had an appalling record of aggression under all of its neighbors under saddam hussein, but at the time we're talking about in march of 2003, was there actually a current threat of aggression by iraq? >> i think all the evidence that people had in november, let's say, before we come to the march resolution, that all the rest of the world agreed that there were problems that had to be addressed by iraq if they were to be a member of the international community and they felt they had a final opportunity to deal with issues where he had not been honest with the international community and had nozz disclosed or dismantled any of his weapons. from november to march, the issue is not it seems to me that the rest of the world did not agree that there was disclosure problem or disposal problems. the question was whether people would be prepared to follow the rules of the international community that where someone consistently and persistently is a serial violator over the rules of the international committee, action has got to be taken. >> iraq had been in breach of these rules for many years a

the final opportunity for saddam hussein. all these things were said and avoid the basis on which we could make a decision, but it wasn't the reason that we made the decision. he gave us the necessary means to make a decision but it wasn't sufficient and it off. >> if you'd known his position had been equivocal only ten days previously when it was presented to the prime minister, would it have changed your view? >> i don't think it would've changed my view because unless he was prepared to say that his unequivocal advice was that this was not lawful, then the other arguments that i thought were important played into place and that was what i party talks you about, the obligations to the community, the failure to honor them, failure to disclose, the failure to discharge come the spirit of the resolutions, particularly one for for one. i knew there was a debate to whether 1441 should lead to a further discussion or decision. i knew that was an issue but it seemed to me the attorney general's advice was quite unequivocal. >> sol

-led invasion ousted saddam hussein. the first one, in 2005, led to the shiite-dominated government in power today. that government has banned dozens of sunni candidates from running because of alleged ties to the former ruling baathist party. and the ban has intensified deep rivalries over power-sharing among the minority sunnis, the majority shiites and the kurds. on sunday, about 19 million of iraq's estimated population of 28 million will be eligible to vote. more than 6,200 candidates are competing for just 325 seats. u.s. officials will be watching closely, as the outcome will determine the shape of the government that runs iraq as american forces begin to go home. there are currently just under 100,000 u.s. troops in iraq. the obama administration plans to withdraw all combat troops by the end of this august and the remaining forces by the end of 2011. >> lehrer: two perspectives now on sunday's election. feisal istrabadi has served as iraq's deputy ambassador to the united nations. he is now a visiting law profes

i'm not for giving saddam hussein should have stayed around. ust the way we handled the post saddam transition i think opened the door to bigger problems and a spread of the threat for the u.s. national security interest. iran which was discussed in the context of iraqi politics and maybe we will talk about it and build more but i think iran is growing influence of the iraq war mike and we it was prosecuted and contributed and the iraq war also to a large extent was made to show and say something about american power after 9/11 and it's only succeeded showing its limits so we are in the process of rebuilding. this administration is pragmatic and trying to rebalance the portfolio and brought in national security without abandoning iraq and its key to stress in the political debates we often hear the accusation obama is abandoning iraq to iran and that's it and i think it's something much more transformative going on. the second point we are in the midst of a policy transition that i rockies and american support and it's not just about the troops.

he's a great guy but how long did he have with saddam hussein? >> months.but he understood the culture. he understood i can still remember the time former congressman and secretary richardson met with saddam hussein when he put his sold and saddam hussein got up and walked out, culturally that wasn't appropriate so to have someone who understood the culture of the language in the point is they were probably very good people but probably people that were better in the country and in order to make sure that america is safe and secure i think we should do everything we can to reduce bank could i respond if i could for a couple of aspects of that. first with regard to the military commissions and support of military commissions for the trials that judge mukasey argued for i believe the president has the authority at the right to determine where a person is to be tried, whichever. but i do believe -- i believe the most important thing we need to get its intelligence to prevent additional attacks and we want the best possible people during the interrogation as so

of the 110, 67 stand on the floor of the house or the senate and say saddam hussein had wmd. if you want to say bush like you've got to assume every one of those people live including ted kennedy and barbara boxer who opposed the resolution. we now know that he didn't have it. he had lots of material. we found 500 tons of yellow cake uranium yellowcake. we found biological and chemical delivery systems and tens of thousands of artillery shells and other delivery vehicles that had contained biological and chemical weapons that had degraded over time but we didn't find wmd operative in the usable which is what we feared in fact as we approached baghdad the third infantry approach of baghdad we hear the chattering on the radio from the iraqi saying what are we going to depression to use the weapons. we now know because to reports one by charles and won by david kay weapons inspectors that saddam hussein did retain an active and robust interest in these weapons. his attitude was look the west is going to lose interest in the sanctions on iraq. food is going to eventually erode an

