pieces of iraq fall off. it's a quagmire. >> that's right, dick cheney predicted iraq would be a quagmire. flash forward to 2003, now vice president, chioir cheney appear "meet the press". >> my belief is we will in fact beliberators. if you're not treated as liberators but conquerers and iraqis resist particularly in baghdad, do you think the american people are prepared for a long, costly and bloody battle with a significant american casualty? >> i don't think it's likely to unfold that way, tim, because i really do believe we will be greeted as liberators. >> so what changed dick cheney and why was george w. bush so determined to go to war in iraq? >> it's just one of those awful moments. >> 9/11 pushed him and cheney into a very dark place. >> i think it meant for george w. bush, i have to prove that we're a tough guy. i have to prove that we can reshape the middle east. otherwise, the rest of my administration, various terrorists groups and dictators are going to take advantage of me. >> richard clark wa

and iraq work closely together, iraq will emerge as a stronger partner. and other actors will find their roles diminished. in contrast, the second school of thoughts believe that american support to iraq should be reduced in order to coerce into iraq rebuilding dependency on actors that are in competition with united states. i firmly believe that this second approach is faded to fail because as in physics, vacuums will always be filled by others. vacuums will be filled by others. at this critical moment, iraq is on the front lines of the fight against the best funded, best equipped and best organized transnational terrorist organizations on earth. we are not in a position to take half measures, and we are not in a position to turn away potential allies. with each passing day, daesh kills, tortures more of our innocent people. among them are those who are targeted by car bombs in the busine busy markets and streets across iraq. and those who are held hostage and subject indicated to ruled that have no resemblance to islam in any way, shape or form. so we w

the administration, i don't iraq. i'm afraid all the problems will be handed over to the next administration to deal with, and the region in the middle east will continue to burn, and refugees fleeing the fighting. people of mosul, iraq's second-largest city will suffer under i.s.i.s. occupation and torture, and i.s.i.s. will continue to grow for a care organization, holding more territory that any groups have in the history of man. >> john, a retired army lieutenant colonel, the headmaster. on target tomorrow - the other still burning issue in the middle east. the prospects between israelis and palestinian peace. mahmoud abbas says israel has not lived up to its end of the bargain in negotiating a final 2-stage solution. binyamin netanyahu says israel will negotiate without preconditions. >> the americans need to comment the israelis, and i think binyamin netanyahu's resigned himself to the fact that the agreement is reality. that's number one. number two is the problem of iraq in syria right now. and russian - russi

in iraq too but the problem is american forces have been there for 14 years. fitz only american forces who can do that why is it american-trained forces can't do it? >> there's a huge difference between trained forces who are local who are left on their own and trained forces that get logistical support, forward support and other support from the united states. that's what we're talking about. nobody's telling the american people we should send our young people back to fight as infantry in these places like we did in iraq and afghanistan with 6500 casualties. what we're saying is advisory teams, logistics, air support those kinds of things. that's extraordinarily inexpensive compared to our companies icampaigns in the las, these people are willing to fight, be in iraq or afghanistan, they need our help to do it. >> the question is never the willingness or ability of american soldiers, there is, you said americans have battalions in the field in those areas, the american public doesn't have much of a stomach about this. >> the american public is changing its op

such a new iraq does not exist. theuly of last year courtesy and regional government announced plans for a referendum on independence which will set the stage for a declaration of independence. the courtesy and regional government understands it must not act hurriedly oracles of late. and it understands it must do so it invites conflict with iraq, syria, and turkey and iran. we do not know how and when i recognize and will seek dish or independence -- dejure is not fore, but it the international community to block the aspirations of the kurds for self-determination. we argued the community should work with the regional kurdistan regional government with baghdad and concerned countries to make sure the process is consulted, democratic, responsible, and stable. iraqi kurds march towards independence even with careful consideration. the risks destabilize neighboring country with kurdish populations. the international community will face challenges as the iraqi kurds consolidate their state. we lay out a few recommendat

