of all of the cities in iraq and towns to the government of iraq and the security forces. [applause] this transition was agreed to last year as part of the transition with the sovereign iraq government. this is part of the strategy to end the war by moving all of the american combat brigades out of iraq by next september. the people of iraq are treating this staying as a cause for celebration. this is an important step forward as they continue to take control of their own destiny. with his progress comes responsibility. the future of the rack is in the hands of their own people and the leaders must make hard choices to resolve political questions. they must provide security for these towns and cities. in this effort, america will be a strong partner in the security and prosperity. there will be difficult days still ahead. we know that the violence will continue in iraq and we see this in the senseless bombing earlier today. there are those who will test the security forces and the resolve of the people of iraq with more sectarian bombings and the murder of innocent civilia

in accordance with the security agreement between u.s. and iraq, forces have completed the withdrawal of iraqi cities. a small number of u.s. forces will remain in cities to train, and buys, coordinate with iraqi security forces and enable them to move forward. we will also support civil capacity efforts led by the embassy, baghdad, and the united nascent -- united nations assistance mission. outside the cities, u.s. forces will continue to conduct a full spectrum operations by and through our iraqi force partners. our efforts will establish a layer of defense as iraqis secure the cities. we will secure the belts and borders in an attempt to eliminate safe havens and sanctuaries and to limit freedom of movement of insurgents and prevent the facilitation of foreign fighters through the borders. the u.s. is committed to full transparent, and continued implementation of the security agreement in the spirit of partnership with the sovereign nation of iraq. the iraqi people should be very proud of the dedication, progress, and sacrifice of the iraqi se

relationship between the people of iraq. this is the direction of the iraqi national unity government. and that made us work very closely in meeting all the challenges that we are facing. it helped us on the security front. it would help us in reconstruction. and we will benefit from the strategic relationship with the united states. thank you very much. >> mark smith of ap radio? >> thank you, mr. president. i'd like to ask about the flexibility that you spoke about that you said u.s. forces still have in iraq. since the handover of control of the city, the iraqi government is imposed new limits on how troops can operate and can't patrol on their own, they can't conduct raids on their own. can you raise this to mr. maliki? did you object to this? do you think this is just a great sign of increasing iraqi sovereignty? >> well, i think we have seen both improved capacity and greater confidence on the part of the iraqi security forces. we're very pleased with that. i'm in communications with the general on a regular basis. he p

the u.s. military we have seen in iraq before. the guy comes in for tea and says, i'm curious, why didn't you arrest me and he said you are my guest and it would be an abuse of the rules of hospitality, let's talk and sam says, if i see you on the street i might shoot you, but let's talk. well, the other guy that the the same thing and found out larry, while they had the series of conversations, the other guy was circulating sam's photograph if they ever had to kill him. but they continued to talk and one day the insurgent says to him, america is the devil. nothing good can come of america i think hate it. well, sam has been around iraq and listened a bit, and knows the most popular ring tone on iraqi cell phones this is theme from titanic. and sam says, you like titanic, didn't you? and he says, oh, yes. he says i cry every time, at the end, i watch id 7 times, and when -- it 7 times and when leo dicaprio slips into the water an kate winslett has to let him go, oh, my heart and they found this odd common ground and continued talki

we're in an agreement with the iraqis. iraq is a sovereign nation. if they want us to stay longer, we will. the embassy is the end -- is enormous. it might be the biggest in the world. it is enormous. it is a compound. you also have camp victory, which is an enormous u.s. military base on the outskirts of baghdad. i think eventually, they would like to turn that back to the iraqis. for now, they are still working out of there. this war is not over. you are correct. it is not over. it is still a long way to go. there could be some big fights ahead of us. we just do not know. host: this morning, "the new york times" has a report on the shifting american footprint in iraq. 59 battalions. september, 2007, the height of the surge moved up to 75 battalions. october, 2008, back to 55 battalions. in june, 2009, with growing and changing roles down to 45 battalions. they moved to bases on the outskirts of neighborhoods in baghdad and other cities. american troops are moving to an advisory role. we're talking about american involvement in this region of the wor

