national security adviser brent scowcroft later turned the session appalling.ellow contributor to the book, also a participant called it in his memoirs a sharp disappointment. i was scowcroft found appealing and appalling is that many bush's advisers prepared to accept iraq's conquest. secretary of defense, dick cheney urged bush to declare saudi arabia a vital american national security interests come up with by implication argue that kuwait was not. dick cheney is not typically described as a pacifist or does. he typically had no qualms about using american forces, but this is a moment where he simply did not see american interests at stake. in fact, bush's war council didn't even to mind too much the prospect whose desire to sell, low-grade oil prices back to happy days of 1970s. hussein's invasion may be good for american consumers. indeed the most significant where the president push boy scout knot in the first meeting hearken back to earlier ingrained cold war anxieties. he sold his staffcommittee warned that the soviets might react badly if the united st

national security advisor brent scowcroft later termed the session quote appalling.llow contributors to the book that we talked about tonight, richard haass, also was at that meeting called it in his memoirs quote a sharp disappointment. now, what scowcroft found appealing and richard haass appalling was that many of bush's advisers appeared prepared to accept iraq's conquest. secretary of defense dick cheney, for one, urged bush to declare saudi arabia a vital american national security interests. but by implication argued that kuwait was not. let's face facts. dick cheney is not typically described as a -- he typically over the course of this group had no qualms but using american force in the sense of american interests but this was a more simply did not see american interests at stake. in fact, bush's war council didn't seem to mind too much at first anyway the prospect of saddam hussein coming into control of one thirds oil supplies. lowering oil prices back to those happy days of the early 1970s before the oil shock. hussein's invasion might be good for america

of the school's 20th commemoration of the gulf war, and under larry's excellent leadership, his scowcrofttitute gathered together eminent scholars, policy-makers, journalis, charging each with providing their own unique perspective on the gulf war. not only what it went to them and what it meant went the longer arc of history. they talked about politics. military affairs, diplomacy, relations between the muslims and the western world, and ultimately what that all meant for the time and for the future. now, i admit to you here i'm quite biased but i think this is that rare collection of essays that is more than just the sum of it parts. thees says actually speech to each other at types actually disagreeing with each other, and giving a book launch talk about the collection is no easy thing because each contributor tell their own story and make they're own argument far better than i could. so therefore tonight i'm going to spend the remainder of my time giving you my perspective on the gulf war. it's been 20 some years, and much has changed over that time, yet much remains the same. saddam

national security adviser, brent scowcroft turned the session appalling.ontributor to the book, richard haas, also a participant called it in his memoirs, a sharp disappointment. the scowcroft found appealing and appalling is that many of bush's advisers appeared prepared to accept iraq's conquest. secretary of defense, dick cheney urged bush to declare saudi arabia a vital american national security, that by implication argue kuwait was not. dick cheney is not typically described as a pacifist or does. he typically over the course of his career had no qualms of using american force in american interest, but this is a moment where he did not see american interests at stake. bush's war council didn't even seem to mind too much occurs the prospect of the same time he took control after one third of the world proven oil supplies. if anything, his desired life of the market, lowering prices back to happy days of the early 1970. he sings a nation may be good for americans is to immerse. the most significant worry president bush voiced out loud in the first meet

security adviser brent scowcroft, a republican. former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, colin powell, republican did all of them have endorsed chuck hagel. who lost benghazi -- next it will be lost china, who prpromoted and is from captain to major? joe mccarthy will find out about it. >> go ahead, charles. >> and have as long a list of endorsements as you want and leave your lying eyes. -- believe your lying eyes. it is less about ideology or any thing is about competence. there's a democratic senator quoted after that disasters day of hearings in which hagel did not even understand what containment of iran and -- he said, "chuck hagel will not be bringing the potato salad to next week's to connect." -- next week's pettitte." he had a performance that was a total embarrassment. you talk about discipline among republicans? the discipline among democrats .s shocking and embarrasseing his performance was so bad that at the end he said, "don't worry, senators, i will not be a decision maker at all, don't worry about me." here is

national security adviser brent scowcroft, republican. chairman of the joint chiefs of staff colin powell, republican. all of them are for and have endorsed publicly chuck hagel. who lost benghazi? next it will be lost china, who promoted the dentist from captain to major, and joe mccarthy will find out about it. chuck hagel wasn't even in the government at the time at benghazi. >> you can have as long a list of endorsements as you want, you can look at that and believe that or believe your lying eyes. is not ideology or history. it is competence ptt the worst performance of any nominee for any high office seen by anybody in this town. there was a democratic senator quoted after that disastrous day of hearings, where hagel did not even understand what containment of iran and -- he said, "chuck hagel will not be bringing the potato salad to next week's picnic." you talk about discipline among republicans? the discipline among democrats is shocking and embarrassing. there are democrats who watched that and know that this guy has no business

