it's like trying to evaluate the iraq war on the day the tanks crossed the kuwaiti board near iraq. it looks good but this tremendously complicated thing. more complicated than the iraq war. and it could go good or bad. i mean the good side obviously is the coverage. the bad side is people like me is the sense of fiscal risk involved. and i think that was underlined this week by two events. one the cbo came out with their results, their predictions of where the budget deficit will be without health care in ten years from now. and will have gone from 40% of gdp, of public debt to 90% in ten years. that's just cataclysmic. and then in the short term this week we have three bond issuings where the government is issuing debt three days in a below and-- row and it's going badly. people are nervous about u.s. government debt. in fact corporate debt is seen as less risky than government debt that is just a straw in the wind that the spending entailed in a lot of things, not just this is going to be a real issue. and i respect that come november, health care is a huge historic thing. but i

, we need to keep in mind that iraq has -- that iran has people in iraq that it uses to drive a wedge between the sunnis and the shiites in iraq. and these actions ignite the ethnosectarian tensions. these iranian actions undermine iraqi security in the delicate political situation. how do you foresee dod using its future relationship with the iraqi security forces to steer iraq's defense strategy and acquisition of weapon systems in order to avoid iranian meddling that could jeopardize iraq's stability. >> i don't think we'll have to steer at all. iraq's leaders and its security force leaders share a concern about neighbors who arm, train, fund, equipped and direct proxy elements on their soil. and they have continued to carry out operations against these illegal elements. and i'm confident that they will continue to do that in the future even as we draw down. they conduct a number of unilateral operations against these elements as well. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator hagan. senator wicker? >> thank you, mr. chairman. general petraeus, chairman levin beg

and if you read the story about bp and iraq, and iraq is just dry of gasoline. they have a gasoline prices. we have the same problems. everything gets shipped abroad. these companies will just take the money and run, just like any other industry. where is of the jobs, the development for the poor and hungry in this country? what happens to the high-speed rail to make us less oil dependent? i feel really, really let down. host: laura on the line for oregon. a big donor conference at the united nations today on haiti. "the wall street journal" talks about it. they write that haiti hopes the kindness of strangers will of the merger not only from the rubble but equally crushing weight of 200 years of tragic history of poverty. you can watch a good part of this on c-span2 coming up at 9:00 eastern time. you will hear speakers including secretary of state henry clinton, former president bill clinton's, -- secretary state hillary clinton, former president bill clinton and robert zelig. colorado. back to the oil drilling story. kathy, independent. caller: i read about s

nephew iraq veteran. i come from a family who believes in service. the american family, large family of our nation believes in service to our country. yet, it is true that the death toll as the "washington post" reports in afghanistan is at least at 1,000. and we have to have this debate tore either recommit to continuing the war and giving the reasons to the troops why we're doing that or to suggest that maybe this is the opportunity for us to take a new direction. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from florida. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, madam speaker. i yield three minutes to the the gentleman from illinois, mr. kirk, a member of the committee on appropriations. the speaker pro tempore: mr. kirk is recognized for three minutes. mr. kirk: i feel compiled to rise today as the only member of this body who was deployed twice to afghanistan, both times as a navy reserve intelligence officer in kad

troops scheduled to leave iraq this summer. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel is here with us at our studios in new york. richard, you were saying earlier today, people rooting for the u.s. side of the equation would be dancing in the streets of baghdad at this result. what did you mean by that? >> reporter: this was an incredibly significant today, perhaps the most important one in several yeeshs in irayears i. he is secular, pro american and anti-iran. the current government in iraq right now is a religious state that leans toward iran. if he can hold on to this position he gained today, he has to form a government and face off challenges by the current prime minister and we could see a major change in direction in iraq. >> dancing in the streets with those cement blast walls in the background, a reminder it's still a dangerous state. >> reporter: it certainly is. some of those blast walls are going to start coming down as u.s. troops begin to leave. american forces are already starting to take some of the blast w

that is iraq. i was talking today with an old friend who is a reporter who was covering iraq since the days of saigon. -- the days of sosaddam. a lot of blood has been shed. a lot of money has been spent. a lot of the people has been created. created. trust her journalism. is that a view you could share? >> iraq has gone through periods of extraordinary violence and brief respites, followed by more extraordinary violence. one of the cornerstones of democracy is a peaceful transfer of power. they're going through their second election. we do not understand the results of that. part of us want to be there in terms of our frustration in terms of their civilian governance. it has been a proxy battle field for their regional neighbors. there is a shia-cine struggle of the neighbors that vote on inside -- the she-hia-sunni struggle of the neighbors inside iraq. again, i really think the test is can an iraqi government that is democratically elected both competently provide services and protect its people

