iraq to the u.s. on bringing stability to iraq after u.s. troops leave. is next. ♪ host: in this morning's paper, "barack obama as a last visit to russia in 2005 did not end it so well." he was detained in siberia for three hours, locked in a lounge, and his passport confiscated. now the president is coming back, do end moscow in monday for his first american summit taking place. he will be the long -- part of a long line of americans who have tried to figure out russia. good morning, for the first half-hour we'll talk about president obama's first trip to russia as president. his goals and objectives, as

well as those of his russian counterpart. if you want to send as an e- mail, c-span.org, and if you want to send us a message by twitter, you can. in "the washington post" here is the headline. this is by michael fletcher and philip pan. shortly after taking office, the obama administration made clear that the want to reset relations between the united states and russia which has deteriorated under president george w. bush. during obama's meeting with

dmitry medvedev the two agreed they wanted to find positions on a broad range of issues. but the white house and the kremlin hoped to build on that with a summit in moscow. fundamental differences remain on key issues that have strained u.s.-russian relations. we want to find out where you think about what the president will try to accomplish during his trip. it is part of a larger trip that includes stops in italy and ghana. we can show you his itinerary. he will be in moscow on monday and tuesday and then he goes to rome for a visit to the vatican on wednesday through friday. he will also meet with g-8 leaders there as well. on saturday he goes to ghana for a speech there. more from the article in the

post by these writers. medvedev once it u.s. pledges to scrap a missile defense system in eastern europe into will of military alliances with the former soviet republics of georgia and ukraine. obama wants russia to back tough sanctions against iran if diplomatic efforts to curb its nuclear program failed. the the president has indicated any willingness to yield. -- neither president has indicated willingness to yield. the summit is expected to produce a deal allowing the u.s. to ship weapons to afghanistan for russia. the two may also agree to share intelligence and 5 afghanistan drug-trafficking -- and fight the drug-trafficking.

so, give us a call let us know what you think about the president's first trip to russia. here are the numbers. if you are calling from outside the u.s., hear this. you can either it e-mail us or twitter us as well. from the philadelphia paper, what mind-set will dominate obama's visit to russia -- she writes that obama hopes to revamp u.s.-russia relations and will depend on which mentality dominates the mentality of the

response to his proposals. the first call comes from michigan on our line for republicans. caller: good morning. host: what you think about the president's first trip to russia as president? caller: well, i am 61 years old. i voted for george walker bush in 2000. i believe that we should be friends with russia, absolutely. we have a great deal we can share. an alliance between us might do the world a great deal of good. i am all for. cuba as well. many other countries. there are many problems we could work on together. by the way, i am very pleased that we have reached yet another

milestone in this country's history. host: how would you define being friends? caller: you know, it is a relationship like between any two countries -- they are the other dominant power. host: if i want to be good friend with my neighbor i don't let my weeds grow into his yard -- give me an example of the same. caller: we have been putting missiles on their doorstep for decades. then they put missiles in cuba and we had a fit. i have never seen the fairness of that. back in vietnam in the days of the 1960's and 1970's. and never made sense to me that we would be upset by they're objecting to putting missiles in turkey or someplace, greece. host: let's move on to the line

for democrats from detroit. caller: yes, this is my first time. i have been trying for months to get through. i think we should have better relations with russia. to get along a little better, not have a cold war. i was going to comment on iran, but no iran russia. but i'm glad we're getting along a little better. seems to be better than we ever have. it seems it will get better, i hope. host: touch on iran a little bit. say hello it could be improved? caller: it is a unilateral cooperation between the two. they are getting along, seem to be getting along real good, especially with china. but it is getting a lot better with russia. the should both monitor the drug trafficking, just shut it down.

it is doing nothing but killing people. they have a bad problem in iran and that will help them to. host: the independent line from new jersey. caller: thank you. i think this makes good diplomacy for obama to try to reach out to the russians, but with respect to the drug problem, i don't understand why he doesn't focus on the one we have here at home. i understand what we're doing there in afghanistan, but we have drug problems here at home. we need to acknowledge problems we have here domestically. other than that i give him a heads up on trying to talk to the russians. host: the front page of "the new york times" has this article. in college barack obama road about nuclear arms. as a senator he viewed it a deactivated russian nuclear missile and that is the picture

that you see there. william broad and david sanger writes that in the campus news magazine it was written about the vision of a nuclear-free world. he railed against discussions of first versus second-strike capabilities this is the military-industrial interests with their billion dollar erector sets and agitated for the elimination of global arsenals holding tens of thousands of deadly warheads. the city was barack obama and he was clearly trying to sort out his thoughts. in conclusion he denounced the twisted logic of which we are part of today and praise to sit in efforts to realize the possibility of a decent world. but his article "breaking the war mentality to see it so little about how to achieve the utopian dream. we will get back to more of that. first let's go to kennebunkport, maine on the line for

independents. caller: hello. i was just sharing with the person who it into the call that i think cents obama and regan did not win the cold war he will not have a hard time -- but he needs to put down the law. he will not be trustworthy after georgia. that is my concern. the big bear is back. that is my concern. i think that they are not very credible. host: so how do they improve their credibility? caller: definitely, the people who live in the country, when

they trust their government, tell the international world that the government is just for the. in america we have had our own problems but we always respect the constitution. we are free. we do not colonize. therefore when their people have to do their government we know that there will be a credible government. host: let's move on to washington, d.c. on the line for democrats. caller: i am from west africa and i liberia and i graduated from howard university. i voted for obama. i appreciate the fact that obama is actually in 1912 and that is how it is supposed to be.

we are all members of the human race. that obama is it you 19 at the world -- obama is uniting the world. russia is the only superpower that did not participate in the slave trade. host: is there something specific you like to see obama address with the leaders in russia? caller: yes, unite. talk to them in the context that we are all together in this because the united states is about to use its aerospace in russia to transfer material. those are some of the ways you want to unite the world. the soviet union is [inaudible]

but the united states makes them not to be skeptical. -- makes them out to be skeptical. but obama is doing the best and is alicit is how it should be. host: here from another article, it says mr. obama is starting relatively small, using a visit to russia that starts monday to advance an intense negotiation with the tree the deadline of the end of the year to reduce the arsenal to roughly 1500 warheads each for each superpower from 2200. mr. obama stressed that he made clear that we will retain

our deterrent capability as long as there's a country with nuclear weapons. he said reducing arsenals would be the first up toward giving the united states and a growing body of l.a.'s the power to remake the nuclear world. among the goals, halting weapons programs in north korea and iran, discouraging states for abandoning the nuclear non- proliferation treaty, and ending global production of fuel for nuclear arms. that is a step sure to upset pakistan and israel. here's a message from twitter. back to the phones, indianapolis on the line for democrats. caller: sorry, it is minneapolis. that is fine. first and foremost, president

obama needs to repair the damage done from the bush administration. bush in russia were cozy early but then the leaders decided to exert itself in central asia. that made the russians uncomfortable. then, repairing relations with russia even though medvedev seems to be present. the second case, trying to get rid of nuclear weapons, the cat is out of the bag. we cannot continue to tell which countries can or cannot have weapons as long as people are intent on harming those countries. i think that it is a non- starter. i think we need to focus on repairing relationships and trying to get some joint

cooperation with afghanistan and other problem areas in the country. -- in the region. it is working to repair it the religions we had before. russia probably feels like a third job, a stepchild with the rise of china. -- working to repair the relations that we had before. host: thanks for your call. if you would like to give us a call, here are the lines. this is what this writer says on the front page of "the washington times," challenges of town for obama road. mr. obama will try to set a framework with russia for

nuclear arms reductions in this aggression help in negotiating with iran and north korea. he will also meet in italy with leaders of about 40 countries to talk about finances, global warming, and food security in. and he will cap off with a speech in ghana delineating how developing countries fit into geopolitics. fort wayne, indiana on the line for republicans. welcome. caller: good morning, i have to say i just think he is full of hot air. he says one thing and does another. sort of like when he says he will not raise taxes on people. you clobber everyone with a cigarette tax, it is cap and trade. the democrats used to say that you have to choose between medication or putting food on the table.

you're gonna have to buy food or else freeze in the wintertime because the electric bill will go so high. host: let's return to the topic of russia in dealing with the russians. how the think that obama is full of hot air in that arena? caller: i can see this idiot sitting there saying they will get rid of the nuclear weapons and he will say that we will too. they use this technology to build weapons now in another country. do you think it is a good idea? host: what do you think? caller: i think it is a horrible idea. he is building the gallows. host: let's move onto maple false, washington on the line for independents -- maple falls.

caller: as far as i'm concerned, i will tell you what -- i have been and the army for -- it was only six years and i got hurt in a car accident so i had to get out. but my son is in there right now. you do not really want to hear what i have to say. host: we will leave it there. other items in the new span of the lead item here in this paper, clerical leaders defied the ayatollah on the iran election. the right from cairo. it is a statement by the group of the clerics. it is a significant if symbolic setback for the government and

especially for the supreme authority for the ayatollah khamenei whose word is supposed to be fun. the government has tried to paint the opposition and its top presidential candidate as criminals and traders, a strategy that now becomes more difficult if not impossible. they are talking about calling the vote in iran illegitimate in causing a rift in the highest leadership levels. host: the independent line, good morning. what do you think about the president's trip? caller: here is the deal. the president is making a trip to russia. i think it is about time we let the russian people know they are our allies. it is the best interest of both countries to see -- something

concerning israel. if we stop them from developing nuclear weapons it is good for us. the president needs to let the russian people know that they have to improve their relationship with israel and clamp down on iran. host: if you like to send us a message on twitter the address is cspanwj. here mousavi is accused of treason -- this comes out of tehran. he released documents on saturday detailing the campaign of alleged fraud by supporters of president ahmadinejad that assured his reelection while an adviser to the supreme leader accuse mousavi of treason.