he has been supported by madeleine albright brent scowcroft, by a host of alexanders knowledgeable of national security patriots who served both republicans and democrats. the same way with mr. brennan. and the central intelligence agency. i think the issues of benghazi are important. the report that ambassador pickering did was quite thorough, indicated the situation, the confusion. and i think something else that has to be recognized is that... there was attacks on our embassies in cairo. in fact mobes were storming the gates purpose there were threats throughout the region. the idea that the president was not engaged is, i think completely wrong. he directed the secretary of defense, as secretary panetta testified, to begin moving assets into the region to provide any response. ambassador pickering, admiral mullen concluded a response would be difficult if not impossible because of time and space. >> schieffer: a lot of people don't know want rules of the senate. senator graham said he's simply going to put a hold on these nominations. you say that's unwarranted. but what will happ

there's a story about brent scowcroft who was very critical of him and said the man i see in the whitenot the dick cheney that i knew. there was a reunion of -- for gerald ford, and they both worked for. and scowcroft said dick cheney, it's the old dick cheney. >> okay, what's his answer to -- about criticizing the administration? bush, the president he served under, has remained silent, not criticized obama at all? >> his attitude is that i owe it to the public discourse to say what i think. >> okay. thanks. good interviewer. look forward to seeing more of that in the 8:00 hour. >>> also, we're hearing horror stories from those aboard a stranded cruise ship. we'll show you what's next for the carnival "triumph" drifting off the coast of mexico ahead on "cbs this morning." >>> tomorrow, reaction to president obama's state of the union address. we'll have vice president joe biden, senator marco rubio, and congressman paul ryan in his first morning show interviewer since the election. that's tomorrow on "cbs this morning." i've discovered gold. [ female announcer ] roc® retinol correxion

there's a story about brent scowcroft who was very critical of him and said the man i see in the whitedick cheney that i knew. there was a reunion of -- for gerald ford, and they both worked for. and scowcroft said dick cheney, it's the old dick cheney. >> okay what's his answer to -- about criticizing the administration? bush, the president he served under, has remained silent not criticized obama at all? >> his attitude is that i owe it to the public discourse to say what i think. >> okay. thanks. good interviewer. look forward to seeing more of that in the 8:00 hour. >>> also we're hearing horror stories from those aboard a stranded cruise ship. we'll show you what's next for the i've discovered gold. [ female announcer ] roc® retinol correxion max. the power of roc® retinol is intensified with a serum. it's proven to be 4x better at smoothing lines and deep wrinkles than professional treatments. roc® max for maximum results. [ coughs ] [ angry gibberish ] i took something for my sinuses, but i still have this cough. [ male announcer ] a lot of sinus products don't treat cough. they

bush administration he had a very secure national security adviser as a lot portray as a moderate, scowcroft isn't a moderate he's extremely conservative but he speaks like a moderate and that is a very favorable press but no one had any real ideas about how to deal with this great strategic opportunity. fortunately we had two senators, democrat from georgia and the republican from indiana who just defeated the primary that is a loss in trying to create a bipartisan foreign policy in washington and the reduction was probably one of the most important congressional initiatives that we have ever seen. the idea that you could take that kind of money from the defense budget that didn't make the military very happy and apply it to demilitarizing the strategic arsenal of the former soviet union was extremely important. we go from bush to clinton, clinton didn't want to deal with foreign policy like so many presidents they felt they were elected to do domestic things. clinton had no background in foreign policy, no interest in the foreign policy. people say they went to georgetown, the school reall

professor at stanford, and i met when i was a young professor in a seminar at stanford a man named brent scowcroftto ban the national security adviser to the president gerald ford, and was or would become the national security adviser to george h. w. bush. he took an interest in my career, and when president george h. w. bush was elected, he took me with him to be the white house soviet specialist and i was fortunate to be the white house soviet specialist at the end of the cold war. it doesn't get much better than that. but the second lesson is find people that are interested in you and in your career who can help guide you in the open opportunities. we say i want to get there on my own. nobody gets there absolutely on their own. there are always mentors and there is an important lesson to say you have to have low models and mentors that look like you. i have been waiting for a soviet specialist mentor i would still be waiting. so your role models can come in any color, shape or size. just find somebody that really cares about you and cares about your career. the final part of the story is when i

questions, that was damaging to him despite all of the incombiums from so many people, from brent scowcroft and colin powell and people who republicans admire and revere, who have all said this man should be confirmed. >> i think we are at an important and fragile and sort of unsettled moment in terms of civilian relationships with the military, in particular political civilian relationships with the military. and this is the biggest wrench in the works i could have possibly imagined. we will have to see how it plays out. andrea mitchell, nbc's chief foreign affairs correspondent, host of "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. andrea, as always, thank you so much for being here. >> my pleasure. >> all right. the president left washington today for the comparatively grownup environment of a room full of 4-year-olds. it went well. that's coming up. i was in the ambulance and i was told to call my next of kin. at 33 years old, i was having a heart attack. now i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i didn't know this c

