decided to do it on their own, and they staged their own welcome home parades to mark the end of the iraq war. and every time they did it, it was the best new thing in the world. our nation's first ever, look at that, first ever parade for troops coming home from the war in iraq. it hoped saturday in st. louis, missouri. tens of thousands of people lined the streets cheering the troops and shaking hands. this was a thank you big enough to make the nation notice and also personal enough to grab your heart and rattle it a little. >> twice army national guard major rick ranford has flown home after serving in iraq. >> you could have dropped me in any city in the united states because i was home. >> reporter: he was touched by the outpouring of his hometown. >> completely overwhelmed. >> this from "nightly news" this weekend. our nation has been debating whether now is a good time to celebrate veterans coming home from iraq, especially since so many of them are being redeployed to afghanistan which is a war, of course, that is ongoing. still though, on sunday the new york giants will be playing t

the drawdown of troops in iraq. but dennis has played a key role in every major national security decision of my presidency from ending the war in iraq to winding down the war in afghanistan from our response to natural disasters around the world like haiti in the tsunami in japan to the repeal of don't ask don't tell to countless crises in between day and night. what president obama failed to address in that speech was the instrumental role mcdonough played in crafting legislation to authorize the use of force in iraq back when he was the top foreign policy aide to then senate majority leader tom daschle all the legislation mcdonough and others crafted essentially paved the way for the war in iraq what's more mcdonough personally called white house staffers including jason you on the night of september eleventh during those terrorist attacks to ask how the senate could help the white house deal with this tragedy in response a process that led to the authorization of use of force against terrorists which essentially gave president bush the power to launch the afghanistan war now this is a stark contrast to the antiwar stance

is needed between the legislative and executive branches when it comes to war he said quote to assert. the congress has only one choice in how it reacts legislatively to the war in iraq profoundly understands congressional responsibilities in time of war such a narrow reading of the constitution and the competing powers on national security grants to to the congress and the executive branch is not supported by a range of constitutional scholars so spare he's saying that obviously we need to have this type of balance between congress and their powers and that your presentation just be able to launch himself into any war that he deems necessary without consulting others but he's now working for the executive branch so now the the foot of the shoe is a foot on the left you decide to say that and say do you think we can expect or should we expect some kind of change in this stance that he's had for the last few years well i think it's certainly been indicated over the last couple of years during the bush administration which that article was written in zero seven during the bush administration it was critical of this unilateral executive authority of the president having

don't think really has been covered, is the fact that he was picked because he ended up opposing the iraq war and voted for it and then turned on it. the opposition to the iraq war is reason president obama is president and the reason he beat hillary clinton in the primary and the reason he's president. that's why hagel is there, the very deep support for deep military cuts. >> and the press did cover a couple of his no votes on sanctions, but did not cover all of his votes and his voting record. i found that interesting. >> we'll get to brennan and torture next week. >> right. >> jon: what about this photo that ran in the new york times, i guess taken in december, and it ran with an article that said "obama's remade inner circle has an all-male look so far." the white house released this photo, also, on tuesday. why has that become an issue? >> well, because the feminists, the national organization for women, for example, are leading a little petition drive against this. i don't think this is going to be the most effective campaign ever. not as if obama's credentials as a liberal are in disr

after 9/11, he supported the patriot act with its sweeping new powers of surveillance. he also supported the war in iraq. at the time those were reasonably centrist positions for a republican to hold. but a couple of years into the iraq war, senator chuck hagel came out and said that america's war in iraq was starting to look to him like the war he himself fought in as an army infantry officer. it was starting to look to him like vietnam. he said that between those two war, quote, there is a parallel emerging. a couple of months later, he laid down this gauntlet to those on his own side who had gotten all over him for questioning the iraq war. he said, quote, to question your government is not unpatriotic. to not question your government is unpatriotic. america owes its men and women in uniform a policy worthy of their sacrifices. a couple of years later when the president announced that he wanted to send another 20,000 american troops into the war in iraq, senator hagel responded the next day by saying that escalating the war in that way could become, quote, the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in

