>> again, my file is iraq, so i'm focused on iraq. i would just -- >> but, obviously, iraq has huge implications for the homeland. >> again, i think al-qaeda is a real threat if they're able to entrench in the heart of the arab world. it'll threaten our vital u.s. interests throughout the region. >> all right, thank you. and, again, thank for your service to the country. i appreciate that. chair now recognizes mr. vargas for five minutes. >> thank you very much, mr. chair, appreciate it. you know, i think for most americans trying to keep score at home, it's becoming very difficult to understand the situation. i think a lot of the nations have become somewhat confused and complex. i mean, iraq, iran, syria, it's all kind of running together, and the issue of the sunni/shia discord and what's happening there. but what is very, very clear, i think, is the terrible price that americans have paid. as you know very well and, again, thank you for your service. i mean, the amount of sons and daughters that didn't come home alive, the number

back to iraq. it's strengthened isis and served as a vehicle for thousands of fighters. the slow bleed in syria has been a hindrance to the progress in iraq. iran's nefarious influence in the region contributes to instability. it's well known that senior iraqi officials have some cozy relationship with iran and iraq has not done near enough to prevent overfights liberate hezbollah and syria. in order to stablize iraq, the government will need to be more responsible actor in the region chairman royce and i made that -- emphasized that point when we met with mr. malaki several months ago. we want to encourage iraq to give sunnis a meanlingful stake in the country. the influence and hopefully reducing the violence in syria. i would like to thank deputy assistant secretary bret mcgirk, one of the foremost experts on iraq for being here today to address these issues for us. i look forward to your testimony and our discussion. i yield back to you, mr. chairman. >> thank you mr. engle. we hear from the ch

in iraq, the islamic state of iraq and levant or isil. i will discuss the current situation in rah dad my -- ramadi and fallujah. isil is well known to us. its former incarnation, aqi, was a focus of u.s. and iraqi security efforts over many years beginning with the rise of its first leader more than a decade ago. its current leader is a designated global terrorist under u.s. law and we believe is currently based in syria. his mission is clearly stated in his own statements, to carve out a zone of governing territory from baghdad through syria to lebanon. the syria conflict over the past two years provide a platform for isil to gain resources, recruits and safe havens. while the reice number of -- precise number of fighters is unknown, james clapper last week testified there are likely 26,000 extremist fighters in syria including 7,000 foreign fighters. many of these fighters are affiliated with isil. isil in its earlier incarnation inflicted mass casualty attacks in iraq. over the years 2011 and 2012. it was not until early last year tha

the ultimate goal was to let represented iraq, a democratic iraq that could be a u.s. ally in the heart o of the middle ea, and alec against the war on terror. but in the near term what we decide is to assist in the city was public the best we're going to do and that we did local initiatives and eventually get to a long-term situation where reconciliation was possible. myth number five, the surge was merely hearts and minds campaign. well, if that's the case in what is the first six months of the surge in deadly spirit of the war for u.s. forces? the fact is that this was not a campaign to win hearts and minds because of the campaign to control and to protect the population in order to defeat the insurgency. that was a heck of a lot the fighting involved. myth number six, sectarian cleansing in baghdad had already stabilized the city prior to the surge. here's a map of the ethnosectarian violence, the orange blob, the more violence there is but at the beginning of the surge in january of 2007 there's a heck of a lot of sectarian violence. sectarian cleansing had not so

imposed on iraq, was more detrimental to the social fabric of iraq and anything else. people associate with the united states with sanctions. not so -- not saddam with it. saddam was not impacted by this. he kept it off for food, getting away with, they smuggle system. he greeted and economy, in parallel, also to do with smuggling. so he in a way legitimized smuggling in iraq. so now that you have all the impact moving onto new chapter, so you need to cleanse yourself of that process. that takes a while. as to the first question, what was the first again? [inaudible] >> the media element. it's easier to sell bad news. that's one of them. it's easier to define a country in a binary way. it's easy. it's a simple as that. it's more complicated to try hard to understand society, the complexity of the society. and by the way, i'm not saying that we are clearing our own mind which had we are wearing and which others are not. i think we are sometimes unclear as which had we are wearing because of the complexities of the society spent his we will be this event now. we will go