the article goes on to say that in a 24-page document posted on his website, mousavi's special committee studying election fraud accused influential ahmadinejad supporters of handing out cash bonuses and fu, increasing wages, printing millions of extra ballots, and other acts in the run-up to the vote. alabama, on our line for democrats. caller: good morning. this is ms. perkins. host: what do you think about the president's first trip to russia? caller: first of all, let me say this. about president obama. president obama has just been in office for six months. do not expect this man to come

in in it change the world. let's pray and let's give this man a chance. i have a 30-year old granddaughter in iraq right now and a 24-year-old daughter in africa. you understand? and my baby was in the other were. it only lasted 90 days. let's give the president a chance to do what has to be done. let's pray for this man. let's pray and get on one accord because prayer changes things. host: good morning. caller: i would hope that mr. obama would remind mr. putin for mr. medvedev would remind them of the date which set off a bomb in new mexico because we have to get some of these nuclear bombs

off the planet. it is flat out terrible. host: this rector on twitter -- this writer writes on twitter. good morning, on our line for independents. what you think the president's goals and objectives should be in his first trip as president to russia? caller: i think it is a nice attempt to show the people that the united states is painting a picture, that even if they want to get rid of the nuclear weapons -- we're the ones who invented these things. so, every other country in the world will try to follow suit. host: do we set the example and

reduce our nuclear weapons, or do we say to other countries that we will reduce our is when you reduce your stacks caller: i think we have surpassed that, that as long as we have nuclear- weapons the others will continue to develop them. everyone wants to follow suit to do with the united states is doing and has been for decades. as long as we continue to have them of their countries like iran, afghanistan, pakistan, india -- these developing nations will try to get them. host: do you think the president will try to talk to the russians about may be presenting a united front as the world's two biggest powers, saying if we reduce ours, we reduced yours? caller: that is a great idea,

but will it really happen? i think it is my. i don't think that the united states will reduce nuclear capability. -- i think it is smoke. the fact is that we still have them even if we reduce them. host: in north korea missiles hurled a defiant 4th of july as seven missiles were launched on the fourth of july. the seven rockets slashed harmlessly into the sea u.s. analysts said they all appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles. some independent experts said the firing of the multiple missiles may have been intended as a warning to adversaries that north korea would seek to overwhelm their missile shields. next up is columbus, ga. on the line for democrats. caller: good morning. you know, i like to give kudos

to president obama. i think he is doing an outstanding job and i think he will do fine for ever he goes as far as he travels around the world. and as far as his goals as far as russia is concerned, i am not exactly sure what they are. not in their entirety, but i'm sure he will speak about nuclear issues, and quite frankly i'm not sure how much will be accomplished. host: there is a list in "the n.y. times" this morning. we can look at that. it is and i'll line of the president's nuclear agenda. canceling the new u.s. warheads, looking up loose nuclear material, negotiating arms reductions with moscow, ratifying the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty, strengthening the nuclear non- proliferation treaty, and

negotiating a fissile material cut off tree. caller: that is alla wide range of issues there. i want to say one thing about the nuclear issue in itself. president obama made a statement some time ago basically stating that he live like to get rid of nuclear weapons altogether. that was one of his goals. i think that the german who preceded me spoke briefly about this -- the gentleman before me spoke briefly about it. i am not sure that it is an achievable " because there are so many other nations cleaver have them or are developing

them, or have some access to some rogue nations to develop them at some time. it is a great and noble idea to decide to get rid of all of them, but then you are looking at all the other nations who are almost out of control. host: this is hal "the washington times" covered the firing of missiles yesterday. japan, south korea condemn serious acts of provocation. columbia, south carolina on the independent line. caller: good morning. i find it strange that none of the media is reporting someone being held hostage in israel. why is there no coverage of that?

a former u.s. congresswoman being held in jail in israel. she says that all they have in jail there are ethiopians. host: is she still in jail? caller: yes, and she has been for about five days. no coverage in this jewish- controlled media. host: have you got anything to say about the president's trip to russia? then we will move on to fayette bill, north carolina on the line for republicans. caller: the fact that we are having this conversation indicates with the problem is. his the top leader of the country in one of the top leaders in the road. the agenda should be carefully defined.

this could well be done at the state department level. if the purpose is simply to draw attention away from the failing economy and higher unemployment than expected and a plan to improve the economy which is not working, why not focus on russia. host: thanks for your call. this last message on twitter. we will take a short break and then return with a discussion of politics and current events with alexander and matt. ♪

this week, he will talk about the latest unemployment figures. >> unfortunately, i do not think we're done. we're not of the woods. we had some tough job market reports over december 2007 when the recession began.

the rate of job loss has slowed considerably, fortunately, since the president has been in office, but i imagine that unemployment might be pushing into the double digits by the time we get to the peak of this. >> watched the entire interview today at 10:00 a.m. and again at 6:00 p.m. eastern. >> these places remind me of modern cathedrals that donors would build wings on, hoping they would go to heaven. class of 1983 -- he would like to see changes to the education system. >> i think'that s philosophy should be on the web. these wonderfully concentrated islands of talent, wealth, and erudition should be opened up to the larger society, not c

ultishly kept separate. tonight at 8:00 p.m. on tuesday. you can also listen on satellite radio or download the podcast. >> how is he's been funded? >> i do not know. some of the government? >> it is not public funding. >> probably donations? >> for me, from my tax dollars. >> 30 years ago america's cable companies created c-span as a public service, a private business initiative. no government mandate, no government money. host: we're joined by our guests for round-table discussion of politics. items in the news and your

calls and e-mails. first come matt, and the associated press this morning there posting this comment by the vice-president. it says it joe biden said the obama administration misread how bad the economy was, but stands by stimulus package in believes the plan will create more jobs as the pace of spending picks up. your response? guest: it seems like a veiled attempt to continue to blame george w. bush and remind everyone once again that obama inherited a struggling economy. things have gotten worse once he has been in office. the unemployment rate is up to 9.5% now. it seems like this to me as has not kick in. we were promised, remember when they pushed the stimulus, that if we did not pass it immediately the world would end. we passed it and things have gotten worse, not better. the real question is that what point does this become president

obama's economy? host: alexander, let's move from there. at what time does this become president obama's economy? guest: it is already been good to the extent that vice- president biden in his comments reflect the urgency of the issue -- it it might mean that we're looking at a second this stimulus package. that they're gearing up to demand from congress more investment in infrastructure. but the vice president has a habit of making these comments. not necessarily strategic. guest: that is what makes him the perfect foil because we know that he often is off- message. his often of guy to go to when you want to leak something. host: in the story it says that joe biden noted that the $787 billion economic package was set up to spend money over 18

months. the major programs will take effect in september, including $7.5 billion for broadband internet service, plus the money for high speed rail and the electrical grid. guest: they're constantly stories about stimulus money that has yet to go into effect so we have not yet seen the full impact of the stimulus. host: so, it do you think that he spoke too soon? guest: i think part of their challenge is to emphasize and understand the economic climate which is incredibly harsh today. i think that the comet was well- advised. guest: again, the notion that we had to rush through this bill -- president obama promised that it would be posted on the internet and we would have 48 hours or 72 hours to look at them and read them. so far his modus operandi and the democratic-controlled

congress has been to restore these bills. if he is arguing that the first stimulus did not work, in my estimation that is an argument against a second of stimulus. host: we're talking about news development, politics, and we'll get around to numidia journalism. -- with new media off journalism. if you'd like to get involved, here are the numbers. if you want to send us an e- mail, c-span.org. those who use twitter can send this a message that way. our first call comes from nancy on the line for democrats. she comes to us from indiana. caller: the morning.

i have a comment for the young man representing the democratic said. i have been really disappointed in obama so far. it is like we are deeper into afghanistan. he has really not done anything to reverse bush policies on spying on americans. i'm really concerned about all of this. i heard the gentleman calling about cynthia mckinney and her being held on israel as a prisoner. there has been nothing in the mainstream media. i like our president to comment on what is going on with this former congresswoman being held in israel as a prisoner. guest: scoop 44 is non-partisan. i do not represent any

particular ideology. to the caller's point. the comedian has made similar points about the president's lack of audacity, including health care. we recently teamed up with zogby international and did a poll specifically on 18-30 year-olds who said there were not concerned. they believe very strongly that president obama's rhetoric during the campaign matches in his actions since taking office. i think that it show that he was very favorably rated as far as his rhetoric matching his actions. host: look at this message from twitter. this one writes that the stimulus was a democrat porkfest.

guest: i agree. the way to stimulate an economy in the long term is to create incentive. if you are small-business owner and you know that you will have a tax cut in the future, capital gains. america has the second-largest corporate tax to japan. if you are an investor or business owner and know that your taxes will be lower next year you have the incentive to maybe build another plant or hire more workers. so, i think the same as has been very counter-productive. the problem though is that all tax cuts are not created equal. and president bush did things like some that rebate checks that had virtually no effect. because of a rebate check is something you were not planning on maybe -- it went to individuals. maybe they went out to buy a vcr or the player.

but when you know you will have you can plan on it and i think that is key. host: let's go to ohio on the line for republicans. caller: good morning. i want to ask why our government does not take some tax cuts in the industry and put people back to work? i have been through two recessions and it works. i do not see them doing this. why is that? guest: the me first respond to matt's point. incentivizing is critical, but the stimulus did do that. this might be in the second stimulus -- expanding the federal pell grant. it is an idea that we have launched. several have argued that we need to create a sector for service intensely focused on grants from the government provided to young people who want to pursue

careers in public-oriented work and there is a way to create incentive through government spending. guest: i cannot point to one instance were growing government spending has ever faced in economy, but if we look to ronald reagan in the 1980's, tax cuts do grow economist. but this is part of obama's big government philosophy. it is. host: back to the phone, on the line for independents. caller: good morning, everybody. i remember the last time that you were on alexander, you with a fellow who went to harvard, weren't you? guest: yes, caller: sir how is president obama going to deal with slave reparations now that the house and senate have passed an apology for what happened

with host: the slaves what does that have to do with harvard? caller: think it is a tough question and i imagine harvard they talk about things like that. philosophically, how will the president do with that? host: is that the top of the list for concerned in and hearst? guest: when we discussed this during the campaign, we discussed this whole issue. the idea of his being opposed a post-racial kennedy. we talk about this often. i think the president has done an outstanding job. -- a post-racial candidate. i think he has done an excellent job to get things done and to overlook criticisms that have come his way. we have seen to the recent

holocaust shooting and through other hatred that seems to transcend generations that it still exists in a potent form. i think he, the consensus in my group is that he has been able to overcome that. host: this morning, russia presents test for obama. matt, will with the present have to do to be successful in his trip in russia? guest: it is important that he comes across as strong. we see jack kennedy coming out of his first meeting with christian of not looking strong. we see ronald reagan projecting a strong confident america. -- jack kennedy coming out of his first meeting with khrushchev not looking strong.

