first black president, our nation is in a fragile state. we are not alone. as npr reported last week, the global economic crisis also is fueling politicians in the european countries. there are signs of great hope. our latest elections saw the shattering of the glass ceilings, whether defined by race or gender. millions of americans crossed the lines at the ballot box. for the first time in history, polls showed that of both black and white people believe that race relations are generally good in our country. that is a major change. before that and before the election of president obama, about 75 sermon of anglo-whites in this country said racial relations worker.

about 25% of blacks thought they were good. that is a great change and a hopeful sign. americans of all stripes are very optimistic about president obama and what can mean to this country. there are going to be more acts of violence that we will have to put up with. i am convinced that we are not going to go back to the days that this country was -- the days of segregated alabama or the days of martin luther king founded the civil rights movement with the help of rosa parks and so many more people who put their lives at risk. as dr. martin luther king said in 1963, "de ark of the universe

may be long but it bends toward justice." thank you very much. [applause] >> could you comment on the incidents two days in the pennsylvania committee were 60 minority children were asked to leave the swimming pool? is racism live in where it? >> it sounds like a relic them in 1955. they are looking into them. i know that of white parents pull their children and the pool because of black students in the pool, it is a strategy. -- tragedy.

in 1968, remember the date i'm getting old, i filed a lawsuit against the montgomery ymca because the city close its pools and parks and pushed concrete and chariton them. if federal court ruled that the 1c group had built a large number of polls and facilities -- pools and facilities. that bears looking into. i hope it is different than what is in your report. >> as the economic climate contributed to the recruitment of hate groups? >> i've probably answer that question in my talk the best i could. clearly we have seen a resurgence in the number of hate groups. it cannot always say the economic climate, but it is those people those who see is

perceiving the palm. the latino migration in this country is the biggest engine generating an increase in hate groups. there was a 40% in crimes against latinos in 2008 alone. >> america has a long history of domestic terrorism and has close to 100 homegrown terrorists. why is the government's and homeland interest in government terrorists? -- in international terrorist? >> i think the world trade center was a tragic event. it led us into the war in afghanistan and a move into iraq. that is where we are devoting billions of dollars. during the same time there were agencies and our government that are tracking domestic terrorists

in doing a good job. they are not really ignoring them. i would not indicate to the people are, but there are some officials at the justice department better on top of this on a regular and daily basis. i do think there is going to be a series of lack of interest. we do hope the department of defense will deal with some of these issues with the united states government is using taxpayer dollars to train its future timothy mcvey's. he got his training in the united states army. >> do you think that the obama administration should establish an office of tolerance in the white house and federal agencies like president bush's opposite database initiative? >> and nothing president obama should have an office of acceptance and tolerance because of hate groups. i think that the whole focus

of our government on all levels should be acceptance and tolerance. i do not know that a particular cabinet position is necessary because all aspects of the government deal with this subject, whether the department of housing, the justice department. we simply need a focus. we need a national mixed it up today. we have one in the south where be asked students and schools to sit at a different table at lunch. sometimes blacks since it together, white students, jocks, whatever. this is the first time a lot people have a chance to cross the barrier. would be good if president obama would go down into the cafeteria at the white house and just hang around and sit down and talk to the other people letter sitting there? it should not just be a one day

affair. that's when i was a boy, we would throw trash out the window without thinking about it. i would throw bottles and tried to hit signs. i did and now, susan was on him. we spent a long time trying to get people to connect their trash on the byways of america. it took a lot of dripping water on the rock to clinic this trash in america that is littering our country. if we at the same campaign for a sentence and tolerance -- for acceptance and tolerance, that you want a clean up some of this hate that we have in this country. >> can you tell us more about the teaching tolerance program

and why you think it has not become mandatory curriculum? >> there are enough fish to fry in our public education not allow another mandatory thing. just like we should not have to have a tolerance for deferred government, that should be a thing that schools should work with, a culture in the school that fosters acceptance. it is not his race, gender, but along the lines of sexual orientation, those that are handicapped in some any other things. our college program is funded by the support of a group. we have 500,000 teachers. some say why do use the word tolerance. we picked that from the united nations declaration. it is excepting the differences between people and dealing on those differences for a better world. that program has been an

extremely successful program. we have videos and guides. most of it is on line. it is available for anybody who might be watching today. >> since obama, some say racism is an obsolete -- obsolete issue. how the counter this? -- how do we counter this? >> when obama was elected, they say we have a black president and we have an excuse. that is easy to say, but it denies a lot of the truth in the country. we still leave in a world of applications and jobs. many jobs have an african american sounding name. the other had an anglo sounding name. the application were identical.

the lakeshia's got 50% less call simply because of the name. these biases are built-in. they are very difficult to overcome. obama post-election is very important to living in a world -- obama's election is very important to living in our world. we had a whole new generation that is changing. i do not think you'll go back. it'll be a long day before the color a person's skin is not something that those without the same color did not look at. i wake up every morning and i really ever look in the mirror. i have a feeling that people color probably think about the color of there is been quite a bit. whether they are going in to restore people watching them or whether they are going for a job application whether they are just meeting someone different.

this nation is going to overcome these problems. there are those who not like is to do us. some say they hope obama will fail. i hope this nation wants obama to succeed. >> is there an increase in women becoming active in hate groups? are they being overlooked as a threat? >> we find that hate groups are populated primarily by men and teenagers. there are a large number of women in these groups. all you have to do is look on the web sites. we just sued a group for $2.1 million for the imperial klan of america for the beating of what they perceive to be latino boy. he was actually part indian. they saw him at a county fair in beat him up. they did severe injury to him and permanent.

their war four members the recruiting at that fair. what we found out when we went back and looked at the group, they have a festival day holding committee that we hope to be taking away from them soon. the cases on appeal. our hands are tied until it is over. about 1/3 people were women. they had many neo-not the tattoos like the men. >> what to tell the working whites your use in amounts to do see the immigration depressing their wages. construction workers are making $17 an hour instead of $30 an hour and can no longer afford college for their children. how can we teach them tolerance without dealing with their economic reality? >> that is one of the best questions that we have received.

it is a serious issue. we are in an economy that is not growing. we are in an economy that a lot of the jobs are being taken by people coming into this country. i think we have to separate these things. most the people in hate groups do not have skills. and they are not working. they are looking for a handout. they are disgruntled because maybe they are not succeeded in the one to blame it on someone. there are people whose wages are falling. the wage level in the night states has not kept up with inflation in the last 50 years. the minimum wage is probably in real dollars less than it was 30 years ago. we have a problem that the economy will not support a. the automobile industry is catastrophic. general motors just came out of bankruptcy yesterday. countries are beating at what

was the american dream of ingenuity and industrialization. you also of companies like dell el monte -- del monte to go to the department of labor and said we cannot find american workers to pay our sweet onions and torture. -- in georgia. so, they bring in a guest workers. they have to get time and have an pay coming both ways. what do they do? the do not city hired the workers. del monte says the work with a labor boss who brought them in. the labor cost cuts of up to some of the wages. we are trying to make a ruling that del monte was the employer since they control the work.

some the american corporations are sears to responsible -- sears a response of for the wages. we are seriously -- are is seriously responsible for the wages. we do not have the workers willing to do the work or are not trained to do the work. >> how do you think the internet has affected hate crimes? do you think that by having the adoption of social media has made it easier to track these groups? >> the internet has changed america as we all know. the biggest hate group in the night the state is the virtual hate group on the web. a young person today good night -- that cannot find a group to join only has to join the web and before you know, somebody in georgia is talking to someone in colorado and their emailing

and communicating. they have created a family of people of same beliefs. these website have one websites that jews are the enemies. that is the core message. you can download all this if you want to and then some child and an amenity of their own bedroom is downloading this stuff. sooner or later, they feel like america is going to hell in a handbasket unless i blow this federal building. that is exactly what timothy did. he is the poster child for that kind of communication. i think that the internet is great and good and we know it is here. we are not going to change. if exactly what the first amendment b. they were not worried about a few newspaper. they were worried about someone posting down the bulletin board

and boston commons and posting dollar the united states. the internet is nothing but a post in baltimore. everybody has their own voice today. i think it is good. we have to use the internet to educate and to define the issues. i would never be for stifling are trying to monitor what is on the internet, no matter how peaceful it might be. in america, we have the right. we do not have the right to cross the line physically. but rush limbaugh and other commentators appeal to their audiences years. to broadcasters -- to broadcasters that appeal to the sense of humor make a difference in fighting hatred? >> i would be afraid to be one of the shows -- to be on one of those shows.

