we have not paid for the iraq/afghanistan/libya war. we borrowed money in order to engage in those three wars. there is only one other war in the history of this country that we did not pay for, that we borrowed money in order to pay for. [inaudible] did you all hear that? [laughter] he was right. the revolutionary war. the revolutionary war, we borrowed money from france. every other we have engaged in we paid for as we went, but we have not paid for this war or these wars, and the cost is now over $1 trillion. what is worse is that detail on that war, and i mean the fact that all those and wounded warriors that come home that have suffered traumatic brain injuries or serious injury -- the cost of providing health care to them for the rest of their lives is going to make the cost of these wars close to $3 trillion. so why am i telling you this? i am telling you this because it all relates back to you and your life, whether or not there is going to be dollars spent on the kinds of programs you want on a federal level, there will be a stu

1980, and $4.50 trillion in three years, barack obama. >> iraq, afghanistan, libya, billions upon billions for war. >> i really do believe that the president needs to speak out in terms of our mission in afghanistan. our mission in iraq. our mission in libya. the doubts that our members have, frankly, are reflecting what they are hearing from their constituents. >> one of every liberal member, democratic congressman dennis kucinich, proposing a withdrawal from libya. we are told that the piggyback is empty and we have to do something about national security, we're told that national security requires a presence in iraq, afghanistan, now libya, secret meetings in pakistan. voters are getting restless. >> in part because the president, the one who is involved us in the big, has yet to give us a coherent explanation of what -- it would involve us in libya, has yet to give us according explanation of what it is we are after and how we will get their. america initiating a war in libya -- america-supported action, we were the main thrust, and then withdrawing to the rear, allowing europe, which cannot defeat half of libya, to carry on

should not be involved in any of the world for its we should withdraw our troops and the money from iraq afghanistan and libya now one time this was an idea that was considered radical on the fringe but it's one that must be registering more and more turns out ron paul at this event he won the straw poll there he was there any case it was barely a contest he had a six hundred twelve votes the next in line was jon huntsman who scored three hundred eighty two of course perceived front runner mitt romney well he got just seventy four votes ron paul in an interview this morning on this day show says he has no idea about why he has so much support especially from the young people. it's analysts undeclared unwinnable wars dumped on the young people and also the financial crisis that we have related to the foreign policy and we're dumping that debt on the young people and that's why the next generation the current young people between the age of fifteen and twenty five or thirty they're with me because they're getting dumped on and that to me is the big issue but i want to bring back into this conversation we're tal

if you think the pathway to the gop nomination in 2012 to get to barack obama's left on libya, afghanistan and iraq, you're going to meet a lot of headwind. this is not a war of afghan independents. this is the center of gravity against the war on terror, radical islam. it is in our national security interest to make sure the taliban never come back. if with we fail in afghanistan, they'll kill every moderate who tried to help us. no one will step up. it will destabilize pakistan tshg will be abe security mistake. here's the good news, the afghans don't want to be ruled by the taliban. we double training capacity since december 2009. there will be 305,000 afghans under arms. we're making great progress. 6,000 people a month are joining the afghan army. in september 20099 it was 800. we're on track to withdraw. >> are you fearful there's an isolationist streak now running through the republican party? >> yes. i'm fearful -- >> it's not war-weariness, is not a practical response to a decade of war? >> it's not an understanding of what's going on in afghanistan or the consequences of losing. are we at

he'll have to deal with the wars in iraq, afghanistan and libya. >>> the south bay will soon see newulances. certainly not everyone is happy about them. today in the bay's damian trujillo is live in san jose with an update and to explain. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, laura. this is a new ambulance that will hit the streets beginning july 1st. it will replace the red and gold amr ambulances. one of the differences on the rigs is the seal on the side of the door. i'm going to pull in a bit to let you look at it. this is the county seal. santa clara county is overseeing the contract with rural metro ambulances. they provide emergency transport services in several parts of the nation including san diego. they are bringing new technology to the south bay with electronic gurneys that will better help the paramedics and patients. they have new technology on board. crucial information to the emergency room that can potentially save valuable minutes in providing care to patients. on july 1, the new ambulances will be ready to roll. >> the vehicles are larger than what is deployed

