in both al basra and iraq. i think there are -- what you don't see anymore is large movement of shi'a militias. what you have now is militant groups that don't control areas but conduct attacks for self different reasons, and i think we have seen the militia empty -- militia units to move, and they do conduct attacks against both u.s. forces and iraqi security force and others, but their influence has been significantly reduced to what it was in 2007 and the beginning of 2008. >> to what extent is iran -- i think you mentioned briefly iran providing them training. so what extend -- i think you also mentioned iran providing weapons. what is the trend line on that now? >> i think it's less. what they have done, they appear to have targeted smaller organizations that continue to train inside of iraq, and train inside of iran, and come across with increased capabilities to conduct operations and attacks inside of iraq, and they're still provided munitions suchs a rockets. >> many of the sunnies would say, are they

iraq, mr. hermanson and he was recently electrocuted and so i have a couple questions for you, general. first, of all, was his facility inspected or were you only inspecting the facilities that the soldiers occupied? >> it was not inspected. what happens is that as a contractor it's the responsibility of the contractor to ensure they have adequate facilities, so we were not inspecting those facilities, however, since that incident we have sent task force safe over to first outline to all the contractors what's expected of them in terms of proper safety requirements and we've also offered them any assistance that they might need with task force safe to go look at all of their facilities to ensure they're in line with what we believe to be safe structures and look at all their facilities so make sure they're in line with safe structures. >> since we we knew we were havg trouble with contractors, why was the decision made to not inspect. >> i don't think we made conscious decision not to inspect.

and iraq into the future but also the nature of the new iraq. our presence there 2011 provide psychological and physical support to the iraqi people, the government of iraq in the iraqi security forces. it provides the opportunity for different groups to build up their constituencies, to participate in politics, to form alliances and reach consensus. the level and nature of u.s. slinkys met with the iraqis will continue to change as the u.s. military draws down. iraq is making steady progress but as ale lung way to go. we must have strategic patients. through the framework agreement united states has a mechanism for supporting iraq to develop its institutionalist human capacity. success will be defined by our ability to support iraq developing capacity from governance to economics that will sustain the iraq's long-term stability. the iraqi security forces have made steady progress and our efforts over the next two and a half years will help solidify the foundation of a professional and competent iraqis security force. we must leave iraq with sec

how would you describe the insurgency inside iraq@@@@@@@@@ á coming back from iraq or overtime have been killed or captured. many criminals are now being used in order to attempt to try to conduct some of these activities and so it is a different understanding of those elements. over all i would just continue to emphasize the security around most of the country is fairly normal. and only a few places to we have serious incidents and many places life has returned to normal inside iraq. >> how do you see the combat support elements of the iraqi and today? read a largely dependent on the united states were increasingly independent? >> they are better but they are still not where the need to be to be completely independent. they still need our support. part of the area that is hurting the iraqis if tech to become a security force is to put a freeze on hiring based on their budget constraints and and nine, ten, and 11 is when they were supposed to build the csis and if they continue to have the freeze the want of the individuals to fill the position so that as part of the problem. we are work

the first idea would be in afghanistan and iraq. progress was made in iraq through negotiations. we have not really tried negotiations with the taliban. they are tribal and all we talk about is using more force. that is recruiting more angry people for them. i would recommend to the administration that they try negotiation. that will not be easy but it is worth a try. if we could get a better resolution over there, that would save us billions. my biggest way to save money would be on the health-care debate. we spend more money on health care than any other nation. 75% of our money is spent on cancer, heart attack, stroke, and diabetes. all those are preventable through better diet and lifestyle changes and exercise. that is where the health care debate should be going is to prevention. $1 for prevention saves $5 in health-care costs. host: thank you very much. you are echoing some of the sentiments from dr. cosgrove. yesterday, the supreme court class photo was taken. this includes the new justice sonia sotomayor. the new session opens next monday. they have decided to hear a cas

forces out of iraq. on acquisition reform the conference report supports the plan to increase the size and acquisition work force and reduce reliance on contractors for acquisition functions. it eliminates waste, fraud, and abuse through better contract oversight. the bill also repeals the national security personnel system, returning employees to the general schedule over two years while providing additional flexibilities for hiring and personnel management. the conference agreement prohibits the release of guantanamo bay detainees into the united states, its territories, and possessions, and restricts detainee transfers until after the president has submitted a plan to congress. the conference report revises the military commission act to make them fair and effective and ensure that convictions stick. let me briefly address two difficult aspects of the conference report. first, i'm disappointed, so very disappointed we were not able to retain the houses' provision implementing the president's proposal

forces out of iraq. on acquisition reform the conference report supports the plan to increase the size and acquisition work force and reduce reliance on contractors for acquisition functions. it eliminates waste, fraud, and abuse through better contract oversight. the bill also repeals the national security personnel system, returning employees to the general schedule over two years while providing additional flexibilities for hiring and personnel management. the conference agreement prohibits the release of guantanamo bay detainees into the united states, its territories, and possessions, and restricts detainee transfers until after the president has submitted a plan to congress. the conference report revises the military commission act to make them fair and effective and ensure that convictions stick. let me briefly address two difficult aspects of the conference report. first, i'm disappointed, so very disappointed we were not able to retain the houses' provision implementing the president's proposal