i watch a lot of those shows. i think there humor and poking fun is important. they might make a difference in this last election. we can always use humor. people like rush limbaugh are doing a great disservice to this country. i just so maybe the combined weight to see different light. -- can find a way to see a different light. >> the american press has felt itself in the position of attempting to report on the activities of extremists and wind up extreme -- wind up spreading their views. >> that was a crazed journalist

that a broad general mccarthy down. -- a great journalists of that broad general mccarthy dumb. both said in a report on a kla n rally -- he should not get in this publicity. i disagree. it is important that the rule of the media is to explain what is out there. it is not out there because of the media. the media's reporting what is out there. if it had no reason to become a would not be there in the first place. i am for full coverage of hate groups. the more you cover them, the more people watching them will see that they are far off the mainstream. all of these groups are looking for 1/third of 1% of those people and our country to join their groups. they want to get the bomb

throwers. they want to get them one way or another way. it will not because c-span is reporting on their views. >> is any correlation between what premise groups and radical christians? -- extremist groups and radical christians? >> klan uses the christian cross. i've taken depositions on a number of klansmen. they said we do not burn the cross, we like the cross. the manic like thats like that,g there is a close connection between religion and peace groups themselves. -- hate groups himself. we have seen some people in the anti-abortion movement, the murder of the doctor recently, you might call that religious

extremism. some of this terrorism does not just involve killing of jewish people. in that area, you could say that. i have seen when i have watched some pentecostal church services and a look at the audience and the audience is 1/3 african-american. in their pretty open in that sense of the word. i do not think it is in my religion or your religion kind of thing as much as it is an in theological opinion. some people and more mainstream churches who have the use and may now express them as vocally as somebody in the klan -- and

the institute politician in this country. >> however the hate groups funded? are there any actions that can be taken to cut off that funding? >> moes said we have dealt with have little or no money. they have more passion than some of the groups that oppose them. we have been able to relieve them of some assets. it clearly represents what the jury thinks the arian nation to the paid when they beat up or shut and people in idaho. all we got was several hundred thousand dollars. the same with most of the cases that we have. people say, how many members are in a hate groups? the general membership like we think of. you do not pay your membership.

these people are really affiliated and associated. the leaders tried to take money for their own lifestyle. i like to say how many people are in silence -- our influence and associated with them. stormfront is the bolts in place for america. -- bulletin board for america. are those people all members of hate groups? probably not. there probably close. you just have to look at what the post. >> do you think that existing laws are sufficient to address these violations of federal

rights? if not, what needs to be done? >> it we are talking about federal hate legislation, some states have it, some do not. we are in favor of the pending bill of hate crime laws in the that the states. it is an important piece of legislation. the prosecutors really double dip. if yes and one u.s. committed a crime on the state level, they do not go after them again. now thwhen the rodney king beatg took place, the jury down the perpetrators of not guilty. the federal government went in under some limited restrictions and got convictions of those individuals. i think we just need to understand that a hate crime is a serious crime in itself.

if you rob a bank and to take a gun, you get five years extra because we in america are trying to say we do not want guns used in this country because of the extra violence. is somebody/is a tire -- shales a tire, that is a destruction of property. if he moved into a house of an erasure -- of an interracial couple slashed their tire and graffiti their grudge, you do not know what is going to happen. it is a serious crime. it deserves more punishment. josie to come under the umbrella of a uniformed federal pay crime. >> do you think it is time to

take the focus -- put the focus on the separation of people? >> race is a social construct. we are all the same human beings. i do not know that you can change that. we talk about having the first african-american president. clearly he is a human being like the rest of us. that will be one of the end results of the policy of inclusion. i think the worst thing a person to say is that i want to be color blind. people can tell you that may sound like a good statement, but in reality it is not a good statement. sometimes color does play a part in being blind to that causes some additional and painful discrimination. >> we are almost out of time.

before the last question, we have a few important matters to take care. i want to remind you of our future speakers. on july 20, the chair the republican national committee will join us for a morning meeting. on july 21, the president of the american red cross will join us. on july 24, a congressman and a chair of the house judiciary committee will be here. i would like to present our guest with the national press club mug. [applause] >> thank you. >> i would like to thank you for coming today. i with my thank the national press club staff members for organizing today's lunch and thank you to the library for the research. the video archive for today's luncheon is provided by the national press club broadcast

operation center. our fans are available for free download on itunes. non-members may purchase transcripts and videotapes by calling 202-602-7598 or by e- mail archives@press.org what is your feeling about the prospect of america in the future regarding the problems of today? >> i am very hopeful and very positive that we are going to continue the building that arch of justice to the pot of gold that it is in. i feel positive that this nation is not going to go back. we are going to go forward. berglund to take three steps forward and may be two steps

back. -- we are going to take three steps forward and may be two steps back. if dr. king was with us and making the same i have a dream speech, he said that one day in georgia that the sons of slaves and sons of former slave owners was sit around the table of brotherhood. we know he is been gone for a while. if he was making a speech today and by the fed words in his mouth, he might say that i have a dream that one day in the red foothills of georgia -- he might add in the barrios, get those, and in the seeds of economic power, that the sons and daughters of former slaves and slave owners -- today he might add the homeless and the powerless -- and those that hold the key to economic and political power of this nation will sit down and around the table oand a truly lead to love

one another. thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you all for joining us. we are adjourned. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009]

. . . . >> tonight, president obama's remarks at the closing of the g-8 son at closing. he spoke about the global financial crisis see it tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span.

>> as soon as she was nominated, a lot of commentary started happening in the media by different groups. what is one criticism that you felt was unfair? >> i thought the whole opera or, if i could call it that, about the decision was -- >> what was it? >> it was the case of the white firefighters in connecticut. the judge sat on that on the second circuit and hearing an appeal from a lower judge. i thought the whole issue of rush limbaugh throwing all the words "racist," and reverse discrimination, i thought that was really absurd. that was beyond the pale to me. >> i think the initial jeffrey rosen article before the nomination, for the most part,

this campaign of she was not that smart or that she was a bully was completely untrue, but it takes a huge group of people to rebut. it was clearly intended to keep her from being nominated. >> for me, one thing that seemed unjust and unfortunately has not taken hold, are questions about her temperament. we all talked about the way she oral arguments and in the way that may be many judges do not. she asks difficult questions and has very high standards for lawyers to answer the questions that she feels like she really needs to know the answer to to make a decision but i have never -- i have never seen her be bullying in any sort of way. i think her colleagues that have sat with her on the court have really responded to that and has said it that is not who she is.

>> live coverage of the confirmation hearing for supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor starts on monday at 10:00 a.m. eastern. we will replay the proceedings weeknights on c-span2. this fall, toward the supreme court on c-span. >> how is c-span funded? >> the u.s. government. >> private benefactors. >> i don't know. >> it is not public funding. >> probably donations. >> i would say from me. >> 30 years ago, america's cable companies created c-span as a public service, a private business initiative. no government mandate and no government money. >> today's state department briefing with a spokesman

talking to reporters about the diplomatic efforts to solve a situation in honduras. this is about 30 minutes. >> she will give a major foreign-policy speech with questions and answers next july 15 here in washington. we will have more details to follow. a short time ago, the secretary met with the external relations commissioner and they discussed a variety of issues -- the middle east, afghanistan, and

the secretary thanked her for the longstanding assistance to the palestinian people and for the leadership in deploying leadership to monitor pakistan's presidential election. earlier today, the secretary talked with the president and received an update on the ongoing negotiations in coaster rica and discuss how the united states can be helpful as these negotiations continue at the working level. the president will be making a speech tomorrow morning and the state department has been doing a variety of things to help support that speech. i think there was an announcement from the white house, details about a variety of things that the embassy in africa is doing to promote events. i would encourage you to see

those efforts. the u.s. commissioner general to the world expo 2010 represented the united states today in sending the world expo shanghai 2010 participation agreement in shanghai. we are well on our way to participating in the world expo in next year. we have an announcement for you this afternoon that u.s. special envoy it will be traveling to sudan between july 9 -- i guess he already left. >> what was the conclusion of this? how can the u.s. be helpful to the working group process? >> the president had separate meetings with the president

yesterday. i think it will be up to him to determine the pace of these negotiations. we will continue our consultations on a bilateral basis if necessary. we will see if we can't help the president create momentum that needs to -- >> my question is how you can help them. >> i will not prejudge -- >> they have not come to any conclusion? >> they discussed some ideas and we are sorting through those ideas. >> like what? >> i will leave it there. >> did he make any requests or did they talk over the possibilities? >> he was reporting to the secretary some of the discussions that they had. each side brought particular issues to the table and how we

