have to be able to produce important dialogue. . . this is a great vehicle to build it a network with muslim countries and organizations. this is something the u.s. likes. >> i would not deny they are an

important country. we have seen the priority of the president and the secretary is in the interest of a very old and very diverse -- we talked about the word diversity. how important is it to understand the diversity of its long? the problems in north africa or not the same things that are happening to moslem communities in tunisia. we are using indonesia as a super model, and it is important, but we have to understand the breadth and the new ones. yes, sir. >> south asia it has one of the largest populations of muslims in the world. how do you plan to engage the muslims in that part of the world? >> if we do our job right, of course it is. it is not just a country.

i cannot hit the word new ones enough. -- nuance enough. you do not just take a one-stop shop and say you'll do it everywhere. this is really taking time to listening to what is going on in the world. you see what the differences are. even within generations and ethnicities, so you build a dialogue in different ways and your not just taking one day's approach to everything. yes? >> you put a lot of emphasis on listening to the muslims. what do you think muslims misperceive about the united states? when you try to reach out to them, what is it also that you want to give them as the message of the u.s.?

>> i would say muslims are saying one thing, that there is one misunderstanding, because there are so many different perspectives when you use that phrase. what i know is depending on what age group we are talking about, the background of the communities we are dealing with. there are misperceptions about our nation, and there are some who have this misperception on behalf of people in america. it depends on what you were talking about. >> there is a need to have a special representative to reach out to muslim communities. there has to be a concern that you perceive that muslims to misunderstand the united states. seoul i am basically asking, if you have to come up -- so i am basically asking, if you have to come up with this representative position, what was the reason for that. >> what we want to do is to build a dialogue, not because we think there is a

"misperception." ok? i think this is important. if misperception comes up, that can be addressed. but it is not that you understand -- you misunderstand these three things and we will make sure you understand. this is about conversation. >> [unintelligible] >> you used the word nuances at least 20 times. i am not sure exactly what you mean by that. to refer to a colleague's question, because it the perception of the muslim world is the americans always supports israel to the hillt, and that is the big problem, you know? how are you going to change

that? >> the opportunity to engage in dialogue means opening up an opportunity for conversation on a wide range of issues. that may be one of the issues. on policy questions, you have an envoy to the middle east that can address those questions. that is not what i am doing. what i am doing is working to find ways we can approach a younger generation as well in terms of listening to how they want to engage. when you talk about nuance, why i am hitting it as hard as i am, i think it is important to understand this is not just one thing from washington that will be shoved into everybody's faces. this is an opportunity to listen to everybody's ideas and find ways to engage in matters that makes sense for a wide variety of communities. >> two more questions,

unfortunately. >> please? >> congratulations on your position. will you be responsible, in charge of contacts with the united states, or will there be a new representative? >> the oic is under the international organizations bureau, and i think he would have to ask them. i do not know the answer. >> >> [unintelligible] no. >> you have also focused on the fact that you are trying to listen to the cases of the muslims or also trying to engage with the official organizations of the arab people. a very important conference, the islamic mission conference just

concluded in damascus, was making a big case of the fate of jerusalem. would it president obama's thomas, his speech to the islamic world, that his policies are going to uphold international laws and not ideological, self-serving visions of communities and groups? what can you assure -- what kind of role you play in the future? particularly to these people? organizations, young people. how are you going to convince them -- actually the united states is very serious about pursuing this kind of policy that president obama has promised? that is going to be built on u.n. resolutions, and the illegitimate acquisition of land by the israeli forces, that the

united states are going to stand against the eradication of the palestinians. >> i think the president is the person who has made statements on these issues. susan rice has also made statements on these issues. i would ask you to refer to them. actually, there is one more in the back. yes? >> excuse me. i am from the associated press of pakistan. i was wondering how you intend to approach the people in the conflict zones like afghanistan and pakistan, because u.s. policy is not shaped by one approach. it is political, economic, these issues. especially with the recent polls, they are not seen a

favorable. how do you intend to approach people in those areas and come up with solutions? >> we will find ways to do that. it is an important priority. >> [unintelligible] >> thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> topics at the state department briefing it included honduras. honduras will be suspended. that is if the president is not return to power in three days. this is 10 minutes. >> i feel like this is an old- time radio show here. ok, listen. i do apologize for the technical difficulties we had which necessitates an abbreviated

briefing today. we do want to give you guys a chance to go up, to cover the secretaries -- secretary's camera spray proceeding her meeting with the bolivian foreign minister. i will just go right to your questions. we only have 10 minutes. i can at gaggle later, too, if you have questions. >> legal advisers office has begun the formal review with regard to the military coup -- >> yes. >> is that complete? have you made a determination? >> no. it is always dangerous when you put any kind of time-related ad ever on a statement. it is not completed. our legal determination. as you know, our legal advisers are actively assessing the facts

