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With as secretary of defense than his record. the reason why his position on the surge in iraq is so critical is because it speaks to his judgment. but when it comes to iran, let's remember, chuck, he voted against designating the iranian revolutionary guard as a terrorist organization at a time when the intelligence was clear that they were killing u.s. soldiers in iraq. this is somebody who wants to command u.s. troops. the revolutionary guard is killing our troops. and he voted against calling it a terrorist organization. >> i want you both to tackle something here. it's the confidence -- h...

National security team, with john kerry, possibly, john brennan and chuck hagel that i just mentioned. what do you believe, or what do you list as the greatest challenge facing this in national security now, general. >> first of all we have a war we are finishing in afghanistan. there are a couple of key decisions that the national security team will be advising the president on. one will be what is the size and scope of the force we'll leave behind and will we leave behind a force and not do what we did in iraq which is remove the force entirely. two, how much shoeport are we going to provide...

Point he escalated the war and said this is when we're going to leave. we told the enemy we tkpw-r tog to leave by 2014. we are on a path to do that. there is higher risk associated with that strategy. all that said we still have an opportunity here with two more key decisions coming up to be able to sustain the afghan national security forces over a period of time to continue marginalizing the taliban. jenna: how long is that period of time in. >> it's probably about four or five years. the two decisions the president has in front of him, one is what will be the size of the stay-behind force ...

The funding going to be for the afghan security forces? if we don't fund them at the level where they are at now, which is 352,000, if we fund them with one of the options that is on the table, which are is one-third less or 230,000 then there is hardly any chance that we can succeed. those are two key decisions in front of the president that he's going to be making in the next six months, which will help to determine afghan's future. jenna: one to definitely watch especially considering the fiscal environment we've been talking so much about. getting back to the point about the taliban, compa...

Highlights, such as they are, ahead in sports. tropical storm isaac as we told you swinging out west in the gulf of mexico and making a turn for new orleans as we approach the seventh anniversary of hurricane katrina's landfall. we'll have the very latest for the gulf coast when "way too early" comes right back live from tampa. >> i move senator barack obama of illinois be selected by this convention by acclamation as the nominee of the democratic party for president of the united states. >> america is a place where all things are possible. >> four years agot country moved further toward the...