. >>> and a revealing interview with tony blair about the war in iraq. >> was the decision to enter iraq and topple this regime and the state? >> you know, whenever i'm asked this i can say that i apologize for the fact that the intelligence we received was wrong. >> "newsroom" starts now. >>> hello, everyone, and thanks for joining me. i'm fredricka whitfield. one of the strongest u.s. allies in the iraq war is now plying for the bad intelligence that led to the 2003 invasion. former british prime minister tony blair admits that the decisions and mistakes made back then ultimately played a role in the rise of isis and other extremists. but in an exclusive interview with cnn's fareed zakaria, blair said removing saddam hussein from power was still the right thing to do. >> given, however, that saddam hussein did not prove to have weapons of mass destruction, was the decision to enter iraq and topple his regime a mistake? >> you know, whenever i'm asked this, i can say that i apologize for the fact that the intelligence we received was, wrong because even though he had used chemical weapo

soldier to die in combat in iraq since 2011. our senior international correspondent, nick paton walsh, has details. >> reporter: you're now right inside the jailbreak that revealed america's changed role in iraq. they think they're rescuing kurds from this isis jail, but look who staggers out. terrified iraqis. even their eyes lit up by fear caught on the kurdish soldier's helmet camera. it's edited, but u.s. officials tell cnn it's genuine. more cells opened, it seems, and the iraqi soldier and civilian hostages keep coming. an office, an isis flag. more cells. and perhaps a target through the light of the door. then, a quick close-up, likely of an american commando. "don't be afraid," he cries, as they search the prisoners. remember, they were expecting kurds. perhaps these men are isis, have guns or bombs. it's the americans who seem in charge here. the captives' relief palpable. u.s. officials saying they faced imminent execution. it's unclear when, before or after this footage, the americans here learned one of their own wa

i was also in iraq. the country is awash with millions of internally displaced and refugees housed at crippling expense by the krg. iraqi army and shiite militias have failed to liberate anbar province and there appears little chance that mosul will be recovered anytime soon. the central government is all but dysfunctional. it is financially strapped and driven by ethnic and sectarian hatreds and corruption. turkey is facing serious political instability with the rum shun of the -- resumption of the war between the pkk and the government. one of the only cohesive political unit that continued functioning in this upheaval is iraqi-kurdistan whose people yearned for decades for independence and whose leaders vowed to give it to them despite option from baghdad and their chief ally, the united states. however they face serious, daunting, political, economic, and security challenges, hurdles, in delivering on that promise. this report is being issued today chart as difficult and challenging course to that go

iran seems to be -- if you will -- more influential frs in iraq as far as in iraq and syria. isire out there fighting l, we are not protecting the people that put security back into syria. it is a confusing situation. it is hard for us to say what the endgame is. somebody has any explanation for that and tell me what we are trying to accomplish, i would be happy to hear it. >> i will take that, senator. objective paramount is to defeat of isil. >> that is our number one priority. -- on by : they said they would fight isil, that is not what they're doing. this is just fuels the civil war. >> the united states and russia has two complete different objectives. secretary carter: they say that. >> they are in line with iran when it comes to protecting assad. secretary carter: iran has office -- has also supported assad. the endgame has to be a transition in which assad is no longer running the country. we would like to see that occur, and as peaceful and promptly as possible. we would like there to be the -- of -- >> is it obviously that russia and iran will have more influence on

-iraq relations. first, a view from baghdad with the iraq ambassador to the u.s., look on faily -- lukman faily. it is hosted by the national council on u.s.-arab relations. >> ladies and gentlemen, you heard yesterday several passing .emarks pertaining to iraq they came from every different direction almost imaginable. at least four or five spoke about how, in terms of what the united states did to iraq, starting on march 19, 2003, the price is still being paid. neighborly, beyond whole.nd the region as a so that was just one aspect of it. people spoke of how it had , and endlessly that -- implicitly annexed leslie that tehran now has the best government in baghdad that it has had in modern history. there were others who are explicit in the sense that the united states invaded iraq, and iran won. i'm preparing the ambassador for some of the heat here. fourthly, there were those who spoke at some length about the roleias of iran, and their , either directly or indirectly, in taking on the fight to isi