then a defense department briefing from iraq. gordon brown is asked about the war in afghanistan from prime minister's question. the health and human service secretary speaks before a health industry group. >> c-span, are content is available to become a radio, on line. send up for our alert e-mails at c-span.org. >> in the house, members debated a resolution that called for the removal of troops from afghanistan. here is the debate, starting with the bill's sponsor. mr. speaker, in 2001 i joined the house in voting for the authorization for the use of military force. in the past 8 1/2 years it has become clear that the authorization for the ice of military force is being interpretted as carte blanche for sir couple -- interpreted as carte blanche for circumventing congress' role as a co-equal branch of government. my legislation invokes the war powers resolution of 1973 and if enacted would require the president to withdraw u.s. armed forces from afghanistan by december 31, 2010. the debate today will be the first opportunity we

also about the war in iraq but it applies to war as well. she said critics of the war have said since the beginning of the conflict that americans still strangely complacent about overseas wars being waged by minorities in their name will enevidentably come to a point where they see they have to have a government that provides services at home or one that seeks empire across the globe. and we should remember, madam speaker, that even general petraeus said we should never forget that afghanistan has been known as the graveyard of empires. our constitution does not give us the power or the right to run another country. and that's what we've been doing. it should have come as no surprise, madam speaker, that president karzai of afghanistan told abs recently that the -- abc news recently that the u.s. needs to stay there 10 or 20 years. he needs our money and he wants to stay in power. but listen to what columnist george will has said. he has changed his position and written about afghanistan that the budget will not support an expansion there,

troops scheduled to leave iraq this summer. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel is here with us at our studios in new york. richard, you were saying earlier today, people rooting for the u.s. side of the equation would be dancing in the streets of baghdad at this result. what did you mean by that? >> reporter: this was an incredibly significant today, perhaps the most important one in several years in iraq. ayad allawi won these elections. he is a shiite, but he's secular, he's pro-american and very anti-iran. the current government in iraq right now is a religious state that leans toward iran. so if ayad allawi can hold on to this position he gained today, he still has to form a government and face off challenges by the current prime minister, then we could see a major chge in direction in iraq. >> dancing in the streets with those cement blast walls in the background, a reminder it's still a dangerous state. >> reporter: it certainly is. some of those blast walls are going to start coming down as u.s. troops begin t

we dealt with that every single day in iraq. we consistently captured guys who knew when future attacks were going to take place you could argue enhanced interrogation techniques work and are effective would we have used them? my answer is no. if i knew torture was effective 100% of the time i wouldn't have used it. why? because every one of us in that prison where we handle foreign fighters listened day in and day out for insiders said the reason they can to fight was pictures of abu ghraib and knowing what happened at guantanamo bay. some people say well what about the fact that we have been attacked before that happened? it's not a matter of are there people that will attack? they're always are. the last presidency's we have endured terrorist attacks. it is a matter of levels. numerous additional fighters were recruited because of torture and abuse of muslim prisoners. so everyone in my prison really steven of torture did work 100% of time even if it worked half the time, we would never use it. one because we would be recruit

withdrawal from iraq. >> ifill: purple ink-stained index fingers were once again on display across iraq. in the first voting planned and executed by iraqis since the war began in 2003, heightened expectations translated to high turnout 62%. much of the day's violence occurred in and around baghdad. where up to 100 explosions sounded across the city. u.s. military officials said many were caused by noise bombs, explosives in plastic bottles. and the deadliest attack of the day, a rocket leveled the baghdad apartment building. killing 25 iraqis. u.s. forces left patrolling to their iraqi counterparts. today general the general said that bodes well for the planned u.s. troop drawdown. >> i believe we'll be at 50,000 by the first of september. everything is on track for that to happen. as the secretary has said, unless there's a catastrophic event, we don't see that changing. we think this is another milestone. but there's more to come. >> ifill: top u.s. and u.n. diplomats in iraq also hailed the election as a success. >> i think it was really a very good day for iraqi democracy. i believe

aggression in iraq and afghanistan have changed minds. and led arabs all americans are against the arab world and against islam. as a religion. so i've had to really counter that and i've had to address that in meeting them. >> is it difficult to do that as a journalist? >> yeah, it is. there's a lot of suspicion about journalists in the middle east. i think a lot of them think that we work for the cia. that we're spies. they don't quite appreciate the wall that exists between the media and the government in this country. so they don't really believe that we're neutral observers. i have to counter that before i got anywhere in terms of talking to them. >> thanks so much. >> here's a look at some upcoming book fairs and festivals over the next few months. ..

