east in do you think middle east? >> i think it strengthens his credibility. i think as far as north africa and the middle east and south asia for that matter, i think they see him as a player much more someone who delivers the goods, swron womeone who kt a a only talks. they may be disappointed in some of the things he's said and done, but they'll take him more serious. >> everything you need to know before the president's big speech. president obama live from the state department this just a few minutes talking about the u.s. and the shifting landscape in the arab world. at work, building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible. pure... and also delicious. like nature valley. granola

s middle east policy should be, we are previewing president obama's middle east speech at 11:40 a.m. eastern time which will be live on c- span. our numbers -- alice in charlotte. ller: i have four points i will make quick and succinctly. mber one, i would like to hear mr. obama say he is firing dennis ross and replacing him with charles freeman, replacing him. clinton with hillary -- leverit. i would like to see him close the holocaust museum in washington until israel stops killing peaceful protesters, palestinians. i would like him to the rest benjamin netanyahu when he enters american airspace for the murder of rachel corey, a peaceful activist in israel. host: those of your fear -- four points. thank you for calling in. john, another independent. caller: it has been a long time since i called in. america has got to stop watching the regular media and start going to -- hello? it is about the president. one other thing i found out by watching free-speech see me, democracy now, was that remember this last week when the guy came in -- from the ara emirates. this guy who owns black w

president on restarting the middle east peace process. pro-democracy activists said more than 30 people have been killed by security forces in another crack down by protestors. demonstrations against high unemployment showed no signs of letting up after entering a sixth day. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- sharp differences remain between barack obama and the israeli prime minister after their talks at the white house. even before he arrived, the leader had projected that the borders in place for the arab- israeli war should be the basis of peace talks. he stood his ground when he met the u.s. president today. >> this was not a meeting of like minds. his talks with israeli prime minister took place amid tense relations exacerbated a day earlier by the middle east policy speech. he called for a state with borders predating the 1967 arab- israeli war. for israel, it would mean relinquishing large parts of the west bank to the palestinians. israel categorically reject a land-for-peace deal. he rejected the p

i am joined by a middle east expert could welcome. what struck you as the significant thing in his speech today? >> i think it was remarkable that president obama was referring to the borders of a future palestinian state, mentioning that these borders should be those of the 1967 war. in other words, he made it clear to both sides, especially the israelis in this case, that all the occupied territories, including east jerusalem, will have to be returned to the palestinians. of course, there may be minor swaps in territory, but, nevertheless, the message was very clear. >> many in the arab world considered it crucial for peace in the region. >> i think the resolve is lacking. there is a lot of wishful thinking, a lot of desire by the americans to get things moving. but it is difficult to negotiate with stubborn partners in the region. it will be difficult for mr. obama to really overdue his criticism of the israeli side. tomorrow, the israeli prime minister will be in washington. so he has to be of a careful not to estranged his israel

washington time the fighting ended in the middle east. prevent -- and epilogue eisenhower continued to be a long concerned of the soviet intervention because british french and israelis declined to withdraw the forces. eisenhower adamantly you refuse to provide support to the bankrupt allies and the virtually bankrupt because there was a run on the pound and british finances were in terrible shape. he refused to provide support the allies were facing a cold winter he would give them nothing into a publicly committed themselves to withdraw all. it got so intense that in paris cabdrivers refuse to pick up americans than gas stations declined to sell them fuel. it took one month to get the commitment and another month for withdrawal. israeli withdrawal took even longer. another story. the israelis evacuated the sinai but refuse to leave the gaza strip and continue to occupy those two spots. after former presidential pressure israeli government announced its intention of withdrawal because politically it is a hot potato. with the eisenhower d

