iraq wasn't. the case for war in iraq that was presented to the american people proved to be a smoke screen. there were no weapons of mass destruction. there was no reconstituted iraqi nuclear program. the case that was made publicly for that war turned out to be false. what was true? what was the reason for that war? we know that it wasn't the reasons that they told us. so, why did we really do it? newly obtained documents from both here and abroad, as well as interviews with many of the key players in the war planning process and in the invasion now provide an answer to that question, the question of why we did it. watch. ♪ >> i will swear to not only uphold the laws of that land -- >> summer or of 2000. >> but lift the spirit of this country when i put my hand on the bible. i will also swear to uphold the honor and the integrity, the office to which i have been elected so help me god. >> we love you, bush! >> as the presidential race heats up, the economy threatens to stall. the problem is en

iraq is iraq. we are all in our own our own culture and cohesiveness to adopt a question about that when i got to play. i traveled the country and never had any problems with anyone. despite the fact that my mind and what might be nice to take the red raiders and tom and people are always very respectful always very kind to mother ago. that's the case for everyone's dismay the problem. but at the same time. the real estate. after all the things that happened in our country the dictatorship about some of the wars and sanctions then of course the occupational disasters unimportant. since the occupation iraq in the states it's extremely weak and that exposed a lot of elements including one in front of the show will go on a global is always present in the hospital or near to the stance that it is today however having said that we still have to wait to see the election results on or before we can decide whether or not to ramble the final say whether any regional host of the same sponsor for trying somet

they want a cohesive iraq. iraq that works cohesively together. i would be surprised if we get so deep into the details of trying to broker some sort of solution to this issue right now. brianargely agree with that i simply do not see the united states getting more involved than we already have. in effect, as an analyst rather than an advocate, i would see the united states fall back on .he iraqi central government there are other issues that could mitigate that or change it slightly. one of those issues is one we do not often talk about, a sheer number of former american , the influence of oil, which they have, talking and lobbying among current american officials. that is something that when you see people standing behind barzani at the opening of one facility or another and they are labeled as an ambassador -- i don't think people understand that they are no longer acting in their official capacity, but so be it. another issue that creates the opposite effect is the kurdistan regional government does not have representation in the united states

the worst unrest in iraq in years. our special report, iraq: bloodshed to ballots. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. the polls are now closed in iraq's historic election. the first since u.s. forces withdrew in 2011. tonight we focus on the situation in iraq and the middle east since that withdrawal and ask: was it worth it? as iraqis cast their ballot security was extremely tight. millions of people went to the polls to elect a new parliament and ultimately a new prime minister. imran khan spent the day at a polling place. >> passed without major incident across the country there have been deaths as a result of violence but this is a day that many thought would never come. election day passed without major incident. here in baghdad there were no incidents at all. people have come out to vote. election groups are telling us the turnout might be high as 60%. that turnout is key. the more people turn out, the more seats political parties get and the more seats they get the more they will be able to negotiate with other blocks to form a government. that all happens wi

ift city is at war with iraq government forces. they say it is a war against terrorism with the islamic state of iraq. a lot of people say it is not a war against terrorism. those are the big flashpoints but not the only ones. what is the worst-case scenario? guest: the worst-case scenario is to have multiple weekend state in the region. you have the gulf which is sunni arab and has been dramatically opposed to shia led government. still there is that attention. syria is imploding. that border where suicide bombers came, that border is open again. battle hardened iraq is coming to launch attacks. going to fights with syrian regime forces. it is a very delicate balance and a complicated region, especially when you throw in iran and turkey. host: you can ask her questions on one of three lines for democrats. that's on one of three lines. for democrats -- if you want to send your thoughts via twitter, that is @cspanwj. potentialthe fracturing of iraq, what does it mean for u.s. policy echo are there still policy concerns? guest: this