tomorrow's vote will decide who will govern iraq when u.s. troops pull out. >>> this is what the latest aftershock did in an earthquake-hit area in chile. two mag any tut 6 aftershocks hit there yesterday. no injuries reported, though. u.n. general secretary ban ki-moon offered up to $10 million in help. chile has asked the uae for water purification systems, medical facilities and generators. the state department said a u.s. disaster response team is scheduled to arrive today to help chile with are leave efforts. the u.s. already has sent satellite phones and water treatment units and more aid is scheduled to arrive next week. >>> meanwhile, we have new video of a tsunami that developed right after that massive earthquake a week ago. look at this. you see the water flooding the streets of this town. the 8.8 earthquake caused a tsunami that swept more than 400 miles of chile's coast. chile's government identified 279 victims, but hundreds more are still unidentified. >>> there may be a new lead in the case of a family from the san diego area

and also iraq. who had engaged the enemy with their weapons and combat and in that study 40% of the respondents were dissatisfied with the m. nine postal, with 26 % requesting a larger coble weapon and 20% saying it should be replaced. i note the fy2011 dod budget includes new start authority for handguns to replace the m. nine and they were requirement may be jr approved. i was wondering if he could tell us what progress the army has made towards replacing the m. nine and when can the committee expect nrf t. for the new handgun and what is the army's timeline for fielding the new weapon? >> thank you sir. as you say there has been a new joint requirements oversight council requirement for pistol approved. it was submitted by the air force he felt the need for a new pistol so that requirement was approved. we are still examining the requirements of the army for a new pistol. we are aware of the study you mentioned and the soldiers feedback on the pistol. in light of their feedback we have done key i

that is iraq. i was talking today with an old friend who is a reporter who was covering iraq since the days of saigon. -- the days of sosaddam. a lot of blood has been shed. a lot of money has been spent. a lot of the people has been created. i trust her journalism. is that a view you could share? >> iraq has gone through periods of extraordinary violence and brief respites, followed by more extraordinary violence. one of the cornerstones of democracy is a peaceful transfer of power. they're going through their second election. we do not understand the results of that. part of us want to be there in terms of our frustration in terms of their civilian governance. it has been a proxy battle field for their regional neighbors. there is a shia-cine struggle of the neighbors that vote on inside -- the she-hia-sunni struggle of the neighbors inside iraq. again, i really think the test is can an iraqi government that is democratically elected both competently provide services and protect its people as wel

apparently working 43 minutes a month in iraq. this is for the one of the contractors, the company had $4.6 million worth of contracts to fix military vehicles outside baghdad. apparently it took 43 minutes a month. in response to new jersey nets fans wearing paper bags over their head. the team had a bag exchange wednesday, where fans could exchange their paper bags for a nylon bag, with the nets logo on it, that's clever. >>> and finally, dog versus car, officials trying to pepper-spray a dog -- but it didn't stop him from destroying the front bumper of this police cruiser. again, truth stranger than fiction. >>> and if that doesn't qualify as a while you were working video, this next one, i hope will. what happens when you pitch a baseball to a samurai with a kitano sword? he slices it in half, of course. this demonstration took place on a tv game show. imagine what he could do with an actual bat. let's see if the yankees are looking for a dh this year. >>> coming up, a little busted. wait until you hear the snack budget for na

you know, we record, and i have been to iraq and afghanistan. i have met these incredible young men and women who are doing this battle, as mr. poe suggested. they are incredible. it's the policymakers i am worried about. we report 1,000 almost in afghanistan and we report around 40,000 casualties. let me tell you, i am chairman of the veterans committee in this congress. we have had almost a million people from these wars show up at the v.a. for casualties received during the war. service-related injuries. hundreds and hundreds of thousands. this is not just a mathematical error by the department of defense. this is deliberate attempt to keep the cost of war from our people. we got hundreds of thousands of people with posttraumatic stress disorder. hundreds of thousands with traumatic brain injury. all of which were undiagnosed when they left the battle front. they don't want to know about these injuries. they don't want to tell it the american people about these injuries. -- to tell the american people about these injuries. this kind of war pr

there are reports coming out of iraq this morning that u.s. convoy accidentally opened fire on a group of civilians today. there were civilian casualties. do you have any information? >> there were two stores. sound like a guy mingle together. one was an envoy that was hit by an ied. we are trying to sort out the nature of that. the second incident was out in downtown baghdad. there were several shots fired. we know there were several iraqis that were killed. we are trying to get the bottle of that -- bottom of that. once the report came in, he and i talked through my training team chief. we put together a combined inspection team that is on site now, taking in the that what happened. we know there was an incident. there were two people killed. >> were there any casualties in the convoy hit by an ied? >> details will follow later. >> we worked together in baghdad. there was an incident which cause weapon firing. mu'min's that used to happen in baghdad are partnered -- movement that usually have been in baghdad are partner movement. we work all