as an issue of immediate concern, the drawdown of u.s. forces in iraq risk incurring enormous waste. the commission identified more than $2 billion in new projects in iraq that are now being analyzed by us. a number of the projects in the pipeline may be unnecessary. for example, during an april 2009 visit to camp delta in iraq, the commission identified a $30 million construction contract to build a new dining facility being built near a recently expanded and upgraded facility. the new facility is due to be completed in december 2009, somewhere between a year and two years where u.s. troops are required out of iraq. property of such projects in the pipeline could save taxpayers many millions of dollars in unnecessary spending. chapter three of suggest the privacy precontract, one of the major subjects that forth specifically in the commission statutory mandate. the report traces the significant event that shaped the subject from the beginning of outsourcing of security in the 1980s and 1990s to the incident of the killing of iraqi citizens by blackwate

the u.s. forces we still have in iraq. since the handover of control and the cities, the iraqi government post new limits on how u.s. troops can operate. they cannot conduct raids on their own. did you raise this with prime minister al-maliki? do you object to this? >> we have seen both improve capacity and greater confidence on the part of the iraqi security forces. we are pleased with that. i'm in communications with general odierno on a regular basis treaty provides the weekly report of how this transition has proceeded. he has been extremely positive about the progress that has been made. what we have seen is that there will be differences in strategy at times. the interest of the iraqi security forces in setting up a checkpoint at some point -- are forces suggest that from our experience, a two. might create a target for aqi. there will be those kind of strategic and tactical discussions. overall, we have been very encouraged by the progress that has been made. it does not mean there are not still dangers in iraq. we h

second we must look at the timeframe for efforts in iraq. the initial military action through the fall of the saddam regime prevented a very different set of actions on the ground for the work taken by the coalition authority and different still from the more recent rapidly changing physical changing environment and new sets of contracting policies. some initiative by congress, undertaken by the defense department, state, and the joint contracting command for iraq and afghanistan. the final set of realities is what i refer to as situational contracting. to truly understand the nature of the contracting activities in iraq, it is essential to understand the differences between emergency contracting during the heightened military action, contingency contracting during heightened physical security challenges and a longer-term sustainment contact that is characterized the situation today. it would be a mistake is like any subset of acquisition regulations that are written for normal contracting and expect procedural perfection when they are applie

iraq, not divided by other elements. we will strengthen that relationship between the people of iraq. s the direction of the iraqi national unity government and that made us work very closely in meeting all the challenges that we are facing. it helped us on the security front. it will help us in reconstruction and we will benefit from the strategic relationship with the united states. thank you very much. >> thanks, mr. president. i would like to ask about you spoke about that u.s. forces still have in iraq. since the handover of control in the cities, the iraqi government has imposed new limits on how u.s. patrols can operate, can't patrol on their own. do you think this is a great sign of increasing iraqi sovereignty? >> i think we have seen both improved capacity and greater confidence on the part of the iraqi security forces. we are very pleased with that. i am in communications with general odierno on a regular basis. he provides me a weekly report of how this transition has proceeded. he has been extremely positive about the progress that's been made. now, what we've seen is that

if low of while they were moving it. >> it is no longer the war in iraq that is the priorities. what is your concern specifically about the potential for troops understandably getting a little demoralized over the next 80 months, feeling that they and i rack are now fighting the forgotten war? >> i look at it differently. i look at it as a positive. i believe it is because of the progress that we have made here. because of the progress, we solve bilateral security agreement with the government that outlined the way it did this. the first step was today, the withdrawal from the cities, which follows up with our complete withdrawal of our troops by the end of 2011. as president obama came on and be conducted another review, a decision was made that will and combat operations on the 31 august of 2010. i believe those decisions were made because of the progress that we are making. the progress and security and progress of the iraqi security forces. our soldiers look at it as progress. the fact that our insistence are way down, we are seeing iraqi's get more and more control. they ar