invasion of iraq. general shinseki clearly had not been intending to testify that day on how many troops would be necessary to responsibly maintain order in iraq after a u.s. invasion, but he was the army chief of staff and when he got asked, his answer was, several hundred thousand u.s. troops. he said that on february 25th. two days later on february 27th, the bush administration destroyed him for it. after all, they were in the midst of selling the american public on the idea of a war in iraq that would be quick, it would be easy, it would be cheap, it would be bloodless. sure, maybe there might be some bruising when the iraqis came out to hug us and kiss us as we arrive, because they wanted us to invade so badly, but other than that, they sold the iraq war as if it posed no real risk. and we certainly wouldn't need hundreds of thousands of americans involved in what they promised would be a quick, perfectly planned, tidy little war. that's what they had in mind. so this was two days after eric shin

ift city is at war with iraq government forces. they say it is a war against terrorism with the islamic state of iraq. a lot of people say it is not a war against terrorism. those are the big flashpoints but not the only ones. what is the worst-case scenario? guest: the worst-case scenario is to have multiple weekend state in the region. you have the gulf which is sunni arab and has been dramatically opposed to shia led government. still there is that attention. syria is imploding. that border where suicide bombers came, that border is open again. battle hardened iraq is coming to launch attacks. going to fights with syrian regime forces. it is a very delicate balance and a complicated region, especially when you throw in iran and turkey. host: you can ask her questions on one of three lines for democrats. that's on one of three lines. for democrats -- if you want to send your thoughts via twitter, that is @cspanwj. potentialthe fracturing of iraq, what does it mean for u.s. policy echo are there still policy concerns? guest: this

and then fourth, it's iraq. so this is extremely complicated, and we're just talking about probabilities. there are no certainties. anything is possible. and we're going to talk about the most likely scenarios. all that said, i think what we saw in this election was the prime minister did prime minister maliki's party did on the very, very high end of meeting expectations for the very low end of better than expected depending on how you count the i happened pence it banded with, and that remains a somewhat combig out process. depending on how you count, we've seen estimates that he now controls somewhere between 99, maybe up to 108, 109 seats. so he's somewhere in that ban. you need 163 seats to form the government, so he's nowhere near what he's going to need to put this all together, but he's certainly the dominant actor. there's no one he's close to him. were the kurds to band together that's still only 62 seats compared to his 100 to 110. there's no near competitor, not like what we saw last time, where we h

. >> iraq war veteran phil klay is next on booktv. he discusses the collection of short stories about soldiers who fought in iraq and afghanistan and the experiences they had while back in the u.s. between deployments. this is about 45 minutes. >> all right, thank you. here we go. thanks so much for coming here. good to be a. this is my first time in l.a., so be good to me. it's a thrill to be here with tony. so the book is 12 short stories all from different perspectives. and i'm going to start out just read the opening of the story about an artillery unit. the store is called template south. an artillery unit on this large base called a fob, and the fobs in iraq, weird thing where you have come you're in a combat zone but they are large, really secure. and they are like a little miniature cities. they have light workout facilities nhl hall. there's some -- there would be a child haul. this story is set on camp fallujah progress in iraq some marine had recorded a song set to the tune of hotel california. the course was welcome to the

when rumsfeld went into iraq, brought the united states into iraq, there was no planning for limiting the lateral damage aside from let's do this at night so people are not out, etc., but there was no planning on what are we going to do if we harm civilians, what is going to happen if this goes on longer than we thought? you can minimize so much civilian harm. >> can i just jump in real quick, sarah? i was with some of the very people who made these decisions the said before iraq, i voted against -- there was a vote, whether we should attack. --were there often thereafter called the georgetown squish. the argument was there was not civilian damage because it would be in the desert, and even more, if it went into the city, no one would be around to watch it because we had learned the lesson from vietnam, and needless to say, the georgetown swish took on that argument. >> so if you are not prepared, you can have what we had in iraq, where many, many people get killed and injured. or in combat operations, it is all about what the commander so,s his or her forces, yes, you can have good r

