obviously started under george w. bush it was double down under under president obama snowden would be a chief witness for you absolutely right what about the obstruction of justice against the submission oh it was always of obstructed justice money that they've done that multiple ways i mean that that the obstruction of justice charge basically applies to not only jury tampering but witness tampering trying to stop federal officials or state officials from engaging in in. the execution of the law one of the easiest ways to cite that would be for example the president's immigration policy you know simply saying we're not going to prosecute anybody between the ages of sixteen and thirty who's in the country illegally that's not a prosecutorial discretion issue that's a blanket statement that's a blanket political statement that the president is not empowered to make under the constitution if in fact i were to say if i were to go to the eye and sore eyes and i were to stop them from deporting anybody i'd be carted off to pri

w. bush's envoy, out front. at four towns damaged by incredibly severe tornadoes, rescue operations under way. we're going there live. let's go outfront. >>> good evening, everyone. out front tonight, breaking news, american troops heading back it iraq. soldiers are sent for support and security for the embassy in baghdad. the largest american embassy in the world with 5,000 people. also tonight, president obama meeting with his national security team to decide the united states next move in iraq. senior officials tell cnn the entire national security team spent much of the weekend preparing options for him to go through for potential military action against the al qaeda linked terror group isis. or islamic state of iraq and syria. isis now captured a northwest city in addition to villages northeast of baghdad. more than three dozen villages and towns. we are going live to baghdad in a moment and also speak with a key member of president george w. bush's team in iraq, paul bremer. he oversaw iraq following the f

you just mentioned on nato and on you know ukraine and georgia there were there are under george w. bush the relationship between moscow and washington of dopamine was also pretty challenging and and they have both putin and bush managed to maintain a respectful personal relationship up until the very end conversed me as you just suggested a bomb is very open in his dislike or sometimes even avoidance of putin and i wonder if it's a good idea and even more importantly is this strategy of open does then for russia likely to work with this country yes i think it's very unfortunate that this kind of slanging match between the two countries and. kind of reprisal actions by the two sides but that's a very destructive and dangerous way to conduct international relations and i think neither side is is is benefiting from from that i would agree with you that if it takes two to tango but i think you know they're american side is really in the lead here because it's not just the bomber who's been demonstrative lee dismissive of russia i think the the state department really set a new record in ter

w. bush's envoy, out front.t four towns damaged by incredibly severe tornadoes, rescue operations under way. we're going there live. let's go outfront. >>> good evening, everyone. out front tonight, breaking news, american troops heading back it iraq. soldiers are sent

some would say president george w. bushm the tarp program to the iraqi surge, at the very end of his presidency where things seemed worse. it can happen, and we shouldn't count that out. >> mack, what is the best way to prevent or overcome this second term stag nation. do you bring in a new team to start the new term? should a president be willing to cut deals and compromise with congress? >> i think the presser made some right, some very good points. i really think the other dynamic is not to change teams here, i think he's already had some fresh people in the administration including john padesta. john clearly has some experience in that regard. i think the one other dynamic at play here, the republican congress ratings are lower than the presidents. the overall congress are. so i think there's real incentive on the other side to cooperate these last two years, i'm paying a little bit of a hopeful scenario, to get things done, and that's what i'm very much hope we'll see, and a change in that dynamic, as already noted. ot

and suddenly he's become more hawkish against reporters than george w. bush. i don't know why anyone -- i don't know anyone who saw that coming. >> what does he know we don't know? >> that is really a peculiar thing. and it's not been adequately ventilated. and journalists haven't asked obama directly the few times they had direct access. >> so what's at stake if we do silence and punish whistle-blow whistle-blowers? >> well, what's at stake is whistle-blowers won't come forward. they know they're going to be prosecuted. they know they're being monitored. a lot of sources have dried up. there have been some panels in the last year, too, in the journalistic realm. and folks have talked about how it's harder to find people to talk now because they fear retribution. they know that the surveillance has gotten incredibly intense. and the stakes are incredibly high. and they get that. and so a lot of folks who might be inclined to leak and leakers are wonderful. because they tell reporters what they don't already have and they can't find in any document. they're ver