to bel not allow them partners with iraq in that regard. we are the preferred partners of iraq. the prime minister has repeated those pledges. i only say that because we feel emphatically about receiving those pledges. we intend to have been implemented by private history body.- prime minister of >> i raise it both with the mr. and france and private mr.. -- and prime minister. nots assured that they had extended that invitation. they don't intend to extend an invitation to do that. our request renew that they exclude russian aircraft from the airspace. our military should be prepared to help with that. thank you. you.or mccain: thank my question is, what is their in game? theree been bogged down sometime. when i go to west virginia and talk to citizens, -- fax you have to have people feel like they're safe. as the country rebuilds, there are still people there that are basically peaceloving, well educated. we have not made a decision on that. i know that the chairman has asked about that. involvementussia's' -- they are more involved in working with iran to have influence in my

the same thing that drug us into the first iraq war. who voted for the first iraq war? hillary clinton. she later on back peddled, like everything else. when she finds out something is unpopular, she flips to the other side. in syria, we said we're going to fund and train the syrian moderates. so we spent $250 million to train 60 of them. .ver $4 million per fighter you know what we did, we sent them back into battle five at a time. who sends in an army of five people? they were captured, stripped of their weapons. there is another name for al qaeda in syria. why would be fighting with al qaeda? must do now, was ne they are two areas of radical islam. but we can live now with al qaeda. they were the people that attacked us on 9/11. later on, they are going to love us? we will do a big group hug? no, they will kill us we turn around. maybe there is no answer. there is another war going on in yemen. you have these rebels, and iran is supporting them. you have these other sunni muslims, and saudi arabia is supporting them. in washington, the war drums. we have to get invol

because what we left in iraq was a political vacuum. and isis came in and filled that political vacuum. and now you see the chaos we have today. a political vacuum is what we had in afghanistan prior to september 11th, and it led to the attacks on our homeland right here. so what we've got to do is ensure that we have a plan to ensure the peace, to ensure the stability and success of the afghan government so that we never have to send troops back there again. and i think that's something we have to ask the president about as well. it's not just about keeping the troops there. what is your plan to ensure that the afghan government will be politically successful and there won't be another political vacuum left after we leave? >> do we have our own kind of political vacuum on this topic in this country? it is not a matter of political confrontation. it is not a partisan touchstone. maybe that's good because our partisan politics are reductive and gross and occasionally entertaining for the wrong reasons. but the other side of that is we do

i was also in iraq. the country is awash in millions of internally displaced and refugees many housed at crippling expense by the krg while the peshmurga have driven by the iraqi army and shiite militias have failed to liberate anbar province and there's little chance mosul will be covered anytime soon. the central government is all but dysfunctional. it's financially strapped and riven by ethnic and sectarian hatreds and corruption. meanwhile turkey is facing serious political instability with the resumption of the war between the pkk and the government. one of the only cohesive political units that has continued functioning in this upheaval is iraqi kurdistan whose people have yearned for decades for independence and whose leaders have vowed to give it to them despite opposition from baghdad and their chief ally the united states. however, they face serious, daunting political, economic and security challenges, hurdles in delivering on that promise. this report is being issued today charts a difficult

you do not gain stability in a place like iraq unless you blunt heisel. .- isis iraq is a place where they have not done the political work to take advantage of a military victory. that is frustrating to me. we are not driving a hard enough bargain. the military is still 96% shiite. there is no sunni national guard. even if they were able to take ramadi, there is no security force that can hold that city. we continue to view interaction -- intervention in a military lines and in the absence of political reconciliation, the military victory will be three. there is a component. go hand-in-hand. we will set of the -- celebrate the retaking of ramadi and with no solution to the military crisis committee will be gone in months or years and we will wonder why. >> one last question -- is hillary clinton too hawkish for your taste? senator murphy: no. i believe hillary clinton has learned the lessons of the iraq war. she is the originator of ways to exert soft power in the world in the way we have not in the past. i have differences what president obama, i probably will have differences with

iraq and topple his regime a mistake? >> you know, when i'm asked this i can say that i apologize for the fact that the intelligence we received was wrong. >>> "newsroom" starts now. >>> hello, again, everyone, and thanks so much for joining me, i'm fredricka whitfield. >>> stunning new details today about a terrifying crack at the oklahoma state university homecoming parade. moments ago we heard a witness describe what happened when a car plowed through the crowd. >> it was, as you can imagine, quite a crazy scene. and the only thing i could relate it to is maybe some type of bombing or something. it just -- nobody knew what was going on. and all we were really concern with was with our family and friends and everybody that was injured. you know, today we're all -- we're all oklahoma. so we appreciate the kind words, and didn't realize how big of a story or what this would be, so we wanted to put a face to leo. good guy. everybody loves him. would do anything for you. you know, loves horses. and works hard. and a big fam

