they are not well coordinated. i know you had a chance to visit. some of that is what we need to help w. certainly they are disorganized and not well organized because two years ago none of them were involved in this endeavor. this is something that sprung up from the grass roots so i think you have to help create that capacity before you make a decision like weapons. let me say it doesn't have to be the united states. there are other nations in the region i think would be willing to step into that void. >> senator lieberman, i would like to ask, you have spoken about support of the use of american air power in syria. am i right? >> that's correct. >> what about boots on the ground? do you go that far? >> no, i don't. there's no need for american boots on the ground because there's very broad willingness among the syrian opposition to take the fight to assad. i will tell you that and i admire marco for the how explicit he has been about syria

and how we're called on to do something there. this is a classic exhibit -- an illustration of exactly what senator rubio was talking about, which is almost everybody in the region except for iran, believes that one, assad's brutal slaughter of his own people has to stop, and two, if he falls it will be a devastating body blow to iran which almost everybody else in the region wants to see happen. but no one else in the region will assert any leadership unless we do. that's what they told john mccain and me when we were there. i agree with what senator rubio said. at some point we have to work to get the opposition better organized. they have come a long way in a year having grown up in a country where assad didn't allow opposition to take shape. at some point we simply have to

say we're going to help them, we're going to give them weapons to defend themselves, and that will make them strong and more organized. >> wait. we are going to give them, the u.s.? >> we and the rest of our allies. there's a lot of willingness to be involved here but no boots on the ground. and frankly, in our direct conversations with the political and military leaders of the syrian opposition, really what they asked for effectively all they ask for was weapons. give us the weapons to defend ourselves. we're not going to give up. but we will not be able to bring down assad unless the rest of the world helps us. >> you both talked about the link between syria and iran. and i want to pick up a phrase from your speech, senator. you said if all else fails preventing a nuclear iran may require a military solution. do you have in mind use of american military power to bring down that nuclear iran option?

>> when we get into tactics -- always cautious. my bigger point is that ultimately we would hope negotiations would work. we don't have a good track record of negotiations with iran but you would hope that would work, you would hope that the sanctions would disturnlg them from continuing or empower some voices in the regime arguing that they shouldn't go this far. we should try everything to avoid that but there is the reality. i think we have to come to the conclusion that an iran with nuclear weapons is an imageable thing, and no option should be off the table because of that. i think the president basically said as much so certainly yes, i think we are the most powerful military force in the world and it's difficult to imagine a successful engagement that doesn't have significant u.s. engagement. again while that should be discussed we're hopeful that a

negotiation will work. that it would lead tuesday postpone sanctions or walk away from some of the other things. >> one final question because i know you are both anxious to get back to work as we say up on the hill. >> not really. >> this is much more engaging. >> one country about which you have spoken very warmly is israel and people talk about the possibility of israel taking direct military action against iran, perhaps even some time this year. would you, as a great supporter of israel, back israel in that kind of operation? >> look, the leaders of israel have the same obligation as leaders of any country, to ultimately provide for the national security of their own people. so i'm not in a position to sit here and dictate to israel's leaders. i think the clear more concise and persuadable the american position is on this issue, the

less likely they may to be do something like that in the short-term. ultimately i think we need to be very clear as i outlined in the speech, while we would prefer for negotiations to work and for the sanctions to convince them, it may require, tragicallies i use the word because we always want to avoid armed conflict, but the notion that iran would have a nuclear capability is so terrifying no option should be off the table. the clearer the united states is on that the better off the region of the world is going to be. >> okay. we have time for two questions. i see about 20 hands. let me start here with gary. and in the middle there. >> senator, hi. and thank you for your remarks, by the way. i'm garrett mitchell and i write the mitchell report. and as i -- two things struck me at the outset. >> gary, on the short side.

>> you cite bob kagan's okayby book and it's on obama's table as well. it seems to me that the sort of fundamental issues there is not a lot of space between your vision and the vision, for example, that president obama is talking about. so my question is, after having been here for a couple of years and looking at this do you get the feeling that the distance between your vision for example and the president's vision is on the fundamentals or is it at the margins? and is it a reflection of the notion that to govern is to choose. >> let me take the second question as well. in the middle there please. thank you. >> hi. at the center for global development. you spoke about the western hemisphere and hopes and concerns. i know you kind of omitted or didn't talk about haiti and u.s.

