worst possible times in terms of the tension; you know, again, another flare-up between the united states and iraq. and i had just heard on cnn, which i finally stopped watching that the state department said, "americans, don't go here- do not go." and i wrote david this teary, ethical letter, actually saying, "my responsibility as a parent seems to keep me from taking this journey." but i was serious. i mean, i really wrestled in terms of responsibility, ethical patterns of action, because we were hearing some very frightening things about the animosity over there. when we got there- i mean, the tendency, even though you've heard about it, is to think, you know, i'm just a humble religious studies professor from burrell, illinois- you know, i'm no threat to the islamic community. but you come over there, as we'll see, and you realize that you become a symbol for something way larger. and since we're talking about the ethical dimension and its impact on the social dimension, i can't stress enough what we discovered in our conversations, that while saddam hussein is seen as a brute and as an unethi

brotherhood led government in the hopes that you know the united states in a different egypt can get along i agree that the intervention in iraq was misguided and that the united states as charles said greatly overestimated its ability to bring about a political transformation of iraq but that was a military intervention carried out for other reasons which was then justified and tried to turn into a political reconstruction mission ok charles what do you think about that because again there's a lot of hypocrisy here and people on the ground see it ok the americans will support this democratic movement but not that one i mean how do you explain that to them i think you just sit straight like we're doing on this show and it cept the idea that there are moments when the united states can lean forward and push democracy there are other moments when the trade offs are too dear and therefore the united states eases off but i would agree with tom is that i don't when it comes to the arab spring the u.s. has general done a pretty good job it is dealing with the muslim brotherhood and a set of pull. nicol actor is that for a long time most american poli

united states has raised some speculation that the united states might be losing some influence in the country and also some speculation that the united states itself may have put some pressure behind iraq to cancel this deal now when it comes to this particular deal iraq has said that they are not canceling it at this moment time things are just on hold until they can review this investigation pending the results at that time they say that they are going to be sending a new delegation to russia to review the deal possibly resigned the deal saying that some of the original negotiators on the iraqi side may have been the sources of this corruption which started this whole conflict in the first place. well government and business consultant christoph still says the complications of the deal are a sign of pressure from washington if this deal head gone through that would have meant for the iraqi people it kind of you know starting a balanced situation of the evening with east and west so to say and that would be healthy for the iraqi people because this is in line with their geographical very simple geographical situation now putting this deal under pressure you know that means that the u.

and threw out other countries. what can the united states do in terms of state -- starting in iraq and the throughout the other countries. what can the united states do in terms of this? that is not their first inclination. >> it is suggested the united states should not really do much, because the women in the united states that are pro gender equality do not appreciate what it looks like to be gender equal -- do not appreciate when people start telling them what it looks like to be gender equal. >> the story recently in tahrir square, where there are vigilante groups taking their own action to protect women from harassment, does this have to come from within? >> indonesia, for example, just to give you an example of what happened -- in tunisia, just to give you an example of what happened there, when you look at a loss that they passed for the election, the election laws -- when you look at bill laws -- at the laws that they pass for the election, the election laws, you have more women -- that they passed for the election, the election laws, you have more women. they have a larger representation. they are still debati

has escaped is the certainly the net of the political process in the united states is just how calamitous these two major wars in iraq and afghanistan have been for the united states and just all kinds of ways i mean this is a situation i think unprecedented in the history of this country where within the space of one decade the united states has fought two major wars both of which were disastrous wars and which showed that the u.s. military and the pentagon are incapable of advancing the interests of the united states in a key part of the world namely the middle east and south asia southwest asia and that in fact when they are given the authority to use force the results are just absolutely the worst possible results in terms of u.s. interests around the world as well as at home and of course kyra they say that the raids but it pulls calamity back to courtesy of mother nature with such massive damage from superstorm sandy so many people homeless is still without power even tonight how difficult is it for a bomber and romney to keep campaigning for the same time spending so much money on the army. well i don't think they

and security of the >>guest: it is. the part of the world with united states has been involved in the iran-iraq war, desert shield, desert storm and operation in iraqi freedom. it is a big topic and it needs to be discussed and investigated. >>host: where do you begin talking about u.s. involvement? >>guest: the u.s. involvement in the valleys goes much further back. we specifically look at the persian and gulf even though they sent some ships it is really world for to the united states and military get involved in a big way. surprisingly it does not have to do with the oil. world war ii marked the entry of the united states and its military to provide a secure pathway for supplies to the beleaguered soviet russian allies in their quest to defeat the germans. the persian gulf was one pathway to bring e equipment through the back channel through persia through the mountains picked up by a the russians by tehran. and a much smaller percentage were involved with trading missions with there and and saudi arabia. but our 60,000 uniformed troops left the supply delivery business to rush up. those small numbers of the advisers

