for iraq the number is $100. even saudi arabia now needs oil to trade at $80 a barrel to balance budgets. qatar, oman are the same. saudi arabia was able to balance its budget with oil prices averaging around $25 a barrel. now it is in these countries' interests to keep oil prices high, which they do by curtailing supply in one we or the other. this is perhaps the most lasting impact of the year of global protest. high oil prices. so bottom line, an oil crash seems unlikely. even though the engines of global growth are sputtering, be prepared for a period of expensive commutes. maybe it's time to trade in your suv for a prius. we'll be right back. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle -- 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protec

i will talk to him about iraq's struggles, and we will ask two participants whether the iraq war was worth it. an important debate. here's my take, first. >>> finally, it looks like former massachusetts governor mitt romney will win his party's nomination, so republicans are following a familiar pattern. they're nominating the mainstream candidate who has waited his turn, the guy who ran once before. this is the party after all, that had a bush or a dole on its ticket for about 20 years. it's also the party that nominated richard nixon on its presidential ticket five times. republicans don't like surprises. there is something surprise about this primary. it's the charges that are working against romney. see, romney's opponents have tried to change his upward trend at two levels. first, they called him a massachusetts moderate, but is that didn't seem to work. not sure why people perhaps think that romney is more electable because he is moderate than his opponents once he gets to the general elections. but a second line of attack does seem to be gaining traction. that of romney as job

he loved the food, everything about iraq. and another baghdad board interpreter told me i iraqis can like you but the love him for a lot of reasons. he had a magical personality and a trust will face. his presence was noted immediately. the iraqi slough to talk to men with a mustache. and he had a mustache, suntan, dark skin and muscular body and looks like an arab. beside that, his heart was connecting to these people for the average american soldier the iraqis can be hard to sit down and talk to but when they sat down to eat with capt patriquin they could tell he enjoyed eating with their hands as he did and he didn't take it. they thought he was telling them i will do whatever i can to assure you that i'm genuine. he gave the iraqi the most honorable and honest picture of the american people in the military in particular. they felt he was the true american heart. and this iraqi bourn enter worker concluded my god, there is no one in the world who could have formed a closer connection with the people than travis did. they a

the pictures were filmed by a journalist to has been given iraq access. and anti-government activists have accused the president and his government of misleading the arab league monitors by taking them only to pro-government areas. during the visit, the demonstrators in circle at the three algerian diplomats, many of them giving their own eye witness accounts of what they have seen. >> these women said one of their two brothers has died trying to save the other from being taken hostage by security forces. this man said his son had been shot by a sniper and then knifed to death as he was leaving a mosque. suddenly, while filming, a masked man drives up to distribute placards and banners carried this is the last one to be taken out says, observers, please help us. the monitors may have seen them. during their visit, they saw no violence. this was the same place at a different time of day. the pictures were filmed by an anti-government group. they shall locals running in panic as gunfire breaks out. this is what those opposed to the government wants the arab

george bush's the father of a free iraq. america is soldiers would leave.o he was a country bumpkin. guess what happened?at he sits down with george bush has a quote partner a few-- later satr was killed as wasdr says patriquin but he became very outspoken and he dared terrorist i am ready for you. >> for they immediately warm to each other? >> i am giving new observations from people in the room, colleagues who to an extent i am speculating.>>s but at first i think he appeared to be a potential zero allied. they hit it off the first few meetings but it took a while for them to warm up tod th each other. and satr a skeptical of americans making promises. they had done that beforene they do give a new cast of characters. that he wanted to test him to say can you send me a couple hundred gallons of fuel? kid use then the small shia enclave a few truckloads of sugar? patriquin would deliver on the promises and sometimes have rights to say we have to make it happen. and bedouin culture if you don't do and say what you do.oeulth

