powell was not as assertive as he might have been. >> how can you blame colin powell for not being assertive enough when you just take them in the proverbial groin and nature he could not walk? -- and made sure he cannot walk? >> i am a big fan of colin powell, but i think historians will go back and see a period where they wished that colin powell had been more assertive about going -- >> he says that president bush asked for plants differ going to war with iraq to two weeks after the 9/11 attacks, even aware of the invasion of afghanistan, which is where osama bin laden was. >> why wouldn't you? of course you would bid two weeks after 9/11, you would want a plan for all of our enemies in case of the contingencies. there was not an alliance between al qaeda and iraq, but he wanted to have a contingency if there were. i don't think you attack the administration for having acted in to see plan -- for having a contingency plans to trade at that point there was a pretty wide national consensus in favor of it. it was not one man who took america into war -- >> ooh. >> it passed the congress. >>

powell and colin powell of tim. i said my father was ever going to endorse a primary for someone to run for president the only man i know that he would have endorsed for the presidency would have been colin powell. >> host: yet when colin powell thought about running he came under fire from the right. >> guest: he did didn't did and told alliance. he didn't call the lines. but what happens is sometimes we don't look at the depth of a person. local colin powell is doing with with -- when nobody's looking. look what he is doing for young kids in the inner city, him and others in washington d.c. and other places. here's a guy who is committed. he is not living off of fame. this man is using his celebrity but not patting himself on the bed. the great thing about colin powell come the same with ronald reagan. it was never about i. it was about we and what can we do together. but neither one would pat themselves on the back. they don't go look what i did. they do it quietly behind the scenes in my dad did many things quie

. >> guest: talk about colin powell. colin powell, you don't kick colin how will out of the party. you say why in the world did you vote for barack obama? what was it that need you vote for barack obama because something must have had to push in that direction. i mean, the fact is he was used. if you reduced like he was used in from of the united nations to get a war going, you would be a little ticked off. you wouldn't be saying i'm going to that operation. i would say why, what do we do to change to make sure you're in the tent? and make the point in the book, and my dad never, ever, ever got involved the primary people are not going to like you. but i thought to myself he loves colin paul and colin powell loved him. i said my father was ever, ever going to endorse in a primary for somebody to run for president, the only man i know that he ever would have endorsed for the presidency would have been colin powell. >> host: yet when colin powell thought about running he came under fire from the right. >> guest: absolutely because he didn't draw the lines. he wasn't pro-life, just --

. >> -- colin powell was against it but i never saw the hint of it. >> saddam hussein and his regime are concealing their efforts to produce more weapons of mass destruction. >> reporter: you believed absolutely categorically saddam hussein had weapons of mass destruction? >> i don't do a lot of things categorically. anyone who has been around intelligence gathering knows that it can be wrong. i mean colin powell has been around for longer than anybody. >> he said he was devastated. >> of course, he was. everyone was but, my lord, he's the guy who had more experience than anyone else. he worked hard with george tenet, condi rice. he prepared his speech. went up to the u.n. made his case. he wasn't lying. the idea that he was lying or duped is nonsense. he believed it. our military believed it. our military got chemical weapon suits on to protect them. >> reporter: but you were wrong. >> my goodness, the intelligence was certainly wrong. >> reporter: if you had known he did not have them. >> i didn't know. >> reporter: if you had -- >> i didn't. >> reporter: if you had -- >> i have no

. >> guest: talking but colin powell, you don't keep colin powell on the party. you say why in the world would you vote for barack obama? what was it that need to vote for barack obama? something must have pushed to in that direction. the fact that he was used if you were used like he was used from the united nations to get a war going to would be a little ticked off you wouldn't say i'm holding on to that operation. i would say why, what can we do, what can we do to change to make sure and i make the point in the book my dad never, ever got involved he believed you get involved in the primary 50% are not going to like you. but i thought to myself he left colin powell and colin powell loved him and said my father was never, ever going to endorse the primary for somebody to run for president, the only man i know that he ever would have endorsed for the presidency would have been called powell. >> host: yet when he thought about running he came under fire. >> guest: he didn't draw the lines. he wasn't pro-life, but when you look what happens sometimes we don't look

