i'm out of iraq. the american people wanted out of iraq. >> because a lot of people are wondering, the president of the united states did not have enough strength, enough power, to tell al maliki, you know what, this is the deal, you should do it. al maliki felt strong enough he could tell the president of the united states, not happening. >> or he said he couldn't dlooifr his own congress. the argument, can anyone deliver someone's parliament for him. the answer is no. >> all those shiites in iraq don't want any involvement. thank you. >>> the republican presidential candidates aren't the only ones raising red flags about the u.s. withdrawal from iraq. i'll talk to a leading obama critic in the senate about her worst fears. in the chaos of gadhafi's capture, how did he really die? we have new evidence calls for an international investigation and the vice president talks about rape and causes a fire storm. the link he made between crime and politics. way ♪ ♪ it's just how i want to do it ♪ ♪ c

we will develop a partnership with iraq but obviously iraq is sovereign. it has made a decision that we can't agree on the conditions of a continued u.s. presence. so we will work on support a different way. >> in terms of where we go from here, i want to turn for a moment to the other big story this week, of course, which is the dead of moammar gadhafi. i think there is a case to be made. i don't necessarily hugh to this case but there is a case to be made that this week represents a kind of app pargy of barack obama's foreign policy. this is two great defining moments in the foreign policy. the first is the final end to the gadhafi regime in a liberal internationalist intervention that was approved by the u.n. security council with the arab league on board and the other is drawing to a close as he said he would in the campaign, the end of the iraq war. what is your feeling about the performance of the obama administration's foreign policy and what this week says about it. >> it is a fascinating contrast as you just detailed. we will have spent somewhere

of iraq with their help. proud of their success and knowing that the american people stand united in our support for our troops. that is where it is notorious for its iraq war and this isn't largely a result of iraqi leaders refusal to give us troops immunity from prosecution in iraqi courts the americans have refused to stay without it now there has been talk that of the forty thousand or so troops in iraq about three or four thousand would stay to help with training but iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki told president obama just want enough votes by the iraqi parliament to allow this to happen getting out of iraq certainly a promise made by candidate barack obama won many people say propelled him to pass hillary rodham clinton back in the primaries who he constantly reminded people voted to authorize the war in the first place so we want to dig deep into both the history of this and look ahead to the future and what this means on a global scale earlier i spoke to michael bryant he is the author of america

troops from iraq. perspective from fareed zakaria, in tehran, preparing for an interview with the president of iran, ahmadinejad. a simple question up front, u.s. troops leaving iraq by the end of the year. iran has to view this as a victory. >> iran's views, whether happening in iraq from a geopolitical prism. the u.s. and iran are competing for influence in iraq. they have viewed it that way from the start of the fall of the regime and they have had -- iran has long ties to many groups in iraq. many of the kurdish leaders including the current president of iraq was in iran. many of them speak fluent persian. as he fines things get dit for him in iraq he head backs to iran. so all of these political officials have been sustained by iran and as american troops draw down, iran's influence can only increase. >> and this sounds incredibly crass, but is this a fair bottom line? that after almost nine years, billions of of dollars in u.s. money and 4500 lives lost of brave u.s. servicemen and women, that ir

wasting its cash in building a false democracy in iraq. i. were sitting down with peter van buren state department foreign service officer who a few years ago had it anyway raqi reconstruction team then he came back home and wrote a book titled we meant well how i helped lose the battle for the hearts and minds of the iraqi people and now he says the state department one team fired because of the book what what's in the book that they don't like so much stuff i'm sure when you throw parties the clowns they sometimes get angry state department is a lot like the mafia you don't talk about the family outside the family and the state department was i think bothered by the fact that i told the true story of what happened in iraq which contradicts what they've been putting out through the media for almost eight years now tell me a little bit more about the projects that you were involved in as part of this nation building a team that in the sponsored by the united states why do you think those projects failed around two thousand and seven number of