can help both sides clarify what their interests are in making sure we can find ways to reach a peaceful settlement. >> shortly before the briefing began, the venezuelan president said he thought that the negotiations be mediated by the president were dead before they even began, and it was a grave error as to such negotiations, and also it said that he was going to back -- go back by any means necessary. do you have any response to that? >> it is unclear what president chavez is for or against at any time. i believe that he has had some complimentary things to say

previously about the role that the president might play. i think that statement is premature. there is negotiations going on. as secretary clinton said the a couple of days ago, the negotiation is the best route to try to resolve this peacefully and help honduras returned to democratic constitutional order. >> the end result that you want to see is for the president to return? >> that is exactly right. >> i was wondering about the travel by the american professor who made some comments about the two american journalists that were detained in prison. he said north korea would probably release them if the u.s. offered a formal apology. i was wondering if he

coordinated that travel with the state department. >> i do not know. >> the use of language by the secretary -- in her remarks today about this case, she expressed their regret of everyone involved in this incident and requested amnesty to the north korean system, which has obviously changed from previous requests. i am curious about the change in language. >> i think her language today -- there was similar language yesterday. it is consistent with what the families have said publicly. clearly, our bottom line is what it has always been, that we hope to have these two journalists

released as rapidly as possible. now that there has been a legal process in north korea, as the secretary said, within the north korean system, we would hope that there would be amnesty that would allow that released to take place. >> should we regard this language as an expression on the part of the united states government of legitimacy of those systems? >> we are not in a position to evaluate the legal process that occurred. we did not have the ability to have an observer in the courtroom. that said, north korea announced that these two journalists were convicted in the legal process. accepting that, we have simply called for their release. >> i don't think she said everyone involved.

i think she said everybody is very sorry, or everyone is very sorry. does that mean she is very sorry? >> this is a regrettable incident. we looked to try to see how this could be resolved. we have called repeatedly for these journalists to be released. we hope that north korea does so as soon as possible. >> is she very sorry? >> obviously, you have to journalists who have been detained in prosecuted. we would like to see them released. >> when you talk about amnesty, it does seem to imply some culpability on the side of the two journalists. >> i believe that the families and the journalists themselves have made public statements.

>> [unintelligible] 1 of the concerns will be the engagement between the u.s. and india. [unintelligible] >> i think in anticipation of the trip, we will have some briefers for you that can go in greater detail. relations between the world's largest democracy and the world's oldest democracy have improved significantly over the last 20 years. you have got changing institutions, changing forms of partnership, changing mechanisms by which we have to address and solve the challenges in the

world. india is playing a vastly more significant role in these issues. as you outlined the fundamental challenges that we face, climate change, non-proliferation commit extremism, the global economy, food security for populations around the world, respect for cultural differences, india is fundamental to all of those. i think this is a tremendous opportunity to expand and deepen the relationship between the united states and india, not just in a bilateral standpoint but also seeing how india can play a much more significant role as well. >> are you speaking about india where it is that a preview of the speech? >> apart from the fact that the

journalists have not then released, it is the u.s. government in possession of any evidence that previous requests on their release on humanitarian grounds will not be forthcoming? was there some response from the north korean government that you know about apart from the fact that they remain detained? >> we have a variety of means of communicating with north korea. we are exploring all of those means. >> [unintelligible] >> we always have the ability to have contact with north korea, communicate with north korea. we use the offices of the swedish ambassador. the north koreans have allowed the communication on a periodic basis between the two journalists and their families.

we have a variety of means of understanding what the current situation is. we call upon north korea to release these journalists as quickly as possible. >> my question is about whether you have communicated in the last couple of days what is now your twice stated public desire that they should be released by amnesty. have you convey that to north korea officially or are you doing that through the media? >> i believe we understand that north korea is paying attention to what we say and we hope they will release these two journalists. >> i was asking whether the new language reflects evidence in hand that the old evidence was not going to be abided by? >> i am not going to go any further. >> [unintelligible]

>> i think the north koreans pay attention to what the u.s. says. >> they don't listed journalists on humanitarian grounds -- >> trust me, the north koreans take close attention. >> but you do not have any indication that this approach starting yesterday is going to produce any results prove >> we hope it does. >> i just wanted to ask about the agreements reached between the united states and the russian government during the summer ammit. the joint understanding that was released stated that the new treaty should contain a provision on the strategic

offensive and defensive arms. to some observers, president obama seem to be giving in to the russians. it is the president or is the united states government accepting the russian position of further production of nuclear arms somehow linked to u.s. actions on this? >> i think the joint statement simply reaffirmed a longstanding positions. there is no new ground broken in that statement. if you go back as far as salt 1, there was very similar language used between all agreements. >> is the united states government prepared to abandon the proposed long-range missile defense in europe in order to gain russia all -- russian support? >> we do not think the two are linked. as you know, we continue to

review our defensive posture, particularly as it pertains to europe. we continue to talk to europe. that negotiation will continue working hopefully towards an agreement by the end of the year. >> what have people been working on for the past couple of months? i thought there was this big push to get a new deal. >> there is some commentary that this represents an acknowledgment of a link. >> this is quite separate from that. i do not understand what people have been working on for the past four months if you said people have not been accomplishing anything.

>> the statement that james alluded to, that some commentators have referenced is nothing new, and there was no new ground broken in that particular element of the statement. >> china is making millions of people angry around the globe. they are going to execute those that took part in demonstrations for freedom and democracy. many chinese are seeking freedom in the country. since [unintelligible] >> they are being crushed by the system. >> are you referring more specifically to -- >> yes, sir.

>> we are closely following the events that are happening there. we are obviously concerned about the situation. we have political officers there on the ground that are assessing what is transpiring. we do seek contacts with the government of china, greater details, and as the secretary called for a couple of days ago, in response to your question, we encourage a peaceful resolution of the situation. >> on a different subject -- >> whether you're officers on the ground have been able to determine whether the chinese security forces responded to a stronger hand. >> i think we are trying to assess the situation. >> the resolution coming out of

the house today calling for u.s. help for those supporting democracy in china. there was a comparison to the atm and square. is the u.s. going to ratchet up its ability to help those prove >> i am not familiar with what might be debated. >> a democracy resolution. >> i am not familiar with it. >> following up on a question yesterday, are u.s. observers on the ground trained to see if someone is becoming an aggressor for the violence in the streets? >> they are assessing the situation. they are among our more experienced diplomats with a deep knowledge of china, so i think we will be able to make a fair evaluation of what is transpiring, but obviously the

situation is still ongoing. >> not in real time? >> first and foremost, there is significant tension in that particular part of china. historical grievances, fresh concerns about whether ethnic minorities in china receive adequate protection and have their rich culture, their language taken into account. first and foremost, as it was in tibet, this is an ongoing situation. it is a challenge for china. as china grows and influences the world, it has to adapt its practices in more consulate with national norms. we encourage a dialogue going forward within china to try to resolve these in a peaceful way. >> one is a follow-up on that

venezuela. can you confirm that president chavez said on tv that he spoke to assistant secretary and do you have a read out on that call? >> i will take the question. >> switching topics to iraq, what is the state department doing in response to the passage of the new constitution that solidifies clams over oil in the region that could preclude the national or arrangement of oil sharing? >> we are very concerned about any unilateral steps that might be taken within iraq. obviously, as a number of u.s. leaders have said, the vice president most recently, the secretary on her trip to iraq in may, iraq has a lot of work to do. there is a debate going on about

the powers of the central government, the regional government, and as we have done many times, we encourage all iraqis to come together to have the unfinished business in terms of a variety of challenges, that this is a reminder that clearly, if the objective for iraq and the objective for the united states is national unity, the sooner they come together and resolve these outstanding issues and move forward politically and socially, it will be better for iraq. we will be very supportive. >> there is a trial upcoming for a u.s. citizen on terrorism related charges. i know there has been consular visits. can you tell us whether you think the trial -- to you expect a fair trial? do you think he has been treated fairly? >> we are aware of it and are

watching carefully, but we are limited in what we can say. >> in general, can you say whether he has been treated fairly by the u.a.e.? >> legacy if i can get that perspective for you. >> the ranking member of the house foreign affairs committee and some number of republicans and democratic colleagues have written a letter to secretary clinton asking the state department to respond to a series of questions regarding whether the uae has met a series of conditions that they believed it should prior to consummation of an agreement. do you have any -- are you aware of that letter of consent?