is not about the iraq war. it is about these guys journey and their life-and-death situations every day doing their jobs. the backdrop of iraq and the work there is just the background. it's a backdrop for the film. >> one clear success story is its director. she has been in the business for a long time. she is a female director who works constantly making action films, normally the reserve of male directors. the other vector is its leading man. >> i'm going to die. i'm going to die comfortable. >> what will this film do for its leading man? >> i think it could change his life. more than any actor i've seen in recent years, he is one to watch. he is such a distinctive performer and something special. but he has not had a platform to reach a wide audience. >> it is a thought-provoking picture. it presents audiences with a soldier who is a heroic figure, a cowboy type character not without humanity. he is incest with his work, a perfect cog in the war machine and extremely good at what he does. >> on a lighter and

it is not even about the iraq war. about these three guys journey and the life-and-death situations they live in every day. >> much more any time you wanted on www.bbcworldnews.com. thanks very much for being with us. >> "bbc world news" is presented by kcet, los angeles. [ funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, the newman's own foundation, and the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation.] macarthur foundation.]

the war. awareness to american people about what is taking place in iraq. so i hope my generation, our generation, our next generation would not go through what we've been through. i practice a lot. one of the most powerful things we produce as a human is forgiveness. it is not about others. it is about ourselves. it is about admitting the losses and moving forward. but the project, i think, helped in a great deal. i for a long time did not accept the fact that i am not going to see my brother or my father, who died two months after. and only when i put myself through the project, on day ten when the gun broke down i broke down with it. because when existing in the conflict zone we are all lame worrying about our safety. .. >> i have another question. can use the two other points in your own personal life when you encountered a similar confinement? what you describe almost sounds like a prison cell. have there been other times in your life for you have also encountered that type of confinement? >> i think two incidents, one, when i cross the border, when i r

reconstruction, including the two-yearbook link study released that day hard lessons, the iraq reconstruction experience. on may 4th, 2009, the commission's second hearing focused on the multibillion dollar logcap contract for logistic-support services. commissioners and staff have made two trips to iraq and afghanistan to inspect work sites, review documents, conduct interviews and receive briefings from officials on the ground. the first trip took place in early december '08 with an itinerary that included agency briefings in baghdad and kabul as well as reviews of construction of the baghdad police college and task orders for reconstruction -- excuse me, for construction, repair of the bagram air force base in afghanistan. a study comprised a 15-person group of commissioners and staff that broke into three teams, one team worked in iraq, the other two in afghanistan. they conducted more than 125 meetings with employees of the departments of defense and state, usaid and the military and employees of contractors working on a range of projects. the commission continues to devel

iraq, and afghanistan. and you know, i frank think stewart bowen, the special -- former special inspector general for iraq reconstruction did a fantastic job, but from my visits to afghanistan, i think that the situation there and the inspector general in afghanistan is far less able, he's newer, his team is newer, but far less able to police the contracting situation there, so, i am very apprehensive about our ability to lose money. in afghanistan and to waste it. just through incompetence as well as through fraud. one of the earliest hearings we had in here, back in 2003, 2004, on iraq, i asked the director for the dcaa, the defense contracting audit agency, i said, how many contractors -- excuse me, how many auditors do you have in iraq? and he said we don't have any. and at this point, we had -- are spending billions of dollars there. billions. and i said, how does that work, then? and he said, well, we are auditing our work and our contracts in iraq from alexandria, virginia. which explained why, you know, it is reflected in your own report, but explains why we are having such a problem here. and, now, i read, agai

. >>> what challenges lie ahead as the united states pulse troops and equipment from iraq? first, america's complex overseas military relationships often hinge on weapons exports. the deputy undersecretary of the air force for international affairs is one of the key officials involved. he's a retired submariner who holds the distinction of negotiating the only military to military deal between the pentagon and china. bruce, welcome to the show. >> thank you, vago. >>> earlier this year the government of kurgistan wanted the government to vacate operations, but officials changed their tune and u.s. forces can stay there. can you tell us what happened to change their mind? >> that's correct, the agreement has been negotiated and this is very important for the support of u.s. forces, coalition forces in afghanistan, logistics, the ability to move troops in and out, so this is a good thing for the united states and for our coalition partners as we continue to stabilize afghanistan and help them move forward in their democratic process. >> and the agreement is limited to support.