>> again, my file is iraq are so focused on iraq. >> obviously iraq has huge implications. i think we are able to trench in the heart of the arab world. it will threaten vital u.s. interests throughout the region. >> thank you. again, thank you for your service. the chair now recognizes mr. vargas for five minutes. >> thank you very much, mr. chair. appreciate it. for most americans trying to keep score at home, it is becoming very difficult to understand the situation. a lot of the nations have become somewhat confused and complex in iraq and iran, syria is all kind of running together in the issue of the sunni shia discord and what is happening there. but what is very, very clear i think it's a terrible price that americans face, as you know, thank you for your service, the amount of sons and daughters they didn't come home alive in the number of parents, mothers and fathers they didn't come home alive and those that day brought the demons come with them that will haunt them and their families for the rest of their lives. i mean, we paid a terrible price. today i heard fr

in iraq. an unfortunate reality is that out qaeda in iraq, now known as or islamic state of iraq isis as you see it in the papers is growing steadily in size and in power and influence. it's militant ranks have blossomed. isis carried out attacks on two anderent prisons in iraq freed hundreds of experienced al qaeda fighters and leaders. group is now able to carry out approximately 40 mass casualty attacks every month. multiple car bombs struck the capital this morning. the nearly 9000 deaths last year made it the bloodiest since u.s. forces departed in 2011. in syria further strengthens this group. militants are able to flow syria,between iraq and providing isis an advantage as it works to advance the regional vision of the radical islamic state. the gains have been dramatic. it took advantage of a security vacuum, entering the cities of in columns of trucks mounted with heavy machine guns. of course, and bar province is where marines pushed so hard to .fight al qaeda i should note that this

coming up shortly, a hearing on iraq -- excuse me, al-qaeda in iraq. but first, a portion of remarks from earlier today by new homeland security secretary jeh johnson at the woodrow wilson center. he outlined the threat of al-qaeda affiliates across the world and syria becoming arect matter of homeland security here in the u.s.. >> put another way, with the creation of dhs, a terrorists, a searching for backnesses along our air -- weaknesses along our air, land or seaboarders or ports of entry is now met with e one federal response from me. preventing terrorist attacks on the homeland is and shoulderro remain the cornerstone of homeland security. through our government'sity. counterterrorism efforts in both the bush and obamah administrations, we have put al-qaeda's core leadership on the path to defeat. but the threat has evolved. since about 2009 we saw the rise of al-qaeda affiliates such as al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula which has mades, repeated efforts to exportave terrorism to our homeland. our government, working with others, must continuall

the british experience in iraq is worth the americans variance in iraq. and we are really pleased to have both of you here and we will come up to the podium now. >> thank you, peter, thank you for the kind introduction and thank you for coming today. i really appreciate the new america foundation and i appreciate being able to sponsor this talk. i was not going to write this book. although i knew that there was a story to be told. i was going to let it take some time and there is a history of the iraq war. but in the summer of 2000 and i was at a conference with a who's who of experts in the united states. of course what to do in afghanistan in 2010 was an issue of major concern in the united states and invariably the discussion evolves what had happened during the search. and not one of them had a holistic understanding of the iraq war and research. and so the liberation of the philippines in 19441945 is going to be the subject of my next book and we are writing about people and they are going to disagree with what we have to say about this. and i decide

does not apply in iraq. here in the united states, especially after the triple draw in 2011, people are discussing if it can possibly be enough for us to have a strong relationship with. and security threats in the region have highlighted that important. the corporation in relation to energy has proven that it is profitable. it is advisable. it is mutually beneficial to have that strong relationship. iraqis are eager to purchase most of u.s. transportation sector and health care. i am clear as an ambassador that the relationship has to go beyond from the vice president to the minister or the president to the minister. it has to be more institution-to-institution. to strengthen that relationship. and that will require some time. i think i am finished with my time. >> thank you, thank you, thank you. [applause] yes, we open for questions. >> thank you for a thoughtful, insightful and forward presentation. >> my pleasure. >> we are grateful you have time to be with us. and if i may take the liberty of beginning

it is across iraq. you will find people of different backgrounds, whether they are arabs or kurds, turkmen or christians and so on. never have aou can normal paradigm -- which one are you, a kurd, shiite or sunni? it doesn't apply. this is too simplistic and too superficial. i am a kurd and a shiite. i am not unique in iraq. sort ofrt of the normal paradigm of iraq. if we just look at the quick historical perspective, sometimes in baghdad, you have the two key cities which present different civilizations as well. the british mandate, countryence, iraq as a was always rich within the region. in the gulf country, they used to send their kids to baghdad university. they are a key member in the united nations, the league of nations before the arab league, as well. growth as a monarchy until 1958. from 1958, you have the military rule. they rolled from 1963 for a few months and then in 1968, the political party of saddam hussein. 2003, president ruled. he was useless. it had an adverse impact on the iraqis a

would you have supported the iraq war? >> i say get in the last chapter, sort of summing up in reflections, that i don't know. it is hard for me to say what i would have advocated in 2003. i, like a lot of people in congress and most other countries in the world, initially accepted the argument that saddam had weapons of mass distraction. that is how the resolution got past. intelligence services in even russia and china thought he had these weapons. >> your reaction? >> hindsight is 20/20. i think that was rather an invasion of responsibility. at the time, around 2002, as the heavily caveated, footnoted and hedged intelligence reports were available to any member of congress and any cleared government employee in the capital, you could see that it was not a slamdunk. it was very ambiguous. certain news organizations were simply in the tank. they accepted ipso-facto that saddam hussein had weapons of mass destruction because we say he has. there have been indications for years before that, for instance from the u.n. americ

