i asked about the iranian inflows in iraq and he said the following," the strategy in iraq including strategic dominance of the country has been successful despite a massive cut in resources. that is a policy we should continue bearing always in mind that this success is fragile, should not be placed at risk for water policy is. if iranian pressure increases, we have tools to counter." that is what ambassador jeffrey said not too long ago. it is clear that iran has brought to bear great pressure on iraq as it relates to that air space. what tools do we have to deal with that problem? i know you spoke about this in response to questions this morning but to put an even finer point on it, if you can do that -- >> i will answer what i can this setting. classifiedere can be meeting if necessary. our major tool is to work with the iraqis. the starting point that they have their own self-interest and all groups in iraq recognize they have their own interests and those are not necessarily i ran a interest and there may be some overlap. there are shared interests. on the whole, iraqis take the

i asked about the iranian inflows in iraq and he said the following," the strategy in iraq including strategic dominance of the country has been successful despite a massive cut in resources. that is a policy we should continue bearing always in mind that this success is fragile, should not be placed at risk for water policy is. if iranian pressure increases, we have tools to counter." that is what ambassador jeffrey said not too long ago. it is clear that iran has brought to bear great pressure on iraq as it relates to that air space. what tools do we have to deal with that problem? i know you spoke about this in response to questions this morning but to put an even finer point on it, if you can do that -- >> i will answer what i can this setting. i'm sure there can be classified meeting if necessary. our major tool is to work with the iraqis. the starting point that they have their own self-interest and all groups in iraq recognize they have their own interests and those are not necessarily i ran a interest and there may be some overlap. there are shared interests. on the whole, ira

and the institutions and the people of iraq. what they are interested in seeing though is that there is a clear outcome in syria that protects their interests and they are having a little trouble seeing that. >> but what about the airspace issue? why are they continuing to cooperate with iran in that effort? what do they specifically tell you regarding that? i know we have talked with him but what is her response? >> they say they engage with all parties may want to allow their airspace, there landed ground to be useto transport weapons so they have instructed they will not allow flights and. >> they are convinced that the flights are not hearing armament to the area? >> they are taking the manifest at face value and what we are urging them to do is evertz disapprove the flights or per u.n. resolutions asked them to land there. >> they are taking their manifest at face value? >> so again we are pressing them to have the aircraft either disapproved the flights or have the land be inspected which is their right to due. >> i really

the iraqi side to a shocking degree. in fact, to find out what was really going on in iraq during the war, i turned to british and french urnalists. people who covered iraq since the 1970 #s, spoke arabic, knew the area. we have a few, but not enough. of course, we also had a certain amount of censorship in the allowed to show the bodies of soldiers coming home or the coffins rather, not getting true numbers of the dead on either side or a good enough idea of the chaos. i would have to be critical actually about it, but i am generalizing, and there's been individual reporters who did an incredible job covers the war and other problems in the middle east, and i'd pay tribute to him, a splendid reporter in the region, may he rest in peace. >> host: have you written about war previously or just this war that grabbed you? >> guest: a little about world war ii, in novels though, but i've never written about combat and war on the ground the way i have here. this is new for me, which is why it took me a few years to do a lot of research and many, many interviews to really absorb what it's like. i went and just wanted to know wh

the middle east. how pervasive is that in iraq? you think the manipulative bridge be seen in other countries, cannot take hold in iraq? >> thank you, senator. starting with manipulative bridge, we have seen reactions in iraq where there have been demonstrations, not of the size or severity of another country's and iraqi governments have handled matters in a very calm and peaceful way as well. it hasn't sought for the most part of these from what i've seen to inflame things. i think in go into the larger question that you asked that there is increasing goodwill to the united states in iraq, and increasing positive role of the united states starting with united states military. it is our job to capitalize on not admit the most of it and build a partnership in a relationship in iraq. i don't want to minimize the difficulties the iraqi space and that we also face. but i do want to stress there are signs that are encouraging. there are race of light and hope it will continue to work to increase the number of incursions times, increase t

they tried to get bill clinton to start the iraq war. they wanted george bush to start the war before 9/11 happened. then when 9/11 happened, they said we have to go now, don't we? the project for a new american century really existed and the people who ran it did not get run out of washington and forced into a line of work they would be better suited for like for example, coloring. they are briefing the republican vice presidential nominee on what to do about foreign policy. in 2012. the republican side never retired the g.w. bush policy team. no need to come up with a new idea or two. they don't seem to really care about foreign policy in terms of the mitt romney campaign. they just don't want to be asked about it. because the republican party is essentially forfeited on this issue, because on this issue there are not two plausible sides fighting it out in the election, there's the democrats and sort of a right wing fee pooe nut gallery that pops up. foreign policy and the wars are being handled in our political system differently than