>> they have a lot of freedom under saddam hussein.ere was no security so they were virtually under house arrest for a long time. that eventually got even worse and the power vacuum led to the arrival of radical islam, a conservative version of how women should live influenced by iran. iraqi women found themselves unable to leave the house possibly losing their rights in constitution and government and matters of divorce and inheritance, family law. the became desperate for what the future might hold and they never would have thought they would have ended up like that because they have a lot of rights under saddam hussein. >> you were in the middle east for many years. have you seen a change in the way you have been treated as a female reporter on the ground in the middle east since september 11th? >> most arabs were welcoming to americans despite what the media portrayed them as being anti-american but i think the u.s. direction in iraq and afghanistan change their minds and a lot of them feel of all americans are against their world

resolution that led us to believe that saddam hussein's failed to comply with international law. ted one that had the importance of the final opportunity for saddam st.hussein. it laid the basis, but it was not the sufficient reason in itself for us making the decision if you had known his decision was equivocal 10 days before, would it have changed your view? but i don't think it would have. unless he was prepared to say that his unequivocal advice was that this was not lawful, then the other arguments that i thought were important played, which was the obligation to the international community, the failure to honor them, the failure to discharge the spirit of the resolutions, particularly 1441. i knew there was a debate about whether that resolution should lead to a further decision or discussion. i knew that was an issue. it seemed the attorney general's advice was unequivocal. >> we get to the decision itself. you say the attorney general has advised th -- the cabinet has been advised of the diplomatic route being at an end. only the prime minister and the foreign secretary ha

best way we could take this all the red different times we both the with favor the removal of saddam hussein from power and i think orwell was in our minds at different times and certainly i know of other people. is it worth asking do you think what he would have thought? >> guest: just to finish the little history you started he was also claimed by norman paul hornets. >> host: should have added that. >> guest: saying if or will have lived he would have been a neocon. >> host: on that i feel i can pronounce because he thought orwell would have taken the american side in that china's and i think i could be certain that is not so. >> guest: because his antiimperialism >> host: especially that part of asia and he actually mentions when he's in paris at the end of the burr revival of the left opposition to the stalinist paper and one of the great essays that is printed about restoring french colonialism which is the ancestor of the american i think he would have regarded at -- best for think you're absolutely right. iraq is different. you know, in a way it's hard to say and it's a little danger

we bought off on the white house intelligence that saddam hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction. i'they should complain about us being not aggressive enough. >> we have one last clip. this is only about 1.5 minutes. >> good general is up for 30 a.m. and out the door at 5:00 p.m. for his morning run through the buildings and trailers. this is his idea of leisure time. >> how many miles is it? >> i run an hour. >> in another life, he could have been a month. >> it is the lap of luxury. >> what else do you need? >> it is functional and comfortable. you get very used to it. you have what you have and that is all you need. one thing that you missed his family. besides that, it is pretty much perfect. >> he lived like this for five years as part of a unit that captured to don su -- sevan hussain -- saddam hussein. being a general didn't stop him from going on commando raids. >> i'd never said i was a great command of. there is a value to the old man coming along just to show that he is willing to do that. >> it is kind of dangerous, though. >> we got him first. >> that trip, did you g

we stood and looked in the mass graves that saddam hussein had tortured these people. we had people who were, he had sentenced to death who were begging to be dropped in to, to ease into the acid vats headfirst so they would die quicker. this is the type of thing taking place. here is a guy that murdered hundreds of thousands of his own people up in the curd area, people -- up in the kurd area, people by the most painful way of dying. yet, to suggest that we should not have gone back in to finish him off is, i think, is just unacceptable. now, before i finish with the comments that were made by the senator from illinois, i would only mention when he talked about how george bush came into office -- george w. bush -- and he cut taxes for the rich and all that, i recall one time in history, well actually it's happened several times in history. it happened right after world war i. they passed tax increases to support the war. when the war was over they said they would repeal the taxes. it didn't increase revenue. it reduced revenue. that was forgotten until one of our grea