and the law in question, which we take very seriously. we take our obligations very seriously. of course, i will let you know as soon as this determination is made. that is on the legal side. of course, there is the diplomatic side. we are very focused on this multilateral process that is taking place now, particularly through the organization of american states. as you know, the secretary general of the oas has a mandate to get the government's, the self-proclaimed government down there to step down and restore the duly-elected president. as you know, the timeline is 72 hours to do this. we, of course, want to play a constructive role in the process. >> do you have to go to honduras

to do that? >> i will leave that to the minister. he has important mandate, which he will fill soon. where he is going to go, how he is going to carry out -- i have to refer you to the oas. >> are any u.s. officials going with him? >> are not aware of any. >> [unintelligible] >> has the ambassador seen any signs from the inch from government, that they are taking the oas decision seriously? >> i have not seen any reports from the embassy down in tegucigalpa. this is a very important meeting last night of the oas, in some ways an historic meeting.

we are all focused on making sure that the principles of the oas -- particularly the principles of the injured- american agreement -- are fulfilled. making sure the democratic process is restored. yes? >> is there a move to withdraw the u.s. ambassador? >> i am not aware of any move to withdraw the u.s. ambassador. >> [unintelligible] >> we subscribes to the statement -- we subscribed to the statement issued last night, that the general assembly submitted, that the democratically-elected president should be restored to power. >> [unintelligible] [unintelligible] >> like i say, i do not have any information for you on that.

in the back? >> is there a question that the president of united states is hiding behind the oas? >> give me a question. >> you could have a more hard- hitting policy. there are countries that are withdrawing ambassadors. >> i do not know. i do not accept the comments -- the premise of your question. the importance of the moment for the oas, for the principles of the states in the western hemisphere, that the democratic principles -- we believe that the best way to work through this is through this process, and we are seeing great progress through the oas. i think we should give the process a chance to play out. the multilateral route is the way to go. >> i needed to read out from the

thomas shannon a meeting yesterday. specifically, did he ask not to return to honduras on thursday? >> yes, as you know, as the microphone falls down here -- as you know, at secretary shannon did meet with the president at the oas last night, and they discussed the current crisis and how to solve it. i can solve that one, too. they had a very positive meeting. the president expressed his gratitude to the u.s., to the president, and to the secretary for the very strong message that we sent on sunday, and on the succeeding days, condemning the coup. also, expressed appreciation for what i was just describing --

the multilateral efforts through the un and through the oas to call for the full restoration of democracy and constitutional order. >> did he specifically asked about [unintelligible] >> we are focused on this process, and dutch started last night through the oas restore the constitutional order. i am not going to get into the details of exactly what was discussed. i think we need to be careful to not do anything that would be in any way obstructing this process. i have time for one more question. yes, go ahead. >> the former congresswoman and cindy mccain and members of the free gaza movement were intercepted when they were on and humanitarian mission over there.

what is the next up there? will they be deported? >> on that last question, i do not know the answer. i will have to refer you to the government of israel. if we can confirm that the israeli army did it address -- arrest those on board, this is known as spirit. we cannot comment on any individuals or the number of individual american citizens on board because of the privacy act concern. our embassy has been in touch with the israeli authorities. we have been told that the boat was stopped in is really waters. we were -- it was escorted to an israeli court. the passengers are safe and accounted for. we are seeking counselor access to the american citizens on board. we do not take any position regarding the free gaza movement or those messages.

>> [unintelligible] >> we issued a statement -- >> [unintelligible] >> i think i will let the statement stand for itself. >> [unintelligible] >> i think you are aware of secretary gates visiting india in the second half of july. i do not have any details. yow? -- yes? >> can i ask you to comment on the resignation of the prime minister this morning? >> yes, i had not heard that. if we can get a comment on that -- >> [unintelligible] >> croatia is an important partner and an ally. beyond that, i have not seen the report, so i cannot -- >> [unintelligible] >> shrill long gone. ok. >> several major international

organizations are -- it appears the american government is not listening. ipeople in sri lanka -- the killing is still is going on. >> we are helping with the humanitarian situation in sri lanka. we feel very strongly after the cessation of facilities -- hostilities that the needs to be a reconciliation process with all the parties in sri lanka and will continue to call for the specifics. we would be happy to provide more information. >> do you believe that the effort to achieve a negotiated

solution that restores the president of honduras also needs to address the misgivings of members of congress and the supreme court's. -- the supreme court. >> even before this unfortunate issue on sunday, we were encouraging all sides, or both sides in this conflict, to resolve their differences via dialogue. right now, what we are primarily interested in is restoring constitutional order and fulfilling the mandate of the oas last night. sorry, guys. got to cut it off. i can take some questions after the cameras break. thank you very much.