what does it mean for iraq? >> well, i think the iraqis made it inevitable by resisting any legal grant of immunity to american troops. that's self-evident. i do think that it has very ominous implications. i think a tripwire of a few thousand american troops, combat capable, if not actually engaged in combat, could make the difference or could have made the difference in offering a sort of stabilizing factor for iraq at a period which is going to be fundamentally unstable. i think it's worth remembering that nothing politically has been resolved in iraq. all or almost all of the sectarian geographic, regional, religious, political, ideological disputes that have plagued the american presence in iraq remain unresolved. without american troops there as a guarantor of at least a final degree of stability, i think you could see a descent into instability pretty quickly. >> robin, do you agree with that? and also, why wouldn't the iraqis grant immunity to a few thousand troops? >> well, immunity is a big issue, and

troops prepare to withdraw from iraq in december they leave behind a campaign that's cost the american taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars and next we'll talk to a middle east expert he says the u.s. is wasting time and money trying to build democracy in the region. were sitting down with peter van buren a state department foreign service officer who a few years ago had it anyway radke reconstruction team then he came back home and wrote a book titled we meant well how i helped lose the battle for the hearts and minds of the iraqi people and now he says the fate of parchman one thing fired because of the book what what's in the book that they don't like so much and i'm sure when you throw parties the clowns they sometimes get angry state department is a lot like the mafia you don't talk about the family outside the family and the state department was i think bothered by the fact that i told the true story of what happened in iraq which contradicts what they've been putting out through the media for almost eight years now tell me a little bit more about the projects that you were

christians and others will lose interest in iraq? >> i do think iraq is going to stay in the news. they have gotten so chumy with iran. that spells a bigger problem down the road. gary, we may have accidentally recreated the persian empire if iran and iraq get back together. for believers in america, pray for the iraqy believers and iranian believers, they need it. >> what do christians and others need to do for iraqi brothers and sisters? >> intercession is important. they can get online and help church planters that have very little resources. i heard from an iraqi leader, they are all the sudden doubling the rent. he maybe out on the street with his family. lots of financial needs, they can get on websites, e-3 partners reaching out to people in iraq. >> tom doyle, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> you can find out more information about how to help iraq's christian, go to our website cwnews.org. >>> libya's transitional leaders say sharia law will be the basis. mustafa abdel-jalil declared libya a liberated nation three days after the death of moammar gadhafi. the

we went to iraq, afghanistan, then iraq, which i never understood going to iraq, logically. do you think the pattern was wrong, led by george w. bush? too much aggressive foreign policy? too hawkish? do you think so or not? >> don't need to relitigate. when it follow ours key national security interests like afghanistan, absolutely. what have we done in afghanistan? we've routed the taliban, we've dismantled al qaeda, we've killed osama bin laden, we had free elections in 2004. i say we've achieved our objective. it's time to come home. >> was iraq smart or not? >> i don't want to relitigate that, chris. a lot of us felt that it wasn't a good thing. and here we are. you make the best of it. you have to clean up the mess. you have to move on and secure our interests. and that's where we are. >> i look at this campaign and the way it's gone to the republican side and i find a disconnect. i look at romney getting big numbers and i see no love for him in the party. i so no love for him among the other candidates. i see a guy who may well be the nomination the way nixon did in '6

that is how america's military efforts in iraq will end. >> for as long as there has been an iraq war, for as long as there have been people arguing in favor of starting a war in iraq, there have been people on the other side of it arguing against it. one of those people arguing against it in very early stages was the man who announced today that that war was ending. and when president obama said this afternoon that it was ending, quote, as promised, he was talking about himself. about his own promise to the american people that he would be the president to end the war in iraq. president obama's opposition to the war went back years, to the beginning of it. to a now famous 2002 speech he gave as a state legislator in chicago. >> i don't oppose war in all circumstances. when i look out over this crowd today, i know there is no shortage of patriots or patriotism. what i do oppose is a dumb war. >> five months later, president george w. bush ordered american forces to invade iraq through kuwait. because we were told over and over again iraq was responsible for 9/11 and iraq had weapons o