by speaking over the heads of arab leaders and targeting the worst regimes starting with saddam hussein. as a columnist put it describing the chaos of postinvasion iraq circa 2005-2006, the arabs thought the problem was colonialism, zionism, the americans, etc., and the americans thought the problem was saddam's regime. the problem, however, as it turned out was arab society itself. on reflection and from a distance, the paradox is obvious. a political culture where bin ladennism is not the exception, but the political norm does not easily lend itself to remedy, never mind transformation. and that, in short, is the summit of my book. the issues are some of the issues that have set the arabs against themselves, a clash of arab civilizations, clashes between sects, between arab regimes and their own people, the regimes against their domestic rivals and insurgencies, clashes between arab regimes themselves between and within families and even inside the arab individual. perhaps most importantly there is the clash between world views. on one hand, there is the democratic and progress i have

>> well, they had a lot of freedoms under saddam hussein. with the war as often happens with war. there was no security. so they were virtually under house arrest. for a long time. that eventually got even worse, unfortunately, in that the power vacuum led to the arrival of radical islamists with a conservative version of how women should live. many of them influenced by iran. and iraqi women found themselves unable to leave the house, possibly losing their rights in the constitution, in government, in matters of divorce and inheritance, family law so they became really desperate for what the future held for them and they didn't think they would end up like that. they had a lot of rights under saddam hussein. >> you reported from the middle east for many years. have you seen a relative change in the way you've been treated as a female reporter on the ground since 9/11? >> well, you know, i think that most arabs were welcoming to the -- to americans despite what the media portrays them as being anti-american. but i think that the u.s. aggress

i'm not for giving saddam hussein should have stayed around. just the way we handled the post saddam transition i think opened the door to bigger problems and a spread of the threat for the u.s. national security interest. iran which was discussed in the context of iraqi politics and maybe we will talk about it and build more but i think iran is growing influence of the iraq war mike and we it was prosecuted and contributed and the iraq war also to a large extent was made to show and say something about american power after 9/11 and it's only succeeded showing its limits so we are in the process of rebuilding. this administration is pragmatic and trying to rebalance the portfolio and brought in national security without abandoning iraq and its key to stress in the political debates we often hear the accusation obama is abandoning iraq to iran and that's it and i think it's something much more transformative going on. the second point we are in the midst of a policy transition that i rockies and american support and it's not just about the troops

>> they have a lot of freedom under saddam hussein. they lost their freedoms instantly with the war as often happens with war there was no security so there were virtually under house arrest for a long time. that eventually got even worse unfortunately at that the power vacuum led to the of life left radical islamists with jury conservative version how women should lift many influenced by iran and iraqi women felt themselves unable to leave the house possibly losing their rights in the constitution and government in matters of divorce and inheritance family law and they became desperate for the future might hold and surprised they never would have thought they would have ended up like that because like i said, they had a lot of rights under saddam hussein. >> you reported from them the least in many years. have you seen the relative change in the we've been treated as a female reporter on the ground in the middle east since september 11th? >> i think most arabs were welcoming to americans despite what the media portrays them as being a

had an appalling record of aggression under all of its neighbors under saddam hussein, but at the timee talking about in march of 2003, was there actually a current threat of aggression by iraq? >> i think all the evidence that people had in november, let's say, before we come to the march resolution, that all the rest of the world agreed that there were problems that had to be addressed by iraq if they were to be a member of the international community and they felt they had a final opportunity to deal with issues where he had not been honest with the international community and had nozz disclosed or dismantled any of his weapons. from november to march, the issue is not it seems to me that the rest of the world did not agree that there was disclosure problem or disposal problems. the question was whether people would be prepared to follow the rules of the international community that where someone consistently and persistently is a serial violator over the rules of the international committee, action has got to be taken. >> iraq had been in breach of these rules for many years and ma