let's be honest, obama will have many years to deal putin. putin is really the one who calls the shots. president obama will be diplomatic and try to make friends with leaders. part of the narrative says that george bush did not do that. i would remind everybody that george bush says he looked at putin in the eyes and saw his soul, so this is not a new strategy, trying to make friends. the peace through strength. host: what does he have the due to appear strong? buff up? a handshake that look him in the eyes? some of the things here -- bringing down nuclear-weapons. guest: image does matter. gorbachev got out of his car in a big coat and another comes

barreling down the steps -- so images do matter. but missile defenses key. it is dangerous that president obama has called on paris to reduce missile defense. it is purely defensive. -- has called on congress to reduce missile defense. i urge president obama to not give any ground there. host: what does he have to do to be successful in your eyes? guest: image is important. despite the photographic depiction he was not saying that he saw an tochavez's eyes, despite a handshake and cordial moment. but that is the groundwork for a new diplomacy to reshape the future. as "the new york times" reports this morning, it has always been an ambition to reduce the

nuclear arsenal and have a global standard for what is proper. to the extent he can advocate for that and still remain strong and away -- conservatives will not basham fohj him and wee an active defense system. host: we're discussing politics with our guests. our next call comes from maryland. robert, on the line for democrats. caller: good morning. as a black person i would like to respond to the gentleman talking about reparations for black people in america. i think the greatest thing they could do for black people and for minorities who have been denied health care in this country for years -- it is to pass a strong national health- care plan with a single-payer

program like medicare or medicaid. that would get everyone in equal chance for health care in this country. we want something for the country. and you bring up the foolishness you're just trying to scare people. host: matt, answered that question in terms of what is going on in congress to try to come up with health care reform legislation. guest: luckily, i went to shepherd college, not harder, so i will not take offense. there was a big debate this week for there is a proposal in committee that would address this. initially, there was some sticker shock because the congressional budget office said that health reform would cost one trillion dollars. they have now been negotiating. they are calling on employer mandates and have gotten down to

about $600 billion and it still does not cover everybody. here is my concern. the caller talked about giving everyone health care because everyone certainly needs health care. i appreciate having health care, but why shouldn't the government also provide everyone with transportation to get to the job because everyone needs a job? how about a home, too? perhaps government should also provide that? host: let's go to new york on the line for republicans. caller: it is on the north shore of long island. first of all, happy independence weekend to you all. the fact that we can have this debate on television and radio is serving to illustrate the wisdom of the founders.

i would like to defend it dick cheney for a moment. the man took office with no intentions, aspirations of the presidency. the only person in my lifetime who did that. he took care of us. he kept us safe. one question for the gentleman in that thepink church, the democrat. -- pink shirt. show me one instance in history for your version of the economic plan worked in the country, a time and place. it has to be non-fictional. guest: thank you. it is not my economic plan. let's go back to health care if we can. i don't know if everyone wants to hear about dick cheney this early in the morning. but i think that a radio and tv has made in the stewpint.

what were all these billions of americans investing in if not for health care? when people were contributing to obama's campaign, $5, $30 consistently throughout the campaign? it is a fair expectation of americans to see some kind of public option. some kind of way to negotiate with insurance companies and pharmaceutical company so that there is a fair process to receive coverage in critical medicine and medical services. host: we will change gears for just a second. there was an item we got off ofscoop44.com talking about hal iranian journalists are getting the message out by news channels that are typically non- mainstream.

tell us, alexander, is this going to be the new way of conveying news? will it eventually overtake television and radio? guest: it is a fascinating subjects r,ob. to some degree, yes, particularly in certain countries. all these can be used of legitimate journalistic tools. it is a way to translate information. and is a way to do it in a concise manner. if you want to write a short, crisp lead, it is good to go on twitter. if you can do that, maybe it is sufficient. it can be used as a journalistic tool if nothing else. also, in real practice in iran and elsewhere if there is internet access, we can use

twitter and youtube to upload videos, text that is pertinent to citizens of the country in the world, then by all means it is legitimate. here we have a challenge to keep intact the values and standards of traditional journalism as they have been practiced for years and still have a robust presence online that includes twitter and all these other applications. host: you right in the block regularly and will speak at an upcoming conference. tell me about some of your thoughts regarding this new media and your concerns about how the information disseminated through its is confirmed and legitimized? guest: let me start by saying that politics daily is a great example of this. i am a conservative.

essentially, we have mainstream traditional journalists. it is a great merger between the new media and the traditional media and fact-checking. and i am a conservative voice there. a great example of how twitter is impacting the debate even here in the united states occurred on friday. we were all preparing for this sarah palin speech that was supposed to happen at 3:00 p.m. and expected her to announce she would not run for reelection of governor. i started to see on twitter it that she would step down. i turn to all the major networks and no one was yet reported that. but twitter had it about a half- hour before any of the cable news network's. even if it is a rumor, msnbc on

the website did have a caller about 15 minutes early saying they were hearing reports that she would step down. so, twitter was far ahead of mainstream media. many people learned about michael jackson passing away through twitter, too. guest: possibly more efficient if it is accurate. guest: if you follow a lot of people and you begin to see trends, and reliable sources say something -- but you're right, there is the button m foris- intermission as in iran by the government. host: to the bahamas, go right ahead caller:. this is so weird to hear the republican talk. you see all of them with the same language.

just like hitler, they follow the same line. and the president has been in for six or seven months -- what do you expect from president for six or seven months who has actually taken over the worst economy ever historically? he is so far doing a pretty good job with it. he has more people around him if you look also you will see that so many jobs have been saved by this stimulus. even though i think the stimulus also should have been given to the american people. host: matt? guest: where to begin? the question is at whatpoint

those president obama become responsible? after six months? you could say he has only been in office for two years. at some time the present is in charge and does get credit maybe when they are not deserving of it, and blame when they're not deserving of it, but that is how it goes. i am an ideologue, but not a partisan. i was critical of president bush. he give us the first bailout which i think was a mistake. i would be equally critical of president obama and president bush for having created the stimulus. but it has gotten worse, not better. host: florida, on the line for independents. caller: i would agree. i get most of my news from the internet and from a lot of foreign sources. i see the biggest issue with the economy being the legalized

loan-sharking, but credit card industry, car loans consumer debt is 10 times that of national debt. until they embrace that i do not see escrowing of this. host: alexander guest:? that is an excellent pint that really speaks to issues facing young people today. the president has modestly expanded the federal pell grant to date. alongside congress has enacted major legislation to try to prevent those loan sharks and to try to prevent the misuse and abuse of companies. at the same time, if you go to college campuses today you will still find it tables and displace, a myriad of them, with credit-card companies, all kinds of institutions willing to sell young people of junk and promoted it as something other

than john. there is still a growing debate about what to do. of thejunk. you saw it in new york with the attorney general's situation where there has been an incestuous relationship with the executive officers at some of these major higher educational institutions and the leadership of loan companies. a lot of our reporting demonstrates that this has not been fully uncovered. it was a tremendous problem and still might be. . .

host: the article goes on to say it debt their ship was stopped when they try to pass through the stockade. the group was taken into custody and the ship was seized. israeli officials promised to deliver all the supplies on the boat. maryland on the line for democrats -- i am sorry, out of philadelphia. caller: i agree with the caller

who said about the health care and insurance -- i mean, interest rates about the credit cards? if obama would give every citizen $20,000 to pay off some credit cards and mortgage payments instead of going all the money to the banks and then hit them jacking up our interest rates, and now he wants to make universal health care when the medicaid is supporting most of all these people who are not even working, i have worked all my life in them 74. now they want to raise medicare to 17%. i am just making it now on my social security check. you have to go get another job. you will probably make it illegal to work under the table so that you can make ends meet

or they will take more taxes of that little bit of money. it got to the piont for you cannot live because obama -- i am a republican. but i voted for him believing he would take the might ease the burden of the american people, but he made it 10 times worse. now he wants to make universal care to include all the illegal immigrants who should just be deported because they are here illegally. there are people who are honest, hard-working people waiting for a green card to get into this country host: alexander, go ahead guest: interesting points. i would say that many americans, particularly young people viewed as you were saying before, the bush stimulus, the three paycheck's best insubstantial.

so i just think

philosophically. but once government gets involved in something, it's like putting tooth paste back in the tube. >> go ahead. caller: hello. can you hear me? host: i can. turn down your tv. caller: i just want to revisit the health care issue. and basically my comment or my question is for mr. he have never. i really -- i am not sure how i feel about universal health care. i've worked in medical billing and collections for about 25 years of my adult life. what i see is a lot of waste in that. why don't we -- we can visit the insurance companies and find out why they're withholding payments when they

should not be. we need to visit insurance companies or maybe even cms and find out why we're not -- we don't have a standardized coding system. from one provider to another, if i'm a facility, a hospital or a -- well, even a skilled nursing facility, the coding for skilled nursing is totally different from the coding for hospitals, which is totally different from the coding for physicians, which is totally different for coding for home medical equipment companies. it is a total waste to do that. we need to find -- if we're going to have -- if you really want to find some money to save, look inside what we have to do in order to get paid as a provider. host: alexander.

veragetteds the caller has some rich experiences and i think we should all consider them and really view the health care issue from the perspective and lens of the folks running what has become an industry, doctors, and insurance providers, all these folks who have vested interest and really the high stakes game here. from every report there are so many inefficiencies it's difficult to count them. and everything is moving to 2 internet, everything is moving on line. medical records, whether they will ultimately save money or not, that's still in debate and question amongst folks in the profession. but it's the future. and my sense is from the reporting we've done will ultimately save money. but as far as the prosessing and standardization, that's true of so many professions. but in medicine, it's most

urgent and really imperative and medical schools, nursing facilities, doctors, have some kind of detailed focus. now, that doesn't mean they all have to abide by the same protocol and in their own private practices with respect to who they want to take as patients. i think a lot of folks, young people and adults will want to preserve that. but the one thing obama has been criticized for is the lack of detail in his own plans, demanding what exactly from congress. host: matt. guest: i think it's not that it's becoming anti-entrepreneurial. since world war ii, what's happened was because government had price controls and wage controls, businesses began giving health care benefits to compete, to say come work for us. we're a better company.