>> tonight, we will show president obama's national discussion on health care in its entirety. that is at 8:00 eastern time here on c-span. and we will hear from the white house domestic policy advisers who now work with presidents from richard nixon to george w. bush. they will discuss their relationships with chief executives on friday at 8:00 eastern. then their experiences trying to sell their policy agendas to the congress and the public. that is setting morning at 10:00 eastern. it will wrap up with lessons learned from serving under chief executives. that is sunday, here on c-span. >> over the july 4 weekend, a notable americans on c-span. stories from inside the white house -- domestic policy

advisers on their presidents, from richard nixon to jurors that you bush, honoring ronald reagan, and ken burns. a tribute to the late writer john updike. and i reunion of astronauts. there are more books and authors this holiday weekend. including in death sunday with historian and author john ferling. >> according to a new opinion poll, al-qaeda and the taliban are viewed as security threats. but most are opposed to unmanned military drums inside pakistan. more now on the survey from a group called world public opinion. this is about an hour and a half.

>> after that last moment of editing, we will begin. thank you for coming this morning to hear about the discussion of public opinion in pakistan, and what it means for pakistan and u.s. policies. my name is steve webber. we manage world public opinion -- worldpublicopinion.org. our study, along with all of our other work, can be found on our website. this includes documentation, methods of distribution, so forth. more information on pakistan and south asia can be found there as well. this morning, we will be looking

at findings from the national survey of the people of pakistan that was conducted in late may, slightly over, the go. the specific dates were may 17 to may 28. this was four months after president obama was inaugurated and about one week before his speech in cairo, in which he addressed the muslim world. on my right, my colleagues will present the views on a set of issues including the public's views on squaw valley and the pakistan. and attitudes about the role of u.s. engagement. he has worked extensively on studies of public opinion in asia and recently a study of attitudes about the conflict in kashmir.

christine will present particularly interesting regional differences in pakistan. they're an ethnic mix is crucial to understand its politics and its relations to its neighbors. we will see it is important to understanding attitudes to the u.s. and to the taliban as well. christine is a specialist in south asia. she has traveled many times to afghanistan and pakistan. currently, she is a senior political scientist at the rand corporation and was previously at the u.s. institute of peace. some of her good ideas went into the development of the questionnaire for the study. finally, stephen cohen is a senior fellow in foreign policy studies at brookings institution. he is the co-author on books are in the american involvement in south asia and a volume entitled "the idea of pakistan."

he was a member of the policy planning staff at the state department. he will no doubt in gauges on policy issues. -- engage us on policy issues. >> thank you for coming. the survey was conducted over may 17 thru may 28. there were 1000 pakistani adults nationwide responding. interviews were conducted at home, in randomly-selected urban and rural points in all four provinces. let me quickly add that 5% of the population of the country -- we over-sampled and weighted the results back down so they would

be proportional to the rest of the country. the margin of error is plus or minus 3.2%. these are the topics i will cover, which are already run through for you. the war in afghanistan, attitudes to president obama and the u.s., al-qaeda. so, a major shift has taken place in pakistan, the perceptions of religious and military groups in their country. 81% now see the activities of islamist militants and taliban as a critical threat to pakistan, while in fall 2007 when we ask the same question, only 34% saw this. more broadly, the activities of religious militant groups in pakistan as a whole are seen as

a critical threat by 2/3, up from 38%. when they are asked where their sympathies lie in the conflict, seven in 10 are supportive of the government. 10% volunteered on defense response, both equally or neither, but only 5% said the pakistani taliban. confidence in the pakistani government is that a majority levels. four in 10 say they have a lot of confidence. seven in 10 say they have some. the public seems definite that the taliban represents a group they do not want their country to work with. we ask them what they would think if the taliban gain control over all of pakistan?

75% call this bad. 67% said it would be very bad. at the same time, a majority see such a takeover of the whole country as unlikely. half say it is very unlikely. we asked people whether they thought the pakistani taliban has the ambition of taking over the whole country or whether it means to just run the northwest, which is a sizable hole in itself -- and a fair maggiore, 51%, thinks the taliban is focused on the northwest. a sizable minority disagrees and thinks its ambitions are national. the public leans slightly toward feeling that the government was still right to attempt a compromise. we reminded them that government