host:"the guardian" newspaper has pictures of tony blair appearing before a panel yesterday on the panel about iraq in his role with the troops there. it is written that on the long awaited cross-examination, he gave no substantial grounds over what he sent 40,000 u.k. troops to disarm saddam hussein over weapons she did not possess. he had to take the decision as prime minister. it was a huge responsibility. there's not a single the of the passes by that he does not think of that responsibility. faced with the charge that 100,000 i iraqi civilians lost their lives, he said he did not doubt that leaving who saddam hussein' in power would have ben

or, well, actually it's tony blair, was trying to do it. was to intervene in relation to the question of how these issues can be solved. but as the gentleman behind you knows, the quartet's -- the quartet envoy has a very limited mandate. in my case, i thought that the mandate was greater, and for a time people humerd me by pretending that i did in fact have a mandate to go beyond economic development. but if you read carefully the terms of the quartet envoy, it is essentially an economic post. it is not a political post. and to drive that home, to me, i was told by some of my members of the quartet, notably

that came out of that these events as i recall with tony blair, the prime minister, was publishing an intelligence-based dossier that explained why he believed iraq was a curt serious and credible threats. and then lots and lots and lots of detail and virtually serious every point within the dossier was getting some sort of attention. we did not see it and did not plan our communications around that particular point. >> i think jonathan powell will send you an e-mail on the 19th of september. what would be the headline in the standard on the day of publication? what we wanted to be? what did you want it to be? >> what did i reply? >> i don't know. >> by then, i know that we have and maybe i have her reputation about worrying and obsessing about headlines. they never did for a very large. that is in the downing street because i reached the point of

you no doubt have seen the records of the visit, but also you'll have the opportunity to speak to tony blairimself. but in terms of the context that i'm trying to give you is not that george bush is saying, come on, tony, we've got to go to war. he was saying we've got this real problem with saddam hussein. post-septemberseptember 11th bo, he was saying, share this analysis, and tony bayer was on -- blair was on -- he mentioned this in his very first statement after september 11th, his genuine fear of wmd, failed states, terrorism coming together with absolutely lethal devastating consequences. they shared that analysis. they clearly shared the analysis that saddam was an awful, brutal dictatorial, barbarous regime. they shared the fear about his wmd program. and george bush is simply saying as he said publicly at the press conference, our policy is regime change. tony blair was making clear that the british policy was to pursue disarmament to force him to face up to his obligations as a success accessive united nation resolutions. and as i recall it -- i wasn't at that meeting, but i recall

us i reread tony blair's speeches going way pack. there's a whole panoply put there, why did the issue of w.m.d. become so central? because that was what gave rise to the -- to the fear and the sense of -- of a serious and credible threat to regional stability, and also, as i mentioned, in relation to september 11th, the prime minister was absolutely seized and i think still is, seized of the swrue that if the world is not vigilant on this issue of w.m.d., it is a matter of time where something terrible happens in relation to them linking them with terrorist groups. that's his mind-set and people can disagree with it or not. but that's where he was coming from. w.m.d. was the regime part of it? of course. and would somebody like tony blair from the day he went into politician, and saddam hussein should be got rid of. yes, he was. what was that the policy he pursued? no. he was trying to -- to, through the u.n. lead the british government in direction of pursuing a policy that would lead ultimately, to saddam hussein. when it came to

he then came around -- people say he was bullied by political reasons by tony blair. so tony blair has to ask the questions did he think at all about the legality question? the evidence was he wasn't open about it. and the failure to plan. and indeed of the aftermath of the invasion, the occupation of iraq. and i suppose i should say also the evidence so far is that despite blair supporting bush so strongly, the evidence is britain had very little influence -- no influence on the military tactics but also the tactics on how to cope with an occupied iraq. >> current prime minister gordon brown served with tony blair during the iraq war years. what was his role and will he testify before the inquiry? >> well, that's a good question because at the beginning they said we don't want to get involved in party politics but that was a forlorn hope because it got a lot of coverage in parliament and a lot of issues emerged from this inquiry and gordon brown has agreed to give testimony before the general election. the idea he and the other ministers would not do so until after t