i mean colin powell has been around for -- longer than anybody in terms of -- >> reporter: he said he was devastated. >> of course he was. everyone was, but, my lord, he's the guy who had more experience than anyone else. he worked hard with george tenet, with condi rice. he prepared his speech. he went up to the u.n. he made his case, and he wasn't lying. the idea that he was lying or duped is nonsense. he believed it. our military believed it. our military got chemical weapon suits on to protect them. hillary clinton, john kerry, the french intelligence, the british intelligence, the german intelligence, it was uniform across the board that it was reasonable to assume that he had chemical and biological weapons. >> reporter: but you were wrong. >> my goodness, the intelligence was certainly wrong. >> reporter: if you had known he did not have them -- >> i didn't know. >> reporter: if you had -- >> i didn't. >> reporter: if you had -- >> i have no idea. i have no idea. what you know today can help you on things you're thinking about tomorrow. it can't help you with things you were th

powell and condi rice it seems there's a lot of score settling here do you agree with that. yeah i mean it's known in washington as a revenge memoir of the regime of the bush george w. bush was such a catastrophe all of them were arrogant managers rumsfeld the most arrogant of all a reckless person someone who most people in washington and around the world consider to be nothing but a thug a thug in a pinstripe suit so now that they've had this catastrophe on their hands they're playing the blame game colin powell will blame rumsfeld rumsfeld will blame everybody else but himself and of course i think this only makes the administration look what it really is as as a bunch of fools arrogant part of an imperial empire thinking that military supremacy and it alone could dominate world events when the rest of the world is unwilling to go back into a nineteenth century mode except being themselves as nothing but pawns in a geostrategic chess board led by an american empire so rumsfeld has a problem i think it's the blame game i think it will fail ryan backer of the antiwar answer

powell john mccain both george h. w. and w. bush he regrets not leaving office after the abu ghraib scandal not because of the torture that went on there but because it became a distraction and he's uploaded hundreds of pages of primary source material and documents onto a website where readers themselves have to pore through them if they feel so inclined so going to tell all that's really more of a blame all vindicate rumsfeld in the u.s. and worldwide earlier i caught up with anika sparing from the young turks from our studio in los angeles and i first asked her you know despite the fact that we may have expected rumsfeld to be unapologetic can we still be disappointed. you know i think it's ok for people to feel disappointed about it if they do feel disappointed however i for one felt absolutely no surprise when i heard that he was unapologetic and combative that's what he's known for it's donald rumsfeld i knew that he was going to own up to anything the one thing that did surprise me though is the fact that he di

(revolutionary war veteran samuel harris) hello, i'm colin powell, and i was an american soldier for 35 years. i was a black american soldier, and i followed in a long tradition of black men and women who have served this nation since long before our revolutionary war. [canon fires] for so many years, they served their nation without their nation ever serving them. they served because they believe in this nation, they believe in the promise of our democracy. they believe in what the declaration of independence and the constitution said. but for so many years they were denied the rights and the privileges that other americans enjoyed. their story isn't well-known. their story was suppressed. historians did not write about it well enough. but there's a wonderful story. it is a story of a group of americans who never lost their love of this country, never lost their faith in what the founding fathers had promised. and that's why this story is simply called for love of liberty. ♪ the minstrel boy to the war has gone ♪ ♪ in the ranks of death you will find him ♪ ♪ his father's s

colin powell was again it but i never saw that. >>reporter: sadz and had regime are concealing their effort to produce more weapons of mass destruction. >> you believe absolutely about categorically that sadz had weapons of mass destruction. >> i don't do a lot of things categorically. anyone who has been around intelligence gathering knows it can be wron wrong. colin powell has been around for longer than anybody in terms of. >>reporter: he said he was devastated. >> of course he was. everyone was. but my lord he's the guy who had more person than anyone else. he worked hard with george and rice and prepared his speech. went up to the un. he made his case. he wasn't lying. the idea that he was lying or duped is nonsense. he believed it. our military believed it. our military got chemical weapons total protect them. hillary clinton. john kerry. french intelligence. british intelligence. german intelligence. it was uniform across the board that it was reason to assume that he had chemical and biological weapon weapons. >> you were w

