story of the struggle for iraq from george w. bush to barack obama." welcome to both of you. great to be able to talk to both of you here. the close of this campaign. it is very interesting to hear both president obama and mitt romney look in their rearview mirror about the last decade in foreign policy and national security policy and the president saying, look, i ended the war in iraq, we are on a glide path out of afghanistan. and yet we know the threat from both of these countries still remains and there's a lot of unfinished business. michael, you get to a lot of that of course in your book, in iraq. the idea that we're done. put it in the rear view mir but there's a lot of unfinished business. >> yeah. one thing that's striking to me is just really the gap between the campaign rhetoric and what the obama administration's actual policy was in iraq because you have to ask yourself the question, what does it mean to end a war? and it's lot more than simply removing troops and actually, when president obama approached iraq, he, himself, and his team, thought it entailed a lot mor

. led invasion of iraq. pbs host jim lehr was the moderator at the university of miami. [applause] >> to he believed he could do a better job than president bush and preventing another 9/11 type terrorist attack? >> yes, i do. but before i answer further, let me thank you for moderating. i want to thank the university of miami for hosting us. and i know the president will join me in welcoming all of florida to this debate. you've been through the roughest weeks anybody could imagine. our hearts go out to you. and we admire your pluck and perseverance. i can make american safer than president bush has made us. and i believe president bush and i both love our country equally. but we just have a different set of convictions about how you make america safe. i believe america is safest and strongest when we are leading the world and we are leading strong alliances. i'll never give a veto to any country over our security. but i also know how to lead those alliances. this president has left them in shatters across the globe, and we're now 90 percent of the casualties in iraq and 90 perce

they didn't. and they're showing up in iraq for the same reason. they're trying to defeat us. and if we lose our will, we lose. but if we remain strong and resolute, we will defeat this enemy. >> ninety second response, senator kerry. >> i believe in being strong and resolute and determined. and i will hunt down and kill the terrorists, wherever they are. but we also have to be smart, jim. and smart means not diverting your attention from the real war on terror in afghanistan against osama bin laden and taking if off to iraq where the 9/11 commission confirms there was no connection to 9/11 itself and saddam hussein, and where the reason for going to war was weapons of mass destruction, not the removal of saddam hussein. this president has made, i regret to say, a colossal error of judgment. and judgment is what we look for in the president of the united states of america. i'm proud that important military figures who are supporting me in this race, former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff john shalikashvili, just yesterday, general eisenhower's son, general john eisenhower, e

oh i heard of the. hello mr prime minister and welcome to the program hello what do iraq and russia have in common in terms of their approach to the syrian crisis and do you think the two countries can come up with a joint proposal on how to sell it but of course the crisis is a matter of serious concern both for the countries in the region and for the world's major powers and it's not only countries this issue has been on the agenda for many international organizations we have repeatedly said that we take the syrian crisis as our own problem it is a very important country with its own political position we did warn everyone earlier and keep in mind that the fire the start and syria spill over the borders to engulf other countries in the region could find it in the end will cover global impact the middle east is one of the major energy producers of the world just like russia we believe that the use of force cannot be a solution to the crisis many other countries now share this approach even those that used to think that supplying arms to the opposition would be sufficient to generat

nine hundred two national security issues were about other countries china russia iran iraq. that was it there was no concept of an al qaeda or a tram's machinable threat that's the word of a terrorist group the intervening years i mean you get a blue shake you've had you know the cold i mean even even reagan had lebannon right but what you had was. that emergence of the transnational threats and threats that are not attached to a particular government happening under clinton clinton you know about the regardless of what some wants to be said now clinton taking that as a major issue of national security. when bush comes back comes into office the republicans are coming in the immediately revert to. other countries or the major national security issue they were faced with a situation where clinton and sandy berger and al gore are telling them the biggest threat to american national security are you know these ragtag guys at a mountaintop in afghanistan who have managed to kill fifty americans in the past eight years they were right but you can stay if you as you put it that way which i

: combat." hello. i'm contessa brewer. welcome to "caught on camera." u.s. troops in the wars in iraq and afghanistan have had some of the most high tech fighting gear, but they've also brought something else to the battlefield like never before. their cameras. the images captured have changed the way people back home see and hear what the troops are going through. thousands of miles away. a terrifying ied attack. >> combat patrolling at that time was hours upon hours of complete boredom punctuated by single moments of sheer terror. >> in the wars in iraq and afghanistan, by far the most common and deadly weapon against u.s. troops has been the improvised explosive device or ied. also known as roadside bombs, ieds have claimed the lives of 65% of all u.s. casualties in both wars. >> the improvised bomb is the signature weapon of both the iraq and of the afghanistan war. it's the number one killer of soldiers. it's the number one weapon of insurgents. they're also as scary as hell. >> whoa! holy -- >> sometimes the difference between life and death is just seconds on a trigger. >> you just