>> i am not aware of that letter. i believe it was testified on the hill -- are you talking about -- >> yes. >> refer to his testimony. >> could you check on that? >> i will. >> thank you. >> in person has said -- a person has said [unintelligible] are you aware that the pakistan the army and the taliban leaders -- would you be willing to have a negotiation about the taliban leaders? >> i will take the question. >> two quick ones on iran. are you aware of this iranian american that was arrested there last night, apparently the second time in two years that he was arrested? >> yes, we are aware of it and

checking into it. >> have you asked -- >> obviously, we are aware of it. >> coming out of the g-8 summit, it doesn't look like anything is going to happen anytime soon. the president had spoken about a desire by the end of the year to figure out exactly what the iranians are doing in response to the engagement and then offer to see how to proceed. it is that time instilled in the fact? what do you plan to do? it appears the engagement -- the offer of the engagement has been clearly rejected so far. >> first of all, matt, the situation in iran is still ongoing. the demonstrations yesterday proved once again that the iranian government has yet to satisfy the concerns of the

iranian people related to the results of the election. the question that the iranian people have continued to raise has not been satisfactorily addressed. that said, obviously, we are still watching what is happening. clearly, the iranian government has its hands full about what is happening on the ground. we have always expected that the issue of engagement would follow this election period. it is kind of in overtime. one of the questions we have and the questions that iran still has to answer is where does it want to take this? you have an offer of engagement in a variety of ways in a variety of issues. we are willing to engage because those issues are of serious concern to us and other

countries as well. we have offered iran a path forward, but whether it they choose to move down that path, we simply do not know yet. >> when does that window close? is it over when and if the election meets your standards? are you prepared that as it looks, they are not prepared to do anything, that the results will stand, are you prepared to the open -- >> as we have said many times, we are very concerned with what has transpired. i think the iranian people are very disappointed with what has transpired. this has clearly diverted the attention of the iranian government from the office of engagement.

you head the meeting with an offer of iran to join that meeting, and they chose not to. i think the answer is, we just don't know yet. the office of engagement is still there because it is in our interest to do so. we still have the same concerns that we long have had in iran and looking for a way to resolve this. we will have to wait and see how this plays out. if there is a point in the future where iran decides to move down the path, we will be willing to engage. >> it was not clear to me, are you suggesting that at the end of the year, you guys did not want to call out a timetable. is it still operative or is it not? >> -- >> earlier this week, it was

said that -- i think if we have not seen any progress at that time by the end of the year, i am sure the u.s. would rather work with europeans and russia and china to increase pressure on them. i think the iranians need to understand the of this window of engagement does not produce any results, it is inevitable they will face much stronger action. it was not clear to me if you were going to -- >> i do not know. on the end of what gary said, we are not pursuing only one path. we continue to enforce existing shed -- existing sanctions. the actions of the last several weeks have reminded a number of countries of the dangers posed by iran. you do have a growing

convergence that recognizes the concerns and the threat that iran faces. i think that there is a growing consensus with the national community about the issues of the united states has long outlined, concerns about iran. obviously, how i ran response to the offers of engagement will tell us a great deal. i think we are still at 8. -- i think we are still at a period, if they respond, how? what form and what subjects they appear to be prepared to engage? as they answered these questions, if they are able to answer these questions, it will give us a perspective, and we will understand more fully what they are prepared to do and withdraw conclusions based on the response if and when it

comes. >> [unintelligible] how are you going to enforce the group -- enforce those through the un? they are saying that no more engagement, nothing. >> i am not sure we are convinced at this point that a true iranian response has gone through. >> does the u.s. have specific concerns that north korea may be shipping nuclear material and technology to burma? >> or other armaments? >> it was just nuclear. >> i believe that we have concerns that north korea may

try to ship a variety of things in a variety of directions. north korea is a serial proliferators. their military economy is the means by which the north korean government sustains itself. they have the right to do that, but it is the proliferation risk that north korea has demonstrated over time that is at the heart of our concerns. it is why the united nations passed 1874. it is why we have an ambassador consulting widely in the region to make sure that existing sanctions are fully implemented. >> is burma one of those potential destinations that you are concerned about? are you concerned that they have a nuclear program? >> i am not in a position to

answer that question. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> sunday, ronald and allis radosh. >> no one knew until may 14 what harry truman would do. what are you going to do if the jews declare a state? he said i don't know, we will have to see. he had been undecided. >> sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern and pacific time. you can also listen to the program on c-span radio, xm satellite radio, and online.

>> the focus now turns to the confirmation process of judge sonia sotomayor who has been nominated by president obama to replace stephen brier on the supreme court. our coverage begins tomorrow with three former law clerks who talk about their experience working with the nominee and will take part in a roundtable discussion. that begins on saturday at 7:00 p.m. eastern. on sunday, more about the life and career of judge sonia sotomayor. as well as an in-depth look at the confirmation process. that begins at 6:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. here is a look at our coverage plans. >> live coverage of the confirmation hearing for supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor starts monday, 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span, c-span radio,

and on the web. we will replay the proceedings weeknights on c-span [applause] . -- replace the proceedings weeknights on c-span2. the group campus progress held their annual conference this week in washington. next, the deputy director of the organization talks about the group and its goals. this is about 20 minutes. n line has a seat spent -- c-span podcast. host: now on your screen is erica williams, deputy director of a group called campus progress. miss williams, what is canada's progress? guest: it is a campus project from the center of american progress. it deals with a policy change, though opinion leaders and supporting them and making

changes are now in their campuses and communities. host: how you define a progressive? guest: this varies and there are many definitions and answers. most of the young people i work with, myself included, believe that in a progressive is all about understanding that there's a certain common good that we're working toward. we believe in putting people over privilege. we believe that concept that all people are created equal, but not just under god, but also under the law. that is what we work toward as to the common good. host: and if you would translate that into an issue. guest: there are a couple of issues that are pretty hot and heavy and i would say health care is one. we believe it is a fundamental human right, especially for americans in such a wealthy country to have access to affordable health care that is equitable across all income status is, at the group's --

ethnic groups. host: do you believe that if it requires more taxation that is fair? guest: absolutely, and not only do i believe that and the other young people i work with, but they have been polling young people from the ages of 17 through 27 and something like 87% support higher taxation if necessary. host: how did you get involved in this organization? guest: i used to work at the conference for civil-rights, which is the nation's oldest civil rights coalition. i focused on civil rights legislation at the federal level and i wanted to direct my focus a bit more towards young people specifically. campus progress had reached up to me to speak at several events. when i came and saw the energy of the young people were working with, i said, this is where the next generation, my generation is. host: where did you go to school

and when did you get involved in politics? guest: i went to school at the university of marylaot, college park. i got into politics of it after graduation. there were issues that impacted me as a graduate student, i did not necessarily recognize the connection between those and policy, specifically on the national level college affordability. i realized it was an affordable -- unaffordable, but i did not realize the connection until after i graduated. there's a connection between the things that people in daily life needed and the role of government. host: where did you grow up? guest: i grow here in washington d.c. area and my parents were full-time ministers and pastors. i was civic minded, absolutely, but not necessarily political. i realized there was a role i

was supposed to play in better in my community as a citizen growing up with faith. i was an african-american studies major in college. at that time, i realized there were other ways to benefit my community. host: you have quite an agenda of events going on here in washington. you have nancy pelosi and bill clinton both -- you got nancy pelosi and bill clinton both to speak. how did you do that? guest: they have both always been committed to -- have had a passion for young people. ben jones, a special advisor to the president on the green jobs , a long cast of amazing speakers who were there. they demonstrated a commitment to supporting young people and not just talking down and saying, you all are great, you vote in record numbers. but more important, what can you be doing now? that was the focus of our

conference this year. host: to the center of american progress on to this? guest: it was a private developed in 2005. there was a great need that we saw and if we're going to lay out this progressive path for america and develop this aggressive agenda, young people were a critical part of that. host: is that in response to, or counter to, like young americans for freedom, which has been around quite a while? guest: it has been around quite a while, but i would not say it was necessarily in response to. we just think that young people have an incredible amount of energy and passion. i am a little biased, but i do think that we do it better in the sense that we are not just developing leaders for the next generation. we're actually encouraging young people to get out now and they

are. host: erik williams is our guest, deputy director of campus progress. 25 and younger only this morning to talk to america. ted, a democrat, go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i realize there are not that many people my age that listen to c-span. host: how old are you? caller: i am 24. guest: before you. caller: -- good for you. caller: i live in a rural area and have you seen this campus progress coming into rural areas? i have seen it become more active and alive in more urban areas and areas that tend to attract more progressive thinking people. i see a great divide between

urban versus rural. what is the progressive trying to do to come into rural areas and educate and/or do outreach? guest: that is something that campus progress has made a conservative -- a concerted effort to do since 2005. we're targeted in work -- in rural area and predominantly conservative campuses because we found that not only is there a great need for the type of resources and support and exposure that we provide, but also, the students and young people in those areas soak up the information and are some of our strongest advocates. is he still on there? host: he is gone. guest: i am not sure exactly what rural areas we are in, but that is a concerted effort of hours.