and i'd be having sort of parallel discussions with colin powell as well about this, as i recall. >> but the second paper set out orders being described in an earlier evidence section assetting out a road map for regime change. now, you just commended the papers, said you heard the prime minister would receipt them and were very perceptive. why do you commend a paper setting out a route map for regime change? >> you have to forgive me. i was given no notice that you were going to raise this. i have not seen the papers. for a long time. and i've also not seen the scribbles i put on the papers. but with the respect to -- because i think you -- the private office i would have read these papers late at night. i would have scribbled on them late at night "these are very perceptive. make sure number 10 sees them." that would have been translated into an official note from my private secretary. that does not mean that i've endorsed the policy within those papers. >> i'm very curious that you didn't react to the second paper by saying "regime change can't be an objective." for the prime mini

colin powell is the one who made the presentation at the united nations. he probably had more experience dealing with intelligence materials than anyone, including the director of the cia. one of the intelligence elements reported to him at the department of state, he spent days working on it. he prepared a speech for the world which he believed every single word in it, let there be no doubt. president bush believed every word he said, as did vice- president cheney and condoleezza rice and as did i.. i don't know quite how to characterize a person who would come to that conclusion, when all the evidence is to the contrary. the congress, republicans and democrats alike, looked at the same intelligence and voted overwhelmingly for the resolution for president bush. the political leadership in the congress, hillary clinton, bill clinton, john kerry, one after another, al gore, was in support. now, when things did not go well, obviously they shifted their positions somewhat. you can go back, the record is clear. the intelligence agencies of the united kingdom

>> they wanted to put up colin powell. he said no and that was ten years before barack obama. i think so. >> the good news -- >> the way to nominate one. not have one run. >> they will nominate one, won't be because they're black, it's because they're the best candidate and have the right values that the republican platform's -- >> michael steele, purely because he had the best possibility to be a leader or because he were black. >> if president obama was not in the white house michael steele would not be chairman. >> he's a good true -- >> michael steele was more than just being a black man running the rnc. michael steele had at that time he had the media presence at the rnc chairs didn't, he was able to touch the young voters and young people in the republican party. >> he started the hip-hop republican movement. >> but he mentioned it. he had no problem dealing with the tea party. >> the republican party should appeal to the hip-hop generation. >> he's been able to talk to folks in a diverse way the republican party had not been able to do previously. with that said he's be

colin powell has been around more than anybody. >> reporter: he was devastated. >> of course, he was. everybody was. he had more experience than anybody else. he worked hard with george tenet. with condi rice. he prepared his speech. he went up to the u.n. he made his case. and he wasn't lying. the idea he was lying or duped is nonsense. hillary clinton, john kerry, the french intelligence, the british intelligence, the german intelligence. it was uniform, across the board, that it was reasonable to assume that he had chemical and biological weapons. >> reporter: in his book, rumsfeld lays the blame on too many hands on the steering wheel. no coordinated plan. first, the president's right-hand adviser in the white house, condoleezza rice. >> she had never served in a senior administration position. she had been an academic. and you know, a lot of academics like to have meetings. every time, a big issue got before the president, he was perfectly willing to make a decision. >> reporter: and secretary powell? >> he did not, in my view, do a good job of managing the people under him. ther

powell will blame rumsfeld rumsfeld will blame everybody else but himself and of course i think this only makes the administration look what it really is as as a bunch of fools arrogant part of an imperial empire thinking that military supremacy and it alone could dominate world events when the rest of the world is unwilling to go back into a nineteenth century mode except being themselves as nothing but pond in a geo strategic chessboard led by an american empire so rumsfeld has a problem i think it's the blame game i think it all fell. away that he's this is. the way now take it away. only it was business news we have time for russian and the major gazprom is reportedly in talks with the royal dutch shell to widen their global alliance sources close to negotiations cited on bloomberg say europe's biggest oil company may offer gazprom asia in return shell wants to expand the liquefied natural gas plant at the twenty two billion dollars i need to project to win markets in china and india however alexander knows out of fermentable doubts the plans will come to anything at least for th