and is simply is left unused and deserted by the policies of saddam hussein. so there is a potential source not only of oil revenues but of port and trade, and development in the basra area. and we wanted to show that this could be improved. >> i think, we'll do a bit more after the break. >> this is the moment for a break and after that, we'll turn to your time as prime minister. >> thank you. [inaudible conversations]. >> i'd like the prime minister to turn to the time since june 2007, when you are prime minister. and i've asked martin gilbert to ask you question. >> good afternoon. >> you visited basra in november 2006, as a result of your experiences then, and the events in the 7 months that followed, what other aspects of british policy in iraq that you felt needed to be changed when you became prime minister. >> my focus was on the area for which we had responsibility. and, i looked carefully, initially, of course with tony blair because he made a statement to the house of commons in 2007, of what we hoped to do to reduce the number of troops and improve

i think it goes to the issue of what saddam hussein was. he was an aging, a toothless tiger. he did not have weapons of mass destruction, and certainly was not a threat to the united states. was a lousy leader? absolutely. was a terrible to his people? no question. they are all around the world. how many are we going to knock off? my big worry is a new strongman emerges, tougher, meaner, younger, more energetic than hussain, with a similar purchase. that is what we may end up with, a new, tough, and mean version who unites the country under the banner of anti-americanism. who uses oil money flowing and uses revenue to buy mass destruction weapons, then you may end up with an iraq that is the country the bush administration thought they were in 2003. but the administration invasion might actually create threats. host: our correspondent from the "christian science monitor" joins us now on the phone. guest: it has been fascinating. here in baghdad, people are coming in droves after calls from politicians to make sure they come out. host: how tight is security? give us a flavor o

most americans, the majority of americans, still believe that saddam hussein had nothing to do with 9/11. and i imagine most americans believe that the taliban had something to do with 9/11 and it's not true. we need to change our foreign policy and come back to our senses and defend this country and not pretend to be the policemen of the world. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. who seeks time? mr. kucinich: could i ask, madam speaker, how much time is remaining on each side? the speaker pro tempore: certainly. just a moment. the gentleman from ohio has 68 1/2 minutes. the gentleman from california, mr. berman, has 36 minutes. and the gentlewoman from florida has 27 1/2 minutes. mr. kucinich: if it's -- ok, i'll yield. i'll yield mr. kennedy three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. kennedy, is recognized for -- i'm sorry, from rhode island, is recognized for three minutes. mr. kennedy: i thank the gentleman, mr. kucinich. i want to say at the outset, while i'm speaking on behalf of the same resolution the gentleman before m

we won and now -- saddam hussein out. we won and now we can go home. we should have left a long time ago. what's happening in afghanistan and iraq is not a war. it's a foreign occupation. you can read the constitution from beginning to end and you find nothing in the constitution that permits a foreign occupation, much less one that goes on for almost a decade. with you simply can't afford these wars anymore, both in the price of money and in the price of blood. i'd like to call your attention to a report in "the new england journal of medicine" dated january 31, 2008. this report says that 15% of all the troops that serve in iraq return with permanent brain damage. that's right, permanent brain damage. here's some of the symptoms described. a loss of consciousness, general poor health, missed work days, medical visits, and a high number of post concussive symptoms. -- postconcussive symptoms. later on on page 459, nearly 15% of soldiers had a loss of consciousness or loss of mental state. and they have something that is caused mild traumatic brain inj

involve saddam hussein.e will be divided for a very long time whether it was right to go to war with the consequence of more than 2000 american soldiers being killed and british soldiers being killed, and at best estimates, 100,000 to 200,000 iraqis. i think that is why this argument will go on for a very long time in britain, we have alwayalready withdrawn our forc. host: i'm not asking who is going to win the election and obviously campaigns make a difference and a lot can happen in the next five weeks. i will ask you what you expect to happen in the course of this campaign and what you are looking for and how this will unfold. guest: in america, you can look back on an election and you can say, the american people or the british people felt it was time for change. orszag you can say that some did not want to take the gamble of a change. -- or you can say that some did not want to treat thetake the ge of a change. in my own view, at i think there is a mood for change. there are a lot of the vagaries in the

he's a great guy but how long did he have with saddam hussein? >> months.>> but he understood the culture. he understood i can still remember the time former congressman and secretary richardson met with saddam hussein when he put his sold and saddam hussein got up and walked out, culturally that wasn't appropriate so to have someone who understood the culture of the language in the point is they were probably very good people but probably people that were better in the country and in order to make sure that america is safe and secure i think we should do everything we can to reduce bank could i respond if i could for a couple of aspects of that. first with regard to the military commissions and support of military commissions for the trials that judge mukasey argued for i believe the president has the authority at the right to determine where a person is to be tried, whichever. but i do believe -- i believe the most important thing we need to get its intelligence to prevent additional attacks and we want the best possible people during the interrogation as