it's a concept actually we tested while commander in iraq. and i thought it was a very successful test. so i think it's uncomfortable with that. we'll mitigate the loss of the c-27. i'm not sure we'll be able to completely mitigate it, but that will help as we deploy. >> is that part of the delay? >> general, do you feel that the army is shouldering the bulk of the burden of this -- these defense budge cuts? when we look on paper, it sure looks like you're taking the biggest hit. and also, how did you come up with the number 490? is that budget based? what were the considerations? >> sure. first, i really want to be very clear. i believe the army route more than anybody else as we got involved in iraq and afghanistan and that growth was very specific because we were worried about the tempo of our soldiers and units. we grew the army in order to meet our commitments in iraq and afghanistan. so i think it's -- i'm comfortable now that in fact our -- we're done with iraq. commit sment coming down in afghanistan that we can now do this. i don't s

secretary of defense panetta mentioned iraq. in all due respect, iraq is unraveling. it's unraveling because we didn't keep residual force there because the president of the united states pledged to get out of iraq. we could have kept a residual force there and kept some stability. instead it's ununraveling and iran's influence is increasing. there's every possibility you could see a very chaotic situation in there. >> schieffer: do you think there's a civil war coming there? >> i think there's clearly an unraveling going on which could eventually lead basically into three different kinds of states in iraq. we needed to keep residual force there. that was what the bush administration envisioned. and that is what we should have done. we never gave them a number until, in the words of general dempsey, numbers cascaded down to 3,500. the iraqis were ready to deal on the issue. this administration did not give them a number. what the perception is now particularly in that part of the world is that the united states is weak and withdrawing. that is also having its effect i

that was a big problem in iraq. the military learned it and is adapting to that, but i think it all comes down to americans being, projecting themselves properly on the world stage. that's one of patriquin's great assets. >> he does seem like a special case. you mention his love of all things arabic. did that start with 9/11? did he want to -- is that how he saw his mission after that, or did he always have an interest in the arab world? >> well, you know, patriquin was kind of an oddball, and i mean that in a positive way. he, he was not high and tight. he was sort of stocky, you know, he didn't miss too many meals. he was, um, you know, he was a red-blooded, red meat-eating, republican-leaning special forces support soldier. you know, this is not a marshmallow by any means. but he saw arabic culture as a source of endless fascination. he loved mythology since he was a little child. he saw the world in a very heroic kind of terms, and he saw islam as a source of endless fascination to him. he had a koran, there's a

and baghdad -- in southern iraq and baghdad. cars and roadside bombs were used. the targets were all civilians. the deadliest explosions hit a group of pilgrims who were passing through a police checkpoint near the southern city of nasiriyah. although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, programs and the police had been secretly targeted by al qaeda in iraq, a sunni extremist group. a shiite neighborhood in baghdad came under attack. there has been a surge since the violence -- since the departure of the u.s. troops. a wave of attacks struck different areas in baghdad killing and injuring dozens. although al qaeda in iraq say they carried out the attack, the parties have been exchanging accusations over who they say is to blame. >> we have obtained an exclusive report from inside of syria. >> before i bring you that report, the head of the syrian army has called on the arab league to a admit that the country has failed. the marchers arrived 11 days ago to try to enforce a peace accord. now one tv journalist has been g

in iraq that's called a disastrous profession or a deadly profession. because wherever journalist goes death is always lurking within. the us and there's an obvious one will it be a one shot at on the. internet that are you at. the . wreckage know just reporting and surviving on dramatically connect. the shocking thing is that i've seen the person who. who make this explosion or his as a pleasure was in my jacket and then afterward i have notes that i've been injured in my hand but. i was worried for my assistant because his brother also killed and. in those days by some killers you know the sad thing in this point that my cameraman. was safe in this accident he got killed after six months in his place in his home. many iraqi journalists lost their lives because their killers did not agree with their views and as a tragic result sometimes in the streets of baghdad coffins passed each other by. independent journalism faces both friendly fire and the blind fanaticism of terrorists and journalist giuliana sgrena victim of abduction herself returns to iraq