and they will rotate in and out of syria from irbil iraq from barbara starr. general hertling, i want you to refer back to what bob baer was talking about and it is dees de-escalation, which is introduced into our vocabulary a few weeks ago. and so nobody want ts to get caught in the cross fire, and between the americans and the runs, and it is a notion of deconfliction to a whole other level, ground level, and it is difficult and complicated, but is it do-able from your per s k perspective? >> yes, it is. and the reason i say that, like a baptist minister who sees the baptism by immersion is because i have seen it doene. it is going to be sporting that you you have to have deconfliction, because you have people who are not already known to be your allies. this is special forces who will be able to coordinate their activities on the ground with the xacommand and control headquarters in irbil. while the headquarters are in irbil, you can also operate out of incirlik for travel into and out of. and might there be incidents between america and russia? and iranian

iraq. why does he do that? mr. alvandi: iranian intervention in iraq is not new. to the 16th century. in the 1970's the goal was to paralyze the iraqi army and keep , the iraqitionalists government, fighting the kurds in the north of iraq, rather than making trouble for iran in the south in the persian gulf. the support for the iraqi kurds .egins in the early 1960's they begin a covert operation to support the iraqi kurds. the iranian border was the only one that would be able to access kurdish territories. there's no other way to physically get in there. and the iranians are very sensitive because they have their own kurdish population, and the last thing that the shah was an independent kurdistan in northern iran. -- in a northern iraq, which for iran. problems he supported the kurds enough to keep them fighting against the iraqis, but never enough for them to triumph and achieve independence. it was a strategy he played throughout the 1960's into the early 1970's. of course, the kurds, a

during the negotiations of the 2005 constitution the kurds made a deal to remain in iraq if iraq were truly federal, democratic, and decentralized. such an iraq does not exist. , thely of last year kurdistan regional government announced plans for a referendum on independence, which will set the stage for a declaration of independence. rg understands it must not act hurriedly or impulsively and understands it must not do so, lest to invite conflict. we do not yet know how and when iraqi kurdistan will seek independence. it is not in the interest of the international community to block the kurds. we argue the international community should work with the regional government with baghdad to ensure the process is consulted to, democratic, and stable. iraqi kurds march toward independence, even with careful consideration, has risks. the international community will also face challenges as the iraqi kurds consolidate their state. we lay out a few recommendations in the report. them. highlight a few of first, a recommendation to the iraqi government. result its outstanding territorial issues

kurds who have autonomy in iraq. over the past few years, turkey has forged a relationship with iraq's kurds yielding 6.2 million barrels of oil imports, through a influence pipeline. the iraqi kurds in turn use that money to help finance kurdish peshmerga soldiers battling i.s.i.l. forces. >> it provides a benefit to turkey which has a big oil need of course and it's also a way of putting the dampers on kurdish ambitions within turkey alone because the kurdish in iraq will not encourage that. >> in august, turkey sent fighter jets, in the previous month, it agreed to allow the u.s. forces to use the base at incirlik. the stated goal at the time was the creation of a safe zone along the turkish border free of i.s.i.l. fighters and controlled by moderate syrian insurgents. but the turks also hoped the safe zone would be a new home for the 1.7 million syrians who took refuge in southern turkey. that hasn't happened. now, turkey isn't sending any ground troops into syria. a sign that it's unwilling to be drawn into a de

i saw it in iraq and in afghanistan. we're in good hands. these kids signed up because they know they have a mission to do. we need to let them and the leaders and the military do that mission and we can do it, but it's not going to be resolved in a year or two years. again, it's a generational fight. if we don't recognize that and we keep trying to fight it ton margins -- fight it on the margins, we may never get there. >> rose: that's exactly what we have been doing is fighting it on the margins. >> we have been fighting it on the margins. >> rose: it seems to me that it's a recognition that we thought we could get away with this limited commitment, and then we realized that was not working, so we had larger commitment, and then we realized that wasn't working, and, so, we've got to re-think it. it seems to me there has been a rethinking of strategy almost every six months. so finally you see what ash carter had to say, recognizing that what they had been trying to do in syria had failed. >> right. >> rose: so let's re-think that. >> you k

