MSNBC news programs: on War & Peace

Jim Gilmore: Bush's steadfastness in Iraq is leadership in crisis

A: This is no longer just about the president or his popularity or his standing; this is about what is in the best interests of the nation that he is leading. And I think what he's really trying to say is, "Look, we're all in this together. Those who supported us ought to remember that we're all in the same boat and still stick with us." And second, I think he's issuing a message of steadfastness. I think he's trying to let the people of the world know that Americans stand by their principles and stand by their commitments. And I think he's beginning to once again lead the nation at a time of crisis.

Jim Gilmore: UN supported US before war; let's move beyond pre-war debate

A: That's not true.

Q: It is absolutely true. It's the reason that Mohamed ElBaradei has just been given the Nobel Peace Prize.

A: That's false. The UN voted repeatedly to put pressure on Saddam Hussein in order to come forward and allow the inspectors to go everywhere in order to clear up all those things and they repeatedly voted over and over again to support the US' position in this. It's a little slippery to say that, gee willikers, now that we know more after the fact, only one side is to blame here. Besides, you've got to get beyond all this. This is about what's in the best interest of not only our fighting soldiers and not even just the US, but the future of the world here.

Joe Biden: Proud of involvement in winding down Iraq war

BIDEN: I feel like I participated in something that I can be proud of the rest of my life. Had I stayed as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, no matter how engaged I was, I don`t think I would have been in a position to be able to affect events on a day to day basis.

Q: In 2002, you voted for the authorization of use of force to go to Iraq. Is there a lesson learned about how we debate the use of force, how we debate whether or not to go to war?

BIDEN: I hope to God there is, because when that original debate took place, those of us like myself who voted to authorize to use force were based on the president`s commitment not to use force. He had no intention of using force. It was to demonstrate to the United Nations and to the world that we were united in wanting to stop Saddam Hussein.

Joe Biden: We shared responsibility to bring democracy to Libya

I would give Libya as an example. It was clear that Moammar Gadhafi was really not a good guy at all. But what did the president do? We spent several billion dollars, but we didn`t lose one American life. We didn`t put one boot on the ground. And we had a shared responsibility with the rest of the world, including Arab nations as well as NATO to deal with that issue.

And now, there`s a shared responsibility to the world to help them establish a democracy. That`s very different than going it alone. I hope we`ve learned the lesson that, unless our immediate vital national interest is at stake, going it alone should be the last option.

Joe Biden: Withdraw US troops continuously from Afghanistan until 2014

BIDEN: It has the potential to be wound down. It`s in direct proportion to how wound up the Afghan military is, how good they are, how quickly they come online. And how much responsibility the Afghan Government is able to exert politically within Afghanistan. For example, the president said that we were going to withdraw "the surge," 33,000 forces by the end of this summer. And we`re not going to slow this down. This doesn`t mean that we`re going to wait until the last minute to say the other 60,000-some folks are going to come out at the end of 2014. We are going to continue to drawdown forces on a continuous basis, continuing to turn over responsibility to the Afghans, because at the end of the day, our objective is to as responsibly as we can withdraw American forces from Afghanistan.

Joe Biden: Iran is isolated, and will be more so when Syria falls

BIDEN: Well, the argument was made early on that we removed two of Iran`s most greatest concerns, Saddam in Iraq, and the Taliban in Afghanistan. But the result now, in part because of some really outrageous moves that Iran has made, it actually has lost power in the entire region. The fact of the matter is its only ally left in the region is about to be toppled. That is in Syria with Bashar Assad. But the biggest thing that`s happened is the president has been able to unite the world, including Russia and China, in continuing to ostracize and to isolate Iran. So, the truth is, the capacity of Iran to project power in the Gulf is actually diminished. They are less feared. They have less influence than they have had any time, I would argue, in the last 20 years.

Marco Rubio: ISIS plan: US air support for Sunni forces on the ground

Obama's strategy to defeat ISIS is largely identical to Marco Rubio's. The senator fleshed this out at CPAC: target ISIS by using local ground forces, coupled with air support from the United States, all while U.S. officials take the lead in assembling an international coalition. That, as of this morning, is Rubio's plan. It's also exactly what Obama has been doing since August.

Tony Hall: Restrict "conflict diamonds" to end African war financing

Conflict diamonds are diamonds that are financing wars in Africa and costing millions of innocent people their lives and limbs. Hall says the only way to stop this bloodshed is to stop buying diamonds from these war zones. "You should ask the question, ‘Where is this diamond from?' " says Hall. "If that jeweler says, ‘I don't know,' don't buy a diamond there until he finds out." But how do you find out? Right now, after a diamond is cut and polished, there's no way to know. For the past three years, Hall has pushed legislation so consumers can make sure the diamonds they are buying are not linked to human suffering.