and he said that he would not use signing statements the way that george w. bush did. and george w. ued, you know, twice as many as all of his predecessors combined in provisions and bills. while barack obama has not issued as many signing statements, i talked to a number of legal experts, and, you know, academics who studied this who says he uses this power in exactly the same manner that george w. bush did. >> and susan, the surprise has been how the white house was really caught on their back feet. on saturday there was all this celebration and it was a moment, and the president being able to celebrate the successful return of an american prisoner of war. and they didn't seem to anticipate how angry the military would be, the former platoon members of sergeant bergdahl. >> it was a moment that lasted about 60 seconds for the administration. it's not only that they have the democratic chairman and the senate intelligence community, they have questions about the wisdom of the decision itself. and then they have misrepresenting what we think will turn out to be the case with the sold

and george w. bush is honored at the honor profiling purge ceremony. -- >> watch us in hd, like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. >> former army vice chief of staff discussed posttraumatic stress. other topics include getting adequate health insurance, education and employment. this conference on veterans was hosted by the george w. bush institute in dallas. it is moderated by abc news chief global affairs correspondent martha raddatz. is is just under an hour.

hundred eighty but bush the crown and website announced that put into time to personally call george w. bush george h.w. bush and congratulate him on. only four he's. the current jameson's why the iraq i think that's that's going to never made any disparaging comments about i wonder if you've got good work and he's favorite with me but then. you know mentioned as a potential being polite. that could be would be very strategy so i assume that the russian side of all just isn't there in the midst of this major. to call a former president to thank him for efforts to improve and i was personally surprised when i saw that message yes that's good diplomacy i think it. who decides that kind of thing you know it's trying to remind us this post of ties the relationship in the past isn't it perhaps. is that remember when i bought my first appointed mr. huge sort of show out of the fact that it's not an issue but was about american people he was trying to people. sidelining be the russian government and perhaps put in a sign of the same message that you know regardless of the state of the person. maybe

perhaps from this great president, george w. bush -- h.w.e h the bush -- george bush, to future presidents. callve the old paper roll from the clerk framed and and it is my study signed by bob dole and alan simpson. it passed the house 401-21. compare that to more recent stats, where one party jammed it down the throats of the other party. why it will not stand the test of time. i will borrow a line from senator simpson. if you do not believe in compromise, you probably should not run for congress. sure, you do not get married. [laughter] >> do you still stand by that? >> the second lesson is cost-effectiveness. the effect on the economy does matter. law, was bush, in this realistic in balance. we talked about the process. at one seminal moment, we sent a letter to the hill saying we would not sign the bill. than $20 billion a year in 1990. atyou look at the cost today $40 billion a year, it is up about $20 billion. the law is still holding the cap that we put in. something thats allowed us to control emissions while still having the

george w. bush comes to the white house situation room and orders counterterrorism director richard clark to look into an iraq connection. >> when i said, mr. president, we will do that, of course, but we've done it before and rather recently, and the answer has always been no. it's likely to be no this time. he didn't like that answer. and he got mad. >> i was in the room during that time and he was very adamant about perhaps seeing whether or not iraq could conduct such an operation against the united states. i was surprised. when the president left the room, i said i believe secretary wolfowitz got to him. >> paul wolfowitz, bush's deputy secretary of defense had has saddam on his personal enemies list for two decades. >> every time he survives something, he sends the message to his enemies, i outlast my enemies and if you on the wrong list when i'm still around, you'll be in trouble. >> paul wolfowitz would become convinced that if we looked strongly enough, if we looked closely enough, we'd fin

now remember this speech by president george w. bush declaring the end of major combat in iraq. >> major combat operations in iraq have ended. in the battle of iraq, the united states and our allies have prevailed. and now we're engaged in securing and reconstructing that country. >> so we all know how that worked out. but now are we on the verge of history repeating itself? back with us now is jessica lewis, major general spider marks, michael waltz and nina burleigh. also ask you about the main concern that the political leadership in iraq is not equipped to pull the country together. you're an expert in this area. that an accurate assessment? >> i think it's a very fair concern that we don't just face a threat from isis, this former al qaeda group that is gaining territory in iraq and syria. iraq may very well, now be in a sectarian civil war, which was the object of this group to create this circumstance in iraq. because it's what provides best for their islamic state ultimately. but there is a big question in my mind as to whether

