in the primary against hillary clinton -- >> i was opposed to iraq from the start. >> -- senator obamaever let voters forget that he had been on the right side of history. >> i don't want to just end the war, but i want to end the mind-set that got us into the war in the first place. that's the kind of leadership i intend. >> senator, that's a clear swipe at you. >> really? >> i've come to speak to you about how the war in iraq will end. >> less than six weeks after he was inaugurated, he told the troops his plans for withdrawal. >> i intend to remove all u.s. troops from iraq by the end of 2011. god bless the united states of america. semper fi. >> president obama not only wanted to get america out of iraq -- >> thank you, sir. >> -- he wanted america to learn from the war and rethink its

, he told the troops his plans for withdrawal. >> i intend to remove all u.s. troops from iraqy the end of 2011. god bless the united states of america. semper fi. >> president obama not only wanted to get america out of iraq -- >> thank you, sir. >> -- he wanted america to learn from the war and rethink its role as a global superpower.

he supported the iraq war. i course i supported the iraq war. i've written on the subject.e people would probably say endlessly about what the lessons are to be learned from it. i put it on the record. i've never headen my views from anybody and i absolutely don't back way from any of them. >> isn't it interesting that ones who back the iraq war also back going into libya and also back going into syria. they always have the next war they want us to fight. they push the button, another war comes out. they always want a new war and belton is classic. your thoughts? have to stop this guy if he gets in the door. >> this is why learning the historical lessons are important. this isn't the iraq war from 15 years ago or 14 years ago. we are worried about whether or not he learned the lesson from that war. but he didn't. he add vericated for regime change in libya. turned into chaos and isis became strengthened and i think we are more at risk now for terrorist attack for libya than before the war. he also advocated for regime change in syria. as bad a guy as assad is, i don't know

i think the iraq war and then obviously connecting it to what is going on today. i think michael ward even is working on another volume, he's been very good. that is the contemporary -- that will stand the test of time, his cobra and end game books and this next volume. what other conflicts need to be written more about? gosh, you know, i think there is always you know, as my adviser at university of north carolina said, he said, don't think that there is too much written on a particular topic, right. so because there is always another good book or different approach you can take or access to new materials. i mean, heck, look at what rick atkinson did in world war ii, so what he did is he took historian's approach of doing multiresearch but also uncovering through his journalism background, of papers in attics and got all kinds of new materials. look at rick murray's book on the civil war. that book is brilliant in terms of not new materials but a different an lat tick framework to understand the course of the war and the war's outcome. so i would say, just do what

he supported the iraq war. of course i supported the iraq war. i've written on the subject, some people would probably say endlessly, about what the lessons are to be learned from it. i've put it out on the record. i've never hidden my views from anybody and i absolutely don't back away from them. >> senator paul, isn't it interesting the ones who backed the iraq war, also backed going into libya and syria. and they always have a little pez dispenser. they always have the next war they want us to fight. there's always one -- they push the button and another war comes out. they always want a new war and bolton's classic. your thoughts. will you be able to stop this guy if gets in the door? >> this is why learning the historical lessons are important. this isn't the iraq war from 15 years ago or 14 years ago that we're concerned about. we're concerned about whether or not he learned the lesson from that war. he didn't. he advocated for regime change in libya. turned into chaos and isis actually became strengthened. and i think we're more at risk no

he did pull the troops out of the middle east, out of iraq, but the problem it -- the problem is he pulled out the troops and had no political plan to ensure the peace. a few year the later had to send the troops back and we're still there now. >> as the president-elect says to the creation or enhancement of isis, did that lead to -- >> it didn't lead to the creation of isis but the problem, left a vacuum in which a terrorist group, turned out to be ace isis, was able to grow. point, next time we pull out of iraq or afghanistan we need a political plan to ensure the

and the iraq wars, depending on what you consider wars and whatnot. st: what is your attitude about war? guest: well, from my last book, which was called "stripping strippingody -- bare the body," the better to remove the clothing to place the stethoscope directly on the skin . in other words, political violence, including more, is a stript seems to me, to away the outside layers and see the various constituents of a society, struggling with one another. i have always found it a fascinating phenomenon. i mean, on one hand, there is the sheer excitement of it, the adrenaline pumping excitement of following a violent series of events, the end of what she simply do not know -- of which you simply do not know, and the society you are trying to understand. it shows people and extremists, institutions and extremists, in general, people and other phenomena under stress. that is true in the war on terror as well, a lot has been exposed about this country that we perhaps would not have thought before was true, and it happens during wartime, so i think, apart fr