powell will blame rumsfeld rumsfeld will blame everybody else but himself and of course i think this only makes the administration look what it really is as as a bunch of fools arrogant part of an imperial empire thinking that military supremacy and it alone could dominate world events when the rest of the world is unwilling to go back into a nineteenth century mode except being themselves as nothing but pawns in a geo strategic chess board led by an american empire so rumsfeld has a problem i think it's the blame game i think it will fail. ok a brief check on some of the wild headlines now this hour and this is two koreas have sounds on the talks following months of tension on the peninsula film yang in seoul their relations late last year after an exchange of on twitter a phone in november the north responded to stomp on a tunks near the territory by shelling a found korean island it's hoped the discussions will lead to higher level dialogue between the two countries. on its highly in-flight tunku with twenty two crew on board has been seized by pirates in the indian ocean the news

and so as i said it was the end of the gulf war and colin powell was come into our meetings. he is big, handsome, the hero of the western world and i was a mere mortal female civilian are again with him about the use of force. and i kept saying you have got to do something and they would have these arguments, and he is a brilliant briefer. he had his little red pointer and he would take us up a hill and we would be able to take it that it would take a zillion troops and a zillion dollars and what would i say to sergeant's mother when he stepped on a landmine? i finally said what he is saving all the soldiers for? he got furious at me and he wrote about book are cohesively practically a given an aneurysm from us and he patiently had to explain to me. so this book came out. lee had won, and so i called them up and i said colin patiently? he said i had to do it patiently. you didn't understand anything. he sent me his book and he wrote patiently colin. i signed it forcefully, madeline. [laughter] >> let me ask you of of the list of issues and it goes to some of the comments the

colin powell came into our meeting -- metals from here to here. i was a mere mortal female civilian arguing with them. i kept saying we had to do something. we would have these arguments. he had his little red a pointer. it would take a zillion troops and a zillion dollars. what would i say to the sergeant's mother whehe stepped on a land mine? i asked him what he was saving all e soldiers for? he got furious with me. he said i practically gave him an aneurism from this. his book came out. i call them up. i said, "patiently?" the sec, "i had to do it patiently." >> let me ask you about one factor you did not mention. i think it goes from a comment the president made. the europeans should take the lead on the problem. that was the idea. warren christopher went over to europe in 1992 with a very unsatisfactory series of meetings. he left without a sense of direction. in the first months, the administration was struggling with what was the right balance in this first cold war period between consulting allies? >> that was something the first president

powell gentlemen thank you both for joining me tonight now today we saw you know what for the most part has been a peaceful protest over the last week turned violent and there were a lot of calls that this was actually all part of mubarak's crackdown that these people that were sent in by him that these are plainclothes police officers. do you think that there is you know any value to that statement i think it's true. i think this is. i have no idea of know if if it is true but i think this is standard dictator practice and when you really lose the things you see in people into the street police dressed in civvies maybe even some soldiers dressed in cities and you start some violence and then you say you got to quell this and they knew it and saw of course according to him when he hears that the people want him to leave and they want a revolution he says ok i hear what you say eight months from now i'll be happy to make my way out now let's talk about you know the response from u.s. officials from the obama administration it's been rather muted and they've been getting a lot of flak for

colin powell came into our meeting -- metals from here to here. i was a mere mortal female civilian arguing with them. i kept saying we had to do something. we would have these arguments. he had his little red a pointer. it would take a zillion troops and a zillion dollars. what would i say to the sergeant's mother when he stepped on a land mine? i asked him what he was saving all the soldiers for? he got furious with me. he said i practically gave him an aneurism from this. his book came out. i call them up. i said, "patiently?" the sec, "i had to do it patiently." >> let me ask you about one factor you did not mention. i think it goes from a comment the president made. the europeans should take the lead on the problem. that was the idea. warren christopher went over to europe in 1992 with a very unsatisfactory series of meetings. he left without a sense of direction. in the first months, the administration was struggling with what was the right balance in this first cold war period between consulting allies? >> that was something the first presi