he had to fly from kuwait and their commute to iraq. and i met him on the way back. he was there to fix what had been damaged by the iranian. and he came back. he was sort of amazed on how liberated the iraqi women were. he had an iraqi woman engineer in blue jeans and t-shirt going in front of him up and down. so while we might have fixed some things, we have really [inaudible] other things. >> we have women, tora bora and the language. the language, to the good question because the reality is there weren't a lot of dari speakers. they speak russian, arabic, french. so these translators. they had to use work in a lot of drawing in the dirt to figure stuff out. and again the cia was very key in being that liaison and helping out in this way. let me just jump to the women thing. because it is -- it's half the population of the amnesty and so it's amazing why they're being treated this way. let me ask you, how do you stop this? this is -- the question is how do you create change so that women aren't treated as second-class citizens in that country and were not going to

later, he answered questions on additional funding for troops in iraq and afghanistan. >> order, questions for the prime minister. member. >> order. question to the prime minister. >> number one, serve. >> mr. speaker, i'm sure the whole house will wish to join me in paying tribute to the sacrifice of soldiers have lost their lives in afghanistan. they are riflemen donovan block, rifleman liam maughan from the third battalion the rifles. lance corporal tom keogh from fourth battalion the rifles attached to third battalion the rifles, corporal stephen thompson from first battalion the rifles. these men have made the greatest of sacrifices in the service of their country and their comrades. their heroism and bravery cannot and will not be forgotten. their legacy will be in the future that is being won for the people of afghanistan and the protection they are securing for the british people. they will be remembered with great pride by the british people and by their families. as we honor their memory, we send our sincere condolences to the families and loved ones who feel their loss the most.

national guard as they return home after one year in iraq. one of the guardsman has been deployed to the middle east five times. >> and he could deploy again. john henrehan was there. >> reporter: the buses rolled in from the airport. these members of the washington, d.c. national guard have been deployed in iraq for the past year. daniel was awaiting her husband. >> i couldn't get her fast enough. i was driving a little bit crazy. >> reporter: we were there after daniel spotted her husband after his fifth deployment, anthony perry on his third deployment is encouraged by the progress in iraq, but he was serious, as he reminded us, there is a price for the progress. you never forget the casualties. >> it happened. it is a part of life. it happens here. >> this sergeant was on his second deployment to iraq. >> i'm so glad that he is back home. i can't en express. i missed him dearly. i'm so glad that he is home safe. >> reporter: waters got to hold her 3-month-old granddaughter. >> my goodness, look at the genes, she is gorgeous. >> reporter:

people are in favor of this war in iraq. they are opposed to the military. >> my experience has been that the media is anti-statistics. that is what we do. we're supposed to challenge the conventional wisdom. at the end of the iraq war, we did a pitiful job of it. we bought off on the white house intelligence that saddam hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction. they should complain about us being not aggressive enough. >> we have one last clip. this is only about 1.5 minutes. >> the general is up for 3:00 a.m. and out the door at 5:00 a.m. for his morning run through the buildings and trailers. this is his idea of leisure time. >> how many miles is it? >> i run an hour. >> in another life, he could have been a monk. >> it is the lap of luxury. >> what else do you need? >> it is functional and comfortable. you get very used to it. you have what you have and that is all you need. one thing that you miss is family. besides that, it is pretty much perfect. >> he lived like this for five years as part of a unit that captur

and of course there was the very different reactions to what happened in iraq and what happened in the first gulf war he had more difficult issues to deal with, w and hw. there was an interesting issue. again, i am somebody of a skeptic of that, but i am going to be the first to salute the era of democracy in the middle east of this thing holds. remember during the purple from campaign it was hard not to get excited about that. the other thing is quite apart from our dna, the "washington post" and "new york times" the other day, walter, the interviewed a guy living under a tarp in haiti and they said what is the solution. he said you know the solution it's the united states to just take us over. we said thank you. we will pass. but in a lot of ways people know that if you are in desperate circumstances what is the one country would like to deliver you that you know likely doesn't have any ulterior purpose but to help you. it's most likely the united states. >> host: speaking of the elder george bush, george h. w. bush -- he was in my mind one of the best and perhaps most underrated for

. >> iraq's prime minister is calling for a manual recount in response to demands by some of iraq's other political groups. there are concerns if those demands are not meant there could be an uptick in violence. at this point a secular block leads with the most votes in the overall total, but the prime minister's coalition has @ support of several provinces. >>> a teenager charged with harassment and biased intimidation for allegedly getting on a walmart p.a. system and telling all black people to leave the store. this happened last week, you may remember, at a new jersey walmart. the 16-year-old was arrested on friday. he has now been released into the custody of his parents. >>> now getting back to our top story, the passage of the health care reform bill would lead to the largest expansion of federal health care guarantees in four decades. all the republicans in the democratically controlled house plan to vote against the legislation. it will take 38 democrats voting no to kill the bill. 33 democrats plan to vote no. >>> what an interesting day we saw on capitol hill yesterday. the so-