soldier finally left iraq in december. in the coming years, they will be withdrawing from afghanistan, too. president barack obama in a rare appearance at the pentagon insisted this was no retreat. >> the tide of war is receding but the question that this strategy answers is what kind of military will we need long after the wars of the last decade are over. today, we are fortunate to be moving forward from a position of strength. i made clear in australia that we will be strengthening our presence in the asia-pacific and budget reductions will not come at the expense of that critical region. >> for america, the future lies in the pacific. american soldiers will soon be based in australia. there will be less of them in europe. the u.s. would like to counter the rise of china, reassure its allies in the region, and maintain access to trade routes by land and sea. the overall number of u.s. ground troops will be cut. washington may no longer be able to cut two ground wars at the same time but they insist that they're ready fo

think of iraq. and so it will be very hard to to have one address that foreigners can call haven't emerged she is there. that they will speak with one voice that are willing to give up their very seat in the united nations and the i.m.f. and they will speak voice it is at the moment inconceivable. that britain will give up their rights but also france is not even thinking of giving that up. germany will become too powerful there's simply too much that prevents europe from becoming one political union if you want a german chancellor angela merkel she said that political union is already taking shape is it though and what is she basic that statement on well from where we are we are making progress in the in the sense of suggestions of because these are suggestions or plans to have stricter rules and to enforce those rules and her view and her reality that is working moving towards a political union but my critique is that what is lacking and what they're really needed for political union is also in se

did you hate the iraq war? >> yes. >> did you hate the afghanistan war? >> i learned to hate war in general. it would be difficult going for a number of things to be gung- ho about any conflict. this adventurism has made me -- all war does in my experience is destroy what we love. it destroys people. it destroys families. it destroys homes. it destroys memories. it is very dark. the flip side is that there is this grand excitement to be involved in it. that is the operators. they love the war in a sick and twisted way. i was talking to a state department official. he was recalling his time in baghdad. in 2006, he said it was a magical. there are all sorts of conflicting feelings. the states are the highest it will ever be. it is life and death. you feel like you're at the center of history. that is an intoxicating feeling. hence the cover of the book where we have an illustrated picture of a general with a pistol in one hand and a scotch glass in another. that is intoxication. >> did you have a problem with your first publisher? >> they had a problem with

we grew the army to meet the iraq and afghanistan. i'm comfortable that we are done with iraq and our commitments are coming down in afghanistan that we can do this. i don't see it as we are bearing the burden of it. i'm saying we are making a correction based on what we see out there as tench threat. in terms of strategy, what i look at is what does 490,000 get me. what we are doing is we are increasing special operation forces. we are going to go to 35,000 total special operation forces in the army. this is significant growth. i want to reemphasize the roles they play. we want to continue that. we think that's the way of the future. and it is now the relationship that has been built between special operations and conventional forces. the integration that we gained we will now carry forward as we continue to conduct our other missions around the world. then i look at the number of brigade combat teams. i feel comfortable although as i mentioned right now we are planning on reducing and a reorganization. the capability that we would h

that's why i do what i do. >> nick, an iraq vet from tampa, florida. gary, good morning. >> caller: good morning, sir. i'm an iraqi war vet. i was overseas five times. i guess i had a question. the unemployment rate for the vets is appalling, number one. but the returning vets, have you noticed any particular career field that has been more attractive for vets coming home than any other field? >> yeah. and thank you for your service and also welcome home. yeah. as is typical, the government sector is always the largest employer of vets. there has been a lot of defense contracting is very attractive to vets, largely because it's a similar industry, you have a lot of cultural competency. but what we're seeing now is the tech sectors and financial services are making a huge push to hire vets. a lot of vets are going into them. the technology sector leans well because it's young, innovative, fast paced. they train us to be independent operators, to be, you know, to be innovative and to think outside the box and so i think that leads well to some of the you