and that is not including the cost of the wars in iraq and afghanistan. $530 billion without them. nd we're spending more than $700 billion on our military and wars. now the defense budget is about to be put on a big diet. the outgoing secretary, leon panetta, has already signed on cutting a trillion from the defense budget. and frankly, a lot of people think we should go even lower. my colleague has put together charts that show just how insane american defense spending has gotten, and what the next defense secretary may want to think very hard about when looking at the budget. chart number one, and i love this one. the u.s. spends more than any other nation on defense, by far. but in our budget, in 2011, we spent a total of $718 billion on defense and international security, including $159 billion we spent that year on the wars in iraq and afghanistan. together, that is $718 billion, which is more than we spend on medicare. and by the way, the defense budget you see there doesn't even include veteran's benefits. add those in, we're spending more on defense and medicaid and medicar

>> guest: well, i don't recall president bush in in the understanding with iraq and would compensate the united states for the war in this current political climate that's not going to happen. i'm not an expert on the area, however, there are multinational companies in iraq, exxonmobil made a deal and it is part of iraq, to explore chemical warfield's their. it's just i think that iraq's investment climate and the reason these companies don't go in is not because they are being discriminated against. it's because the investment climate, the kind of legal architecture that you need to get people to put serious money into the kind of a developing country is and always there. so there's been a bit of a movement from some concerns from southern iraq or the kurdish part of iraq exacerbated tensions between the kurds and arabs. rezko the author of iranians to discuss the seven from iraq from george w. bush to barack obama. you can also check out the web site at michaelgordon.com. thank you for joining us today. >> guest: thank you. i thought questions were very good and deserving the best answers i could provide. >> i

they were relitigating the iraq war. the iraq war that had nothing to do with 9/1. the iraq war that diverted our attention from bringing bin laden to justice and just about $3 trillion. i mean, it's time to start nation-building at home. and i will tell you, chuck hagel, today should have been a historic day because he's the first enlisted man ever to become secdef. secretary of defense. now let me tell you something, too, they're trying to make him look weak. but look at what happened in 1999. chuck hag ergs l always puts his country first. muslims were getting murdered. it was the worst ethnic cleansing in europe since germany. and then president clinton said we're going to send our men and women into kosovo. he's one of only two republicans to do that. the man wears his heart on his sleeve for his country. they try to dishonor him. but he, you know, listen, he's been through a lot worse in his life than given a hard time. >> john, the thing that amazed me about the exchanges today is they were attacking hagel as if there were weapons of mass destruction there and

more women have served and been wounded and killed in the iraq war by around 2005, two years into the war already, than all the american wars put together since world war ii including afghanistan. so it was a huge, huge difference. one in every ten troops in iraq was a woman. >> host: did they serve in different capacities than they have served in the past? >> guest: yes. payoff the nature of the war, which is -- because of the nature of the war which is, base chi, a guerrilla war, the nature of all wars these days, there isn't a front line in our old-fashioned sense of having an area where the soldiers and the enemy will meet up and fight. that just doesn't happen anymore. wars -- battles take place in roads, in hospitals each if you're drive -- even if you're driving a truck full of toilet paper, you can be attacked. so because there's no front line, even if you're a combat support or an engineer or a cook, you can get drawn into battle. and many, many women also were being used as gunners and working alongside with the infantry doing exactly the same jobs as the infantry because of