. [ cheers and applause ] >> the united states and allies invaded iraq in the spring of 2003 and there a set of assumptions that proved to be wrong. one, that we would be accepted as liberators, and two, that there would be the ability to turn the keys over to a follow-on government after saddam hussein was thrown out of office. >> we got him. [ cheers and applause ] >> saddam being captured, all of a sudden you had all this like sense of relief. okay. maybe you've got these top ten guys the army's going to capitulate, they're going to give you their banners and we can all go home. forget it. >> that strategy was a failed strategy, and we didn't know it. >> after saddam was captured, i think the plan had been to leave. to give the keys to a replacement government. but there was no replacement government. the looting that occurred right after the fall of baghdad showed that there was almost no ability to govern. so had we left, i think we would have appeared extraordinarily irresponsible, as though we had knocked something over and set it on fire and then driven out. those iraqis who ac

the u.s. interrogation program? >> a couple reasons. i was in iraq when abu ghraib broke, and saw how that upended our whole operation there. all the trust american troops and leaders ha have built up wih the iraqis started to go out the window because of the humiliating treatment. recruiting, and incredible recruiting poster for al-qaeda and iraq, and that the numbers to prove. that's not an assumption, that's a fact. i also was embarrassed as an american. by the way way, i talked to thes who did these interrogations, and the enhanced interrogation techniques created a lot of corrupted intelligence. if you're getting water boarded 80 times you will tell someone to take stock of what you think you want to hear, which isn't necessarily the truth. there is one case, the first make al-qaeda operative that was captured after 9/11, he was the only one who is actually used both techniques. the fbi can cut to them first and did a traditional weeks worth of interrogation where they went its confidence and break his story down, very patiently pull her story,

he remains a champion of the iraq war. donald trump campaigned saying that was one of the biggest mistakes this country ever made. how much will this secretary of state pick tell us about donald trump and the direction he'll go when it comes to national security as president? >> i wouldn't read too much into who the person is that he picks, because this is going to be donald trump's vision, donald trump's strategy. others will be implementing that strategy, and taking their marching orders from president-elect trump, so i wouldn't read as much into who the person is, as you might think, because donald trump's going to be calling the shots. certainly not micro managing, but as there have been some other cabinet selections that people wondered about, you know, it is donald trump that's going to call the shots. the secretary of state is going to take the lead from that. so i'm not really too concerned about someone that may have said something a year ago, five years ago, or had a position. the position today is the position of

trump's been, as you know, a major critic of the iraq war, while bossert defended the position to useitary force in that country. let's bring in our panel now, democratic strategist, jessica, and republican strategist, even sigfried. is there anything weird about him bringing in a guy who supported the iraq war as his homeland security adviser? >> i think weird summarizes everything that's been going on here throughout the election and into this place. i mean, donald trump, he ran for the republican party nomination, obviously, one, but he was really running as a third-party candidate. his positions were so all over the place, no real ideology there. so i'm actually heartened by this to see someone with experience in the white house before coming in and i have grave concerns about general michael flynn so i'm actually, i'm in a bush mood today. i'm excited about this. >> evan, most republicans are, you know, are kind of hawkish about federal spending and the deficit. donald trump has chosen a guy, rick muleeny to be his budget director who does not like deficit spenting. donald trump

the first is to destroy isil's parent tumor in iraq and syria. the sooner we crush but the fact and the idea of an islamic state based on isil's body are barrick ideology, the safer we will be. that is necessary but not sufficient so the second objective is to come back everywhere they emerge everywhere around the world. in afghanistan, libya and elsewhere. in the third objective is to work with the intelligence homeland security and horseman partners to help protect our homeland some people from attack. that's ultimately our most important mission. this strategic approach of our campaign is to leverage all the tools the dod's disposal to enable capable and motivated local forces to apply pressure to deal them out defeat. we recommended this strategic approach because the only way to ensure once defeated isil stays defeated is to enable local forces to seize and hold territory rather than substitute for them. we have been squeezing isil from all sides and across domains through series of deliberate place to continue to build momentum. what are spe