>> would you ever consider going back to iraq for any recent? >> the question is, johnny, have you ever considered going back to iraq for any reason? >> no. this is my country for good. my country and my kids country. [applause] >> johnny would be shocked -- johnny loves america but every time i call johnny 25 times a day john how you doing? [inaudible] [laughter] but the truth is, johnny come if johnny were to go to iraq, johnny would be dead, no matter who was -- [inaudible] or any arab country. the thing with johnny is that he didn't just go on missions that were just against al-qaeda or shia. he went on missions against everybody. so he doesn't have just one in a. he's got enemies all over the place. and friends as well. other questions? we want -- i'm sorry. we are going to thank everybody for coming. now john is going to buy everybody a drink. just kidding about that. >> is your name johnny? >> my fake name, yeah. >> johnny does not use -- we should explain. johnny doesn't use the name he was given at birth because he still has relatives i

problem many iraq in particular -- the problem in iraq in particular, and it's really true both in iraq and afghanistan, is what began as swift military victories quickly degenerated into long and grinding wars. in the case of iraq, it was always believed that it would be a short-term commitment, i think. it would be interesting to ask those who were participants in the decision making had they known in march 2003 that the country would be at war in iraq for six or seven more years whether they would have made the decision they did. but this assumption that the war would be short or that its end was right around the corner afflicted the department of defense as badly as it did the decision makers themselves. and because everyone assumed that the war would be over quickly, there was a great reluctance inside do defense to -- inside defense to spend significant sums of money on equipment that might be needed to protect the troops but that might be useful only in iraq or afghanistan. as i describe it in the book, the department of defense is organized to plan for war, motto wage war -- not

>> my file is iraq sewing focused on iraq. iraq has huge implications for the homeland. >> al qaeda is a real threat. it threatens our interests through the region. >> again, thank you for your service. i appreciate it. the chair now recognizes mr. vargas for five minutes. very much, mr. chair. i appreciate it. for most americans trying to it'sscore at home, becoming very difficult to understand the situation and i think a lot of the nations are becoming somewhat confused and complex between iran, iraq, syria. it's all running together in the issue of the sunni-shiite discord. what is very clear is the terrible price that americans have paid. as you know very well, thank you for your service, but the amount of sons and daughters it did not come home alive than the number of parents, fathers, and mothers did not, live in those who did brought the demons home with them that will on their lives. we paid a terrible price. today i heard from some of the other side that are saying, to hell with the. let them kill themselves. what sh

we can talk about what's going on in iraq now. we will not identify anyone. no active servicemen will be identified and we are trying to keep semantic details -- [inaudible] >> just to repeat the question for the video, carter frayed, johnny, now that people will come after you? maybe they can come after me, but they cannot come after my family. [inaudible] >> was it difficult for you to come to the united states and make the transition? -- [inaudible] >> we have a question about how difficult a place for you to come to the u.s. that's a great question. >> so my big issue -- it took four or five hours -- [inaudible] so i pick arguments with the supervisor. i said i don't want you to be kind to me and give me money. i want to work. i deserve what i get. so this makes me kind of sad. >> but how you got out of that system, how you got out of iraq coming year helped by the seals. that's a question we're looking out for rack. when you had a serving in iraq, how you got to the u.s. >> so one of my friends -- [inaudible] so anyway, in 2005, most of the guys they lef

johnny, we thought you were still in iraq. with the book, our book came out, "american sniper" came out, and chris was actually doing a book signing, i think, in california, ask johnny went out -- and johnny went out and just showed up. and chris, as chris told the story later on, chris said i called him up -- i thought he was dead and called him up and made him stand up in front of the room and told everyone truth, that johnny walker -- chris kyle is known as a man who saved a lot of seal lives and a lot of iraqi leaves, and -- lives, and crust told that crowd and has told me and has told everybody he could that johnny walker safed more seals and more americans and more iraqis than chris ever could. it was just a remarkable story, and i'm not sure if it was the next day, but soon after chris got hold of our publisher, our editor, actually, peter hubbard who's really been a big help for us and said, peter, you are doing this book, boy. in this man is really important. and that's kind of where we started. so, johnny, why don't