but as a result of that government began offering tax benefits to these companies for providing health care. the long and short of it is that for whatever reason health care became associated with having a job. and so unfortunately the result is that as individuals you and i never negotiate with our health care providers. that is sort has skewed the market. it's an artificial thing. and i believe in health care reform and i believe what we need to do is get to individual accounts so that you own your health care account. and if you change jobs you still own your health care if you get fired or lose your job, you still own your own health care account. it's radical in a good way and i think it's health care reform. but it's exactly the opposite of what obama is opposed to. >> i don't know if it's exactly the opposite because i think he feels fundamentally that it's important that folks contribute to their own health care. that it's not just free. so there might be a hybrid there. host: carol calls us from waco,

texas. caller: yes. i want to make the comment regarding the gentleman that called in regarding health care for blacks instead of money. and matt lewis responded to his comment. i'm in my 70's, and i remember how blacks were treated in my own little town in the 30's, 40's, and 50's. and it was unforgiveable. and as a child, i could see it and i didn't understand it. but i can go into an emergency room where i live today in central texas, and the room is literally filled with

hispanics. and whites and blacks with go in and they have to make some type of payment for their health care at the emergency room. but the hispanics don't. and those rooms are filled with that particular minority. and inso far as matt lewis commenting, well, you know, if they get health care and then the blacks get health care and then they'll want a card to go to work, then they'll want a house and so forth. and i think his response was quite inappropriate. it was poor. ill thought. host: we're going to leave it there. lee fend your position. guest: look, i think she brings

up a very good point unintentionally. which is that president obama and democrats especially in congress and in the senate talk about millions and millions and millions of americans who don't have health care, what they leave out and this has been written extensively about it, are millions are rich people who choose not to have health care just for strategic business decisions, and millions are illegal immigrants. and when you look at the number of americans who legitimately want health care and don't have it it's not the epic crisis proportion that they would have you believe. host: back to the phone. caller: great discussion, gentlemen. a couple of quick comments. first on sintsdzna mckinney, she to me is just like the two current tv journalists who went over to south korea.

they think they can spit in the face of a foreign government just as they do when they spit in the face of the u.s. government. now, on the subject of when this will become mr. obama's economy. i think democrats will allow it on september 10th, because if they allow it to go to september 11th, then republicans will be able to blame bill clinton for 9/11. host: i'm not sure i understand all of that, but see if you can make some sense of that guest: that's a tough call. i don't know exactly where the caller is heading there. i can say that the president has an ambitious agenda and that the economy is at the forefront of it. and that doesn't mean that the white house is not intentionally focusing on foreign affairs. and i don't know if that was what the caller was talking about. guest: i think he's talking

about the hypocracy. if it's fair to say this is bush's economy, then it's fair to say that on nine 11 it's clinten's national defense. it wasn't a terrible argument to make. >> i do disagree with people who claim that it isn't mr. obama's wars in afghanistan or iraq. it isn't his economy. it is. he has a full docket. yes, he has inherited crisises that were looming for some time and that have culminated in severe consequence for a lot of americans. but at the same time, it's his agenda. and he will be remembered in history for his actions now or his inactions. so i don't think that you're going to want to hear that from democratsor commentators or anyone because it's unproductives and not enable the president to take kind of the anchor role on his agenda.

host: let's shift gears one more time. one of the articles in the paper link between violence and troop witsdralls being considered. what are you hearing? what are you reading on your website and what are you writing about with regard to the u.s. troop withdrawals in iraq and the response, the uptick in violence? guest: so far, i think that things have gone reasonably smooth all things considered. there is much cause for concern. and there's a danger. i notice they withdraw a day early which i think was probably smart strategy to not sort of go according to plan. this is one of those situations where if things go well, then president obama and the generals appear to be very smart. and if things go bad they appear to have made a tragic mistake. and it's really probably out of their control. host: how sit playing over

there? guest: there's no doubt that there will need to be a drawback of some kind. and to experiment to the extent we're going to ask, if the iraqis are capable of handling their own security detail. we're going to need to ask that question at some point. and the reality is in this country, i mean, this is a wakeup call that we have really critical issues to focus on here, whether it's health care, immigration reform, all the issues the callers have been mentioning. and to the degree we've been focusing on spending in iraq and afghanistan, that's going to need to stop, in the eesmation of a lot of folks i've interviewed, and the attention being placed more here. and it's interesting to see the diverging paths between the president and the vice president and their staffs.

the v.p. has been focused on foreign politics and the president domestically. guest: if iraq turns out to be a democracy, then we will see president bush's legacy be quite different. host: harpers ferry sh -- gsh harpers -- harpers city. caller: i see everybody so worried about representative mckinney, the one ime worried about is monica conyers, the

wife of senator john conyers. and i've seen no story about her pleading guilty to federal bribery charges. why has this been sholved under the table? guest: i don't believe it's been sholved under the table. but we have a story right here and it's being reported in this morning's "washington post". monica conyers' plea of guilty raises questions about what representative conyers knew. representative john conyers, currently the chairman of the house judiciary committee. matt lewis, your response. guest: i think there is no attempt to cover up any of this. but what is happening is unbelievable amounts of news coming out we have health care, cap and trade, mark sanford, his career. sara palin. this has been quite an interesting time. so i do hope that the callers  recognize the incredible amount of news taking place. and now we have president obama

traveling abroad. so some of the stuff may not be on page 1. host: is this the situation where the readers and the consumers of news are going to determine what they believe to be the lead stories as opposed to the editors and producers of mainstream news who put out the newspapers and television? guest: increasingly. and you're seeing broadcast and print channels now tapping into the huffington post and reporting increasingly. a decade ago it was less influential. but today, they're determining how the traditional press operate to such a degree do we need to question do the folks on line need to apply more of the standards in print. and we try to do that and have an operation comparable in the sense that we've got a dozen or so staff writers who are compiling information, who are researching, digging up facts, writing indemtsdz pieces and

real journalism is happening. and you can't say that of all web venues. host: next up, daniel. go ahead. caller: good morning, gentlemen. it's a great subject. eem enjoying it. but my question is to the strategy of the president, do you think that the president's strategy vithe on, or is it off? and dow you play chess? and would you like to play the president? guest: the president's strategy regarding what? caller: overall tratty. i'm saying that his foreign policy and his domestic policy. and do you think that he he is over committed to one side or the other or is it pretty well rounded? guest: i think that president obama is brilliant. clearly he is an incredibly

talented politician and i think he tapped into something that he caught on to something that sort of goes counter to what political consultants believe. they'll tell you the american public don't pay attention that much. our c-span viewers know quite different. i think the american public is increasingly paying attention. they're getting their news from blogs and cable tv. president obama saw that and has wisely sort of raised the rhetoric in terms of being an intellectual, explaining things. and i think that it was quite the opposite of president bush. and so i think that strategically speaking, president obama is quite a great communicators, quite brilliant. i do think she making a big mistake in terms of taking on too many things. i really believe, if you look at great presidents throughout our history, they tackle two or three things if they're lucky. ronald reagan beat the communists, restored faith and optism in america.

guest: when you have an economic crisis it's more difficult and you can tackle more things at one time and potentially extra kate the country from massive crisis ala f.d.r. but let me say that i think matt is absolutely right. he can kind of couple that with his undying enthusiasm. his appreciation of young people. and the result is townhalls across the country as president, not just in campaign mode. speeches where he's not only inspiring folks here but in cairo, for instance. and also, explaining the basics. what is the economic crisis? he went to georgetown university and dedicated an entire speech to that. host: either of you play chess? guest: i know. i would not want to play president obama. host: back to the phones. john, go ahead. caller: good morning,

gentlemen. my comment for you is being a political debater myself on -- i just wanted to say that politics as a hobby, looking at it back in the late 60's, early 70's, there was a couple that advocated overloading the system with so much that you tear it down in order to rebuild it. i believe that's obama's strategy, and with a trillion dollar bills going through, 1300 pages that nobody reads, it's really quite effective. and if that happens, i don't know if this country can take it. just your comments on it would be great. host: do you believe the president ising down the system so he can rebuild it guest: not necessarily. i would also talk about this issue of transparency.

and i think initially the administration did not keep its promise of being very clear about what bills were being debated, having that requisite period when it could be debated, uploaded on line and reviewed in full. but the caller probably recognizes that throughout our history we've had very lengthy, extensive bills, pieces of legislation that are dense, that are tough to read. i was sitting in mark's office interviewing him and he had literally a pamphlet version of the stimulus bill and then the more extensive one, just piles of paper, high lighted, notes. he took it on that flight back to alaska. and not every senator has that time. so we have to be careful about what's being written. and, you know, if you poll senators and congressmen on whether there was anything related to gun control in the

legislation recently on credit card reform, very few might say yes. and that's emblem matic of the problem. guest: first, if the american public cared about transparency, they would have elected john mccain. barack obama is quite similar to george bush. it was john mccain who had reporters on the straight talk express and took questions from them. president obama has not kept several promises. not having lobbyists in his administration, closing gitmo. but we've had a couple instances just in the past week, he gave nicko pit ni, a liberal blogger, the heads up that he was going to be able to ask a question that goes against protocol. helen was upset with him. dana from the "washington post" is upset. there are many instances where

there are people inside town halls who are actually obama volunteers. guest: hold on.  seems to me that people who say obama is taking on too much are afraid he will succeed. comment? guest: i was asked to answer a strategic question. and i really believe that presidents who succeed take on a few big things and that it is a mistake to try to do too much. and presidents like jimmy carter or presidents who try to do little things here or there -- guest: i would disagree. i think f.d.r. was forced to take action on the economy and world war ii. guest: let me get back to your point. the obama press shop is just like any other in terms of its discipline, coordinated effort, rationale to appeal to certain demographics, et cetera. but at the same time there's unprecedented information on line. and so whether you would have seen that from senator mccain, i don't know.

but i think that is a promise he ultimately kept. guest: one of the promises -- guest: you can upload the stimulus promises on line and see what's actually happening. and that's really unprecedented. host: back to the phones. james on our line for independents. go ahead. caller: thank you for accepting my call. i'm usually not one to call in but i've reached my boiling point. i've got two gentlemen here i'm listening to talking about the media bias but they're talking spin. i really -- host: specifically, james, what is it that's being spun? guest: talking on one hand how the unprecedented transparency. are you kidding? the gentleman just told you that he is purchasing questions from the huffington post basically. he's telling people beforehand that they can ask questions.

