and then, certainly, iraq itself, because iraq had resources, there was trust funds, in relation to iraq that were able to provide resources back to the people of iraq but we had to create a budgetary system in iraq where the money was not held at the center but could be distributed to the regions, so basra could have some money, so a lot of our efforts were persuading the iraqi government and i spent a bit of time trying do this, when we were established to transfer money from the center to basra itself and it was iraqi money to be used for much of the economic reconstruction, that had not -- not foreign money. >> that was later on. >> yes. >> just again, going back to the provisional authority, to 2003-4. you have mentioned already the role that the treasury secretary played in iraq, and... they achieved. other witnesses have said, one of the difficulties we faced in all of this was because we were a minority partners in the venture and found it rather difficult to exercise influence over how the coalition provisional authority worked. was that your experience? >> we were partners in t

in other words, iraq's security forces, iraq police, iraq economic envelopment and iraq's political development. that was the basis of military construction that could take days. and we only came to that later and not at the first point after the invasion. i regret this. i cannot take personal responsibility for everything that went wrong. i did a paper to the americans just before the war was declared the sad that these things have to be planned for and waited the international organizations to be involved. >> we had of course anticipated that the united nations would do exactly as you said and added a lot of experience and also organizations like the world bank. but we weren't able to do that because we couldn't get the support of the united nations. so you can of international agency but if you don't have a legitimacy that allows it to operate, then you are stuck, and so that was surely the situation we found ourselves in. >> at the united nations does come in at a later stage. >> after resolution may. >> i was chairman of the ims and the imf committee were prepared to come in. the world ban

the course of action in iraq has been that we only gave to the iraqization, iraq's security forces, iraq police, iraq economic and political development. that was the basis on which we construction could take place. that was what a just peace involved. we only came to that later and not shortly after the invasion. i regret this. i cannot take personal responsibility for everything that went wrong. i did a paper to the americans just before the war was declared that said these things had to be planned for. and that we needed international organizations to be involved. >> we have anticipated that the united nations would do exactly as you said. you have a lot of experience and organizations like the world bank. but we were not able to do that because we could not get the support of the united nations. you can have an international agency, but if you don't have the legitimacy that allows it to operate, then you are stuck. that was the situation we found ourselves in. >> but the united nations came in after a resolution in may. it is true to say that the postwar planning -- because we now kn

report on iraq arguing that 2010 this year is going to be a pivotal year in the iraq war. and then last but by no means least and are trained brings two different dimensions to this discussion this morning. here's a middle east scholar having really studied worked, lived, fought, including at the american university of beirut. that was the fighting perhaps. and also kings college london. he is a soldier, led army rangers in iraq and afghanistan among many other things. he's also a great writer and thinker. he's written a great book, this man's army. he read some of the most provocative blogs of flow on the internet and most importantly is a great colleague also at the center for a new american security. so almost having a staff meeting chair that were leading linda robinson joined. and that, what lessons to draw from iraq? >> thank you very much, patrick. i'm delighted to be part of this conversation today. and i am certainly going to draw on the boat can't tell me how this sense. i've also just finished writing a chapter for a book that is looking at less than learned fro

the course of action in iraq has been that we only gave to the iraqization, iraq's security forces, iraq police, iraq economic and political development. that was the basis on which we construction could take place. that was what a just peace involved. we only came to that later and not shortly after the invasion. i regret this. i cannot take personal responsibility for everything that went wrong. i did a paper to the americans just before the war was declared that said these things had to be planned for. and that we needed international organizations to be involved. >> we have anticipated that the united nations would do exactly as you said. you have a lot of experience and organizations like the world bank. but we were not able to do that because we could not get the support of the united nations. you can have an international agency, but if you don't have the legitimacy that allows it to operate, then you are stuck. that was the situation we found ourselves in. >> but the united nations came in after a resolution in may. it is true to say that the postwar planning -- because we now kn