the moment i suppose. libya and hopefully syria spanish ok libya maybe we could afghanistan the probably the only home in the mud probably iran probably iraq. still pakistan they might be bombing occasionally. i thought my government but i will answer anyway one of them unfortunately might still be afghanistan and another one may well be. libya. libya afghanistan very well and how do you feel about being so connected with the united states through military actions on a book for a magazine that sells buttons delivery systems. not comfortable like that. i mean as you think you're great is that. a good thing. and i think that's essential because we've just such a small country we need to pick a power behind me i think it's stupid i think britain has a tendency to think oh yeah we like brothers with america but if they looked around their cousins which are europe they would find different kind of ideas and also as americans far away from most things they forget how bombing one place would mean that your place but next they only got it once and i hope they don't get it any more. so. you know some of them might say some doesn't but. here is the

wouldn't want to misspeak i wouldn't want to rule that out but but i would just on the basis of libya afghanistan iraq it scares me that we are in yemen i mean that's the that's that's another one of these under cleared conflicts what are we doing are are the consequences of our actions not having unintended consequences we take out saddam hussein in iraq and iran raises its head iran's main concern was iraq saddam hussein. this is an unintended consequence where the but you're not ruling any of that out you say well and i don't think i would be i don't think it would be when will. i i am advocating a forty three percent reduction in military spending i'm opposed to foreign aid the notion that we're borrowing money to give to other countries. that to me just defies common sense i think military alliances are really key to our ability to be able to save forty three. forty three cents out of every dollar that we're spending on military spending and have other countries take up the slack if you will but then i'm really bothered by our involvement in libya and the fact that we're there in a supportive rol

iraq, afghanistan, libya. >> the united states reportedly ramping up air strikes against al qaeda in yemen. >> wait, we're bombing yemen now too? i guess that explains the president's new banner. >> oh. yeah, we've been secretly hitting terror compounds in yemen with the cooperation of their president saleh. how's he doing? >> a senior u.s. official says the president had shrapnel wounds and severe burns to his face and chest from an attack on the presidential palace friday. the government insists he'll return after undergoing treatment in saudi arabia. >> jon: really? he's coming back. i see yemen's president saleh feels the yemeni insurgents who launched a mortar attack on him while he was praying was a temporary setback. but he stills has the people's support although if you look at the results of the latest presidential popularity poll in yemen, i believe that's yemen for strongly disapprove. but it's interesting saleh still wins in a head-to-head with romney. all right, now-- yemen's a bit of a downer. let's try again. stop, stop, stop, stop, ow, ow, ow, stop, stop oh. >> jon: o

more involved in libya than we can help it any more involved in the middle east as a region as a whole apaches attack helicopters we've seen them in in general. in iraq and in afghanistan and of course most recently in libya where involvement was seen as a mox escalation in the involvement of u.k. and french nato troops very low flying so the likelihood of casualties is much increased. presence there and it does need like an escalation of involvement again as we've said so many times about libya the legality of this is extremely. we are seeing u.s. drone attacks increasing numbers of u.s. drone attacks in in yemen and the reasoning for that is. according to u.s. forces is taking advantage of what's going in going on that and moving into this power vacuum which is being created since president saleh left and went to saudi arabia for medical treatment moving into that helping the activity taking advantage of general civil unrest to grab more support more territory so that's the reason for the u.s. paying these drone attacks that's how it's justifying it but of course that power vacuum works both ways interestingly the u.s. forces the military forces used to cooperate wit

should not be involved in any of the work for its and we should withdraw our troops and our money from iraq afghanistan and libya now one time this was an idea that was. radical on the fringe even and it's one that must be registering more and more turns out that ron paul won the straw poll there and while it was barely a contest six hundred twelve to the next in line candidate jon huntsman score three hundred eighty two perceived front runner mitt romney just seventy four votes ron paul in an interview this morning on the today show is that as he has an idea about why he's getting so much the port especially from the young people it's analysts under cleared unwinnable wars dumped on the young people and also the financial crisis that we have related to the foreign policy it we're dumping that then on the young people and that's why the next generation the current young people between the age of fifteen and twenty five or thirty they're with me because they're getting dumped on and that to me is the big issue so i brought jake back into this discussion and i also asked him why the general consensus among the mai