geez, my blood pressure, i'm losing points. i don't where to begin is the problem. you put spin on which way you want to put it. i see you on television laughing but you know it. guest: host: hold on. what's your primary source of news information? where do you get your stuff? guest: caller: all of it and i believe none of it. host: do you read online? caller: i read it but i don't get to vote on it. it's my congressman who gets vo vote on it. guest: at least from our reporting, we really strive to g news gatserers, and our operation is not spin exclusively. we offer that angle as young people appealing to that demographic, but and also it would be inaccurate for anyone to characterize the huff post

exchange as buying a question. according to both white house sources and the huff post, the specific question was not asked behind closed doors. and the president in a way that ultimately was not effective wanted to take a question from an iranian. and there could have been a better way to do that. host: let's take this last call from atlanta. donna on our line for democrats. caller: my question on health care is instead of delowing so many dollars into fixing whatever is going on, why is the f.d.a. not protecting us? we've got flower yide in our water that's not naturally found in our bodies, that is not good for our bodies. water is one of the most essential thing that is our bodies need. they're putting mercury in the fillings and the shots. these are causing the kids to have neurological damages,

a.d.d., adhd. yes, they've decreased the amount of mercury in the shots but they've increased the number of shots. so hello, look at all these disorders coming up out of no where. and most of these that are coming up, i've been a nurse for 30 years, and i've watched this stuff happen, step by step by step. host: thanks toor your call. matt, you get the last word. guest: if you wear a tin foil hat, the water will not botser you at all. host: all right. we'll leave it there. thank you for being on the program. we are going to take a short brack break. when we come back, give us a call.

the rate of job loss has slowed considerably, fortunately, since the president has been in office. but i imagine that unemployment may be pushing into double digits by the time we get to the peak of this. >> watch the entire interview on "newsmakers" today at 10:00 and 6:00 p.m. eastern. on c-span. u

>> open phones for the next 25 minutes here on the washington journal. if you want to get involved in the conversation, let us know

what you think about the various topics. we've been discussing so far or something you've seen or heard in the news. the numbers on the bottom of your screen. you can always send us an e-mail or you can send us your comments via twitter. in the associated press this morning, former d.c. mayor berry has been charged with stalking. has been arrested and charged with stalking a woman. the united states park police said barry, a current d.c. council member was arrested saturday in washington after a woman flagged down an officer and claimed that he was stalking her. he was charged with misdemeanor stalking and then released. in the "new york times" this morning, in their weekend review section, they've got two

pieces that look at two of the folks who have been dominating the political news for the last half of the week. newly seated or newly senator elect on the left, senator al franken from minnesota, and outgoing republican governor sara palin on the right. states of play is the dual headline. on the left they say far from the prayere and minnesota politics can look odd. talking about al franken. david car writes it may not be a stretch to say that the nation's governance hinges on part on the man who played stewart maulie, a simple who was a bit too eager to put the self in self-help on saturday night live. then, the alaskan news,

question mark, another reflection of g.o.p. division. sam writes, the announcement by the free lancing politician, referring to governor palin, may be the best example yet of striking transformation in the current republican party. only a few years ago, the party was considered a model of lock-step discipline with around the clock message control and seamless coordination of policy and politics. but from all appearances it has entered a period of inner confusion, verging on the dysfunctional. some of that was on display earlier last week when word surfaced of a vanity fair profile of ms. palin that showed her often to be at odds and sometimes at sword's point with alaska republicans, and also with the party strategists when she ran on the republican ticket with john mccain in 2008. caller: hi. i have like four points. i'll try to keep it really

brief. thank you for taking my call. one is i didn't hear anyone mention that israel and to a lesser extent hamas have been found guilty of crimes against humanity. but primarily israel. i didn't hear anyone mention that. and this representtive -- host: what kind of calls against humanity are you calling? caller: firing into large crowds of palestinians. host: have you seen that in print? caller: i've heard that. host: you've heard it guest: no. host: let's move on to your next topic. guest: my next topic is mue sad has released a statement saying they don't expect iran to have nuclear weapons until 14e. on the health care question regarding african americans,

african american males in this country throif be 55 on the average which is i think that's horrible. and your former guest who was being so flip nt, maybe they want a car, i think health care is part of the infrastructure for us to be able to work. and obviously i'm very much in favor of the public option. and the last thing i wanted to comment on was i don't see that ronald reagan was responsible for bringing down the former soviet union. i think that was an action carried out by the former citizens of the soviet union and good-bye chove. not ronald reagan. so thank you very much. host: next up, linda on our line for republicans. you're on the washington journal. caller: i have a couple things, mostly dealing with statements that the young student from harvard had to say. first of all, i would imagine that if you are admitted to

harvard, you should be able to figure out even the most complicated credit card applications. otherwise, you know, i feel like harvard's standards have decreased. secondly, he insists that roosevelt was responsible for ending the depression. and i think there's quite a debate on that. and my last point is i think that obama, what he wants is not for us to pay for our own health care, but he wants us to pay for others -- other people's health care. host: we're going to leave it there. this week on "newsmakers,"

austin gools bee, the chief economist was our guest. and he talks about the latest employment figures. this is what he had to say. >> unfortunately we're not out of the woods. we've had some pretty tough job market reports over since december of 2007 when the recession began. the rate of job loss has slowed considerably fortunately since the president has been in office. but i imagine that unemployment may be pushing into double digits by the time we get to the peek of this. >> and you can see the entire interview later today at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on c-span. that's on our "newsmakers" program. if you want more details regarding that, go to our website. caller: thank you. this morning i've heard a

couple references to 9/11 and dick cheney, but i haven't heard some of the things that i'm aware of. like at the university of copenhagen there's nine professors. they all analyze some of the dust from 9/11 and they all came up with nano they remember yite. this is high tech military explosive. osama bin laden could not have possibly gotten it. it was found at all three locations. and there's no investigation going on. so how do we really know who really did 9/11? host: in the nation's section of this morning's "new york times," medicare's mixed legacy. should the government get in the health insurance business? asks reed abeellson? other critics warn of another

bureaucracy. but supporters say private insurers failed to offer affordable coverage to all americans and that the government needs to step up. columbus, georgia. solmon on our line for democrats. go ahead. caller: hello. i'd like to speak about health care for a minute. most of these politicians telling people universal health care is no good, touf wait in line. but being a british citizen i can tell you that the britic health care system is the best in the world for the people. i want to say the majority of the people. but over here in america, the health care system is best for the insurance companies, crooked politicians, and corruption, because they're the ones who gain, who gain from

this health care system. for instance, you have congressmen, senators who are sitting on the boards of insurance companies. their wives also get salaries and shares. how can they make proper decisions with regards to health care for the people? so that is my comment. host: thank you for your comment. the cover story in this week's edition of the "new york times" magazine. california is broke and ungovernable. but that's not stopping san francisco's mayor and all those other high profile candidates from coveting arnold schwarzenegger's job. you can read about that in the "new york times" magazine section. and also regarding california, jane bryant quinn asks this question. california's broke. should you invest in it? and that is from this morning's

"washington post" business section. back to the phones. man chester england. larry, go ahead. caller: i think to thank you for taking my call. i want to make a comment on the state of health care in america. having been someone who has lived there in a country with what america they would call socialized medicine. i think one of the problems in america is and i fault american media a lot, is a lot of misinformation. i don't know how a station like fox news can be allowed to operate in any civilized country. but there's a lot of misinformation. the health care in britain is very, very good. it provides health care for every citizen. it has a basic minimum standard that has to be met. people are not standing in line waiting for joseph stalin in

come and administer injections for them and all that kind of nonsense that you hear. the problem in america is that the politics there is full of big corporations, lobbyists, that continue to go against the will of the overwhelming majority of people. they say that state health is going to be so bad and so horrible. but at the same time, they are afraid it's going to take out the competition. so state health care is going to be so bad that it's going to kill all the other private competition in the market. america is supposed to be the world leader but it's really ridiculous. it's almost as ridiculous as the unnecessary obsession with wanting guns in america. that was the comment i wanted to make. host: when you talk with your friends and neighbors and what not over there in england, what do they say about how americans perceive their health care?

and how americans, average americans can go about improving their health care and coverage guest: well, it really depends. some americans -- it really depends. the views of right wing, like fox news will tell you nationalized health care is bad and evil. and joseph stalin is going to give you injections and you're not going to like it. you share that kind of nonsense. but at the same time there are also very sensible people in america that do realize that state subsidized health -- one of the reasons why the auto industry is getting killed and getting hammered by the japanese is because your auto makers have to provide health insurance for all their workers. it's common sense that if everybody chips into a single payor system that will be a hughes fiss huge fiscal boost

to other corporations who don't have to bother about health care. and it will put -- because they're competing with japan and korea that have state health care that is very efficient. all the nonsense you hear about you're standing in cues and you're not going to be allowed to get treatment is an absolute lie. host: thanks for the call from england. from the baltimore sun this morning in their editorial section, new worries in suburb ba. what does the g.o.p. really have to offer? edward goldberg writes, an opposition party is vital to the security of the democracy. it is the ultimate check and balance. but if the republican party can no longer communicate and make inroads into what should be a natural constituency, a group that believes hard work and initiative define the american dream, whoseberger mentality could easily lean toward middle

of the road conservative, a group similar to many of abraham lincoln supporters, then to whom are the republicans 507 pealing and what is their function? at the city university, the college of the city university of new york. and that comes from the washington times. next up is new london, connecticut. robert on our line for independents. caller: hello. host: what's on your mind? caller: the middle east. i've been studying this for a long time. i'm reading in israeli human rights group urges hamas to investigate war criminals. do you believe using white fossfruss on civilians is an act of war criminal? war crimes?