troops in iraq. the obama administration plans to withdraw all combat troops by the end of this august and the remaining forces by the end of 2011. >> lehrer: two perspectives now on sunday's election. feisal istrabadi has served as iraq's deputy ambassador to the united nations. he is now a visiting law professor at indiana university. brian katulis was on the national security council staff in the clinton administration and is now a senior fellow at the center for american progress, a washington think tank. first, what's your best guess as to what's behind the bombs and who's doing it? >> well, this is always occurred in iraq whenever we've had significant events. we've had... whether it's electionstor referendum on the permanent constitution, et, there are interested voices or individuals interested in iraq and outside iraq, unfortunately, in disrupting the process. the government always says it's al qaeda and the ba'athists. whether that's the case or whether there's also a national... an interna

how me are in iraq, how many in afghanistan? >> we have no one in iraq right now. we have i believe it is 20 in afghanistan today, but i can confirm you that. >> so nobody in iraq to coordinate? >> correct. we have already explained why. >> mr. bever? >> representatives from ambassador herbst group me with us every week. where we have our own interagency meeting at usaid headquarters. it includes representatives from the department of defense, treasury, health, human services and others. agriculture include it. we also meet regularly, weekly, along with other assistant secretary level, undersecretary level, officers at the state department. we made at our deputy assistant secretary levels and that the deputies committees. that's all here in washington. in the field, as well, obvious at the region of commands and kabul. in the case of our colleagues from the pentagon, that's almost daily, hourly, coordination effort with, especially the pakistan-afghanistan coordination unit that has been set up at the pentagon. we also have military representation at a id in our of

on iraq, our strategic goal is an iraq that is sovereign, stable and self-reliant. now, you've read a lot about the transition because we are going through a transition, a transition from a military-led focus to a civilian-led focus. and believe me, those of us in the state department know how closely this transition is going to be watched and how important the responsibilities are on our shoulders of getting this transition right. there's been a lot of blood and treasure that this country has committed to iraq over the years, and we in the state department and the civilian agencies must be up to the challenge of managing that transition through a civilian-led relationship. there's a lot of debate in the papers now about the upcoming iraq elections on march 7th. i would say what this debate shows, you know, are these civilians disqualified, was that commission, did it have legitimacy to try to disqualify these sunni candidates? all of this debate shows that elections matter in iraq. i think it's basically a positive sign of how important the democratic process has b

iraq's sovereignty. clearly they became responsible for their own decisions and we are a partner with them in helping them to move forward. clearly, they make the decisions. we support them. we try to help them in order to provide security throughout iraq, in order for them to continue to build their political base, their economic base and to develop the democratic system. so they clearly have more of a say than we do now. that's the way it should be. that's the way we want it to be. they'll how they'll develop their capacity. >> lehrer: you don't have a veto power? >> no, we do not have a veto. they clearly make their own decisions. we again we have discussions about issues. we talk about these issues. we give them our opinions, but ultimately they make the decision about their government. >> lehrer: now, the time line for the troop withdrawals, for the u.s. troop withdrawals, are they on track as a result of the elections? >> i believe so. i was very pleased with the elections. i thought the iraqi secu

is best for iraq. for the united states, we want iraqis to make these decisions. we are very encouraged by the elections. this was the fifth election that has been held in iraq since the fall of the saddam regime. i am counting a referendum and that thought. the turnout was good, 62% according to the data. the. count is going the those of us who are -- the count is going slow. the iraqis have come a long way from when i first went there in 2003. they have a long way to go but in terms of developing a more democratic political culture, they have made real strides. what we would like to see now is for syria to understand that that government is not going anywhere. the constitutionally elected government of iraq will stay. it will not be overthrown. they have an interest in shutting down foreign fighters. they have an interest in not helping groups trying to undermine the state. instead, syria has a real interest in consolidated relations with iraq. these groups that they allow freedom to run aground aggr