dealer behind the united states it is specifically geared towards air defense systems attack helicopters and missiles and it gives you a little bit of a look into the internal politics of iraq there in a very vulnerable situation they are neighbors. and they've been looking to the united states for support they've been looking to iran for support as well as russia for support so kind of trying to play all sides of the deck if you will to gain some support in fact moloch he has said in the past that he doesn't want to be one countries a pawn when it comes to an arms monopoly is one reason why he went to russia as well not to rely on the united states has raises some speculation that the united states might be losing some influence in the country and also some speculation that the united states itself may have put some pressure behind iran to cancel this deal now when it comes to this particular deal iraq has said that they are not canceling it at this moment in time things are just on hold until they can review this investigation pending the results at that time they say that they are going to be sending a new delegation to russia to review the deal pasta. we resigned the de

iraq. tommy franks, ricardo sanchez, george casey. petraeus went in and got the united states out of the war in iraq and for that the nation owes him a great debt and yet we seem to have forgotten his combat tours and we focus on aspects of his private life. what i say in my book is we need to focus much more on high standards of professional duty, i would much rather have an excellent general who slept around a little bit than a mediocre general who kept his pants on. >> the hearings that went on today seem to have vindicated him in many ways. he was remarkably composed given all he's been through in the last week, very forensic about the detail and at the end of the day cleared up a lot of the issues surrounding the benghazi incident and not pretending there hadn't been mistakes made and that there was some sort of conspiracy going. was that your reading of it? >> pretty much. i always thought fox news had gone whacko on this and was stirring up a lot of anxiety about a bad situation in which a lot of things are inherently unknowable. i have tried to report several times thr

iraq after the united states what exactly went wrong here. well who see the time. of this certainly is curious considering the announcement of this deal was made just to back in early october and in fact it was announced in october this deal would have made as you mentioned russia the number two arms dealer for iraq behind the united states and that leads to speculation that this cancellation may have been caused by pressure from the united states in fact when this deal was announced it raised some eyebrows for people wondering what this meant for the u.s. was the u.s. losing a foothold in iraq meaning that they didn't have as much influence there now if you look at the. iraq's foreign policy they're a little bit in a vulnerable position they have iran on one side they're surrounded you know with in a hostile region basically and so their foreign policy has been all over the map so to speak they've been looking to iran for support looking to the united states for support as well also looking to russia so after this deal was announced they said that they were going to cancel this deal under concerns of corruption and that investigation is now under way now let's talk a little b

so the persian gulf route represented one pathway the united states could send lease equipment through a back channel, through persia and iraq or iran, through the mountains, and were picked up by the russians north of tehran. and for a second reason, a much smaller percentage of personnel were involved in training missions, in both iran and saudi arabia. but whereas after the end of world war ii, our 60,000 uniformed and civilian troops left the supply delivery business to russia, they left the gulf, those small number of advisors in saudi arabia and in iran stuck around for decades, and it's that role that really represented america's influence that stemmed from world war ii, the pro longed war in the gulf. >> host: professor, i think of the british when i think of the involvement in the middle east. when and how did they step back their involvement? >> guest: well, with regard to the gulf, the brits arrived in the 1800s. and it represented their quest to provide order to a part of -- on the flanks to their imperial interests in india. the southern coast of the gulf had been called in the 1800s, the pirate coast, and the c

and united states have need one point four trillion dollars for total war spending in iraq and afghanistan since two thousand and one never wondered what one point four trillion dollars would buy well it could be the annual energy costs for every household in america five years but i hear you saying that would not do very much to decrease our dependence on foreign oil there are enough. one point four trillion dollars could convert every home in america to one hundred percent solar energy. over or it could convert every home in america to one hundred percent wind energy nine times over for groceries for everyone in the country for free for two years or to provide scholarships to every college student in america and award them a fifty five hundred dollar grant seven times over the more turn all volunteer firefighters into full time employees and pay them a full salary for twenty three years or pay the full time salaries of every public school teacher for the next six years instead we took one point four trillion dollars pay a small black ops team to hunt track and kill osama bin ladin oh we

belonging to the militant group hezbollah wanted by the united states in the deaths of five americans, is now a free man. iraq had him behind bars and to hand him over. going against the wishes of the united states, iraq released the suspect now home in lebanon still considered a huge security threat to america. peter doocy following the story. >> reporter: vice president biden called iraqi prime minister maliki this week and told him it was important not to release the hezbollah affiliated terrorist accused of killing at least five american troops. by the iraqi prime minister said his country no longer had legal grounds to hold them they released him. now he's back home in beirut. republican senators mccain and graham are floored by the way things unfolded and released a joint statement that says, the release further shows that america's influence in the region is waning as a result of this administration's failed foreign policy. the united states now has so little influence that it could not prevail upon the iraqi government to extradite him to the united states to stand trial for his crimes. senator mccain did not stop there. >>