let me just ask you, since you are currently or you have just been in iraq, and the iraq cooperation is with syria. syria may have been blind sided by the iraq initiative and it came about partly because of prime minister malaki's needs. can you share with us what how you might see the current post-election process empowering us to move forward in that regard? >> senator, as i said, the syrians themselves have a real interest in a stable and secure and sovereign iraq. with respect to the tri-part discussions that you talked about. there was an effort, which the administration undertook to bring the iraqises the syrians and some of our experts together to look at how to improve security along the border. in the end, those discussions didn't happen because of events that occurred in baghdad and the iraqi political reaction after that. we still hope that iraq and syria will find a way to build a better bilateral relationship. there is a hugement. >> can you be more explicit? what were the interests? what happened in that regard? what did malaki see as -- go ahead. >> in particular, prim

to provide the latest example of iraq's progress. as always, however, the progress is still fragile and it could still be reversed. iraq still faces innumerable challenges and they will be evident during what will likely be a difficult process as the newly elected council of representatives selects the next prime minister, president and speaker of the council, and seeks agreement another key decisions as well. our task in iraq is to continue to help the iraqi security forces as we continue to draw down our forces in a responsible manner. this task has been indicted by the policy announced by president obama about one year ago. since that announcement, we have reduced our forces by well over 30,000. we're on track to reduce that number by 50,000. at which time we will also complete a change in mission from a combat role to one of advising and assisting the iraqi forces. as we drive down our forces in iraq and increase our efforts in afghanistan, we must not lose sight of other developments. i want to highlight the developments in yeme

you know, we record, and i have been to iraq and afghanistan. i have met these incredible young men and women who are doing this battle, as mr. poe suggested. they are incredible. it's the policymakers i am worried about. we report 1,000 almost in afghanistan and we report around 40,000 casualties. let me tell you, i am chairman of the veterans committee in this congress. we have had almost a million people from these wars show up at the v.a. for casualties received during the war. service-related injuries. hundreds and hundreds of thousands. this is not just a mathematical error by the department of defense. this is deliberate attempt to keep the cost of war from our people. we got hundreds of thousands of people with posttraumatic stress disorder. hundreds of thousands with traumatic brain injury. all of which were undiagnosed when they left the battle front. they don't want to know about these injuries. they don't want to tell it the american people about these injuries. -- to tell the american people about these injuries. this kind of war pr

one chaplain in fact is home for only two weeks before she left again for iraq. and went on from there to do a third tour. so that surprise me that i realized that while i have been thinking of female soldiers and marines as the marginal, they in no way saw themselves as being marginal. they saw themselves as being soldiers first and women second. and is often extended into the way that the military became a place where they formed a bond that are closer than the ones they formed with their family members that they were women who are reluctant to return to home when the kids had surgery or there was another family crisis, because they felt they were abandoning their unit. one woman i spoke to was a marine sergeant, who had been very reluctant to go to iraq and had been ducking out of deployment. she said because she had a one year old at home, and she said as soon as she got on the bus to go to cherry point and fly over there, the monumentality left me, the marine mentality it me, and i thought great, let's go. this is war. and she ended up extending her tour of

we can have a debate about iraq but that should be on a separate day. we can talk about whether there were any weapons of mass destruction. today we are here talking about afghanistan. and i think this is important and it's an important discussion because this congress would the exception of a few amendments got very little time has not had a debate or discussion in this chamber on afghanistan since after september 11, 2001. . and our policy has changed in a number of different ways over those years and we still have not had a debate or a discussion on afghanistan. so today hopefully we will and my hope is that in this chamber, where lots of members talk all the time and very few members listen, that this may be a day for members to lisp. it is important that we get -- listen. it is important that we get this right, especially for the men and women who we have deployed over there and at this time, mr. speaker, i'd like to yield 2 1/2 minutes to the gentlewoman from maine, a member of the rules committee, ms. pingree. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlel

troops in afghanistan than in iraq this summer according to mike mullen. as of today there are still 97,000 forces in iraq down from 150,000 at the height of the surge and 83,000 now in afghanistan. for an update on both wars and reaction to some intriguing statements out of the kremlin today about the nuclear weapons agreement reached between the united states and russia we are pleased to be joined by jeff morrell, pentagon spokesman and press secretary. jeff, good to have you here. >> thanks for having me. >> we have election results in from iraq. it looks like a split. what role now for the united states? >> we really have no role other than to be there in an over watch capacity assisting iraqi security forces. we did not have a candidate obviously in this election. our interests were in providing or helping the iraqis provide a safe, secure, free, and fair election. by all accounts they had that. 12 million iraqis went to the polls this month, 62% of the population, relatively free of violence. it's taken a while to count the votes. we now have the out