iraq, especially having to do with the administration's handling. paul bremer, the former head of the coalition provisional authority, gave a speech in which he said that we have never had enough troops on the ground, or we've never had enough troops on the ground. donald rumsfeld said he has not seen any hard evidence of a link between al qaeda and saddam hussein. was this approved -- of a report that you requested that you received a week ago that showed there was no connection between abu musab zarqawi and saddam hussein? al-zarqawi and saddam hussein? >> i want to thank you and i want to thank the folks here at case western reserve for hosting this tonight. this is a very important event and they've done a superb job of putting it together. it's important to look at all of our developments in iraq within the broader context of the global war on terror. and after 9/11 it became clear we had several things to have a successful strategy to win the global war on terror, specifically that we had to go after the terrorists wherever we might find them, that we also had to go after st

source of stability, but when we talk about leadership, too many people think of the iraq and 2003, which was a fatally bad exercise of leadership. >> rose: we conclude this evening with dexter filkins of the new yorker magazine who has a remarkable story about death in iraq and reunion in the united states. >> the i interviewed a guy in the peace, a psychiatrist who used the term moral injury and he said a lot of soldiers and marines stuff from moral injury, which he described as sort of it happens when you get an order, you do something that you believe at the time was absolutely correct and the only thing you could do, and it turns out to have been, to have terrible consequences. that is basically what happened here. >> rose: american foreign policy and a dexter filkins story. when we come back. funding for charlie rose was provided by the following. additional funding provided by these funders. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. rose. >> rose: we begin this evening with the 2012 election last night, president oba

perhaps even iraq so so far to a certain extent the syria conflict has been contained somewhat like lebanon was in the in the one nine hundred eighty s. but should the different parties really get far more active in the conflict and i think it could get a lot worse not just for syria but for the neighbors including turkey ok you when you think about that because there's a plethora of information that you have the saudis and the kuwaitis they're full blast to doing as much as they can to help the rebels ok is it making the situation worse or better i think i know your answer go ahead well. peter all i think the syrian case i would i would argue to appear it's very similar to lebanon but with syria is very complicated and the reason is that there are three concentric forces of conflict at the same time as they are working for first we have the domestic opposition groups there are fighting there is. none of them can defeat the other one and then we have the regional cold war between iran as you mentioned saudi arabia and the arab gulf states. and also some religious you can say called

such as the one we saw in iraq is still ongoing in afghanistan but why always the no one likes a war but it seems like an old days people were really driven to win at this point it was the fatigue with wars what it depends what the was about what system if you're talking about second world will russians kotak right petrol to a what was at stake was the whole future of european civilization today is was obviously the issues are quite potent in some cases there are divided opinions about you know whether or not the warriors were of the congo of what's at stake and so on but are the issues may be blurred because for example speaking of other experts we spoke to there saying that war on terror is misleading because it doesn't really define the enemy you don't really know what you're fighting for do you think that might be the problem. well the war on terror is is a vague concept i think the problem is more the. when the war on top terror has taken the fall with actual wars such as the ones. we've seen in iraq and afghanistan. there's been a confusions about what killed jets objects of th

across colorado springs when the 506 and a trichet return from iraq. >> there is a stigma many people in the army told me against getting help for mental behavioral issues. it is seen as weak. it is often seen as just an excuse to get out of the army if he cannot hack it. >> all of that and more coming up. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we're on the road in colorado springs, colorado. hundreds of protesters have begun gathering in the jordanian capital of amman to call for reforms a day after the country's king attempted to deter the protest by dissolving parliament. king abdullah had also called for early elections in a bid to dissuade demonstrators from rallying. as many as 50 dozen people are expected to join the demonstration called for by the jordanian wing of the muslim brotherhood. turkey has authorized further military action against syria as a continue to fire artillery across the border for a second day thursday in retaliation for mortar blast that killed five turkish civilians. turkish police used teargas to disperse anti

looking to sell its biggest oil asset in iraq according to reuters. exxon is wa of smaller profit prospects from the $50 billion project in southern iraq. >>> is president obama about to copy this guy? [shouting]. details how the president is ready it take a dive off the fiscal cliff comingp next. syrian rebels blow u two oil and gas pipelines while reportedly gettingtheir hands on advanced new weapon systems. we'll tell you what it could mean for middle eastern security. do you ever have too much money? ♪ melissa: president obama is ready to take anconomic plunge that would make fearless felix shutter. there he goes. the president says he will veto any legislation blocking year-end tax hikes and spending cuts unless there is tax ke for the rich. get ready to grab your parachute. we're getting closer and closer to jumping off the fiscal cliff. joining us pete snyder, fox news contributor and chairman of virginia pictory. thanks for joining us. all that can not possibly fit on business card. >> not at all. some of it is extracurricular. melissa: okay. president obama says he will