it started in iraq. and they had an idea and it was a brilliant idea. if we are upset about the coverage, give them intimate acess. they can see the ebb and flow of our lives and see and better relate to us and the mission. >> we have a clip and here in iraq when you were embedded. >> the door is open and they are going in. what did you find? >> we found insurgent are using these. >>> and afterwards you make friend and there was a snow ball fight and shows the relationship. but some people object to this. there is an arcticle. embedded reporters emphasize the being system than the consequences with iraqi season. and the reporters get bought off. >> well is a natural in. stinct to be with your buddis and our side and our team against those guys and that side. there is no doubt about it that perhaps are less critical than you might be. but there is also an access that lets you understand what the mission is. now i want my guys to do well and i want them to be safe. they are the same and i admit that i never alter my story or factually substitute a lie for

iraq and afghanistan veterans less than 1% of the population. about 11% of those are women. so an even smaller population of an extremely small population. when they take sampling, a difference of two or three or four in a given month can swing it 5, 10 percentage points. this is something we need to work harder to get. we need an accurate picture of what's happening with our female vets. they a growing and critical sector of the veterans population. they need services that are on par with their male vets, they need not just job placement but health care and benefits. this is something iava has been aggressive on in the last few years. the next step is to figure out an accurate snapshot of where employment and health care are and with a small population it makes it really, really challenging. >> because of things like post traumatic stress disorder, do those serve as stigmas for those potentially higher? >> yes. the vast majority have adjustment issues. it's a process for everyone. you have -- first of all, you have this -- the crazy vet stigma, which frankly just isn't true

putting out of iraq washington express pride at what had been achieved and confidence in the democratic future but just weeks on violence is rampant and sectarian tension a boiling point while the prime minister pursues a seemingly personal vendetta against a vice president and caught in the middle of it all is journalism where the press is yet to discover its freedom sebastian meyer has this report. this spring iraqis inspired by neighboring arab countries began protesting against their government in a square in baghdad one which shares its name with the better known counterpart in cairo. but iraqi journalists trying to cover these protests were silenced by the government security forces in today's iraqi journalists who speak out are routinely imprisoned beaten or just simply killed it seems to be a high level of intolerance or dissent or for public criticism of either government policies or particular leaders use it felt to me a freelance journalist showed some shocking you tube footage from the protests this february that explicitly show iraqi security forces targeting him because he

did recommend a surge of five brigades into iraq. and the improved security situation. >> those of us who do not understand how this works, as you mentioned, the american enterprise institute, how this all works and why did we go in there on this surge and why do the kagans get credit and why do you like what they suggest? >> i don't know how you get from this study to the battleground, but in terms of the surge, it was clearly -- i did find out, i believe this was 2006, that the notion of this always looked like a band-aid, the same principle of camping down in a red-light district. you always get those kinds of security results. this is pretty much what the basic principle of the troops surge -- surge was. it was going to prompt them, surge until they merge. and the leaders of the different communities would go about the business that they must want to start, building a very peaceful and productive democracy. and this is something that i think was taken right out of an academic lecture hall, grafted onto a very foreign and complica

troop withdrawal from iraq we find that that basic right is being violated and while iraq is learning to manage its own affairs consequences are proving brutal for some in a report now from our sebastian meyer we speak to some of the journalists that have faced imprisonment and even torture. this spring iraqis inspired by neighboring arab countries began protesting against their government in a square in baghdad one which shares its name with the better known counterpart in cairo. but iraqi journalists trying to cover these protests silenced by the government security forces in today's iraq journalists who speak out are routinely imprisoned beaten or just simply killed seems to be a high level of intolerance or dissent or for public criticism of the government policies or particular leaders use it felt to me a freelance journalist showed some shocking you tube footage from the protests this february that explicitly show iraqi security forces targeting him because he's a journalist. he shouts which is arabic for a journalist over and over again but it makes the police more violent thre