and i think what is most interesting is that young people have taken to the streets in the middle east, are not looking to bin laden and al- qaeda. they want a more moods earn future. and bin laden is really been a sideshow. he's really an echo of a time that's past. >> let's do a little history la wrap sheet. the bin laden wrap sheet. 2001, the 9/11 attacks, nearly 3,000 people were killed at the pentagon, shanksville, pennsylvania and the world trade center. 2000, the bombing of the uss cole in yemen. 17 americans were killed. 1998, the bombings of the of of u.s. embassies in kenya and tanzania. 12 americans killed. 1996, the bombing of the u.s. military housing khobar towers. 19 americans killed. what do you think of this? >> well, look, osama bin laden was certainly the most prominent islamic jihadi leader with the most success in terms every killing americans and westerners. he was able to organize this group called al-qaeda, which means the base, in order to carry out in a systemic way these kinds of terrorists acts against the united states and the west. i think it's also import

middle east? i said no. he said that we are liberating them. i said you are seeing it like germany that they are seeing us as the mongols. he said what do they have to do with this? the simple fact is that the mongols were the first invaders of baghdad and they actually saw us as the new invaders. there had been the mongols that had conquered, there had been the british that they conquered and now they were us. the issue here is that if you were going to operate in the region, if we are going to invest and lose lives, and cost ourselves dearly and treasure, we at least ought to know the place we are going into and the fact is that we did not. we don't know because basically our educational system does not prepare us, and we have gone through reviews of textbooks that i've gone back to the 1970s. actually you go back to when i was a kid and some of you are my age and so you will recognize this, the history of civilization as we have studied it was a narrowly defined civilization. it actually starte

and i think what is most interesting is that young people have taken to the streets in the middle east, are not looking to bin laden and al- qaeda. they want a more moods earn future. and bin laden is really been a sideshow. he's really an echo of a time that's past. >> let's do a little history la wrap sheet. the bin laden wrap sheet. 2001, the 9/11 attacks, nearly 3,000 people were killed at the pentagon, shanksville, pennsylvania and the world trade center. 2000, the bombing of the uss cole in yemen. 17 americans were killed. 1998, the bombings of the of of u.s. embassies in kenya and tanzania. 12 americans killed. 1996, the bombing of the u.s. military housing khobar towers. 19 americans killed. what do you think of this? >> well, look, osama bin laden was certainly the most prominent islamic jihadi leader with the most success in terms every killing americans and westerners. he was able to organize this group called al-qaeda, which means the base, in order to carry out in a systemic way these kinds of terrorists acts against the united states and the west. i think it's also import

the middle east quartet and the arab peace initiative. and hamas are planning to take this matter to you when in september and their representatives i've already said that russia has promised its support this whole dispute has been going on for many decades and you know it became pretty clear that the international community including the middle east quartet they support the idea of a two state solution meaning that israel and palestine should be two separate independent can. just recently us president barack obama said that the water is all these future independent states should be based on bills from one nine hundred sixty seven which basically means that they would go through to some of this idea is supported by the international community including also plus he was injected by the israeli prime minister who said that such a scenario would meet israel defenseless at a meeting with israel's biggest lobby in the united states barak obama softening his stance saying that the borders don't really have to be exactly as they were a nation si

. >> let's get some reaction from the president's speech from different parts of the middle east and hear from our correspondents in ramallah, jerusalem and tripoli but we're going to start with john line and he is in egypt. >> in cairo they certainly will welcome president obama's support, what is described as the core principles which are being fought for in the middle east at the moment, human rights, freedom of expression and assembly. those are all very important of course to the many arabs engaged in uprisings against their governments successfully or otherwise in recent months and will be much more skeptical about his call for middle east peace and for a new initiative on the israeli-palestinian issue. they've heard that before and heard that in his speech in 2009. nothing seems to have come of it and there is deep disillusionment with president obama and the high hopes he raised in 2009. interesting many people didn't know president obama was speaking about the middle east today and wouldn't have been aware of what he said. and that raises a wider issue from his speech which

