more cities consider parades for iraq war vets. the st. louis parade welcoming home iraq. war and other post september 11th veterans spurring talks of similar parades in at least 10 other cities. organizers of the st. louis parade that drew an estimated 100,000 observers, 20,000 participants in st. louis january 28th say they have been approached by officials in chicago, denver, san antonio, philadelphia, oklahoma city, seattle, tucson, nashville, greensboro, north carolina, and clinton, iowa. the st. louis parade and rally was the first major event ronering the end of the iraq war. organizers urged participation from other veterans who have served in the fight against terrorism. organizers craig snyder and tom applebaum for media. they needed one month and $40,000 to pull it off. we want your views whether there should be a national celebration, national parade for iraq war vets. we're going to begin with the democrat here in the suburb silver spring, maryland. you're on the washington journal. good morning. >> caller: good morning. i think this is just one of the republic

today we'll discuss this and have this presentation on the end of the iraq war, and america's ongoing engagement yet in iraq. with anthony blinken, the deputy assistant to president obama and the national security adviser to vice president joe biden. our colleague brian katulus has done a brief paper, it's on the back paper for all of you who want to make sure you grab a copy. in it he's looking at how the end of the iraq war has strengthened overall u.s. national security. by dedicating more resources to the fight against al qaeda, to restore u.s. military readiness, to expand options to face other middle eastern threats, and to reduce the financial burden on defense spending and rebalance u.s. national security overall. again, that paper is on the back table, it's also online for those that are watching on c-span or the cap video feed. it was last december, speaking at ft. bragg, north carolina that president obama stood before u.s. troops and this was his comment. quote, it's harder to end a war than to begin one. indeed everything that american troops have done has led to this mom

in the news room with the new evidence. >> reporter: we had a crew in downtown oakland when the iraq wareteran was injured. now his attorney claims it was not accidental but intentional act by the police and he has evidence that proves that. >> reporter: iraq war veteran scott olsen and his attorney showed us the hat he was wearing the night he was injured last october. >> next thing i know i am laying down on the ground and people are gathering around me trying to help me. >> reporter: his attorney says police testing shows a ring of led residue, it was a bean bag round that hit him. . >> they are meant to hit someone. i think the only conclusion is that is the officer did what he intended to do, shoot this and hit scott olsen with it. >> reporter: video shows a group rushing to assist scott olsen. mese say they can't discuss what force is used because of the investigation. >> we want people to know what happened and why it happened. so i think a lot of the questions that are out there will have answers. but they can't be today. >> reporter: scott olsen says 5 months later his speech is

but just as discontent with the war in afghanistan is surging conservatives want to start a new war in iraq despite the fact that new nuclear talks are set to begin with iran next not recently tom gave his take on why conservatives today are so obsessed with war with iraq and let's just say they have a political objective. so guess was the latest right wing ploy to crash the economy just before the election where whether iran on tuesday international monetary fund chief christine legarde warned that a military strike on iran could disrupt oil supplies all around the world because in the price of oil the spike thirty percent the guard said clearly it would be a shock to economies if there was a major shortage of exports of oil out of iran a sudden brutal rise in the price of oil would have serious consequences on the global economy right now is the lifeblood of our economy all economic production from our food is grown our products are manufactured and our from a suit of clothes are made our buildings and infrastructure are constructed our workers get to and from their jobs how we power our

because it offers context that in my judgment has largely been lacking from public discourse on iraq since the war ended. if you read the newspapers, listen to the media, it would suggest that as our troops departed iraq, so did american influence. and our administration allegedly has shifted its focus away from iraq. for example, it's been reported that our ambassador can't get in and our dip plo matt mats can't leave the compound. our engagement increased not decreased since the withdrawal of u.s. forces. so far this year ambassador jeffrey has been in to see the prime minister nine times and he's seen his top aide dozens of times. that's far more access than virtually all of our ambassadors in other countries get to the most senior leadership. our embassy team is engaged with other leaders. president talabani. many others, virtually every day. movements from the embassy increased to more than 1200 in january of this year, about 40 a day versus about 30 a day in the last quarter of 2011 when we had troops in iraq. our engagement from washington kept pace. the vice president made multiple trips,