we've been in iraq, the war in iraq supposedly to make it -- >> no, it's fallen apart because of obama's actions. >> that is ridiculous. >> when president obama took over, how many boots on the ground did we have? >> he actually made it higher. >> do you know how many casualties are attributed under president obama's watch in afghanistan? about 75% of all the casualties in the war. >> why is that a surprise? >> but you are pinning this war on a prior administration. >> i'm not pinning it on the prior administration. i said we shouldn't have gone into afghanistan to begin with because that was where the whole plot was developed. we didn't have to stay there that long. how long -- >> we still have troops in korea. we still have troops in germany. >> by treaty. [ multiple voices speaking ] >> we abide by our treaty. >> how disrespectful to the troops that have served and died, we're weary, we're going to pull out. the american people are not quitters. don't disrespect their service, bob. finish the job and do it right. >> guys, do me a favor. we'll continue this exact topic. listen to gener

in 2005 and 2006, led the third armored calvary regiment in iraq. and directed the joint anti-corruption task force in kabul, afghanistan, from 2010 to 2012. last year chuck hagel nominated him for his third star, the rank of lt. general, and in july will start heading up the think tank. well with come. >> great to be with you. >> charlie: you as well. tell me what your new responsibilities are. >> it's a real privilege to serve in any capacity but it's exciting to join an organization whose mission is to deter conflict, respond to crises and if necessary fight and win a future war. as americans, we want to give our forces every advantage we can give them and the first order of business is to lay a conceptual foundation that defines the war and how to prepare our forces to fight and win in future armed conflicts. >> charlie: are we now prepared to fight two wars at the same time? >> it's clear from public statements recently that old defense tragedy of fighting two wars simultaneously is no longer feasible given the size of the force and the capabil

clearly, iraq needs changes and reforms. it needs to move towards building a consensus not just with sunni and shia arabs, but this could be a time for a new start with a new agenda, and a renewal for the country. >> that unity is certainly what maliki is calling for in his campaign slogan which is, together we build iraq. but as you say shias and sunnies are killing each other in sectarian violence last year. do you think maliki could be the leader that moves them away from that? >> well, if he, as a result of this election and because of the necessity to be able to form a government , that is a reform maliki coming with an agenda that can unite iraqis that can be an option. my judgment is that he is going to have a difficult time unless he wins big which is not anticipated. but if he wins big he could form a majority government and that could if he goes that route increase tensions with not only the sunni air abs bu ar arabs, if he on the other hand comes with an agenda of power sharing, build consensus on decentralizing i

i couldn't self-justify what i was doing in iraq anymore. what we as a nation were doing in iraq. i had to refigure out who i was as a human being and what i wanted out of life. and what legacy i was going to leave for my children. i struggle every day, every day i struggle. >> this is a situation where we could and should have done a better job of protecting innocent life because this is not only a war of territory, of physical destruction, this is a war of hearts and minds. clearly if you're killing civilians in the process of trying to secure a city, you're not really winning that battle. >>> coming up -- soldiers returning from war. some of the most memorable homecomings we've ever seen. are you ready grandma? just a second, sweetie. [ female announcer ] we eased your back pain, you turned up the fun. tylenol® provides strong pain relief while being gentle on your stomach. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol®. mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and m

when rumsfeld went into iraq, brought the united states into iraq, there was no planning for limiting the lateral damage aside from let's do this at night so people are not out, etc., but there was no planning on what are we going to do if we harm civilians, what is going to happen if this goes on longer than we thought? you can minimize so much civilian harm. >> can i just jump in real quick, sarah? i was with some of the very people who made these decisions the said before iraq, i voted against -- there was a vote, whether we should attack. --were there often thereafter called the georgetown squish. the argument was there was not civilian damage because it would be in the desert, and even more, if it went into the city, no one would be around to watch it because we had learned the lesson from vietnam, and needless to say, the georgetown swish took on that argument. >> so if you are not prepared, you can have what we had in iraq, where many, many people get killed and injured. or in combat operations, it is all about what the commander so,s his or her forces, yes, you can have good r