how did they see the change in the way they were treated as women in iraq? >> they have a lot of freedom under saddam hussein. they lost their freedoms instantly with the war as often happens with war there was no security so there were virtually under house arrest for a long time. that eventually got even worse unfortunately at that the power vacuum led to the of life left radical islamists with jury conservative version how women should lift many influenced by iran and iraqi women felt themselves unable to leave the house possibly losing their rights in the constitution and government in matters of divorce and inheritance family law and they became desperate for the future might hold and surprised they never would have thought they would have ended up like that because like i said, they had a lot of rights under saddam hussein. >> you reported from them the least in many years. have you seen the relative change in the we've been treated as a female reporter on the ground in the middle east since september 11th? >> i think most arabs were welcoming to ameri

there was unity but then it broke apart largely because iraq, and that was the cause of the crisis and the disagreement. but i also think the closure on that we are getting now is encouraging some people and maybe for getting what they said earlier but there does seem to be a consensus that we have worked through and people because things may be working out, still fingers crossed, it's not being done but that is what it was. >> host: you have to deal with iraq in this book and to do it very well. how do you think history is going to look back on the decision to react to the 9/11 attacks by in defeating iraq? >> guest: great question. 64,000-dollar question. ryan crocker, who is a hour ambassador, said the other day a lot of criticisms about going in there whether we should have gone in there. how we went in there. he said we can discuss and debate that but what matters most of all is how we left it and what we left. i think that will probably be the determinant of how we see what we did. and if indeed a democracy is established there, one that can sustain itself, i think it will be a d

that. >> it was very irresponsible for bob ehrlich to criticize governor o'malley for traveling to iraq to visit service members. >> ehrlich said the comments were no way directed toward the men and women serving overseas. >> afghanistan iraq, we all support them. >> instead said it was about the decision to depart during session. >> during session, when the walls are falling down, $2 billion deficit, high taxes and furlough to state employees, you stay and do your job. >> i was glad to be able to be there in some way, on behalf of the people of our state, express our care for them. >> now, while in iraq, the defense department purchased 25 minutes of satellite time for governor o'malley to speak back with television stations here in the state of maryland. the governor and his office only chose to speak with three stations across the state. not including fox 45. michael buczyner fox 45 news at 10:00. >> thank you. >> starting today, each and every american will be getting u.s. census form for a accurate count of the population. >> mayor stephanie rawlings-blake said the census is import

that is iraq. i was talking today with an old friend who is a reporter who was covering iraq since the days of saigon. -- the days of sosaddam. a lot of blood has been shed. a lot of money has been spent. a lot of the people has been created. i trust her journalism. is that a view you could share? >> iraq has gone through periods of extraordinary violence and brief respites, followed by more extraordinary violence. one of the cornerstones of democracy is a peaceful transfer of power. they're going through their second election. we do not understand the results of that. part of us want to be there in terms of our frustration in terms of their civilian governance. it has been a proxy battle field for their regional neighbors. there is a shia-cine struggle of the neighbors that vote on inside -- the she-hia-sunni struggle of the neighbors inside iraq. again, i really think the test is can an iraqi government that is democratically elected both competently provide services and protect its people as wel

our troops will be out of iraq in 2011. we will have and relationship with iraq. we will continue to fulfil the requests that the iraqis made to us, most particularly high level police training. we will continue to have relationships. that will go on for the foreseeable future, just like in mexico, tuesday, we are putting money into mexico because there is a lot of challenges in our interests. it will be a different relationship, but it will be one of priority for the united states. >> senator, we have at this point, close to 45,000 non-u.s. troops in afghanistan. there are several thousand more that have been pledged. so that by the time the pledges and we see are fulfilled, there will be close to 50 -- 50,000 non-u.s. troops. that is up from 17,000 in 2007. i would say that for the last year, year and a half, especially since the nato summit last spring, we have seen a number of allies reduce or eliminate their caveats. the number of situations we face now, where caveats have prevented effective operations, have dropped dramatically. so i think we have really go

o'malley left for iraq and returned sunday evening. now o'malley is firing at ehrlich. >> i will support our troops and i make no apology for that. >>> during the session when the falls are falling down and you're looking at $2 billion deficit and high taxes and furlough state employees, you stay and do your job. >> the u.s. defense department paid for trip. while in iraq, the department purchased 25 minutes of air time for the governor to speak with t.v. stations in maryland. the governor spoke with three stations not including fox 45. >>> we want to know whether governor o'malley should have taken the trip during the legislative session? that is the question of the day. you can go to foxbaltimore.com or sound off through facebook. send us a tweet at fox baltimore. or you can text your answer at 45203, enter fox 45a for yes or 45b for no. >>> the weekend's massive earthquake in chile may have a lasting effect on your day-to-day life. the earth's rotation should have changed as a result of the quake and according to their calculations