and i would like to plug, if people want to understand americans, www.ameu.org. host: back with a vengeance is the cover story in this morning's washington times. talks about who they call outspoken ex-speaker knut gingrich taking his fight to obama. we'll read some more of that from the inside. but first, greens borrow, north carolina. and john on our lines for republicans. go ahead. caller: i'm a little confused about the health care situation. and i sort of believe that the states are in charge of insurance regulation. and i think that if we really want to have universal health care we probably need to do it through the state system rather than the federal system. the user of state system. but the states are actually responsible for insurance and insurance coverage. if you want universal health care or if you want mobile health care or it's possible

for the states through their insurance facilities to state that health care has to be. host: what's the state health care system like in north carolina? guest: i think it's bet thearn the federal -- caller: it's better than the federal system. to me it's a constitutional situation. the state has control of the insurance. this is within the states. but they don't control services within the states. the states do through regulation of hospitals, doctors, and everything else within the state. and i don't see any reason or anything in the constitution that allows the federal government to do that without changing the constitution. host: more on the cover story of the washington times sunday read section regarding former house speaker knut gingrich. newt has made an extraordinary comeback. this is from ben weber, a former republican congressman from minnesota who was the georgia republican's closest

friend in the 1980's when the two were g.o.p. back benchers plotting the improppable end of four decades of democratic dominance in the house. hails the georgiaen as the same prolivic idea generator he was back in the mid 1980's. baltimore, maryland on our line for democrats. caller: hello. i was calling about the health care. during the debate when president obama, he was talking about health care and he wanted everyone's health care to be just as good as the congressmen, they're getting. what i don't understand is i think he should stick with that and maybe like at the end of the year or so if all one that is don't like government-ran

insurance, well, they're getting their insurance paid. maybe if they lose theirs, put down where they would lose their insurance ben fiss and obviously it's ran by the government and it's running good and i don't see them running out getting rid of their insurance. if he would hold their feet to the fire and at the end of the year if they don't get anything passed they lose their too and they have to go out there and find insurance, maybe we could get something passed. host: what's your insurance like? caller: the thing is i'm out here looking for a job. i'm a dialysis patient. i've been one for 20 years. and right now, i have medicaid. i can't get -- i mean, medicare. i can't get medicaid right now. i had to go to catastrophic illness deal so i could continue my -- they can pay my bills right here. it's really hard for me to get

benefits. i really would -- i'm trying to find a job. i'm working. i'm working right now. but i want a full time job where i can get bone fits. host: -- benefits. host: we'll get you to stick around. the executive director for health solutions will be here talking to us. another call from across the pond in england. this time hithes dorothy. caller: hello. host: i need you to turn down your television. caller: yes. i don't know whether you know about the elect turs given on the b.b.c. radio in this country, and the last one was this week. they've been given by a professor and they've been very interesting. this week he was talking about thing chs are suitable for the

market, things in which the market can offer it. and things in which it can't. and one of the things in which it cannot operate is in health. health is a universal need. and, as such, should be provided as part of being a citizen. it is not something you go and buy on the market. it is something which you need and one thing that's always worried me about american health care is this. that if as a country which prides itself on its deep religious convictions, to me, the most important of the christian beliefs is that we should care for one another. we should help those in need. but not in the health care. apparently this is not considered a moral or a christian question.

and i'm wondering if you could tell me why not. host: thanks for your call, ma'am. on the front page of some of the newspapers that we get here in washington, d.c., a look at the celebration of independence day. the richmond times dispatch has this headline celebrating freedom with a picture of 7-year-old lanham hurricane force wind showing his patriotism as he sported an uncle sam outfit for the 4th of july celebration. also this morning on the front page of the sunday star ledger, frederick shule, 54 of norford, virginia, sticks his head out of the statue of liberty's crown. they reopened the statue crown and folks were able to go up and walk almost to the top of it into the crown of the statue of liberty. the first time you can do that since the attacks on manhattan on 9/11. ohio, brian on our line for

republicans. go ahead. caller: hello. i was going to talk about health care. the previous lady who was talking about health care as a neffsty and i totally agree with that because, well, first off, they are charging way too much money. it's getting to the point where the economy is today, where families don't have enough money. and the government is taking all the money. and i think with that money, the citizens can get operations like mean nile implants. host: on the front page of the detroit sunday free press emergency cash used for credit cards and public relations. this is talking about the situation with former detroit mayor. they write that the city of

detroit has regularly used emergency checks to cover hundreds of routine or questionable expenses including thousands of dollars for a public relations expert hired by the former mayor in the midst of the text message scandal last year. the emergency checks were also used to pay off credit cards for kill patrick to make $1 million in rent payments for the coleman a. young municipal center and purchase fuel for city vehicles. experts say the actions suggest a cash flow problem for the city. back to the phones and colorado. chuck on our line for democrats. go ahead. caller: good morning, rob. concerning the last sad -- the republican speaker. it's so predictable that the republicans will always keep running back under ronald reagan's skirt after they've already allowed bush one and two to run up the deficits as

reagan did. it would be laughable had their foreign and domestic policies not harmed america and americans so badly. with impunety. by actually pushing universal health care off the table, and taking big money from the big insurance industry. and there's a lot of democrats that are in that same situation. they always whine about the economy -- when the economy is going to be obama's, but it's pretty evident that it's his now. caller: we're going to leave it there. one more look at the celebration of the 4th of july. from the front page of the boston globe sunday edition. . .

♪

>> this week, chief economist on the president's economic advisory board talked about the latest unemployment figures. >> unfortunately, i do not think we're done. we're not out of the woods with a tough job market reports. in december -- december 2007, since the recession began. the rate of unemployment has slowed considerably since president obama has been in office, but i expect -- digit --

i expect double-digit unemployment rates by the time to get to the end of this. >> these places remind me of modern cathedrals that donors would build wings on, hoping it would go to heaven. class of 1983, he would like to see a few changes to higher education. >> princeton philosophy lecture should be on the web. these wonderfully concentrated islands of talent and wealth and terry edition should be opened up to the larger society, not -- erudition, i kept separate. >> on the meritocracy, tonight at 8:00 p.m. on c-span. you can also listen on satellite radio or download the podcast. >> how is he's been funded?

>> the u.s. government. >> i do not know. some of it is government-raised? >> it is not public funding. >> probably donations. >> for me, from my tax dollars. >> 30 years ago america's cable companies created c-span as a public service, a private business initiative. no government mandate, no government money. "washington journal" continues. host: joining us now is paul keckley, executive director of the deloitte center for health solutions. the center just recently completed the 2009 survey of health care consumers. what are some of the key findings? guest: well, three major areas. one is that people are responding to the economic realities with the lady cares,

making changes in doctors, insurance plans and hospitals. -- with delayed the care. there's clear evidence that the behavior has changed as result of the economy. second, this nineis -- this is not homogenous market. people are behaving in a variety of ways. fewer than 10% have decided that traditional western medicine is not the way. i want a different approach. we have found groups going after low-priced only. third, in the context of health reform, a lot of mixed feelings. a lot of sensitivity to pay more tax and yet recognizing the need for people have insurance and taxes. it is an interesting mix of

opinions about health reform. host: according to the survey, nearly 40% of consumers have expressed discontent with the status quo. what is it that they are not happy with? guest: the center has responsibility in other parts of the world. we are doing surveys in europe, canada, and other places. we find people in other systems because they are accustomed to those systems are more satisfied with their system than people in the u.s. with our system. the source of that discontent tends to be poor service. been on hold, long waits to get bills paid. or why the insurance company

does not cover something. a lack of information is a common frustration. third, because more and more people are responsible for first-dollar coverage, co-pays, deductibles, there is the question of cost which is a new thing in our system over the past dozen years. the fact that people have to think about cost is new. host: a quarter of consumers have skipped care when they were sick or injured. two out of five have done so because they simply could not afford it. guest: right, it is clear that increasingly individuals are making judgments as to whether taking pills only half as frequently as they should, skipping routine care, routine preventive health -- even

looking for high deductible insurance programs and hoping they do not have to use it. it is clear that the economy is having an impact. host: if you want to get involved paul keckley in a, you can call us. -- if you want to get involved in the conversation. e-mail us or twitter us, as well. our first call comes from houston on our line for democrats. caller: good morning, when wesley clark ran for president in 2004 he said he slowly came to the conclusion that universal single-pear was the only way to go. his conclusion was based on his determination that the

administrative cost of private health insurance are 10 times that of the medicare system. since we have more than 45 million uninsured people we need those savings to be able to cover everyone. my own experience to back that up, my husband and i are very healthy. last year we paid $15,000 for preventative maintenance and a very high deductible insurance through blue cross blue shield. those costs kept going up and up. this year my husband is on medicare. later this year i also will be going on medicare. it is much more affordable. i do not see how we can afford to carry insurance companies on our backs. i am very discouraged that some democrats and not many republicans seem to be determined to pander to the insurance companies.

they are more concerned about their support, the financial support when they run for election. host: banks. your response? guest: 1 of the areas where the center is focused this on just the data. to begin, when any candidate alleges that the cost of administration of the commercial health care are 10 times higher than medicare -- that is just not true. the costs of medicare, depending on how much you include in those costs, how much as federal overhead compared to what is in the program, versus commercial health insurance. commercial plans to have some cost above that of medicare, but it is not 10 times. the single-payer concept is not

well-understood. when people understoounderstandl coverage, that could mean that everyone has an insurance program, but it does not mean necessarily that there is a single payer. there could be multiple plants where you are injured and then you are buying from a system of care where you have public and private provider options. rob, there is a really interesting set of terms floating around that mean different things to different people. lots of confusion. unfortunately, a lot of very provocative rhetoric using those terms. we need to step back and understand what we mean host: tells a little bit about the deloitte center for health solutions. guest: it is an effort to do studies of trends and issues that are important in public

policy and in the private sector. to do that in a transparent ploy. we are not funded by industry. we are funded wholly by deloitte. anything that we do is open to the public and we welcome that scrutiny. host: you can find at information act deloitte.com. john, on the line for republicans, good morning. caller: good morning. i recently applied for health care last year and a former governor mitt romney. i actually like it because i did not have coverage producer. now i am forced to partake in a different health plans offered.