it was showing the images of war in iraq. your thoughts about that, being a journalist that the american soldiers knew from the beginning , what this meant for journalism? >> truly, when i was released from abu ghraib prison, i resumed my work in journalism and with al jazeera. until now, i worked with al jazeera and have covered many regions in africa, asia, and many other countries will stop i did not stop my journalistic work at all. i consider my profession i see miniature in one that shows facts and truth everywhere, whether it is iraq or elsewhere. al jazeera work in iraq was probably different from other stations and channels because it dealt -- delved the details of the issues that were related and of importance to the iraqi people, and joe details that other stations might have been afraid to show. this might have annoyed some parties, so they were not happy with the performance of al jazeera in iraq because it showed many photos and details. how people were killed, how was conducted. it showed problems the security

military campaign in iraq. iraq had gone through this transition to a perfect piece for the united government they would still be facing a very very difficult legacy the complete destruction of the country's infrastructure the toxic mike legacy of the future rainy and things like that but are back cannot even begin to face those problems because their lives are still dominated by the violence of the war and the sectarian violence of the strafe we see today is a direct result of the u.s. occupation is the u.s. military didn't go to war against an enemy army the us military went to war against a broad based national uprising against an occupation and so to fight it it had to exploit all of the ethnic and religious divisions they could find few of them with violence and today we're seeing the aftermath of that the police going to slap on the wrist for brushing a large number of criminal cases under the carpet a recent survey suggests as many as one in five crimes in britain go unrecorded all the details of that in

the iraq war i signed up for was launched on false premises. the american people were misled. now, whether that was due to bad faith or simply mistakes of intelligence, i can't say for sure, but i can say it shows the problem of putting too much faith in intelligence systems without debating them in public. >> we'll take another break

iraq is flat and we have a very friendly neighbor to the south of iraq in kuwait. all you had to do to get out of iraq is get on the highway and drive. afghanistan is landlocked central asia with pakistan as the main land border, which is not always cooperative. sometimes convoys are attacked. otherwise, you have to fly material out. right now, about 32,000 troops. he is talking about getting them down to 10,000 by end of the year. that's not that many, not much time to get 20,000 troops out of a landlocked central asian country. certainly a lot of effort between now and then is going to be involved in just ex-filling, never figured out why they use that term, ex-fill. getting stuff out, what they will be focused on, then trying to maintain this training mission. right now, u.s. troops mostly are on a training mission. about 90% of their time, they're on their bases in big control rooms with television screens telling afghans, giving them help, advice, satellite imagery when necessary, and i think that's going to be the mission going forward, but yeah, a lot of the

if we get a draft, after we went to iraq, we still would have gone to iraq. because 75% of americans believe that it was weapons of mass destruction, a year and a half after 9/11, we still would have gone. but when we found out they didn't have weapons of mass destruction, our boys and girls would have been home in 2004. we wouldn't have stayed there. we would have been out of afghanistan in 2006, 2007 after we hunted down most of the terrorists. david gregory, as mike said, it's been a dozen years or so where we've asked way too much of our military. they've delivered because they're extraordinary. but it's been the age of occupation. we've got to move past the false choice that we were given back in 2001 which the pottery barn rule, if you break it you own it. no that suggests if we go into syria and there's a slaughter going on there or iran and we find out they have nuclear weapons to destabilize the world. that somehow to fix a broken country means that we have to occupy that country for a decade. that's the false choice that we've lived by. that's the f

there was this famous quote saddam is iraq iraq is saddam but when you look at bashar al assad he always makes a point about stressing delimits of his authority he always stresses in his interviews that he doesn't own the country and yet. this patrol of humor as these to rally can lead or who controls everything in syria is very persistent it seems that the american policy makers and the western media in general a very bad on presenting him as a tyrant no matter what. i don't see him in the manner in which you're characterizing him and i wouldn't try to talk to have people generically in the west in fact as i pointed out in that paragraph and as you emphasized in the special very interesting barbara walters interview he says i don't own the government i'm just the president and i infer from that that he's not fully in charge of the military as well so i don't see him at all as being similar to saddam hussein or or could i think he's does not really have the skills or personality to be a totalitarian dictator and yet he's trying to hold on to the country to achieve the sure the feels a se