is progress.org? -- cap mpusprogress.org? guest: absolutely, we can direct him to something in his area. we focus primarily on the millennium generation, 17 through 26, but we are expanding beyond college campuses because young people are not just on college get this is. host: kurt of akin tweets in -- guest: i can talk a little bit about economic policy. right now we are launching a campaign for economic

opportunity, this idea that young people not just in this economic crisis, but as a generation, are facing some unique economic challenges. we're looking at the rising cost of college, education, health care, even transitioning into a green economy, people as progressives believe that there needs to be a conscious, bold, strong, dramatic investment in these core areas -- education, health care and clean energy -- in order to ensure our economic future. we do see these things as linked. we're talking about the economy, we're talking about these issues. host: gilbert, ariz., david, republican, you are on with erica williams. caller: how are you doing today? guest: good, how are you? caller: i'm doing great. a couple of questions. first, a about the stimulus, the education movement, everything that is going on, i just got

into college not too long ago. i'm going into criminal justice. i almost have my law degree and i in a few years into the deal. but as easy as the government's is handing out money, you know, for the online education, everywhere you look hugo -- you go to yahoo!, aol, everywhere you go it is an online degree and they're willing to hand out the money. but for the last four years, there has been this impacted wisdom tooth in the back of my mouth -- host: david, where are you going? we're going to leave david encoder right now and move on to

nicklaus in jackson, new jersey, a democrat. caller: good morning, i want to know what your doing to organize students, if your organization has an ultimate goal to be achieved at this current moment, and what kind of a working student like myself -- what can a working is to let myself due to benefit your program? host: where you go to school? caller: i go to a community college one town away. guest: generally speaking, what are we doing to organize students? what are we doing it -- what we're doing is working to organize students on their campuses. we offer organizing grants and progress of partnerships, and actual money and resources and training for young people who have created issue ideas for their campus and community. we're working on the national level for health care and climate change and college

affordability, but we work to support young people on almost every issue locally. that works if you're working on it genocide in darfur, aids awareness, local health care, impactissues that impact your ll campus. we believe in getting people out there to work on issues in whatever way they see fit. in terms of working on local issues, you all can do the same thing as other committees. the difference is how you do it. are you when to start a student organization or join another organization? or you simply making calls into your local representatives? are you making lobby visits locally? if you check out campusprogress.org it wilç show you all the different ways you can make changes. host: when you say you are organizing students, what kinds

of activities will you do? guest: we start off on a visit with coordinating events. we found that coordinating events that talk about progress of policy issues and get dialogue going as a first of -- is a first up. we bring in local speakers to talk about policy areas. there also rallies, protest, marches, campaigns directed at putting pressure on local representatives of four specific issue areas. also, we support young journalists. a young journalist who says, my mainstream campus newspaper does not represent my issues -- we give grants to young journalist as well. we can help pull the situation is to gather and connect people to make their movements

stronger. host: chris tweets -- guest: i would say that we are nonpartisan and that is very important. i know people say, you are progressive and that means democrat. it is not the same thing. our role is not to support or strengthen a particular party. it is to put out a vision for america. whatever party lines or politicians lined up without, that is what we support. we challenge the status quo. we challenge democrats all the time and say, you are not going far enough, you're not pushing this far enough. that is the difference, we have a very strong vision that does not line up with a party. host: is president obama a progressive tax guest: we think -- is president obama a progressive? guest: we think he is, however, we think he could do more.

it does not mean that everything he does we love or are satisfied with. that was the theme of our conference. we had 13 and again people coming to washington to say, look, a good job, but we need more, we need you to be stronger and more progressive. host: david, lexington, ky. caller: thanks for taking my call. i just wanted to go back over what she thinks president is and means -- progressive is and means. you talk about common good and everything like that, but who decides what the common good is and how far should they be able to go to implement that? where is the limit? host: david, we will get an answer. would you do in lexington? caller: [unintelligible]

host: how barack -- how old are you? caller: 926 next week. guest: -- i am 26 next week. guest: when you look at statistics, you look at where our nation is in terms of disparities. are there disparities in affordable education? the issues we decide as common good or when we have, as a nation, set up seven goals and priorities and the use, we say that the american dream is attainable. we believe that the american government has a role in helping americans achieve those goals. when we do that, we do it a little stronger than conservatives do. i do not believe the values are the goals are any different, but i think there is a dramatic difference in a way that young people believe the goverent should be involved in achieving those goals. host: las vegas, a democrat,

hello. caller: i do remember you from a black state of the union. guest: yes, the state of the black union. caller: i did not understand what you were representing a bedtime. i'm getting a little more information right now. i live in las vegas and i am in a diverse city. i want to know, how can i be introduced into this, and what can i start to do to put my ideas out? i do have a lot of ideas and i do see a lot of things going on. i watched c-span a lot. i watch fox news and msnbc and i keep aç with politics allot. i see things going on, especially -- of course, our senator, john ensign, is going to his being here.

-- during through his thing here. i am only 24 years old and i'm trying to open the door way. seeing you, of course, a woman of color, that has inspired me. i want to know what to do. host: two questions for you -- what you do in vegas and why are you a democrat or a progressive or however you identify yourself? caller: number one, i am a full- time cashier at a store. and i'm going back to school for my associate's degree in h.i.t. second, i am considered a democrat, but lately, have been pretty independent because it does not seem -- i do not like to be in the fight of the red and blue. i like to feel the person, not the color they represent or the name they represent. i do believe in the democratic values, but i also believe in

some conservative values also. host: all right, thanks for calling in this morning. thanks for watching. erica? guest: that guest was representative of a we talk to young people. progressive, yes, i am progressive because i believe in these particular policies and this is what i support, but you know, conservative on some issues. this candidates i like and this candidate i do not like. i think that is a generational shift in how we view politics. it is not so much red or blue, but the values of specific policy. as to how you can make your voice heard, there are so many different ways. i do not know if you write or blogging, especially with the use of the internet, there are so many different ways to get your views out there but more importantly than just getting your voice and ideas out there is actually taking action.

contact your local representative and saying, this is what i am looking for, how can i make this happen? host: leon, a of bill california -- leon, california. caller: did you see a big change with gore or after the election -- before or after the election? guest: we saw both. it was said that young people only got in -- involved after the election. that is not true. this has been starting as far back >> you are watching c-span, public affairs programming courtesy of america's cable

companies. up next, president obama meets with reporters at italy following the g-8 summit. after that, in interview with doug hampton. at 9:00, senator roland burris decides not to run for senate next year. . . from here, president obama visits ghana and addresses lawmakers in that country.