did you talk about this with colin powell? >> i talked about it too colin how will as i recall. and i happened to have a complete trust in him and his judgment. i was relying on the law only his diplomatic experience but also his position as a chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. my recollection is -- he said to be the could delete it, but you couldn't believe the start of any military action for too long. you either have to log on or to stand them down. there were anxieties, as ig were aware, sir lawrence, about the fact that the weather was going

did you talk about this with colin powell? >> i talked about it too colin how will as i recall. and i happened to have a complete trust in him and his judgment. i was relying on the law only his diplomatic experience but also his position as a chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. my recollection is -- he said to be the could delete it, but you couldn't believe the start of any military action for too long. you either have to log on or to stand them down. there were anxieties, as ig were aware, sir lawrence, about the fact that the weather was going to turn into would get extremely hot and so on. >> did you receive inebriating yourself on how long the u.k. forces fault that they could last without having to -- me tannin combat readiness? >> i don't think i have a formal writing in briefings. i think i would talk sometimes to the senior military people in the margins of the meetings about that. what was very clear was that they were concerned about the moral of the troops and not just leaving them in limbo. >> were you aware, i think, on the 15th of january briefing that the pri

former secretary of state, colin powell, used the statements from "curve ball" to just going going to war with iraq in a speech -- to justify going to war with iraq in a speech to the united states. >>> the secretary of the navy will honor bill cosby as an honorary chief petty officer. a former sailor, he served as a navy member and worked with mainly the veterans of the korean war. >>> "glee" star lauren potter will be the spokesperson for a nationwide campaign out of the bay area to stop bullying. a nonprofit oh, released a report on what it calls the silent epidemic of bullying. potter, who is 20 years old and has downed syndrome, said she was bullied as a child. she will be featured in the disabled for bullying campaign. >>> starting today, a san jose costco will be selling a brand- new product. for the next few days, wedding dress designer kirstie kelly will be selling her dresses. and customers can expect the same treatment they can -- they would get at any -- at any of her stores. the wedding dresses range in price from $700 to $1400. they will be available in a variety of size

did you talk about it with colin powell? >> i talked about with it colin powell as i recall. i have complete trust in him and his judgment. i was relying not only on his diplomatic experience, but obviously as his position as the chief of the joint chiefs of staff. chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. and my recollection is that what he said to me, you could delay it a bit. you couldn't delay the start of any military action for too long. you'd either have to move or to stand them down. and there was anxiety as i think you were aware. it was about the time of the year. whether it was going to turn and get extremely hard themselves. >> did you receive any briefing yourself on how long the uk forces thought they would last without having to -- without maintaining combat readiness? >> not -- i think i had formal briefing. i would talk sometime to the senior military people who in the margins of meetings. excuse me, about that. and in what was very clear was that they were concerned about the moral of troops, and not just leaving them in limbo. >> were you aware, i think on the

it was the end of the gulf war and colin powell would come to our meetings. he is big and handsome and has lots of medals, the hero of the western world and i was a mere mortal female civilian arguing with him about the use of force. i said you have to do something. we would have these arguments and he is a brilliant briefer. he would take is up a hill and we would be able to take it but it would take a zillion troops and a zillion dollars. and what would i say to the sergeants mother when he stepped on a land mine. i ask what he was saving the soldiers for. he got there is any wrote about in his book. i practically gave him an aneurysm from this and he basically had to explain. his book came out and we want. i called him up. he said i did not understand anything. he sent me his book and he inscribed it and he signed it patiently, colin. i sent it back and i send it back as forcefully, madeleine. [laughter] >> the initial sense in both administrations was that the europeans should take the lead on the problem. warren christopher who was the secretary of state