to speak today about the situation in iraq. understand the prime minister will take questions after his speech and the q and a will be moderated by dan, our vice president for post-conflict disability operations has been active in iraq himself some mr. prime minister, welcome and thank you. >> [applause] >> [speaking arabic] >> translator: i welcome all. >> [speaking arabic] >> translator: and i would like to speak about the experience related to iraq. >> [speaking arabic] >> translator: for the past and went through all the stages until today. >> [speaking arabic] a. >> translator: and the major things took place since then appear in an. >> [speaking arabic] >> translator: and all these changes really took place, and now we go through constitutional and organizational states. >> [speaking arabic] at. >> translator: all the challenges that we a part of a saying and that the man was was this security. >> [speaking arabic] >> translator: and as you may know, the terrorism that really came. >> and really occupied by iraq in the se

. >> am i the only one who finds it ironic that our friends in iraq would as to lead and our enemies want us to stay. our bombings have happened in order to make the u.s. slowdown its withdrawal. it is the people of iraq who are celebrating in the streets who want us to go. >> we are going obviously, and i think it is a time where we ought to look back and see where we have come to. two years ago harry reid had declared the war was lost. that was the consensus in washington. we had the iraq said a group advocating a withdrawal -- we had the iraq study group advocating withdrawal. bush said no and almost alone he pushed the surge, which has led to the day where iraq is largely self sufficient. might succeed and that would be remarkable. >> a ????????ccccc >> this is approved people should be treated as individuals. that one out at the supreme court today. >> that is one new haven firefighter who was one of the firefighters who sued, claiming reverse discrimination. white firefighters were denied promotions unfairly because of their r

the un. un -- he had to show that iraq had wmd. for those of us to work in the inspection business, that is a tough thing to demonstrate that, and he is good at slicing his complaints in ways that you did not have a response to. if the security council is faced with a choice about are we worry an inspector can get into the headquarters or go into war because iraq is blocking them, we did that have those options. being tied to this debate on wmd was a consequence of a decision to go through the un. the president has to bring his population with him. he does not have the luxury of saying i will do this and everybody says yes. he had to make a concise bumper sticker-type of argument. he said the statements about the next cloud uc will be a mushroom cloud. they did overstate the case. -- the next cloud you see will be a mushroom cloud. the president did not have that luxury. i am not accusing him because the public case they made was not supported even by the incorrect intelligence assessments. >> at the beginning of your booking make t

he has lived through the mass of iraq's. -- he has lived through the mess of iraq.has lost his own son who was a marine and iraq. he has decided that he wants to find out with this person is doing, the scientist to sent the anonymous message, and getting him out so he can talk to him. that is really what happens through the course of the book, the effort to find this young man, talk to them at an enormous risk. he has to use help from the british who have resources in iran that we do not to do this. but it is really the story of these two people, and each of them trying to do what they think is right and in the process be trained the usual patriotic -- they are betraying the usual page roddick definition. -- the usual patriotic definition. tavis: a couple of all follow- ups, number one, tell me more, i learn something, about this open invitation from the cia to rat out certain people, sir institutions. i never knew that existed or that people made use of that. it as a writer, as one who was inside the beltway covering these issues, what you make of the fact that the