the airstrikes? guest: great question. i was just in iraq within the last couple of months and did a battlefield tour. one of the essence of this new style of warfare is the technological revolution. it also has to do with precision strike from the air. where something is on the ground, we can destroy it. that is different from 20 years ago in the persian gulf. now, everything is guided. the drone is much more revolutionary as a surveillance platform. f3 can combine the whole cycle under one platform. it can find the target and fix the target and destroy the target. then it could do bomb assessments. the real revolution is the network of the combines -- the real revolution is a network that combines all of those things. -- then spambots locally drones being launched locally. basis all over africa -- we have drone bases all over africa. went to identify the target, it does not matter if it's an air of a aircraft flying out carrier battle group, or the drone or special forces aircraft is the in northern iraq closest to the target. the network

in 2004, he was the commander of u.s. forces in iraq where he was able to achieve success against insurgents at a time when very few americans were succeeding in that regard. in afghanistan in 2010. he took charge of the international coalition, the anticorruption test worst. he is now at the army capabilities integration center where he is in charge of planning army capabilities for future conflict as we go forward. he has done a lot of other great things. but in the interest of time, i will leave it with that summary. i would like to turn it over to lieutenant journal mcmaster. lt. general mcmaster: thank you so much market. what a privilege it is to be with you. how many history majors are there? there are still some people to convert. i thought maybe it was just an audience of fellow historians, all of whom are talking about how underappreciated we all are. [laughter] but i think this is such a great idea. the idea of the center for military and diplomatic history for all of the reasons that mark identified. what i thought i would d

dissertation called "der reliks of duty." 2004 he was the commander of u.s. forces in iraq where he was able to achieve success against insurgents at a time where very few americans were actually succeeded in that regard. he spent time in afghanistan, 2010, took charge of the international coalition, anti-corruption task force and he's now at the army capabilities integration center where he is in charge of planning army capabilities for future conflict as we go forward. he's done a lot of other great things, in the interest of time i'll leave it at that summary. i would like to introduce, turn it over to lieutenant general mcmaster. >> what a privilege it is to be with all of you. how many history majors are here? i want to know -- there is still some people to convert maybe. i thought maybe it was just going to be an audience of fellow historians, all of whom are talking about how underappreciated we are, you know. but i think this is such a great idea. i mean, the idea of a center for military and diplomatic history, for all the reasons that mark identified, so what i th

is there a coalition of the willing? in iraq we had the coalition of the willing, for one of the nato countries doing? gen. votel: exactly. we have a coalition of 52 countries that are intervening on a regular basis to all of our operations in iraq and syria. they are doing it in a variety of ways. some contort -- provide economic resources. some support us by providing military capabilities. i think as i look at -- it's easy. -- excuse me. i need to have a drink care. -- here. i think european nations understand this. we have seen this heavy movement of refugees that have moved from places like syria, that moved across southern europe. they get that aspect and they are very concerned about it and want to address it. what i found is our partners, particularly european partner seven extra ordinarily cooperative and collaborative and what we're doing and they are concerned as we are. ,hey have seen these attacks whether they are directed, inspired, influence taking place in their capitals like we have seen in some of our cities. t

think he felt himself forced into it, that he got into office, he wanted to end the big wars, and the iraq war and the afghan war even though he expanded it when he first entered office. but his goal was to end the big shooting wars and develop what we now can call and what i call in the book the light footprint which is the use of drones, the use of special forces, operatives, on raids and this kind of steady low level war that's going on in a half dozen countries around the world that the united states is prosecuting and doesn't get a lot of headlines, it's not a big political issue, you know, it's not something you campaign going on and very relevant to our national discussion and relevant when you talk about him because i don't think he would have predicted he would be in this position at the end of his presidency. brian: a footnote suggests osama bin laden wanted to bring this country to bankruptcy. first of all, should we have killed obama as a country and that was president obama, and if you were obama and were -- if you were osama bin laden and were alive, would you feel like you h