would you have supported the iraq war? >> i say get in the last chapter, sort of summing up in know.tions, that i don't it is hard for me to say what i would have advocated in 2003. i, like a lot of people in congress and most other countries in the world, initially accepted the argument that saddam had weapons of mass distraction. that is how the resolution got past. intelligence services in even russia and china thought he had these weapons. >> your reaction? 20/20.sight is i think that was rather an invasion of responsibility. at the time, around 2002, as the heavily caveated, footnoted and hedged intelligence reports were available to any member of congress and any cleared government employee in the see that it could was not a slamdunk. ambiguous. certain news organizations were simply in the tank. they accepted it so fact the -- cto that saddam hussein had weapons of mass destruction because we say he has. there have been indications for instanceore that, for from the u.n. american investigator, arms inspector in iraq

iraq again you have a state sponsor who is willing to use chemical weapons on its own people. but there were no chemical weapons that's not going to mass our asses of the right but there were no chemical weapons found there well there were some and i still believe they're out there what about now blackwater as it was formerly called is staying behind in afghanistan after the u.s. troops leave are they just the army's trojan horse i know you know they have anymore but i'm sure you have an answer to that well look any time you know there's going to be a diplomat to be an embassy there will be some kind of a training or support function i'm sure left behind for the afghans because the you know they're they need support combat service support aviation support for the afghan army to try to continue to defend the country so there certainly be a role for private sector companies to do that i mean private sector companies have played a significant role in the american national security really since the founding of this country why do you think that private military contractors are so

and the reality is that not everyone in iraq. an agreement with the path of an iranian style which is basically bringing the run back into mexican into many sections but it's just seem plausible to you that the head of state broadcasting can basically overrule the president of the country and delay in a match that price delay the french president's interview well will be run as the yuan is different and i'm switching concrete certain that it is possible that one of broadcasting events to go on to conclusions yet. i think that's us specially these very tense days of the roads going through. we should not forget that doesn't draw me disliking both neoconservatives radicals out of washington d c as we witnessed as well as local radicals in iraq. all of these people when tehran not to be able to be in a position for their safe to come back and smashed into me and so we have to help dismiss these people in this government by cooperating by sending in business. by allowing them giving them a chance to show the other it's closing doors

these groups obviously have been crossing over from iraq into syria and let's recall. secretary of state of america john kerry's statement last week that they may be biological weapons that the syrian government may be using but i think. they're pointing the finger to syria the western governments that you just mansion because we know that it's the first on the lab has been reportedly discovered in iraq. exactly that's that's the point isn't it. they must know something maybe they're biological weapons also found in iraq and again this is this is a false flag operation that they want to. blame the syrian government for and again we know that the americans are not honest brokers in the peace process at all. what we know is that the recent chemical attacks in syria is still under investigation but how could this discovery it shed a different light on them. well it's obvious there is the proof if you need it that these chemical and probably if they are any biological weapons are being brought in across the border and sponsored by the saudi arabian wahabi this and finance

that's iraq. afghanistan. the president found himself pushed into a situation what where he had to order a surge, even though he jected the surge ordered by president bush in iraq and it was all by objective accounts a successful surge in iraq. president obama, mr. speaker, ordered the surge of a minimum number of troops in afghanistan and i recall general mcchrystal laying out the numbers, i don't have them exactly committed to memory but something to the extent of 75,000 troops will get the job done, 50,000 it will take a while and maybe we'll get a job done but if you get down to 35,000 troops you're barely able to hope that you can get the job done, the president opted for the lesser of the lesser option and went in with a minimalist attitude and leaked out in a slow way and reinforced troops in afghanistan, as soon as he ordered the surge, the same tile, he announced when the queets would pull out. i don't know how any military strategist would announce when they were going to pull out. that says to the e

you have spent a lot of time in iraq. they seem to be gaining some significant strength, not only in syria, but iraq, as well. >> reporter: and they are effectively an extension of the islamic state of iraq, headed by omar omar al badadi who a year ago announced the accretion of the islamic state of syria and iraq and that is when we saw isis setting itself up, beginning to set itself up, inside the syrian battlefield. arguably right now it is more powerful than it has ever been across both nations, because it has proven that it is capable of expanding from iraq into syria, very capable of taking advantage of the kind of dynamics that we see in syria, the chaos, the killings. what's really interesting about it, though, is that isis in syria, the syrian battlefield, has proven to be more of a magnet for jihadi foreign fighters than iraq ever was. we're seeing a significantly higher number of foreign fighters streaming towards syria, especially those coming from europe and even from the united states than we ever saw back i