he is not prepared on iraq. he is not prepared to answer question about family name even though he must have known two issues would come up. rubio thing was inexcusable. i don't know how many candidates i have prepped for debates you have to go after rubio you assume he will come back with what he came back for. obvious answer. harris: they're friends. they know each other. >> gaming stuff out. if you lob attack you have to anticipate what the guy comes back with. >> everything you said is true. losing candidates are always bad candidates. >> no, not necessarily. >> no, i think it is true. america doesn't want continue a dynasty. i think it raises really interesting question for hillary clinton, wouldn't be frontrunner or in the race if she wasn't married to a former president popular with democrats. if they want to overthrow establishment come october next year? as dynastic candidate? i think it is weakness for her. harris: quick question for you andrea, you haven't weighed in on this. jeb bush said he had othe

then after he invaded iraq to shrunk. then after katrina he started to lose his speech that his feet they became more like his balls. after wiretapping signing statements and then after the economic meltdown he just became a little insect type thing. other -- one of the things i miss about the bush administration was his war on grammar. aid me theg in decider. in the exit you mean i he said not you are a. they were trying to act like this was something the world was kind which was all. rumsfeld's listing and saying united states of america some of of the brave the the coalitions bigger than i thought. , weefore we invaded iraq had cordial relations with saddam in one point in the 80's. this is what i envisioned after we went into iraq. and alluded to this. as we were going into iraq, yet great doubts about rushing into this. so then thing backfired. this is a two panel cartoon. someone saying the u.s. is trapped in an unwinnable war. some of the will catch my flight suit. mission accomplished. so we pretty much just a ira

iraq. >> i can say that i apologize for the fact that the intelligence we received was wrong. even though he used chemical weapons extensively against his own people, against others, the program in the form that we thought it was did not exist in the way that we thought. i can apologize for that. i can apologize, by the way, for some of the mistakes in planning and certainly our mistaken in our understanding of what would happen once you removed the regime. >> that revelation comes as he awaits the findings of a six-year long public inquiry into the iraq war. could it have an impact on our own presidential election? joe klein, the author of "charlie mike" two afghanistan heroes who brought their mission home. joe, you followed tony blair and bill clinton's joint project third way politics. this stuff about iraq which is not insubstantial pulled down his legacy. is he trying to rescue it somehow? >> i think so. the remarkable thing to me about tony blair and the british reaction to tony blai

that's because there are other major issues affecting iraq's agricultural sector, iraq' i.s.s takeover is causing a major shortage of food, so much the united nations world food organization, is warning iraq it's facing food shortages. efforts to reverse output declines in relatively peaceful southern provinces by modernizing ircongregation channels but these farmers say it's not enough. >> you can see the low water level in the tributary. it's not enough. the government wants us to produce, they press us to go as many crops as we can but at the same time disregard the basic facts. >> it's not surprising that farmers like him are thinking of giving it up a trend that could put even more pressure on an already-struggling industry. imtiaz tyab, al jazeera, southern iraq. >>> germany's ruling coalition is pressing ahead to set up plans of transi transit zones. making germany their destination of choice when fleeing the problems in their home lands. as jonah hull reports, their policy may be losing public support. >> reporter: when german chancellor angela merkel offered an open invitation

just in iraq, $2 trillion. just in iraq. not to mention, even more importantly, the lives and the wounded warriors who i love, who i love. these are the greatest of all. we don't take care of them properly. but these are the greatest of them all. the wounded warriors. [applause] so we have a president who doesn't know what he's doing. we have a president who looked like, remember, he said they were the j.v., that isis was the j.v.? he looked like the j.v. last week when you compared him to putin. in new york. j.v. [applause] so now we have putin, said, i'm going into syria. and i'm going to knock the hell out of isis. he said. and i'm saying, what's so bad with that? you know. is there anything wrong? that's ok, that's all right. but i also say, we want to be strong, we can't let him push us around. the problem we have is we have a president who is not respected by putin. just not respected. he leaves new york, leaves the united nations, couple of days later he's got massive amounts of artillery and planes and everything els