involvement. i was hoping -- i know it's an issue kind of close to you and you have been vocal about. i hope you can maybe talk about your hopes for haiti and future u.s. engagement. >> go ahead. >> the second one i'll take first. i visited haiti in january so i'm hopeful that the situation there will continue to improve. they have structural issues in that country particularly in governance. their prime minister has been forced to resign, the president has been ill, there have been rumors about what the future of his government may portend. we hope there will be the democracy that will take deeper roots and become functional. right now that country has -- i shouldn't say over abundance of ngos but a deep ngo presence and the government sometimes feel threatened by it. the most important issue in haiti apart from the immediate aftermath of the earthquake is the establishment of long term sustainable prosperity and how do you begin that.

and for haiti they are starting from scratch on everything from their educational systems to transportation systems. but there is some good news beginning. there is an industrial park that the clinton initiative has been involved in where some american companies are looking to go to some of the underdeveloped parts of the country and create industry which hopefully will create jobs and create the fundamentals for an economy. the other challenge haiti has is property rights. who owns title to what land. it's hard to do business there so i think we could provide some technical support in creating a registry where people can register property rights and feel safer in terms of investing and it's going to be protected under rule of law. it's education, it's striking to me, it's such a strong societal value. even the poorest families you see the kids that get to go to school dressed in empeckable uniforms because it's a reflection of how they value education and how important it is. i know it's cliche but if we can

empow ter new generation to have a knowledge base and be employable and skills and we can combine that with a return of the deaspura, maybe you can begin to see a little of a re-emergence there and progress so far has been slow for a country that really hasn't had a golden age. certainly hasn't in the last two or three decades. on the first question about the difference in policy. look, i always try to keep foreign policy nonpartisan as much as possible. i think it weakens our hand in the world. maybe it's because i'm new but also my perception that when you deal with foreign countries and deal with foreign relations, the nation as a whole has a stronger hand if our divisions aren't partisan or certainly you know, irresponsibleably stated. that being said where i think there might abdifference of opinion and i outline that in the speech is not that we should be engaged but rather how we engage. and i think and maybe that's evolving but i think the president's administration is

somewhat had overreliance on institutions, global institutions whether it's the security council or the united nations to take the lead on some of these initiatives. i use libya as one example. we did engage in libya and pretty significantly, then we backed uf and allowed our allies to go in and do much of the work. ultimately it turned out fine. my argument was not that it didn't work out. my argument that if the u.s. had been more engaged the job would have been done sooner. what that would have meant, less militias than you have now, which would have been much easier to get a national central government. you would have less destruction to the infrastructure. the conflict would be less protraekted. less injuries an death which is counter productive for the society and we would have more influence though i must tell you i visited libya probably about a month after the fall of gadhafi

and i was taken aback by the amount of pro american graffiti on the walls and the people that would come up and say thank you, president obama, thank you, united states, for what you did for us. and the clear recognition that the u.s. had been involved in the effort. i applaud that. if we had done even more we would have more influence on the way it's going to turn out. so they still have a bunch of challenges. they were going to no matter what the nature of their involvement was going to be. if we had taken a stronger involvement early on the engagement would have been shorter, cheaper and i think more effective. that's an example of where i would disagree tactically on the direction the president has taken and even in syria where i think region is waiting for american leadership. i think close to 80 countries but you need center of gravity to instigate this coalition and move it forward with the defined plan in mind and without -- in the absence of american power and influence and american leadership it's hard to do that.

so i think that's the case i would make to the administration. >> senator rubio, i wish, i really do, i wish we had much more time to continue this discussion. we're very, very pleased that you did this speech here at brookings, so pleased that senator lieberman could be here. >> i'm pleased you found my page. i couldn't have memorized the quotes. >> if you would all be seated until the senators leave that would be appreciated. thank you very much. [ applause ]

>> and here is some campaign 2012 news to tell you about. this morning in north carolina newt gingrich said he expects mitt romney to be the republican nominee. the associated press quote mrs. gingrich as saying, you have to at some point be honest about what's happening in the real world, as opposed to what you would like to have happened, end quote, that's from newt gingrich. and the news outlets are reporting that newt gingrich plans to suspend his campaign next tuesday. also today, the republican national committee announced plans to formally coordinate with the romney campaign in a statement, rnc chairman reince

priebus said governor romney's performance at this stage of the primary process made him our party's presumptive nominee. i am excited that these two top notch operations will start to integrate and present a united team to defeat barack obama. end quote. that's from rnc chairman reince priebus. >> the federal reserve's open market committee meets today and this afternoon at 2:15 eastern, fed chairman ben bernanke holds a news conference to talk about the fed's economic projections and policy decisions and we'll look in on that live here on c-span3. >> for now, we are going to show you some of the hearing from earlier this week, senators heard testimony about the lord's resistance army, a rebel group known for kidnapping women and children and using them as sex slaves and child soldiers.