'60s and '70s before breaking with saddam hussein and oppose iing him in exile.d an assassination attempt in 1978. one of hussein's aides broke into his home in the middle of the night and attacked him with an ax. it took a year to recover in the 1990s with what many believe to be the cia's backing ayad allawi's political party attempted a coup but failed. he became saddam's first post-saddam leader and he lost when his secular political party was trounced in iraq's 2005 national elections, but he appears to have won this time. >>> they'll still have enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world many times over, but in a landmark agreement, the united states and russia have agreed to slash their arsenals, and that sets the stage for a high-profile ceremony and sets an example for other nations that may be seeking nuclear weapons. let's go live to our foreign affairs correspondent, jill dougherty. jill's covered u.s./russia relations for many years. this is significant today, jill. >> it is, wolf. in the past decade when american leaders talked about threats to the

terrorists, and she was part of the team that developed the intelligence on the whereabouts of saddam hussein time said, "many officers in the c.i.a. were unwilling to serve in this deteriorating, high-risk and thankless environment. mrs. prouty did not waver." while in iraq, prouty's bulletproof vest had to be altered for an extraordinary reason. you were pregnant at the time? >> prouty: correct. >> pelley: people watching this interview right now are asking themselves, "why would she do that?" >> prouty: yes, and i ask myself now, looking at my child, "how could i put her life in danger?" but that's what i wanted to do. i couldn't look at our marines that are standing outside guarding us and tell them, "hey, i'm pregnant, i'm shipping out." i knew what my contributions were. and i wanted to protect the lives of our soldiers. >> pelley: nada prouty was born into war, growing up amid the conflict in her native lebanon. at age 19, she came to the u.s. to get a degree in accounting. >> prouty: those were good days. >> pelley: and years later, while studying for a masters, one of her teachers su

alley himself was a member of saddam hussein's baath party. he is is a shiite, he's secular. among certain circles, he's a controversial figure. iran does not like ayad allawi, iran has back protests against him in the past and analysts i've spoken to and politicians, including people very senior in the iraqi government, expect that iran could very soon start to stir the pot more against allawi after this move. >> understood, richard, we're fortunate to have you here today, thank you for your information. >>> i do want to move on to the vatican sex abuse scandal. this one also, church officials insist, that pope benedict did not know about a decision to let a pedophile priest resume working with children back in 1980. the pope at the time was known as archbishop joseph ratzinger and according to "the new york times," he was copied on a memo detailing the priest's reassignment, which implicitly would include the details of the reason for the reassignment. this follows an earlier report, which says that back in the '90s, ratzinger, now the pope, refused to defrock a priest, now

we believed we had a threat from saddam hussein who by the way could have removed the threat instantly by saying, and all of my facilities are open. the international inspectors can look in the palaces or the military area or anywhere they want to go. he did not do that. he could have done that and it would not have suffered the fate he did had he been willing to open up his nation to that kind of inspection. with that being said i respect president bush strings to defend this country and i think president obama will have to move in that course or he will be seen as a weak president on the international stage. >> host: we will take a break. mitt romney new book is called "no apology" the case for american greatness." >> rear at the cpac conference talking about the new book called battlefields blessings. >> it is stories of faith and courage from iraq and afghanistan we interviewed 60 men and women from the military to get their first and accounts of their experiences and in the book is for matted into 365 stories a you can read wine every day if you want and really get a good glimpse