look at how people felt about the iraq war in 2004 during that campaign. your opinion on the iraq war, look, in -- like there is a mirror in the middle. your opinion on the iraq war in 2004, whether you were for it or against it was entirely determined by which party you belonged to. if you were republican, you liked that war. if you were a democrat you did not like that war. full stop, that is how it was in 2004. that is not of course how it is now. president obama ended the iraq war in december, and americans are very happy that he did so. overwhelmingly in large numbers in a not very stratified way, there is a con census it's good it's over. the numbers are not as partisan as the eye iraq war. majority of the country says the afghanistan war was not worth fighting, majority of the country wants troops home now, troops home now faster than president obama's 2014 time line. this is not one of those things there is a big partisan split. democrats have been and still are more against the afghanistan war than republicans are, but republicans are really rapidl

host: do you think the iraq war was any cause and effect between the iraq war and what is happening now in the arab spring? caller: i think it is a m yth to say that the iraq war and we were in afghanistan before that, but it is not accurate to say that it was the first or second domino in a line of countries that began to fall after we invaded. had we kept out of it, we would be a better allied to these countries, that they would trust us more, and what has taken place in the arab spring would have happened naturally any way. host: thanks for your call. front page of the columbus dispatch shows mitt romney at a rally. and here is the new york post and a map of super tuesday. the biggest prize is georgia with 76 delegates. all these states have primaries coming up on tuesday. randy is an independent in spokane, washington. caller: i agree with having a parade or celebration of some kind for veterans, because, iraq was not a popular war and just like vietnam. look at how we treated in vietnam veterans. we should celebrate those serving in our military when they do come back from combat.

come out and said it's an initial recognition of the success we've had in iraq, understanding that we're still fighting the war in afghanistan. i'm fairly certain at some point when that's over that we'll go recognize everybody who served across both iraq and aftghanistn afghanistan. >> and as you looked at the developments in iraq today, what do you think the u.s. legacy is and will be? >> well, the legacy that we left behind in iraq is largely depending on what the iraqis decide to do right now. we've given them an opportunity to enjoy freedom and liberty and now they need to decide what sort of form that's going to take for them and their children and their grandchildren. >> colonel, you were in the front lines in iraq. what did you see? what were your impressions about your inwaffvolvement in this conflict? >> well, it was a long process. as we went through a couple years of combat, i was a marine with my experiences largely from what happened there. i took away from that that, you know, we have a very adaptive and very professional force that is able to figure out the many challenges of war. and, in the e

counterpart but this appalling legacy of the iraq war. in two thousand and ten the british ministry of defense finally admitted the use of depleted uranium in iraq and supplied the united nations with information on the zones targeted a u.s. ally is beginning to voice its doubts on this weapon. only belgium ireland kosta rica the new zealand have formally banned uranium in their arms but today no international convention even mentions that we did your radio minutes texts. this allows the u.s. administration to continue using it without fear of reprisals. if the illinois law faculty francis boyle claims that the usa can be hauled before a tribunal this lawyer and harvard graduate has an international reputation asian origin vietnam gulf war syndrome or trials our specialty today francis boyle is locked in a new battle to have the use of depleted uranium recognized as a war crime uranium munitions violate the hague regulations of nineteen zero seven and then our do you also violates the geneva protocol of one nine hundred twenty five. so the

supporting all america's wars including the iraq war that was started on lies and now both countries are facing a huge backlash from their joint campaigns topping the agenda is of the sense especially in the wake of the tragedy that happened there over the weekend when a u.s. soldier apparently murdered sixteen innocent afghans in cold blood including women and children analysts say the incident is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the problems that the allied forces mission faces in afghanistan a basketball court is probably not the most appropriate venue to discuss those very serious matters at hand but the two leaders will surely have more to say as the u.k. prime minister's visit to the united states continues the u.s. and the u.k. or the main contributors to the war in afghanistan and as the two countries are trying to coordinate a timetable for withdrawal analysts say becomes increasingly clear that their nation building effort has been a failure insurgency and the country's rampant afghans clearly want the allied forces out is and it's like the latest murder of inno