the scene of the greatest losses in the war in iraq. the syria/iraq border has now turned into a base for al qaeda that our director of national intelligence has said will be planning on attacks on the united states of america. look, andrea, we left troops in korea after the korean war, we left troops in japan, we left troops in germany. and what the president is now signaling to the taliban, hang on, because we're leaving. and afghanistan military, as good as they are in many respects, are not prepared for a total lack of united states support in a number of areas, particularly air assets. >> let me ask you, though, are they not really analogous? in iraq, we didn't have an agreement to leave forces, that was a failure on the part of the administration, but we withdrew from iraq leaving no troops really. this would be a training mission and counterterror mission of 9,800 troops, and the pentagon, the military only asked for 10,000. it's pretty close to what they wanted. >> well, to start with, we could have gotten the agreement with ira

iraq had gone to this transition to a perfect piece on united government. they would still be paid for the very very difficult legacy of complete destruction of the country's infrastructure the toxic blood legacy of the ukrainian things like that lah. i cannot even begin to face the problem because airlines are still dominated by the violence of war in the sectarian violence of the ecclesia dei is a direct result of the us occupation with the us military in court against it and in the army the us military went to war against the broad based national uprising against the occupation and so to find it at times its weight. all of the ethnic and religious the division they can find fuel them with violence. i am today we're seeing the aftermath. the uk police can stop on the wrist for brushing a large number of criminal cases and the culprit. the recent seven suggests as many as one body of crimes in britain go unrecorded. or would he tells of an investigation of just a click away from us. the us but its influence across the pacific islands has struck a deal to a

troops during the iraq. even see if you just joined us it's eight pm here in moscow my name is kevin zero in our top story this hour the u.n. is examining reports of government forces in ukraine using helicopters bearing the organizations insignia in a military operation in the east of the country now if confirmed it would mean kiev is violating its agreement with the united nations the organization said the helicopters were seen jury heavy fighting near the city of kramatorsk where several paratroopers were killed with casualties also reported among anti-government activists to at is ridiculous because in the region. there is a video that was filmed by the crew off the life news channel which allegedly shows one of the three helicopters involved in the incident around kramatorsk and bears the u.n. insignia r.t. has contacted the united nations for comment and have gotten a response now according to their going to zation of a country that has the equipment that has the u.n. insignia on it is supposed to stri

charter is a reason not to help us in iraq. you're you are quite right it's hard to find cases where it's a soul dictating reason why we may not intervening. i think it's an additional political cost to going to war. it's a disincentive. when some of these wars say we'd be better off if we did go to war. the other thing that is very hard i think you're right what is the future look like if you move away from the u.n. charter system? what is the institutional quite? the concept of europe is an analogy to the past. one thing that is successful is our colleague john bolton came up with the nonproliferation initiative which has a kind of system but there's no formal treaty. there is no formal place where they meet. the governments coordinate their actions politically to try to stop the proliferation of wmd technology as i understand quite successfully. i think that would be the way to go to start starving those kinds of successful informal methods of cooperation. they are not be telling us when we walk. if that has been the success

so maybe that goes to your point about the iraq army. if we had invaded iraq, removed saddam hussein and then left, your cost of war would have been a lot lower for the united states, and maybe things -- things could have been equally bad, maybe they could have been worse, maybe they might have been just the same as they're ending up turning out to be now. i don't, you know, i don't know. >> so this is, you know, john begins with the platonic canard that only the dead have seen the end of war. so if you believe the opening, it's we can never eliminate it. but the issue that used to be with the -- [inaudible] to the notion of only democrats don't go to war, remember tom friedman -- [inaudible] don't go to war with each other, right? >> my recitation of authorities until now. [laughter] >> okay. >> now you're -- >> you quoted plato. the issue is there was an underlying assumption that's deep in the dna of the west is that if you have economic development rises of middle classes, middle classes then support democratic institutions. it's a b