one witness, jacob acaye described his abduction and his subsequent escape. he was introduced by senator mary landrieu. >> my good friend and colleague, senator landrieu of louisiana to introduce our panel, senator landrieu has been an advocate on these issues for many years. i'm honored she could join us here today because in a very real sense it's because of her that we had the opportunity to have you with us here today. senator landrieu. >> thank you, mr. chairman and i sincerely appreciate your leadership as the chair of the african subcommittee on this very important committee of the united states congress to use this platform and your time and attention to build support for the atrocities going on in this part of the world. they may not be the greatest, most widespread atrocities but

they are atrocities nonetheless, and they have been brought to our attention in a very special and significant way. through the voices of children. it's very unusual for children of the world, maybe it's been done before in this way, i'm not sure. but this issue, with hundreds and millions of children around the world led by a child himself, has brought these atrocities to our attention. and that in itself, mr. chairman, should be honored. we struggle to make democracy relevant to the children in our country. we struggle to make democracy make sense to people in the world who are not used to it. and it's moments like these that need to be captured and promoted. when children not even able to vote can recognize truth when

they see it, and if given an opportunity will press and use the rights that we try to start teaching them in kindergarten but by honoring their words in middle school and high school, we strengthen and make true what we say to them, not only as parents but as senators, i am -- was led to this by two children. one, my niece kelsey cook who is now married and her husband is serving overseas. but when she was 14, she told me about a friend of hers that was going to school with her, jo anus observerman working for an organization trying to help the night walkers in you began daxt i had read about them and was working with orphans in that country. she said aunt mary, could you do something. i said yes, i'll try. so i began work here with other senators and as you know, traveled to uganda and met the

unicef director carol bellamy at the time. we tried to get to the northern part to actually see the night walkers but when we were there, one of the priests who had been their great advocate priest, had been murdered by the kony forces, and our state department didn't allow us to go. we came back and you know that some of us have been working over the course of the time to help. i stayed in touch with invisible children and the nonprofit that was created after the plea that jacob said to ben who is here in the audience, he looked at ben and you saw it. he said ben, i'd rather die than live on an earth with no justice. and he's absolutely correct, mr. chairman. and the sad thing is there are millions and millions and millions of children and families living in places where there is no justice.

this might not be the greatest atrocity that ever occurred. but it is most certainly worth our time and action. i don't know what the state department said, but i hope they stepped up their efforts. i don't know what the defense department has said. i hope they step up their efforts. i hope that your committee and the work that we can do here will keep the focus on this tragedy, will stop this raging maniac of a terrorist who believes that he is being led by some higher spiritual calling which of course is not related to any church or religion that you or i would be familiar with. evidently there is some higher spiritual calling that empowers him to slice 5-year-olds in half in front of their mother and drag the brother and sister into served to and forces children to kill their fathers in front of their family by slicing them to pieces and then terrorizes children.

i really never really truly in my life ever heard of such horrors. and the fact that all the governments of the world can't seem to catch him and to bring him to justice is a real puzzlement to me. but i'm going to turn the mike over to two people who are far more eloquent on this subject than i am. who have literally given their life for this cause and with the invisible children that's one of the greatest ngos i've ever known and they have my full and complete and undying loyalty to the work that they do to inspire children to act and respond. i want to introduce you to jacob who has been presented in the video, but at the age of 11, now jacob is 21, he is studying to become a human rights lawyer. i am confident that he will be one of the greatest human rights lawyers ever to practice on the planet. was one of the 41 youth taken from a uganda village by joe

kony, fortunately jacob escaped. he can tell you how and his moving story is the emotional centerpiece a video that you just saw. i want to also recognize miss jolly okot who is the on the ground coordinator for invisible children. she is the former director, now working in a more regional way because as you know we believe that joe kony is now terrorizing an area the size of france in the middle of a jungle with very little roads, and but you know, he can be caught. if we would put our mind to it. and just by catching him and his few followers this reign of terror for 25 years could come to an end. this is not, contrary to what some of the experts say that complicated in my opinion. among her many qualifications, joly holds a degree in

