he was questioning paul wolfowitz. how much did the war end up costing? walter: we are still paying for it. it is probably a combination -- with afghanistan -- of $1 trillion. the worst part about it is that we didn't pay for it. this is the first war in which an american president did not ask congress to pass a tax bill to pay for the fighting. and that is something that i still cannot get over. but it showed that they were concerned that, if they asked for money, they were not going to get it. brian: you mentioned vietnam earlier. i want to run 20 years ago, a clip of robert mcnamara, the former secretary of defense, who is here to talk about his book. you have recently written about this. tell us what you think. [video clip] robert: we believed that it was a domino. if the soviets and the chinese controlled it, the rest a of southeast asia would fall. and that the communist strength would be so increased that western europe would be in danger. that's a we thought. we were totally wrong. but that is what motivated us. it is very hard for people today to

we came back and went to serve as the military assistant to the deputy secretary defense paul wolfowitz. and that was a big change from al anbar because in iraq i have some idea who i was fighting against. it was extraordinarily disheartening to be out on the front lines in any organization whether it is a school or an army and come back to the corporate headquarters knowing things are not going well on the field but somebody somewhere has been idea of what's going on and finding out not so much. and so i was privileged to be reacquainted with my former teacher david petraeus to work on the west point history department and others to write the counterinsurgency manual which petraeus been put into effect in iraq in 2007 and 2008 turning around a lost war and providing iraq with a decent chance at a decent future. i've been very critical of the bush administration's decisions up until 2006 in the midterms of 2006 when i believe george w. bush made the gravest decisions of the presidency most notably by replacing the secretary of defense donald rumsfeld was a man i believe is the best secr

came back from anbar and went almost directly to serve in the ering of the pentagon working for paul wolfowitz. that was a big change from al-anbar bass at least in iraq i had some idea of who i was fighting against. it is extraordinarily disheartening to be out of the front lines in any organization, whether it's a school or an army and come back to corporate headquarters, knowing that things are not going well on in the field but believing somebody somewhere has some idea what is going on and finding out not so much. and so i was privileged in the pentagon to be re-acquainted with my former teacher david petraeus to work with petraeus, marine general jim madis conrad crane formerly of the west point history crept and others to write the u.s. army marine corps counterinsurgency manual in petraeus but a in effect in iraq and 2007 and 2008, turning around a lost war and providing iraq with a decent chance at a decent future. i've been very critical of obush administration's decisions, up until 2006, until the mid-terms of 2006, when i believe george w. bush made the bravest and the best decisio

for years, paul wolfowitz and others had talked about getting rid of iraq.at there would be democracy throughout the reason that would help israel. they came to believe actually, a very bizarre conspiracy theory that al qaeda didn't matter. that actually, saddam hussein was behind all the acts of violence. 93 world trade center bombings. the bombing of the uss cole. they came in with that perspective so when the counter terrorism adviser said listen, we have to do something. he said bin laden doesn't matter. they wanted all focus on iraq. up until 9/11. and then they saw that as their opportunity to bounce even though saddam hussein had nothing to do with 9/11. >> and the reason i keep going back to the strain of how we got into this. there is a consistent pattern. the people that wanted that war in the worst way. the neo cons, so-called, wolfowitz, certainly klann and all the people that write op-ed pieces seem to say we had to go into that war and they came up with reasons to fight it. it is the same crowd of people that wanted to go. they don't want any k

. >> i think one of the things about the bush administration, and paul wolfowitz who never claimed to be an expert on the middle east or iraq and proved it, and history has proved it, is that we look at things from our own point of view and get deceived by it. you can go back to vietnam. that is a great example of the first time we did it openly. but we have a history of trying to think other people are like us or want our standards, and the world is different particularly in the middle east it is a totally different culture. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern and pacific. announcer: next on american history tv national park story and ranger eric martin discusses the history of ford's theater where john wilkes booth shot presently can 150 years ago. examines the timeline -- he examines the timeline. this program is a little under one hour. [applause] eric martin: as an historian, i can say this is the definitive site in the federal city and

walter: one of the things about the bush administration and paul wolfowitz never claimed to be an expert on the middle east and iraq and proved it in history has proven it, is that -- and history has proven it, is that we look at things from our own point of view and get deceived by it. you can go the anon, a great example of the first time we did it openly. but we have a history of thinking people are like us. the world is different. particularly in the middle east, it is a totally different culture. >> tonight at 8:00 eastern and pacific on c-span's q&a. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] >> welcome to topeka. with help from our communications cable partners, we will explore the history of kansas's capital city. coming up, her