the. notion that. iraq is the center of the arab world the arab world an unstable place we've got to protect our ally israel cetera et cetera and if we can just put a giant footprint in the middle of iraq we've got it and you know arguably that was the the more reasonable rationalization for peace in that argument the other is mickey herskowitz the guy who was hired by george and barbara bush sr to write george bush's autobiography a charge to keep in one thousand nine hundred nine when he was making the decision to run for president and he wrote the first draft hundred hours of tapes of george w. bush and he's on the record as saying that in ninety nine george w. bush told him that when his father invaded iraq he failed because he didn't extend the war long enough if he'd extended it into the next election cycle he would have won and that if george w. bush became president he wasn't going to have a failed presidency like his father he was going to have a war in iraq against saddam hussein it was going to g

the iraq i cans could block the pipeline. the kurds would to build, and they already signed a contract with the turkish company to put up the pipeline directly through their own territory in to tour ski. they would also have to have turkish deport. for the pipeline to work it has to go through the kurdish territories in to turkey. and the have turks have to eye prove it. and the third -- and the third point as i mentioned would be they would have to take the town. those are the three major points. whether the turks would agree to this, i don't know, of course. but it's very counter intuitive they might. but i think they may because today the largest investors in the kurdish territory are the turks. they are close to the present government of turkey. they are, of course, far from the pkk and the problems of syria, which are complicating matters enormously. but i think ultimately the turks would like to have a very rich and independent kurdish stand not far from the border and that would, you know, bring the kurds to independen

and the iraq is rather traumatic. people are being killed in iraq every day and i was in iraq in july, talking to the prime minister we discuss syria and it was concerned about what could happen using the experience and telling me that of course that the war in iraq energize the jihadist who rushed to iraq to fight. and i think we are likely to say the same in syria if we don't handle it properly. >> there's a global impact from iraq. >> a global imaik. >> host: you start the book about a revealing story of colon powell. it might be eat americans were about to find weapons of mass destruction. and he said to you with a smile on the face, you write, they made an honest man of me. what do you mean? >> guest: i can understand that. i think basically he made the case for weapons of mass destruction in iraq, and for a while we couldn't find it. and so if they have found it it was indication that finally we found something and it was more of a relief than anything else. >> host: do you think it was used to make a case he did

the impact on iraq and the iraqis are rather traumatic. people are being killed in iraq every day. i was in iraq in july talking to the prime minister discussing syria and he was very -- about what was going to happen using their own experience and telling me of course the war in iraq energize the jihadist who rushed to iraq to fight and i think we are likely to see the same in syria if we don't -- 's. >> host: so there is still a global impact from iraq. you start the book with a very revealing story about colin powell who came to you after the invasion and it looked like americans might be about to find weapons of mass destruction and mr. powell said to you with a big smile on his face you write, they have made an honest man of me. what did he mean? >> guest: i can understand that and i think basically he made the case for weapons of mass destruction in iraq and for a while we couldn't find any, and so if they had as they thought they had it was the indication that finally we found something and it was more of a relief. >> host: do you think he was -- to make a case he did not be

the iraqi side to a quite shocking degree. in fact, to find out what was going on in iraq during the war, i determined to british and french journalists. people who have been covering iraq since the 1970s, both arabic, we have people like that to have a few but not enough. and then of course we also have a certain amount of not being nobody showed the bodies of soldiers coming home for the confidence, rather not getting through members of the dead on either side, not getting a good enough idea of the chaos that followed were really is. i have to be quite critical actually. but i am generalizing and there have been individual reporters who have done an incredible job of covering that were another problems in the middle east and i would like to pay tribute, may he rest in peace as someone who is a splendid reporter of the region. >> helen benedict, have you written about war previously or is it just us or click >> i wrote in novels, but i never wrote about combat in the ground the way i had. there's a new subject for me, which is why it took me a few years to have research and many, many interviews to really absorb what it is like. i ju

war used of fear levels at the time to basically supplant the seeds for the propaganda of the iraq war by leaking to the press through a.b.c. through the wall street journal john mccain went on david letterman talking about how the anthrax came from saddam hussein. hussein's suppose it biological weapons program. it's i mean yeah i mean you know so the best case scenario is that they used it use it to ratchet up the fear to really get everyone on board with the iraq invasion and using that threat and they never really did come out and say that the anthrax was not the muslim terror is that they said it just kind of went under the radar robbie but now that we know that members of the bush administration were on separate and also the targeted members that voted they were opposite to the patriot act i mean what do you think the worst case scenario is now that we know these kind of damning facts. the worst case scenario is that i mean the motive. the motives there are questionable i mean why would someone who's a terrorist who wanted to you know muslim terrorists why would they want to send

