, iraq could go to hell. there are fights between kurds and the arabs. >> schieffer: i'm sorry. i find this hard to believe. are you talking about we're going to arm our diplomats and put them in these kinds of vehicles that people are driving around in iraq now? >> you've got it, bob. we're going to have private security guards providing security. i think american soldiers and the iraqi army should provide security. we're talking about helicopters, a fleet of helicopters so they can get around to the four consulates spread throughout iraq. we're talking about mine resistant vehicles bought by the state department. a mini-state department army. we've never done that before. that will fail. i'm urging the obama administration to work with the malaki administration in iraq to make sure that we have enough troops, 10,000-15,000 beginning in 2012, to secure the gains we've achieved, to make sure iran doesn't interfere with the iraqi sovereignty, and to develop this country. we can't do it with a state department

he was generous karpinski his boss in iraq. the man walking beside him with a machine gun isn't a soldier he's a contractor from blackwater we're talking here about a mercenary we're talking about a hired. gun. and when you have in iraq. a man with a gun. who is fired use that weapon you're talking about a soldier without the battle there are no rules regulations governing the use the people. we wanted to get in touch with someone at blackwater who can explain to us it was exactly a contractor guys. try to reach mr berg charlie success and i want to talk to regarding pressing issues. personally i think. blackwater soon times that we've lost count but they don't seem to want to talk to us. put it appears that the coalition doesn't just use blackwater. the fact is there are over twenty thousand private contractors in iraq because due to the second largest force after the american army. and hundreds of firms around the world iraq private contractors. have. one search for the eastern romanian security company. who are in bucharest.

troops out of iraq right now would be insane but the fact that iraq is still so volatile right the fact there is still an insurgency there that just a couple weeks ago sixty people died and there was a bomb does that mean that we failed i mean how and why not how does i mean we haven't failed. we leave right haven't we been training of iraqi forces they can take care of their own country and they're ready i mean they set themselves their own p. we had all day on that strangers are well it's a longer process than candid obama and president obama ever envision it takes a lot of these guys know that i mean are we going to be in iraq fifty years from now and still training still going through this process we'd still be training i would hope in fifty years it wouldn't surprise me i don't see any reason at this point if iraq is going to be our ally and we're going to have an influence and not allow the iranians to be the major influence in the region i think being friends with iraqis and sticking around this is what i want to talk about that obviously they're saying that this is only going to

they will walk into iraq. they will take over iraq. there will take over the oil wells. we lost thousands of soldiers with the tens of thousands of soldiers. i see it in new york. they are seriously wounded people,. these are tens of thousands. we had 15 trillion dollars worth of oil that we will hand over to iran. i said it will not happen if i am president. it will not happen if i am president. what we do is very simple. i explain this three weeks ago for the first time. we stayed. we get our great oil company. we get plenty to iraq. it is now obsolete crap. it did not know what they are doing. give me a break. we go into iraq. i am like an old fashioned warrior. in the old days when you had a war and you won it, it was yours. when we have a war, we go and, we lose thousands of lives, attends a thousands wounded, spend $1.50 trillion and then we leave. what do we do this for. i said we go in and we take the oil. i think bill o'reilly is great. somebody else said that it is a sovereign nation. we cannot do that. they got wiped out. they've got nothing. if iran were not

there certainly was between afghanistan and iraq. and iraq was on the terrorist list. and iraq and a pattern of having developed weapons of mass destruction. and so they were these things that effected it. but i would say that -- or, i think the differences were greater than the similarities but there certainly were similarities. >> how about in the case, unite both know a lot of people worked for lyndon johnson that one of things the office is the tough thing for them is when someone comes to them and says, i lost my son in vietnam, why did he die? what would you say for iraqi? >> it is the hardest thing. i think anyone who is in a position of responsibility when a conflict occurs, and you, as joyce and i would go to the hospital and meet the wounded, their lives are changed forever, meet with their families, and meet with the families of those who have been killed, we would think to ourselves when going in, what is it that we could say or do that would help them understand the appreciation that we in america have for the sacrifice, the individual sacrifices and the s