he ran against the iraq war. he said it was stupid, horrible, disastrous. but it wasn't the cia's fault we started that war. the chief briefer for the agency told me on air that no one from the cia ever told an administration official that iraq had nuclear weapons. let's watch. >> we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons. >> we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons. was that true or not -- >> so we were saying -- >> was that true? >> we were saying -- >> can you answer that question? is that true? >> that's not true. >> they're selling the war, saying you made that stuff when you didn't. they're using your credibility to make the case for war dishonestly, as you just admitted. >> look, i'm just telling you -- >> you just admitted it. >> i'm just telling -- >> they're giving a false presentation of what you gave to them? >> on some aspects. >> it was a nest of neocons in the pentagon and the vice president's office who pushed that horrible war from day one and john bolton at the state department pushing the case all the way.

iraq. let's witnessed the fact today that we have over 5000 troops in iraq. none of those troops are being prosecuted in iraqi courts, because there is no court date is going to be prosecuting u.s. troops. that was the excuse that basically allowed president obama to pull u.s. troops out of that peace and democracy was done. we no longer needed to stay in iraq. and then we saw what happened almost at the exact same time, the civil war breaking out in syria. all the setting, the united states pulls out of iraq, and president obama refuses to do more to do anything to and be end the syrian civil war. he stands back, and he does not want to get caught in this quagmire because he thinks that is the same mistake his predecessor made. so, he made a fresh mistake. i think what happened in the obama administration is that we veered from a high degree of interventionism under president bush to a high degree of non-interventionism under president obama. in afghanistan and iraq, we have lost thousands of troops. we have had many more maimed and wounded. we spent a tight

the norm now. we have a globe-spanning network of cores terrorism and ones in iraq dish that's a technological -- the front line delta force team in iraq right now, irbil, has hundreds of analysts scattered all over the world, analyzing the drone surveillance from the drones flown from the air force base in arizona, analyze the -- what they call the defense common ground system, and they call it remote split operations but it's created a network that can turn the folk discuss and hard stare on any please in the argentina in a matter of seconds. -- in the earth in a matter of seconds. in the desert storm it took three days but now tied into a network that looks like what stan mccrystal made and then talk to the people of the network, the people -- from these agencies who rotated through joint task forces of -- now risen through the whole system and they're working at national counterterrorism center and there's experience level. they only know working together and it's now that ethos pumps out there the entire global u.s. counterterrorism network. >> it's generally in other words that before 9/11 and

, about tony blair's alliance with george bush and the disaster of the iraq war. f musicians agreed with him but they didn't have the guts to risk their commercial and music reputations were speaking out about what they believed. that is what i worry about, when a lot of the reports of his death, they sanitised. people just think of him as that guy who did that hit they listen to at christmas, the occasional song played at a wedding. you are saying you worried he will be sanitised. 0bviously, he was in lg bt be sanitised. 0bviously, he was in lgbt icon, a spokesman for gay men and women, the lgbt community. how do you want him to be remembered?” wa nt do you want him to be remembered?” want him to be remembered as somebody they tried to shame. they tried to make him somebody who was almost, you know, something that lg bt almost, you know, something that lgbt people should be ashamed of. all of this ascetic, the way he was outed and portrayed, that he was somebody who said, i will never be ashamed of who i am. i am proud of who i am and, if you don't like it, tough.

the idea. as many are tracking in iraq, the main focus is on mosul. iraq security forces under leadership of the prime minister working in very close coordination with the kurdish regional government, they have put together a plan and are executing it with the support of the coalition. it's not a perfect plan. it's their plan. we have figured out ways to bring our coalition capabilities to move them forward. they are on track with where they need to be. it will be a long fight in mosul. i would remind you if you look at the town in syria, it took us 71 days with our indigenous forces to take that area. raqqah, three times the size of that. mosul, three times the size of that. this is a huge urban area. islamic state has had a couple years to prepare their defenses. it's not going to be a cake walk. we don't want to give the impression it is. iraqis, developed a pretty good plan, executing it, making adjustments to it. and we are making adjustments as well with our support. so that will be -- that's the main focus and that's what we're trying to keep th