nobody is telling us that for iraq. as long as you don't expect people to thank you and as long as you don't expect people to fully support everything you do because for political geopolitical reasons i guarantee you russia and china and others will criticize any of those actions you take. you have to be prepared to accept that and do the best you can to back up that claim that hears the counterfactual that we avoided. >> excellent. thank you so much. let me thank aei. i've been here before and it's always great to create a forum like this that is deeply committed to the principle of open debate about interesting events. these remarks are my own and don't represent any groups that i'm associated with. this is quite fascinating for me because on john's tenth anniversary he has revealed himself to be a canadian, international idealist is interventionist which is fascinating and the book which i find intriguing and the earlier work would have found extremely compelling is the current ambassador samantha powers. if you read

we were just going into iraq. this task force found that, at that time, there were 26,000 veterans on a wait list waiting six months or more for care. they also found it was a mismatch between funding and demand. if that mismatch wasn't addressed, the situation would with impact access. here we are 11 years later and that's the problem. we have not addressed those problems then. when that report came out congress and the administration shelled it. even though the veterans organizations wanted those recommendations to be looked at. >> brown: paul rieckhoff, come in on this. those problems having been there, you're saying for a long time, but this goes further. this is about falsifying reports and the lack of integrity was the word used. >> right. it's a total system failure and it started with the revelations in phoenix four weeks ago and the secretary was slow to respond and the president was slow to respond. now the i. dpment is investigating over 40 different facilities. so it's a systemwide failure, people are

if there had been anti-terrorist troops remaining in iraq? >> recall what happened in iraq because there's a lot of revisionist history going on here. president bush signed an agreement with the iraqys to end our military presence in the end of 2011 when it ended. that was signed before he left office date certain. so for those people who say why are you going to tell the enemy when you're gone, that was the first such instance which, frankly, i'm not sure was wrong. he decided on a date certain when our combat mission would end and it ended. now, what president obama said is, if we are able to negotiate with the new iraqi government an understanding that they approve that allows us to stay with the protections that our forces need wherever they deploy, then we would be willing to leave behind a small residual to help do counterterrorism with the iraqys. they didn't make it and they regret that now. >> charlie: they advised the afghans not to make the same mistake they did, right? >> i don't know that to be true, but i've heard that. >> charl

we have removed our troops from iraq. weare winding down our war in afghanistan. al qaeda's leadership on the border between pakistan and afghanistan has been decimated and osama bin laden is no more. [ applause ] and through it a all we have refocused our investments in what has always been a key source of american strength, a growing economy, that can provide opportunity for everybody who is willing to work hard and take responsibility here at home. in fact, by most measures, america has rarely been stronger relative to the rest of the world. those who argue otherwise, who suggest that america is in decline or has seen the global leadership slip away are either misreading history or engaged in partisan politics. think about it. our military has no fear. the odds of a direct attack by other nations are at a new low. meanwhile, the economy remains the most dynamic on earth. the businesses here are the most innovative. each year, we grow more energy independent. from europe to asia, we are the hub of alliances unrivaled in the history of nations. america continues

iraq and afghanistan. how is it strong not to change course after seeing 58,000 americans killed and wounded in those wars? the american people don't need or want that kind of false strength. we've had enough. we've paid too much. we've lost too many fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. >>> high noon for president obama. let's play "hardball." >>> good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this unfinished disaster, this ticking grenade, if you will, at the veterans administration. timing is everything in politics and shows how a leader makes decisions, shows decisiveness, confidence, sure-footedness. the longer president obama holds this grenade in his hand, the more dangerous this situation becomes. i'm talking politics here. when a leader confronts a crisis, he needs to act, needs to be seen acting. what action has president obama taken here to deal with the manifest disaster at the va? the disaster of f

of the united states and iraq. we're supplying them with $15 billion worth of military hardware including missiles, tank ammo, vehicles, m4s, m 16s and we have sacrificed so much treasure and the blood to help win them certain amount of freedom, only to find out of course that iran has the same enemy now that iraq does and oh, by the way, that enemy also is fighting against assad, so herb essentially, we need karl rove's greece board to keep track of this. we have iran and iraq supporting assad because they're all fighting the same enemy. >> they've also extremists out in the western part of iraq as i understand it, that are against iran, so they're fighting together to try to tlaurt that group. >> and that's been going on for some time. but what we have, the worst possible scenario that's taken place is that the elections in iraq have happened. they will announce hopefully, the winner of those elections including maliki and whoever else is involved on the 25th of may. the problem is, it doesn't look like there's g