time when the americans are withdrawing from iraq and they are going to. be is said and you both backdoor a new direction for their policies in the near east in an attempt to impose and you region in order that keeps this region and the their control fully under fully loyal to them in a big. confrontation against both russia and china and with them iran we need to see this confrontation what's going on in syria as a part of a bigger confrontation between a coalition of continental powers on one hand which includes. russia china and iran on one hand confronting a coalition of muddy time powers including the united states western europe and dirty and the main scene of confrontation is this middle east and the code of this middle east is syria for the time being so we cannot isolate what's going on there from this bigger perspective what i saw also seems to be i and every sense of the word political outcasts especially an international media even if it was a rebel group behind the bombings assad's really guilty by default as until. well according to western m

iraq is still a problem in other ways but i would submit that things have changed enough in iraq and in a broad middle east and the administration is correct to change our basic construct in the simultaneously and worse to the one plus the ability to ramp up quickly. i not sure they have gone far enough and how they change the structure for the army and the marine corps as a result. i want to talk about the media and you can consider this equal opportunity in sort of equal a kindness on my part towards each service. i'm going to try to be ecumenical and broadbased the media and the service like all four of our military services around lubold, however, a skid sort of fun skated in this budget process frankly. to stay at 11 the only changes to the navy shipbuilding programs are pretty much just some delays in things like submarine building. nothing major in terms of any program being fundamentally we thought, and i am a little worried that this isn't being provocative enough. i think the navy actually has one big idea at least that they should consider, and i know a lot of you have bou

sweeter than blast. >> no more going back to iraq. out of iraq for good. >> is this kind of scene that is happening across the country. the drop in iraq is done, and a wedding and the tories come to an end. -- the waiting and the worries come to an end. >> can be more energetic. >> the only thing left to do is open presents. whatever it is, the biggest surprise has been unwrapped. >> very happy for all of them. still to come, if you are looking to lose a few pounds in the new year, you are not alone. plus, heading to the gym will help you lose extra weight, but how can you stay motivated? >> temperatures that definitely a demotivator. it is so cold out there. we will talk about what is causing this difference in temperatures when we come back in the insta-weather-plus forecast. it just got more frustrating and frustrating. a lot of times, the picture would break up. for the amount of money that i am paying, my cable company should take care of me. [ male announcer ] stop paying for second best. move up to verizon fios tv, internet and

military mission in iraq. new york city says there won't be a parade anytime soon like the one after the first gulf war in 1991. pentagon officials say it would be premature with troops still in afghanistan. but in st. louis friends tom apple bon and craig schneider disash greed. >> like this national conversation in the media about should we or shouldn't we have a parade for the iraq vets? and that was like the first thing is like, well that's silly, of course they deserve a parade. >> reporter: that was less than a month ago. they started a facebook page and harnessed the power of social media. >> we didn't do there. we had an idea and we put up a call for help and as soon as we planted a flag, it wasn't -- at first the city rallied and then the country rallied. >> reporter: tens of thousands people lined downtown's main thoroughfare to cheer and sallude several hundreds of troops and vets across the country. the crowd heartfelt thanks. >> thank you. >> nothing more important than the people who protect our

extensive material that we can we provide it they printed story after story based on the leaks of the iraq and afghanistan war logs as well as diplomatic cables they had no problem using that information to sell more papers make a profit when it suited them and then of course they turned completely against assad and started writing smear pieces about his dirty socks so as not to give the establishment the wrong impression so as not to be seen as being in cahoots with the man of the u.s. government is leading a massive investigation against with charges of espionage though they cared more about his dirty socks and they did about some of the real mistakes like publishing the names of informants. so they are in my mind cowards and if you read michael hastings recent interview with us on to rolling stone seems like he feels the same way and so you can imagine the shock of the outrage and as mark out of monist put it today the pearl clutching that's been going on since this announcement was made this morning now it's perhaps the most ludicrous part of it all is that even the associated press wh