the second phase is iraq. there is some indication and i don't have the conclusions but some of the stands are actually may and i have said may have come in from come from iraq is that right if that may be the case and that's when some tough decisions are going to be they and tough decisions were made weren't they mccain ok so the bush administration knew that the anthrax attacks were an inside job at this point and that the strain could have only come from their bases but they never held a private public press conference apologizing to the american people for promoting such a dangerously false narrative about muslim terrorists being responsible and even worse that saddam hussein was somehow involved so who was responsible well for years up to. the anthrax attacks the f.b.i.'s main suspect was steven hatfill a member of the government that helped develop a biological weapons facility at fort dietrich maryland but instead of pursuing a criminal investigation based on actual evidence against him then the i began

the war in iraq. the feet for the democratic nomination in which barack obama prevailed over hillary clinton. this first obama term in office. as a reminder that many of the issues our country faces today were with us then. take a look at how our very first show began. a blank check. president bush wants a double barrel of power to go after iraq. the doctrine too brazen? were we warned? and the details on what the c.i.a. and the f.b.i. knew about a possible attack on the world trade center before 9-11:who will take the heat? clinton, bush? or the spies who couldn't see straight? the sounds of the democrats. tom daschle calls the bush economy atrorks but has no democratic alternative. unable to challenge the president's war or his tax cuts, are the democrats afraid to fight for anything? we were debating invasion of iraq back then. the panel on that first show, david brooks, then of the whitley standard and the new republics, michelle cotto. i asked about the advice george w. bush was getting from some

will enjoy the support of most of iraq's neighbors, all of them with the possible exception of iran. this is a very worrying sign if you are trying to engender genuine stability, not stability as to the... at the barrel of a gun. >> warner: laith kubba, does that mean that this can really fragment into a broader sunni-shia conflict in the region? >> i think, as i said, the temperature has risen. we're getting closer to a break point. i think as far as al qaeda, just to underline, it's a living organization. it's finding an on propose rit climate. it will reroot itself. it will touch iraq. it's totally independent factor. but then you go into the other politics. i think that faisel mentioned. which is there is the shia-sunni issue. there are iraq' neighbors who are all looking at the strategic balance against iran. and iraq is getting to be a frontier for that fight. >> warner: not a pretty picture. laith kubba and faisel istrabadi, thank you both. >> thank you. >> woodruff: you can see margaret's blog post about the sentencing and sec

war or voted for the iraq war. so it was a big factor in my getting involved and in i think a lot of young people getting involved. >> throughout the fall, obama worked small rooms across iowa and new hampshire, clearly connecting with the mostly white electorate. >> thank you! >> be courageous. >> thank you, i will. thank you. >> you read some of those early speeches and rallies. do you remember the feeling you had in the room hearing barack obama for the first time? >> it was really a physically tangible feeling in the room, of excitement, of inspiration, of hope and possibility for change. and i think that was the sense that we were really here in the presence of somebody who's a new kind of leader. >> are you fired up?! ready to go?! fired up! ready to go? fired up! ready to go? >> ready to go! >> so am i. >> on january 3rd, 2008, these fired up voters swept obama to victory in the iowa caucuses. >> they said this day would never come. >> he had beaten john edwards by eight points. senator clinton had come in t

the question is, what sort of relationship should the united states have with iraq now. stration handle the end of the war and where do we go from here. >> those are all important questions, but the whole war was built on a faulty prim is that saddam had weapons of mass destruction. >> i think it's conceded that they didn't have weapons of mass destruction. >> i remember i was in kuwait on the eve of the war. i had a gas masks, they were really fed basically a lie, if you will. >> no, i don't agree. i think that the intelligence was poor and badly done, but i do think -- >> when i say a lie, i mean the sources who were providing that intelligence, these false iraqi sources who were claiming there was poisonous gas here, chemical weapons there, that was a lie. >> i was imbedded for that period and i remember general conway was ahead of the marine forces and they intercepted the code word blood which they thought was the use of chemical weapons. >> the american forces believed that they would face chemical weapons. i remember skud missiles coming in. they believed it. i'm j