this is a woman in iraq, a product of the iraq he university system. she said yes and i study the study the u.s. literature. black literature in the university. you go to iraq and you realize the women are very sophisticated, they are judges, lawyers, architects, businesswomen, they in their own way are fighting against saddam hussein area let them change their government. they do not want us to bring liberation to them, that is not how it works. so i think traveling to iraq was a tremendous eye-opener just as it has been a tremendous eye-opener to travel to yemen, to meet with victims of u.s. drone strikes. to travel to gaza where i have been seven times meeting with hamas people who then i'm told and crazy because i meet with hamas, while i sure wish my government would meet with hamas because it is a lot better to talk than it is to fight. i've been constantly educated and grow by every time i am able to go overseas and meet with people who think very differently than i do. i learn from them and they learn from me. host: alice walker, she did the fo

we envision kurds in iraq being an engine for reform and democratization and for iraq and its neighbors. >> that is exactly what the governments don't want. >> democratization is a process, not an event. we may have to be patient and use all of our persuasion and resources to try to advance that goal. >> thank you very much. >> it's a long-term process. >> good afternoon. i'm the kurdistan regional government representative to the united states. i'd like to thank you for taking on this task and thank you as a kurd for coming to the conclusion that we are on a steady march towards independence. we are, there will be an independent kurdistan, i can assure of that and i would love to invite you to come to our celebrations. my question really is, i would love for you to flesh out a little bit more why it's in the united states's interest that there should be an independent kurdistan. as a kurd i know why it is in my countrymen's interest. we have suffered repeated genocide being part of iraq. we're still under threat of further genocides. yazidis right now and the christians. we have had ou

america in iraq. it airs tuesday at 1:00 a.m. in london right here in cnn. the polls are closed in argentina, and it looks like they could be headed for a runoff vote. a candidate took a surprise lead over the state governor with nearly 75% of the ballots counted. skieoli is the -- she cannot run again this year. the runoff is scheduled for november 22nd. while in guatemala a former comedian with no political experience is making plans for his new role as president of the country. in a news conference on sunday, jimmy morales thanked the former first lady for recognizing the election results and then conce conceding. he says he'll introduce a new transition team on monday. in u.s. politics, joe biden is opening up about his decision not to run for president in 2016. he tells the u.s. news show, 60 minutes that he believes he ran out of time to have a winning campaign. he also said it had nothing to do with democratic front runner, hillary clinton. >> i like hillary. we get along. i still think i could

but ever since the russians started flying war planes in iraq, the number of u.s. air strikes in syria has dropped off precipitously. one, maybe two specific targets a day. they did reach this memo of understanding, memorandum of understanding with the russians to deconflict the air space so that russian and american or other coalition aircraft wouldn't be flying in the same air space at any given time. but it appears, anyway, i know u.s. military officials will contest this, but it appears that the u.s. and the coalition have pretty much forfeited large spaces of air space there in syria, at least for the time being. and in terms of the special operations forces that are being -- going to be inserted, not imbedded or based in syria, as far as we can tell, talking to military officials, but inserted for specific operations, there's a saying in the military that if you want to kill the snake, you cut off the head. well, the leadership in isis, for isis, is located there in raqq raqqa, its self-proclaimed capital. much of this may be trying to dismember isis at the t

either in iraq or in syria. that was his policy at the beginning of our counter operations, and it is our strategy today. reporter: you knowledge they could wind up in a combat role. how is that not a change in strategy? secretary ernest: because our strategy has been to build the capacity of local forces to fight these sites -- fight these fights against isil and our efforts to conduct airstrikes in advance of the ground operations and in coordination with ground operations has been a important on the battlefield. that element of the strategy has yielded progress, and so the president wants to intensify that assistance we are providing and one way to intensify that assistance is to pair them up with experts, some of the smartest, bravest, most effective fighters in the united states military and that's exactly what we're doing and i do expect that will improve their performance on the battlefield. reporter: but their lives could be at risk. secretary ernest: there is no denying the amount of risk that they will