if you remember, the wars in afghanistan and iraq were breaking an active army of 400,000. so we grew the army and at the peak of the bars in i -- wars in iraq and afghanistan, 53,000 of the soldiers deployed were reserve component. national guard and army reserve. a deployed army of 570 and the secretary of the defense said we're breaking the army. so now you go down to 450 think of what forces you have to surge forward. the historical pattern after wars, your commitments go up to consolidate the gains. what are we seeing? well, the wars are still going on first of all. in afghanistan and pakistan area. in the middle east where you have a rotational brigade now in kuwait in addition to the forces that are committed in support of iraqi armed forces, kurdish armed forces, turkish -- you know? in iraq. and then you have a rotational -- to korea. one to europe now. because of russian aggression. so one is capacity in the army. the second is -- the second thing is that in previous period of draw downs that the army -- the army had recently been modernized. well, we did a lot of

these convictions guiding the policies we pursued both in iraq and afghanistan. i took office, the united states was focused overwhelmingly on a iraq where nearly 150,000 american troops has spent years fighting an insurgency and helping to build a democratic government. meanwhile, al qaeda had regrouped in other regions of afghanistan and pakistan and was actively planning attacks against our homeland. so we brought nearly 150,000 troops home from iraq, consistent with the status of forces agreement negotiated by the previous administration. we served our efforts along with our allies in afghanistan which allowed us to focus on dismantling al qaeda and give the afghan government the opportunity to succeed. this focus on al qaeda, the most dangerous threat to the united states at the time, paid dividends. today, by any measure, al qaeda, the organization that hit us on 9/11 is a shadow of its former self. [applause] pres. obama: plots directed from within afghanistan and pakistan have been consistently disrupted. its leadership has been decimated. dozens of terro

it. >> look at the war in iraq and the mess we're in. would never have handled it that way. >> reporter: bossert was a proponent of the iraq war. trump is set to hold more meetings today at his mar-a-lago resort. the trump tower in new york was briefly evacuated last night while the president-elect was in florida. a suspicious package that turned out to be a bag of toys caused a security scare. the false alarm highlighting a battle over who will pay to protect trump and his family in new york city, which the mayor estimates to be around $35 million since he was elected. trump's incoming white house press secretary sean spicer tweeting shortly after the incident, back to work here at trump tower after a false alarm. thanks nypd. eric philips, a spokesman for new york mayor bill de blasio tweeting, no problem. we'll send you the bill. trump's social media director weighing in that philips is an embarrassment to the new york mayor's office and amazing nypd. philips firing back, that's not very nice, dan. but about that bill. work on it with

and these convictions guided the policy we pursued both in iraq and afghanistan. when i took office, the united states was focused overwhelmingly on iraq, where nearly 150,000 american troops had spent years fighting an insurgency and helping to build a democratic government. meanwhile, al qaeda had regrouped in the border region of afghanistan and pakistan and was actively planning attacks against our homeland. so we brought nearly 150,000 troops home from iraq, consistent with the status of forces agreement negotiated by the previous administration and we surged our efforts with our allies in afghanistan which allowed to us focus on al qaeda and give the afghan government the opportunity to succeed. this focus on al qaeda, the most dangerous threat to the united states at the time, paid dividends. today by any measure core al qaeda, the organization that hit us on 9/11, is a shadow of its former self. [ applause ] plots directed from within afghanistan and pakistan have been consistently disrupted. its leadership has been decimated. dozens of terrorist leaders ha

it. >> look at the war in iraq and the mess we're in. i would never have handled it that way. >> reporter: ten years ago this week, saddam hussein was executed. for his part, bossert was a proponent of the iraq war. to be clear, the use of military force against iraq and afghanistan was and remains just. hussein's behavior and the intention at the time led mr. bush to conclude the use of military force to remove him was not only just but necessary. all this has trump is rounding out his team during his working holiday. two cabinet positions remain. veterans affairs and agricult e agriculture. both posts could be filled this week. tonight trump coming to terms with unwinding his business interests and dissolving his foundation before taking office amid questions of potential conflicts of interest. he defended his philanthropy on twitter. i gave millions of dollars to the donald j trump foundation, all of which is given to charity and media won't report. tax records show he hasn't personally donated since 2008. 24 days until trump takes of