personalize the story of iraq a little bit and talk about your own views. this is a place you traveled in with saddam hussein, you were a supporter of the war. explain why. i found some of the most wrenching passages in this book discussions about what a disaster the iraq war has proved for every party in the united states, most of all the iraqis. >> i knew iraq intimately in the 1980s as a reporter. huckabee airtran/iraq war from the iraq side. iraq was like a vast prison yard under saddam hussein. it was so suffocating that i can compare it to no place in the arab world but i could compare it to romania which i knew intimately. to go from saddam hussein's iraq to syria was like coming up for liberal humanists bare. we tend to say all dictators are bad and all democrats are good. we eliminate -- we e. race distinctions and it is distinctions that give us the complexity we need to understand the world and assad ran a brutal dictatorship but nothing like saddam hussein. i had my passport taken by the iraqi authorities when i was in iraq -- i was very nervous obviously. i only g

about what it was that shifted our focus away from al qaeda and on to iraq remember this. a teaspoon of dry anthrax a little bit about this amount this is just about the amount of a teaspoon less than a teaspoon full of dry anthrax in an r.v. shutdown the united states senate iraq declared eighty five hundred liters of anthrax but unscom estimates that saddam hussein could have produced twenty five thousand liters it should come as no shock then that since saddam hussein forced out the last inspectors in one thousand nine hundred eight we have amassed much intelligence indicating that iraq is continuing to make these weapons we know that iraq has at least seven of these mobile biological agent factories. oh yeah all those mobile weapons labs that just didn't exist yep it was the anthrax attacks that really tied saddam to nine eleven laying out the justification for a preemptive invasion of the country also a.b.c. news reported that anonymous high level government sources were saying that the bentonite in the anthrax and directly tied to saddam's mobile weapons labs and john mccain went

you so much. >>> up next, is iraq unraveling? a look at where the u.s. policy stands now, next on "andrea mitchell reports." we make a simple thing. a thing that helps you buy other things. but plenty of companies do that. so we make something else. we help make life a little easier, more convenient, more rewarding, more entertaining. year after year. it's the reason why we don't have customers. we have members. american express. welcome in. i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call now and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, it helps pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you thousands in out-of-pocket costs. to me, relationships matter. i've been with my do

different positions than last night on iran, on afghanistan,ba on iraq and on russia. the are some of the biggest challenges ahead of usso in 2013 and '14. i think this does get to credibility. i think he hurt himself last night in trying to be something that he has notn been: very consistently in the campaign trail. on the other hand, i think what you saw from president obama is someone with a fairly impressive international record of accomplishments in his first term and a very clear difference, i think, in where he would take us on some of those issues than governor romney in a second term. >> woodruff: richard as, how did you read the, i guess, the difference between thas ameeemet of what we heard last night from governor romney, the criticism in the past, and how do you square when governor romney says he believes u.s. foreign policy is unraveling under this president but then he proceeds, as he said, to agree with himn a number of points.n >> well as richard nixon i think it was who said when you run for the nomination you've got to tack more towards the end zones. when you'r

new developments in iraq, especially having to do with the administration's handling. paul bremer gave a speech in which he said we have never had enough troops on the ground, donald rumsfeld said he has not seen any hard evidence of a link between al qaeda and saddam hussein. was this a report that you requested that you received a week ago that showed there was no connection between al-zarqawi and saddam hussein? >> i want to thank you and i want to thank the folks here at case western reserve for hosting this tonight. this is a very important event and they've done a superb job of putting it together. it's important to look at all of our developments in iraq within the broader context of the global war on terror. and after 9/11 it became clear we had several things to have a successful strategy to win the global war on terror, specifically that we had to go after the terrorists wherever we might find them, that we also had to go after state sponsors of terror, those who might provide sanctuary and safe harbor. and we also had to finally stand up to democracies afterwards becaus

iran and russia. syria supported groups killing u.s. troops in iraq and the supporting the lebanese terrorist organization responsible for the death of lebanon on ha. i go back to lebanon on because i think it is worth noting that the marines initially had been deployed to separate israel following the 1982 lebanon on a war. fast forward to 2005, and there was the assassination of another lebanese leader. this time, the former prime minister that courageously stood up to syria and domination inside lebanon on. that led the bush administration to withdraw the u.s. ambassador to syria because they had once again been implicated in the assassination of a lebanese leader. despite the bloody track record, the administration sought to improve relations with damascus and use senator john kerry as an intermediary. it reversed the bush and administration's attempt to mobilize international pressure against the regime and it reversed the decision to withdraw the u.s. ambassador. when the democratic controlled senate balked, named robert ford has -- in december of 2010. unfortunately, sending

foreign policy. [laughter] >> you both have sons who are in iraq or on their way to iraq. you, governor palin, have said that you would like to see a real clear plan for an exit strategy. what should that be, governor? >> i am very thankful that we do have a good plan and the surge and the counterinsurgency strategy in iraq that has proven to work, i am thankful that that is part of the plan implemented under a great american hero, general petraeus, and pushed hard by another great american, senator john mccain. i know that the other ticket opposed this surge, in fact, even opposed funding for our troops in iraq and afghanistan. barack obama voted against funding troops there after promising that he would not do so. >> and senator biden, i respected you when you called him out on that. you said that his vote was political and you said it would cost lives. and barack obama at first said he would not do that. he turned around under political pressure and he voted against funding the troops. we do have a plan for withdrawal. we don't need early withdrawal out of iraq. we cannot a