iraq? time, he wasong public, and we had a public , it was a bigm step, the first time he had been seen publicly in some time, a show of defiance. charlie: but there is also this, you have been able to launch successful drone attacks against isil. hit the leadership, including the guy doing the finance for them. lisa: yes. anylie: does that have impact? some people have said they have carefully organized themselves so that somebody can step up. they expect to lose certain members because of drone attacks or other clashing militarily. lisa: we have been putting a tremendous amount of pressure in iraq and increasingly in syria and around iraqa. leader wasance killed during an operation. it was intended to capture him. military members were going into syria. what did happen, though, in that raid, was a tremendous amount of intelligence getting gathered. that helps us understand what isil is doing and its finances. but also in iraq, the u.s. to move th able number two -- the number two and i sa

just in iraq. not to mention more importantly the lives and those who i love. these are the greatest of all. we don't take care of them but these are the greatest of all, the wounded warriors. [applause] we have a president who doesn't know what he is doing. we have a president who looked like remember he said it was the jv. he looked like a jv last week when he compared us in new york. [applause] so now we have putin saying i'm going into syria and i'm going to not hell out of isis he said and i'm saying what's so bad with that? that's okay. but i also say we want to be strong. we can't let him push us around. the problem we have is we have a president who is not respected by putin. he's not respected. he leaves new new york, new york, leads the united nations. a couple of days later he has massive amounts of artillery and planes and everything else. all quickly done. we would never act like that. we would never act like that. i saw one of the jentleson i won't mention his name one of the top gene

troops back into combat in iraq. >> american forces will not be returning to combat in iraq. >> american combat troops will not be returning to fight in iraq. >> reporter: this is a allegedly where u.s. troops were in combat in iraq this week. isis claims this is footage it posts online shows what is left of its prison, the battlefield where joshua wheeler lost his life. the raid on the prison was launched from here in northern iraq. u.s. special operations forces have a large presence here and what sounds like a new mission. a green light from the pentagon to go into battle against isis in iraq. lester. >> richard engel. >>> now a major update on a story we've been following for more than a year. citing a series of nbc news investigative reports in the potential health risk of crumb rubber in artificial turf. congress is now demanding answers. it is putting the epa on the hot seat after they refused to respond to vital questions we posed about the safety of the fields our children play on all across the country. nbc's stephanie gosk has been reporting on this story and she has the lates

and sending military advisors into iraq. margaret warner sits down with the iraqi prime minister, haider al-abadi. also ahead this wednesday, a major setback in afghanistan as u.s.-led coalition forces grapple with taliban insurgents who have seized a crucial city in the north. plus, how a surge of patients on medicaid is overwhelming the health care system in california. >> why am i seeing all of those people? because nobody else is available in their communities to see them. why not? because the rates are unacceptable, the hassles from the managed care plans as well as the state are unacceptable to most offices to deal with. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these instit

look at iraq. iraq used to be no terrorists. he would kill the terrorists immediately. now it's the harvard of terrorism. iraq. if you look at iraq from years ago, i'm not saying he was a nice guy. he was a horrible guy. but it was a lot better than it is right now. right now iraq is a training ground for terrorists. right now, libya, nobody even knows libya. frankly, this is no iraq and there is no libya. it's all broken up. they have no control. >> so the world would be better off with saddam hussein and -- >> as far as assad is concerned. >> let's talk about the human rights abuses. >> right now, they're far worse than they were ever under saddam hussein or gadhafi. look at what happened. libya's a catastrophe. look at our ambassador for example. libya is a disaster. iraq is a disaster, the whole middle east. and it all blew up around hillary clinton and around barack obama. it all blew up. one thing about assad, not a good guy. i understand that. but we're backing and spending billions and billions of dollars on backing rebels that we have no idea who they are. a lo

iraq was a disastrous decision. we go into iraq and make a mistake. you can also say is that safe going into iraq while we're losing thousands of solars? that's not safe either, when you get right down to it. he said under my brother we were safe. you can't say that. we had the worst attack in the history of this country, i guess worse than pearl harbor. that would be right up there. we had our worst attack. >> yes. >> i thought it was very obvious. it got a lot of push back. i didn't think it would be controversial when i made it. i was speaking fight innocently, actually. >> most republicans don't say when it comes to a terrorist attack that it was partially george w. bush that didn't keep us safe. that was -- you definitely broke with convention by saying that. >> that's okay, alisyn. i've been doing that for a long time. if you look at what happened, number one, i would have had much stronger immigration policies. i'm not saying i would have prevented it but i would have had a chance. i'm pretty good at this stuff. >> let me ask you about that. me