even though the war in iraq cost $2.5 billion a week. these kinds of political sniping i don't think is going to help. president obama needs to find a way to inspire the american people and also to articulate global policy as part of a narrative that people believe in not just a situational response to events. >> one positive narrative ambassador was about ukraine. saying that the multilateral efforts there have worked. and that they have improved the situation there. do you agree? >> absolutely. but? and there's always a but with this administration, taking the decision to pull all of our troops out of afghanistan in two years regardless of the situation will be seen by putin as another example that regardless of where the president will not see things through if there's any political pressure or need to use the military. he will apply that to the situation in the ba bal balticsl done but it has to be done in global perspective. >> do you think china or russia will rethink things based on today's speech? >> they will find themselves, th

commitments in afghanistan and iraq. this is a sop to his base in an election year and a way to try to get folks on the left back on his side when it comes to foreign policy. martha: we'll see what he says this morning. chris, thank you very much. reporter: the head of the house armed services committee buck mckeen, one of the many critics of the plan saying quote holding this mission to an arbitrary egg timer doesn't make a lick of sense strategically. buck mckeon is with us next. >> . this is his view of the world and his view of how he sees america's view in the world. martha: a scathing editorial in the post saying you took the troops to zero in iraq and look what happened. you said we wouldn't allow the red line to be crossed in syria and look what happened. the president has a lot to answer for this morning and he will do that at the west point commencement speech. you see the cadets as they file in. bill: it's a striking sight of time we see it. martha: the white house is investigating itself after a huge blunder

insurgents have attacked a military base in northern iraq killing twenty soldiers at least eleven were shot dead from close range after they had been titled the incident following a spate of deadly assaults across the country that left nineteen people dead iraqis witnessing its worst surge in violence since two thousand and eight with thousands of deaths since the start of this year. millions of afghan women are say last month in the country's presidential election but while there are signs of greater freedom tribal rules licensing they honor killing of women are still widely regarded as greater validity than the country's actual laws or. reports. that two years ago it would have been thinkable to see afghan women doing anything remotely like this. today millions of girls are gold in schools twenty percent of the seats in parliament are reserved for women a growing number serve in the on tour says and for the first time ever a district in kabul has a female police chief. told one regime may be gone but for countless afghan women brutality is still a part of everyday life. at a safe hou

voters in iraq go to the whole supplying deadly attacks. and the man tipped to become india's next prime minister has cast his ballot at a later stage the country. boy or a fast moving events in ukraine today with the peace now slipping away from central control. kiev says it wants to hold a national referendum on territorial integrity. but the move might be too little too late for the pro russian separatists who now control key cities and towns and are demanding secession will be live with our reporter for more on that shortly. it also looks like there could be some progress in efforts to free the international observers being held by pro russian militants. so the ants still behind barricades. pro russian separatists are firmly in control of the town center and two comes and goes here. seven osce observers are still being held hostage there. it's unclear if and when they'll be released negotiations continue between the towns self proclaimed mayor and osce representatives. so far they've led to nothing speaking at a regional summit in minsk

syria, libya, egypt, iraq, russia. trust between our allies has dwindled. our enemies grow bolder every day, our relationship with israel seems to be crumbling. we've killed thousands or hundreds, no one knows, with an unaccountable drone war, and terrorism is on the rise. now, don't take my word for it. let's listen to democrat senator dianne feinstein on cnn. >> i see the intelligence. terror is not down in the world, it is up, both deaths, injuries, in many, many different places. >> peter, how can anyone say that president obama's foreign policy has been a success? >> well, i think the thing that most americans care about most is that we have not had another terrorist attack anywhere near the scale that we had on george w. bush's watch on 9/11. yes, there have been terrorist attacks around the world, yes, al qaeda and jihadists are still a very significant problem, but the major thing most americans are most concerned about, the homeland, obama's record has been good and, of course, we got osama bin laden himself. america's relationships with allies are