get american troops out of iraq and afghanistan. >> the iraqis have had several elections. it's time to bring all of the troops out of iraq, to bring them back home safely. >> we're making new enemies faster than we're killing them. >> i firmly believe war is not the answer. we can't do this. >> reporter: the raging grannies put their antiwar message to music. ♪ it's time now to take back our country ♪ and give folks a helping hand ♪ >> reporter: there appeared to be about 2,000 potesters in lafayette park. by the time the march down d.c. streets began in the early afternoon there were maybe 3,000 people in the crowd. i've covered antiwar demonstrations in washington, d.c. for about 30 years. among those that are nationally ornized with people coming in from out of state, this is actually one of the smallest i've ever seen. >> but it is a business disheartening. i would love to see a lot more people out here. i tried to conjure together some friends. >> it seems so long, people are tting discouraged, losing steam. >> reporter: some organizers believe the public is sti

come with me to iraq 2006 come the summer, hi eighth of the violence after the bombing and iraq is engulfed in flames and the body count is in the hundreds and is certainly feels like the civil war is erupt gained around us. i am in it at a special forces see me and my partner but mike our job is to interrogate at the point* of capture whether a house or a car or get information in a matter of minutes. before this i was interrogating in a prison i had hours coming days or weeks know i have ted 50 minutes. every single day we go out on a mission two re negative house. a couple weeks after rising a couple issues under by bill bree did tell the on the al qaeda weapons dealer the guy who provide the weapons in northern iraq. we brace out the gate and, up to the house the soldiers disembarked and blow the front door often break into the house and clear the room and they capture one iraqis sleeping in bed next to his wife in his pajamas. we come up to the room and i walked inside and i find eight account into looking at man in his mid-40s standing against his dresser with his arms flexed cuffed b

>> i thought i was back in iraq, yes. >> reporter: gray could have gotten three-to-five years in jail for the two felonies, but thanks to a new pilot program in colorado springs. he was instead tried in a special veterans court. >> the honorable judge crowder presiding. >> thank you, please be seated. >> reporter: defendants in this experimental court plead guilty to their crimes and agree to a strict probation which includes mental health counseling, addiction treatment, if needed, and monthly court appearances. >> what have you been doing recently? >> it's a lot of intensive therapy. a lot of one-on-one, so it was very beneficial for me. >> reporter: sheilagh mcateer has acted as public defender for many of these veterans. >> for the first time ever in my career, my 22 years with being a public defender, i am now a strong part of a team that is advocating treatment over punishment. and you don't see that often in the criminal system. most of the time everybody advocates for punishment for your wrong-doing. >> reporter: there are more than 20 veterans courts around the country. the f

we have spent 18 billion pounds in afghanistan, in iraq, on top of the minister of defense budget. i assure this house that every time, every time our commanders go into action, i asked him for an assurance that they had the equipment they need for the operation. i want to applaud the patriotism of anyone who served our country, and so does the vast majority of this house. >> the prime minister has given us a lecture this morning outside a house on character, but he hasn't got the character to stand up to his own backbenchers. [shouting] >> it is a disgraceful smear. and it's not -- it is not just sheets of the defense staff who said this, we've had former parliament secretary of the ministry of defense talking about guillotine budget. we've had a serving secretary talk about a serious dispute between the treasury and the m.o.d. we've had the former commander of the pairs in afghanistan say he was and i quote staggered by the lack of any sense of responsibility from the prime minister. why does the prime minister think that all these people, dedicated to the defense of this country

we had no business in iraq. if it were up to obama we would not even have been over there, in iraq at all, period. host: are you optimistic about afghanistan? that is our question this morning. the president will be returning to the washington area this morning after his visit yesterday. this is a report from "the washington times." they write that his visit came against a backdrop of tension with mr. karzai and americans that has not substantially abated. since karzai was declared the winner of an election to by fraud. -- tainted by fraud. reporting this morning from "the new york times" -- now a caller. caller: good morning, i'm calling from michigan. i do not think that we're going to be able to do as well as we think in terms of afghanistan simply because of the fact that al qaeda and the taliban do not where signs saying that their al qaeda and taliban. in short, we do not know who they are until they choose to act. also, i do not think that mr. karzai is a worthy representative of his people based upon a n

something we learned in iraq. we tried to go from zero to hundreds of thousands, but the problem was that they would go a wall, it would collapse in battle. it just did not work. it was only after we were able to put them through robust training that they stayed in place. host: if that training is successful at some point, how do you maintain a force like that in such a relatively poor country? what is the long-term plan? guest: it will require extra assistance for a long time to come. the idea was that they would not be able to pay for it long term. the international community has mosley said that it is better for them to contribute money to the security forces. i do not think that the afghans will be able to pay for their security force any time in the next few years. host: democratic line, good morning. go ahead. caller: how are you doing? host: fine, what is your question or comment? caller: history shows that the united states is a constantly expanding empire. of go caller, before you keep going, turn down th