the other thing that i would add is that president bush and colin powell and the vice-president discussed the hope that there would not be a conflict and that saddam hussein would be persuaded to leave the country and not require an invasion of the country. there were messages pasts and request made. they were rebuffed. at think that saddam hussein very likely was purposefully trying to make the world believe he had blogs stockpiles. i think that he felt he had friends in the united nations it might be able to stop the united kingdom, united states and various other countries supporting the coalition and prevent them from going in. i also think that because president george w. bush, his father had gone into iraq after iraq invaded kuwait and cause them to be removed, but did not change the regime. good evidence that saddam hussein believed that america would not change the regime and would survive even though the united states might come and. so, there were a combination of things taking place that argue for it, and there were a behavior come a behavior pattern on the part of iraq, misgui

>> partly by me, but colin powell was easier to persuade than president bush. >> i just spoke with the department of foreign office two days ago. he said, "i'm not sure the american administration was ever formally committed to a second resolution. i think they were willing to let us have a go at trying to get it. they certainly didn't see a legal necessity for it, and i think they obviously feared it could only result in more complication of the u.n. security counsel." >> that was because of the downsize that it might expose divisions rather than resolve them. excuse me. i feel with the benefit of hindsight things it was worth attempting the second resolution, and we were basically close in my judgment to get the magic nine dates, but it didn't happen. it was a concern. that said, the secretary powell were very interested in building support for the second resolution, and there are records you would have seen where you report that. >> thank you. >> i think, robert, over to you now. >> just one very short question, a quick question on the statement. we had a long discussion of this las

wells barnett and colin powell. the likenesses of the extraordinary are matched by the equally poignant letters of the ordinary hoop in an hand share their joy and pain, ecstasy and hard. >> this letter is from hannah grover to her son, cato. it was written june 3, 1805. my dear son, i long to see you in my old age. i live in caldwell this -- with mr. grover, the minister of that place. my dear son, i pray you come to see your dear old mother, or send me $20 i will come to see you in philadelphia. and if you can't come to see your old mother, pray, send me a letter and tell me where you live, what family you have, and what you do for a living. i am a poor old servant. i long for freedom, and my master will free me if anybody will engage to maintain the so that i don't come upon him. i love you, cato. you love your mother? you are my only son. this from the affectionate mother, hannah, hannah grover. ps, my dear son, i have not seen you since i saw you at staten island about 20 years ago. if you send any money, send

of the other thing i would add to the former president is that president bush and colin powell and condoleezza rice and george tend to the content and the others discussed this hope that the hope there wouldn't be a conflict and saddam hussein could be persuaded to leave the country and not require an invasion of the country and their message to the to messages passed and requests made yet they were rebuffed. i think that some who seem very likely was purposely trying to make the world believe he had large stockpiles. i think that he felt he had friends in the united nations who might be evil to stop the united kingdom, the united states and other countries supporting the coalition and prevent them from going in. and i also think that because president george w. bush's father had going into iraq after iraq invaded kuwait and cause them to be removed from kuwait but didn't change the regime there is good evidence that saddam hussein believed that america wouldn't change the regime, that he would survive the and in both the united states might come in. so, there were a combination of things taki

i think colin powell would be a good person. they could make the announcement together that we are taking a drawdown. host: thanks for the call. next is what we joining us from annapolis. who should them president meet with? caller: could gentleman who spoke first stole my thunder. the other person would be as schultze with reference to progressive issues. -- ed schultze. host: by the way, you can join the conversation by sending us an e-mail. our address is journal@c- span.org. david joining us from lynn, massachusetts, on the republican line. who should the president meet with? caller: how are you, my friend? i think he should meet with caspar weinberger, the former secretary of defense. he should also meet with william f. buckley and ronald reagan himself because this man needs of good dose of common sense conservatism. what i mean is the fact that the media portrayed him as somewhat of a centrist, but we know he is a far left. he makes though clinton look like a right winger. host: you pointed out individuals that passed awa