iraq again you have a state sponsor who is willing to use chemical weapons on its own people. but there were no chemical weapons that silent tens of thousands of them right but there were no chemical weapons found there. well there were some and i still believe they're out there what about now blackwater as it was formerly called is staying behind in afghanistan after the u.s. troops leave are they just the army's trojan horse i know you know they have anymore but i'm sure you have an answer to that well look any time you know there's going to be a diplomat be an embassy there will be some kind of training or support function i'm sure left behind for the afghans because the you know they're they need support combat service support aviation support for the afghan army to try to continue from the country so there's certainly be a role for private sector companies to do that i mean private sector companies have played a significant role in the american national security really since the founding of this country why do you think that private military contractors are so widely used

. >> kidnapping was, and is, a very real problem in iraq. criminal gangs, militias are roaming around, finding ways to extort money. this is why we've had doctors, academics, lawyers, a- a whole lot of iraq's intelligencia just flee the country, because they're at grave risk of being kidnapped. anyone is at risk who can fetch a better ransom. >> you have to be thinking, "okay, it doesn't matter that i'm a reporter. now, to them, i am a westerner with a potential big price tag on my head." >> [speaking french]. >> you lose control. you become completely powerless just in a matter of seconds. they think they have this enormously valuable prisoner. they think they're going to get enormous ransoms. >> my name is florence aubenas. i'm french. i'm journalist in liberation. please, help me. >> i ask especially, mr. didier julia, the french deputy, please mr. julia, help me, it's urgent! >> you know, as dangerous as it might seem sometimes in a place like that, you know, that's unstable, where the government's really out of control, or there's a lot

to me, that is the key difference between iraq and others. iraq has been through that pain. with all that are dysfunctionality of the various government institutions, that might be the case. but the vision of the society is clear. nobody is asking for the change of the system. the fundamental change of the system. >> thank you. yes, we are open. we are fortunate to have you as a rich source for all of us. yes. yes, please. go back. yeah. >> thank you, sir, for your comments. -- billl look this lucas. you mentioned that the democratic project in iraq can be perceived by the neighbors as a threat. i wonder if you would speak to your relations with iran and the saudi arabians in that context. is thathreat government a mugger sees not cemented in weightson to the extent that people in the region want to practice democracy. that is one last thing. is, iner aspect of it democracy, you have a transformation. that presents a level of unpredictability. and people are fearful of unpredictability. people of the region are fearful of them and when they have a dictator, they knew what to

iraq war iraq war back in the ninety's him talking about how it was never a war because a war is was made two armies fighting each other and i want to play you a clip of just the best most pointed point from that clip. really armed and i wondered about this you know during the persian gulf war those intelligence reports would come out iraq incredible weapons and credible weapons how do you know that. well. the regime. if only you were alive to see the horrible failures of the two thousand and three and i remember watching that during the beginning of the second iraq war and being like it's an iraq war and it's bush and we have the receipts it's all over. how do you know it was amazing you know it was your favorite i guess hicks moment well i mean there's a lot i mean i always loved when he would go after marketing because that is not something you really see from a lot of comedians i mean or even you know people that speak in general in front of crowds and he would go you know he said marketers kill yourselves and he meant it to. like the deleuze of law you read that we take in one t

doing.t was not his said under my presidency we'll be under iraq. afghanistan as the good war that we should have been there even if we shouldn't in iraq. people tended to hear what they to hear. on civil liberty as well. talked a very good game but 2008 month before the voted ion at denver he only the foreign intelligence amendments bill essentially indemnify y comes in , the tell spying in surveillance that wasn't legal. retroactively rubber stamped that. hen he made that vote i knew the fix was in. >> go back to the original come talkasked to you about the book and the column, did you get much reaction out of the column? >> i got a fair amount of column.n out of the virtually all of it was positive in that as we discussed there say, gaps n, shall we in his recollection or things he says in one place that don't things he said somewhere else. so much , it's not about about gates other than he person in important this drama called iraq/afghanistan the war on associated issues profound effect on the american psyche. want to realize a less y're sort o

yet go iraq? >> there ise is -- some influence. there is some standoffishness. it is in iran's best and first -- best interest to have a cooperative shiite led government. growing? >> i think it is kind of level to what it has been for a couple of years. >> there has been a number of articles written about business people in various countries knocking on the door in iran. the administration made it pretty clear we are going to enforce our current sanctions. providing -- they are knocking on the door but the door is locked tight. the fact that there is a lot of interest in outside business communities that come entire ram, put some additional pressure on iran, then negotiate a settlement that we would find acceptable. >> i think it would be an attraction. i think it probably supports the rouhani camp, those that are trying to change the economy and improve it -- and approve it. >> i want to switch you to the pakistan. this has to do with the financial network. assume the intelligence community trac