>> he looked at the option of attacking iraq in some way. it wasn't clear that it would have ever evolved at that early stage to an invasion. but he was very quick, within hours after the attack, to focus on some kind of military action against iraq. and even while the planning proceeded to go into afghanistan rumsfeld continued to argue within the administration about widening the fight at that point and going after roouss or sponsors of terrorism like iraq. >> rose: others? he wanted to go into other countries, too? >> sure, there was a whole list of... not necessarily invade other countries but to target terrorist networks in different places around the world. >> rose: like what other countries? you mean bomb them or what did he want to do? >> he was more selective kinds of attacks using special operations forces. and that also became a focus of his efforts, which was to beef up the special operations command and form these teams that then.... >> rose: they were never very success... they were very successful in afghanistan. >> initially,

and this is what led to the war in iraq, which was in a sense something that took place within the heightened concerns in the country after 9/11. and so it just goes to show you that these things are never as clear as we thought they were. and it's unfortunate because the country paid a huge price for that. host: well, put that into greater perspective for citizens who are listening to that on a week when troops are beginning major pullout in iraq. and all of the national treasure and spilled blood that's gone into this cause. >> yeah, it's been a huge cost for the united states and not just in terms of treasure but, of course, we lost many soldiers, we -- more than anything else lost the confidence of the country. the government lost the confidence of the country in its foreign policy decisions and i think that anxiety over what the government may decide or not decide to do is something that i think is still a big part of our present politics. i mean, the bush administration for good or for ill was almost completely discre

the main way to describe the difference between afghanistan and iraq, the violence against civilians has never been as severe as it was in iraq. it has been quite tragic for our troops. there have been a lot of attacks on our troops. the fighting is more the taliban against the uniformed military and police. and what will we have to do is train the afghans so they can carry out that fight. in iraq, we had to bring down the level of violence immediately. it is different in afghanistan. it is a different kind of challenge. in some ways, it is a little bit easier. the violence is not as widespread. on the other hand, you have to create something out of nothing. host: you have a recent piece in the daily beast where you compare and contrast iraq and afghanistan. you talk about aafghanistan as a potential quagmire. guest: i am not a in afghanistan expert, but having fallen as much as they can about this country, it is roughly as old as the united states in terms of the modern nation state of afghanistan. it has had extended periods of peace. there was a lot of war in the 19th century becau

it's not like people in the military, even if you compare it to iraq, the disillusion there was in iraqin the bloody days, the atmosphere in afghanistan is the economyly different. people have much more hope about the afghan, they frankly like the afghan situation a lot better. they like the afghan people, their afghan partners a lot peter. so i haven't seen any sense of great disillusion or rush for the expit -- exit among the people executing the policy. >> two quit points. one, don't expect move troops, resources from our european partners. we're in there it -- it there in afghanistan not unlike vietnam when there was no help forthcoming. and unlike iraq, where there was a nation. the building of a nation in afghanistan would be an historically exceptional achievement. i mean we're starting from a country that has no tradition. >> lehrer: no strong central government. >> no. >> lehrer: it's always been diverse to put it mildly. and dispersed in terms of its government. all right, on to other things. today's news on the economy, do you read it the same way, you heard what the expert s

it's true in the hezbollah community. it's true in iraq where we're facing a lot of shiia-inspired activities. being a shiia country, we don't know where maliki comes out in terms of that particular struggle when the united states forces pull back from the industries and may over a two-year period ultimately leave iraq completely. and we may be faced with a different kind of political access in that part of the world which tell -- let's not forget -- controls major sources of energy, oil and natural gas, which is critical to the industrial world of the west. they have tremendous control over us. if they are in the hands of religious radical leadership we will have extraordinarily complicated worlds to cope with and contend with. so we are in a very, very different period now. i think one of the most dangerous periods, and i believe that obama's foreign policy legacy will be determined on how he handled iran which is at the forefront of the forces that says the united states is the great satan. we don't know how to cope with that kind of th