forces in iraq. we talked about the change in the train and equip program which i would like to elaborate more on that. in that statement that we got this morning, secretary carter, you said, quote, to be clear, we are not cooperating with russia and we are not letting russia impact the pace and scope of our campaign against isil in iraq and syria. last week -- some time ago we had dr. kissinger in as a witness. but then last week we had five professors that were there in one of our good hearings we had wednesday or thursday. we quoted dr. kissinger when he said, quote, syria is the latest symptom of a disintegration of the american role in stabilizing the middle east order, end quote. now, do you think that's inconsistent with the statements that you have made, secretary carter? >> i think that the middle east is certainly a very tumultuous -- but once again i come back to our role is to protect american interests in that circumstance. >> but our -- >> whether it be the fight against isil, our allia

is planning in iraq? we know special operations forces at least supported an operation there recently. >> reporter: that's right. and they will continue to do so. the air strikes continue in iraq. the u.s.-lead coalition air strikes, even as they have abated in neighboring syria. the senior administration official says they are going to be culting with prime minister abadi on establishing a special operations task force. there are other reports that says u.s. commandos are going to be deploying to northern iraq inn inn inner -- in erbil. turkey is going to be very suspicious of any u.s. moves to aid kurds whether they be in northern iraq or syria. >> anything else on what the white house is planning to do to up the anti-against isil. >> they are sending in more armaments. deploying to the nato air base on turkish soil, deploying a-10s the close air support -- i'm sorry they are known as the tank killers. air-to ground fighters. as well as more f-15s to carry the fight against isil within syria. >> mike vi

that we started going to iraq. is that when iraq started, 2003? real pretty and i met her at a cocktail party. and i was saying, i can't freaking believe that they're taking the troops out of afghanistan and go into iraq. and i said, afghanistan are the guys who did the bombing of 9/11. and she said, mike, mike, surely the president and vice president knows a little bit more about what is going on that a cartoonist does. and, of course, they don't. they didn't. are cartoonist were right. the ones who said what the, what the hell are you doing? you know, coming out of afghanistan going to iraq. what, what, and the letters that we got and i know you must have gotten something we all must have gotten some about who criticizes the war, the letters we got from people who were saying how dare you, how dare you, you know, criticizes this man who has to deal with all this stuff and looking for weapons of mass destruction and all that. you know, the smoking gun is going to be the atomic bomb and all that kind of stuff. and many of us kept saying, yeah but,

iraq invited them. if you announce, as carly fiorina or hillary clinton have, that we will enforce a no-fly area where people are already flying, what do you think that means? that means we are going to shoot down russian fighters. we spent 70 years trying to avoid an altercation with russia , trying to avoid an altercation with another superpower that has nuclear weapons. who are the people that tried to avoid war? ronald reagan. even though he is not always depicted this way by the liberal media, ronald reagan did not shut down communications. he opened communications with the russians. we have people on the republican state saying, we should not talk to putin. that is a recipe for disaster. we will be flying our jets in a hundred 20 square mile area and will not have a discussion with putin? that is a recipe for disaster. how many have read "all quiet on the western front"? the headmaster encourage them to go to war. they were supposed to be excited to go to war. it was supposed to be so patriotic an

happened was in the 2013 war -- the 2003 war in iraq. shiite government came to power and many of those have long-standing relations with iran and so the relationship improved dramatically, because of that. mixedthen, it has been a picture, some things iran has done has been very destructive. some things have been constructive at times, but that is the nature of foreign-policy. back and forth. question is whether it is realistic to imagine a world in which iran has no influence in iraq, a country which it has hundreds of years of relations, many, cultural links. actually, as far as the united states is concerned, they have many common interests in iraq, when it comes to fighting isis. the question is whether iran will encourage a direction in iraq that is inclusive of sunnis , or whether it will be a winner takes all strategy and that remains to be seen. host: time for one more question. i want to let everybody know that roham will be available to sign copies of his book. last question. about theto ask current iran deal, but in a differe