>> i apologize for being a little bit late. good afternoon. we have just concluded the final session of what has been a highly productive summit here in italy. before i discuss what we achieved the last three days of like to take a moment to express my thanks to the prime minister, his staff, and the people of italy for their extraordinary hospitality and hard work in setting up this summit. particularly i want to thank the people for welcoming us to your home at this difficult time. we have seen have you have come together and taking care of each other, and we have been moved by your courage and your resilience and kindness. i am confident that l'aquila will be rebuilt and will serve as an example for all of us and

how people can rise up from tragedy and become -- began anew. we will keep this place and its people in our prayers and thoughts in the months and years ahead. we have come here for a very simple reason. the challenges of our time threaten the peace and prosperity of every single nation, and no one nation can meet these challenges alone. the theft of loose nuclear materials could lead to the extermination of any city on earth. reckless actions by a few have fuelled a recession that spans the globe. rising food prices mean that 100 million of our fellow citizens are expected to fall into desperate poverty. right now at this defining moment we face a choice. we can either shape our future or let events shake it for us. we can let the still debates an old disagreements of the past

divide us, or we can recognize our shared interests and aspirations and work together to create a safer and cleaner and more prosperous world for future generations. i believe it is clear from our progress these past few days the path that we must choose. this gathering has included not just leaders of the g8, but leaders from more than 25 nations as well as representatives from major international organizations. after weeks of preparation and three days of candid and spirited discussions, we have agreed to take significant measures to address some of the most pressing threats facing our environment, our global economy, and our international security. that me outline what i believe has been most significant -- let me outline what had it been the most significant items that emerge. there's widespread consensus that we must all continue to work to restore economic growth

and reform our international financial regulatory systems. i am pleased that the u.s. has taken the lead on this report at home with a sweeping overhaul of our regulatory system, with the transformation on a scale we have not seen since the aftermath of the great depression. while our markets are improving, and we appear to have averted global collapse, we know that too many people are still struggling. we agree that full recovery is still a ways off, that it would be premature to begin winding down our stimulus plans, and that we must sustain our sport for those plans to lay the foundation for a strong and lasting recovery. it is equally important that we return to fiscal sustainability in the midterm after the recovery is completed. second, we agreed to story measures that will help stop the spread of nuclear weapons we eat our -- we agreed to his historic measures.

in moscow now, president medvedev and i agreed to substantially reduce our warheads and delivery systems and a treaty that would be completed later this year. this week, the nations of the g8 embrace the strategies i outline including measures to strengthen the non-proliferation treaty and to meet disarmament commitments. i also invited leaders from the broader group of nations here to attend a global nuclear summit that i will host in washington in march of next year where we will discuss steps we can take to secure loose nuclear materials, a combat smuggling, and deter and disrupt attempts at nuclear terrorism. we face a real time challenge on nuclear proliferation in iran. at this summit, the g8 nations came together to issue a strong statement calling on iran to

fulfill its responsibilities to the international community without further delay. we remain seriously concerned about the appalling events surrounding the presidential election, and we are deeply troubled by the proliferation risk around -- iran's nuclear program poses to the world. with that right comes responsibilities. we hope iran will make a choice to fulfill them and we will take stock of their progress when we see each other this september at the g-20 meeting. third, we took groundbreaking steps forward to address the threat of climate change in our time. the g8 nations agreed that by 20 feet deep we will reduce our emissions by 80% and that we will work -- that by2050 we will reduce our emissions by 80%. nations may be commend this to

reduce -- in the u.s. we have passed legislation in the house represented that puts us on track to meeting this 80% goal, and we made historic clean energy investments in our stimulus as well as setting aside -- setting new fuel efficiency standards and to decrease pollution. we believe that a nation that can build a 21st century clean energy economy is the nation that will lead the 20 percent to global economy. we did not reach agreement on every issue. we still have much work ahead on climate change, but these achievements are meaningful and will generate momentum as we head into the talks at copenhagen and beyond. finally, we have committed to investing $20 billion in food security, agricultural development programs to help fight world hunger. this is in addition to emergency humanitarian aid that we provide. going into the meeting, we had

agreed to $15 billion. we exceeded that mark and obtained an additional $5 billion of our commitments. we do not view this assistance as an end in itself. we believe the purpose of a must be to create conditions where it is no longer needed, to help people become self-sufficient, provide for their families, and with their standards of living. that is why i propose a new approach to this issue, endorsed by all the leaders here. it is a coordinated effort to support plans created by the countries themselves, with help from multilateral institutions like the world bank and inappropriate, along with significant and sustained financial commitments from our nations. i also want to speak briefly about additional one on one meetings i had with leaders here and outside of the g8 context. these meetings for tremendous a viable and productive. we spoke about how we can forge an effective response to nuclear proliferation threats from iran and north korea. we discussed challenges we face

in managing our economies and steps which can take together in combating climate change and other important matters. i believe we laid a solid foundation on these issues. ultimately, the summit and the work we have done here reflects a recognition that the defining problems of our time will not be solved without collective action. no one corner of the globe can wall itself off from the challenges of the 21st century or the needs and aspirations of fellow nations. the only way forward is to -- through shared and persistent efforts to combat threats to our peace, our prosperity, and our common humanity, wherever they may exist. none of this will be easy. as we worked to find common ground, we have not solved all our problems. we did not agree on every point, we have shown that it is possible to move forward and make real an unprecedented progress together, and i am confident we will continue to do so in the months and years ahead. with that, let me take a few questions. i have a list i am working off

of. i will start with peter bakker. i am sorry, your mind is not working. -- your mike is not working. >> puerto that you made your appeal for the food security meetings personal by citing a family experience inkenya. i wonder if you could tell us how your family experience influences your policy and approach. >> what you heard is true. i started with this fairly telling point, that when my father traveled to the united states from kenya to study, at

that time, the per-capita income and gross emetic -- gross domestic product of kenya was higher than south korea's. today, obviously, south korea is a highly developed and multiply wealthy country, and king is still struggling with deep poverty -- kenya is still struggling with the party in most of the country. the question i asked in the meeting was, why is that? there had been some talk about the legacies of colonialism and other policies by wealthier nations, and without in any way diminishing that history, the point i made was that the south korean government, working with the private sector and civil society, was able to create a set of institutions that provided transparency and

accountability and efficiency that allowed for extraordinary economic progress. there was no reason why african countries could not do the same, and yet in many african countries, if you want to start a business or get a job, you still have to pay a bribe. there remains too much -- there remains a lack of transparency, and the point i was trying to underscore is that when we think about this issue of food security, which is of tremendous importance -- we have 100 million people who dropped into further, dire poverty as a consequence of this recession. we estimate that 1 billion people are hungry around the globe. wealthier nations have a moral obligation, as well as a national security interest, and

providing assistance. we have to meet those responsibilities. the flip side is that countries in sub-saharan africa and elsewhere in the world that are suffering from extreme poverty have an obligation to use the assistance that is available in a way that is transparent, accountable, and that builds on rule of law and other institutional reforms that will allow long-term improvements. there is no reason why africa cannot be self sufficient when it comes to food. it has sufficient arable land. what is lacking is the right seats, the right irrigation, but also the kinds of institutional mechanisms that ensure that a farmer is going to be able to grow crops, get them to market, get a fair price, and so all of

these things have to be part of a comprehensive plan. that is what i was trying to _ during the meeting today. -- that is what i was trying to underscore in the meeting. i father traveled to the united states a mere 50 years ago, and yet now i have family members who live in villages. they themselves are not going hungry, but they live in villages where hunger israel. this is something -- where hunger is real. this is something i understand very personal terms. if you talk to people on the ground in africa, certainly in kenya, they will say that part of the issue here is the institutions are not working for ordinary people. governance is of vital concern

that has to be addressed. i want to be very careful. africa is a continent, not a country, so you cannot extrapolate from the experience of one country, and there are a lot of good things happening. part of the reason we are traveling to gonnhana is because have a functioning democracy and a president who is serious about reducing poverty. i do not want to overgeneralize, but i want to make the point that a government that is stable, that is not engaging in tribal conflicts, they can give people confidence and security that their work will be rewarded, that is investing in its people, those countries can succeed, regardless of their history. michael fletcher, "washington

post." >> thank you, mr. president. as you have pushed for an agreement to reduce nuclear stockpiles between russia and the u.s., part of your rationale has been that you want to have the moral authority to then turn to north korea and iran to get them to suspend their programs. why will they listen to what the u.s. and russia have to say? what would it matter to them what we do? >> i do not think it matters so much that they would listen to the u.s. or russia individually, but it gives us the capacity as that two nuclear superpowers to make appeals to the broader world community in a consistent way about the dangers of nuclear proliferation and the need to reduce the danger, and hopefully at some point in time eliminate them. there are countries that have

decided not to pursue nuclear weapons. brazil, south africa, libya have all made a decision not to pursue nuclear weapons. part of the concept behind the non-proliferation treaty was that countries could develop peaceful nuclear energy, they would not pursue nuclear weapons, and in turn, the united states and russia would also significantly reduce their nuclear stockpiles. part of the goal here is to show that the u.s. and russia are going to be fulfilling their commitments so that other countries feel that this is an international effort, not something simply being imposed by the united states or russia or members of the nuclear club.