this moment belongs to the people of the middle east and north africa. they have seized control of their destiny and will make the choices that determine how the future of the region unfolds. for america, this is a moment that calls out for a clear vision, firm principles, and a sophisticated understanding of the indispensable role our country can and must apply in the world. those have been the hallmarks of president obama's leadership from his first day in office. it is with great confidence and faith in our future that i welcome the president of united states, barack obama. [applause] thank you. thank you. thank you very much. thank you. please, have a seat. thank you very much. i want to begin by thanking hillary clinton, who has traveled so much these last six months that she is approaching a new landmark -- one million frequent flyer miles. i count on hillary every single day and i believe that she will go down as one of the finest secretaries of state in our nation's history. the state department is a fitting venue to mark a new chapter in america

we no longer have a middle east peace envoy. we have no real engagement between the united states and the parties to speak of. and we have, now, talk of serious unilateral actions that the palestinians are going to take and what concerns me is that -- is that the israelis will take unilateral actio and this could spark a fire on the ground and renewed violence like we've seen ithe past. >> charlie: michele dunne, what has been the impact of the arab spring on the israeli-palestinian issue? >> the beginning really of a wave of chan thas going to affect virtually every issue in this region, and it's affecting the israeli-palestinian issue as much as anythi else. palestinians, at first, struggled with what did the arab spring mean to them. what the arab spring is about is about people rising up and using peaceful means to oppose conditions that they long accepted but really were dissatisfactory. first, the palestinians undertook palestinian reconciliation. these demonstrations, these peaceful demonstrations inside israel, the west

israel is not what is wrong about the middle east. israel is what is right about the middle east. israel fully supports the desire of arab peoples in our region to live freely. we long for the day when israel will be one of many real democracies in the middle east. 15 years ago i stood at this very podium -- by the way, it hasn't changed. i stood here and i said that democracy must start to take root in the arab world. well, it's begun to take root, and this beginning holds the promise of a brilliant future of peace and prosperity because i believe that a middle east that is genuinely democratic will be a middle east truly at peace. but while we hope for the best and while we work for the best, we must also recognize that powerful forces oppose this future. they oppose democracy. they oppose peace. far most is iran. they brutalize its own people. they support attacks against american troops in afghanistan and iraq. it subjects lebanon and gaza. it sponsors terror worldwide. when i last stood here i spoke of the consequences of iran developing nuclear weapons. now, time is running

we no longer have a middle east peace envoy. we have no real engagement between the united states and the parties to speak of. and we have, now, talk of serious unilateral actions that the palestinians are going to take and what concerns me is that -- is that the israelis will take unilateral actio and this could spark a fire on the ground and renewed violence like we've seen in the past. >> charlie: michele dunne, what has been the impact of the arab spring on the israeli-palestinian issue? >> the beginning really of a wave of chan thas going to affect virtually every issue in this region, and it's affecting the israeli-palestinian issue as much as anythi else. palestinians, at first, struggled with what did the arab spring mean to them. what the arab spring is about is about people rising up and using peaceful means to oppose conditions that they long accepted but really were dissatisfactory. first, the palestinians undertook palestinian reconciliation. these demonstrations, these peaceful demonstrations inside israel, the wes

and i think what is most interesting is that young people have taken to the streets in the middle east, are not looking to bin laden and al- qaeda. they want a more moods earn future. and bin laden is really been a sideshow. he's really an echo of a time that's past. >> let's do a little history la wrap sheet. the bin laden wrwr sheet. 2001, the 9/11 attacks, nearly 3,000 people were killed at the pentagon, shanksville, pennsylvania and the world trade center. 2000, the bombing of the uss cole in yemen. 17 americans were killed. 1998, the bombings of the of of u.s. embassies in kenya and tanzania. 12 americans killed. 1996, the bombing of the u.s. military housing khobar towers. 19 americans killed. what do you think of this? >> well, look, osama bin laden was certainly the most prominent islamic jihadi leader with the most success in terms every killing americans and westerners. he was able to organize this group called al-qaeda, which means the base, in order to carry out in a systemic way these kinds of terrorists acts against the united states and the west. i think it's also import