graham on sunday about hagel really being the first prominent republican to step off the bus on the iraq war under president bush and say this is headed in the wrong direction and may have been a terrible mistake. even though other people came around to that view and that was president obama's view after all. i think there is still some resentment in republican quarters that he did that. i think, though, it can probably be overcome if he has a successful confirmation hearing. >> do you believe it will be a success for hagel? i'll ask both of you. josh, you first. >> i think ultimately he will be confirmed. i think continuing to take a considerable amount of flack over a variety of issues, in particular stance on israel and what to do about the upcoming showdown with iran. >> jim, your thoughts? >> i think he will be confirmed. >> that was brief and to the point. thank you very much, jim and josh. appreciate your time. >>> and she's back. a first look at secretary of state hillary clinton on her first day back at work after being hospitalized for a concussion and a blood clot and wait until y

after 9/11, he supported the patriot act with its sweeping new powers of surveillance. he also supported the war in iraqme those were reasonably centrist positions for a republican to hold. but a couple of years into the iraq war, senator chuck hagel came out and said that america's war in iraq was starting to look to him like the war he himself fought in as an army infantry officer. it was starting to look to him like vietnam. he said that between those two war, quote, there is a parallel emerging. a couple of months later, he laid down this gauntlet to those on his own side who had gotten all over him for questioning the iraq war. he said, quote, to question your government is not unpatriotic. to not question your government is unpatriotic. america owes its men and women in uniform a policy worthy of their sacrifices. a couple of years later when the president announced that he wanted to send another 20,000 american troops into the war in iraq, senator hagel responded the next day by saying that escalating the war in that way could become, quote, the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this count

still no parade in the works for new york city to welcome home the troops and mark the end of the iraq war. i can tell you that sergeant willis is home from iraq and afghanistan and he and his family are here with us watching the show in this very room. welcome home. look, you're on tv. it's really cool to have you here and it's the best new thing in the world today. st. louis, missouri pulling off its welcome home heroes parade. they did it first in the country. there will be more to come. best new thing in the world. they keep getting better from here. stay with us. >>> whether it's helping to tag a bear in the wild or tranquilizing a tiger or shooting a gray whale to collect skin samples or discovering two greek urns in the black sea or whether it's riding a motorbike or putting out wildfires from a plane, whether it's showing off his judo moves or swimming in a siberian lake topless or fishing topless or riding a horse topless. it's inarguable that russia's president is manly of the photo op. his newest is hockey star. there's one best new thing this year that included a mystery guest

back ten years later, does michael feel any sense of responsibility, if not to say shame, for the iraq war, articles in the times with jew dit miller, does he owe an apology to the families of those killed? iraq? thank you. >> guest: well, you're referring to the wmd coverage, the coverage of the issue of weapons of mass destruction in the "new york times" prior to the war, and because you're familiar with it, you're aware that i reported the cia assessment that iraq was trying to acire materials to make nuclear weapons, but be aware i reported another assessment that was not the case, and the bureau of intelligence and research that this was not the case, and so i reported both sides of that debate before the war, and -- >> host: an issue you cover in the end game quite a bit of how the end game strategy changed over the course in the war in iraq. >> guest: american intelligence on wmd was wrong. the cia intelligence was wrong. there was no american -- it was not only wrong in the bush administration, but it was wrong towards the end of the clinton administration because they thought iraq

>> a lot of it goes back to the days of the iraq war. the voted for the resolution in 2002. he was one of the first republicans to say, this is not working and the u.s. should get out. he opposed the surge in 2008. that alienate him from the bush administration and for many republicans who felt he was giving agreement to opponents of the war. he has vote against just about every one of the unilateral sanctions against iran. with a 96-2 vote to oppose sanctions on iran, he was one of the two votes. on iran, his position will have to default as president obama's has. the-have to evolve as president obama's have -- evolve as president obama's has. >> many are saying iran is losing revenues because of the sanctions. there are some of the emmett voices against hagel's nomination-- vehement -- vehement voices against a bill. -- hagel. >> i am not sure in the end that inning democrats will vote against him. a lot of republicans --that many democrats will vote against him. it will probably be easier. he tried to become cia director four years ago. there were questions about whether