war in iraq. question of torture attention and mutely outrage them these are internet stations where soldiers can not only check the internet but they also have the capability of. doing webcams that. you can do and. to focus on the war and not work perpetration is just simply shovel after the elephant one has to look at the war preparations that are going on around the world which military bases are central to. if one doesn't pay attention to that then again we can only deal with the symptoms which is which is workfare there's a saying that goes when soldiers come war comes. to feel . feel . fear. in the past when the american soldiers came we would drain this well to scare them away. we would scream yankee go home. the american bases have not only stolen our lands but also our way of life if you will not culture our history and everything else such a thing cannot be tolerated. and they say the bases are here to guarantee world peace so they've been used in the korean war in vietnam and now in ira

that's what i want to talk about today. [ applause ] the war in iraq is over. the war in afghanistan is moving to a new phase. we are transitioning to afghan lead. in the past, over 3 million have transitioned into civilian life and more are joining them every day. when they come home, they bring unparalleled skills and experience. folks like jacob, they saved lives in some of the toughest conditions. they moved tons of equipment over dangerous terrain. they tracked millions of dollars of military assets. they handled pieces of equipment that are worth tens of millions of dollars. they do incredible work. nobody is more skilled, more precise, more diligent, more disciplined. our veterans are some of the most highly trained and highly educated and skilled workers we have. these are workers every business should be competing to attract. these are the americans we want to keep serving here at home as we rebuild this country. we will do everything we can to make sure that when our troops come home, they come home to new jobs and new opportunities and new ways to ser

a iraq war veteran killed himself and his 11-year-old sister. in the next half hour that community is expected to gather gather gather for a vigil. ktvu's lloyd lacuesta will bring us the latest at 11:00. thank you for trusting ktvu channel 2 news. getting ready to plant? chances are your soil is like this: compacted, drained of nutrients. it'll hold your plants... but it'll also hold 'em back. the solution: miracle-gro garden soil. the perfect mix of rich, organic ingredients, and miracle-gro plant food. just mix it in. and turn bad soil into great soil. helps plants grow twice as big. instead of holding 'em back, they'll leap ahead. miracle-gro garden soil. start right. finish big. (car horn) paying with your smartphone instead of cash... (phone rings) that's a step forward. with chase quickpay, you can send money directly to anyone's checking account. i guess he's a kicker... again, again! oh, no you don't! take a step forward and chase what matters.

i'm delighted that the pentagon embedded journalist in the iraq war that's been going on for the last couple of years. i don't know if you know this or not, bubba the pentagon, before the iraq war started off, they offered american journalists the opportunity to go to fort weng and i believe, fort sill, ft. knox, and other military bases. air, brown, marine, to be briefed on e -- air, ground, marine, to be briefed on battlefield maneuver activities and battlefield activities. when i was in fort benning making a talk before the iraq war popped off, jumped off, they were having one of those gatherings where the journalists for a week, were at fort benning. they learned ant infantry tactics. they learned about fire maneuver and fire support. and they were much more qualified to report to the american people what they were seeing in iraq. >> i remember seeing and reading about that. >> yeah. whereas in vietnam, as i understand it, joe six-pack off the streets of chicago, could show up in saigon and get a press card. and he would know the difference between a squad and a battalion. or an m

it war against iraq or war against iran is concerned the area is already ideally destabilized and it would be a monstrous catastrophe if we were going to do that but that is prohibited in article two paragraph four of the u.n. charter and article two paragraph three blige has us to negotiate and to negotiate in good faith so that is what the your organization you know you were using saying when you talk about arguing and creating diplomacy in good faith it's seems to me that you're saying that when it comes to the un with this issue with iraq and afghanistan with nato as well with libya now looking at syria also looking at iran is there some sort of geo political if not regional or global strategy being undertaken by the united nations in new york i wouldn't say i know united nations certainly but certain members of the united nations they have their agendas but the united nations has one hundred ninety three states and the organization is not being directed by any one in particular but what the organization has to do is to be indicate the rule of law until they indicate the validity

they say the bases are here to guarantee world peace so they've been used in the korean war in vietnam and now in iraq. in war people die but it's obvious now of course there are. great or i feel a great pain in my heart because our lands are being used to kill people who are. if a crook ask you for a knife. there's nothing wrong in lending into but if he asks you for a knife to murder someone or lending it to him would make you a murderer or a person or person and this photograph it says give me back my lad it was that. thanks. to the birth of america's global empire of bases for germany italy and japan the defeat was followed by the establishment of a permanent american presence that continues to this day. nowhere is this clearer than in okinawa a little island south of the japanese mainland which after the war remained in the u.s. administration until nineteen seventy two when the island was returned to japan. in those years the u.s. established dozens of military bases on the island today along with south korea and utra its proximity to china and taiwan aquino was still represents america's milita