energized the jihadists who rushed to iraq to fight. and i think we are likely to see the same in syria if we don't handle it properly. >> host: there's still a globe impact from iraq. >> guest: global impact. >> host: you start with a revealing story about colin powell, who came to you after the invasion, and it looked like americans might be about to find weapons of mass destruction, and mr. powell said to you, with a big smile on his face, you're right, they've made an honest man of me. what did he mean? >> guest: i cannot understand that. i think basically he made the case for weapons of mass destruction in iraq, and for a while we couldn't find anything. and so if they had found it, it was indication that finally, we found something, and it was a more a relief thanking else. >> host: do you think he was moved to make a case he didn't believe in? >> guest: i'm not sure i can say that. but obviously he had the structure. the very high reputation, and extremely well-liked by the international community and the foreign ministers, who sa

the exports from iraq and the imports into iraq would also disappear. course, if the iranians were going to cut this, there would be cutting their own throats. because of all of the iranian oil leaves iran from the harvard right here. and those -- from the harbor right here. and those -- if they are desperate enough they might do it. in terms of the dependence, it is interesting to note that, saudi arabia is slightly less dependent on this and then the other countries because they have this big pipeline in the center here, which can actually be modified now to carry 5 million barrels of oil per day. and they can take 5 million barrels of oil from here and the big center here, all the way to the red sea. they are now exporting about 9 million barrels of oil. it would be better off than the others. the uae has built a pipeline. and that can carry 1.5 million barrels a day. the kuwaitis would be hurting. the iraqis would be hurting. but the saudis and the ua and hurt less. in many ways, i am not optimistic that this would be blocked. if they were, it might

chris: when we come back, the rest of our top 10 in your face moments, two from the iraq war and three from the battle of whether barack obama is a legitimate president. plus "scoops and predictions" right from the notebooks of these top reporters. be right back. >> "the chris matthews show" is brought to you by hotels.com, chris: welcome back. it's our 10th anniversary and we're celebrating with reminders of iconic moments of these past 10 years. we started this show in the fall of 2002, the invasion of iraq was getting close and two iconic scenes from iraq make our top 10 list of in your face moments during the last 10 years. first, president george w bush confronted by an iraqi journalist. he threw two of the shoes and bush missed both. good for him. the defense secretary in a much more serious moment, donald rumsfeld on a 2004 christmas visit over there to iraq. in just the previous four weeks from then, 26 american troops had been killed by roadside bombs destroying their vehicles and one soldier stood up and faced off against defense secretary rumsfeld. >> why do we soldiers have

war or voted for the iraq war.as a big factor in my getting involved and in i think a lot of young people getting involved. >> throughout the fall, obama worked small rooms across iowa and new hampshire, clearly connecting with the mostly white electorate. >> thank you! >> be courageous. >> thank you, i will. thank you. >> you read some of those early speeches and rallies. do you remember the feeling you had in the room hearing barack obama for the first time? >> it was really a physically tangible feeling in the room, of excitement, of inspiration, of hope and possibility for change. and i think that was the sense that we were really here in the presence of somebody who's a new kind of leader. >> are you fired up?! ready to go?! fired up! ready to go? fired up! ready to go? >> ready to go! >> so am i. >> on january 3rd, 2008, these fired up voters swept obama to victory in the iowa caucuses. >> they said this day would never come. >> he had beaten john edwards by eight points. senator clinton had come in third. >>

the war in iraq was a huge error. hugely important and the impact is there for all of us to see. they obviously have to live with the consequences of those decisions and history will judge them. history will judge them, and they are both men who have done some very positive things in other aspects, both president bush and tony blair. but they got the judgment wrong in that case. the. >> host: you don't think that there is a case of international criminal court? >> guest: i don't see a case, in fact, and i don't think that the court would take any action. no, no, i would not go that far does not reading your chapters on iraq, what is the role of the secretary general? because you were critical at the time. and i wonder whether you saw your position is that of a doctor or a referee, in terms of america. >> guest: i think that it was a vote in more than that. when the organization or security council in particular gets divided, the secretary general becomes very tricky. the secretary general has to keep working to bring the community together, to get them to work together to find a

more women had served in the iraq war by around 2005, two years into the war already, then all the american wars put together, including afghanistan. one in every 10 troops in iraq was a woman. >> host: they serve in different capacities and in the past? >> guest: yes, because it was a guerrilla war, drawing a line in the sand, having an errol where they are our soldiers from enemy side, that is a battle that takes place in roads and hospitals and trucks and toilet paper, it they are used for attacks. it because there is no front line, even if you are an engineer or a cook, many women were being used as gunners and doing the same jobs because of the shortage of troops. >> host: but women are not supposed to serve in combat, right? >> guest: yes, that's right. on the ground, in reality, when you have combat in iraq afghanistan for two years. >> host: was very typical experience for american soldiers? >> it's hard to say typical because it really depends on the year that they were serving and where they were serving. and also who they were serving life. the most common story i heard they don'

