(loud explosion) (shouting) >> narrator: ambassador ryan crocker worked closely with petraeus duringthose rough first months. >> early months of the surge were pretty horrible. we were losing... hundreds of troopers, and neither dave nor i could say it was going to succeed in the spring of '07. june was our worst month. we lost more than 120 americans in combat. >> narrator: as the death toll grew, the political pressure intensified. some of the president's men blamed nouri al-maliki. >> there's a real frustration with maliki inside the bush government. he's just not somebody who is easy to do business with. and they're not happy with him. and so, in fact, when opposition to maliki develops inside the iraqi government, there's a real school of thought inside washington saying, "okay, fine. let him go." >> narrator: one of the first to raise concerns about maliki was national security advisor stephen hadley. >> there was a sectarian agenda that was being carried out on the ground. >> narrator: the previous fall, hadley had authored a memo warning that maliki's government was becoming

but he said the president had more pressure to get a deal for maliki were backed up by ryan crocker.e gotten that agreement if we were flexible and creative though the debate rages on. >> the iraqi government didn't want troops in iraq. >> it is a false narrative, i think they believe it. >> reporter: next week the president will do fund-raising and heads to pentagon for an update on isis before heading to california for three more days of fund-raising. >> music fans traveling from far and wide to try out the hottest licks on a big guitar. and jamming tonight on huckabee. oh, i love her voice. agreement winner melissa etherige next on fox. ♪ ♪ ♪ want to change the world? create things that help people. design safer cars. faster computers. smarter grids and smarter phones. think up new ways to produce energy. ♪ be an engineer. solve problems the world needs solved. what are you waiting for? changing the world is part of the job description. [ male announcer ] join the scientists and engineers of exxonmobil in inspiring america's future engineers. energy lives here. [ male announcer ]

joining us iraq and syria ambassador ryan crocker now dean of the bush school of government texas a&mty. good evening, sir. >> good evening was the detearation of iraq inevitable. i. >> i think we made some mistakes. iraqis made some mistakes. good news there is that mistakes can be corrected. i don't see inevitability about it. the mistake we made was not just with drivewaying our troops at the end of 2011 but also putting an end to high level political engagement. the iraqi system won't run on its own. it's not mature enough. it takes us in the middle. we pulled ourselves out i think that led to where we are today it can be corrected if we get back in the game in a big way couldn't. >> couldn't get a status of forces agreement. a lot of disagreement whether we could have gotten one or not gotten one. >> in your opinion we have gotten one which would have enabled us to withdraw in a different manner? >> well, we got one in 2008 when i was ambassador. i think we could have gotten one again if we had perhaps taken a different tact. but, you know, we can argue about that all we want. th

were backed up this week by ryan crocker, who served as u.s.mbassador to iraq and told defense one we could have gotten that agreement if we had been a little more persistent, fexable -- >> they did not want to have troops in iraq. >> it's actually a false narrative that the white house has been using for some time. so long that i think they believe it. >> reportedly with help from a former american soldier who says on his facebook page he travelled to syria on his own to help the kurds. meanwhile the president does some funding raising on tuesday, heads to the pentagon on wednesday for an update on isis and then heads to california for threemore days of funding raising. >> on first glass, the president's -- a jobless rate falling to 5.9%. but that is only part of the story. fox business news anchor mari marmaria- >> there are a few things that i would point out that seem to be continuing to be scrutinized. number one, when you look at the hourly average earnings, they were unchanged. so while we are seeing an increase in jobs being created, wh

when ryan crocker yesterday said, yes, we could have left a stabilizing force behind.mericans had stabilized the situation in iraq. isis was nothing when the president of the united states announced that we were going to withdraw everybody from iraq. and by the way, if he does what he says he is going to in afghanistan you will see the same movie. and that is just disgraceful. >> let me ask you both this question because i think both of you recognize senator lieberman, i know you recognize that these -- isis is islamic. >> right. >> i know you understand that we're at war with isis right now. i know you understand that the president ought to be reading his intelligence briefings every day. i know that you understand what happened in oklahoma and what happened at fort hood was not workplace violence, this was terror. >> terrorism, right. >> i want you -- because you have far more credibility with the white house than i do. advise this president, give him your best counsel. >> well, i don't know why these games really -- i spent a lot of time studying what happened at fo