there certainly was between afghanistan and iraq and iraq was on the terrorist list and iraq had a pattern of having developed weapons of mass destruction. so there were these things. but i would say that i think the differences were greater than the similarities that there are similarities. >> host: what about the case of johnson. we know a lot of people who worked for lyndon johnson. the tough thing for them is when someone says the lost my son in vietnam. why did he die? what would you say for iraq? >> it is the hardest thing. anyone in a position of responsibility when a conflict occurs and as joyce and and i would go to meet with the wounded whose lives are changed forever, meet with their families and meet with the families of those who got killed, we would think to ourselves as we are going in what is it we can say or do that will help them understand the appreciation that we and america have for their sacrifice? the individual sacrifices and the sacrifices of families as well. and we would come out of those meetings almost invariably inspired, not feeling we helped them but feeling

and when you have in iraq. a man with a gun who is hired to use that weapon you're talking about a soldier without. there are no rules regulations governing the use the people. we wanted to get in touch with someone at blackwater and can explain to us what exactly a contractor giants. are trying to reach mr gray tabby success and i want to talk to regarding press issues . person i think. blackwater so many times that we've lost count but they don't seem to want to talk to us. but it appears that the coalition doesn't just use blackwater. the fact is there are over twenty thousand private contractors in iraq because due to the second largest force after the american army. and hundreds of firms around the world around private contractors. have. one search for the romanian security company. who are in bucharest. show us what their services include. we were in. private company in other countries west and west. well maybe it is. right. in the private system more mobility. away because the. poor over the world. have

in afghanistan and from my experience in iraq we saw that i was civil affairs and we spent a lot of our time assisting out with the m.p.'s the military police it seems like if you weren't infantry and even if you were when you were in country like this when it's an occupation when we're managing civilians interact with civilians on a day to day basis everybody becomes is a provisional m.p. and all alot of troops are being asked to fulfill roles they haven't trained for and they're put in situations but they're not comfortable with then there's perhaps an extreme example on the legal side of things we had hurricane katrina where troops were used to help confiscate civilian on farms and where do you draw that line and in that work that you would be doing like you said you really want to have the middle school since i school students get some of that knowledge before they go to war and have that background we are is that line drawn for you. it the line slides and you can imagine a spectrum of hard to soft power that hard power is what you do when you're at the e.c.p.a. or entry point i

and a lot of people are comparing this to iraq and afghanistan but this is a bit different isn't it i mean after all these astronauts do support what was essentially initially a popular uprising yes but as i say it was an intervention not to save the revolution but to subvert the revolution and and it's as well here is also to remember an important element of the history in iraq especially actually from the first gulf war because there were no foes i would have no fly zones were imposed on northern and southern iraq just after the coalition had defeated saddam hussein they allowed saddam hussein's helicopters to fly under the cover of the no fly zone to put down the rising of the marsh arabs in the size it's not inconceivable actually that if they come to a cease fire if they come to some kind of settlement they will allow gadhafi to put down the remnants of a rebellion here as well so the fact that we're fighting gadhafi now doesn't preclude that it didn't in iraq the fact that a no fly zone by well being used against the rebels in the future and could this turn into a run out ther

well peter i think comparisons to iraq are odious. start with what's true and what's not president obama was forthright and telling america and the world why we must intervene in libya might disagree with his decision but who can do that the evidence that he used to build the case to oppose the bloodbath it was everywhere before our eyes this is not true of bush and iraq eight years ago the comparison as i say is odious the reasons bush concocted for going to war didn't pass the sniff test bush and cheney told the world that iraqi leader saddam hussein had weapons of mass destruction that he was giving them to terrorists that we would be greeted as liberators they hated broadly that saddam was and i'm not eleven and none of this was true now if my friends on the right want to believe bush and cheney uttered such things in good space. they're welcome to that but still these were some of these lies metaphysically through bribery a man they curveball code named curveball just last and the recent few weeks has acknowledged that he lied. t

looking back at iraq and outrage over the toll of u.s. airstrikes killing civilians patients from american eyes are we think deja vu with libya. it's wednesday april sixth four pm here in washington d.c. i'm lauren lyster you're watching r t now u.s. lawmakers and president obama continue to haggle over the two thousand and seven budget cuts they cannot agree and the government shutdown looms now this has been one of the talk doom and gloom stories on the mainstream media for days now and the president getting into it too telling the public about the cost of a showdown take a look. you better start thinking differently because you know if you need a passport can't get it and planning a visit to a national park or monument to bad can get there contingency plans for the shutdown have been made we were all capitol hill appears to be in chaos this is not happened in fifteen years what does this potentially mean for the american people with when the economy is just beginning to grow where we just store and see a pick up in employment the last