, including president george w. bush. we believe we ought to close guantanamo bay because the costs are excessive. >> fox news digital politics editor is with us. a lot to get to, chris. what do we make of all of this? >> i think the larger construct is, remember the release of these five taliban leaders is the most important part. that is part of the the administration's effort to withdraw from afghanistan. this is a good faith effort that they are making to their negotiating partners in the taliban to say we mean you no harm so we're giving you back the top guys, these dangerous guys, that had been in u.s. custody for so long. then you have the bergdahl piece of it in which that is a less clear bonus for the united states. the united states never leaves a man behind. that is the goal of our military. but in the case of mr. bergdahl, you heard there from our colleague jennifer, had some complicated feelings in the military about somebody who many of his colleagues think is a desserter and left them to go seek him out. th

now he's in the business of defending george w. bush but basically attacks barack obama blaming obama for any difficulties that we're having. and the point about partisanship really applies in a what larger stage when you look at the people who get invited on the sunday talk shows or whose op-eds appear in the "washington times". in this partisan in this effort to look beyond the bush ver vus obama republican versus democrat to try to understand the larger forces in play to brought us to where we are today. then simply having an argument about whether we should attack with drones or ta tack with manned aircraft. what are those larger forces because robert kagan says world order shows signs of cracking and perhaps even collapsing and that these changes signal a transition into a different world order which the united states should attempt to lead. >> when kagan uses phrases like world order, he's describing something that never really existed except in his own imagination. but again the point is worth reflecting on. kagan believes, many

one of my favorite stories to ever emerge out of the george w. bush administration, one of the stories about that presidency that seems so crazy you think it's apocryphal but no, it really happened, i'm not kidding, one of my favorite george w. bush administration stories was the story of how that administration reacted to that supreme court ruling in 2007. the supreme court rules that epa has to regulate air pollution and that the epa has to, they're required by law to determine whether or not green house gases are air pollution. if so, the epa has to regulate them. the epa under george w. bush, they did what the court asked. you got to. it's the supreme court. right? they did what the supreme court asked, said, okay, fine, yes, we acknowledge as the epa, green house gases are air pollution, we're in charge of regulating air pollution and so yes, we do have to regulate them, they were ordered to come up with a finding on that issue, they came up with a finding on that issue. and then they e-mailed that finding to the white house and the george w. bus

george w. bush and dick cheney created the great sin of going into iraq. wait a second. that said, there were, i think history will show, terrible decisions made by this administration as well that as a contributing factor what is going on in the middle east. right now in syria. you had barack obama saying that he had everything but the mission accomplished sign behind him saying that iraq was going -- we were leaving an iraq that was stable, that was sovereign and that was self-reliant. as i said, i've said stupid things about iraq and i think everybody has said stupid things about iraq. this president, president obama has made mistakes. i'm talking about while in power on the issue of iraq. look at 2003 to 2007 things were miserable. you look at the surge. liberals got the surge horrendously wrong. we talked to dexter fillkins who was there in '06 and he went back in '0 and fillkins didn't recognize the country. by '11 it was even more stable. so i'm just saying there are people on the left that a

president george w. bush who ordered the iraq invasion and later the surge has thus far remained silent about al qaeda's resurgence and the obama administration's response to it. >> doug, thanks so much. meanwhile, the united states could be getting an unlikely ally to combat terrorism in iraq. iran. both countries united by their common interest in repelling the advance of the sunni-aligned insurgents. iranian president hassan rouhani saying his government is ready to help the iraqi government saying it has no option but to confront terrorism. president rouhani saying he wants to reach a nuclear agreement with western powers by july 20th. this is another symbol of changing diplomacy are the u.s. in tehran. >>> and government officials in yemen say a u.s. drone opened fire on a vehicle believed to be carrying al qaeda militants killing all five passengers on board. officials say it happened in a mountainous area in the southern shabwah province. >>> and a group of pro-russian separatists shooting down a ukrai

w. bush premiering at 9 p.m. tonight. it's father's day special.ask yourself if it's appropriate for cnn to be broadcasting it. the baltimore sun asked that question in a column this week and it was concluded that it is not okay. it was called haig guying of graph graphy, not a true documentary. i was told by phone that the bush library had no editorial control over the film. he want it is judged on its quality not financing. the financial connection to the bush library affect the film. how could it not? this is a small example of a big shift in media. sources have more power than to have choose who they speak with. they can make their own media. another thing, cnn is acquiring a lot of program it doesn't produce, some with strongs points of view. it's all part of a business strategy to feature more than just straight newscasts and i believe that make a lot of sense. those are the two sides i see here. as a viewer, i think you should also see both sides, here's what i mean. c. nn's press releases about the film have been up front about the library'