with colin powell, with his deputy, with david manning we were dhaka were sued for words to india and pakistan throughout the period to persuade and cultural the indians and pakistanis to pull back from a military confrontation. so that was our preoccupation. yes, iraq was there, but if you are asking me sir rod when iraq really started to come right to the surface, i can tell you exactly as far as i was concerned, and that was the day that president bush gave his state of the union speech which was on the 23rd, 24, towards the end of january 2002. i happened to be in washington that the day and could sense the sort of came change that his statement led to. you made it clear in your evidence to us last year that you thought that patrician made what he called a profound mistake in the state of the union speech by linking together three separate countries, which you did not see as being linked. so in this period ought to at least the state of the union the axis of evil speech, we are saying to the americans the priorities are afghanistan, this very serious situation in india. iraq is no

did you talk about this with colin powell? >> i talked about it too colin how will as i recall. and i happened to have a cplete tust in him and his judgment. i was relying on the law only his diplomatic experience but also his position as a chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. my recollection is -- he said to be the could delete it, but you couldn't believe the start of any military action for too long. you either have to log on or to stand them down. there were anxieties, as ig were aware, sir lawrence, about the fact that the weather was going to turn into would get extremely hot and so on. >> did you receive inebriating yourself on how long the u.k. forces fault that they could last without having to -- me tannin combat readiness? >> i don't think i have a formal writing in briefings. i think i would talk sometimes to the senior military people in the margins of the meetings about that. what was very clear was that they were concerned about the moral of the troops and not just leaving them in limbo. >> re you aware, i think, on the 15th of january briefing that the prime mi

in addition to colin powell, secretary condoleezza rice, he points to other people who he said let us down during these decisions. >> he has that hard rep. george stephanopoulos will interview rumsfeld this morning on "good morning america." should be fascinating. >>> the social event of the season. >> will and kate's wedding and rumor about the royal couple visiting the u.s. wcwcwcwcwcwcwcc ♪ >>> well, according to our official "world news now" royal wedding countdown clock -- it's stored in rob's office -- 80 days to go until the big day. >> with every exciting day, we're finding out new details about when we'll see the guest list and who prince harry will bring as his date. nick watt has more. >> reporter: royal courtiers have a master plan to introduce kate to the world. >> going from obscurity to being one of the most photographed people on the planet, that's only a few weeks away for kate. kate's real problem, i think, ironically, is that she's flawless. >> reporter: in july the young couple will make their first official trip to canada. where william was mobbed as a rosy-chee

and you'll see his mood when he's talking about it, especially about the fact with general colin powell and that famous presentation at the u.n. felt duped. >> the idea that he was lying or duped is nonsense. he believed it. our military believed it. our military got chemical weapon suits on to protect them. saddam hussein's neighbors told us, be ready when you get close to baghdad, they're going to use chemical weapons against your troops. >> but were you wrong? >> my goodness, the intelligence was certainly wrong. >> if you had known that -- >> i didn't. >> if you had? >> i didn't. >> if you had. >> i have no idea. what you know today can help you with things you're thinking about tomorrow. it can't help you with things you were thinking about back then. back then it was reasonable that he had these weapons. >> as i said, he had many moods during this interview. he was in tears many times, four times, in our interview about personal things primarily. i'll show you about what happens when the president was sitting and talking to him. they were stalking about his son struggling with add

powell. he writes, quote, there were far too many hands on the steering wheel, which, in my view, was a formula for running the truck into a ditch. >>> there's a new video this morning that some say may be proof we're not alone in the universe. a ufo in the form of a bright light is seen descending over the dome of the rock in jerusalem. the video said to be taken over the weekend. then suddenly the light shoots up into the sky. there you see it. another video from a different angle appears to show light doing the same thing. those clips have gone viral now. >>> and an unusual sight in pittsburgh, as well last night. not a fight during a hockey game. it was who was fighting. >> here we go. brent johnson. >> oh, yeah, between rick dipietro and brent johnson. didn't last very long. over very quickly. rick dipietro not looking too good last night. the penguins, by the way, beat the islanders 3-0. it's 16 minutes past the hour right now. we turn over to marysol castro. feel a little punch drunk a