part of iraq. are you suggesting that if iran were to try to take advantage at this moment, the u.s. would still have a military commitment, the message to iran being what? >> well, i think iran should look at the region. we may not be leaving military bases in iraq, but we have bases elsewhere. we have support and training assets elsewhere. we have a nato ally in turkey. you know, the united states is very present in the region. but let's also admit that iran has influence in iraq. always has, always will. but the iraqis themselves are a very proud people. they are proud of their nation. they're proud of their own future. prospects. so i don't think anyone should be mistaken about america's commitment to the new democracy in iraq that we have sacrificed so much to help them achieve. >> final point on iraq. this was cast as the president talked about this as a victory for the united states, as we withdraw troops. looking back now, as this war is coming to an end, you stand by your vote authorizing

troops leaving iraq. as we heard the president say, being home for the holidays is certainly good news for folks here at home. but explain to me, though, we know that the u.s. and iraq didn't exactly see eye to eye with regard to an immunity issue because the u.s. wanted to have several thousand troops remain. >> that's right. there was a split, on both sides. there were some iraqi leaders who wanted a security of having a small u.s. force there. but ultimately it mainly came down to this issue of legal immunity. and what that means is, right now iraq and the u.s. have an agreement that american troops are not subject to iraqi law. they would fall under the uniform code of military justice right now. well, that agreement expires at the end of the year. and to set up a new agreement or to extend that agreement, iraq would have had to have agreed to grant that same immunity going forward. the iraqi politicians and parliament were not able to okay that or to agree to that and the u.s. government and by exten

how is iraq going to defend itself? >> reporter: well, one u.s. military official said "we'll find a way." and he specifically mentioned sending civilian contractors to iraq to do the training, bringing iraqis to the united states to train, and even sending u.s. troops back into iraq to conduct exercises. >> pelley: david, thanks very much. that disagreement over immunity allowed the president to say today that he kept his promise to end the war. few would have expected it early in his administration, but most of the president's successes have come as commander in chief. we asked norah o'donnell to look into that. norah? >> reporter: scott, the president's announcement today to end the war in iraq, one day after the death of libyan leader moammar qaddafi, is just the latest in a series of foreign policy milestones. it is remarkable for a president whose own foreign policy credentials were repeatedly questioned when he was campaigning for the job of commander in chief. >> i pledge to bring the war in iraq to a responsible end for the sake of our na

announced the end of the iraq war. >> after nearly nine years, america's war in iraq will be over. over the next two months, our troops in iraq, tens of thousands of them, will pack up their gear and board convoys for the journey home. today i can say that our troops in iraq will definitely be home for the holidays. >> but we're not leaving because the pentagon strategically decided it was time to get out. iraq is effectively kicking us out by virtue of their refusal to authorize u.s. troops' immunity in their country beyond the end of the year. beyond that point, iraq refused, and so, hey, it sounds like the war is over. president obama says the u.s. is moving forward in a position of strength, but come january 1st, literally, when it comes to iraq and particularly iran's ambitions to project its power into the vacuum left by the loss of saddam hussein, the training wheels will be off. we start with nbc news foreign correspondent, ayman mohyeldin, and retired army colonel, medal of honor recipient, jack jacobs. it's an honor to see both of you. your gut reaction on the news, jack?