well you know i started going to iraq in the one nine hundred ninety s. and really cut my teeth as a reporter working for democracy now and writing for common dreams and counterpunch and other independent websites and not getting paid for any of it but i was i was in iraq for a lot of the ninety's all the way into the early two thousand and just by chance one of the places that i had spent a lot of time during my time in iraq before the u.s. invasion was in the iraqi city of fallujah and i knew people there and i had interviewed people there because it was the site of one of the worst cases of civilian deaths caused by the u.s. bombing of iraq during the ninety one gulf war so i spent a lot of time in fallujah i knew people there i had connections there on march thirty first two thousand and four almost seven years ago to this day. it was seven years ago yesterday for blackwater operatives were in for and they were ambushed and killed and their bodies were burned it became a very. iconic moment of the iraq war and their bodies were strung up from this bri

we decapitated the army in iraq. and iraq within as short. of time after relief, iran will take over. i have been told by a very smart people that are very much into it that they're already in the process of doing it. the probably won't even have to fire a shot because the so-called leaders of the rocco cannot stand pest and frankly we can't stand them, they are closer to the leaders of iraq and we are. so as soon as we leave -- at the 10-12 years. so i'm saying very simply, as sure as you are sitting there, iraq within minutes after we leave will be taken over by iran. and if that happens all of those brave soldiers and military personnel that have died for our country will have died in vain. not to mention the vast amounts of money that has been wasted and could have been used to rebuild the ad states. so, ready? supposedly controversial. sometimes i say, why is it controversial? why? so if iran is going to take over the oil which we all know it is going to. do you agree with me that iran will take it over? does everyone agree? [cheers and

air strikes he became a symbol two of the iraq war here's a snippet of that movie. i'll be the americans have accidentally killed your family. you bastards i'll be. backs to sleep blown your arse off you. can. see it looking. at the maker of that film william ross joins me now from seattle washington mr ross i want to thank you for joining us here now your film was obviously made years ago very critical of bush policy is critical of american policy in iraq and speired i ride by your personal rage but i'm curious if you feel a resurgence of any of the anger and a resurgence and relevance of your thumb today if you watch the airstrikes in libya you know i actually do it's a totally different situation. in iraq was something that was planned for ten years but do you come into united states and brought. this is so crucial. so your knee jerk reaction to. people who. want to invade libya one of the million toll what about the civilian toll that's something you're very critical of i mean isn't the same thing happening at the bottom of the air strikes in libya. there's no w

in iraq was something that was planned for ten years khan's united states. were this operation so see a kneejerk reaction to. the west side with no one in the west wanted to invade libya what about the billion tall what about the civilian toll that something you're very critical of i mean isn't the same thing happening at the bottom of the air strikes and libya oh sure there's no way you could go to freedom. without killing innocent people because of course it so there's no you know in your film that you made on iraq are very critical of the american media coverage of just that of the iraq invasion not showing the carnage that was on the other side of those bombs of where they were landing i want to play a little snippet of what you did and your short film. here you can see it. here strike against targets a. city over five million people we can only imagine how terrified they are now mr ross you know that's kind of like deja vu for me it looks a lot like the coverage we've been saying of the air strikes in libya a parody of what that would look like do you t

look how iraq has been treat, and north korea. north korea has been treated, let us sit around the table as gentlemen and negotiate. iraq, because everybody knows it does not have this kind of weapons, was pulverized. and yet that message was not lost on many countries watching the international scene and look at the security perspective or security perception. >> rose: some would argue everybody didn't know saddam hussein didn't have weapons of mass destruction. >> that is one of the issues that needs to be investigated. that proves my point. did anybody really believe at that time that saddam hussein had any nuclear weapon or chemical or biological weapon-- but particularly nuclear weapons. we have not seen a shred of evidence from that time. the i.e.a.e. made that statement on 7th of march, 2003, and we made it unequivicably clear that there was no sled of evidence that iraq has resuscitated its nuclear weapon program. i'm not sure anybody really believed at that time that iraq had nuclear weapons. there was a lot of media hype

army and its air support have to use when conducting battles in iraq. we went to the "the new york times" to get that out. one section of it spoke about how the u.s. military could crossover the border of iraq without senior authorization at the commander lovell when chasing someone in a vessel or suspected terrorist or a number of other suations. most wars have started as a result of border disputes. a soldier crossing over into another country's territory. you could see the alleged fabricated gulf of tonkin incident as one of those. the iranian foreign ministry held a press conference and said that this was unacceptable. that this was unacceptable.