as the republican leader has mentioned, he worked as -- under the direction of president george w. bush as ambassador to japan. he was president reagan's chief of staff. he was someone that could do everything. he was well-liked by democrats, republicans. he was a fine man. i didn't know him as well as my colleague, the republican leader, or, of course, the two sitting tennessee senators tod today. he enjoyed an i wil illustriousr in public service and it was accomplished by his hard work. he loved foreign aface and did a great job. he was moa motivated by his dese to do 0 good in the world. our thoughts go to his family and his wife, whom we had the good fortune to serve w i do say this, madam president: the two fine men who now serve the united states senate from tennessee, i'm confident they learned a lot from howard baker, because the senior senator from tennessee is also a person who wants to try to work things out. the junior senator from tennessee and i have had many conversations. i believe he also wants to be someone who works things out. so my sympathy goes to senator baker, h

w. bush's presidency when president bush went on tv and said i'm the decider.he was very clear about that. he made gut decisions based on his ink tifrpblt. and when advisers told him things he didn't want to hear, generals would be publicly overruled. they would be actually removed from their post. it was an administration that didn't tolerate dissent. and one of the virtues i think of president obama's presidency is that he actually seeks out and asks tough questions and listens to the answers. the same with military force. it can have a kind of momentum. once things get going everyone kind of wants to fall into line and it's easy to fall prey to the thinking that once we do this everything lk ok. if you're not supporting it you're against the united states. that's not true. most with military force. you have to ask the hard questions not just what would happen if we did this but also what would happen after that. that's the kind of question that can pull you back from the brink of wear. even if you did destroy that road being built. the next day the same peop

next, we hear from george w. bush on the 60th anniversary of d-day in june of 2004. this is american history tv on c-span3. ladies and gentlemen, it is a high honor to represent the american people here at normandy on the sixth of june, 2004. 20 summers

it was a hope and fiction in the george w. bush years that installing essentially a shiite government in iraq, would -- that that government would somehow be a government of reconciliation with the sunnis and ethnic kurds in the northern part of the country. what we're seeing now, after the americans have left, after the alliance of other countries has left, after the maliki government has been left to its own devices first by george w. bush and then by barack obama, that things are falling apart. the maliki government did not include the sunnis in any meanle fg way and kurds in any meaningful way. now we're seeing the consequences of that as the resentment. sunnis provided fertile territory for the islamic state to grow not only in iraq but also now in syria. >> we're going to be looking closely at exactly how frout the history is. we're seeing all of the political blowback unfolding today and before the president's remarks. take a listen to what mike rogers said earlier today. >> these are al qaeda-minded individuals and would ki

how sad, george w. bush may still in the white house because president obama can't seem to make any foreign policy decisions without thinking of him first, he often explains his inaction by way of his predeceasedpr predeceaspr predeceaspr predeceas predeceasedor's mistakes. >> the military plan developed by the joint chiefs and that i believe is appropriate is proportional. it is limited. it does not involve boots on the ground. this is not iraq. and this is not afghanistan. >> and here was obama just today, on iraq. >> what's clear from the last decade is the need for the united states to ask hard questions before we take action abroad. particularly military action. >> look, we know that he thinks bush made mistakes. but this isn't 2006. it's time for obama to finally become his own person, and make the right decisions for america. and in iraq, bush's once again leading obama towards dangerous inaction. >> i have to say i don't get it. what is wrong with understanding the consequences of going to war before

and george w. bush, president george w. signing it proudly and said we will defend it in court. in the senate, the voting was unanimous. zero senators voted against reauthorizing the voting act in 2006. that signing ceremony was one big bipartisan garden party. the consensus was clear. the particular question of the civil rights era had been decided. last year, the u.s. supreme court gutted the voting rights act. in the course of the debate, justice scalia said using a lot of rights in places that had a history of denying those -- said it had become racial entitlement in this country. in a 5-4 vote, the court voted to gut the voting rights act. immediately, immediately, that same day, states that had been stymied by the voting rights act in the past, those states announced they would put into place the restrictions they had been waiting for. texas, north carolina, mississippi, they all moved to put in place restrictions on voting rights they had always wanted but had always been blocked. policies like requiring i.d. that bla

w. bush. he was a professional, and he was a man with a great heart. he taught me values matter and principles shouldn't be violate mentd. >> he's laul, he's kind and thoughtful. he's funny. >> the example he set for us there is no greater gift that we can have. >> he is going to be remembered as the president that just had a great love for people. his ability to bring out the best in people. >> history was more like an ocean rather than a stream. over time the cumulative effect of people looking at that period of time i think my dad will be treated really, really well. [ female announcer ] there's a gap out there. that's keeping you from the healthcare you deserve. at humana, we believe if healthcare changes, if it becomes simpler... if frustration and paperwork decrease... if grandparents get to live at home instead of in a home... the gap begins to close. so let's simplify things. let's close the gap between people and care. ♪ let's close the gap between people and care. crestor lowered bad