whatsoever to live outside iraq for a long long time and has pumped up because they wanted to create this exiled body called the iraqi national congress so there was an iraqi voice in the propaganda war against saddam hussein the libyan situation the leaders of the libyan transitional council as you know basically were defectors from the government tripoli they jump ship when it got too hot and they took it really for me even with the benghazi and then the transitional national council form of whom we didn't know we knew someone from all the places we can't can't say the syrian national council is largely composed of what's a mixture of people who have their roots who are inside syria but a dominant i think by exiles abroad hungover you know he's been in paris for a long time like read one. who's based in washington and has very very close ties with the state department you know now what kind of clout what kind of hold are these people have inside syria i would say not much. you know so there are similarities between these councils and of course you know that the transitional nationa

on our website where i ask you what you think will happen to iraq now that u.s. forces have left the bulk of opinion is that the country slipping into chaos to quote about existing things coming worse on the same number saying iraq is one hundred twenty best government telling their own future and nine percent iraq will develop into a western style democracy was going to come at you as. a suicide bombing that killed up to twenty six people in the syrian capital has heightened tensions between the government and the opposition the attack apparently targeted a police bus most of the actual trees are said to be in civilians becomes as arab league monitors who are assessing violence in the country to give their first report this weekend anti-government protesters rallied after the blast blaming the syrian government for the violence international intervention but jordan based political analyst said since the bombing is a sign that an armed opposition is actively trying to destabilize the country. right from the start the demonstrations were not truly peaceful but the

me which was increased in size for the occupations in iraq and afghanistan you make cuts there and you don't cut these big ticket items because jobs depend on it income depends on but while we are drawing troops out from iraq from afghanistan there is this mounting tension with iran and i mean do you think that the u.s. is ready to go to war with iran well going to war with iran is very challenging to be perfectly blunt i mean if the united states is twelve feet tall iran in comparative terms is maybe six inches high it's a nonentity militarily it can project military power beyond its borders the fear of iran closing the straits of hormuz is much exaggerated the iranians would suffer terribly from that remember that about eighty three percent of china's oil comes from the middle east it has to pass through the strait of hormuz and so the strait of malacca reach china the japanese the koreans are equally depended upon it no one no one profits from the closure iran has revenues would tank it's already going to suffer as a result of sanctions nothing would improve we would not benefit. fr

the war in iraq was meant to give them a stable pro western pro-business base for operations in the middle east what they ended up doing is making iran a great a regional power than it was before and so they've got to deal with this problem and this is what the sanctions are about but the sanctions as we know in the past as we know over the case of iraq indeed were the precursor to war they were a way of preparing public opinion for military conflict and therefore they are doubly dangerous in this case they're economically dangerous in the short term but as your news report has pointed out we're looking at now a conflict in the gulf of hormuz which is one of the main arteries of the world economy it really couldn't get more serious than this and of course the other big outcry over this that's not the mistake that we've heard from experts say that china would be very glad to buy a round all shipments if the e.u. refuses to so i guess by pushing for sanctions like this isn't the u.s. providing an extra energy source for the global power that say this washington's economic nemesis. wel

information about women unemployed saying there were nearly 22% unemployed as of december 2011, iraq and afghanistan female veterans. >> it's really tough to get good numbers on female veterans. on an average the number is about the same, 12% for women, 12.4 for women. that's averaged over a year. the problem is the sample size is so small when they collect data -- think about this. iraq and afghanistan veterans less than 1% of the population. about 11% of those are women. so an even smaller population of an extremely small population. when they take sampling, a difference of two or three or four in a given month can swing it 5, 10 percentage points. this is something we need to work harder to get. we need an accurate picture of what's happening with our female vets. they a growing and critical sector of the veterans population. they need services that are on par with their male vets, they need not just job placement but health care and benefits. this is something iava has been aggressive on in the last few years. the next step is to figure out an accurate snapshot of where employmen