the second thing to has been a context will analysis of speech tony blair made at crawford that if youthe speech he talks about regime change in general and there's a couple of paragraphs later he goes on to talk about iraq and when he's talking about iraq is using language similar to that i do about the threat posed to the world by iraq's weapons of mass destruction and jonathan powell i think offered some about the link and i will have the chance to ask mr. blair about that next friday. >> so there was a certain difference of view, i think i attempted this between you and the prime minister on the regime change which use a perfectly natural, but the same time you were loyal to his point of view. there were number of locations and the speech was one. there were more in 2003 where the pan mr. bracketed disarmament weapons of mass destruction of international terrorism in justifying the approach he was taken to iraq in 2003, february for the civil he said the stance of the world takes now against saddam is not justifiable in its own right is a huge test of seriousness in dealing with a

. ♪ >> for british prime minister, tony blair, tet -- former british prime minister, tony blair, testifiesoday, he is expected to be asked about the decision to go to war and military intelligence today. you can follow an online ad c- span.org or on c-span 3. president obama is speaking today at the annual retreat for republicans. during his state of the union on wednesday, the president called for a lift on the ban on gays in the military. the chairman of the joint chiefs will testify before congress next week about that. now you can hear his comments live at 3:00 p.m. eastern on c- span. >> you feel that american jobs can be an instrument for spreading good will overseas? >> i think so. >> without question he was the single most important figure in jazz in the 20th-century. >> this weekend, at 8:00 p.m. eastern and pacific, on c-span, "q&a." >> john u. talks about his new book, "crisis and command," this weekend in "book tv." >> "washington journal" continues. host: jim mctague is here to talk was about jobs. what is the president's payroll tax credit going to look like? guest: he is ela

look, the big message and the big point that came out of that day's events as i recall was the tony blair, prime minister was publishing and intelligence based dossier that explained why he believed iraq was the current serious and credible threats and then lots and lots and lots of detail, virtually every single point was getting some sort of attention. >> we did not see it and did not plan our communications around that particular point. >> i think jonathan powell sent an e-mail on the ninth of september, would be the standard on the day of publication, what we wanted to be? >> how did i replied? >> i don't know. [laughter] what did you want to do? >> look, i know that we have and maybe i have a reputation as a sort of wording and obsessing about headlines but the truth is i don't and never did. a very large time that i was on dowling street because i reached the point of understanding this guy is back to the point about what strategic communications is. it's not about one headline a and is whether you are communicating all the time, your objectives clearly, your strategics thinking cle

war. >> blair lied, thousands died. >> sreenivasan: blair had to avoid more than 150 protesters outside a london convention hall and chants of "jail tony!" and "blair lied, thousands died." but once he took his seat inside, blair defended his decision to have britain join the u.s. in the 2003 invasion of iraq. >> the primary consideration for me was to send an absolutely powerful, clear and unremitting message that, after september the 11th, if you were a regime engaged in w.m.d., you had to stop. >> sreenivasan: indeed, the former prime minister said there were strong fears that saddam hussein already had, or was working hard to obtain, chemical, biological or even nuclear weapons. >> so far as understanding the decision i took and, frankly, would take again-- if there was any possibility that he could develop weapons of mass destruction, we should stop him. that was my view. that was my view then, that is my view now. >> sreenivasan: the five member panel pressed blair on exactly when he offered to support then- president bush in the invasion of iraq. previous witnesses had claimed it was in 2002, more than a year before parliament a

former british prime minister tony blair is answering questions before an official inquiry looking into whether britain's involvement in the iraq war was justified. mr. blair is facing questions today on allegations that his government was so determined to topple saddam hussein that the exaggerated the content of intelligence reports on the weapons of mass destructive -- destructions. president obama is on his way to baltimore where he will visit a small business to announce a revised business tax credit. it would go to companies to hire new workers. the president then visits congressional republicans meeting in baltimore for their animal retreat. we will have live coverage of that starting at about 12:10. mike mullen talks about leadership today and strategy, participating in a discussion with john warner and others. live coverage of that at 3:00. >> deerfield that american jazz can be an instrument for spreading -- do you feel that american jazz can be an instrument for spreading good will overseas? >> i think so. just like a religion. >> he was without question the single most import