policy in the middle east. tomorrow, the ceo is expected to announce his candidacy for the republican nomination in atlanta, georgia. our live coverage starts at noon eastern. and on sunday, a former utah government -- governor will make remarks at a meet and greet in a new hampshire. that will begin at 4:30 p.m. eastern here on c-span. you can get both of them on our website c-span.org and on c-span radio. if you miss them, they will be on our c-span video library. more discussion on the president's middle east speech on thursday in the u.s. policy in that region. this is from "washington journal" and it is 45 minutes. middle east in light of the president's speech yesterday. two guests will guide us along the way. professor akbar ahmed, chair of islamic studies. we're also joined by aaron david miller, a public policy scholar at the woodrow wilson center and also a former middle east negotiator from 1988 to 2003. both of you gentlemen, thank you very much. now that we have heard the speech, what are the polic

middle east oil, do we have a choice? please continue the conversation facebook.com/carolcnn. >> thank you, carol. >>> tune in for special coverage of president obama's address on cnn "newsroom" starting at 11:30 eastern. wolf blitzer will join us as well. expert analysis as well as live coverage. >>> everyone was a winner and everyone got a trophy. how does that upbringing translate to the work world for recent graduates? we're taking a look at high maintenance millenials. building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible. in an effort to give you the best network possible. thbe pt delicious gourmet gravy. and she agrees. wi fcyest gravy lovers, uratannjoy the delicious, satisfying taste gr

coming up president obama gives his detailed plan aimed at was civility in the middle east so will he succeed at home into chaos. for. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so. you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear see some other part of it and realize everything you saw you don't i'm sorry because if. you need to know this president obama gave a major foreign policy speech today addressing some of the chaos taking place across the middle east over to take advantage of the recent populist uprisings in tunisia and egypt president entailed a new posture that america will take toward a rapidly changing arab world take a look. drawing from what we've learned around the world we think it's important to focus on trade i just paid an investment not just assistance the goal must be a model in which protectionism gives way to openness the reigns of commerce pass from the few to the many and the economy generates jobs for the. america's support for democracy will therefore be based on ensuring financial stability promoting reform and integrating comp

we will also hear john mccain talk about middle east policy. later, we will hear about the challenges facing the u.s. intelligence community. >> you are watching c-span bringing you politics and public affairs. every morning, it is "washington journal" connecting u.s. politicians. weeknights, congressional hearings and policy forms. also, policy forum's. on the weekends, you can hear our signature interview programs. we have "q&a" and prime minister's questions. you can watch us online anytime at c-span.org. it is always searchable. c-span, a public service created by america's cable companies. >> president obama laid out his vision for the u.s. in the middle east. he says he supports democracies across the region. he urged the israelis and palestinians. we will first hear brief comments from the -- are from hillary clinton. his remarks are about 50 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen, secretary of state hillary rodham clinton. [applause] >> thank you and welcome to the state department. i am delighted to be here to welcome the president as well a

policy in the middle east. that is more morning on "washington journal" which gets under way at 7:00. now look from "washington journal" from earlier this morning. theshington journal," chairman of the consumer product safety commission, inez tenenbaum. let's start with something that tes to pop up with the cpsc -- baby cribs. what is it about them that generates a recall action? guest: we have nohad a new crib standard in 30 years. in 2010, we cannot with the first new cr -- we came out with standard.t new crib it has to undergo a test that will challenge whether or not is strong enough to be moved in a nursery without coming apart. what has happened in years past, we have learned of a number of deaths where the dropside became detached foro the crib. we recalled millions of them, the various manufacturers, to get them either of the market or either have a retrofit kit to it would keep the dropside form moving and kp the cribs safer. we now have a new standard in all the cribs sold after june 2011. the new cri