we're holding an event on iraq and on iraq's elections. it's a little bit amusing to me to be sitting here introducing event on iraq, something that when i started here at aei back in 2002 i used to do at a weekly basis. and the truth is that the good news is no news in iraq and we haven't had as much to talk about in recent years, since the success of the surge. and while i think iraq has had some ups and downs, we are here on overall what is a pretty positive occasion to talk about iraq's elections, i'm going to get my number wrong. it's the fourth election in five years. elections are meant to be exciting and of themselves but only because of the democratic process and not any violence associated with them. always a committee to step up and violence in iraq and i've no doubt we will see more in the coming week. at the end of the day, most of the excitement is in fact coming from the to and fro of the electoral process rather than anything else, which is a wonderful story and something that perhaps as we look too closely, we tend to forg

elections in iraq. this lasts about five minutes. >> good afternoon, everybody. today, the people of iraq went to the polls to choose their leaders in the second national election. by any measure, this was an important milestone in iraqi history. dozens of parties and coalitions, men and women, some 50,000 voting booths were cast ballots. millions of iraqis the exercised their right to vote with enthusiasm and optimism. today's voting makes it clear that the future of iraq alone to the people of iraq. the election was organized and administered by the iraqi independent highet electoral commission with critical support from the united nations. hundreds of thousands of iraqis served as pull station workers and as observers. as expected, there were some incidents of violence as al qaeda and irain iraq tried to dt the process by murdering those who were exercising their democratic rights. overall, the level of security, the provision of these destabilizing a taattacks were solved by iraqi security forces. i

everyone needed to understand iraq for the sake of iraq. can you talk about the present and future influence of ahmad chalabi, if there is any? >> the plan has nine lives. i think it has been in i lot of the papers, so i -- in a lot of the papers, so i won't repeat the details of that. again, diplomatic intervention was required before those 500 people were perjuried -- purged from the electoral rolls. it is important that you get full reputation across the iraqi spectrum so you can have multisectarian political building that is neeted for the end game. it is a parliamentary system, and this is absolutely critical. so i am very concerned, a, that it happened, and b, that we were not more on top of it and did more to walk the cat back. and i think that we really do -- this is one thing. behind-the-scenes, petraeus and crocker worked intensively with malaki. the general is an able general, but he doesn't have that political intuition and maeuverability. he's not as ad event in that world of maneuvering. i think we have suffered at a critical

our gains in iraq. whether it will still be possible or we should desire to reach the -- draw down to 50,000 american troops in iraq by september 1st, of this year. it is obviously not a draw-down required by the status of forces agreement with iraq, it is a good goal, but i'm sure you would say, it would be -- would be the first to say we don't want to arbitrarily go to it if we think there is significant risk of reversal, as a result. so, give me your sense at this moment of whether we're going to be able to get down to the 50,000 by september 1st. >> i think we will be able to do that, senator. i think that in fact we may reconfigure the force a bit, over original what we thought it looked like four months ago or so, we're constantly tinkering with it and we may want to keep an additional brigade headquarters as an example and slim out some of its organic forces and some of the other organic forces elsewhere, headquarters matter, in these times, because they are the element of engagement and if indee

on what is best for iraq. now of course for the united states we want iraqis to make the decisions and we are very encouraged by the elections. this was the fifth election that has been held in iraq since the fall of the saddam hussein regime. i'm counting a referendum on the constitution and that five. the turnout is good 62% according to data the count is going slow and how it's going to go looking at the news reports every day to see the figures. i think the iraqis have come a long way from when i first went there in 2003. in terms of developing a more space political culture they have made real strides. for the syrians to understand that government is not going anywhere. the constitutionally elected government of iraq is going to stay. it's not going to be overthrown so they have an interest in shutting down for insiders. they have an interest not helping groups try to undermine the state instead syria has an interest in consolidating relations with iraq and these groups they allow freedom to run around to

employees in iraq. as well as u.s. military withdrawals. coming up in the second panel, to defense contractors from kbr, doug horn from defense contracting services operations maintenance and logistics, vice president. and kbr defense contractor guy laboa. that should be coming up very briefly here as the second panel convenes in this wartime contracting commission. that you're watching live on c-span2, this may be here. on c-span3 on the way live right now from the u.s. treasury department, a panel discussion on the contributions of women and how to foster success among future generations of women in the public and private finance sectors. that's underway now live on c-span3. and coming up in the noon hour at about 1230 time that we expect state department briefing, and part of that briefing expected to be about the new start treaty and the administrations nonproliferation policies. the president, after a surprise visit to afghanistan, back in you can today expected to sign the health care bill into la