military presence in iraq? >> well, wolf, i think that is a very important question that's being asked. why in fact did the u.s. not want to keep more of a presence past that 2011 deadline. that is a question that will be asked over the next days. over the heart of this, you heard it in the president's statement on friday when he started off. that he was injecting politics into this. pointing out that he made a promise back in 2008 when he was running for president that he would push to tend war in iraq in a responsible way and now he's delivering on the promise. the president very much touting his foreign policy credentials, pointing out he was able to get osama bin laden. pointing out that thing are moog forward in afghanistan and now in iraq. the president in very dramatic fashion pointing out what this will mean for the members of the armed services. >> here at home, the coming months will be another season of homecomings. across america, our servicemen and women will be reunited with their families. today,

iraq. >> thanks, guys. next, your calls and comments on washington journal. that a hearing on concussions and student athletes. then the president and mrs. obama talked about employment opportunities for veterans. >> it is very obvious that with all the priorities we have and they're all worthy, until further notice, every decision the national government makes, every close call should be made in favor of economic growth, every type to be broken in favor of growth in the private sector. >> he worked as an adviser in the ronald reagan white tests omb in the bush white test and implement its that because that produced a $1 billion budget surplus. sunday night, mitch daniels on his new book on "q &a" at 8:00. >> this morning richard cohen has the latest on the deficit reduction committee and efforts to reach a deal by late november. kea susanting talks about credit card debt and counseling programs for consumers and late jo,an schaffner discusses how states deal with the ownership of the exotic animals as well

troops leaving iraq. then, your thoughts and comments on washington journal. >> every weekend, but the c-span network be your source for public affairs, nonfiction books, and public -- and history. c-span2 has booktv. american history tv on c-span3. all our programs are available any time at the c-span video library. the c-span network, it is washington your way. >> senate armed services committee chairman, carl levin says the u.s. should be prepared to send its troops if pakistan does not address threats by the haqqani network. senator 11 worked at the u.s. to add the haqqani network to state department foreign terrorist list. this is just over one hour. up yourself is an on the record briefing. >> now you tell me. an hon for me busimilar to introduce senator carl levin, senior senator from the great state of michigan. one of the foremost voice is in the senate on foreign affairs and one of the voices in my tenure as overseas for abc that i listened to most intently. he knows his stuff well. today, talki

troops set to exit iraq by december leaving behind a campaign that's cost american taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars up next starkey talks with a man who says the u.s. is wasting its money trying to build democracy a false democracy in the region stay with us. we're sitting down with peter van buren the state department foreign service officer who a few years ago had it in iraqi reconstruction team then he came back home and wrote a book titled we meant well how i helped lose the battle for the hearts and minds of the iraqi people and now he says the state department one thing fired because of the book what what's in the book that they don't like so much as i'm sure when you throw parties the clowns they sometimes get angry state department is a lot like the mafia you don't talk about the family outside the family and the state department was i think bothered by the fact that i told the true story of what happened in iraq which contradicts what they've been putting out through the media for almost eight years now tell me a little bit more about the projects that you were invol

is planning to buy a lot of weapons from the united states iraq is hoping to buy a number of f. sixteen s they already have water and will continue to buy and one tanks from us all of these are very expensive toys and more importantly come with very long tails each of these tanks requires maintenance requires spare parts requires extra equipment and requires trainers and mechanics it's not like buying a car where you are going to say department pushes those contracts oh i know for a fact that we do it's one of the duties of the state department is to help sell american products overseas and we work very closely in a number of countries around the world with the goal of terry in order to sell american weapons that's not a secret to be correct in any way whatsoever foreign military sales represent a significant duty of the military in conjunction with state department for state what is difficult about iraq is that this is a country that doesn't seem in a position from afford these type of things iraq is a country where people don't have access to water don't have access to medical

what does it mean for iraq? >> well, i think the iraqis made it inevitable by resisting any legal ground of immunity to american troops. that's self-of evident. i do think that it has very ominous implications. i think a trip wire of a few thousand american troops combat capable if not actually engaged in combat could make the difference or could have made the difference in offering a sort of stabilizing factor for iraq at a period which is going to be fundamentally unstable. i think it's worth remembering that nothing politically has been resolved in iraq. all or almost all of the sectarian gee graphic, regional, religious, political, ideological disputes that have plagued the american presence in iraq remain unresolved. without american troops there as a guarantor of at least a final degree of stability, i think you could see a descent into instability pretty quickly. >> robin, do you agree with that? why wouldn't the iraqis grant immunity to a few thousand troops? >> well, immunity is a big issue and it was a

