welwelcome back to the program, general tony zinni! general!eers and applause) >> jon: sir, i am stunned. the book is called "before the first shots are fired." how could you have known that the united states would find itself in armed conflict? (laughter) >> well, it was not hard, since we have been at it. and in the last 25 years ever since the end of the cold war, we've never figured out what this world is about and our place and role is in it and we keep stumbling through and stumbling into many of these armed conflicts and actually making the situation worse. what we've inherited today is largely because we intervened in places without a strategy and a clear understanding of what we needed to do if we needed to do anything. >> jon: so in some respects, but destabilizing the middle east through our intervention, we have destabilized it? >> yes (laughter) masterfully. i think when we went into iraq, it was an unnecessary war. wrong war, wrong place. (cheers and applause) i think our business was with al quaida in afghanistan. we got distract

. >> retired general tony zinni proposes way to make our use of force around the world more effective argues that the u.s. should rethink its role as the world's police and be more skeptical about using force to solve our problems. this is about an hour. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. i wanted to talk a little bit, first, about how the book came about. i often get accused of maybe setting the stage for events today, you know? i guess for an author watching what's going on now and having a book like this, you know, it seems like perfect timing, unfortunately. i started out to write a very different book than this. i was, you know, really thinking about the way conflict goes today compared to wars and military interventions of the past. i think all of us know we talk about the greatest generation, world war ii, the good war, you know? we were attacked, you know, we as a nation came together. we had clear objectives, there were men like marshall and fdr and others that were in the leadership positions. and we managed to handle it in a way that seemed very satisfying in the end. it w

retired general tony zinni proposes ways to make her use of force around the world more effective. he argues the world should rethink its use of police and be more skeptical of using force to solve our problems. this is about an hour. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. i wanted to talk a little bit first about how the book came about. i often get accused of maybe setting the stage for events and is an author watch what's going on now and having a book like this it seems like perfect timing unfortunately. i started out to write a very different book than this. i was really thinking about the way conflict goes today compared to wars and military interventions of the past. i think all of us know, reasonably talk about the greatest generation, world war ii, the good war. we were attacked and we as a nation came together. we had clear objectives. they were men like marshall and fdr and others that were in leadership positions. and we managed to handle it in a way that seemed very satisfying in the end. it was the first time in our history that the winner paid reparations when you think

. >> charlie: general tony zinni is here, has served as commander-in-chief of u.s. central command and special envoy of israel and palestinian authority under george w. bush, retired in 20000 as a four-star general after a 40-year military career. he examines the policies in which we wage war called "before the first shots were fired: how america can win or lose off the battlefield." i am pleased to have gen. zinni back to the table. >> glad to be here. >> charlie: let's talk about the crisis and then we'll incorporate the book. the president is in europe having the conversation clearly about ukraine and then i.s.i.s. >> yes. >> charlie: tell me what you think the president ought to be thinking about and decisions he has to make and what decisions he should make. >> given where he is now in wales and with the n.a.t.o. discussions, this is absolutely a crucial moment. the direction n.a.t.o. takes, the definition of what n.a.t.o. is something that we haven't dealt with really since the end of the cold war and, obviously, because of the things you mentioned, the i.s.i.

general zinni, tony zinni, who used to be head of central command thought two brigades of american troops be enough to do a job. that's a healthy amount of troops to put on the ground. the west, i think, we're obviously very reluctant to do so. the last thing in the world we need is to have our reputation in the region further besmirched by those who think we're siding with shia in a confessional civil war. >> when you look at what some of these countries are looking to, qatar, notoriously accused of funding al nusra, a branch of al qaeda and saudi arabia having a checkered history here. does that matter some is that a fair criticism? >> they obviously were pursuing what they perceived to be their interest at the time and it seems to me they've come to the view as we have with this particular opposition they were funding is out of bounds and is really just sort of beyond the pale. so the fact that they're changing doesn't surprise me. i would assume that given their past relationships with isis and isis-affiliated people that they might have some interesting intelligence that we could use

[applause] >> thank you, general tony zinni. thank you for being with us. ref copies of this wonderful book and would like you to have your books signed. thank you all, and good evening. [inaudible conversations] >> booktv is on twitter. follow was to get publishing news, schedule updates, offer information and to talk directly with authors to our live programming. twitter.com/the booktv. >> daniel green and william mullen come to operation iraqi freedom veterans who took part in taking fallujah back from insurgents in 2007 talk about their expenses in iraq. also about isis and use of american force. this is about one hour. >> [inaudible conversations] >> good afternoon. i'm bradley graham, co-owner of politics and prose along with my wife, and on behalf of the entire staff, welcome and thank you for coming out on this lovely afternoon. a couple of quick administrative notes. notes. now would be a good time to turn off a cell phone or anything that might be during the presentation. when we get to the q&a session, because were being filmed we would especiall

at 8:forty-five retired general tony zinny talks about isis in the use of american force. and corruption in the international oil industry. our prime time programming continues at 11:00 p.m. with new york senator kissinger brand who talks about her life in politics and encourages women to make a difference in the world. that all happens tonight on c-span2's booktv. >> attorney stephen halbrook argues the nazi germany in government used gun-control to disarm and repress its amenities and consolidate power. he spoke at the independent institute in oakland, calif.. is about 90 minutes. >> good evening, ladies and gentlemen. my name is david theroux and i'm a founder and president of independence institute. i am delighted to welcome you this evening. this is another meeting of the independent policy forum and in addition to our audience here and a conference center in oakland, california, i welcome our viewers on c-span and also those joining us worldwide to our live streaming on line. independent policy forum is a series of lectures, seminars, and debates at the independent i

. >> general tony zinni said you've got to get them out of iraq, meaning isis.o ask you how imperative now that we've got british forces overhead, how imperative is to the stop isis before they surge on baghdad? >> it's very important. and i'm actually concerned that we're looking at a baghdad that will blow up. we have shia militia forces, iraqi security forces and it will devolve into something we saw earlier in 2005, 2006. but i think that when you're looking at isis itself, simply going after isis in iraq is not sufficient. the group doesn't recognize the border between iraq and syria and will be able to retreat back into syria and remain a vigil lent threat against the united states. >> really interesting discussion there. thanks to both of you. >> thank you. >>> coming up, doctors on the front lines of ebola find a way to help the sick using an unlikely form of treatment. chelsea clinton has given birth to a baby girl. we'll tell you how hillary clinton is reacting to becoming a grandmother. support both mental sharpness and physical energy with berocca. p