how me are in iraq, how many in afghanistan? >> we have no one in iraq right now. we have i believe it is 20 in afghanistan today, but i can confirm you that. >> so nobody in iraq to coordinate? >> correct. we have already explained why. >> mr. bever? >> representatives from ambassador herbst group me with us every week. where we have our own interagency meeting at usaid headquarters. it includes representatives from the department of defense, treasury, health, human services and others. agriculture include it. we also meet regularly, weekly, along with other assistant secretary level, undersecretary level, officers at the state department. we made at our deputy assistant secretary levels and that the deputies committees. that's all here in washington. in the field, as well, obvious at the region of commands and kabul. in the case of our colleagues from the pentagon, that's almost daily, hourly, coordination effort with, especially the pakistan-afghanistan coordination unit that has been set up at the pentagon. we also have military representation at a id in our of

it has taken some time but iraq pays the salaries of the so-called sons of iraq who have not been provided jobs in various ministries and what have you. and a number of them have indeed already transitioned in that form. so that's what we have to be sensitive to here as well. and recognizing afghanistan is a country that doesn't have the financial means that iraq has. and so that's yet another dynamic that we're wrestling with. but we're indeed taking advantage of some of these opportunities in very careful ways in partnership with our iraqi colleagues. >> what strikes me this is a large country, 20, 25 million people will soon be drawing down our troop levels. many of them now are going to have to be concentrated in some of the more dangerous arizona. -- areas. and that leaves a lot of areas that we don't have any presence in or ves presence. -- very little presence and we may be desperate enough that we may have to take some chances with leaders that we believe are pretty good leaders. >> there's some that are going on and there are areas where the afghans are security forces. have been

all american combat troops are set to leave iraq by the end of august. at the same time the president conducted a comprehensive reevaluation of our afghanistan policy. one in which all viewpoints were heard. some thought it took too long. some of us believed it was a careful, thoughtful and correct attention to an important decision. the obama administration came to the conclusion that a failed afghanistan was the launching pad for terrorist attacks that killed thousands of americans as well as a source of regional instability. and that a newly failed afghan state could pose the same danger again. that is why we in a bipartisan way authorized troops to go to afghanistan over a decade or about a decade ago. that is why the president committed to a strategy of troop increases. not an -- not as an open-ended commitment but as a strategy to counterinsurgency with drawls set to begin in the summer -- with withdrawals set to begin in the summer of 2011. this isn't a war we fight alone. our allies understand that the threat of terrorism affects us all and have

we are holding an event on iraq and iraq's elections. it's a little bit amusing to me to be sitting here introducing and even on iraq something when i started here back in 2002 when used to do it on a weekly basis and the truth is good news is no news in iraq and we haven't had as much talk about in recent years since the success of the surge and while i think iraq has had some ups and downs we are here on overall what is a pretty positive occasion to talk about iraq's elections. i'm going to get my number wrong. it's the fourth election in five years. elections are meant to be exciting in and of themselves but only because of the space process and not because of any violence associated with them. while we have certainly seen a step up in violence in iraq and i have no doubt we will see more in the coming weeks at the end of the most of the excitement is in fact coming from the to and from of the electoral process rather than anything else which is a wonderful story and something perhaps as we look too closely we tend to forget but overa

marine who served as an infantry unit in iraq in vermont he dreamed 07. i believe you and your cronies are horribly wrong on the issue of waterboarding and that the slippery slope of condoning waterboarding leads to escalating evil by those who think they are well-intentioned. >> guest: i respect that. i disagree. we waterboarding u.s. military personnel every year in order to help them train for invasion and escape. and waterboarding was used in a very carefully described in proscribed way. i put the memos about its use up my website, rove.com so people can see how careful these lawyers at the department of justice were in making certain our commitments under our law and their international commitments were met. and that was used only in the case of three high-value targets in the information we received once the technique had been used and resistance had been broken. save lives both here and abroad and oil thought some of which are known to the public and some which are not. postcode gail and west river, maryland. good afternoon or good morning. >> call