troops are leaving iraq by the end of the year. tonight, the risks of leaving and what the president didn't say about the decision. >>> steve jobs. a first look at the untold story he left behind. the controversial choices he made about fighting his cancer. >>> and making a difference. a restaurant where you don't have to pay if you can't. the famous face behind it and the inspiration he found right here on this broadcast. the inspiration he found right here on this broadcast. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> good evening. i'm kate snow in tonight for brian. after nine years of bloody war costing thousands of american lives and hundreds of billions of american dollars, president obama says it is ending. the last american troops in iraq are packing up and getting out by the end of the year. home, he says, in time for the holidays. it was march of 2003 when president george w. bush announced the start of the war against iraq with shock and awe. saddam hussein's rule soon collapsed. the pres

troops are leaving iraq by the end of the year. tonight, the risks of leaving and what the president didn't say about the decision. >>> steve jobs. a first look at the untold story he left behind. the controversial choices he made about fighting his cancer. >>> and making a difference. a restaurant where you don't have to pay if you can't. the famous face behind it and the inspiration he found right here on this broadcast. the inspiration he found right here on this broadcast. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> good evening. i'm kate snow in tonight for brian. after nine years of bloody war costing thousands of american lives and hundreds of billions of american dollars, president obama says it is ending. the last american troops in iraq are packing up and getting out by the end of the year. home, he says, in time for the holidays. it was march of 2003 when president george w. bush announced the start of the war against iraq with shock and awe. saddam hussein's rule soon stopped. he announc

commander in iraq wanted upwards of 15,000 troops in iraq next year. the white house talked about three to five thousand. why is president obama pulling out of our troops out? >> chris, i think we should put this into the appropriate historical context. first of all, president obama said that combat troops would leave iraq by the end of this year. but before he ever said that, the bush administration also committed to withdrawing all troops by the end of this year. so you have a bipartisan commitment to withdraw combat troops and that was viewed as appropriate given the development of the iraqi security forces. but we always made clear we were open to discussions with the iraqis if they wanted some kind of continuing presence. and what we have agreed to is a support and training mission similar to what we have in countries from jordan to colombia and we will be working with the iraqis. we will also have a robust diplomatic presence and we will fulfill what are the requests that the iraqis have made to us. >> chris: if it were the general order of busin

troops in iraq home by the end the year, and only a handful of troops will stay behind to assist iraq in arm sales. >>> in iraq we've succeeded in our strategy to end the war. last year i announced the end of our combat mission in iraq. we've already removed more than 100,000 troops and iraqi forces have taken full responsibility for the security of their own country. thanks to the extraordinary sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, the iraqi people have the chance to forge their own future. and now the rest of our troops will be home for the holidays. >> president obama's decision to end the war in iraq means the next couple of months will be filled with welcome home ceremonies. here's what some of the troops and military families are already saying. >> not only is my son coming home safe and sound to us as a family, our family is whole again. and i'm very thankful for the job that him and all his fellow soldiers have done for us. >> time to bring our boys home. it's time for them to come home to their families. they shouldn't have to be over there. >> coming home over the holi

troops went into iraq. most of them deployed from kuwait and they removed saddam hussein within a matter of only a few days. now eight years, almost nine years later, all u.s. troops will be out by the end of this year. the president getting ready to announce the end of the war as far as the united states is concerned in iraq. let's go to our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin. she's over in the briefing room right now. we expect the president to caulk out, make a statement, not necessarily answer questions. what are you hearing, jessica? >> well, they just came in an removed the president's remarks, it looked like. not sure what that means, if there will be a slight delay here, wolf. we don't know if he's going to take questions or not. we do know that as you have been reporting that the president is going to say that the iraq war is over. we know more than $1 trillion, 4,400 american lives, upwards f ofwards of 100,000 iraqi lives were lost. now the president will tell us this war is over. the