and it has brought al qaeda back to iraq. all of our gains, all of the sacrifices that those men and women the president care about so much made are being reversed in iraq because of our inaction. ours and allied inaction in syria. >> and your view is that if we were to start dropping bombs over there it would all be better, right? >> no, it's a ridiculous shorthand oversimplified solution. what happens the day after we start blowing up targets? which we have no legal authorization to do. >> so we should just be allowed to -- >> will they pick up the pieces and do something further, to take this to a political solution? absolutely not. when we sit back and cook up these solutions, we get to another iraq war. we get these, you know, entry plans without an exit. >> well, first, there's another problem here. and danielle referenced it, i referenced it earlier on, too and that's the fact that syria is now al qaeda stand. as it did in libya, in iraq, in marx ali and the ma greb, exploits these areas of conflict where there's a pow

iraq again you have a state sponsor who is willing to use chemical weapons on its own people. but there were no chemical weapons that's not going to matter as of the right but there were no chemical weapons found there well there were some and i still believe they're out there what about now blackwater as it was formerly called is staying behind in afghanistan after the u.s. troops leave are they just the army's trojan horse i know you know they have anymore but i'm sure you have an answer to that well look any time you know there's going to be a diplomat be an embassy there will be some kind of a training or support function i'm sure left behind for the afghans because the you know they're they need support combat service support aviation support for the afghan army to try to continue to defend the country so there certainly be a role for private sector companies to do that i mean private sector companies have played a significant role in the american national security really since the founding of this country why do you think that private military contractors are so widely u

we were trying to do something good in iraq. [applause] >> it is not stupid to do what they did if you are giving the money to halliburton and lockheed martin. that's what they did. billions of dollars were transferred, taxpayer dollars, were transferred to those operations by these very manipulative, lying -- one of the things we should congratulate ourselves for is the u.s. always lies us into war. it was true in vietnam it was true in iraq. we like to think of ourselves as a peaceloving people. if we would say we are going in for the oil, we would say don't do it. we say we are doing it for democracy. we were nationbuilding, freeing women, right? and a and -- and in afghanistan, iraq, over and over. this is the nature of empire today. it is about resources. that is why you see military bases, hundreds of military bases all over the world american military bases mostly guarding the sector of oil. >> the u.s. military bases keep open all the u.s. traffic in the world. the u.s. navy is keeping the lanes open. i think let's go to

journalists, particularly in the case of iraq. we have lost colleagues who were local journalists, filming insurgents. >> on the battlefield in the heat of the moment someone who looks different from the model of a foreign correspondent is more at risk. if he is carrying a camera or a tripod. what happened in 2007 to two journalists in iraq was a tragedy, one that brought home to all of us when we saw the footage of wikileaks released, brought home the horror of modern wore and why it is dangerous. >> what you had there was apache helicopters firing on a group of people 500 metres away, a couple of kilometres away. you have the assumption that everyone in the group is of a type. you have the assumption that because interest there were weapons in the group, that everyone in the group was armed and dangerous. it became a terrible tragedy that the gunships fired on those people, and our correspondents were killed, along with others. >> we need answers to the questions about how these situations happened. we have engaged and will cont

iraq a little bit of what we did iniraq iraq -- the one thing we did in iraq not only with saddam hussein. we also had to deal with the baathists. we created a victor and vanquished. because one side thinks sunnis in iraq think that that they can have it all. sunnis in iraq think they can have it all -- i was speaking about serious. that-- syria. that was the biggest mistake of all. >> thank you. yes, please? >> a former white house foreign-policy adviser. i want to ask you about the current israeli-palestinian discussions that are going on, and do you feel optimistic that they will be a final resolution to this debate that has been going on for decades? >> so, um, i am, i'm more optimistic than i have been in a while. and that means i think the chances are 50/50. you know, so that is what optimism really constitutes today. on the one hand, when i was just there last week, i just don't se e how this current leadership on both sides can make the big lift, the huge concessions they have to make in order for a deal to be forged. and on the other hand, i do not see how they do not do it, beca