worrying about the defense of this nation and the men and women that are fighting in afghanistan today and iraq. we should not be doing social engineerings on this bill. it's just wrong. and i think it's being done for political purposes, and i just say to my colleagues on the other side who are doing it, shame on you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri. mr. skelton: i continue to reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south carolina. mr. wilson: mr. speaker, i respectfully reserve my time on behalf of the republican leader who shall be here shortly. the speaker pro tempore: is the gentleman from missouri ready to close? mr. skelton: i am not. the majority leader will be with us momentarily. mr. speaker, i yield one minute to my friend, my colleague, the distinguished majority leader, the gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hoyer: i thank the chairman for yielding. i thank the ranking member for his leadership. and i want to say particularly as i start that the distinguished chairman of this commit

look at what has happened with our duties in iraq. -- with iud's in iraq. the policies we are adopting are ensuring defeat. and we have the experience. rumsfeld was correct, they are trying to follow those policies again in afghanistan. if you're going to fight this war, the principles and means of doing it are already well established the politicians are constantly overturning those principles of war because they do not understand them. that will result in a much higher level of casualties and in the long run, it is going to be much more expensive. afghanistan is an air mobile environment. it is not an armored environment. all right host:, we will leave it there. for the next hour we will turn our attention to the u.s. economy and some of the fluctuations in the market and some of the economic signs that are out there in the last couple of weeks or so. this is the couple -- cover story of "business week" this week. why the market will keep going up is one half of the story and did you flip it around you will see "wide market is going nowhere." the story is

one would be the health care industry in iraq. when we went in there in march of 2003, the average annual expenditure for health care per person in iraq was 50 cents per year. so i suppose you could add that into the average, the global average. we do spend a lot of money. we get great results. i have not heard the american people complaining so much about the results because they are great results. but if we want to take the cost down, then we take our medical malpractice. i talked to -- i talked to an orthopedic surgeon -- if my days blend together -- i believe it was yesterday, but out of their small operation they spend $1 million in premiums for malpractice and in unnecessary -- he said unnecessary tests in order to avoid the litigation. defensive medicine over $1 million out of what he considers to be a small practice, what i consider to be a great contributor to our society and civilization. that's multiplied across this country. when i hear numbers that comes from representatives that are part of the health insurance under

he was the first soldier to die in iraq. he was a legal permanent resident of the united states. under senator kyle's provision he and his family would have been barred. now, this amendment sets up a catch 22 for legal imigrants. unlike the suggestion that they are well fair programs when someone is mandated to be having insurance and pays a penalty if they cannot meet that mandate is much different than a wellfare program. i don't consider any of the subsidies under these bills to be a wellfare. we are talking about creating affordibility for families. secondly, the reality is that we are going to put a mandate on legal permanent residents of the united states. had is new. it exists for those who are already here as legal permanent residents of the united states. now they have a mandate placed on them and they are told that even though they serve in the armed forces of the united states , even though they pay all taxes that any other citizens would pay in this country that in addition to the fact they meet all of those obligations that when we mandate them to have insurance and

house in june of this year, how would he have reacted to what seemed like a moment of regime change in iraq? >> i believe the event in june either beginning of a gradual disintegration of this particular regime for the following reasons: the current regime has three pillars. the ayatollah, i iranian nationalism, and the space structure that produced the presidential election. each of these pillars is now in question. the ayatollah is arguing among each other and when you proclaim a universal islamic republic based upon universal@@@@@ @ @ @ correct -- i believe this regime is structurally weaker than it was before. so, the issue is how do we best deal with it. in june the conduct of the administration was a -- i can under an american enterprise but infil period it is important we emphasize moral decency in what we are facing. and we do not slide in the position [inaudible] government increase its conduct or semi thinking and acting [inaudible] of the people who have been making the opposition to the united states will, the governing principles would say should be the principal objective of o

a bill that is supposed to be used to fund the wars in iraq and afghanistan. the final version of the bill included all eight of these aircraft. when the subcommittee met later to consider the 2010 defense appropriations bill, it went ahead and added three more. so it is hard to see this chart that is an interesting one. this is the seac-17 originally n the budget. these other ones that have been added by congress. each year the department of defense and the administration has said enough. we have enough c-17's. obviously that has not been the case. it brings us to where we are now. well in excess of requirements, continue to spend billions of dollars for aircraft we do not need, including the eight c-17's in the 2009 supplemental. the original requirement was 180. according to the most recent statement of administration position, the administration strongly objects to the addition of $2.5 billion in funding for 10 unrequested c-17 airlift their quest -- aircraft. order, together with the existing fleet of c-5 aircraft are more than sufficient to meet the depa