businesses administration, experienced in program development and coordination of logistics, how she managed to continue all of this work all of this time is beyond me. she's focused on all children but particularly girls in the sub region of the country. i'll close with this. if we can't find and honor the voices of our children, the second child was my own daughter, who came home from easter break this year and said mom, do you know joe kony. i said i know you don't think your mother knows much but i do know joe kony. we talked about it. she encouraged me to watch the video which inspired me to re-energize myself. and so mr. chairman, i thank you. let us stay energized. let us not have to relien our children to shake our conscience to stay energized and i turn it over to these two extraordinary people. i thank again invisible children

and the leaders that are here representing this extraordinary nonprofit and the work that they are doing to bring truth to the eyes of the world by the voices of very small children. >> thank you, senator landrieu and thank you for your long and effective advocacy on this issue, for bringing the voice of the children who touched you, your daughter, your niece, and helped encourage and inspire work by this subcommittee and by all of us. thank you for your legislative leadership. i look forward to working together over the long haul to restore sense of justice and security to the children all over the world who have been haunted by this. let's turn if we could first to miss joly okot and then jacob acaye. jolly. >> thank you so much, mr. chairman. i would like to appreciate so much the big efforts that you have put to make sure that this will come to an end.

it has been going on for the last 26 years. i want to thank senator isaacson personally being involved, when i met you i was also touched to see that and i want to thank you, mary, for you know like the passion you have to ensure that the children who are still suffering in the hands of joseph kony get a second chance like the way i am right now. i want to thank the u.s. government so much for being involved and you know, putting this agenda on top of all other issues that they have. it means a lot to us. that has shown that there is a lot of love for the people, especially the people of northern uganda, central african republic and democratic republic of congo. i want to share my personal story that i grew up in northern

uganda. and from day one when this war started i saw it as it transitioned to what is now called the lra, and i lost my teenage to this war, i couldn't finish it up because i got involved and i would say i got abducted and started fighting along side the rebel group that as my life, as a young girl i got so tortured so much because repeatedly i was raped, and then after today when i still go back to my community i'm still being called a market officer because i was being forced to go and get money and food forcefully for the rebel group. up to today as much as i try to transform my community in a different way, i'm still filled with guilt of what i did more than 20 years ago as a child and as a child soldier. for the past 26 years you know,

it has been very hard not only on me, i am just one person but there are thousands and thousands of people who have their own stories to share about what has happened with the lra. when i left my village after being abducted, when i escaped and i rescued my dad, and we walked for 60 miles to look for safety with my father, the lra retaliated in my village, first of all by killing my uncle who was taking care of our property, and then secondly, in one night in the morning, i lost 21 of my cousins that were killed just in one night. because my parents come from a family of seven people and each one of them had an average of about five or six children. and these are children, these are my cousins that i grew up

with, but entirely will not see them in one night. and there as i talk, their graves are still shallowly buried and i think like two month ago when i went, and i asked my dad why can't we bury properly. so this pain is still in me and then i still see the same pain happening in central africa republic and that is why i still stand very loud and i said this war has to come to an end no matter what it takes. when i went to congo last year toward the end i met up with the victims, what touch me the most was the young girl who is 14 years old who came and when i turned to her, and then i said i thought she speaks french and we don't share any language with the congo people. but when i turned to her and started speaking to her, she

turned to me answering me in achole. that made me break down because i exactly saw in her eyes what happened to me when i was growing up. and that became very, very hard on me. and then when i met up with a group of women who were in civil society and i could see in their eyes, i was the only ugandan seated there and all of them had questions of like why are we being fought by this one guy joseph kony that we don't understand. and the thing that they raised, they said our voices cannot be heard. how did you people do it and the world heard your voice and now the world in northern uganda is able to get stopped. one thing that they all echoed was that they all said that because their voices cannot be heard, they feel that this is a

trick of eliminating their eth lick group, their tribe. you look in central african republic, sudan and congo, it is only the zanda tribe that joseph kony is apparently harassing. and this was very difficult for me especially hearing from them. i told them and i said you know, there are people out there who can listen. we need to do advocacy and we need to speak loud so that your voices can be heard. and i dedicated my life to work for this young people. right now even if northern uganda is relatively peaceful, but when i go to the congo, seeing the congo girls who have come out speaking to them in my own language, people from central african republic i want to urge the world to stand strong. the war of the lra, whatever approach it is going to take we need to take our approach of making sure t