at this point there is a tsunami going on in the arab middle east. the arab spring is changing government everywhere. israel's relations with egypt are decidedly cooler, the same is true with turkey, they're frozen with iran, something we strongly agree with, our country strongly agrees with. and the youth bulge in arab families both inside israeli and around israeli-- israel is enormous. and israel will not be able to be a jewish state with defensible borders unless we get on with this. and let me just finally say as the daughter of a refugee from nazi germany, i mean, i am passionately committed to israel's security. but i do think this is a time for forward movement. and i applaud president obama for trying in the crucibl, in the 2012 election and with everything else going on in the world to put out some markers yesterday. >> woodruff: so stephen hadley, to your point about the border issue and these-- and these other issues maybe not being as significant a split as it looks, we heard netanyahu, the prime minister today, say this is something tha

so across the middle east turkish soap operas are popular. everyone wants to be a tourist in turkey. the most exciting investment story is iraq. turkish companies are better positioned for white goods, construction and energy than anyone else in the region. those are fantastic things going in turkey's favor but there's no question that to do business in this part of the world you're continuing to support a bunch of regimes that aren't particularly democratic. i suspect most of those regimes are still going to be there in a couple of years but the turks aren't going to look quite so attractive as the model given that they're going to have to make some compromises that look like rial poll teak. >> rose: henri, what do you think? >> i aee withim that they are well positioned and they've done very well and grow to iraq you see turkish goods are all over the police. but there is a backlash. in lya, for instance, people demonstrated against the turkish consulate, that burned the tushish flag which is one of the reasons why the turks had to change p

with a middle east that is changing fast, mr. netanyahu is changing with what he believes has always worked for israel and he is avoiding any new thinking. bbc news, washington. >> you're watching bbc world news america. still to come on tonight's program, is the u.s.-british relationship special or essential? whatever you call it, let's hope it is as good as the obama team thinks. >> he used to be russia's richest man but then he was found guilty of stealing oil from his own company. he said he was politically set up but today the court of appeal upheld the conviction. from moscow, our correspondent daniel sampson >> when he stepped into the glass enclosed room, it was his last chance to avoid a lengthy prison sentence. he has already served eight years and after the second trial last year, that was extended to 14. in an angry statement he told the judges that the verdict was wrong and encouraged them to overturn it. >> it is not possible to make corrections to this verdict because many changes will look foolish, so i will join

east and for that matter the only democracy in the middle east and that's why i'm after these issues council that represents the israeli settler movement has been organizing workshops to teach people how to post who have eyes and even rewrite some of the most disputed pages online there's disagreement around terminology such as the word occupation the history of what happened in certain conflicts even the names of certain cities and towns what we do is we monitor our various media outlets and when we see for example that a certain media cause israel an apartheid then we send our people to engage in discussion and to give the facts but the palestinians have less people to send in which is why the battlefield is not equal according to our good our not so who heads the association of palestinian journalists he says he wishes he had the kind of cash the israelis have to train. it's been used to brush up on the knowledge of wikipedia and. i think people should stick to the truth and not try to learn how to put their point of view in a wikipedia article i mean if you have sources just show

east and for that matter the only democracy in the middle east and that's why not to. yes a console that represents the israeli settler movement has been organizing workshops to teach people how to post advise and even we want some of the most disputed pages online there's disagreement around terminology such as the word occupation and history of what happened in certain conflicts even the names of certain cities and towns what we do is we monitor our various media outlets and what we see for example that a certain media calls israel in apartheid's the then we send our people to engage in discussion and to give the facts but the palestinians have less people to send in which is why the battlefield is not equal according to abbott are not so who heads the association of palestinian journalists he says he wishes he had the kind of cash the israelis have to train palestinians to brush up on their knowledge of we can. expect when the israeli palestinian conflict will be forced on the pages of wikipedia the israelis control the online media they control words like terrorist

is not a problem in the middle east israel is the right thing in the middle east but we've heard you know even some of our officials leaving her general david petraeus say that it's true that israel u.s. foreign policy towards israel does put us at more risk when it comes to you know our relationships with the arab world how come that doesn't get fed to the american public when you think about the fact that we're in a war on terror that we're in a war in afghanistan which has been the longest war in u.s. history how come none of that gets put together is it the media's fault it's very much connected to the media the lobby is is more pervasive than most people even people who know about it often don't know how pervasive it is it means that it is very influential and powerful in the media and academia in numerous institutions so what happens is we consistently as americans and this is what i have studied to a great degree degree we've been massive studies on u.s. coverage of israel palestine and we find an astounding level of israeli centrism we find the people that are writing the rep