after 9/11, he supported the patriot act with its sweeping new powers of surveillance. he also supported the war in iraq time those were reasonably centrist positions for a republican to hold. but a couple of years into the iraq war, senator chuck hagel came out and said that america's war in iraq was starting to look to him like the war he himself fought in as an army infantry officer. it was starting to look to him like vietnam. he said that between those two war, quote, there is a parallel emerging. a couple of months later, he laid down this gauntlet to those on his own side who had gotten all over him for questioning the iraq war. he said, quote, to question your government is not unpatriotic. to not question your government is unpatriotic. america owes its men and women in uniform a policy worthy of their sacrifices. a couple of years later when the president announced that he wanted to send another 20,000 american troops into the war in iraq, senator hagel responded the next day by saying that escalating the war in that way could become, quote, the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this co

it was a fresh perspective that he would bring. >> one of the keys to obama's appeal was his opposition to the war in iraqhe had spoken out against it early. >> what i do oppose is a dumb war. >> i didn't trust any of the other candidates, on either side of the aisle, who had either supported the iraq 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 think the other was questioning the iraq war and eventually coming out and opposing the iraq war andr he cast the vote in favor of the iraq war, coming back and saying you know what? this was the wrong move. that created a lot of animosity. and we have seen criticism from the left. i do want to see a confirmation process. i want to know how he'll behave towards lbgt members of the military. >> and he has already apologized for those statements. >> absolutely. absolutely. but the charges that -- i mean, the thing that has really been ludicrous is because he hasn't been with mccain and lieberman an every vote in israel, not only is his anti-israel, he's anti-semitic. i think that shuts down any debate on the topic. >> had a change of heart as he was saying on the iraq war. and as peter binehart writes on the daily beast, the former vietnam rifleman realized that detached and self-interested elites were sending working class kids like himself to die in a war they couldn't defend. at the heart of the opposition to hagel is the fear he would do what republicans thus far have largely defen

the iraq war was a disaster. ident obama won the issue of exchange and being opposed to the iraq war. why are we still having a conversation with these guys? why do they have so much power that hagel's nomination is in some doubt. >> well, look, we are a country of 300 million people. you have to allow in a country of 300 million people there are a few nuts. and some of them have access to the mass media. and some of them have a lot of money. that's all right. that's normal, but we shouldn't take that too seriously. >> cenk: that's interesting, too. i'm curious about your time with the carter administration. when president carter put up nominees, was there this much push back? i don't know, that's why i'm asking you. when the republicans didn't agree with the nominee when it was a democratic president putting it forward was there this much conflict as well? >> there's always some push back but i don't think this is a massive negative reaction. there was probably less than because we're less polarized as a country.

the war in afghanistan that are readily available. i had been on the radio talking about my view on the war in afghanistan the war in iraq way before i met them in paris. c-span: what is your general view of the military? >> guest: i think the military is necessary. obviously. there are a lot of great people doing an amazing job. a really difficult job. i think it's way too big. i think it's bloated. i think often we give the military a pass on a lot of things because of various, you know, guilt left over from vietnam and own guilt from not serving ourself. there's a lot of heros in the mill tear and -- military a lot of people that are less than heroes. it reminds me of the paul i'm going to mispronounce his name. who did what he was talking about "the greatest generation" and he said something like, you know, there a lot of drunks, you know, cooks and villains in "the greatest generation" as well. and that's, to me, that was a total paraphrase not an accurate quote. that's the idea, right, that what i'm opposed to is -- you know, the military and that upsets people, i think. but again, you know, i've spent the most -- member of the

the u.s. military to turn the war around and end the war in iraq for good in december of 2011. the president said that his views were shaped in vietnam. >> when his brother was injured by a mine, chuck risked his life to pull him to safety. to this day he bears the scars from battles he fought in our name. >> in 2008 he traveled to afghanistan, iraq, kuwait and jordan with then candidate obama and went toe to toe defending him against the presidential nominee john mccain. >> i think john is treading on very thin ground here. >> his views remain an open wound for this freshman congressman who served in iraq and afghanistan. >> he came out against the surge. he delayed emergency funding for the troops in 2007 even after the surge succeeded in 2008. he still said it wasn't because of the troops. >> former defense secretary robert gates urged him to confirm hagel swiftly zrig him as a man of patriotism. even though they disagreed over some issues sush such as the iraqi surge. >> bret: let's get some perspective. brit hume is here tonight with us. good evening. >> supporters of hage