host: the ambassador from iraq is here to talk about the future of iraq. ring your attention to this article this morning from "the washington post," with this headline. this prompts senior officials to us whether gradual withdrawal has provided an opening to extremist groups eager to spark sectarian attacks between sunnis and shiites. your thoughts? guest: these were reasonable and legitimate but let's not take them too far. the last time i appeared on the show iraq was in the grip of a high level of violence. al qaeda was in control of large areas of the country. we were struggling to maintain law and order. the situation now is way, way more stable, more secure. the average iraqi citizen feels much safer. we did not say that al qaeda has been totally obliterated. that violence has come down to zero, or the threats have gone away. the threats had been reduced. instead of 300 attacks per day we are down to something like 10 attacks per day on average. by the efforts and sacrifices of american forces as well as iraqi security forces. host: moving toward wha

but as he sees it, his approach to iraq helped lay the basis for then what finally succeededn iraq after he left. he did very interestingly admit a miste in o area, and tt is ithe area of detainees. anhe volunteered this. where he feels looking back that he left too much the shaping of th policy in the hands of the pentagon'seneral counsel a lawyers and didn't bring in enou policy people and other people. so it's an acknowledgment not of an ror in judgmen he hasn't gone that fa, but its a admission of aistake, at least in pcess. >> re: you think h's at peac or he's anguid? >> i ink at some lel he's still quite anguisd with how it all ended up. >> rose: "by his own rules, the admissions, successes, and ultimate failures of donald rumsld" by bradley graham. >> thank you. >> thank you for having me. >> rose: tha you foroining us. e you next time. captiong sponsored by rose communications captioned by media access groupt wgbh accessgbh.org

the new u.s. ambassador to iraq. he's the secretary of state and the lead negotiator in the space walks to end north korea's nuclear program. i am pleased to have him back on this broadcast, the first time since he went to baghdad. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> rose: so tell me how this is working out, the withdrawal of american troops to these bases outside of baghdad. >> first of all, i think it's working pretty well. this is on the basis of a security agreement that was reached in the ladder part of last year with the bush administration. so the dates for the withdrawal of u.s. forces from the cities and for the eventual withdrawal from u.s. forces in 2011, all those dates were approved by the bush administration. so what we're trying to do is implement this and we're turning over to the iraqis some key responsibilities in their cities and, you know, it's tough because you're turning over from a... the world's greatest fighting force, the united states, over to the iraqis who are certainly aspiring to

itself. >> warner: at issue are disputed areas between the kurdish region and the rest of iraq, flashpoints that pit maliki's shiite-dominated government against the kurdish regional government, and local kurds against arabs. also at issue is the division of iraq's oil revenues. vice president biden went to iraq earlier this month to urge more on this front, and offer to help. >> warner: a malaki spokesman quickly responded by telling u.s. reporters that reconciliation was an iraqi matter, and the americans shouldn't get involved. but ambassador hill says the iraqis do want help behind the scenes. >> we need to avoid a couple of things. one is to say, there are reconciliation issues, and you know, being americans, we'll just come in and 'you guys will get reconciled, like it or not.' but we've also got to avoid the concept that says 'you guys have to reconcile, we're tired of this, and we're out of here and you take care of it.' that's not going to work either. >> warner: and though progress has been slow, hill sees some encouraging moves by maliki in bridging the shiite-sunni

the our reach to syria. next side. let's talk about iraq and go on to talk about afghanistan and some others and turn to the questions. 2009 is a very significant year in iraq, it is a transition year, a year during which all of the non u.s. coalition members have departed or will be part, although there's still a nato mission in iraq that has other nations in it. we are obviously drawing down our forces. we have just completed the withdrawal of our combat elements from the cities in accordance with the u.s./iraq security agreement and we are changing our focus so we are going from being the primary conductors of combat operations to supporting iraqi forces. this is not something that we just started the engines and rolled out of the city's on 30 june, this is an ongoing for 12 to 18 months, that was the consummation, the final withdrawal, it certainly did accelerate in those cities in which we had a large presence in the spring, and that would be the case of baghdad, central, north, and south. we have in those locations what are called quo