foreign policy in the middle east. one example. the obama administration has called these really settlement expansion illegitimate but when it came to actually voting at the u.n. security council condemned the settlement expansion is illegal the u.s. veto the resolution the failure of the united states to deal effectively with the israel palestine issue and double standards for. the president made a very strong case but we should not tolerate civilians being a. part of their rulers but we do nothing when the when the israelis do all these things for the palestinians the cost of all the pretty hard in terms of our credibility and personally internationally and that's not an important survey suggests president obama's ratings in the muslim world are as low as ever experts say the inconsistency with which the u.s. reacted to different episodes of the arab uprising is to blame president obama's speech on thursday was seen as a way to reach out to the arab world and say the u.s. supports men and women of the street as opposed to suppres

the new york what role of a plane in the middle east -- what role are they playing in the middle east? guest: it has been extraordinary what qatar has done. al jazeera has played a role in the arab world. they have the the u.s. military presence. they have decided that for many -- they have contributed to an opening of discussion and dialogue in the arab world. it is an important thing. they have also avoided being involved in the unrest that you've seen elsewhere. host: we're talking about co- authors of this new book. we're talking about the new book and also the unrest in the middle east and northern africa. mike is a democrat. are you there? oops. i think we'll have to wait to see who else calls and. in.to see who else calls an caller: you folks are extremely knowledgeable and i appreciate your time. what i like to know and i've been trying to find out, where is -- need the palestinians -- would need another hanan. was an excellent representative. we need her. guest: she's still very prominent in palestinian society, but less so on the international stage. she was a leading spokes

we have in the middle east. in order for israel to be viable over the long term, we do have to reach some kind of middle east peace settlement. we can never completely take it off the table. >> one of the things that -- when i -- was talking to one of the president's top advisors last week, he said, listen, here are -- here's the difference between libya and syria, for instance. or egypt and syria. and that is, one, militarily libya seems doable. number two, international consensus. number three, it could be justified by international law. is that the basis you think under which we are in libya? is the fact we are not in syria because it is too darned complicated? >> there is the issue of bandwidth. how many of the different situations can you handle at the same time? overlaying that, i think we do have a general policy of support for democracy in the middle east and support for democracy around the world. even though the president hasn't stood up there and said assad must go, i think we deeply hope -- and ferve

is not the problem in the middle east israel is the right thing in the middle east but we've heard you know even some of our officials even heard general david petraeus say that it's true that israel u.s. foreign policy towards israel does put us at more risk when it comes to you know our relationships with the arab world how come that doesn't get fed to the american public when you think about the fact that we're in a war on terror that we're in a war in afghanistan which has been the longest war in u.s. history how come none of that gets put together is it the media's fault it's very much connected to the media the lobby is is more pervasive than most people even people who know about it often don't know how pervasive it is it means that is very influential and powerful in the media and academia in numerous institutions so what happens is we consistently as americans and this is what i have studied a great big degree we've done massive studies on u.s. coverage of israel palestine and we find an astounding level of israeli centrism we find the people that are grading the reports that

east and for that matter the only democracy in the middle east and that's why i'm after these you should cancel that represents the israeli settler movement has been organizing workshops to teach people how to post where vies and even rewrite some of the most disputed pages online there's disagreement on terminology such as the word occupation history of what happened in certain conflicts even the names of certain cities and towns what we do is we monitor our various media outlets and what we see for example that a certain media cause israel and apartheid when we send our people to engage in discussion and to give the facts but the palestinians have a list of people to send in which is why the battlefield is not equal according to our blood our not so who heads the association of palestinian journalists he says he wishes he had the kind of cash the israelis had trained. to brush up on the knowledge of we could pedia later i think people should stick to the truth and not try to learn how to put their point of view in a wiki pedia article i mean if you have sources just bring them on. but