to say welcome home and thank you to iraq war veterans. the iraq war ended in december.louis in january, which is why everybody looks cold. 100,000 people showed up in st. louis. it was a huge success. a home run. tomorrow, this is a big deal, tomorrow the second big parade in the united states of america to mark the end of the war. and this time it will be held in dueson, arizona. tucson, arizona. as was the case in st. louis, this is not the mill gary or the government coming up with this idea, these are just regular folks, regular americans, civilians, who wanted to say thank you and welcome home. the organizers of tomorrow's tucson parade said they were inspired by what st. louis did. if you are in driving distance of tucson, events start at 7:00 early tomorrow morning. that's the start of the memorial service in which the names of the military personnel killed in afghanistan and iraq will be read aloud. that service will go on all day. people are invited to drop in and stay as long as they wish, but the parade itself in tucson starts at 10:30 a.m. in downtown tucson

i mean when you read us newspapers through the past ten years and you read the death count in a war in iraq or a war in afghanistan it's purely us citizens it leaves out those killed committed committing suicide those dying on the way home and so and so forth but it's just us citizens it leaves out that ninety nine percent of the people dying in the wars who are people but are not americans americans have no idea how many people die in our wars and when you look at the use of drones they kill far more what intended targets then the intended targets and of course is that it's the intended targets that we're talking about is this outrageous policy that lacks any sort of of legal process where they've combined warmaking with criminal law enforcement in a way that perverts both of them and of course it creates more people hostile and angry toward the united states then it kills so it is counterproductive on its own terms but it's very pleasing to politicians who don't want to see those body bags coming on to the united states and israel briefly david i mean what do you think about this statemen

good friends again as they were historically you know until the overthrow bashar and then the iraq iran war where forget that iraq was the supreme sponsor saddam was it was being sponsored by the americans against the iranians so there is you know there was a lot of anger this is a long it's a track that you're conflict that killed many iranians and so the fact that there still is calmness they are sophisticated in this regard to show that we can deal with these people i mean i had great conversations with many politicians including one of the top advisers to the supreme leader these people are sophisticated trained in the west and many of them trained in america one hundred europe speaking english national culture i don't interrupt you but we're almost out of time and so i can have a dialogue. we're talking about dialogues here we're talking about your experience there and i want to bring in very briefly before we run out of run out of time the role of the media coverage or not this because you know a lot of the coverage that we're seeing here in the u.s. doesn't really reflect this view t

today, we will discuss this and have this presentation on to the end of the iraq war and the american engagement in iraq with the deputy assistant to president obama's and the national security adviser to vice president joe biden. our colleague has done a brief paper and it is on the back table for all of you who want to make sure that you grab a copy. he is looking at how the end of the iraq war had strengthened overall u.s. national security. by dedicating more resources to the fight against al qaeda, to restore u.s. military readiness, options to face other middle eastern threats, and to reduce the financial burden on defense spending, and to rebalance u.s. national security overall. that is on the back table and also on line. it was last december that president obama said "it is harder to end a war than to -- begin one." iraq is not a perfect place, but we are leaving behind a sovereign, stable, and self- reliant iraq with a government that was elected by its people. we are building a new partnership between our nations and we are ending a war not with a final battle but with a fi

first already to war with iraq we're at war with iran and i like arthur sanctions now to commit war exactly in the point is that you can't you can't engage people diplomatically if you're already trying to isolate them and what are you basically creating is more radicalism on their part because you try to push them into a corner and that was the test that they've been running for example killing their scientists in tehran this was attacked an act of terrorism by mossad which i mean it's working hand in hand in tehran if it happened in america for example we've gone to war i'm sure right away and sean i mean you just came back from iran you know a lot of the rhetoric here sort of paints the iranians as these crazy people who might be a threat to america their leaders are crazy and that's what we're hearing from the media how do a raining and the americans what it was what is their perception of our leadership given all this war talk. well i would say if the iranians think that if people think the iranians hate americans why would they let me come in to their country and greet me so warmly it