the budget for libya it's only ten million dollars a day or so that's what they say is congress really likely to cut the relatively small funding for libya when it's allowing billions in iraq and afghanistan. well i mean you know the reality is i think still a majority of congressmen are going to support the the actions in libya and afghanistan and so on you know they're there's not a lot of peace talks if we you know shall we say in congress i mean minus these few congressmen who are doing this i mean when boehner gets up and says that you know this is an issue i mean the reality is there's been or is somebody who supported prior prior interventions and prior actions military actions so no i mean congress is not going to. come and say that we shouldn't be doing this and try to defund it and besides obama is currently using discretionary department defense discretionary funds to get around it anyway so you know it's a question of how effective it would be and let's talk about the military hardware that's being used in libya a lot of american made missiles and bombs and of course fighter jets as well i mean how much is the american military law involved do you think it perpetuates the war

the president so we can't imagine a scenario in which obama would very. it's all involvement really in libya if you compare this to the leading role that the u.s. has played in iraq and afghanistan would be impeached over something like this if you're a journalist why is there more media attention on libya than let's say yemen at the moment. because we have we have a lot of interest in libya while we were interest in yemen it really is more or less with on the side of ali abdullah saleh we have a great deal of military infrastructure in yemen a so-called war on terror underway and. has played. very. very three of robel rule as far as u.s. interests in yemen are and so i you know it wouldn't make a lot of sense for the u.s. to come out you know gun blazing against the less they would like to see a scenario in which maybe is not there but not a fundamental change. also happening in yemen in libya is different it's more of a distance battle is needed not war or it's more of a european battle than an american doctor and i think it allows the u.s. to get involved in the so-called arab spring by playing a major war in iraq in the future of this spring without exacted and very heavy mi

the third war and. tween iraq and afghanistan and now into libya actually no discussion with the people of the us or with the congress it's a violation of the war powers act it's illegal and it is really strong demands that congress play the role of which they are elected to. pressure is also mounting on syria although russia has said it won't back another intervention do you think nato countries i will take action anyway and what do you think the consequences of something like that would be. well it's important to recognize that the u.s. is already taking action in syria but there is a real destabilization growing there for years there has been sanctions on syria syria is occupied. by israel all with u.s. funding so there has been a long time u.s. intervention u.s. sanctions u.s. destabilization it's even been reported in the us press the washington post here in the. us. actual intervention funding of the opposition groups within syria orchestrating. programs who thinks look through a lot of social networking programs doing everything they can do in opposition to destabilize the country now syria like e

well the fighting continues to rage in libya but don't forget afghanistan iraq pakistan the list goes on but with congressmen senators and even mayors pressuring obama to end these wars how will the white house respond to going to war and we've got to will get a fight of feeding our american people we will hear that mr president when obama isn't about war he's all about education but how do you succeed in school if you don't have a home we're going to take on the growing homelessness trend among america's youth . and the mysterious he coli outbreak is still raging in germany as the death and infection tools continue to rise scientists are scrambling to pinpoint the source but we'll speak to one just may have some answers and i warn you this theory may just stop you. good evening it's friday june seventeenth four pm here in washington d.c. i'm lucy catherine of and you're watching our t.v. . well libya of ghana stana iraq yemen pakistan i mean the list of wars reached by this country seems to be growing the same time america's patience is wearing thin and all outraged lawmakers on both

the three conflicts in which u.s. forces are now engaged -- iraq, afghanistan, libya. in iraq, the key question is whether forces will remain in iraq beyond the end of this year to support their continued need in our in our national interests. i believe such a presence is necessary, as secretary gates has argued. in afghanistan, the main question is the size and scope of the drawdown. i would agree with secretary gates that any drawdown should be modest celesta maximize our ability to lock in the gains of our troops during the next fighting season. in libya, there are signs that muammar gaddafi may be starting to crack. the odds of a stop remained far too high. i believe u.s. treasury to be to reduce those odds as much as possible and quickly force muammar gaddafi to leave power. another significant challenge department defense pa -- secretary gates has made some courageous decisions to get major weapons to kermit project's contractor is similar focus is brought to of the defense department chooses to buy billions of dollars in services to maintain the highest degree of

the plan. >> chris: you address foreign policy in terms of budget and say we should consider a quicker draw down of forces in everythin afghanistan and you said with afghanistan and iraq and now with libya, the cost of the war, has got to be considered. so, the question is, would you pull some of our u.s. forces out of iraq, afghanistan, and libya, because we can't afford to keep them there. >> i'd like to talk about each one of those areas, specifically. because, there are conditions that differ in each area. take afghanistan. conditions certainly have changed even in the last week or two when president karzai comes out and acts like the host nation doesn't perhaps want us there. or nato, nato, as we help lead nato, we are concerned about civilians and making sure that civilian casualties are not part of any kind of strategy, and, yet, that kind of gets thrown back in our faces and there is a... it sound like' message being sent to america and to nato today by president karzai that perhaps we are not wanted there, after everything we have done in afghanistan, after the billions and billions of dollars we have spent there, to help rebuild their nation, and to quash the terrorist cell so