middle east today. one of the great themes of these recent uprisings and revolutions is declining american influence in the region. >> here in tripoli, the government of colonel gaddafi is still digesting president obama's speech. one official said beforehand that we don't react to these things quickly. they are expecting president obama to tell us off. what was striking was how little president obama mentioned libya given the fact that millions of u.s. dollars are being spent here and many americans are still involved in the military action. in some ways, libya has become difficult for president obama. on the one hand, it has highlighted what many are saying is this double standards. while it is taking military action here, this is not doing the same kind of tough response in relation to other parts of the middle east where governments are also using force to put down protests such as syria and bahrain. president obama's answer in that speech was the u.s. cannot prevent injustice everywhere. involvemen

policy in the middle east. tomorrow, a former godfather pizza c o is expected to announce his candidacy for the republican presidential nomination in atlanta georgia. of the white house coverage continues sunday with a former utah governor and former u.s. ambassador to china making remarks at a meet and greet and franklin, new hampshire. live coverage begins here on c- span. the contention of the events on our web site. and if you want to watch them again later on, they will be in the video library. now, more discussion on the president goes the middle east speech on thursday and u.s. policy in that region. from "washington journal," this is 45 minutes. host: a discussion of the middle east in light of the president's speech yesterday. two guests will guide us along the way. professor akbar ahmed, chair of islamic studies. we're also ined by aaron david miller, a public policy scholar at the woodrow wilson center and also a former middle east negotiator from 1988 to 2003. both of you gentlemen, thank you very m

tonight, a look at president obama's speech on the middle east earlier today. david ignatius talks with dr. zbigniew brzezinski then i'm joined by david and mort zuckerman and richard engel for furtheconversation about what the president laid out and what the reaction might be. >> since the president on the second issue of his speech, in my judgment, didn't go far enough, was too timid, didn't exercise a kind of leadership that is needed, i'm afraid the trend is going to be negative in terms of what we expect from the middle east. a kind of healthy democratic consolidation that is friendly to us and which is supported by us. >> the region right now there is a tremendous feeling of momentum and people have started to expect things to happen quickly. they're watching leaders like mubarak and bin ali fall. there are demonstrations out in the street and they were hoping to seehe same kind of urgency coming out of the white house and they didn't see it. >> rose: the president's speech on the middle east when we continue. we can all root for. who beats the odds and c

policy in the middle east. after that afl-cio president richard trumka. >> this weekend on book tv on c- span2, the gaithersberg book festival. a panel discussion on the book industry. also, the former ambassador to yemen on the u.s.'s counter- terrorism efforts in that country. one of the most significant standoffs of the cold war era, the berlin wall. look for the complete schedule and our web site and get our schedule e-mail directly to you. signup for our book tv alert. >> israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says that its country cannot go to borders that existed in 1967 as part as a peace deal with the palestinians. which president obama called extremely is. in a speech, president obama said that the 1967 borders should be the basis for negotiation. this is about 15 minutes. >> well, let me, first of all, welcome again prime minister netanyahu, who i think has now been here seven times during the course of my presidency. and i want to indicate that the frequency of these meetings is an indication of

so how will this speech today jive with the real life challenges on the ground in the middle east and north africa or offer their takes on this issue jeremy ben-ami president of j. street of pro israel pro peace lobbying group here in washington d.c. and dr james zogby president of the america of the arab american institute welcome gentlemen thank you very much. question just in general to either or both of you was there really anything new in the speech what was what was in your minds dunes. so i think if if the speech was directed at an american audience what was what was important is the president reframing the democracy debate and challenging congress in particular to step up to the plate this is a slash and burn congress but it's a congress that says they support democracy and transformation in the middle east president said that's going to cost us there's a lot we have to do if we want this to happen and that aid and trade programs that he talked about are going to require congress not to cut programs that the very programs that congress wants to cut so he's asking for money i t