forces now numbering 95,000 the gear must withdrawal from iraq. we will talk to two men critical to overseeing the operation. we have jim pills, the general command. he is helping to decide what to keep and what to give to allies and what to give away. later, john johns, the assistant secretary of defense will talk about the maintenance operation for maintaining order in the country after u.s. leaves. welcome to the show. >> thank you. >> you have a job of withdrawalling all of the gear. what have you pulled out? how much have you pulled out? how much more do you have to go? will you make your deadline? >> a complicated question. the answer to the last part is yes. we will make our deadline. our command headed by general dunwoody set up the task force in control of the central command. when the general says a piece of gear can be brought out of iraq, it goes through a vetting process that many folks get to look at to see if it is needed in iraq in another unit or another command or can it be given back to the u.s. for other troops. this process is

if we passed a similar resolution about iraq we would not be victorious in iraq now. we wouldn't have less than 1,000 marines in iraq because they've all pulled out. why did they pull out? because we've won. iraq is no longer a threat. i had friends give their lives for this great nation in both iraq and afghanistan. a vote for this resolution is sending a message to their families that their sacrifices and willingness to stand in the gap against tyranny and destruction and radical islam was false. this is the wrong message to send. our message should be one of support and encouragement. and as congressional representatives we should be standing side by side with our troops in the field, not abandoning our cause when our military needs us the most. if we were to pull out of afghanistan we would be inviting those terrorists and al qaeda to attack us here again on american soil. we don't need another 9/11. this resolution could well be named the retreat and abandonment of our military resolution. i don't believe the purpose of this resolution is to protect our men and w

marine who served in the infantry unit in iraq and ramadi during 07. i believe you and your cronies are horribly wrong on the issue of waterboarding and the slippery slope of condoning waterboarding leads to escalating evil by those who think they are well-intentioned. >> guest: i respect that but i disagree. we've water board u.s. military personnel every year in order to help them trained for a station and escapes and waterboarding was used in a very carefully described and prescribed weight. i put the memo on my website, rove.com said people can read them and see how careful these lawyers at the department of justice were making certain our commitments and our international commitments were met. and it was used only in the case of three high-value targets in the information we received once the technique had been used and resistance broken safelights both here and abroad and foiled plots some of which are known to the public and some of which are not. >> host: gail in west river maryland, good afternoon or good morning. >> caller: good morning. mr.

we must let the strategy work and achieve the success like we had in iraq. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. kucinich: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from florida is recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, madam speaker. now i'd like to yield a minute to the gentleman from florida, another florida colleague, mr. rooney, a member of the armed services and judiciary committees. the speaker pro tempore: how long? ms. ros-lehtinen: one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. rooney: first i want to acknowledge and thank congressman buche disturb bue chair -- bue chairy and duncan for their service. i hear from many directly about the progress being made and the need for the continued support of this congress. it's for that reason i will vote no on this resolution. withdrawal now would destabilize that area of the world and create a vacuum for troor. groups like al qaeda and the taliban w

look, i appreciate he doesn't agree with me on iraq. but again i find it hard to believe she's even read the book. read the book. all i ask is a fair reading. we can have a responsible disagreement about it. these sort of i want to retitle the book without having read it striked me as a little short minded. >> host: could she have that dialogue with you on your web site? >> guest: i'd say on facebook page and karl rove.com where i accept e-mails. if people are rude, it goes to the trash. so don't bother. >> host: allen from gary, indiana. >> caller: good morning. i know often times there a statement or statements made about how safe the country was after september 11th. but i'd like karl to explore the idea of how safe we were september 10th and before given richard clark's admonitions about the danger of terrorists taking over aircrafts and doing damage in this country. and i also -- i'm kind of curious about the -- what karl's take would be on the cycle drama that appeared to happen when you elect a person like president bush with a v