that what really -- that's the real genesis of the iraq war. iraq was going to be the place where the bush administration demonstrated our capacity to fundamentally change countries in the islamic world. it didn't work. and we ended up by 2004, 2005, with an insurgency that we could not control. that's when plan b followed. plan b following the 2006 elections, was the notion that even if we can't liberate the greater middle east and democratize it, perhaps we can at least control it and we can control it by adopting counterinsurgency tactics. >> right. >> petraeus, period. the surge in iraq. which some people think succeeded. it did certainly succeeded to a degree in iraq by reducing the level of violence. and plan b by 2009, with president obama now having succeeded george w. bush, plan b then was applied to afghanistan during the mcchrystal era. the notion that "comprehensive counterinsurgency," that was the phrase that general mcchrystal used, that "comprehensive counterinsurgency" could pacify afghanistan. could replicate in afghanistan the achi

and i will note, thomas, if i can, that today is the anniversary, the nine-year anniversary of the iraq ward the fact is this, iraq was a diversion from where it should have been all along, bringing bin laden to justice. now we finally did that. but in iraq, the war that i served in, the fact is this. we lost over 4,400 american heroes and 32,000 of those heroes were injured and we lost, obviously, so many in afghanistan as well. but every one of these heroes who serve and, again, the overwhelming majority of these men and women who serve our country this the military, they are heroes and when they come home, we've to treat them as much. thomas, i joined the army when i was 19. it was back in 1993. we had a saying, lead, follow, or get out of the way. president obama has led when it comes to the gi bill, when it comes to hire our heroes act and finally the private sector has come along, too, we learned our lesson in vietnam, whether you are for the vietnam war or against it, when those heroes came back from vietnam we should have all said thank you to him because the country told them to go

louis, missouri, to mark the end of iraq war. s part of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. and they are still calling on president obama to meet with mayors around the country to designate a national day of action to mark the end of the war. and to honor iraq war veterans. and even as the pentagon still bizarrely insists that other cities having parades to mark the end of the war is a good thing, but new york city doing that would be a bad thing, i can report very interesting news today. there is going to be a new york parade. it's not going to be a canyon of heros downtown manhattan ticker tape parade. a staten island parade. staten island is going to hold a parade specifically for 23 members of the army reserves. members of the 961st transportation detachment from staten island. a statewide parade down for all iraq war vets. mayor bloomberg still says no because the pentagon still says no to that. but on march 10th, staten island is going to do it itself. staten island is going to hold its own little welcome home from ira

. >>> closure for an iraq war veteran. >>> a surprise in the whitney houston autopsy. >>> step aside vampires. hollywood's latest movie debut, less than an hour from now. >>> see this video that has a lot of the world inspired by a 10-year-old. >>> gd evening. i'm jeff ranieri in the nbc bay area weather center. it's blustery out there. a little bit of wind. it's uncomfortable. we could be near record-setting lows, in napa, santa rosa and s. plenty of sun.en but a wet weekend forecast. fo >>> tonight, we know what killed pop star whitney houston. the l.a. coroner said that houston died from drowning in her bathtub at the beverly hilton hotel. she had cocaine, marijuana, xanax and other prescription drugs in her system. others say houston had a heart condition and was a chronic cocaine user. the coroner has ruled her death an accident. >>> it's the end of a horrific chapter for loved ones of a gilroy family. they confirmed the discovery of martha gutierrez's body. police believe her son, an iraq war veteran, killed her before killing himself. >> reporter: a lot of tears. a lot of hugs

is a moral collapse of the of the occupation we have to remember that for obama who opposed the war in iraq the afghan war was the good war so this latest incident following the burning of the korans that happened quite recently i just feel that the whole kind of moral case for war has collapsed i've been trying to keep toe away from the afghan war for a while i mean. remember it's you know it's over ten years now and we've had so many promises so many lies the end of the tunnel and so on the surge is the traffic surges troop surges all these things have failed and you just feel that there was this account just to really quietly maybe if we just leave without making much noise people will forget that we were here but. incidents like this could have just blown out completely that the reason they went in was to the story and to some of it martin was across the border in pakistan so then it became a war against the taliban and then a war against the afghan people and so now at the end of all this horrific process we return to the point to say well we actually need to sit down and talk to the t