. >> the communications chief for tony blair testified last week on the iraq war.during the hearing, he denied beefing up the intelligence dossier. this is for hours, 20 minutes. -- mrs. 4 hours, 20 minutes. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> good morning, everyone. when we announced this first round of public hearings, we said that the first five weeks would be dedicated to establishing a chronology of the u.k.'s involvement in iraq between 2001-2009, and we have almost completed that face. today, we're moving on to hear from ministers and the most senior decision makers over the next four weeks. we will then take a break over the general election before we begin again in the summer. we have yet to decide which witnesses we will be calling back at that point, and these forthcoming sessions are not the only opportunity to hear from them. our approach in this phase is going to be built on what has already occurred, seeking further information, clarifying points, and exploring the perspectives. already heard to seek further information clarif

we don't want to see john reed or tony blair. >> it is easy for those guys to come back into the community and have a lot of supporters. >> these people, many self-appointed clerics are dominating the national debate and the debate within islam right now. they are the loudest voices. how is that possible? >> our scholars have educated themselves to preach islam are not coming out of their holes, their mosques to engage these people. they are frightened of that. sichlt so hanif is desperately trying to fix that, trying to get the mosque elders, many stuck in the tribal traditions of pakistan, to communicate with the younger generation. >> i would like to ask the young people because i'm part of the committee of next door mosque, which young man comes in the mosque and the mosque refuse them? >> how many times have you the community leader tried to-game with us the youths. >> sometimes the young people go into the mosque and older people are praying and you disturb their prayer. >> we are not attacking the mosques. >> what do you think is your most serious problem right now as young muslim m

he also had other characters around, like tony blair. of course, his time in office also got him [unintelligible] in addition to doing cartoons, " i told my caricatures, when people sit down in front of me, when i am thinking about them is in 3d. i made a life-size sculpture of george bush. i also turned him into an animated moving character. these are characters from today that we know. you can see the characters to play big roles here in washington. lieberman has made a kind of resurrection of late. this looks like it is made of silly putty. he is kind of moving through all of those muscles there. and then there are some people who do not want to go away. thank goodness. cartoonists were cheering when mccain nominated her. then we come to president barack obama. when a politician first comes into the public limelight, the characters are very close to the photographs. over time, the fish gets more exaggerated. last year at this time, when we had the election and post- election, this was barack obama. he looks like he is smiling all the

we don't want to see john reid, we don't want to see tony blair or any of your cronies. >> it's very easy for them guys to then come back into the community and have a lot of supporters. >> reporter: these people, many of them self-appointed clerics, are dominating the national debate and certainly the debate within islam right now. they are the loudest voices. how is that possible? >> because our scholars have educated themselves to preach islam are not coming out of their holes, their mosques, and their holes to engage with these people. they're frightened of that. >> reporter: so hanif is desperately trying to fix that, trying to get the mosque elders, many still stuck in the tribal traditions of pakistan, to communicate with the younger generation. >> i'd like to ask these young people, because i'm part of the committee of next door mosque, which man come into the mosque and the mosque refused them? >> how many times you tried to engage with us, the youth? i want to know. >> sometimes young people like you go in the mosque and older people are praying and you disturb the prayer.

-- look, the big message and the big point that came out of the day's events as i recall, that tony blair, the prime minister was publishing an intelligence-based dossier that he explained why current was a current and credible threat and lots and lots and lots of detail and virtually every single point within the dossier was getting some sort of attention, and some sort of coverage. we did not see it. and did not plan our communications around that particular point. >> i think jonathan powell will send you an email on the 9th of september. what will be the standard on the day of publication? what do we want it to be? >> what did i reply? >> i don't know. [laughter] >> what did you want it to be? >> look, by then you can -- i know that we have -- maybe i have a reputation of sort of worrying and obsessing about headlines. the truth is i don't and i never did for a very, very large period that i was in downey street because i reached the point of understanding -- this goes back to the point about what strategic communications is. it's not really about one headline. it's not about one bulle