the united states can go in militarily. we're engaged in iraq, afghanistan, and libya. there would be no international support. we can try to isolate the regime politically have, economic sanctions by the europeans and americans. this drama is going to be decide not by us. it's going to be decided by the syrian people and they are assaulting their government, that authoritarian, cynical government. you see protests in every town, in every city. >> mitchell: let's talk about president assad. when he came to power in 2000, many thought he would be a reformer, much different from his iron-fisted father. that clearly hasn't happened. what do you think happened to make him the person he is? >> he liked to cultivate this image of himself as a young, british-educated doctor but he's shown his true colors over the last three months-- hundreds of people dead. the syrian army has used brutal force against innocent people protesting peacefully in city after city. i think we have to conclude he never was a reformer. he always was very much like i his father, a regime in power now 40 years, a regime the syrian people obviou

right now at red lobster. >>> the on going wars in iraq and afghanistan, military operation in libya, the agenda at leon panetta's senate confirmation hering. panetta is described as one of the smartest experienced people around. he's a picture of his background. army intelligence officer, congressman from california. currently the director of cia. >> the apple is known as being the head of the curve, now the latest idea is for new headquarters that actually look like a spaceship. ceo steve jobs actually went to a city council meeting to pitch the plan himself. how did that go? >> probably a lot of shocked people in the room. >> jobs wasn't scheduled to be there. it was a big surprise when he walked in. he's looking to build new apple headquarters near where the headquarters is right now. what happened, so many employees have been added to apple, that they really outgrew their current building in cupertino. they rented extra offices, take a look at this building. it's round, looks like a donut, but if you ask jobs, he said it looks like a spaceship. he wants to build this building tha

with afghanistan, with iraq, too, and new with libya the cost of the war, the cost of the war has got to be considered. the question is would you pull some of our u.s. forces out of iraq, afghanistan, and libya because we can't afford to kep them there? >> i would like to talk about each one of the areas specific pli because therspecifically be conditions that differ in each area. take achg. conditions have changed even -- take afc. conditions have changed when president karzai and acts like the host nation doesn't perhaps want us there or nato. nato as we help lead nato we are so concerned about civilians and making sure that civilian casualties are not strategy andind of strealg and yet that gets thrown back in our face and sounds like a message sent by president karzai that we are not wanted there. after everything we have done in aflg and the billions of dollars we have spent there to help rebuild their nation and quash the terrorist cells so that w we are protected on our own shores. conditions have changed and we need to reevaluate the timeline we have -- i have great faith in p

the u.s. military action has expanded beyond afghanistan beyond iraq beyond libya and even beyond yemen this is what perpetual war looks like and it's not the way to win hearts and minds struggle. it appears that the republican party has gone insane house budget chairman paul ryan the guy who is working feverishly to privatized medicare has now joined a handful of other republicans who think it would be a good thing if the u.s. government defaults on its debt and if you was c.n.d. see ryan said that if our nation defaults on our debt something the most economists argue could cause a global financial meltdown it wouldn't be such a bad thing at all or to ryan quote what is more important is you are putting the government in a material better position to pay to better pay its bills going forward and. not sure how another great depression puts our nation in a materially better position and then there's tim polanski the former governor who nearly bankrupted minnesota who watched thirteen people die when under maintain bridge collapsed in his state and is now running for president if the republican b

are certain practical difficulties particular of course the current war against libya not to mention the military actions in afghanistan pakistan iraq and so on so there are practical limitations i don't think there are any limitations in terms of intentionality on the contrary i think that the western powers particularly united states are determined to overthrow the regime in syria just as they were after iraq was attacked in two thousand and three let's not forget that then the leading neoconservative richard poll said that once saddam had been toppled now it was time to change the regime in libya syria and iran but we must also take words with a pinch of salt he is an official he's not a politician he doesn't decide the libyan war started as a friend who british. merican war before it was transferred to nato so he may be technically right to say that nato has no intention of attacking syria but it's not he who decides if the western powers decide to attack syria and if they decide to ask nato to take over the running of the war but it will be. the resolution that britain and france are seeking is a very very big one doesn't call