a right not legation to go in there and destroy that regime fascist panas well i don't look at the iraq war i was against the iraq war afghanistan i think there's an argument for that but this idea that somehow america imposing its values across the world is the norm that's not true and the united states getting involved in the second world war leaving five hundred fifty thousand men dead in in africa in asia and europe a war it could know that i read a lot of money and again i go there are going to try you know their knowledge let's take the example of libya the second world war i think the arab league should not going in there ok well then we should mention it libya libya was the wrong decision you know what i don't i do not understand libya gadhafi was turning right he's been a monster and we tolerated him he wanted to become part of the west and we got rid of him i was completely against libya i'll go further i think mubarak should have been supported i think the arab spring is going to be a disaster for democracy and minorities and women and gay people and christians throughout the ara

soldier to survive after losing both his arms and legs in the iraq war and only the seventh person inl double arm transplant surgery. >>> iran says it has sent a live monkey into space monday. the monkey was strapped into something that looks like a car seat. the iranian spokesperson says it returned to earth safely. the state department has not confirmed the flight but says the launch could show that iran is developing long-range missiles. >>> and new competition at the westminster kennel club. two new breeds will compete this year. the russell terrier dates back to the 1800s and was used for horse hunting. and the tree walker coonhound is energetic and suited for tracking wild raccoons. the competition begins next month. this is the "cbs morning news." st said that the acid in fruit or fruit juice softens the enamel so it can potentially erode. once that enamel is gone it's gone. my dentist recommended pronamel. pronamel protects your teeth from the effects of acid erosion. i don't have to cut out the things that i love in my diet. chili's lunch combos starting at just 6 bucks. try

president obama campaigned on ending the war in iraq in 2008. he promised, did bring the iraq war to a close. when president obama took the office -- took the oath of office four years ago, there were 144,000 u.s. troops in iraq. today it is about 200. that right there is what americans consider about the single greatest accomplishment of his first term. heading into his second term, the president has just come off a campaign in which he promised to bring america's other war, our longest war ever to a close, the war in afghanistan. here is the president tonight at the commander in chief ball with members of the military and their families. the president announced two weeks ago with hamid karzai, the president of afghanistan, that american troops will transition out of a combat role in that country in this spring. he says all american troops will come home by the end of next year. >> this generation of americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. a decade of war is now ending. [ applause ] we the people s

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the generals. we invade iraq, recklessly, on false premises. we wasted billions of dollars fighting the warthe wrong way for many, many years. and strategically i think we wind up knocking down the bulwark of power, and we turn over iraq to iran basically. strategically not a good idea either. so the bush administration makes so many mistakes that a thinking kind of lays down a smokescreen through which it's hard to see the military. but i think at this point, asked the melted some tough questions. what have you guys learned? how have you adapted? the romans prided themselves on adopting the tactics of their enemies. it made me stop and think. what enemy tactics have we've adopted? you don't want to adopt random ieds. but it made me wonder, are the things we could've done we should learn that we haven't? as john noggle has famously written about the army needs to be a learning organization, what is a learning, how is a learning? these are the questions we should be asking. why aren't we asking them? i think a big part of the problem is with, as i said, people not wanting to just the militar

expressed internally is the highest form of loyalty. >> that's where you want to come back to the iraq warthe current iraq war and ask why you think it is to the extent there has been blamed to portion, it is rested mostly with bush and those who chose to pursue the war. the military has not been large been seen by the public to be accountable for what by any accounts was an awfully long-term come expensive and not super successful effort to do a country that was far smaller than u.s., had nothing like resources be brought to bear. why has the military not been held accountable and are there places that explain not? >> the first reason is that errors of the bush administration were accused edited skiers behind them and we also want to support the troops, so we confuse supporting the troops but not criticizing generals. we invade iraq recklessly on false premises. we waste billions of dollars fighting a war the wrong way for many, many years and strategically, we wind up knocking on the old work of power in iran to turn over iraq to iran basically. strategically not such a good idea either.