geoff hoon served under tony blair. he testified at an inquiry to examine the british involvement in the iraq war. this is about one hour and 20 minutes. >> one of the things they kept referring to was a letter in october, on the 29th of october, we wrote that the u.s. planning was increasing, assuming that there would be no u.k. land contribution. >> let us presume where we left off. >> just following on from there we talk about these options, and the affected two employees were no. 2 and no. 3. no. 2 was a significant maritime a number three was a division. and you've given us some indication of the pressures and considerations for a division. how would -- how word different options and evaluated? you have indicated they had many implications. what was the process by which you assessed which of these would like to go for? >> in terms of what was actually achievable, i think it was assumed that we would want to be helpful to the united states in the situation, and therefore how would we go about contributing as much as

that has not been answered by tony blair.nd the other thing what do you think of the legal advice? most government lawyers and the

what george mitchell has been trying to do in the last two and a half years, or actually it's tony blair was trying to do it was to intervene in relation to the question of how these issues can be solved. but as the gentleman behind you know, the quartet -- the quartet envoy has a very limited mandate. in my case, i thought that the mandate was greater. and for a time, people humored me by pretending that i did in fact have a mandate to go beyond economic elements. but if you read carefully the terms of the quartet envoy, it is essentially an economic post. it is not a political post. and to drive that home, to me i was told by some of my members of the quartet, notably in this country that the furniture was about to remove did we should close the office. and in a short period of time, i had a farewell party to the members of my team, from the quartet. it was a sad but liquid affair that we had in jerusalem. and we parted shortly after that there was the solution to the problem which was an invasion of gaza, which lasted as you all remember maybe 24 hours. and that initiative turned on i

we have got tony blair and the iraqi. can you assure the public there is no specific threat against london this week? >> can i say what the nature of the alert is so that everybody is clear? when we raise the word from substantial to severe we need a terrorist attack is highly likely that we also say it is not expected to be imminent. i obviously go on the advice given to me by the secretary because it is his announcement of the joint terrorism adviser center. i have to tell you taking into account a number of factors not one factor, not a single potential fact we take into account a number of factors and we are returning the security to the situation it was from july, 2007 when we had the edge of the terrorist attack in london to july, 2008 and i have to reassure people in my statement last wednesday which perhaps something we wish to look at a bit more carefully in light of the announcement on friday it made it absolutely clear that of course there is a threat from terrorist groups who want to do damage to the country t

or, well, actually it's tony blair, was trying to do it. was to intervene in relation to the question of how these issues can be solved. but as the gentleman behind you knows, the quartet's -- the quartet envoy has a very limited mandate. in my case, i thought that the mandate was greater, and for a time people humerd me by pretending that i did in fact have a mandate to go beyond economic development. but if you read carefully the terms of the quartet envoy, it is essentially an economic post. it is not a political post. and to drive that home, to me, i was told by some of my members of the quartet, notably this country, that the furniture was about to be removed and that we should close the office. and in a short period of time, i had a fair well party to the members of my team from the quartet. it was a sad but liquid affair that we had in jerusalem. and we parted. shortly after that, there was the solution to the problem, which was an invasion of gaza, which lasted, as you'll remember, maybe 24 hours. and that initiative turned on itsel

tony blair. this is the second part of his testimony on the iraq war investigation. it's about two hours and 20 minutes. >> let's resume the questioning, and sir roderick? >> i just like to talk very briefly about the military campaign itself before i think sir lawrence wants to get into the more specialized assets of that aspect. basically, the campaign went extraordinarily well. was over much quicker than anticipated. is that right the? >> i think so, yes. i mean, i think extraordinary combination of very high technology and basic successful soldiery. >> was part of the reason it went so fast was the other side put up less of a fight that had been expected? >> i think the planning for what was described by the americans was in effect based warfare was very successful. they were able to target with astonishing precision the enemy to the extent that quite quickly large number some iraqi soldiers in various places simply went home. had the coalition's military intelligence about the enemy turned out to be accurate? >> not entirely, because i was certainly led to belie