when he was here he was the director of programming for the scowcroft instituted and a graduate of cornella steady guessing catherine's at oxford to received a ph.d. in american history from university of wisconsin madison and was a postdoctoral fellow in international security studies at yale university. his books include cold war at 30,000 feet high. he received a pretty significant award be played space or for the american historical association outstanding european and strategic military history. he wrote both consequences of the global world war published by stanford, a 2008 in the dairy george h. debut bush published by princeton university press, 2008. rethinking leadership with our bush school faculty members done for the strategic studies institute 2010 and the revolutionary legacy published by oxford university press 2009 for graveses the we miss him that no he is doing well. of would now like to suggest a pre-introduction of the before urged dr. jeffrey engel comes upon stage we would like to see a video coming is pretty significant it is in president bush's own words and credit

of defene perry, secretary of state powell, secretary of state schultz, national security advisor scowcroft. this is what they say. this is the validation. "we obviously know senator hagel. we trust senator hagel. we believe in his qualifications." but these are people outside, democrats and republicans, outside of this body. and here's what they say, "from his time as deputy veterans administrator managing a quarter million employees during the reagan presidency to turning around the financially troubled world u.s.o., to sheparding the post-9/11 g.i. bill through the congress as a senator, and his service at the pentagon and as cochairman of the president's intelligence advisory board, chuck hagel is uniquely qualified to meet challenges facing the department of defense." and i've already put into the record many statements that have been written by veterans' organizations in support of senator hagel. relative to iran, this is what he says relative to eye rafnlt iran poses eye -- to iran. iran poses a significant threat -- the presiding officer: the senate is not in order. please take your

general scowcroft it's nice to see you. i'm going to make two points.number one, my argument is emotionally and million and . i spent 25 years working for democrats, democratic and republicans. i have a certain number of delusion starting that period edge. they were illusions with the best of intentions but i cannot in all good conscience continue the government service to harbor the democracy. it's on a fashionable to discuss the disease without even talking about the remedy. my argument is that we must talk about the nature of the problems that we do not rush forward without thinking through clearly the relationship between the engine so that we have a chance if we can to remedy the problem. it's not a question of saving syria or should we or could we treat even if we could we shouldn't because the expenditure of resources that we would need to put into the enterprise with the capacity to succeed. nobody's talking about deutsch on the ground. as the parallel is important for two reasons, number one to severely and an accrual on forgiving manner begin

assuming island come secretary of defense payer, secretary of state shultz, national security adviser scowcroft. this is what they say. this is the validation. we try senator hagel, believing as qualifications. but these are people outside of their spotty and here's what they say from this time managing a quarter million employees during the reagan presidency turning around the financially troubled world to shepherd in the post-9/11 g.i. bill and most recently for service on the defense policy board at the pentagon and intelligence advisory board, chuck hagel is uniquely qualified to meet challenges of defense and effort he put into the record many statements in support of senator hagel. this is what he says relative to a rant. iran poses a significant threat. >> please take your conversations outside the chamber. senate will proceed. >> no one talks about position on iran. poses a significant threat to the united states and interest in the region and globally. iran pursues an illicit nuclear program with the threats to provoke a regional arms race. and is fully committed to the quote preventin

one of the things that i do now that i'm out is i'm the vice chair of the scowcroft center. let me just say that because i am out of government i get to say what i believe and what i think is important. a little provoking. let me just say that my purpose today is not to rehash some talking points that have been cleared by everybody which was one of my former lives, but to put forward some of my own thoughts and opinions and over the last few years i've got into the habit of reminding you that in political parlor's all of you would be called my base. for those of you there have never worked in livermore because we on the too much about politics these days from the 24th lottery, just to remind everybody, the a group of people that are most important. when it comes to the anything and everything there clear your the base. that they could support the today the help we can work with you. eckermann bureau and poured it is to be active and for us to find a way to create a call for action on how to make sure that this interest group interest of the national security, interested abou

bill gates, madeleine albright, brent scowcroft, and pickering, these ladies and gentlemen, have represented the united states interest their lifetime of service, some of the strongest evidence that they have senator hegel's nomination for secretary of defense there is a lot of discussion about i was struck from the former ambassador to the united states and he said i have met the senator many times sandy regards israel as the true u.s. ally. i think that is the case as an individual or a business leader gets out but this is a very dangerous moment. we're facing budget issues issues, national security issues, and a process of operations and within hours to detonate nuclear device this is when we need is secretary of defense. >> senator mccain. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i believe senator hagel as far as i can determine has complied with the requirements for the parameters for informational needs to be disclosed and i am somewhat disturbed to hear today fare is two more speeches he had no reported that may have just surfaced yet at the same time i believe he has complied. i do not believe we

parties across several decades of presidential administrations like robert gates, colin powell, brent scowcroftnd which willian cohen. these men, all of whom have been part of the responsibility of keeping america safe, believing that chuck hagel will do exactly that. there are system here who may question that, and that is their right. but men who have had that responsibility trust chuck hagel, as do i. the question lee quote briefly. "his approach national security and debate about the use of american power is marked by the habit of thoughtfulness that is sorely needed and these cults will serve him well at a time when the united states must address a range of international security issues that are unprecedented in scope." i ask unanimous consent at this point to add that letter to the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: allow me to conclude by pointing to the 2002 interthrough he gave to the library of congress vietnam history project. he discussed how he and his brother would volunteer to be out in front watching for ambushes, booby traps, leading his men safely th