Interrogators pressed beyond envelope

Colonel Steven M. Kleinman describes how interrogation changed from being a means to gather information to a form of punishment for those who refused to cooperate (0:13).
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Colonel witnesses detainee abuse

Colonel Steven M. Kleinman describes an abusive interrogation in Iraq to House Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) (0:46)
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Saddam Hussein planned on insurgency

Former Army Vice Chief of Staff Jack Keane says that Saddam Hussein planned an insurgency long before the invasion of Iraq. (0:29)
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Gates: Two considerations about Afghanistan

At the Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on the Situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says “think about how heavy a military footprint the United States ought to have in Afghanistan, and are we better off channeling resources into building and expanding the size of the Afghan National Army as quickly as possible, as opposed to a much larger Western footprint in a country that has never been notoriously hospitable to foreigners regardless of why they are there.” I think that’s one question that we, and the next president, will have to weigh. In terms of the number of forces we have on the ground, a second consideration is that without changing deployment patterns and length of tours, we do not have the forces to send three additional brigade combat teams to Afghanistan at this point, but that we will probably have the availability to do so in the spring or summer of 2009. The President made a promise to send troops, but that’s obviously going to be up to his successor. (1:43)


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Gates: War on terror must end where it started

At the Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on the Situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says during this time of political turmoil in Pakistan it is especially crucial to maintain a strong and positive relationship with the government since any deterioration would be a setback for both Pakistan and Afghanistan. “The war on terror started in this region; it must end there.” (0:19)
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Gates: Nation's leaders should take advice of senior commanders

At the Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on the Situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says as we proceed deeper into the endgame, he says he would urge our nation’s leaders to take into account the advice of senior commanders and military leaders, and that we should expect to be involved in Iraq in the years to come although in changing and increasingly limited ways. (0:26)
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Gates: We have entered the endgame in Iraq

At the Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on the Situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says that he agrees with the President that the reduction in troops is a return on success, but would expand on that. The changes on the ground is reflective of a fundamental change in the nature of the conflict. No matter how you think about the origins of the war in Iraq, “we must get the endgame right,” and he says he believes that we have entered that endgame and that our decisions today are critical to region security and national security interests for years to come. (0:33)


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Members of Iraqi government funding al-Qaeda

Former Chief Investigator (Baghdad) of the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity Salam Adhoob discusses how certain members of the Iraqi government are involved in varying degrees of corruption, including funding al-Qaeda in Iraq (0:38).
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IEDs cannot be eliminated

Lieutenant General Thomas F. Metz tells the House Armed Services Committee that we cannot completely eradicate IEDs but we can remove their strategic importance (0:23).
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IEDs are DoD's main concern

Lieutenant General Thomas F. Metz tells Vic Snyder (R-Ark.) that there has been no formal discussion of expanding the scope of the Joint IED Defeat Organization to include other asymmetric weapons (0:22).
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Albright thinks Americans can lead globe

Madeleine Albright thinks America can be a "guiding hand" in the international community. It will take time for the next president to get the respect that was lost during the Bush administration. (0:31)
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Praise for Petraus and the surge

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, speaking at a ceremony in Baghdad, praises Gen. David Petraeus as he prepares to leave his post as Multinational Force commander in Iraq to take over the post of Combatant commander for Central Command. (0:27)
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The transition from the surge

While traveling to Baghdad, the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates speaks about the transition of security in Iraq from the surge strategy to more of an overwatch role. Gates says that the U.S. will still be engaged even as Iraqi security forces start to take over responsibility for several provinces. (0:43)
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The power of the vote over the power of the gun

Gen. Mark Hertling says that cease-fire periods to allow insurgent groups to turn themselves into police have worked in Iraq. He says that insurgents say they are seeing the power of the vote over the power of the gun. (0:43)
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UN Security Council Votes 15 - 0 to Extend Mission in Iraq

In a vote that surprised no one, the United Nations Security Council voted today to extend the UN mission in Iraq by another 12 months.

Violence in Iraq is diminishing, and the country continues to seek regional support.  Iraqi Ambassador Hamid Al Bayati was pleased by the Security Council's vote, and expressed his desire to work with "all [regional] parties," and refused to eliminate Iran from a list of potential allies.

US Ambassador Zalmay Kahlilzad discusses the UN mandate extension.  (2:47)

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Reid: all the attention was diverted to Iraq

In a conference call with reporters, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that the U.S. had a presence in Afghanistan after Sept. 11, 2001. He said that all the attention was diverted to Iraq and that Afghanistan might be better off had more attention been paid to that conflict. (0:28)
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Troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan not necessarily correlated

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell says that the U.S. has global force commitments and that choices about troop levels are made considering all those commitments. He says that the military has the means to draw troops from locations beyond Iraq to increase force levels in Afghanistan, but does not comment on a time line. (1:13)
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Soldiers in Baghdad will have a chance to vote

Col. Ted Martin, commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, stationed in south Baghdad, says he pledges that all of his soldiers will have a ballot and a chance to vote in the upcoming election. (0:36)
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Nearly half of servicewomen are sexually assaulted

Rep. Jane Harman (D-Cali.) says that women serving in the military are more likely to get raped by a fellow solider than killed by enemy fire in Iraq. Harman also said that 41 percent of female veterans said they were victims sexual assault and 29 percent said they were vicitims of rape. (0:42)


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Army is to blame for electrocutions, says KBR employee

Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) asks Tom Bruni, theater engineering and construction manager for Kellogg, Brown, and Root (KBR), a contracting company in Iraq, who is responsible for the negligence that lead to the electrocutions of soldiers in Iraq. (2:06)


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