he also had other characters around, like tony blair. of course, his time in office also got him [unintelligible] in addition to doing cartoons, " i told my caricatures, when people sit down in front of me, when i am thinking about them is in 3d. i made a life-size sculpture of george bush. i also turned him into an animated moving character. these are characters from today that we know. you can see the characters to play big roles here in washington. lieberman has made a kind of resurrection of late. this looks like it is made of silly putty. he is kind of moving through all of those muscles there. and then there are some people who do not want to go away. thank goodness. cartoonists were cheering when mccain nominated her. then we come to president barack obama. when a politician first comes into the public limelight, the characters are very close to the photographs. over time, the fish gets more exaggerated. last year at this time, when we had the election and post- election, this was barack obama. he looks like he is smiling all the

wondering about this week when we have the yemen conference, the afghanistan conference, we have tony blaird the iraq inquiry. can you reassure the public that there is no specific threat against london this week? >> can i just say what the nature of the alert is -- when we raise the alert from substantial to severe, we mean a terrorist attack is highly likely. but we also say it's not expected to be imminent. i go on the advice given me by the homeland secretary because its his announcement and his advice. but i have to tell you that they take into account a number of factors, not a single potential fact. we are returning the security alert to the situation it was after a year from july 2007, when we had the attempted attack in london, and like lasko caught up through 2008. in my statement last wednesday, which perhaps some people may wish to look at more carefully. it made it absolutely clear that there is a threat from terrorist groups that want to do damage to our country, but what measures we're taking to increase the security because of our knowledge of the new methods of terrorism an

. >> tony blair was the former prime minister before the inquiry. you will see that later. will also see this segment with president obama and republicans later on our schedule. abraham on the republican line. new york, your next. go ahead. we will go to springfield, illinois. craig, you are on the line. >> i really appreciate the sincerity. he seems to really get it. he seems to understand what everybody is thinking about. the one thing i want to reiterate is that we've got to unify this country. all of these battles are running the country. all of this bickering, let's just get together and work this out. let's get it all done. >> what did you think about the president's questions, morris? >> it was very useful. if there are any republicans out there to the watching how this works, it looked like the ultimate fix in match where the president was clean the fins of the other person insane, "please engage me. " walt reagan and tip o'neill did it quite well. ronald reagan had two terms in office. i hope the republicans are serious people who will engage the president. >> what

we talk about tony blair. he is saying, that is good, tony. make my day, sadam. his time in office got him lost a bid in the middle east. in addition to doing cartoons, when i drop my caricatures, i am also thinking of them in 3-d. so i made a sculpture of george bush life-size that i turned into a 3d character. i get used to his face. these are characters from today that we know. you can see the characters who play big roles here in washington. lieberman has made a resurrection of late. he has a great face. you can figure your thumbs moving through his muscles. some people who do not want to go away, thank goodness. the cartoonists were cheering when john mccain nominated her. we knew we would have a good time for a while. let's go to president barack obama. when a politician first comes into the public limelight, the characters are very close to the photographs. over time, the face gets more and more exaggerated. when we had the election and post election, this was barack obama. it looked like he was smiling all the time. during the campaign, i made a 3 d model

later, the british by iraq war and curry will have testimony from tony blair. we've been examining british involvement. live coverage begins at 9:00 eastern preve. >> representatives from 70 countries to set goals for the future of afghanistan. afghan president held a conference until the end of the country's improving national security. at the opening session, afghan leaders in the u.n. secretary general outline their goals for the conference. >> i like to welcome you all to london. let me welcome my fellow hosts. fro they represent over 70 nations and international organizations including every single member of the 43 nations strong international security assistance force. representing afghanistan's key regional and muslim partners, with whom we are pleased to work and whose involvement in this worldwide coalition to support peace and stability in this crucial region we welcome. this is a decisive tieme the cooperation that is helping the afghan people secured their own country. this conference marks the beginning of the transition process. agreeing the neces

later in the morning on c-span 3, tony blair will testify on the iraq war. coverage begins at 9:00 eastern. house speaker nancy pelosi said earlier that the president's spending freeze proposal should include the pentagon's budget. she spoke to reporters about the proposal and other parts of the state of the union address. from the capital, this is about 25 minutes. >> good morning.. last night, the president gave what i thought was a masterful presentation to the country. it was about his new foundation for prosperity, reiterating some of the building blocks of that foundation. his administration and our work in congress has always been about jobs, creating jobs, creating jobs to the budget, a blueprint for prosperity, to create jobs through investments in education and health care and an energy climate change legislation. those were the three pillars of the budget that give tax breaks for 95% of the people in our country and reduce the deficit. following up on this, it is important for us for the president to acknowledge the role of congress about passing