security in the world. today, iraqeful and democratic country that lies -- relies on democratic institutions. >> our war on terrorism has given us a great experience and we hope the international community will benefit from our experience. we hope it will cooperate but thus on training resources and the rules of financing for terrorism. we hope they will join us in fighting terror. >> we can help prove fighting terrorism, we can remove [unintelligible] we also asked in a special committee to help us in that effort and help with the perspective irresolution pertaining to iraq and move us out of chapter 7. of course these are transformations taking place in iraq. i do not want paint a rosy picture and say we don't have challenges. we do still have challenges to face. what we can say is we are back in the position where we can face these challenges. we are now moving forward toward solid steps in the future. of course, we still have a long road ahead of us. on the remnants of a dictatorship and infrastructure that is stil

this is the war we should have thought before getting into iraq. >> i will say 7. key critical part of the world and we done need to lose it. >> the answer is a 2. don't forget to follow us on twitter. bye-bye. fab@ b@b@fab@

the iraqis. a baghdad neighborhood that's been one of iraq's most violent. the father of three young daughters, carcher survived a gunshot wound to the shoulder two years ago. he had been in command of sadder city only since march. i spent one of many days that i spent with in 42-year-old officer during his three deployments. are there changes from when you were here last? >> the iraqis have really stepped up and they are really taking the lead in so many areas now. >> so what are you expecting here in sadder city today? >> i have to tell you we're expecting anything from intense combat operations to really helping the people. >> lieutenant current karcher got both. this officer who is beloved by his soldiers has helped countless people. but food i learned of the firefight west of sadder city and the enormous bomb which shattered karcher's vehicle. he lost both legs. he's fighting for his life. a senior officer who knows karcher well told me to remember, this war continues. host: and martha raddatz joins us from abc studios in washington, d.c. you have posted

from the capital, gabriel gatehouse now reports. >> robert gates came to iraq to hear firsthand how the0,000 u.s. soldiers still in iraq were adapting to their new supporting role in the country, taking their cues from the iraqi commanders, shifting their focus from combat training. >> and now in the end of 2011, when all u.s. troops are scheduled to depart iraq, we have a number of milestones to complete, including fair and free elections and the complete drawdown of u.s. forces leading to a change of mission beginning in august 2010. >> august 2010 is when the pentagon wants a complete end to u.s. missions in iraq. robert gates hailed the progress that has been made to date. and well he might, because in 2006, at the height of the sectarian violence that nearly tore the country apart, compared to that, iraq is a very different place. there are still a tax that takes place daily in many towns and cities. u.s. patrols continue in some urban areas, albeit under iraqi supervision. there are rising tensions between baghdad and the kurdistan north. they're dividing revenue from the natural

t it getss weird, years ago the iraq g govnmnmensays they lllled abu omar al baghdadi. e u.s. couldn't have killed him beusus it was t opinion of theninid states lilita that abu omar al babaghdidi w a mytyt he did notot exist. f fac he was a acr.r. soither todaday' ti-american audio message wawas ntnt by a g in jail by a guyuy who prrov ththe i irais have thewrwrg guyn jail, , b by a dead guguy, or actor. it's your call. we poportyou find it very fficult to decide. of consider myself a ronhood of the direing world. buick clave the finest lurcrossover ever. i ed some zen time with isismodel thank you. anyou know what, itorks. trtrisysm for men: flible new programs personalized to meet your goals. what's great about nutrisystem is you eat the foods youove anand you se weight. i'm dan marino. i lost2 2 pounds on nutrisystemem anand veveept it off foththreyears. for a limited time, get anxtra three weeks ofeals free! that's right, you can ge an extxtra 2breakfasts, luluncs, dinners, desesrtrts, and snacksks that's 10505 mlslsree! i had aweweso r rests. i mean, i lolost 2pounds, my