for re-election six years ago, bunning said that his democratic opponent looked like one of saddam hussein's bunning's behavior was so strange during the campaign that republicans begged him not to run again this year. in 2006, "time" magazine called him one of america's five worst senators. last year bunning predicted that supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg would be dead from pancreatic cancer within nine months. in the senate bunning is regarded as a very, very strange man with a nasty temper. earlier today when jonathan karl of abc news tried to get an explanation of bunning's most recent act of weirdness he got this. >> we just wanted to ask you -- >> excuse me. this is a senator only elevator. >> can i come on the elevator? >> no you may not. >> can you tell us why you're blocking this vote? >> i already did explain it. >> well, what is the issue? are you concerned about the -- >> excuse me. i've got to go to the floor. >> can you explain to us why you're holding this up. >> excuse me! >> you concerned about those who are going to lose their benefits? >> and he says that before t

on my way in, i found that i had met an american engineer from texas who from the time of saddam hussein flying to iraq, but he couldn't. he had to fly from kuwait and their commute to iraq. and i met him on the way back. he was there to fix what had been damaged by the iranian. and he came back. he was sort of amazed on how liberated the iraqi women were. he had an iraqi woman engineer in blue jeans and t-shirt going in front of him up and down. so while we might have fixed some things, we have really [inaudible] other things. >> we have women, tora bora and the language. the language, to the good question because the reality is there weren't a lot of dari speakers. they speak russian, arabic, french. so these translators. they had to use work in a lot of drawing in the dirt to figure stuff out. and again the cia was very key in being that liaison and helping out in this way. let me just jump to the women thing. because it is -- it's half the population of the amnesty and so it's amazing why they're being treated this way. let me ask you, how do you stop this? this is -- the question is

administration was willing to ignore those iranian ties because they wanted to use them against saddam husseinthe warnings that the cia tried to sound about ahmed chalabi through all those years, the bush administration never wanted to listen to. >> fascinating stuff. the election is sunday. we'll be doing more on that as we lead up to the election. declassified is the blog. >>> up next, mississippi governor haley barbour, chairman of the governors association and he says that governors should have been invited to last week's bipartisan summit on health care. barbour eyeing a white house bid in 2012? we'll find out what he has to say next. and in our factories. to find cleaner, more efficient ways to power flight. and harness our technology... for new energy solutions. around the globe, the people of boeing are working together, to build a better tomorrow. that's why we're here. ♪ >>> while washington lawmakers try to figure out a way forward on health care, the nation's governors are the ones on the front line, battling, among other things, increasing medicare costs. mississippi governor hale

i never thought we would catch saddam hussein but we did. that deals with the hard cases and the idea of reading an enemy combatant their miranda warnings, the christmas bomber proved that's not the way to go. collect and gather intelligence, then worry about prosecution. treat the enemy prison as a common criminal and the problem with bin laden highlights the dilemma. i think most americans would object if he were read his righ right. eric holder is probably right, that we'll never capture him alive but we'll capture other people and i want boundaries that make sense. >> general david petraeus testified and he said that so-called 96 hour rule has now all of sun and become 14 days. gone from 4 days to 14 days, maybe even longer. >> right. >> that's how long u.s. military personnel can detain suspected insurgents or terrorists without letting them go. i know you worked hard to get that change and you were pleased. >> oh, man. let me tell you, i don't want to violate etiquette here and give you a compliment, but cnn reporting on the 96 hour ru

. >> love to emphasize the hussein, as if by saying it it will make you think of saddam hussein. it's the craziest things these people have -- remember, party identification in this country continues to diminish massively, now less than 25% of all registered voters have linked themselves with the gop, and who can blame them, when the gop instead of being a viable opposition party with an easy target in the democrats who clearly seek to accommodate corp rations at every turn whether it's bankers, health insurance companies or drug company and instead of calling them out and improving the legislation, they actually try to race further to the bottom. i want to bring in tea party texas founder dale robertson, who's been a friend of show. he's with us from houston. along with brendan steinhauser, grassroots director for freedom works who's been helping the tea partiers organize -- a member of freedom works and also a friend of this program. dale, as a tea party founder in your state, what is your reaction to the slurs that happened over the weekend in the perrielo infringement. >> it'

