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After they achieved victory, instead of using our leverage to say you need to reach out to the anti-taliban in the country, we pushed them aside, and superimposed the political process on them and gave them the government we wanted them to have and we are defending that government today. i hope general petraeus can make sense out of this. at the end of the day, it's the afghan army that has to win the war and not the united states. >> at the end of the day, success will be identified as to whether the afghan government can stand up and provide stability for the outlying areas. >> i don't think...

♪ never nearly 70 years after his association with the klan and at a time when most lawmakers were holding back, robert byrd gave an early endorsement to the candidacy of barack obama. >> robert byrd possessed that quintessential american quality, and that is a capacity to change. >> reporter: he served on capitol hill for 57 years, with 11 presidents. >> he was a country boy from the hills and hollows of west virginia. he was trying to get elected. and maybe he did something he shouldn't have done, and he spent the rest of his life making it up. and that's what a good person does. >> it's a...

Capitol. it's a huge step for what this nation had three years or four years ago. it's a big difference. and i think it's progress. >> a lot has been sacrificed. a lot of our blood and treasure from the united states to give the iraqi people a chance and opportunity to live free and have a government of their own fashion and design. that being said, iraqis need to stand up and die for their own iraqi freedom, and americans need to come home safely and honorably. >> yeah, they have 600,000 over their iraqi forces well capable of defending their own country. president bush said it best before he...

In a land war. that's what i thought of. we saw this with the democrat from north carolina about a month ago, you saw from the shot it's clear michael steele did not know he was being taped. but i don't know why politicians don't learn their lesson. you would think george allen's example, they don't learn their lesson. when you talk in public at all, assume that people like us are eventually going to see it. to julie's point, i am thankful, but confounded that it continues to happen. >> just to clarify, what was wrong with what michael steele said, saying it was obama's war of choosing. >> yea...

Snifrmt joining me now three lawmakers that speak from experience when it comes to iraq and afghanistan. congressman john few, he is currently a major in the air force reserve. congressman duncan hunter joined the marines a few days after 911. he served three combat tours, once to afghanistan and once to iraq during some of theaviest battles of the war. and then mike kaufman, rising to the rank of major, he saw combat during desert storm in 1991 and returned to serve in iraq in 2005 where among other things he helped support the elections. gentlemen, thank you so much.