the same people that wanted to go to war in iraq and afghanistan are now making the argument we should not pull out precipitously from libya agree with them. be that as it may -- and so we have the war hawks continuing. there's a new wing in the republican party, that neoisolationist, mitt romney is leading it. he says not only should we get out of afghanistan as fast as we can, there's a war weariness in the land after ten years and the president is having more and more trouble holding together any kind of coalition to continue on iraq in some fashion to figure out how to do the troop withdrawal in afghanistan and hold on in libya. he would be far better to knock off gadhafi quickly. i think he has a speech on wednesday, this wednesday, before the house votes, on his afghanistan plans. that will be a big and important speech to watch. >> david gergen, dana bash, thank you. >>> coming up, the gun control. being blamed of a death of a border patrol agent. the atf could be close to stepping down over the scandal. no one has taken responsibility. details next. >>> and the judge in the casey anthony case slamming the brakes on

we know that the that they know for example the the highest percentage of foreign fighters in iraq and afghanistan and chechnya all came from eastern libya. the eastern libyan rebels have now returned home and they've brought their practices home with them and. if they're not al-qaeda they're al-qaeda copycats because they view they're applying the same terror tactics to try to control the people they're trying to beat the people into submission so that if you are pro khadafi you will not be you will not ever say it you will bend down and you will take it take whatever they give you. they are taking people's houses in benghazi they're taking their cars they're throwing them out there saying they're doing ethnic cleansing all the bad practices that they've seen happen in other places they're now they're not now lying at home ok and i want to ask you a switching gears to khadafi because this is what we heard the united states president say today about the u.s. role there and about gadhafi i want to roll that real quick if we have that we play that we have done exactly what we said lou under a u.n. mandate and we are protect the belgians li

the already busy u.s. military is now engaged in a fourth theater of operations. yemen, following iraq, afghanistan, and libya. that and a continuing threat from al qaeda were among the topics at confirmation hears for leon panetta as the new secretary of defense. jim miklaszewski has more. >> reporter: cia director leon panetta who took the lead in u.s. efforts to take out osama bin laden warned today even without its leader, al qaeda remains a serious threat. >> yes, i think it has weakened them, but they still remain dangerous, and we still have to go after them. >> reporter: and then he confirmed u.s. special operations forces on the ground in yemen are coordinating air strikes against al qaeda targets. those attacks from american jets and unarmed drones armed with missiles have increased over the past month as they have had a lack in government. >> it's obviously a dangerous and uncertain situation, but we continue to work with elements there to try to develop counterterrorism. >> the obama administration is the instability in yemen will leads to a civil war and give al qaeda a greater safe haven they th

libya, that was a positive sign and this was -- the direction things are going. >> i think libya thing is a -- i doesn't see how france and england didn't learn our lesson from iraq and afghanistanfeel the french may feel they got left of iraq and afghanistan. obama sorting leading from behind. sometimes works like he is just teaming up with other guys who want to do their own muslim- world peacekeeping types. >> they don't missouri in the middle east without us leading down there. and our wig -- trying not to be as deeply involved. but we've already got two wars to worry about. >> give me a grade on obama's performance in europe this week. a through f. >> i think he gets an a+ in ireland. he did an excellent job -- >> overall grade. >> a. >> easy a. >> easy a. >> b. >> a b? why? >> i'm a tough grader. i don see much of substance, this they all talk free trade in europe, and they'rer now they're mild in bailouts. something bold needed to happen. he didn't. >> what came out of conference? >> that's what i'm saying. >> what are you looking for. >> maybe we can all start believing in the free trade re used to talk basketball, stop bailing out banks, stop bailing out countries and m

explain exactly why we've got a new total for the bill on the wars in iraq afghanistan and pakistan brown university researchers tried to include libya but couldn't quite count that high anyway u.s. admiral seems to gone rogue in libya or the white house is lying you can decide for yourself which is more likely the taliban is offering room service there's another revolution brewing in egypt i've got a new breakdown on lol site and we'll explain how al gore is nothing more than a state sanctioned product blocker and there's nothing special about our other dear leader from illinois which i have nothing better than you the viewer completes an episode of adam vs the man. a study at brown university has concluded that the total cost of the unconstitutional liberal nation building wars in iraq afghanistan and pakistan will total around conservatively three point seven trillion dollars or as much as four point four trillion dollars when i count the brilliant numbers guys over at the pentagon should consider reading some basic war strategy. here's an icicle quote in military operations a long drawn out victory will make the whole army dull a