richard engle has more on the story. >> reporter: this wasn't what the revolution was supposed to bring. funerals after a massacre of christians by egypt's mainly muslim army. it started with a peaceful demonstration. christians, 10% of the population here, were demanding justice after one of their churches was burned down last week by increasingly aggressive islamic radicals. but when the demonstrators reached central cairo, government troops, witnesses say, attacked. military vehicles plowed through crowds. the demonstrators responded, attacking troops with stones. soldiers opened fire, killing 25. even as some christians formed a human shield around one soldier to protect him from angry clouds. in a hospital, we found two young men, one hit by an army truck, the other shot. both insist the army killed unarmed a civilians. protesters are still gathered here in front of the hospital where the bodies of the christian demonstrators were taken. many of these people say egypt's revolution has brought in a period of chaos and empowered islamic extremists leaving egypt's christian minority u

mike taibbe, nbc news, new york >>> nbc's richard engle is here with us tonight. you have been in the thick of it so many times with troops i know you're still in contact with. what are you hearing from them about the end of this war? >> reporter: when you spend time with troops they become your friends. we are still in contact via e-mail and facebook. and they are saying that it wasn't worth it. that the difficult re-entry home, not coming back to the economic opportunities that they thought they would have, problems with their families, problems with their spouses, it wasn't worth it. and that is the same message i'm hearing time and time again. >> if we pose the same question, is it worth it to the average iraqi citizen what do you sus we'd hear? >> reporter: i've spoken with iraqis. they say toppling saddam hussein was the best thing that could have happened to iraq but that everything else they could have done without. >> let's look at what iraq, this current government faces right now. they've got a turkish incursion on their northern border, terrorism that

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let's bring in chief correspondent richard engle.unking with khaddafy. >> actually you know this war very well. what are your thoughts? >> still trying to get a clear answer on what exactly happened. there are conflicting reports that he was either killed in sirte in fighting between rebls and khaddafy loyalist. there are sources saying that khaddafy this morning in that fighting was killed. there are just as many reports, however that say that as khaddafy was trying to leave sirte in a convoy heading east that he was injured and that he was injured in the leg and in the hand. we are hoping to get some more clarity in about an hour. a senior libyan official is going to give a press conference with the prime minister and hopefully his statements will carry some definitive answers to them. >> all right. we have a comment from the chief spokesman of the revolutionary national transsessional council saying that the associated press reports that khaddafy has been captured in his hometown are still unconfirmed. now, this is conflicting the

. >>> nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engle is live with me now. what can you tell me.ave been working the phones. >> seems that most officials in libya are saying that khaddafy is in fact dead, that he was injured and that he has succumbed to his wounds and died. there is one report from a witness. this is a libyan journalist who says that he saw the body of khaddafy being moved out of sirte in an ambulance, that it was a ministry of health ambulance and that khaddafy's body was being taken to an undisclosed location. what we don't know is who kill cad doff, and there are two completely contradicting stories. one, there was a nato air strike earlier on a convoy according to a nato official was maneuvering in the vicinity of sirte early today. nato officials don't know if khaddafy was in that convoy but they do confirm they attacked a convoy of khaddafy loyalest in the sirte vicinity today. the initial reports were coming if libyan officials that khaddafy was first injured and then killed in that convoy strike. now, however, libyan officials are saying a totally differe

chief correspondent richard engle made his way to cairo. what's the latest? >> reporter: there were more clashes today, but nothing like we saw in the city yesterday. the clashes actually took place right in front of the bureau where i am standing right now. very close to the nile river. it began as a christian protest, a peaceful protest with several thousand demonstrators trying to demand justice. they were holding a march going to the central television station which is just a few hundred yards from here. as they approach the television station, they came across soldiers with pushing and shoving and that's when things descended very quickly. they came very violent. the soldiers dispatched to the military vehicles you were talking about that started plowing through the crowd. the demonstrators picked up stones and started throwing them at the police who attacked them and the army who attacked them with the vehicles. gunfire broke out and according to the ministry of health, at least 25 people were killed. nearly all of them koptic christian demonstrators an

let me bring in richard engle. i heard you say something i thought was beautifully put when the news broke and said so many other presidents who wished they could bring troops home for the holidays. here we are at this point. >> for the troops are all home for the holidays and i assume he doesn't mean halloween, he will be accomplishing something that hasn't happened for nine years. or nearly nine years. it is very significant. people would like to see an end to the iraq war. i watched this war fatigue build in america. many iraqis are nervous. they like the idea of having a small american presence. a trip wire or safeguard that the dark days are not going to return. at the end of the day, a few thousand american trainer who is don't have immunity are not going to prevent a civil war. >> what are the conditions on the ground? the violence is escalating. >> it's not promising at all. there is sectarian violence on the rise. we are seeing sectarian assassinations for which we haven't seen for a while. >> car bombs da

richard engle has arrived in egypt 24 hours after an outbreak of violence between christians and muslimss are criticizing the government for not protecting them. plus the wall street protest is spreading further across the country, even across the pond. new reaction coming in from congresswoman michele bachmann who is going after the protesters. herman cain doubling down on his criticism. zachary from the daily beast will join me live. "news nation" is minutes away. uh, it is, yeah, it's a chevy volt. so what are you doing at a gas station? well it still takes gas to go farther. but you're not getting gas. true. not this time. uh, don't have to gas up very often. so you have to go to the bathroom? no. yes you do. thought these were electric? yes, it's a uh, a chevy volt. so what are you doing at a gas station? ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. it's pro-cool technology releases armies of snowmen masseuse who cuddle up with your soreness and give out polar bear hugs. technology. [ male announcer ]

richard engle is here with morning. good morning. >> good morning. >> let's start with iraq. obviously, americans want to celebrate u.s. troops coming home, but that doesn't mean that there won't be risks for iraqis down the road. >> there will be risks for iraqis down the road, regardless of what happened what happens. keeping a small, residual force there probably wasn't going to stop the problems that iraq is facing and is going to continue to face. iraq could go back into civil war. the kurdish militant groups have decided to pick a war with turkey. iran's influence is growing in the country. so there are significant problems there. the debate that the united states was facing was whether to pull out all the troops as was part of the original plan by the end of this year or to leave a few thousand, 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 on to help guide the process. and the united states decided after some political decisions from the iraqis not to do it. >> that sdus discussion regards immunity. can you discuss why that was important? >> it was in the iraqi's interest at the end of the day