even opponents of the war like harbor boxer all said iraq had wmd. this was a consensus of the intelligence community shared broadly throughout the government under clinton, shared broadly under bush and widely through the western intelligence communities. the preponderance of evidence was that he had wmd. in fact there are 100 demo rats who voted for the war resolution, 149 who opposed it. 67 stand up on the house of the florida senate and said saddam had wmd. if you want to say bush lied and you have to assume everyone of those light including ted kennedy and barbara boxer. he had lots of material. we found 500 tons of yellowcake, uranium yellowcake. we found biological and chemical delivery systems. we found tens of thousands of artillery shells and delivery vehicles that contained chemical weapons that had raided over time. but we didn't find wmd operative and usable which was what we feared. in fact is we broached baghdad, the third infantry approaches back that, we hear chatter on the radio from the iraqi saying where we going to get permission

the debates in congress, to mandate a withdrawal from iraq, demoralizes u.s. troops. the request of my staffers to me as they embark on their mission to afghanistan is to provide them with all of the tools and all of the support that they need to defeat the enemy and to win. they ask that we strengthen our commitment, our resolve to the mission in afghanistan and pakistan. our enemies are redoubling their efforts. we must also. in june of last year, osama bin laden noted that u.s. efforts had been, and i quote, transferred to afghanistan and pakistan. thus, jihad must be directed at that region, end quote. bin laden later said in september, and i quote, not much longer and the war in afghanistan will be over. afterwards, not even a trace of the americans will be found there. much rather they will retreat far away behind the atlantic. then, only we and you will be left. end quote. we must do everything possible to deny by laden and al qaeda such a victory. -- bin laden and al qaeda such a victory. for us to succeed in afghanistan we need america's support, but

everyone talked about the need to understand iraq for the sake of iraq. can you talk a little bit about the president and future influence of how much will it be if there is any. >> the man has nine lives politically. yeah, i think it's been in a lot of the papers so i won't repeat the details of that, but the problem is and again i think earlier diplomatic intervention was required before those 500 people were purged from the electoral rose to be able to run for candidates. and again this is critical that you get in this parliament finally full representation across the iraqi political spectrum so then you can have the kind of multisite variants coalition building that will produce some legislation that's required for the endgame. i mean, the parliamentary system and this is absolutely critical. and so i am very concerned and that it happened and be that we were not more on top of it and did more to walk the cat back. and i think that we really do -- this is one thing behind the scenes, you know, petraeus and crocker worked intensively with malik he and

a lot of troops in iraq doing the task that you outlined. how many troops there are actually not -- do not have that much to do? it seems like 92,000 troops are a lot to do the tasks that you outlined. are they there just in case something happens? the lawyers know, i would say not really. the troops here in the center are pretty busy. you look at what occurred early in the election period, and now that province has 300 polling centers, and in baghdad, another 1500. part of all we did was partner with our iraqi brothers and help them work their way through their plan, which they developed in the election support. let me give you an example. at the baghdad operation center, which operates all the security, we have transition teams that work with the iraqi staff on a daily basis. i spend a fair amount of my time over there with the commander, talking with them in dealing with the issues that he brings up as he puts his security plan in place. we spend time with their counterparts, where we have training teams staffed. and down to the iraqi div

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. -- anti statistics -- and tight- a suspected -- enticed back -- 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. i'they should complain about us being not aggressive enough. >> we have one last clip. this is only about 1.5 minutes. >> good general is up for 30 a.m. and out the door at 5:00 p.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 month. >> 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 missed his family. besides that, it is p

it was obviously our policy in reaction to iraq. the conclusion that we had reluctantly to draw was that sanction were not being effective in the way that we had wanted and were inflicting damage of the iraqi people and at the same time causing the greatest of concern to the ruler of iraq. >> has the situation evolved 2002, 2003. were you and other senior members on the policy? >> of course. we had reports that you will see regularly in the cabinet about the diplomatic course that was being taken and of course a lot of the discussions, the cabinet was being kept in touch about what was happening. i cannot see an argument that the cabinet was not informed. we were informed fully. they were essentially focused on the diplomacy and the problems as well as the opportunities that came from that diplomatic process. >> were you informed with number so's exchanges with the white house and did you see mr. blair's letters to the president? >> no, i would not expect to see private letters between mr. blair and president bush. >> the conversati