the war. what did we find in the poll with regards to the war in iraq? >> it was fascinating, a number we had. 51% the iraq war wasn't worth it. that it was the near 60% and that's been the case since 2007 and the nbc/wall street journal poll. the iraq war is the most understated issues in the last few years and this was an issue that propelled president obama into the white house and allowed him to beat hillary clinton and beat john mccain in the 2008 general election and it's important to note that four years ago as president obama was taking the oath of office, there were 140,000 troops in iraq, now that number is just 200. so a pretty significant change in that country and certainly one of the issues that maybe we're not talking about as much as we should be. >> all right. mark murray, nbc new senior political editor. thank you, sir. >> thanks, craig. >> a potential breakthrough is being treated with skepticism. house republicans on friday announced a plan to extend the debt ceiling deadline until mid-april. >> we will extend the debt limit until the

he was talking about the war that did turn out to be an eight and a half yearlong war in iraq. bill kristol, the living, breathing symbol of wrong about national security, mr. kristol has a fresh deal going. now his new project is that he wants to stop the nomination of former senator chuck hagel as secretary of defense. president obama today chose the republican for nebraska for that job. despite having been fine with mr. hagel even as a possible vice president for george w. bush in 2000, bill kristol is now leading the opposition to chuck hagel at defense. bill kristol, the same guy who said iraq would take two months, who said the only consequences of us bombing iran already would be good consequences, the man who thought up the sarah palin vice presidency, the one man in america who can least be the arbiter of what is reasonable in national security. that same one guy bill kristol now bought chuckhagel.com where you can go to learn that bill kristol believes that chuck hagel is not a responsible option. oh, senator hagel, may you always be blessed with comically nonself-awar

iraq. i mean, you have to remember that chuck hagel bailed out on the bush administration and on the republicans on the iraq war far earlier than almost anybody else in the republican party, at least in the senate at that time. and there were a lot of bruised feelings in that time. and people can't say that now because no one wants to step out and defend a war that today looks like a lot worse judgment than it may have the day that they went in. and hagel had voted for the iraq war resolution. but i think there's a lot of residual element there is that have been stilling over into the arguments now about israel and iran. on israel i think that the key element for chuck hagel was that he has -- while he has voted for almost every package of support for israel, he has gone back and questioned whether the israelis are making the right judgments in their own long-term interests on settlements, on how they've dealt with iran, on how -- on many ways of dealing with the palestinians, everything from building a wall to how they allow the palestinians to move in and out of the territories. and he has not simply taken th

the aisle will agree with. >> he turned against the war in iraq, basically, although his criticism of it was pretty, actually, pretty good. >> he wasn't even for the war in iraq, but then he voted for it. >> peter, what do you make of it? >> the irony is chuck hagel's skepticism about the military efficacy of military action against iran is very, very similar to what we're hearing from the national security establishment in israel. chuck hagel's view, which is that war once launched with iran could have unpredictable consequences and would not necessarily be that effective is the same thing said by israeli generals. >> the same thing he said about iraq. about what happened afterwards. and he was attacked. >> this is chuck hagel's real sin, i think, from the perspective of people like lindsey graham and john mccain. he has learned lessons from iraq and afghanistan, these two disastrous wars that are cost us so much that he's putting into action in his thinking about iran, that is exactly what the contemporary leadership of the republican party refuse to do. >> he was attacked by bill kristol when he was saying