of you blame yourselves. >> wordin: you feel like you let him d

if the country is better off today than it was a decade ago can you walk down the street of iraq and feel safe or is there the threat of a car bomb exploding around you our teams are national correspondent lisa casanova is on the ground in erbil iraq to tell us what she's seeing hi lucy so can you give us a said of what life is like on a day to day basis in iraq. well one of the things that strikes you first driving through iraq we spent most of the day in the northern city of kirkuk which was one of the most dangerous places at the height of the six area and strife there is the checkpoints massive checkpoints almost everywhere you go iraqis aren't too free to move around because of the security situation which can soon used to be quite on say for them as we were driving through kirkuk one thing that i noticed though was you know daily life does continue despite the levels of violence we saw children out on the streets people out in cafes we actually arrive to car cook just as the news of that massive series of car explosions and shootings and bombings came out that took place in baghdad people w

embarrassed for a lifetime, never ask to come back into discussions on this topic or anything like this. >> do you believe the people of iraqlib ray tors. >> i do. >> i believe the success will be fairly easy. >> john mccain not the only guy who was wrong. as a note, today on the tenth anniversary of the war that john mccain was so blatantly obviously horribly wrong about, american enterprise institute invited back for discussion on iraq ten years later, john mccain. hey, you were terribly wrong about this very important thing. ten years later we thought we could come back to you for more. yeah. the american enterprise website is worth looking at in terms of the way they commemorate that tenth anniversary. the big splash page is five myths about iraq, ten years after its start, iraq war opponents still don't acknowledge its merits. john boltenbreaks it down. they caution iraq should be remembered without rewriting history because it definitely wasn't a mistake. their expert consultant on the vital moral and strategic questions from the iraq war is the guy that organized it, paul wolfowitz. on the occasion of the tenth anniv

you know, the famous surge in iraq, or the attempt in afghanistan, they really were a result of sometraordinary things like general mcchrystal, for example, to begin to understand after years in the field in afghanistan that this message is straightforward confrontation would not work. this is a nation facing some the greatest conquerors of history to come and go. they have not been defeated. recently we saw the british empire in afghanistan ultimately defeated. the soviets defeated. so what made us assume that we are so different that we will deny or reverse history itself? at great cost to themselves. fiercely independent people. they fight with each other or foreigners or invaders. so had understood the mechanics, i think we could handle it very differently. and then promoted what needed to be promoted and strengthened our own footprint in afghanistan. education, health care, reaching out to these local commuters, local governments, all these are wanted. they would welcome americans. i was educated at an american college, former christian college run by an american presbyterian. w

at a certain point, unbeknownst to weapons inspectors or anyone else over in iraq, it turns out that we pretty much accounted for the full system. but we didn't know that. >> in 1998, saddam refuses to cooperate further, and the united nations pulls out the weapons inspectors. saddam virtually seals iraq off from the west. in a 1998 letter to president clinton, paul wolfowitz, donald rumsfeld and other leading neoconservatives urge the president to take action to remove saddam's regime from power. the neocons align with an ar bane named alcohol bobby. he head the iraqi congress, defectors lobbying to get rid of saddam. >> i say to you now that the opposition is united in its aim of getting rid of saddam and establishing democracy. >> he was a very impressive and effective spokesman for the iraqi opposition to saddam. >> very slick operator who was skillful enough to convey the idea that he could step in as a new leader of iraq. but that was totally divorced from realities on the ground. >> i george walker bush do solemnly swear dshsz >> when george bush is sworn in in 2001, rumsfeld,

iraq. it's going to take 10 years or more to get to the point that jim jeffery hopes and i hope that they doo be there to help them. >> do you think folks living in iraq right now are glad overall 10 years later that this invasion and occupation happened and sadaam hussein was depolessed. >> the vast majority particularly among the large major city who are shia, or kurdish are happy is a doom hussein was deposed. many suffered under sadaam, but some resent the fact that they no longer had the position they had before. nonetheless, over all people are happy is a doom was deposed. >> do folks on the ground harbor resentment against america for the large body count and injuries sustained during the world. >> the default position of most populations in most countries is resentment of america we're big, powerful, we make mistakes and they find us threatening even when we're not and iraq is no different. >> professor orecrowely, how bad do you think the failure to find weapons of mass destruction tainted the war effort for america's place in history? >> it certainly undercut the perception of legi

they had a negative memory from iraq or afghanistan. having a very emotional -- positive emotional closure. we're not going the go to iraq or afghanistan. but being able to go to the middle east. >> charles, you went on -- you're back and on 100% disability. suffered serious wounds, traumatic brain injury and now ptsd. what did this visit do for you? >> it was an experience. you come home and lose faith. you don't have that real feeling again. when you go other there you start all over again. and you get that feeling that there is hope. >> there are guys in israel who have gone through what you have gone through. and they have lived with terror for many, many years. >> it's 24 hours, seven days a week a military civilian life. they know how to work with people. >> and you go to some of the great spiritual sites. >> it is overwhelming. >> so there is a spiritual side there. it's appropriate to be talking about it. >> you walk to the jordan river and the churches and the streets where jesus christ has walked upon and you get the feeling of

a clear image of iraq after eight days or. twenty day taxi trip through the country. the road to. clear evidence from north to south. the route of iraqi tragedy. after the war waiting for peace. taxi on our t.v. . what's really happening to the global economy. headlines. is a report. building . mission to teach. is. only. supposed to be.