remember, he said, read my lips, no new taxes and even though he won the war2çin iraq, and he was pushed out and many ç vote said for ross perot, and even though they learned that his tray table was not locked in position.ç but bush violated his no new tax pledge, and bill clinton, the best of snake oil ever, he campaigned çby the motto, the people that live by the rules are better than those who don't. $ó1jm3çone last reminding of the speech in 1977, and quoted from the scottish poet, for i am beaten and not slain, i shall d8lay do and çbleed w3a while and then shall rise. reagan said in 1967, çi told y that jimmy 1u÷>carter would campaign as a moderate but governor as a liberal. and even same for bill clinton, and reagan said f he governors from the left, he will fail. if he fails xlpeople will notic they will rise up and there will be activism çxdand count reaction. he was right, the tax that resembles the tax bill, in november, 1993, there was reaction, and democrat liberals lost both races and after that date, the democratic congress never again passed a qsingle ç p

and if that is not enough to worry about, that iraq does not stop there. this is deepening the effects of climate change. storms and rising sea levels will force millions to flee their homes, creating on stable populations were terrorist groups can find sanctuary, and recruit new members. as water dries out and bam and spreads, conflict over scarce resources will increase. the same kind of conflict i witnessed in afghanistan. ultimately, much of the burden of providing security and humanitarian assistance during this time of crisis will fall on the shoulders of the united states military. for these reasons, we are calling on the united states senate to take bold action to curb the effects of climate change and develop clean, homegrown american energy. we wish to remain safe and strong. we need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. we are here today to create an energy future in which america produces its own clear it -- its own clean energy and calls its own shots. this is a fight we must win. this is a bite we will win. thank you. -- this is a fight w

because i think people are stunned when they learned that our soldiers will come back from serving in iraq and afghanistan, the group that we categorize in the age group who have served in the armed services since september 11, 2001, that they're on employment rate has been traditionally higher than the unemployment rate of your average citizen in the united states. so where is that this month's? >> well, for gulf war era to veterans from the unemployment rate is 10.6% as opposed to nonveterans where it is nine points 3%. >> and you and i have talked before about, this was worse earlier in the year, is that right? is always slightly above the national unemployment rate? >> is generally a buffet. >> it is always above the. i think if it has been more about that? >> i'm not sure if it was more in 2009, it's been about the same gap. i'm not sure about whether 2008. >> i think somewhere, well, it was up further than 10% rate. but i think people would be surprised by that because we want to make, when those who serve us, we want to make sure they have a job. and it's difficult because those tha

that i think that people are stunned when they learned that our soldiers to come back from serving in iraq and afghanistan, the group that we categorize in the age group that had served in the armed services since 9/11, their unemployment rate has been traditionally higher than the unemployment rate of the average citizen in the united states. where is that this month? >> the unemployment rate is 10.6% as opposed to non-veterans where it is 9.2%. >> you and i have talked before about how this was worse earlier in the year. is that right? is it always just slightly above the national and a plenary? >> it is generally above it. >> it is always above it, i think. i just wonder if it has been more about it. >> in 2009, it has been about the same gap. >> i think that somewhere, it was up more as a percent rate. i think people would be surprised by that. when those who service come home, we want to make sure they have a job. it is difficult. they may come back in the company they worked for is not there anymore. then they have significantly reduced employment. that is a change. the other thing i

i think general petraeus demonstrated in the iraq that if you pay attention to what the commanders say they need to accomplish the mission, that is what you should fund and that is what you should finance. i think the mission without a change has been to confront al qaeda and the taliban, eradicate al qaeda and their sanctuary and render the taliban neutral any stay as is the type of thing on troops right now, i think stretches that goal. we have not been able to reduce the taliban. they have tripled since march. they have tripled. i think general mike krystle's request is justified -- general machrystle's request is justified. host: did you vote with senator mccain? guest: i did. i think i realized enough information from the generals on the ground where it was absolutely essential that the senate and house be able to hear the testimony of our commanders before a decision is made. guest: finally, one to get your reaction to the new unemployment number. 9.8% as employers cut to a hundred 60,000 jobs. host: -- guest: state tax levels were at their lowest level in decades. our federal re

after the disaster of iraq, the american people will not stand for another endless foreign occupation, one that will cost many lives and not make our country any safer. afghanistan is a difficult problem, but the president still has good options. he can order the pentagon to develop a troop redeployment plan and a timetable for withdrawal. at the same time, he can be bold and shift to a new mission that will be far more likely to succeed because it will actually have the support of the afghan people. this new mission in afghanistan would include economic development, education, infrastructure, humanitarian assistance, better governance and improve local policing and intelligence to hunt down extremists. this is what the afghan people want from america so that they can have hope for a better future and reject violent extremism. mr. speaker, president obama deserves credit for reviewing his decision to send more troops earlier than was expected. he's showing political courage and he's showing an open mind by considering other alternatives. i urge him to choose a new course, one that wil