>> listen the plan was created by george w. bush> it was, but obama was supposed to get status support agreement when he had a problem with it, he decided it's time to run. >> we can sit here and talk about history all we want to. let's talk about what's happening today. >> fine, but somebody lost the war. >> the truth of the matter is the u.s.-backed government that is currently in charge of iraq is not working and we've got to fix the government. >> we have got to fix it? do you think barack obama could fix that situation? >> it's not a matter of president obama fixing the situation or not. it's on the iraqis to fix the situation. >> they're not, you know they're not, there's going to be a shia iraq, sunni iraq and a kurd iraq. >> what's wrong with that? >> we need to face the facts, obama got a war that was won and gave it away. >> let's be very clear. the war in iraq. >> don't give me that. the war in iraq. >> ended a war that was won. >> it was when george w. bush got in the plane and said mission accomplished. >> in 2007 after

turn to george w. bush. she oversaw standards that reduce diesel air pollution. e honorable william william reilly. must render under president george h.w. bush were to amend the clean air act to control acid rain. dr. daniel bodkin is professor emeritus at the university of california santa barbara. i welcome my colleague here attorney general and dr. joseph mason is the hermon moose junior louisiana bankers association professor banking at louisiana state university and senior fellow at the school so i welcome the panel and it will begin with the honorable dr. ruckelshaus. >> thank you senator whitehouse and senator sessions and members of the subcommittee for convening this hearing on a matter of enormous importance for our future. i'm pleased to be here and reassure at least some of you that i'm still alive. several months ago after talking with one another the former epa administrator sitting in front of you were convinced by the overwhelming verdict of scientists that the earth is warming and that we humans are the only controllable contributor to this pheno

george w. bush. might say to the presiding officer that bill was introduced by a former colleague from texas richard armey and signed into law by president george w. bush which required what is currently taking place that within 72 hours unaccompanied children need to be taken out of the department of homeland security by law enforcement agency in place through the department of health and human services into some protective situation. so the president is enforcing a law signed by president bush, authored by the congress of texas congressman armey so to say the president is not enforcing the law i asked the senator from texas on what basis are you saying back? >> i would say to the senator from illinois here's how it works in a think we disagree about the law or the origin of the law that how it works in application is that these children are now being placed with family members who they themselves may not be documented and they have entered the country themselves in violation of immigration law but b

then former president george w. bush and jill biden talk about programs to help veterans transition to civilian life. after that, victim compensation expert ken feinberg announces his proposals on how to compensate victims of crashes linked to defective gm ignition switches. >> now you can keep in touch with current events from the nation's capital using any phone anytime with c-span radio on audio now. call 202-626-8888 to hear congressional coverage and today's "washington journal"7! program. and every weekday, listen to a recap at 5 p.m. eastern on "washington today." you can also hear awed -- audio of the public affairs programs beginning sunday at noon eastern. call 202-626-8888. long instance or phone charges may apply. >> c-span, created by america's cable companies 35 years ago and brought to you as a public service by your local cable or satellite provider. national association of broadcasters' president is and ceo gordon smith is our guest this week on "the communicators." senator smith, theç aereo senator sm

the george w. bush institute. [applause] >> good morning, president rushed has charged us to empower veterans to make a smooth and successful transition to civilian life. militarye veterans and families reintegrate seamlessly, others feel disconnected were isolated from the very people they served while in uniform. many post-9/11 veterans and military families return home to face transition challenges that include employment, education, housing, health and wellness, family, or unique wet -- women's veterans issues. the george w. bush institute seeks to bridge these gaps by uniting and empowering the work of communities, nonprofits, businesses, academia, philanthropy, and individual citizens, empowering with presidential leadership, convening power, and leading research and resources. our work is grounded in the research that the president mentioned. this year, our work will include those three new resources -- the full research study in the spring that will cover the experiences, concerns, and needs of