he made that decision today after speaking to iraq's prime minister. danielle nottingham has the story. >> reporter: president obama says the iraq war will be over at the end of the year. >> i can say that our troops in iraq will definitely be home for the holidays. >> reporter: the president spoke to reporters after a private video conference with iraqi prime minister nouri al- maliki. the decision is in like with the withdrawal deadline former president bush set in 2008. and it effectively ends the united states' involvement in the 8.5-year-old war. >> the united states will continue to have an interest in an iraq that is stable, secure and self-reliant. >> reporter: washington had considered the possibility of leaving several thousand troops to continue training iraqi security forces. but iraq leaders still angry over civilian deaths and abu ghraib refused to give u.s. troops immunity from prosecution. we won't stay without it. 41,000 american troops are in iraq right now. nearly all the force will be relocated or sent home. concerns remain that the

in iraq we'll have more troop in honduras than iraq. and it is dangerous because iran is waiting in the wings. they are looking to have a dominate influence in iraq and it will not be good going forward. >> chris: as secretary clinton said in the program. we tried to create a sovereign country and at the end of the negotiations the malaki regime decided they wanted us out. >> guest: i heard what the secretary of state said and that's true. they are a sovereign nation. but again, any time the united states has done this historically. we left troops behind to secure the peace. this was done in the insistence of iraq. they didn't want a american presence it is clear to all. because iran doesn't want an american presence. if america is there they can put up resistance to iran. there is no resistance and iran will have a clear hand and field to exude their dominance and influence in iraq. that will not be good in the region and this will allow them for forays in the area and that is dangerous. >> chris: congresswoman, from the very start you

. >> after nearly nine years, america's war in iraq will be over. >> but as iraq winds down, afghanistan rages on, is the u.s. making much headway on that battlefield? a question for our headliner, secretary of state hillary clinton. >>> then -- fight night in vegas. >> rick, again -- >> you had -- >> i'm speaking. i'm speaking. >> is the real winner of the romney/perry bout, barack obama? our roundtable go inside campaign 2012. >>> and two in general opposite corners, come together in the battle for jobs. labor leader richard trumka and tom donohue the strategy they share for putting america back to work. >>> good morning. lots to get to today. but first some news since your morning papers. breaking news to report, a powerful 7.2 earthquake has rocked turkey, with its epicenter near the city of van. a local mayor reports there are so many dead, several buildings have collapsed. there's too much destruction, he says. rescue workers are struggling to reach victims trapped under the rubble. >>> and a milestone in the middle east this morning, the first election of the arab spring, the upri

he left iraq and was awarded the silver star for valor. but they don't give away silver stars for nothing. and when we sat down with cornford we learned what post-traumatic stress disorder is all about. when you were coming over here for operation proper exit, did you wonder whether you were doing the right thing? >> sometimes. my wife brought up a good point when i told her i wanted to do it. she's like "what if it makes it worse? what if it brings it all back?" because for a while i would sleep walk and scream in my sleep and stuff and i haven't been doing that a lot lately. but when i found out i was coming back, for about a week before i started doing it again and it really scared her. >> pelley: his nightmares are rooted in easter sunday, 2007. steven cornford's platoon assaulted an enemy ma machine gun nest. he was hit in the left shoulder. his lieutenant, phillip neel sprinted forward to help but was cut down. and this whole time you're returning fire? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: cornford threw two hand grenades into the machine gun n

military in iraq came home injured from iraq more than thirty two thousand also u.s. military deaths in iraq almost forty five hundred can't forget though the big the biggest figure fifty thousand iraqi civilian deaths most people estimate that number to be much higher closer to one million civilian deaths simply tallied from two thousand and five and on another thing to consider is the actual monetary early caught monetary cost of war more than eight hundred billion dollars possibly with for that for the united states of the three important. look right right what do we take from these numbers if we take the us intervention and occupation of iraq has been stopped good is not victory to claim there's nothing to look back it has been a disaster to not have happened it's a disaster of death and destruction and the us has been a part of iraq's problem in the last thought since the intervention subtle very hard because the us is ending its and that was because i think this will help iraqis move forward and put the truck on the right track to what what do we see in the comi