bush administration and helped give us the iraq war, including your favorite paul wolfowitz. >> yeah. >> so he's not showing any distance on the iraq war, and, you know on that list conspicuous and absence, people like condi rice who might have been a little more skeptical so here we have jeb bush you know i don't think it was purposeful but i think the fact is there that he's tied to these people and to his brother who gave us one of the biggest foreign policy mistakes of all time and listen, you know whether hillary's campaign does it or not, there will be superpacs out there that will spend a lot of money, whatever george w.'s approval ratings are at the time reminding people about this war and also about the economic crash that happened on his watch. >> sure. hey, jonathan. >> yes. >> i know the country people are very pro-israeli generally in this country and that's part of our culture but there's something different going on. people may be hawkish in general terms now, some people. let's really show those people but nobody wants a war again. nobody wants to go in there on the gr

it is clear that people like paul wolfowitz were. he was the secretary of defense deputy. i also did not live view it was because saddam tried to kill his father. there's a lot of crazy stuff out there. i think bush was radel -- was radicalized by 9/11. >> what is the connection? mr. goss: because it radicalized bush. the al qaeda stuff is fiction. i believe that bush himself was radicalized by the events of 9/11, and opted to go big, and go big was to send a shockwave through the part of the world and the phrase was used at the time, drain the swamp. the swamp was the semi-states that provided shelter for al qaeda, that you might move that region of the world in a more positive direction. >> we have time for one more question. >> to broaden the conversation back to decision to invade iraq, kofi annan said this was an illegal war a war of aggression, so based under the nuremberg tribunal, what about accountability for that? amy goodman mentioned accountability. would you call it an illegal war off the bat? mr. goss: in terms of strictly american legality, i know the author

. >> one thing about the bush administration and paul wolfowitz, who never claimed to be up on the middle east or iraq and proved it, or history has proved it, is we look at things from our own point of view and get deceived by it. and you can go back to vietnam was a great example of the time we did it openly, but we have a history of trying to think other people are like us or want our standards, and the world is different. in the middle east, it's a totally different culture. >> tonight at 8:00 eastern and pacific on c-span's q&a. >> here are a few of the book festivals we will be covering on c-span2's book tv. we will have live coverage of the gaithersburg book festival with tom davis, martin frost and david axelrod. we will close out may with book expo america in new york city where the publishing industry showcases upcoming books. then the printers row lit fest, with pulitzer prize-winning author lawrence right and your phone calls. that is the spring on c-span2's book tv. >> the senate is expected to continue debate this week on a bill that would give congress oversight of an iran

. >> i think one of the things about the bush administration and paul wolfowitz who never claimed to be an expert on the middle east or iraq and proved it and history has proved it, is that we look at things from our own point of view. and get deceived by it. and you can go back to vietnam was a great example of the first time we sort of did it openly but we have a history of trying to think other people are like us. and the world is different. and particularly in the middle east totally different culture. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern and pacific on c-spanq and a. >> craig fugate testified about his agency's 2016 budget request and totals $7.5 billion for disaster preparedness and response. >> call this hearing to order for the appropriations subcommittee. today will be -- i'd like to welcome administrator fugate, administrator of fema appreciate very much you being here and senator sheehan, appreciate you being here as well. we're here to discuss the fiscal 2016 budget for your agency. before we get into your budget, i want to take a moment to thank you for sending roy wright. se

pincus: i think one of the things about the bush administration and paul wolf of its -- wolfowitz whonever claim to be an expert on iraq and history has proven that look at things from our own point of view. and get deceived by it. and even go back to vietnam was a great example of the first time we sort of fidid it openly but we have a history of trying to think of the people are like us. and the world is different. and particularly in the middle east it's a totally different culture. >> tonight at 8:00 eastern and pacific on c-span's q&a. the new congressional directory is a handy guide to the 114th congress with color photos of every senator in house member, plus bio and twitter handles. also district maps, a foldout map of capitol hill, and a look at congressional committees, the cabinet, federal agencies and state governors. order your copy today. it's $13.95 to the c-span online store at c-span.org. >> deputy homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas testified before the house homeland security committee thursday to answer questions of political favoritism. the questions co