full disclosure, my commander during the invasion in iraq. general mattis as well and think he would make a good general. one of the best -- >> a good general. >> a good secretary of defense, sorry. one of the best thinkers we have. >> e would vote for the waiver? >> we need a vote about civilian control of the military and should not give him a blanket approval. we like general mattis and can throw out this important law. a serious debate. congress has to do its job and debate whether it's okay to have someone come in after just three years, when the law says seven years, ensuring there's that break. there really is civilian control of the military. but i expect we're going to are impressed with general mattis. actually think trump has been hoodwinked here. trump xlected general mattis he has a nickmaim "mad dog," thinks he's a touch guy general, when, in fact, he's incredibly thoughtful. he's a great moral leader. the kind of check against a president trump we need. >> and the problem that some are having is national security adviser genera

it could have been done for a fraction of the multibillion-dollar cost of the iraq war at no risk to erican lives and would be a template for something the us and the rich nations could and still should do, i think, across the middle east in the global sunbelt as i wonder, is there any realistic possibility that a program of massive solar energy in the middle east, the world's other literally hot and bothered and conflicted regions could supplant a major part of this endless war that serves no purpose? >> host: i think we got the point. let's hear from andrew bacevich. >> guest: i am not able to comment on the feasibility of that kind of project. the premise of the question deserves our attention. that is to say the result of our expectations that military power can provide a solution to the problem, will ultimately cost us trillions of dollars. if we go back to 2003 with the george w. bush administration invaded iraq, they did not anticipate what the full cost would be and part of the judgment of that administration is their failure to understand what was going to ensue. the need to

i'd go back to 2003, the day we invited iraq, everything changed. you know, blaming obama for not fixing what happened in 2003 is just senseless to me. you know, i think the administration's doing the best it can. this is the plan we would have pursued had we had a third term but at the end of the day, it's too late. >> karen, let's talk about the isis, the fight against isis. the obama administration does say that it's expected to ramp up the fight against isis in the weeks ahead. is there anything that the president, the administration, the pentagon can now set in motion that could make an impact leading to the next administration? >> well, i want to return to something bob said in answering this question, which is that i'm not sure there's going to be that much different, at least initially, in the strategy towards isis. president trump, president-elect trump has said over and over again he intends to pursue isis with combating terrorist financing. with some kind of navy help on the ground, maybe in more of an adviser role, to use social media fr

>> i would say on the iraq point, rex tillerson backed jeb bush that has a foreign policy that is far more hawkish than donald trump who became the nominee and now the president. so i think that donald trump's views on foreign policy are unformed at best. and i think this again is another proxy for not just democrats but republicans sort of flushing out what his impulses are on foreign policy. >> eugene mentioned prominent americans. we have one standing by, as luck would have it. that is senator johnson. senator, i heard john mccain calling putin a butcher. he referred to him as a murderer before. that, to be honest, sounded more normal. here is mr. tillerson being talked about in part because of his relationship with putin. does that given the fact that he's been advanced to conduct our nation's diplomacy worry you, bother you? >> well, first of all, i've not met mr. tillerson. i'm looking forward to meeting him. i will certainly give him the benefit of the doubt. somebody with his experience, background, i think would be an asset to secretary of state. not only does he know world l

and that was that regime change hasn't worked or made us safer and the iraq war was a mistake and the i don't know about tillerson. but i think those are important because if we don't learn from the mistakes of the iraq war we'll continue to repeat those same mistakes. i think donald trump gets that and i want his secretary of state to also. >> you have been vocal in your criticism of that war. obviously exxon mobil was able 20 go in after that war. but rex tillerson is going to be secretary of state and a different role. secretary of state condaleezza rice pushed. dick cheney praising tillerson. does that give you any pause? these were two of the biggest defenders of the iraq war now supporting tillerson. >> we'll have to wait and see. i definitely will ask. the one person come up for secretary i know i'm opposed to john bolton. tillerson, i don't know yet. so i will ask those questions. and think for donald trump's sake he should want to pick with someone who actually agrees with him and has the world view. >> you have also been very critical of vladimir putin, senator. you wrote th