causes that sent america to war in iraq we entered the iraq war under the guise of looking for weapons of mass destruction when we didn't find any as if there ever worry we then changed it to the new medium which is all we got rid of saddam was a terrible man who brought freedom to iraq. saddam was not a nice guy i'm not here to defend him no one could possibly defend his actions however. we killed over one hundred thousand iraqi citizens some of them were killed or rectally by the united states some of them were killed in the sectarian violence that we set loose in the aftermath of our invasion of iraq today remains in the bottom percentages of any statistic the u.n. cares to count access to water access to medical care access to education iraq is not a place that represents the investment of sixty three billion dollars in reconstruction funds iraq has had a number of elections but it doesn't have a democracy press reports are constantly reporting secret prisons militias targeted killings government killing soldiers people in military uniforms committing assassinations bombs going off

troops prepare to withdraw from iraq in december they leave behind a campaign that's cost the american taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars when next we talk to and released expert who says the u.s. is wasting time and money trying to build democracy in the region that's our special interview next here on. i. we're sitting down with peter van buren a state department foreign service officer who a few years ago had it anyway racked the reconstruction team then came back home and wrote a book titled we meant well how i helped lose the battle for the hearts and minds of the iraqi people and now he says the state department don't seem fired because of the book what what's in the book that they don't like so much stuff i'm sure when you throw pies that clowns they sometimes get angry state department is a lot like the mafia you don't talk about the family outside the family and the state department was i think bothered by the fact that i told the true story of what happened in iraq which contradicts what they've been putting out through the media for almost eight years not tell me a li

part of iraq. are you suggesting that if iran were to try to take advantage at this moment, the u.s. would still have a military commitment, the message to iran being what? >> well, i think iran should look at the region. we may not be leaving military bases in iraq, but we have bases elsewhere. we have support and training assets elsewhere. we have a nato ally in turkey. you know, the united states is very present in the region. but let's also admit that iran has influence in iraq. always has, always will. but the iraqis themselves are a very proud people. they are proud of their nation. they're proud of their own future. prospects. so i don't think anyone should be mistaken about america's commitment to the new democracy in iraq that we have sacrificed so much to help them achieve. >> final point on iraq. this was cast as the president talked about this as a victory for the united states, as we withdraw troops. looking back now, as this war is coming to an end, do you stand by your vote authorizi

that's the reality in iraq. our continuing to stay there takes the political leadership off the hook. they have to do the things necessary to lead to a more stable iraq and an iraq that helps the rights of religious minorities. we cannot enforce that or impose that on them and keeping more troops there is not the way to do it after nine years. we have to accept that responsibility and understand that nobody else can make the decisions but themselves. >> final question sir. what are the thoughts for those who paid the ultimate price? >> that's where the thoughts must be. i'm grad they emphasized that. we pate a heavy price and the american military are unbelievable. i am amazed and so proud every day. that kind of pride in them will continue forever and never be diminished by differences over policies. once that decision was made, it was made democratically and deceptive at times and the decision was made. once the decision was made democratically by congress, the american people and the congress supported our tr

america's war in iraq will be your. next two months for troops in iraq tens of thousands of the packet there deal. you just saw that we showed you again so here's another question what happened to nato as a original purpose in libya to protect civilians not to kill gadhafi so is the libyan leader dead will the new government be there what external forces had in mind r t is live on the ground in tripoli. there's a bad state of civil liberties and strange a state some say is even worse than under the bush administration so well the former president sent prisoners to one ton of mowbray where they were often tortured is this president stepping up the game by skipping the torture and just only straight for the kill. it's friday october twenty first four pm in washington d.c. i'm christine and you are watching our team all our top story today the united states will withdraw all troops from iraq by the end of this year president obama says all troops other than about one hundred sixty active duty soldiers attached to the u.s.