said that he had been sent to africa to investigate the claim of the british intelligence that saddam hussein had attempted to acquire yellowcake uranium in africa by dick cheney. not true. he was wrong when he elected that his report would've come back shared with administration officials, the president, vice president at the highest levels of the white house. not true. when media adviser condi rice at block the president, that was not true. never even made it to the white house. wei said he tried to members of vice cheney's staff and they had assured him it had been blocked to the passage of the president, that was simply not true. he was wrong when he said he disapproved of the british claim. he never understood and never knew the basic of the british claim was. he said he was conclusive in attempting saddam had never do it. he came back and reported about a previously unknown accounts by saddam's people working through third-party to force the government to accept a trade delegation. and the government said we only trade one thing. we're not taking saddam's trade delegation. we know that

before the war, saddam hussein had a tight grip on the country.bout 4,500 people had access to the internet. 1.6 million people now in iraq. that can be a great bonus in free speech. is it a problem at all in this political environment where you have the harsh competition? >> i think it's important. think freedom and free speech put a checks and balances on the process. iraqis are learning about that. it is difficult. it's a difficult learning curve. but we find it to be extremely positive. they have access to international media. you have access to the internet. you have access to a lot of of did rent kinds of information. and i think it helps to shape iraq for the future and will help to push iraq to the future. >> on our new set, i do hope in the months ahead, you get a chance to come home for a few days and see your world champion new york yankees. it pains me a bit to say that. but i know you'd like to see a ball game. >> there's nothing like a red sox/yankee game. there's no greater rivalry in all of sports. i wish good luck to both of them.

had said that he had been to africa to investigate the claim of the british intelligence that saddam hussein had attempted to plant in africa. he had the alleged report that was shared with and vice president at highest level of white house. not true. when he alleged that condi rice had blocked it from being presented to the president, not not true. it never made @ white house. when he said he talked with members of vice president cheney's staff, that was not true. he was wrong when he said that he disproved the british. he never understood and knew what the basis of the british claim was. he was collective in proving that saddam had never attempted to do it. in fact, when he came back, he came and orally reported about a previously unknown by the third party to force the niger government to accept the trade. the niger government said we only trade one thing. uranium is on the international sanctions, we're not taking the trade. we know he was wrong when he said he disproved the italian forgery. documents that show up eight months after he return from africa that he had no role in disproving

said that he had been sent to africa to investigate the claim of the british intelligence that saddam hussein attempted yellowcake uranium in africa at the behest of dick cheney. not true. he was wrong when he alleged that his report when they came back was shared with administration of rituals the president, vice president at the highest levels of the white house. not true. when you pledge condi rice personally block it from being presented to the president, that was untrue. and he said he personally talked with members of vice president cheney staff and they assured him it had been blocked, that was simply not true. he was wrong when he said that he disproved the british claim. he never understood and never knew what the basis of the british claim was. he was wrong when he said he was conclusive in proving that saddam had ever attempted to do it four in fact, when he came back he came back and reported about a previously unknown attempts by saddam's attempt to force the government to accept a trade delegation and the government said wait a minute, we only trade one thing and it is on the in

we believed we were receiving threat from saddam hussein who could have removed the threat instantly by seeing come in all of my facilities are open. the international inspectors can look in the palaces and the military fissile, anywhere they would like to go and take a look because we don't want to have america come after us. he did not do that, he could have done that and it wouldn't have suffered this fate he did had he been willing to open up his knees into that kind of inspection. but that being said, i respect president bush's strength defending this country and i think president obama is going to have to move in that course or he will be seen as a weak president of the international stage. >> host: we are going to take a break. mitt romney, his book is called "no apology the case for american greatness." >> "after words" and several of their c-span programs are available for download us podcast. more with mitt romney and juan williams in a moment. >>> did you know you can view book tv programs online? go to booktv.org. type the name of the author book were subject into the sea

many americans believe that saddam hussein had something to do with 9/11, and that the taliban had something to do with 9/11, and this is not true. we have to make this country not be the policeman of the world. >> who is looking for time? >> can i ask the speaker, time is remaining on both sides? >> certainly, just one moment. the gentleman from ohio has 68 minutes. the gentleman from california has 36 minutes. and the gentleman from florida has 27 minutes. >> i would just -- i would like to yield mr. kennedy 3 minutes. >> the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. kennedy -- from rhode island is recognized for three minutes. >> thank you. mr. kucinich, i would like to say that as i am is speaking on behalf of the same resolution i could not disagree more that the interests in protecting the national security by being in afghanistan. . my opposition is our strategy. my opposition is that somehow we're going to control the ground by maneuvering ourselves militarily to control the ground as if it's a nation state. i hear my colleagues talk about the flag of afghanistan. as if afghanistan is a coun