by mandatory sign ups they have lower the cost to the competition. i have a single-payer plan for myself. it is very reasonable. there are pros and cons. it is not a top-of-the-line plan, but at least it covers me for catastrophic which is good. but i hope that the come up with something very reasonable for the united states for self- employed folks and working-class folks to make it affordable for all americans. host: are you on a train? caller: no, my son is on the computer. guest: you know, john is really

in a state where an individual mandate was elected a few years back as well as an employment. israel and the singapore also have an individual mandate. we can look at other parts of the world to see that. 98% of people in massachusetts are covered. this concept of health insurance exchange being discussed -- there's a program called the connector in massachusetts that those the same. they have tried a medical home there. many people look to massachusetts as a pilot for national health reform. the good news is that large numbers, 98% are covered. the bad news is that the state is under water on it financially. gov. patrick has a huge deficit he has to overcome. now their turn to figure how to pay for it. good news, bad news. host: back to the phones on our

line for independents. caller: i was wondering about the same thing like the other massachusetts resident. i have medicare myself. 80% is paid. 20% -- you have to pay for your glasses, your nerve pill, stuff like that is not covered. on top of it, of like to hear from others from massachusetts on how they feel about this plan. i do not hear too much bad at all. guest: here is an interesting discussion you are not hearing right now about health reform. what constitutes the basic benefit? if for instance for a normal delivery without complication. mom is not likely to have a

problem due to various risk factors, it is four visits adequate? is one of ultrasound enough deaths in this country we have -- is one of ultrasound in up? in this country we have a preference for anything and everything that can be done should be done. we know that outcomes is often unrelated to how much is done. it is whether the right thing is done. the discussion that will be acting pretty intense of the next few weeks will be around this concept of comparative effectiveness. are we doing the right things? are we doing surgery that should not be done? but because we can have that pay for we do? are we having diagnostic imaging than where we should not banks for example, four lower back pain? in massachusetts we kind of have a laboratory.

anything alike could get covered, but maybe they're there -- maybe there are things that should not be. host: in the senate they're looking at reform. the house has issues they are trying to put forward. republicans have it their own ideas. what do you see coming out of all this that the president may eventually sign after the august recess and after congress has had a chance to work through all this? guest: every day we learn something else. so, when senator kennedy -- and his affordable health courses act came out the first of june, we discovered it only covered 16 million of the under-insured and uninsured and its price tag was north of $1.20 trillion. with the president is likely to do is go back to his fundamental goals which were one, reduce

costs. two, we have to cover everyone. the trick is how fast? how the do that while the economy is recovering? you can address tarp, the banking system, the auto industry, and others? i suspect you have an individual mandate of some sort. i suspect you will have an employer pay or play provision of some sort. i think the comparative effectiveness platform that senator baucus and senator conrad introduced as a bill a few weeks back will be part of this. the public option is real part of this. senator conrad has proposed a co-op model. senator baucus wants a bipartisan bill. does that mean that the public option is off the table because republicans have drawn a line in the sand around it? probably too soon to tell.

the next eight weeks will be so intense that by the time folks come back around labor day we will know. host: back to the phones. luna pier, mich. on the line for democrats. caller: hello, i do not really have a question, but a quick story. on june 12 i had a heart attack. i am 47 years old. i went into the hospital and the put a stint in my heart. shortly after they put that stint in the order read they had this stint blow and have massive bleeding and nearly dead. five transfusions leader in two weeks in hospital by an hon. the sad part is that i have no health insurance. now i am facing a 150,000 of the bill i cannot afford to pay. i want a public option. i'm very disappointed that they

took single-payer off the table. a lot of public option in to be able to afford health insurance and take care of our family. that is all i really have to say. host: if there had been a single-payer option how much of that reduce your cost? caller: probably vary significantly, i am hoping. if it is anything like they have on capitol hill, for congress and the senators, i think it would reduce it will over half. i would have very little out of pocket expense. guest: yes, this really gets into one of the technical areas of reform. that is how we risk write populations. proposals range from having the states be assigned various risk pools and other been dedicated moneys to that. we cannot expect people like

this to absorb that. half of the involuntary bankruptcy is in the u.s. are the result of medical debt and most is the result of occasions like this for it is an and anticipated event. you will see catastrophic coverage that the state will probably manage handed these cases will fall under that. host: allentown, pa., go ahead. caller: i was calling to ask about your input on the result of the hmo's and health care cost. as well as -- what happened to those hillburton hospital standard for you can get coverage in have the infrastructure we are lacking today? guest: to some that may not recall, hillburton was an act that allowed every community to have a hospital. we had about 7200 hospitals in

the u.s. and are now down to about 5800. there are two reasons why it went away. one is that technology was latinos do things on an outpatient basis that now do not require beds. second, we achieve capacity. if you look around country we still have committees where we have three beds per of 1000 population and some where we have only one bed population of 3000. -- 1000. it appropriately went away. what we expect is more discussion of the resource allocation. how the reorganized hospitals, doctors? host: paul keckley is the executive director of deloitte center for health solutions. he was previously the chairman of the board of all large california dental practice

management company and the ceo of enterprise business management solution firms in the principle of the keckldey group and had his b.a. from lipscomb university and a doctorate from the ohio state university. host: next, corrigan on our line for independents. caller: -- oregon. caller: three years ago about a business and provided medical insurance at less than $50 per person for all my employees. to do the same policy is in excess of $500 per person know when they're made a 1000% increase on their salaries, but i bet you that the profits went up by that much guest: thank you.

there is no doubt that when you track the compound growth of health costs it has exceeded cpi in costs of living in various indicators by about 3% for about 30 years. there are three big reasons why health costs have gone up. one is the incentives of our system reward doing more. it is what we call supply-driven demand. because we can, we do. second, technology is redundant in our country when we add a scan in that committee we did not reduce the numbers of ct scans and mri's that are done, it is additive technology. nine of the three reasons people are in hospitals is the result of chronic conditions that are not managed. some would say that it is the problem of individuals. that is partly to.

we have 31% of the city in this country. but that is also the reason we have plenty of specialists. -- that is partly true. the incentives aligned? is technology deployed inappropriately? are people's lifestyles changing for the healthier? that is part of the reason that your premiums have gone up. host: more results from the 2009 consumer survey. it was conducted by the deloitte center for health solutions. three out of 10 switched medications in the past year. guest: medication therapy management, mtm, rob, it's a tough part of the equation. most people do not take their meds as director. when the doctor prescribes amid what they probably know is if you got it refilled only if they are the one of 10 doctors if you have an electronic medical record and there is some information returning directly

to the doctor that says that rob for got his prescription filled and 30 days, 60 days, 90 days later. people routinely choose not to take their medicine. one of four people directed to take meds more than 30 days will actually follow that regimen. is there any incentive in the system for the doctor to make sure you take your meds? not really. is there an incentive in your interests with c-span to take you meds as directed, or to work out, eat right, or do other things? guest: that is part of this incentive problem. host: ohio, on the line for democrats. caller: good morning. could you please address the effects of the mutual limitation of the insurance companies a number of years ago?

guest: i suspect you are referring to some insurance companies that are technically not for profit. there are 1300 insurance companies in the country. ownership berries. -- a varies. we know that most of the blue cross plans most people are familiar with are taxable, not- for-profit in new there is a different model for blue cross plans than for others. there is no correlation of which i am aware for the profitability of the plan is specifically related to their ownership status. it can vary widely. same as profitability for such

hospitals. host: here is a message from twitter. true? guest: it is true. medicare and medicaid represent 98 million people in the u.s. today. medicare pays about 94% of cost. medicare calculates what it costs in this community for care and pays doctors and hospitals 94% of that cost. medicaid pays even less. 88-91% of cost. commercial insurance premium. commercial insurance will pay anywhere from 125-135% of cost.

self-pay individuals will also pay some of the burden. host: grand rapids, mich. on the line for independents. caller: boy, you are saying that so much and i am sitting here just steering. first of all, if you are talking about more and more management. we are too confused. we are consumers, but you know what? we just need our health care before. we do not need insurances. i do not need a doctor to manage my prescriptions. this is a free country. this is the problem, sir. when you talk about our problem with profits and capping this --

how about cap the profit, not the service. just cap profits. guest: $7,400 per person per year it is a spend. it is a big, messy system. some would say that capping profits is one route. some would say single-payer. everyone is frustrated. back to your first comment, rob. cluster of tin grade the system d or f. it is exactly that sentiment. we're not getting the money -- we're not getting value. i think what policy-makers may not appreciate is when people say we want to protect the system. those people are not saying protect the system that is flawless.

they are saying protect a build on a system that has substantial problems. guest: my pleasure, thank you. host: will take a short break. when we return, a discussion on iraq and the u.s. troops leaving their cities. ♪ >> this week, chief economist on the president's economic recovery advisory board. he talks about the latest employment figures. >> we're not them. we and are not out of the woods. we had some tough job market reports over december 2007 when

the recession began. the rate of job loss has slowed considerably since the president has been in office. i imagine unemployment might push into double digits by the time we get to the top of this. >> watch the entire interview today at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern. >> these places remind me of modern cathedrals. >> princeton, class of 1983, walter would like to see a few changes. >> princeton philosophy lecture should be on the web. these concentrated islands of talent, both and learning should be opened up to the larger

society, not kept separate. they still are and i cannot understand why. >> the under education of an overachiever. tonight at 8:00 p.m. on c-span. you can also listen on satellite radio or download the podcast. "washington journal" continues. host: the ambassador from iraq is here to talk about the future of iraq. let me bring your attention to this article this morning from "the washington post," with this headline. this prompts senior officials to us whether gradual withdrawal has provided an opening to extremist groups eager to spark sectarian attacks between sunnis and shiites. your thoughts? guest: these were reasonable and

legitimate but let's not take them too far. the last time i appeared on the show iraq was in the grip of a high level of violence. al qaeda was in control of large areas of the country. we were struggling to maintain law and order. the situation now is way, way more stable, more secure. the average iraqi citizen feels much safer. we did not say that al qaeda has been totally obliterated. that violence has come down to zero, or the threats have gone away. the threats had been reduced. instead of 300 attacks per day we are down to something like 10 attacks per day on average. by the efforts and sacrifices of

american forces as well as iraqi security forces. host: moving toward what are your thoughts about what is needed for long-term security? guest: there is a lot. we still have to consolidate and advance the capability of our security forces. our security forces still need logistical and some technical support from our american friends. we need to do more work. we also need to work on resolving our internal political differences. when we started off there was no system. now there is a system, institutions, and people instead of trying to resolve their differences in the street with guns and bombs are now engaged,

fully engaged in parliament and political process. that has embraced everyone apart from the most extremists. host: vice-president joe biden was in baghdad over the weekend. as the troops are moving out of the major cities, having him there, what kind of signal does that send to the iraqi leader's about moving forward with the obama administration's policy toward it? guest: it signals that we're getting attention and it is not totally shifted from iraq to other crises. vice president biden is highly respected and well-informed.