the "washington post" is saying "the lack of focus on iraq at the public level is a reflection of thet of the globe and it has calmed down. this sefd in achieving victory over those forces. this is a success." we're back with the panel what about that, charles? >> well, i think in part he is right. i mean, the coverage is driven by three factors of iraq -- american casualties, media interest, presidential interest r our casualties are at a record low. the media interest is zero. a, because if you run a good news story, it's a retroactive indication of the bush administration and nobody in the press wants that. if you run a bad news story, it is a story that might imply that obama is losing the war already won, but a third factor here is presidential interest. obama is not interested in iraq. he is only interested to the extent that he doesn't want to lose this war, but he wants it off his plate. what is so interesting about the maliki statements when he was here with the president is he spoke about possibly having american troops on2011. obama did not, and we just heard gates say we'r

bubuitit gs weird, two years ago the iraq government sasayshehey killed abu o or r alaghdadi. the u.u.s.ililary said at the ti, the iraqis couldn't t veve killed h himececse it was the opinion of thehe utestates mimitary that abu omar al l baghghdidi w a myth. he did not exixist in fact, he was an actoror. soso ehehetoday's anti-american dio message was sent b by y a y inin jl or by a guy who provov the e aqaqisave the wrong guy in il, or by a dead guy, , ory y an toto it's your r ca. we report, you find ititerery diicult to decide. the directctworld. buick k enclthe finest l luxury crsover ever. i ne se zen time with this mol thank you. >>> patrick murphy serveas an army ctain in the 82nd rborne division in iraq. he was awardedhe bronze star. he's also been a profeor at west point, a crimal prosecutor, anin 2006 he was e rst veteran of the iraq war to be elected to congrs. in his fir month in office, congssman murphy introduced the iraq war de-escati act to responsibly whdraw troops from iraq on a time line. he introduced that legislation alongside a young democratic senar th

the general, who served nearly four years as a commander in iraq, was one of the main orchestrators of america's surge strategy there. he says there are iraq lessons that apply to afghanistan. >> some of those lessons are very obvious. again, you shouldn't start clearing until you have your plan to hold and build. it wasn't just the surge. it wasn't just 30,000 more forces here. it was the employment of those forces in a manner that focused on security of the people and did it by living with the people and then also sought to help the process of reconciliation. because you cannot kill or capture your way out of this kind of endeavor. >> reporter: that realization is why america implemented another strategy in iraq it wants to carry over -- reaching out to its enemies. in afghanistan's case, the taliban. >> there has always been activity at local levels, which one would characterize as reaching out to elements that were willing to be part of the solution instead of a continuing part of the problem. >> reporter: those efforts, though not yet on the scale of what they were in iraq. there

and shattering the perception at least for now that iraq is a much safer place than used to be. in tonight's "lead focus" the latest violence in iraq, what it says about security and the american mission as it winds down. >> the deadliest of today's attacks took place in the northern baghdad neighborhood of al shaab. according to iraqi officials at least 24 people were killed and 17 wounded in the explosion of a car bomb near a shiite mosque. worshipers had gathered at the mosque for friday prayers. the scene outside spoke to the carnage. prayer rugs were stained with blood, scores of shoes littered the ground. with all today's attacks having taken place at shiite mosques, those attacks are seen as an attempt to reignite sectarian fighting between shiites and sunnis. ernesto lon don yeah is in baghdad for the washington post." >> caller: in this particular case the attacks appear to be designed to anger a follow worship, it's movement. this is the political bloc that for many years controlled the biggest shia militia in the country. so it could be an attack designed to try to get

they are flown as the sons of iraq or the awakening and the u.s.redits them for playing a key role in the sharp drop in violence over the last year. many were former insurgents themselves until the u.s. began paying them to lay down their arms an secure their neighborhoods. >> we managed to protect our areas and citizens from danger. >> the sons of iraq functions like a neighborhood watch program with ak-47's. all the gartsdz guards live in this neighborhood. their friends and family live here. they know the gossip and the rumors and know who doesn't belong on their turf. the awakenings groups had a deal with americans. now the u.s. military has handed control to the shiite-led government. it is a tense transition. some of the guards complain the government is targeting them for arrest, even after they spilled their own blood fighting the terrorists. the top u.s. commander in iraq says he understands those concerns. >> it is important that we continue to watch this very closely and it's important for the government of iraq to make sure they underst