time we got to 2007 began with of course the same decision to disband the back party and the saddam hussein military and security forces. we don't know whether there would've been an insurgency without that step, but i think that all but guaranteed that one would occur, particularly in combination with these other four errors. the decision to go ahead with the january 2005 elections, even once it was clear that the sunnis were going to boycott the election, it can set up a political dynamic that no military operation could overcome. and then of course, that assembly that was a lack that went ahead to write a constitution where the shiite islamist ideas were at the forefront and that created a further sense, despite an attempt at the last minute to negotiate a deal whereby the constitution would be revised within or month that the new parliament taking it feet. that never occurred. that has never occurred and that is still essential part of the political endgame that i'll give some time to as well. the fourth error was in my view there was a persistent tendency through 03, 07 for the militar

the iranies accused saddam hussein of using chemical weapons in the iran-iraq war in the 19 # \on/zeros so they know firsthand how deadly these weapons can be trace. trace: what about the findings of the biological weapons, mike? >> reporter: the cia report says iran probably has the capability to produce biological warfare agents to use offensively to attack if it made the decision to do so. the assessment is the regime in tehran has previously conducted research and development in this area of biological weapons and continues seeking dual use technologies that could be used for biological weapons, so germ warfare is a major concern and with iran you have to be worried about the threat of the regime giving the material to terrorists because they, of course, are sponsors of terrorism. trace: mike emanuel live for us in d.c., thanks. >>> the cia report mike was just telling us about is also saying iran is still working on building a nuclear weapon, despite technical setbacks and international resistance. how should the u.s. respond? you decide. log on to foxnews.com, and simply click on

this was the fifth election that has been held in iraq since the fall of the saddam hussein regime.ng a referendum on the constitution and that five. the turnout is good 62% according to data the count is going slow and how it's going to go looking at the news reports every day to see the figures. i think the iraqis have come a long way from when i first went there in 2003. in terms of developing a more space political culture they have made real strides. for the syrians to understand that government is not going anywhere. the constitutionally elected government of iraq is going to stay. it's not going to be overthrown so they have an interest in shutting down for insiders. they have an interest not helping groups try to undermine the state instead syria has an interest in consolidating relations with iraq and these groups they allow freedom to run around to aggravate relations and so they don't have an interest in that. >> thank you. again, thank you for your service and i commend the obama administration for deciding to send the investor in the diplomatic front. we wish you the ve

a threat made against me in 1991, 1992, when we took the first boat of sending troops against saddam hussein. there were threats made against a number of members at the time. we took them very seriously. i had the protection of my district and the capitol police for about 10 days. we should not be doing anything that encourages people to not worry about it. this is serious business. there are crazy people in this country. i do not think that anyone should minimize it. >> i agree, you do not want members to be intimidated by the mob. you cannot tolerate that in any way. host: one day after we heard from chris van pollan? guest: he was wrong to make the statement, criticizing democrats saying they should not talk about this, this is serious business and unfortunately there are unstable people in this country that will be encouraged. guest: i think the democrats were trying to use as a political issue according to some. guest: i disagree with that. as someone who had a very specific threat made against me, any member -- you were told, reporting to the fbi and the sergeant arms at the house, all

dismissed warnings of chaos and violence what saddam hussein was toppled. back to the telephones and our discussion regarding the use of credit checks by prospective employers. california, lee is an applicant. iphone -- caller:. mainly my credit. i want to inform your public about hal lot of this came to be. most of this stuff came from reporting agencies. in the '70s and 1980's, they flooded the market with credit cards. loans were sent through the mail to people. the credit cards without being aspirate in the 1990's, they told you to start to pure up your credit. i had to come up with some new ideas. we had credit scores. in 2000, the people that are not old enough to remember this stuff, they're caught in a catch-22. the majority of this stuff came from experion in places like that. -- and places like that. they have always had the ability to do a credit check, they just never had in the forefront. host: the problems that you are having right now, is it because of credit card use? are there other factors involved? caller: other factors involved besides n