>> the fact that obama was against the war in iraq, the fact that he was an outsider, not an insider, the fact he was a conciliator and not a divisive figure he was clearly the remedy to what people felt was wrong, more so than hillary at the time who was much more of an establishment candidate. >> to get to the head of the pack, obama focused on building a first-class ground campaign, especially in the outlying caucus states. >> you're cleaning and you've got my button on. you know when i said, yes, we can, i didn't mean dusting. >> he used social media better than the other campaigns to create a network of the young, excited, and savvy. >> i'm with students for barack obama. >> obama's appeal to the under 30 crowd was one of his biggest assets. >> obama's so amazing. i almost cried like when i heard his speech. >> the youngest and by far the coolest candidate in the race, he almost seemed to be one of them. >> i'm ready. >> actor call pen joined the campaign after hearing obama speak at a los angeles fund-raiser. >> to me what was most inspiring was the fact that he was a guy that w

war or voted for the iraq war.it was a big factor in my getting involved and in i think a lot of young people getting involved. >> throughout the fall, obama worked small rooms across iowa and new hampshire, clearly connecting with the mostly white electorate. >> thank you! >> be courageous. >> thank you, i will. thank you. >> you read some of those early speeches and rallies. do you remember the feeling you had in the room hearing barack obama for the first time? >> it was really a physically tangible feeling in the room, of excitement, of inspiration, of hope and possibility for change. and i think that was the sense that we were really here in the presence of somebody who's a new kind of leader. >> are you fired up?! ready to go?! fired up! ready to go? fired up! ready to go? >> ready to go! >> so am i. >> on january 3rd, 2008, these fired up voters swept obama to victory in the iowa caucuses. >> they said this day would never come. >> he had beaten john edwards by eight points. senator clinton had come in third

who was this man who iraqis said helped shape the course of the iraq war? t was actually born in the midwest and joined the army that day he finished high school which was 1993. he was a devout catholic and christian new happen to believe that, he refused to believe that his religion was right and other religions were wrong. in fact, he studied the koran very carefully and concluded that authentic islam was our greatest allies, america's greatest ally and conquering al qaeda and helping to lead and inspire the world and i thought it was a radical insight and it certainly changed my views. heave is fascinated with arab culture, arab food, arab poetry. he learned arabic thanks to the military for over a year. he studied arabic intensively and he traveled to the middle east. kuwait, jordan and plunged into middle eastern culture and he loved it. he became a special forces support soldier and he went to afghanistan in 2002 in the first wave of american soldiers to strike al qaeda and the taliban after 9/11 and he won a bronze star for the troops in combat there.

i covered the iran-iraq war from the iraq side. iraq was like a vast prison yard lit up by high whattage lamps under saddam hussein. it was so suffocating that i could compare it to no place in the arab world but i could compare it to romania, which i also noontime partly, and to go from saddam hussein's iraq to syria, was like coming up the libbal human stair. we tend to say all dictators are bad, all democrats are good. you know, we erase distinctions and it's distinctions that give us the complexity we indiana to understand the world, andways, assad ran a brutal dictatorship but nothing like saddam, and i had my passport taken away for ten days by the iraqi authorities when i was in iraqi. i was very nervous, obviously. i only got it back at the airport before i left, and i was a journalist who got too close to my story. and i was intent on eliminating saddam hussein. i believed like a lot of people, in different western countries in the world, and on both sides of the aisle in the u.s., that there were wmd. more importantly, i b

. >> kurt, speaking of iraq, one of the trying to figure out is how exactly and why exactly we ended up going to war with iraq. can you take us behind the scenes in that decision-making process? >> the decision-making process was really ugly. there are a few things that come out in "500 days." one is that the defense intelligence agency did an assessment of our intelligence on iraq and concluded that it was terrible. that we really did not know very much. the cia iraq group was cut out of the loop and really everything was being run on a very high level within the pentagon and the vice president's office, dick cheney's office. so what you had were people who firmly believed that saddam had weapons of mass destruction and weren't -- and if someone came in and said they around there, they just thought they were wrong. so you ended up with this push, this pressure to go in even when the intelligence was coming back saying, there's nothing there. >> kurt, i have a basic question. you laid out a lot of what's in your book in a "