this is the most stable region in iraq. >> the oil business is there. the people from all over the world are doing business. >> the president who used to be a refugee himself opened his borders and has his own deal with turkey with the pipeline. >> he is kind of a larger than life figure. he felt that he had no choice but to help the refugees because many of the refugees come into his area are kurdish people from syria. he's a shrewd fellow. >> it was an astonishing movement. the refugee camps were established in as many days. >> this photo from august 2013 says it all. a mass exodus 60,000 men, women and children walked across the tigris river over a newly built bridge. kurdistan offered a glimmer of survival quickly recognized by the u.n. peter kessler worked for the high commission for refugees for 22 years. >> the kurdistan authorities in iraq extremely supportive from the region's president bardoni on down. kurdish charities have been extremely supportive and we have smaller charities to arrive to offer assistance like samaritan's purse. >> they ar

war and being like it's an iraq war and it's bush and we have the receipts it's all over. you know it was amazing you know it was your favorite i guess hicks moment well i mean there's a lot i mean i always loved when he would go after marketing because that is not something you really see from a lot of comedians i mean or even you know it's people that speak in general in front of crowds and he would go you know he said marketers kill yourselves and he meant it to. like the deleuze of law you read that we take in one thousand to three thousand ads a day or or banners or whatever and he had the guts to speak out against that and say look what's is doing to our brains and whenever you go after marketers i was like yeah that was one great thing of going confluent after advertising you made a tribute to hex where you interviewed his brother i mean how was it to talk to someone in his family and so close to him yeah i did so i did a video yesterday for this twentieth anniversary but in it i featured some of my interview with his brother and steve hicks is a great guy who just

war and being like it's an iraq war and it's bush and we have the receipt it's all over. you know it was amazing you know it was your favorite i guess hicks moment well i mean there's a lot i mean i always loved when he would go after marketing because that is not something you really see from a lot of comedians i mean or even you know it's people that speak in general in front of crowds and he would go you know he said marketers kill yourselves and he meant it to. like the deleuze of law you read that we take in one thousand to three thousand ads a day or banners or whatever and he had the guts to speak out against that and say look what's is doing to our brains and so whenever you go after marketers i was like yeah that was one great thing i'm going confluent after advertising you made a tribute to him where you interviewed his brother i mean how was it to talk to someone in his family and so close to him yeah i did so i did a video yesterday of this twentieth anniversary and it i featured some of my interview with his brother and steve hicks is a great guy who just wan

iraq didn't have that problem. we could have made sure that the sacrifices we fought for and the yellow ribbons on the doors meant something. right now, they mean nothing because we have now lost what we fought so hard for. >> representative duncan hunter, thank you for your service in fallujah and other places as well. thank you very much for being here tonight, sir. very important points. >>> let's talk now to a former virginia democratic congressman who opposed the war in iraq. he's also president and ceo of the center for american progress action fund. good to have you here. you have been on the ground. talk to me about the dynamic going on there. who is the are these forces moving in to fill the vacuum in iraq and how much of this comes from what's going on in syria? >> well, i really do think right now syria and the instability there in the al qaeda presence there is a great threat. you have a tremendous number of foreign jihadists. we have a humanitarian crisis there. the situation in fallujah has a lot of i

diplomacy ga ga i'm sorry to interrupt you george but it sounds like that sounds like afghanistan and iraq to me in the in our century now that's exactly right that's. that's exactly right and i think that's what they're the parallels are there which is that even today we have policymakers in washington who are absolutely convinced that there's an easy way to win a war we'll just bomb a little bit and then we'll get a regime change and then we'll have the balance of power will be in our favor and of course it never turns out that way it always escalates and gets out of complete control and then once the war starts no one knows how on is supposed to get out of it or what even the original objectives were or what the objective should be brian how do you reflect upon the the balance of power house stable the international system is right now because as i mentioned we have a lot of unilateral action coming out of western powers and i mentioned iraq and afghanistan libya you could throw in there as well yugoslavia before that you know a lot of people will say that it's very similar to nine hund

iraq once more is burning. bombings and executions of civilians are now daily occurrences and last month alone more than 1,000 civilians died in attacks from al qaeda and other terrorist franchises. the black flag of al qaeda flies over the cities, epic battles in the marine corps panteon. we could have told you so say the cynical. yet there is no escaping the lessens of iraq and afghanistan. endless war never was an american option. sherman long ago declared war is too serious a matterer to leave to soldiers. we guess that's why we hear reports of hundreds of contractors, millions of americans streaming to iraq. it's a new kind of army that makes a profit for the defense industry without burdening taxpayers. taxpayers will ante up for the $6 billion in military equipment. secretary of state john kerry, the vietnam vet who years ago testified against his country assures us no american boots will land in iraq. instead the contractors will be tasked with training how to use the attack helicopters, missiles and re