and iraq in afghanistan, it 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's "q&a". >> tuesday, president obama signed the health care bill into law. democratic lawmakers gathered in the east room. the president and vice president spoke before an audience in the interior department. this is about 40 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of united states and vice president of the united states. [applause] >> thank you, all. [cheers and applause] >> thank you, all. [chanting] >> thank you. mr. president, i think we have a happy room here. [laughter] it seems ridiculous to say, thank you all for being here. ladies and gentleman, to state the obvious, this is an historic day. [applause] and our visit, -- business, we use that phrase a lot, but i cannot think of the day that i have -- that is more properly stated. this is an historic day. history is not merely what is printed in textbooks. it does not begin or end with the stroke of a pen. entry is made. it is made when men and women decide -- history is made when men and women decide

, in iraq or afghanistan. you remember cue gnaw? that was a success in afghanistan. when you see the situation in all these places and marjah is going to be like that in one year. so let's be extremely careful, let's have theory that really are what's going on on the ground and not be a disconnected way. and i think i will end with one remark, just one remark that we have to think about in the case of the afghan war, it's the soviet experience. we have to understand how they work because we are in the a position that is in certain aspect comparable. we are working, basically, with the same social groups, and it's interesting. i was two weeks ago in a meeting. it was about afghanistan, so we took two days. and the afghans were there basically were people who were belonging to the communist party in the '80s and now they are working with us. because, after all, when you have opinion a communist, you're thinking that modernity's good, that the women should vote, and after all, why the americans -- [inaudible] so

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

with iraq, our strategic goal is iraq that is sovereign, a stable, and self-reliant her crowhop crowhop -- we're going through a transition and believe me those in the state department know how close this transition will be watched and how important their responsibilities are on our soldiers to get this transition right. there has been a lot of blood and treasure this country has committed over the years and we must up the challenge with the civilian led relationship. there is a lot of debate with the upcoming iraqi elections. i would say does that make them disqualified? did the commission have legitimacy? all of this debate shows that elections matter in iraq. it is basically a positive sign of our important the democratic process has been to see a debate that is the strongest in iraq today. with iran, this is i think probably the biggest challenge that we face in the region and the question is how does the international community work together to show if a country openly defies its international obligations, refuses to play by the rules how do show that there are consequences for its

iraq's culture would not allow it. it was once assumed that america was trying to impose democracy on iraq or perhaps export it to iraq. and it was once assumed that no manner of additional u.s. troops could succeed in helping iraqis to secure their country. these were all popular assumptions, especially in this town, popular but wrong. and thankfully, the united states followed a different course. because we did, iraqis are showing the freedom and democracy are iraqi dreams and increasingly iraqi realities. iraqis are choosing to resolve their differences through cooperation and dialogue, not violence and repression. they are demonstrating that iraqis share the same basic aspirations as you and me: safe neighborhoods, opportunity for themselves and their children, equal access to justice, a chance to elect those who would govern them and to live under laws of their own making. yesterday the citizens of iraq once again reaffirmed that a nation's past need not determine its future. when citizens of courage are devoted t

what i thought would make the most sense of like to start with a scene from iraq. imagine yourself alongside a road and what looks and to view seems like a piece of trash but that insurgent has it hid the brightest explosive device, the ied with great care. by 2006 there are more than 2600 of these attacks and they are the leading cause of casualties among both americans will in the iraqi civilians. this team that is hunting for that ieds the oed the ordinance explosive disposal prototypical tour will go up on 600 calls per tour the fact that they put a recorded $50,000 bounty on the killing of the oed soldier burma unfortunately this would not end well by the time the soldier got close enough to see that piece of trash was really the i -- ied it exploded. depending on how much explosive is packed into one of these coming have to be as far away as 50 yards to escape injury or death from the fragments. even if you are not hit this year forced -- forces can break your bones. that soldiers stood right on stop -- ride on top of that night the commander wrote a letter b