how did they see a change in the way they were treated in iraq? >> they have a lot of freedom under saddam hussein. there was no security so they were virtually under house arrest for a long time. that eventually got even worse and the power vacuum led to the arrival of radical islam, a conservative version of how women should live influenced by iran. iraqi women found themselves unable to leave the house possibly losing their rights in constitution and government and matters of divorce and inheritance, family law. the became desperate for what the future might hold and they never would have thought they would have ended up like that because they have a lot of rights under saddam hussein. >> you were in the middle east for many years. have you seen a change in the way you have been treated as a female reporter on the ground in the middle east since september 11th? >> most arabs were welcoming to americans despite what the media portrayed them as being anti-american but i think the u.s. direction in iraq and afghanistan change their minds and a lot

in the case of iraq, it not only acquired weapons of mass destruction, it had used them in the iran-iraq war and against its own people and the syrian program continued until just recently when the israelis bombed the nuclear plant in syria. and, of course the iranian program, continues today, and i'll have a lot more to say about iran in a minute. so, we said in the national commission, we face something new here. these new terrorists must have a different motive from the old terrorists, because, they are completely different. what do we know about the motives? actually, we know a lot, because the terrorists have talked a lot about their motives and they started talking about it, as the commission pointed out in the late '80s, these islamic extremists profess an extreme version of islam which they define as being necessarily at war with the west. and for two decades, in their interviews, in their fat was, in the statements they've issued, they have been very clear. they basically have a goal which is the conversion, by force, if necessary, of the entire world, to their warmed version of

i did not agree at all with iraq. they told us there were these 19 hijackers larry, not one of them was an iraqi. that would be the equivalent in my opinion of when the japanese attacked us at pearl harbor, well we'll go attack korea. after all, they're asian too, aren't they? >> larry: jesse ventura is with us. his book is "american conspiracies." he's got incredible thoughts on famous things that happened and what he thinks might have been behind them. we'll let him review them for us when we come back. these braces, i want to point out something tonight. they are presented to me by the wonderful folks at george washington university. i established a scholarship there. we've already extended 20 students that have been able to graduate through the larry king scholarships at george washington. so they had a wonderful lunch. had a great time. spoke to them in the auditorium, and they presented me with their colors by way of braces. i'm honored to wear them, and we're honored to be with the former governor of minnesota.

we dealt with that consistently iraq. we consistently captured guys who knew where attacks would take place. if you argue enhanced tear gag techniques work and are they effective? my answer is no. if i knew torture was effective 100% of the time i wouldn't have used it. why? because one of us in the prison where handled foreign fighters, day in and day out the reason they came to iraq to fight was because of pictures of abu ghraib and what happened at guantanamo bay. some people say, what about the fact we've been attacked before that happened? not a matter of are there people that will attack us. there always will be. last four presidencies we always endured terrorist attacks. it is a matter of levels. numerous additional fighters were recruited because of torture and abuse of muslimmers in. and so, everyone in my prison realized even if torture did work 100% of the time, even if it worked half the time, we would never use it. one, because, we just would be recruiting for the enemy. that's not some amazing discovery that

i did not agree at all with iraq. they told us there were these 19 hijackers, larry, and not one of them was an iraqi. that would be the equivalent in my opinion of when the japanese attacked us at pearl harbor, well we'll go attack korea. after all, they're asian too, aren't they? >> larry: jesse ventura is with us. his book is "american conspiracies." he's got incredible thoughts on famous things that happened and what he thinks might have been behind them. we'll let him review them for us when we come back. these braces, i want to point out something tonight. these braces were presented to me by the wonderful folks at george washington university. i established a scholarship there. we've already extended 20 students that have been able to graduate through the larry king scholarships at george washington. so they had a wonderful lunch. had a great time. spoke to them in the auditorium, and they presented me with their colors by way of braces. i'm honored to wear them, and we're honored to be with the former governor

their mother decide today stay behind and serve another six months in iraq. for a family in battle, they say they grew closer on the front lines of war than in peacetime at home. >> the bond that we've made being in such a stressful environment with mom and sis, it kind of gave you a new outlook. >> reporter: 9 news now. >> and for some of the soldiers, this was their third deployment to iraq since 9/11. >>> that's the week in review for this week. you have a great one. enjoy this weather. bye-bye [ male announcer ] how can rice production in india affect wheat output in the u.s., the shipping industry in norway, and the rubber industry in south america? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment objectives, risks, fees, expenses, and other information