i am confident that we can rebuild a non-proliferation framework that works for all countries. it is important for us to establish a set of international norms they can be verified, that can be enforced, and when we are speaking to iran or north korea, it is not a matter of single him out, but rather a set of international norms and behaviors that we expect everybody to abide by. >> it seems that yesterday morning he had a very spirited and lively discussion with the g8 plus 5 plus one, ignited by an objection to the adequacy of the g8 as a forum. what was your argument in this discussion, and whether not you

have the feeling that the days of the g8 are over, and the second question, after six months of wheeling and dealing with these international forums, the g-20, nato, and the g8, you find a more complicated or less complicated to deal with that than the american congress? [laughter] on the second question, it is not even close. congress is always tougher. in terms of the issue of the g's and what is the appropriate international structure and framework, i have to tell you, in the discussions i listened more than i spoke, although what i said privately was the same thing i have said publicly, which is that there is no doubt that we have to update and refreshed and renewed the

international institutions that were set up in a different time and place. the united nations dates back to post-world war ii. others, like the g8, or 30 years old. there is no sense that those institutions can adequately capture the enormous changes that have taken place during those intervening decades. what exactly is the right format is a question that will be debated. one point i did make in the meeting is that what i have noticed this everybody wants the smallest possible group, the smallest possible organization that includes them. if they are the 21st largest nation in the world, then they want the g-21, and think it is

highly unfair if they have been cut out. what is also true is that part of the challenge here is revitalizing the united nations, because a lot of energy is going into these various assignments and its organizations in part because there is a sense that when it comes to big, tough problems, the un general assembly is not always walking -- not always working as effectively and rapidly as it needs to. i am a strong supporter of the un, but it has to be reformed and revitalized, and this is something i have said to the secretary general. one thing i think is absolutely true is that for us to think we can somehow deal with some of these global challenges in the absence of major powers like china, india, and brazil seems

to meet wrongheaded. -- seems to me wrongheaded. they will have to be included in these conversations. to have entire continents like africa or latin america not adequately represented in these major international forums and decision making bodies is not going to work. we are in a transition period. we are trying to find the right shape that combines the efficiency and capacity for action with inclusiveness. my expectation is that over the next several years you will see an evolution and will be able to find the right combination. the one thing i will be looking forward to this fewer summit meetings, because as you said, i have only been in office six

months now, and there have been a lot of these. i think there is possibility of streamlining them and making them more effective. the united states is an absolutely committed partner to concerted international action, but we need to make sure that they are as productive as possible. >> i would like to return to domestic issues, mr. president. health care, the momentum seems to have slowed a bit. the senate finance committee is still wrestling with the cost issue. members of your own party yesterday said they had strong reservations about what is developing so far. i was just wondering, when are you going to be jumping in full

force with this? you have any sweeteners plan? what is your push before the august recess? >> we jumped in with both feet. our team is working with members of congress every day on this issue, and it is my highest legislative priority of the next month. i think it is important just to recognize, we are closer to achieving a serious health care reform that cuts costs, provides coverage to american families, allows them to keep their doctors, and plans that are working for them. we are closer to that significant reform than at any time in recent history. that does not make it easy. it is hard, and we are having a whole series of constant

negotiations. this is not simply a democratic versus republican issue. this is a house vs. senate issue, different committees that have different priorities. my job is to make sure that i have said some clear parameters in terms of what i want to achieve. we have to bend the cost curve on health care, and there are some specific ways of doing that, game changers that incentivize quality as opposed to quantity, that emphasize prevention. there are a whole host of things i have put on the table that i want to see included. i have said that it has got to beat budget neutral. it has to be deficit neutral, and so what ever built is produced has to be paid for. that creates some difficulties, because people would like to get the good stuff without paying

for it, so there'll be some tough negotiations in the days and weeks to come. i am confident we will get it done. appropriately, all of you as reporters are reporting on the game. what i am trying to keep focused on are the people out in states all across the country that are getting hammered by rising premiums. they are losing their jobs and their health care. there are going into debt. summer going into bankruptcy. small businesses and large businesses are feeling the pressure. i am also looking at the federal budget. there has been a lot of talk about the deficit and the debt,

and from my republican colleagues, why isn't obama doing something about this? ignoring the fact that we got into the worst recession since the great depression with a $1.3 billion deficit. fair enough, this is occurring on my watch. what cannot be denied is that the only way to get a handle on our medium and long-term budget deficits is if we corral and contain health-care costs. nobody denies this. i hope is that everybody -- my hope is that everybody who is talking about deficit reduction gets serious about reducing the cost of health care and put some serious proposals on the table. i think it is going to get done. it is going to be hard, though. as i said in one of the town

hall meetings i had, as dissatisfied as americans may be withheld persistent, as concerned as they are about the prospects that they may lose their job or their premiums may keep rising, they are also afraid of the unknown. we have a long history in america of scaring people that they will lose their doctor or their health care plans, that will be stuck with some bureaucratic government system that is not responsive to their needs. overcoming that fear that is often actively promoted by special interests who profit from the existing system is a challenge. my biggest job, even as a region even as my staff is working on the day-to-day negotiations, my

biggest job is to explain to the american people why this is so important and give them confidence than -- that we can do better than we are doing right now. >> is it pretty much do or die by the august recess? >> i never believe anything is do-or-die, but i really want to get it done by the august recess. a hometown girl, is kristi around? i am disappointed. do we have any members of the foreign press here? i will use her spot so that you guys have a chance to ask a question. >> on the trip you have been talking about the state

sovereignty as a cornerstone of international order. how do you reconcile that with the concept of responsibility to protect, which used to be the cornerstone for [unintelligible] it used to be the cornerstone for lots of people. >> on the one hand, we think that respecting the sovereignties of nation states is important. we do not want stronger nations bullying weaker nations. on the other hand, where you have nations that are oppressing their people, isn't there an international responsibility to intervene? it is one of the most difficult questions in international affairs. i do not think there is a clean

formula. what i would say is that in general, it is important for the sovereignty of nations to be respected and to resolve conflicts between nations for diplomacy and three international organizations, and trying to set of international norms that countries want to meet. there are going to be exceptional circumstances in which the need to for international intervention becomes a moral imperative. the most obvious example is a situation like rwanda or genocide has occurred. gordon brown, during the last

session, told an incredibly powerful story. i may not be getting all the details particle right, but he said he had gone to rwanda, went to some sort of museum or exhibition commemorating the tragedy in rwanda. there was a photograph of a 12- year-old boy and it gave his name in that he loves soccer and wanted to be a doctor, and provided his biography. the last line on this exhibit said that right before he and his mother were killed, he turned to his mother and said, and don't worry, the united nations is going to come and save us. that voice has to be heard in

international relations. the threshold at which international intervention is appropriate i think has to be very high. there has to be a strong international out reached -- outrage at what is taking place. it is not always going to be a neat decision. there will be objections to just about any decision, because there are some in the international community who believe the state sovereignty is sacrosanct and you should never intervene under any circumstances in someone's in purnell fares -- internal affairs. rather than focus on hypothetical, what my administration wants to do is to build up the international norms, put pressure economic, diplomatic, etc. on nations that

are not acting in accordance with universal values for their citizens, but not hypothesize on particular circumstances -- take each case as it comes. richard wolfe. >> is iran in that category, and are you disappointed that what you came up with a statement of condemnation for the g8, you did not come up with any kind of extra sanctions having to do with their crackdown on protesters? >> i read your article and maybe some others. this notion that we were trying to get sanctions or that this was a forum in which we could get sanctions is not accurate. what we wanted was exactly what we got, which is a statement of unity and strong condemnation

about the appalling treatment of peaceful protesters post- election in iran, as well as some behavior that just violates basic international norms, storming of embassies, arresting embassy personnel, restrictions on journalists, and so i think the real story here was consensus in that statement, including russia. russia does not make statements like that lightly. the other story there was the agreement that we will reevaluate iran's's posture towards -- iran's posture towards negotiating the cessation of a nuclear weapons

policy. we will evaluate that at the g- 20 meeting in september. what that does is provide a time frame. the international community has said here is a door you can walk through that allow issue to lessen tensions and more fully join the international community. if iran chooses not to walk through that door, then you have on record the g8 to begin west, but potentially a lot of other countries who will say we need to take further steps. that has been always our premise, that we provide that door but we also say we are not going to just wait indefinitely

and allow for the development of a nuclear weapon, the breach of international treaties, and wake up one day and find ourselves in a much worse situation and unable to act. my hope is that the iranian leadership will look at coming out of the g8 and recognize that world opinion is clear. thank you very much, everybody. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009]