the democratic process is succeeding in iraq. the people there, despite extraordinaryly -- extraordinarily difficult challenges, are able to express themselves in free elections. sunday was a good day for the future of iraq. but those elections would not have taken place but for the decision of president bush in 2007 to send over 20,000 surge troops to iraq in order to establish, and i quote, a unified democratic federal iraq that can govern itself, defend itself, and sustain itself, end quote. and those elections would not have been possible but for the sacrifices of our troops and their families. just four months ago, mr. speaker, president obama announced a surge strategy for afghanistan. he committed 30,000 additional forces to a counter insurgency strategy that i believe will help to strengthen the government in afghanistan, its security forces, as the surge did in iraq. now, since president obama's announcement we have seen considerable results. for example, last month our troops began what is known as the offensive, the jo

iraq. can you talk a little bit about the president and future influence of other chalabi as there is any. >> the man has nine lives, politically. i think it's been in a lot of the papers so i won't repeat the details of that, but the problem is and again i think earlier diplomatic intervention was required before those 500 people were purged from the electoral roll to be able to run for candidates. .. >> that's not a criticism. it's just his personality or he is not as adept are comfortable in that world of maneuvering. and i think we have suffered as a result at a very radical time. but ultimately it is of the iraqi's who have to come around to programs these deals, and maybe they will get through a painful tree that may involve some return to war. i was a little concerned about the u.n. envoys kind of hands-off bit where he said let's let the iraqi's sorted out. there's just some deep cleavage is in very deep issues, and traditionally war in the scenarios have involved some kind of media

, 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 i think it helps to shape iraq for the future and will help to push iraq to the future. >> on our new set, i do hope in the months ahead, you get a chance to come home for a few days and see your world champion new york yankees. it pains me a bit to say that. but i know you'd like to see a ball game. >> there's nothing like a red sox/yankee game. there's no greater rivalry in all of sports. i wish good luck to both of them. i hope the yankees finish on top. >> maybe we can go together, the beer's on me if we can. thank you so much, sir. >> thank you, john, it's great to be with you. >> up next, the most important person you don't know. one-time punk rocker who's become a thorn in the politician's side. natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel, yet a lot of natural gas has impurities like co2 in it. controlled freeze zone is a new technology... being developed by exxonmobil... to remove the co2 from the natural gas... so we can safely store it... where it won't get into the atmosphere. exxonmobil is spending more than 100 million dollars... to build a plant that will demonstrate this

at the end of the iraq war, we -- the run up to 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. "60 minutes" -- general mcchrystal. this is only about 1.5 minutes. >> good general is up for 30 a.m. and out the door at 5:00 p.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. it is not as many miles as it used to be. >> in another life, he could have been a month. -- 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 missed his family. besides that, it is pretty much perfect. >> he lived like this for five years as part of a unit that captured saddam hussein. they tracked down other infamous terrorists and called in airstrikes to kill them. being a general didn't stop him

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

withdrawal from iraq, demoralizes u.s. troops. the request of my staffers to me as they embark on their mission to afghanistan is to provide them with all of the tools and all of the support that they need to defeat the enemy and to win. they ask that we strengthen our commitment, our resolve to the mission in afghanistan and pakistan. our enemies are redoubling their efforts. we must also. in june of last year, osama bin laden noted that u.s. efforts had been, and i quote, transferred to afghanistan and pakistan. thus, jihad must be directed at that region, end quote. bin laden later said in september, and i quote, not much longer and the war in afghanistan will be over. afterwards, not even a trace of the americans will be found there. much rather they will retreat far away behind the atlantic. then, only we and you will be left. end quote. we must do everything possible to deny by laden and al qaeda such a victory. -- bin laden and al qaeda such -- bin laden and al qaeda such ,@ @ @ @ @ @ @ r rs@ @ @ @ @ @ @-s)u@ @ h@ @ @ @ ra,