we'll turn to ambassador faily from iraq who will speak to the effects of the crisis in iraq which is facing its own displacement crisis. third we'll hear from deana of mercy corps who will address the situation in jordan and water resources. fourth i'll turn to my colleague who is director to the turkey project here at brook igs who will address the situation in turkey based on field work done there. last but not least, we'll hear from kellen clemmons, deputy assistant secretary with the bureau of population refugees and migration at the state democratic. kelly will be speaking to the role of u.s. government policy in the region and the ways in which the united states can more effectively support host governments. i'm ask the speaktories limit their comments to eight to 10 minutes so we have time for questions and answers with the audience. without any further ado, i'll turn the floor over to the ambassador from lebanon. > thank you. >> thank you for the introduction. first let me thank the brookings nstitute and mercy corps for organizing this important conference. it is indeed an h

war and being like it's an iraq war and it's bush and we have the receipts it's all over. you know it was amazing you know your favorite i guess hicks moment well i mean there's a lot i mean i always loved when he would go after marketing because that is not something you really see from a lot of comedians i mean or even you know it's people that speak in general in front of crowds and he would go you know he said marketers kill yourselves and he meant it to. like the deleuze of law you read that we take in one thousand to three thousand ads a day or banners or whatever and he had the guts to speak out against that and say look what's this doing to our brains and so whenever you go after marketers i was like yeah that was one great thing of going confluent after advertising you made a tribute to him where you interviewed his brother i mean how was it to talk to someone and his family and so close to him yeah i did so i did a video yesterday for this twentieth anniversary but in it i featured some of my interview with his brother and steve great guy who just wants to make i

diplomacy ga ga i'm sorry to interrupt you george but it sounds like that sounds like afghanistan and iraq to me in the in our century now that's exactly right that's. that's exactly right and i think that's what they're the parallels are there which is that even today we have policymakers in washington who are absolutely convinced that there's an easy way to win a war we'll just bomb a little bit and then we'll get a regime change and then we'll have the balance of power will be in our favor and of course it never turns out that way it always escalates and gets out of complete control and then once the war starts no one knows how and is supposed to get out of it or what even the original objectives were or what the objective should be bryan how do you reflect upon the the balance of power house stable the international system is right now because as i mentioned we have a lot of unilateral action coming out of western powers and i mentioned iraq and afghanistan libya you could throw in there as well yugoslavia before that you know a lot of people will say that it's very similar to nine hun

troops officially left iraq, chaos has overtaken that country. there's an al qaeda-led insurgency happening in iraq and the situation has recently gone from bad to worse, with militant groups taking charge of major cities, including fallujah. the death toll has climbed to its highest level since 2006-2007 when fighting between sunnis and shiites left tens of thousands dead. earlier today, there was a hearing focused on both al qaeda's resurgence in iraq and the threat to the entire region. congressman adam smith from washington state is the ranking democrat on that committee and joins me live now. congressman, in simple terms here, is the war in iraq -- is it as far from over as it was a decade ago? >> well, it's a different struggle. the war a decade ago was about saddam hussein and our conflict with him. now you have an al qaeda presence there. and it's not just iraq. we're seeing the same thing in syria, in libya, in egypt. you know, radical extremist groups, violent extremist groups affiliating themselves with al qaeda are spreading. and a lo

troops remained in iraq for decades. that's not the president's decision. >> reporter: after giving that deadline at the end of last year for karzai to sign the agreement. they are not giving a deadline anymore, they say that he has to sign it within weeks, not the months that karzai has asked for. >> mike viqueira is at the white house for us. >>> journalists around the world are showing support for our al gentleman rear a colleagues detained in egypt. dozens marches to the embassy. taping their mouths shut as you can see here and held up signs in support of correspondent peter and the other al jazerra journalists arrested in egypt. this afternoon al jazerra white house correspondent asked the white house how it was handling the media crack down. >> we have expressed these concerns directly to the government of egypt in answer to your question and we have strongly urged the government to drop these charges and release those journalists and academics who have been detained. >> they were detained in late december. they ar

journalists, particularly in the case of iraq. we have lost colleagues who were local journalists, filming alongside or close to insurgents. >> on the battlefield in the heat of the moment someone who looks different from the model of a foreign correspondent is more at risk. if he is carrying a camera or a tripod. what happened in 2007 to two journalists in iraq was a tragedy, one that brought home to all of us when we saw the footage of wikileaks released, brought home the horror of modern wore and why it is so dangerous. >> what you had there was apache helicopters firing on a group of people 500 metres away, a couple of kilometres away. you have the assumption that everyone in the group is of a type. you have the assumption that because interest there were weapons in the group, that everyone in the group was armed and dangerous. it became a terrible tragedy that the gunships fired on those people, and our correspondents were killed, along with others. >> we need answers to the questions about how these situations happened. we h