danica saddam hussein said the u.s. and iraqld be allies in the fight against extremism and al qaeda. >> yes. he thought we were natural allies in this. he thought that 9/11 was going to bring the united states and iraq closer together. you know, at one point he said to me, didn't you read the letter i sent to you? i said, what letter? he said, the letter will stop didn't you read it? i said, you sent a couple of letters. he said, this one went to ramsey clark. i told him a lot of people in the media tend to dispel what ramsey clark says in the fact was coming from you may have been even harder for people to believe. saddam hussein did not have a good understanding of america. he did not have a good understanding of the national relations. amy: before we wrap up, the response of the cia in the information that you got, the response of president bush? >> all they really wanted to know was aboutwmd. when we did not have the answer that they wanted, they kind of lost interest. that is all it was about, i think. it was very disappoi

he's critical of the iraq war. >> right. >> he's critical of nation building. he's hugging up to sisi. he seems to have dispensed with the democracy promotion something that the iraq war was sold upon. so for a lot of this faction that as long as you're correct on israel and backing netanyahu, then everything else we can just put aside. >> do you think -- i want to ask a question that i was asking noura which seems floating in the air and the subtext. can you imagine a trump administration saying, yeah, it's no longer u.s. policy that we object to settlement expansion and we no longer view the two-state solution as the preferred goal? can you imagine an american administration saying that and what its effects would be? >> i can imagine it just because personally i have no real idea of the policy that will exist in a trump administration knowing how he chooses to make various decisions. but there's one thing i would point out here. i mentioned the friedman nomination, a very pro-settlement right wing of israel's right wing but there's also the mattis nomination,

war, donald trump campaigned against it and railed against the bush administration's support of the iraq war and thomas bossert wrote just last year this in the "washington times," let's look. he said "to be clear, the use of military force against iraq and afghanistan was and remains just. of course the iraq war not front and center of this conversation any longer but it was ten years ago this week that saddam hussein was executed so certainly donald trump tapping someone he has a difference of views with to serve as one of his key advisers in the west wing. >> very interesting point. jeff, stay there for a moment because we want to bring into this conversation shelby holiday. he's politics and business reporter for the "wall street journal." shelby, trump is also making news again on twitter. here's one example. "the world was gloomy before i won. there was no hope, now the market is up nearly 10% and christmas spending is over a trillion dollars." do you think, shelby, he can take credit for the holiday spending and a surge in the stock market? >> that was a pretty -- that was a big t

. >> he convinced many people he was a staff sergeant who fought at the bloodiest battle of the iraq war. >> you trait the on the sacrifice of those people. what do you want to say to the families of the real marines? >> you learned your keep and i'm sorry. >> he used that story in san francisco where a documentary filmmaker interviewed him in front of the memorial to fallen warriors. he attended social events and met marines including donald trump's nominee for defense secretary. james mad dog mattis. the club even gave him a color guard send off for the fund-raising walk to camp pendleton in july. >> dog tags represent the fallen. we have taken a couple of tags and we speak on their behalf. >> they honored medina. >> i want to give this to art. >> they bought meals and paid for his lodging. he raised $6,000, money supposed to go to the marines memorial club event and cold star event. three months after the walk, medina hasn't given donations to the club. >> you raised money for them. are you going to give it to them? >> yes, i will give them money. >> how much? >> i can't say until

leader, tony blair, came under scrutiny with the publication of the chilcott inquiry‘s report into the iraq was 2.3 million words long. the decision to go to war in iraq and to remove saddam hussein from power in a coalition of over a0 countries led by the usa as much was the hardest, most momentous and agonising decision i took in my ten years as prime minister. now, ukip, where to start? after basically causing the referendum and then winning it, nigel farage resigned as ukip leader. during the referendum campaign i said that i want my country back. what i'm saying today is i want my life back. and it begins right now, thank you. diane james succeeded him but didn't much like the look of it and quit after 18 days. steven woolfe was hospitalised following an alleged punch—up with a fellow mep, after he left hospital he left ukip. i will be withdrawing my application to become leader of ukip and i'm actually withdrawing myself from ukip. you are resigning from the party. yes, with immediate effect. the next leadership contest was won by paul nuttall. there are open goals in british politics