he knows the situation by ground. going there to baghdad i believe it gives us the feeling that we are not forgotten. host: we are talking about the future of iraq with the iraq ambassador to the united states. if you would like to beat in the conversation here are the numbers. to send us an e-mail, c- span.org. you can also use twitter. the first call comes from the line for democrats. caller: hello. thank you c-span. i want to ask the ambassador, once the american military

forces leave iraq and the only americans remaining are civilians helping the country build itself, do you think sending -- do you think there might be a possibility that there will be unrest and perhaps even a civil war in iraq deaths guest: let's hope not. last year the iraqi government signed two agreements with the american one was the state of forces agreement, the other was the strategic agreement. the first was on security, the second was to build up long-term strategic relationship as an ally of the united states. test security improves and as the american forces moved out we shift emphasis.

we are really into a new phase now. going forward, hopefully, we will need less involvement by the troops and eventually they will leave. the question of leaving was never in question. it is only a matter of when. iraq will be independent. it will take care of itself. it is a matter of reaching that stability and capacity. host: earlier you mentioned a technical support also. what do you mean specifically? guest: yu ou see, we have control over air, the use of guns, some communications facilities that are highly important for intelligence

gathering. we have some air transport. a lot of these things are still not up to capacity within the iraqi security system. so we are relying on american friends to provide them for us. host: the next call comes from troy, mich. on the line for republicans. caller: thank you, good morning, ambassador. i wanted to just ask about a couple of issues that might peripherally affect him. and how much you affecting one affect the feeling of the general iraqi citizens. the election of barack obama himself, especially his middle name, and his background in understanding the belize. is there any advancement due to his different approach into the

palestinian-iraq is really in -- palestinian-israelian conflict. " fractional benefit might there be from the new administration concerning these two issues? guest: thank you, tom. iraq and iraqis will always be grateful for president bush for removing saddam hussein who was a very vicious and ruthless tyrant, however, president obama is an immensely popular figure in iraq and in the millies. i think his sympathetic approach will gain -- and in the middle east. i think his sympathetic approach will gain for the united states many more friends and will reduce the ability of enemies to heard it.

also, -- to hurt it. the new approach in impetus he has given to solving middle east problems, between israel and palestine, will be very helpful to create an atmosphere that is constructive. an atmosphere that would be easy for those to be allied and close to the united states host: next, north carolina. caller: good morning. again not know why saddam hussein has anything to do with [inaudible] but why has it taken the iraqi people so long to stand up for themselves? the united states had given lots. why has it taken so long for the iraqi government, army, police

to stand up? guest: let me remind you of a couple of facts. first, it was the 90 states -- united states decision to totally disbanded the iraqi police and army, so they left the country totally without these institutions. can you imagine any country without police or army and to rebuild that from scratch? the right position would have been to keep these institutions in place and reform them. that was one factor which comes back to the responsibility of the u.s. the other fact is that there were many other countries such as germany after the war in japan which took much longer than the iraqis have. we have had made tremendous progress in a relatively short time. in a span of six years if you

measure -- in the last two years if you measure the progress, you will find it is astounding. host: back to the funds. huntington, new york on the line for republicans. caller: good morning. yes, good morning. ok --when we start to pull out of iraq would iraqis be ready to --would they be ready to govern themselves? guest: they are already governing themselves. let me give you this news in new there is a constitution in place. there is a parliament.

there is an elected government. there were provincial elections last january. there will be in national elections next january. the institutions of the state are working. i am here as an ambassador of a state that is a founding member of the united nations. that is the founding member of the arab league. an important player in the regional balance of the security and politics in the middle east. iraq is not a country that has just sprung up from nowhere. iraq is a very ancient country that has routes and now has a of government. iraqis have always prided themselves on being independent and capable of governing themselves and are doing that just now. host: he was just elected

permanent member of the united nations in 2004. in april to dozen 6 he moved to washington, d.c. s iraq's first ambassador to the united states for 16 years. host: back to the phones, to texas. caller: it is less than one hour from waco. it is an indian-named town. i have a question for the investor. i remember reading about something called the agreement of 1916. i read that it basically gave england and france complete control of trade throughout the middle east. do you think this is a fair assessment? also, do you believe that the jesuit order was involved with the assassination of john kennedy?

guest: i will into on the first question, but pass on the second, if you allow me. on the first question, yes. when the ottoman empire broke up at the end of the first world war, the french and the the british entered into this agreement you mentioned, the one named after their respective prime minister to carve up the territories which were ruled by the ottoman empire. iraq fell -- iraq, jordan, palestine fell to the british. what is now syria and lebanon fell to the french. that is how the were governed in the subsequent years. the influence of britain and france, even their cultural influence, including language still prevail in those areas.

host: yesterday, but president biden said his mission was to reestablish contact with the white house and baghdad. but reports have said that the iraqi government officials, some have publicly rejected the vice president's offer to help with national reconciliation, saying it is an internal affair. guest: that is the problem with democracy. it is missing of people say all kinds of things. what is important is what the prime minister says. we have members of parliament the same as you have congressman and senators who voice opinions which are very varied. we as a government are very serious about the relationship between the countries of iraq

and the west going for. we need the u.s.. the u.s. needs an ally in the region. we want to be that allied and the weak share common values and interests. we are a democracy and i believe that is the important thing we must focus on. host: massachusetts on the line for democrats. you are on the line. caller: good morning. ambassador, why was it necessary for american troops to invade iraq if it was a question of getting rid of saddam hussein? why couldn't the u.s. simply give arms and moral support to the resistance and probably no americans would have gotten killed and probably fewer iraqis would have gotten killed. the iraqi people would have been more in control of is your destiny. guest: thank you very much.

it is a question for historians and for the administration which made the decision to go into iraq. let me be clear. from the iraqi perspective we were very glad that america decided to intervene. i was one of the leading members of the iraqi opposition and the years of exile while saddam hussein was in charge. it was extremely difficult. we live loved to have extra no hope. myself and other iraqis came to the city and lobbied for attention, for assistance in removing saddam hussein. there were many different ways. you must remember that saddam hussein was so ruthless that he virtually removed, liquidated anybody inside iraq who was vaguely suspected of being in opposition to his rule. i would remind you also of the

large number of people he murder. it was not an easy task to move against saddam is in. in 1991 there was an of rising after iraq was driven from kuwait. as a result of that hundreds of thousands of iraqis were murdered. at that time in a to the states did not assist us, the people who rose up, although president bush 41 called for people to rise up and they did. they were left in the lurch. it is unfortunate. it is not a very positive episode of our history, but it happened. host: richening, your next. caller: good morning, sir. -- virginia, you are next. caller: i was an iraqi veteran

myself. i was part of the group who built the wall in sadr city and watched one slum become a thriving market. it is a wonderful place to drive through in which people play soccer in the streets. i did not join the army for go to iraq to find weapons of mass destruction, but i went to give 25 million people the rights of self-determination. i hope people in baghdad get a better luck. i learned a lot about your culture and country through interpreters in people. i want to say that i wish you and it your country the best in the future and hope we get a strong alliance going. host: are you still there? the me ask, how much direct contact did you have was civilians there in iraq and what

would you say stood out of the things you learned you did not know before you went there? caller: first of all, they love soccer. that is the biggest thing. everything was soccer, soccer, sucker. the street market. -- soccer. it is so much like america. people trying to get by, trying to make a living. people just trying to live their own lives. lots of times they just did not have that chance. i learned a lot. the interpreters are great people. host: how long did it take you to feel comfortable walking among the civilian population? caller: not long at all. you get the battle focus going in when she learned the

neighborhood to learn the people, know the signs, know what meat is safe or not, and can take action based on that. guest: tyler, thank you for giving me the opportunity to express my gratitude to you and to all other good americans who have helped us all along in the last few difficult years. we have had tremendous, tremendous help from people in the military and in the civilian service who came along and it really put themselves at risk to help our nation, our people. there were some bad people as well. we regret that and i'm sure they do not represent what america stands for. but without your help and the help of the american armed

services in civilian support they had iraq would not have made the progress it has had. so, thank you very much. host: next up, indiana, on the line for democrats. caller: good morning, everyone go to wikipedia and type in david satterfiled who worked at the department of state who wrote up a 15-page document called the security agreement. it was privatized in the constitution of iraq to be bid on by the global oil barons. there will get $3 per barrel and everyone will bid on it. this is an act of treason. under our u.s. constitution only congress can set up agreements with other nations. representatives ackerman had him before his subcommittee and i

listened with appall. the pipeline from iraq goes to a port in the natural gas will be liquefied and taken by the tankers to the world. the people of iraq views to get 60% of their income from that resource while it was nationalized will now be on food stamps. it is for the oil and natural gas. it is the linchpin of the middle east. it is for the wealthy of the world to control this resource which is all that iraq has. and it is not in the press. it is not on our media. but it is on wikipedia. they've satterfield, department of state. host: mr. ambassador? guest: i am sorry, but i believe that you have your facts all

mixed up. iraq has made it clear in its own constitution that the oil and gas and minerals in the ground belong to all the iraqi people and only to the iraqi people. iraq has been struggling to find a way to rebuild its oil industry, to get international companies to come and help, but at the same time not to give out too much of control to international companies because we have, again, an old and proud oil industry which belongs to the nation. recently, only last week, there were bids and i think one particular bid won, which i think was a consortium between british petroleum and the china national petroleum company.

they took the control of the development of one of the major oil fields in iraq. revenue from oil, the entire revenue from oil goes to the ministry of finance, to the iraqi people. in fact, right now, because our economy has not been moving very well because of the violence, 90% of the revenue of the government is from one. the government -- the whole economy depends on oil, but there's no question that iraqis would relinquish control of oil to anyone weather in the west or in the east. host: the last call comes from vermont caller: good morning to you both. rob, by the way, if you google

amnesty international you will satisfy curiosity about is really war crimes. ambassador, a pleasure. i wonder if you could discuss the difference between the u.s. installing the shah in iran and the u.s. and selling saddam hussein in iraq. thank you. guest: i am in the last minute of my interview and you asked me to give you a lecture in history which would require three hours. it will be difficult. look, to say that the united states installed the shah and as a down his dane is a bit of an exaggeration. certainly, the u.s. did play a role in the coming of power in 1960. that is undisputed. but then there were internal dynamics that allowed saddam hussein in particular to seize