while ryan crocker and i sat at the table for most of the negotiating session, we dealt very closely on this issue. as you know, as a direct result of the spa, we ultimately had to go into the negotiating of the bilateral security agreement as well. in conjunction with the negotiation of the partnership a agreeme agreement, he convened a -- this goes to an important point about the nature of karzai as a leader and as a politician. he was masterful -- masterful in managing and manipulating informal networks. when i say manipulating, that's by no means intended in a pejorative manner. he understood the people of afghanistan. he may not have been of their ill bei ilk, necessarily. but he certainly understood them and worked very well informally in those net woks as a tribal leader would to seek this consensus that i think kai probably talked about was his intention. he was frustrated with the u.s. over our policy towards pakistan. he was convinced that we were fighting the war in the wrong place. this flowed through a number of themes that we dealt with on a regular basis. some of which

while ryan crocker and i sat at the table for most of the negotiating session, we dealt very closely on this issue. as you know, as a direct result of the spa, we ultimately had to go into the negotiating of the bilateral security agreement as well. in conjunction with the negotiation of the partnership a agreeme agreement, he convened a -- this goes to an important point about the nature of karzai as a leader and as a politician. he was masterful -- masterful in managing and manipulating informal networks. when i say manipulating, that's by no means intended in a pejorative manner. he understood the people of afghanistan. he may not have been of their ill bei ilk, necessarily. but he certainly understood them and worked very well informally in those net woks as a tribal leader would to seek this consensus that i think kai probably talked about was his intention. he was frustrated with the u.s. over our policy towards pakistan. he was convinced that we were fighting the war in the wrong place. this flowed through a number of themes that we dealt with on a regular basis. some of which

diplomat like ryan crocker that says it is as bad as assad is the alternative to assad is worse i don'tthink you feel like you have to feel like you have to prepare iq will abandon your critical ally. the u.s. and the west is accommodating itself to your position rather than vice versa. as ray said they thought they could preserve their interests in syria and in a post-assad environment they would have cut a long time ago. the fact that they haven't done that despite the tremendous reputational damage to iran means i think they feel they could lose all of their interest in syria. >> i think they will never cut ties. >> on that note i want to thank you all for this very excellent set of presentations on this complex country. please join me in thanking our panel. [applause] we are going to take a break and we will be back here at 3:00 p.m.. thank you. [inaudible conversations] next on c-span2, a discussion on immigration reform with former senator ken salazar. then the funeral service for former "washington post" editor ben bradlee. that's followed by a discussion on expansion of isis in

. >>> i'm joined now by ryan crocker with texas a&m.ti time, everybody keeps asking this, but is it time finally to consider some sort of boots on the ground to stop this advance? >> well, thank you for having me. >> of course. >> i think it's been clear all along, you cannot win a war against a determined opponent on the ground from the air. and this is what we're seeing. at the same time, we cannot over dramatize that it's not waterloo and the battle of ghettysburg rolled into one. it is not a strategic route. it is obviously a significant humanitarian crisis. and it will be a major propaganda victory for the islamic state if they are able to take it. what they are telling us is you can't stop us with your air campaign. more significantly, that's what we're seeing in anbar. haditha, and i think, not too far from now, the provincial capital of kobani. >> and ambassador, you know, one thing, though, are we seeing a shift in isis? isis has now rerouted a number of its forces that brought them from areas in syria that were fighting bashar

diplomat like ryan crocker which says that as bad as assad is, the alternative to assad is worse, i don't think you feel like you have to prepare to abandon your critical regional ally. i think if you like the u.s. and the west is gradually a government getting itself to your position rather than vice versa. as ray said, i think if they thought they could preserve the interest in syria and oppose the assad abutment they would've cut him loose long time ago. they are not married to the individual. but the fact that they haven't done that despite all that's happened and tremendous reputation damage to iran and the broader sunni arab world means that i think they feel absent this, they could lose all of their interest in syria. >> never. i think they will never do that. i'll make it short. >> on that note i want to thank you all for the very excellent set of presentations on this complex country. please join me in thanking our panel. [applause] spent we'll take a break and be back here at 3 p.m. thank you. [inaudible conversations] >> this weekend on the c-span networks, friday night startin