host:"the guardian" newspaper has pictures of tony blair appearing before a panel yesterday on the panel about iraq in his role with the troops there. it is written that on the long awaited cross-examination, he gave no substantial grounds over what he sent 40,000 u.k. troops to disarm saddam hussein over weapons she did not possess. he had to take the decision as prime minister. it was a huge responsibility. there's not a single the of the passes by that he does not think of that responsibility. faced with the charge that 100,000 i iraqi civilians lost their lives, he said he did not doubt that leaving who saddam hussein' in power would have ben wrong. one more call, about rouge, louisiana, republican line. caller: what i saw yesterday -- we will have to wait and see who was right and who was wrong when they check the facts. how much was the truth and how much was not the truth. i have been noticing this morning on your program that you should call this democrat-span because everyone of their people have dragged their to this morning. if you cannot realize what they are doing, they are

he also had other characters around, like tony blair. course, his time in office also got him [unintelligible] in addition to doing cartoons, " i told my caricatures, when people sit down in front of me, when i am thinking about them is in 3d. i made a life-size sculpture of george bush. i also turned him into an animated moving character. these are characters from today that we know. you can see the characters to play big roles here in washington. lieberman has made a kind of resurrection of late. this looks like it is made of silly putty. he is kind of moving through all of those muscles there. and then there are some people who do not want to go away. thank goodness. cartoonists were cheering when mccain nominated her. then we come to president barack obama. when a politician first comes into the public limelight, the characters are very close to the photographs. over time, the fish gets more exaggerated. last year at this time, when we had the election and post- election, this was barack obama. he looks like he is smiling all the tim

foreign affairs chief, with tony blair and with the spanish foreign minister.he will have a quartet meeting at the envoy level. special representative holbrooke is in -- is on his way and should be landing shortly in islamabad. he, this morning, was in abu dhabi where he had a meeting of the special representatives international network hosted by the u.a.e. the foreign ministers of afghanistan, pakistan and the u.a.e. and jordan also attended, as well as several g.c.c. countries and a portion of the meeting this morning, the network is one which meets regularly and is important mechanism for building support for the governments of afghanistan and pakistan. to the western hemisphere. assistant secretary valenzuela is in chile today. he will be meeting the president and will have separate meetings with the minister of foreign affairs fernandez and minister of finance velasco. he also plans to meet with presidential candidate eduardo frye and sebastian connaro and other political leaders in his visit. his visit is important because he will sign, on behalf of the u

you also had other characters around like tony blair.im lost it -- a bit. in addition to doing cartoons, when i draw my characters, when people sit down in front of me, i am also thinking of them in 3- d, so i even so much as a sculptor of george w. bush that i eventually turned into a 3-d digital animated movie character. these are characters from today that we know, okay? and you can see the characters who played big roles in washington here. lieberman, who has made a kind of the resurrection of late, and his face looks like it is made of silly putty. you can just see the flesh moving off of those muscles there. it is really great. and in some people who do not want to go away. thank goodness. the cartoonists were cheering when mccain nominated her. we knew that we would have a good time for a while. now, let's bring us to president barack obama. as i mentioned before, when a politician first comes into the public limelight, the caricaturist -- caricaturist our actual the close to the actual photograph, and over time, the face gets mor

, let's do away with all of the conspiracy theories about oil and was about george bush telling tony blair what to do. somebody who is been elected prime minister wants to get reelected does not do something as difficult and controversial as the really believe they should be doing. >> you yourself had no doubt about the case? >> i supported him through. i won't pretend i didn't have doubts about all sorts of things throughout the process. of course he did. and one of the doubt is whether he would survive. i remember myself saying are you sure, are you so sure about this you will put your entire reputation on the line we using to be and i record saddam has been a threat for far too long sometimes you just got to do the right thing regardless of what people around you may be saying and he believed that and i respect him for the we did that and i supported him the whole way through with doubts in on the we of course i had doubts and sometimes did you think that the americans were being and possibly difficult to deal with on this or that? of course you did. but the british government in my vie