whether it is somalia, i guess in iraq, though the reason i supported our forces staying in iraq to oversee the nationbuilding was something that again republicans will not say clear. we wanted a puppet government, or at least let's say a friendly government. that's in our interest to make sure that democracy doesn't lead to them voting and osama bin laden. otherwise why did we spend all that money invading. we want a friendly government there to keep some troops there to oversee the transition which, even a republican president, will promote as the idea, well, we're helping to build a democracy. know, from our interest were helping to build a government that is not going to turn and start sheltering terrorists who would then fly planes into our skyscrapers. so i think that is a clear division and the reason i keep being so repetitive on the point of liberals only support the war as long as it serves no interest in the united states is it is hard to believe. it seems like and colder hyperbole. but if you go through the history of the interventions they support and the ones they oppose, that

indeed, one more dangerous than iraq. toward which our governing elite in both parties turns a blind eye. our elite deceitfully pretend that riyadh is close and reliable ally. it keeps america's security depended on its enemies by relying on the saudis to play pro-u.s. role in the world oil market. it endangers our economy by allowing the saudis to buy an ever larger share, up her ever more out of control federal debt. in addition, the saudis over the past 30 years have built a highly effective lobby in the united states which is as pernicious, effective and corrupting as i tacked a more quiet and subtle. this lobby implores former u.s. ambassadors, generals and seniors, senior intelligence officers to argue its case in the white house, the congress and the media, especially in "the wall street journal." needless to say, this lobby's work is enthusiastically assisted by our oil and arms making corporations whose concerns have less to do with u.s. security than in making sure they keep their seats on the saudi gravy train.

and that's what happened in iraq, as you know. i wrote about this in a book i wrote in 2008 in the first chapter where a guy who was trained to drive tanks had to end up doing the job of what the prt was supposed to do. and part of it is related to those issues i was talking about. it's not simply about funding. yes, that's a core issue. but even if state department and usaid got a lot more money and a plus-up in their budget, there's absorptive capacity challenge they have themselves and then i think essentially since 1998, since the bombings of the embassies in africa, they have adopted a force posture that is even more risk averse. so that's a huge challenge that has not been reconciled. the downside to going where i think your question implies we should go is the continued militarization of development assistance which creates a lot of dysfunctions on the ground in afghanistan and iraq and a number of places. we know not what we do, and we often spend a lot of money and bolster certain local forces without having enough intell

iraq. afghanistan and now. yes the us involvement in libya let's get it done let's zero in these rebels let's give them a chance to fight a sentiment also supported by m.s.n. he sees most liberal talk show hosts rachel maddow and lawrence o'donnell it seems to me there's a practical war making tactical success that they believe they could have in this particular country exactly he can't describing himself as sort of acutely aware of the risks and the costs of america doing any sort of military intervention and so you're exactly right i think we have to do it it is a moral decision at this point so you might be thinking well that's just because the u.s. involvement in libya falls under a democratic president but as it turns out and as n.b.c. has had a longstanding love affair with war remember astley banfield oh my god. she became a star reporter covering the world trade center attacks but in two thousand and three. cans of state university just as the war in iraq was getting started she said about the coverage

iraq that the health effects of the radium are there and we see it throughout iraq or shorted arabia kuwait afghanistan somalia the balkans and again our c unit moving into libya dr dog rocky was a leading specialist in the cleanup after the gulf war says there is no way of actually decontaminating affected areas that i was going to remember around a lot about the health and environment approach you're a mission he unself was exposed to depleted uranium almost all of the members of his team are now there some theory that the suffering of those bombs in areas where there will be no western troops will go unnoticed. thank you it's just. kind of that and. just saying hey look everybody is dying here they've got fences and they sit up with nations and so forth i don't think anyone listens depleted uranium has a half life of four and a house billion years hence it's the scription by some as the silent killer that will never stop killing. r t launching to n.b.c. so could a silent killer be rearing its ugly head in the libyan war and what would be the toxic toll on the people there for more