he got out of iraq at the same time george w. bush iraq and things blow up. this is, i guess, being a politician they blow up and those are your numbers. when you do, a majority of americans say they want you to do in other polling numbers. please take those numbers down. they are depressing even no republicans. >> two things. one is the president under president bush said when you have the security agreement. number two, even though the public understandably and the country is fatigued with war and fired of war and don't want boots on the ground we have to do everything short of that nik sure that a group isis doesn't get momentum, capability, size, scope and scale to get us either here or our interests abroad. >> 4,500 americans die and bonehead maliki in there. it wasn't like we were trying to strike a deal with this shiite thug. >> when i was governor, i had a chance to be in iraq five times. maliki is a thug. he is someone who promulgated a war. >> doesn't this lie on maliki's head than any other american leader? >> it does but h

w. bush and mikhail gorbachev and then goes all the way to the end of december. i left moscow on the second day of the coup. i wrote is the beginning of the coup and came back on the 21st of december after teaching at the university in canada for one semester. on the 21st of december the time when they decided there was no soviet union anymore. when i came to the university of alberta they asked me to teach a class on the ussr crisis. at that time i was working on 17th century history. i said come on, i can do that and they said that the students want that. coming from a soviet union i thought a professor would teach what they want and not what the students want. i simply change my view on that. so i decided okay i will teach a course on the ussr crisis but they knew nothing about economics. lets teach about democracy and the triumph of democracy in moscow. i'm coming from the ukraine. but i know in my perspective is very different. this is about mobilization of national identity. now who's i

jack, let's talk about some of these planes that have launched from the george w. bush aircraft carrier, part of a strike force i'm told. what are the capabilities of those planes, what kind of intelligence can they provide? >> well, we have quite a few aircraft that can be launched from the aircraft carrier george w. bush as part of the strike force as you mentioned in the gulf. the principle one is this one, the fa-18 hornet dual purpose. f for fighter and a for attack. it can carry up to 8 tons of ordinants, air to ground and a wide variety of air to air missiles. it goes to about 1200 miles per hour, can actually go faster than that. to control all of the assets up in the air, e-2c hawk eye doesn't need much force but do need commanding control. it's an all weather aircraft, talks to satellites, planes, talks to the ship with a long loiter time up to five hours and can be replaced by other aircraft on the aircraft carrier. you talked about surveillance, the global hawk drone can be unarmed for surveillance, can be armed huge, huge distance, 3,000 nautical miles, can

. >>> when then-candidate george w. bush his vice presidential running mate he presented a story line familiar to anyone who watched a romantic comedy, the right person was right in front of me all along. >> as we work to evaluate the strengths of others i saw first-hand dick cheney's outstanding judgment. and as we considered many different credentials, i benefitted from his keen insight and gradually i realized that the person who was best qualified to be my vice presidential nominee was working by my side. >> before anybody knew how consequential dick cheney would be one was he should have picked somebody else for the job until president bush realized the man for him was in front of him the whole time. the other really consequential thing that we knew was that he would be the tie breaking vote in the united states senate. one of the responsibilities of the vice presidency is also to serve as president of the senate. that's mostly a symbolic thing, a lot of swearing people in, that sort of thing, until it is a crucially im

in 200 through 3, the george w. bush administration, claiming sudan hussein's had a stock pile of weapons of mass destruction. under the u.s. occupation, by 2004, the country fell into sectarian violence. eventually several elections were held but whole political parties and ethnic groups felt disenfranchised. in august, 2010, american comeback operations in iraq airshieldsed a -- ended and lef. he lenses were held april 30th. sunnis and minority groups felt left out of the process. a month later, sunni fighters kambin their campaign to take mosul from the largely shi-ite government. >> colonel, what do you think the history should do given that history? send troops back? should it send drones in? how can it get involved and change the way things are headed there now? >> the united states cannot tolerate a permanent terrorist state in the heart of me mesopotamia. as i said earlier, we have to have a government in iraq that's worth supporting before we engage. >> is there going to be time for that? >> yes. there is. altho

. >>> and george w. bush taking another birthday plunge. let's go "outfront." >> good evening, everyone. i'm erin burnett on "outfront" tonight. we begin with the breaking news. sergeant bowe bergdahl going to be back on american soil in just a few hours, en route at this instant. he is currently in the air being flown to brooke army medical center in san antonio, texas. that's where he'll continue treatment following nearly five years in captivity with the taliban. tonight we're also learning new information about bergdahl's time as a prisoner and why he may have left his platoon in the first place. the daily beast has obtained letters that are believed to be from bergdahl sent to his parents while he was being held. in a moment, we're going to talk to the daily beast kimberly dozier. she is the one who got these letters from sources in contact with the taliban. she is going to tell us exactly what they say. first, though, we begin our coverage with barbara starr "outfront" at the pentagon. barbara, what have you learned about when bergdah