condoleezza rice, colin powell, and especially iraq administrator, paul bremer. there were far too many hands on the steering wheel, this, in my view, was a formula for running the truck into a ditch. jonathan karl, abc news, washington. >> we're going to have much more on donald rumsfeld's book next week. diane sawyer will have an exclusive interview with him on monday on "world news" and "nightline." i know you already read the book, george. you cannot weigh in yet. you will have a live interview with him on tuesday. >> that's right. and there will be a lot of reaction for secretary rumsfeld to respond to. that's coming up. >>> and coming up here, inside charlie sheen's struggle. the 911 call from the night he was rushed to the hospital. and his unusual approach to rehab. will it save tv's highest paid star. >>> and more coming out about the day michael jackson died, from a witness, a personal friend, of the pop star's doctor. ♪ hello. [ female announcer ] glasses in about an hour. lenscrafters. ♪ ♪ it's that chocolate ♪ it's that whipped cream ♪ it's

>> partly by me, but colin powell was easier to persuade than president bush. >> i just spoke with the department of foreign office two days ago. he said, "i'm not sure the american administration was ever formally committed to a second resolution. i think they were willing to let us have a go at trying to get it. they certainly didn't see a legal necessity for it, and i think they obviously feared it could only result in more complication of the u.n. security counsel." >> that was because of the downsize that it might expose divisions rather than resolve them. excuse me. i feel with the benefit of hindsight things it was worth attempting the second resolution, and we were basically close in my judgment to get the magic nine dates, but it didn't happen. it was a concern. that said, the secretary powell were very interested in building support for the second resolution, and there are records you would have seen where you report that. >> thank you. >> i think, robert, over to you now. >> just one very short question, a quick question on the statement. we had a long discussion of this las

powell giving his push for war at the united nations, a speech he would call a stain on his career, that speech was february 5, 2003. the media watch group fare did a polling of the four newscasts. they look to the abc news, the nbc nightly news, the cbs world news, and the pbs news hour with jim lehrer. in that two-week period, there were 393 interviews done around war. only three were with anti-war leaders. three of almost 400 when about half the population was not for this war. that is no longer a mainstream media. that is a media that is beating the drums for war. we have to demand that our media which uses the public airwaves which are a national treasure bring out the full diversity of opinion especially when it comes to issues of war and peace, life and death. people on military bases around this country cannot have these debates about whether we should go to war. they rely on us in civilian society to have the discussions that will determine whether they are sent to war and whether they live or die. that is why it is absolutely critical that we have all the information and t

colin powell gave him a speech and said all your advisers and your speech writers want this speech and it was the safe speech except tear down the wall, that page had been left out. and reagan said no, i'll use the one i've got, thank you. what happens is this, reagan gets up and he is courageous and being told not to do this. this would be -- create new cold war animosities on the other side. he knew this was a message to their leadership and to the people behind the iron curtain that we were serious about our advocacy of democracy and freedom and peace. he knew that and knew if he didn't say it, it would demoralize all of those people and change history for the worst if he didn't say it. and he got up there and made that strong statement. the next day, of course, we were all watching to find out exactly was what was going to be the reaction and i don't know how but someone from the national security council had a copy of a transcript of gorbachev's conversation with the senior staff. now, i have no idea how we happened to get that in our possession but gorbachev was saying, this guy

i once had a conversation with a great american general colin powell who said to me after a larger conversation about nuclear proliferation terrorism and of an ongoing war in iraq i asked with the greatest threats to democracy was in the next 50 years and the great general didn't miss a beat. he said the greatest threat to our democracy the next 50 years is our inability to educate our population at adequate or high levels. and this is the truth of america that i know some of the people to my left and right will mengin. but just real quick for the viewers at home, something many of the mayors around the table know all too well. right now in our country only 68% of american eighth graders -- 60% of eighth graders can't read at grade level. one-third of students in the nation drop out of high school, and another third aren't considered college ready when they graduate. many who do try to go on to college and of an remedial class. among the other developed nations america ranks 24th in math, 17th in science and tenth in literacy. this reality is undermining and cannibalizing america's future. it i