in iraq ruled by the message yet needs to be a legend in iraq imagine iraq under control zarko you're talking point link iraq to iran i believe that iran is now the number one troublemaker in iraq that's bad enough but a lot of these pentagon pundits were making big money from defense contracts most of the t.v. and the radio military analysts have ties to military contractors people who could possibly be making money on the. most would consider that a potential conflict of interest maybe not even potential at the same time reporters who did ask hard questions were punished by the white house luckily their managers stood by them reporter jonathan landay covered the speech dick cheney gave in august two thousand and two to the veterans of foreign wars many of us are convinced that saddam hussein will acquire nuclear weapons fairly soon that was based on absolutely nothing it was as if it was pulled out of thin air there was absolutely no intelligence no evidence whatsoever for that assertion so landi and more and began writing about faulty intelligence about how there was no link betwee

america's war in iraq will be over. it may be over but will it really be mission accomplished as the commander in chief promises to withdraw all u.s. troops from iraq by the end of the year what does this mean for the future there and our troops only leaving because iraq's leaders have told the u.s. it's overstayed its welcome. whether. for external intervention or you and your role of nato. rebels in benghazi the problem able to achieve the objective. what happens in to those original objective in libya to protect civilians not to kill gadhafi but now that libyan leader the libyan leader is dead that will the new government be what these external forces had in mind r.t. is on the ground in tripoli. there's a bad state of civil liberties some of the administration a state some say is even worse than under the bush administration so while the former president sent for prisoners to guantanamo bay where many were tortured is this president stepping up again by skipping the torture and going straight for the kill. it is fri

the next question is is iraq ready? is the parliament ready to work together there in iraq? >> that's going to be the million dollar question. when you speak to iraqis in certain part of the country, there's no doubt a great deal of capacity and capability, which means the iraqi army, iraqi internal security forces have the ability to maintain, preserve law and order, but more importantly defend iraq's borders. that's the real test. iraq right now remains fragile politically and militarily. and over the course of the last several years, the american military has withdrawn from major cities to the outskirts of major urban areas allowing the iraqi forces to stand up on their own two feet. we can say attacks have diminished but not gone away completely. the ability of iraqi forces to prevent attacks is still somewhat question. there's no doubt the capacity is better, they have gotten more equipment and technical assistance from the american military. once this begins, the drawdown begins, how capable will the iraqi army and the internal security fors forces be to sta on their o

troops for pastor withdrawal from iraq and december they leave behind a campaign that's cost the american taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars next we talk to a middle east expert who says that the u.s. is wasting time and money trying to build democracy in that region. i. were sitting down with peter van buren state department foreign service officer who a few years ago had it any rocky reconstruction team then he came back home and wrote a book titled we meant well how i helped lose the battle for the hearts and minds of the iraqi people and now he says the state department once again fired because of the book what what's in the book that they don't like so much stuff i'm sure when you throw parties the clowns they sometimes get angry state department is a lot like the mafia you don't talk about the family outside the family and the state department was i think bothered by the fact that i told the true story of what happened in iraq which contradicts what they've been putting out through the media for almost eight years now tell me a little bit more about the projects that you were

with iraq. here's what we are hearing according to several different media reports, that the president will come out this just a few moments and announce a complete drawdown of troops out of iraq. now, a little background on this. over the weekend we heard about some disagreement between our country and the iraqis, and what it seemed to be about is the iraqis saying they were not going to give immunity to any of our soldiers that were left after the end of this year. now, remember, those reports of how many would be left vaird from thousands to tens of thousands. but if iraq was not going the give you our troops immunity ouf our court systems, then our troops could be very vulnerable, obviously, if they stayed in this country. so, again, here's the news reports, and we don't have confirmation, though we're working on this for you right now, that the president will announce today that the u.s. will completely withdraw it troops there iraq by the end of this year. we'll have that statement live wh