suppress the and repress the opposition these are client states of the united states bahrain is the u.s. fifth fleet the navy kuwait as we all know the role that it played in both wars against iraq kuwait is very much dependent on saudi arabia and the united states and so all of this is part of the geo political calculus of us that germany us this not want to see its control over the region slip away by something as piddling as the democratic aspirations of the people of the region. and has just mentioned the bahraini regime continues to mute anti-government slogans on the streets on our website r.t. dot com find out the latest on the protests which have been ongoing for more than twenty months now. and the u.k. set for a clash with its partners over how much britain pays for its membership it seems there's still a chance to save taxpayers money back at home it's been revealed that m.p.'s there are spending tens of thousands of pounds flying to exotic destinations on so-called fact finding mission artists are first reports. rio china miami we might all dream of just being off to some exotic destination but unfortunately in the middle of a double dip recession with thirty measure

united states bahrain is the u.s. fifth fleet the navy kuwait as we all know the role that it played in both wars against iraq kuwait is very much dependent on saudi arabia andthe united states and so all of this is part of a geo political calculus that us that germany us does not want to see its control over the region slip away by something as italy as the democratic aspirations of the people of the region. stargazers now have a chance to spot a manmade moral hold the night sky with their own eyes get a tip to see the space station with nasa text alerts telling you when the i.s.a.'s is flying overhead the details online plus a prize for the pied piper who can read a small south african town where rats are on the rampage on our website we'll tell you the bounty for being a robot terminator. finally in the news block some of russia's most radical political groups were out in force sunday from diehard nationalists now right fascists in dozens of cities tens of thousands joining marches chanting against immigration israel islam and all things foreign cafe not was watching the crowds in moscow. the slogans and the messages that we've been hearing from the crowd

united states bahrain is the u.s. fifth fleet the navy kuwait as we all know the role that it played in both wars against iraq kuwait is very much dependent on saudi arabia and the united states and so all of this is part of a geo political calculus of u.s. germany u.s. does not want to see its control over the region slip away by something as piddling as the democratic aspirations of the people of the region. the u.s. is literally a raising we could leagues from memory with the national archives banning any surge that includes the whistle blowing organizations name civil rights groups joined by librarians on happy tools saying such blatant censorship is akin to george orwell's ministry of truth and laws kerry has been speaking to him he's the leader of the u.k. pirate party he's little good in the band. mission of the library of congress is trying to preserve a collective body of knowledge the job of any line reached shortly should be to share that knowledge well it is frankly not surprising that such organizations that are under pressure to actually conform to these kind of classification law but essentially this is still censorship and censorship laws act

united states bahrain is the u.s. fifth fleet the navy kuwait as we all know the role that it played in both wars against iraq kuwait is very much dependent on saudi arabia and the united states and so all of this is part of the geo political calculus of us that germany u.s. does not want to see its control over the region slip away by something as piddling as the democratic aspirations of the people of the region. the main players are said to square up to britain calling on it to the side if it really wants to stay part of the club this after this week's bruising for prime minister david cameron his own m.p.'s turning on him and siding with the opposition in a vote urging a cut to be yearly payments to fund the new deputy prime minister warned the political rebellion could see britain isolated within the bloc cameron's conservatives are using it to push for the people to choose whether to appoint he. just like everyone from inflation increase on the budget would equate to an extra three hundred million pounds a year and that would increase over the multi annual budget up to two thousand and twenty and at a time when you pay families are having to make very

one part might have book is these track things in the united states and the key one we're in now is the post-911 era of war in iraq, war in afghanistan and it's not surprising to me that we have a revisiting here of this more teddy roosevelt culture. >> we've got 20 seconds left and that's all. do you want to make a closing comment d i'll call on you for about 10 seconds. david. >> i think -- i do think the film is antisemitic in the sense that it does any more than any other jesus film in american history to exonerate pile last time and blame jesus. >> and yet there is so much a jewish jesus including questions from the passover, why ishis night different from all other nights and it's again this schizophrenia, we need to answer that question who is jesus and we're still working on it. that question who is jesus and we're still working on it. >> thank you so much, david, and

that is that given what happened in the bush years and certainly with iraq, with united states seemingo dictate a lot of foreign policy in the middle east and elsewhere, the white house has kind of seen particularly with a lot of changes in the middle east, new leadership in egypt, the arab spring taking rein, that it's better than the united states always going up front and dictating what other countries need to do is trying to finesse things and work behind the scenes to make things work. we'll see if that is able to work going on right now in gaza. >> mark, thank you very much. and both sides have aggressively tried to control the narrative using twitter, blogs, and even youtube. when the israeli military began in offensive last week, it immediately posted this video on youtube of the air strike that killed that top hamas leader as well as a block post explaining why he was targeted. this prompted "forbes" to write this may be the first war declared via twitter. palestinian activists have been actively posting pictures of the dead and wounded. "newsweek" and "the daily beast" corres