so ironically while rushing to the thought it was creating a safer middle east its closest ally israel is suffering a recent poll found that fifty four percent of egyptians want to see the egyptian is really peace treaty cancelled a statistic that has his ratings terrified and missing the old wooden. the r t and the palestinian authority. so let's talk about egypt for a little a little while and certainly what we've seen a lot going on there and wondering dan what do you think will happen how the elections in egypt will change things if at all. well everyone who cares about the region has to be very concerned a lot of people have been very optimistic simply without cause to me the fact is that the most well organized gyptian group is the muslim brotherhood who are let's face it both anti-american and anti israel by temperament they're also anti-semitic in fact it's very disturbing and the most likely scenario unfortunately is they may very well come to power if not right away then in a couple of years and they're democratic bonafide are by no means assured hamas is in fact the palestin

east and for that matter the only democracy in the middle east and that's why not please you should cancel that represents the israeli settler movement has been organizing workshops to teach people how to post to advise and even rewrite some of the most disputed pages on line there's disagreement around terminology such as the word occupation and history of what happened in certain conflicts even the names of certain cities and towns what we do is we monitor our various media outlets and when we see for example that a certain media calls israel an apartheid then we send our people to engage in discussion and to give the facts but the palestinians have a list of people to send in which is why the battlefield is not equal according to . who heads the association of palestinian journalists he says he wishes he had the kind of cash the israelis have trained. it's been used to brush up on the knowledge of we can pedia. i think people should stick to the truth and not try to learn how to put their point of view in the wiki pedia article i mean if you have sources just bring them on. but t

the middle east is an even bigger challenge. obama has to play this right. >> we're getting a two minute warning. the president will be coming to the east room momentarily to speak to the nation. let me take this question to you. do you think there is a scenario in which al qaeda could unravel with the death of osama bin laden? >> oh, yeah, absolutely. i think that's what we're hoping for. frankly, i think al qaeda really is already unraveled. i mean much of this, like i say, 90% of this was done in the first few months after 9/11. the most essential part of it was shutting down their bank accounts, taking away their financial capacity. that was done a long time ago. since then we've been working diligently in a bipartisan way both administrations on really the last 10%. i don't want to be overly optimistic. there's a chance that this could be over, dead and gone, but we hope. >> do you buy that, alan? >> i hope so, too but let's not forget the term al qaeda is a very loose one. there are lots of other whatever their names may b

military spendg in the middle east. here with some thought is robert powell. he's a middle east analyst for "the economist" intelligence unit. >> with osama bin laden dead, the question has arisen, both in the united states and further afield, where does the u.s.' now-renamed "war on terror" go from here? sadly for the u.s.' legion of deficit-cutting advocates, the capture of osama bin laden will not result in a significant reduction in overall defense spending. the u.s.' financial and military role in the middle east long predated the emergence of al- qaida, rooted as they are in defending the u.s.' primary interests in that region-- namely, protecting israel and ensuring a steady supply of oil. also, of course, the end of bin laden does not mean the end of the terrorist threat-- and this was evident just in the past few days, when 16 people were killed, including eight french tourists, by a bombing at a cafe in marrakesh in morocco. in reality, al-qaeda is now an amorphous organization, comprised of myriad locally- oriented groups, such as al- qaida in the a

should increase aid to the middle east. we can do away with social security and medicare and close all the schools so we can increase payments to countries that hate us and hate what we stand important. that ought to help our faltering company. dumb questions deserve dumb answers, jack. >> thanks very much, jack. to our viewers here in the situation room, happening now, breaking news. global financial chief accused of sexual assault formally charged and granted bail. cnn was inside the courtroom for the dramatic hearing. stand by for a live report. >>> president obama delivers his most important speech of the middle east in two years. hoping to use the revolution sweeping the arab world as launching pad for new efforts at an israeli palestinian peace deal. stunning turn in notorious cold case. could the unabomer be behind the deadly tylenol tamperings almost 30 years ago? breaking news. political headlines and jeanne moos straight ahead. i'm wolf blitzer and you are in "the situation room." we are following the breaking new