a year ago in the middle of the iraq war, a proposal appeared in solar today magazine for a u.s. program that would have provided millions of sol solar panels to the cities and villages and neighborhoods of iraq which would have provided thousands of tens of thousands of jobs for iraqis otherwise became combatant and would have provided something that iraqis and the region really needed. their electricity is very spotty and is, in fact, a part of the conflict turning power on and off to different neighborhoods. it could have been done for a fraction of the multitrillion dollar cost of the iraq war and with low risk to american lives and it would be a template for something that the u.s. and rich nations could and still should do i think across the middle east and global sun belt. and so i wonder is this still any realistic possibility that a program of mass and solar energy aid to the middle east and world's other literally hot and bothered and conflicted regions could be -- could plant at least a major part of this endless war and that serves no problem and instead something -- >

as someone who watched the iraq war foment and then begin on the basis of bad intelligence, pardon meor my skepticism when i ask precisely of the ranking member of the house intelligence committee do you have proof? do you know this before we put retaliate, can you prove it? he calls me an agent of vladimir putin for asking the question. >> tucker, i watched this. >> i have seen this movie before. >> i watched that entire segment he did look into the cam rand said you knee vladimir putin did it. >> i beg your pardon. look at the tape he did not say that he said hacked into our american institutions i asked him on the air and off i said do you have evidence that he hacked into john podesta's emails that was the pivotal question in this election. no. don't allege it or imply it because there are big stakes here. >> tucker with all due respect you have to admit that if evidence all points tore it and you did is a spoke gun you can deduce from certain intelligence. we are not accusing him of -- oh my god, god defend he would never doing like this. >> you are saying we should quote retalia

. >> he convinced many people he was a staff sergeant who fought at the bloodiest battle of the iraq war. >> you trait the on the sacrifice of those people. what do you want to say to the families of the real marines? >> you learned your keep and i'm sorry. >> he used that story in san francisco where a documentary filmmaker interviewed him in front of the memorial to fallen warriors. he attended social events and met marines including donald trump's nominee for defense secretary. james mad dog mattis. the club even gave him a color guard send off for the fund-raising walk to camp pendleton in july. >> dog tags represent the fallen. we have taken a couple of tags and we speak on their behalf. >> they honored medina. >> i want to give this to art. >> they bought meals and paid for his lodging. he raised $6,000, money supposed to go to the marines memorial club event and cold star event. three months after the walk, medina hasn't given donations to the club. >> you raised money for them. are you going to give it to them? >> yes, i will give them money. >> how much? >> i can't say until

the narrative of what had gone on in iraq and other places. i saw the narrative switch and i saw people talk as if it is an isolated incident. for those of us that are there again had a duty to speak out. so the original hadn't used the word torture but the idea to enhance interrogation in these abusive tactics that have an impact on me and my own experience i was struggling with, so i felt it was a discussion that the american people needed to have and eventually evolved to the point i recognized now it is an enhand interrogation. but i didn't want to do is more importantly i told my story and splayed my role in these things and justified on some level to condemn them completely for the other people involved but to be as honest as i possibly could. >> host: i want to dig more into that as your role as interrogator but before we get there maybe start a little bit with your upbringing. one of the things that was interesting for me in the book is how motivated you were by your religious upbringing growing up in a town in pennsylvania. so talk abo

war, and you have john bolton out there saying the iraq war was the right thing to do. do we have a sense of what it is that attracts trump to bolton, poteially? >> i think it's less about iraq and more about iran, to be honest. the policy and the potential dismantling of the deal that president obama cut with iran could be one of the first things this administration does, basically without the consent of congress if they go about it in the right way. my sense is that there are some forces inside the trump campaign, potentially outsiders like sheldon adelson who are pushing for bolton to have more of a role. at one time we picked tillerson at the top, but don't worry, you have your guy. if you want to tell us how to approach this, you can go ahead and get in touch with him. >> we mentioned two cabinet spots. we'll see if they get confirmed. right now there's two left. there has been a member of the other party who has been included in these in the past couple administrations, so far all republicans. as a democrat do you look at it and do you think it's important that tru