>> doug hampton is a former chief of staff for nevada senator john ensign. last month the republican senator admitted to having an affair with mr. hampton's y., who also worked for senator ensign. next, doug hinton talks about the matter with the tv -- doug hansen talks about the matter with a reporter on the tv program "face-to-face." >> imagine your best friend has an affair with iraq. that is bad enough, but when your friend happens to be your employer and a u.s. senator, the affair can be like shattering. joining us is doug hinton. his wife, cindy, had an affair with senator john ensign. >> in your letter to fox news you said,

let's focus on the first part of that. he said that his relentless pursuit of your wife in the affair led to your dismissal. what exactly happened? >> he orchestrated me getting back to the state and getting out of his official office. he told me at the same time, i am in love with your right. you cannot work for me anymore. when he initiates and personally takes the initiative to talk -- to make medium in an official office and tell me what is going to go down, and then be part of a cover-up, and we are just going to keep this between us because what would happen if this were to get out? the kind of shadow he cast across the hamptons and everyone who knew about this, he made you feel incredibly guilty if you

were not a part of making sure this went down the way he wanted. >> a lot of people are saying that is sick. he is asking you to participate in a cover-up. get out of my hair and go work for my non-political -- out of my political work. >> i did not dream this up. cindy and i did not think let's leave the henson organization on the same day. >> was she told at the same time? >> because of johns pursued and because darlene was now really watching john and watching a lot of his behavior when he was home, his cell service, his e- mail service, she was very suspicious. >> was he to it -- was he still texted and calling your wife at this time? >> absolutely. i witnessed it. she told me. she confessed that he had gotten

some other phones for communication that they could both talk on. >> he bought other cell phones so no one was no he was making the cell phones? >> she showed me. darlene got the records. darling of phone records. she knew what was going on. she was doing her own work. john was just relentless. >> darlene was suspicious and looking at this behavior. >> at the end of april there was a big encounter in the instant home between me, john, and darlene. he admitted he completely did it, he was sorry, he did not know what to do. i am done. i will go and put my life back together. >> this was after you asked to leave? did he say in front of his wife, i am in love with cindy?

>> not at that time. >> he essentially tells you have to get out. at the same time he tells you why she has to leave, too? >> now darlene does not want cindy as the campaign treasurer. the relationship is too close. john uses that as leverage to contact cindy. she has tried to get away from john, but he will leave messages like, it is about your job or a work issue. just being put in that position is a terrible position that since he was in. it was leverage. it is easy to look back and say why did we not do this or that. it is difficult to navigate through. there were significant jobs, and we did a very good job at them. >> that goes to possible actions that could be taken against john ensign. >> i hope that at fixed as a thorough investigation. they need to. you asked me a question about

john being a senator. this kind of decision making is not serving nevada and our country well. john needs to go address some things and he needs to take some responsibility. he needs to make some restitution and do some things right. we were employees, not fire, but orchestrated -- ushered out, asked to leave. a powerful man changed our employment life forever. >> there has been a lot written about your wife's pay during the affair and the severance. when we come back, we'll talk about what really happened. we will get from the horse's mouth. we are interviewing doug hampton exclusively here on "face-to- face." he was an administrative assistant for a john ensign, u.s. senator had an affair with his wife. here is what the "washington post" wrote about your wife's pay raise on it she was his

mistress. >> by the time line you are laying out and buy the one johnson acknowledges, that is when the affair started. her pay in doubles. you know how that looks, don't you? >> it is unfortunate. there is nothing to that. a large amount of work was moved

back in house. cindy became the treasurer. things were growing and significant in the way the whole campaign world overlaps. there's a tremendous amount of overlap with john and his official world, his leadership world. the way money comes together -- cindy's amount of work increased significantly. it is unbelievable that it coincided. >> you are saying he was not giving her incentive to continue working. >> not at all. we get requests like that all the time. >> tell people how that happened. >> brandon had an opportunity to do and internship at the end rnc. they need that kind of work. they bring kids in. he was not the only one. some will stay for a few weeks or a few months. he just did an internship.

he made on calls. mike and i could orchestrate the deal. he was an intern. how did that kind of role in his organization to make a decision on and in term. rex this kind of thing is not uncommon. let's talk about as you leave and the severance that was paid to you and your wife. "the new york times" wrote -- >> is that true? >> yes. to my knowledge, that is correct. >> how much? cracks that, i do not know. >> was a more than $25,000?

>> absolutely. >> he has some serious issues, because that was never disclosed. >> the intent and the reason was that it could not do anything for me. i am a government employee. that is so mystifying for me. i really hope the government steps up and understands that i was an employee of an employer that did some things that does not cut it. in places in a marketplace where people are held to stricter ethics standards, and cindy's case, the whole campaign world and how it is intertwined is just different. >> it was not taxpayer money, it was campaign funds. >> it spilled over into insurance and things that he could do in the severance aspect of cindy that he could not do for doug. >> why did he pay severance out of his own pocket? >> i do not know the answer to that. >> your still with your wife. you have talked about this with her. >> our only intent at that time

was, john came forward. he never paid money to acknowledge the number of things that i have really talked about here with regard to john. this is just purely like severance, the right thing to do, it did not work out, i hope you guys have a nice life. in his mind, he is going to try to continue and cultivate a relationship with cindy. he does not care much about that after that. >> he pays your wife the severance out of his own pocket. you say it was way more than $25,000, and then he continues to pursue a relationship. that is what happened next. this is an unbelievable story. we will talk more with john hampton about what happened next when "face-to-face" returns. we are talking with doug hampton exclusively on the program, the second of a two-part interview with a man who used to be very

close to john ensign professionally and personally. he is speaking out on what it calls an abuse of power and cover-up. he said it was not a severance. in this ethics complaint, they asked him to investigate the $6,000 payment to you when you were terminated. >> so you never got a severance? >> no. >> going forward, what occurred. november inc., the company started by former employees of john ensign, somehow you are placed there. you say that might this flanker -- you say that mike knew all about this and it was all a set of deal? >> absolutely. >> why did you do it? >> he was contacted by darlene

and made aware that way. >> have you know that? >> his wife and i told cindy and i. he but they said that something happened at the end of march in my time there, but something exploded and the girls and it came out that my new. mike stated he knew what happened, and that morning i met with mike. we talked all about it, and he could not believe it. this was the march time. we went downstairs and confronted john. in that regard, he was more upset that darlene said that that he would grasp the significance of what was going on and what was happening under his leadership. we did not know what to do. mike was in a terrible spot like i was in. >> why did you go to work for him? >> what else was i going to do? john and created a whole

consulting world thought idea. clients will pay $10,000 a month. get a few clients together and that will cover your income or what you were making here. >> so then what happens? >> it did not work out. it was a very difficult start. clients were not coming together. people that john and genuinely thought would go down there and put a contract in front of him. he did not understand. >> so then what happened? >> i began doing some consulting work for allegiant airlines. >> did john ensign get the consulting work for you? >> all he did was talk about what we were doing. he met with the ceo and one of the main principles of legionnaire. >> did you ask john to call for you? >> john told me what to do. call this person. i did not tell or ask john anything.

>> this sounds kind of sick to me. here is a guy who has essentially force you out of the office because he does not want to near him. he is still pursuing your wife. under your time line, he pursued your wife august. this guy is still trying to find new work. this is very sick, i think, to most people. >> this is unbelievable. this is so unbelievable from so many angles. >> he just wanted you to keep quiet, didn't he? >> he just felt like if i do apples for apples and get you set up, the fact that your wife let me know at one time she did -- if i could work this out and work through this, if i could figure it out, this is how feel about her and this is what i want. i am sorry, i am not going to apologize for it. he just felt like if he handles

it right, it would just go on that way and he could go on with his life. he never looked past the moment, down the road. what does this look like? how would you ever believe it a cover-up like this could last? >> you were part of the cover- up, right? >> i would have to take responsibility in that. the fact that i did not immediately do something, sure. >> your son was also hired by a legion and have a pretty good job there. is your jobs secured at allegiant? >> they are a wonderful place to work. i am unbelievably privileged to be there, but this has brought great hardship upon them that it should not have. i should not have to defend that. i have managerial experience. i spent some time in washington. i can provide that service for them in that capacity. >> they are getting the heat for that now.

>> things have been questioned with regard to qualifications and how did it happen. none of that happened in any other way that is not happening today with high-ranking officials all over the country all the time. people take that opportunity and go back into the marketplace. >> john ensign is still a u.s. senator. you are the guy out there saying all this stuff about him. they do not want you around, do they? >> it is tough right now for allegiant. i did not initiate the snowball. >> you will not be able to make a living because of the pressure these people are going to feel. >> the letter stated it all. he has increased significant hardship and difficulties have come upon the hamptons as a result of him. >> i want to find out what event triggered your writing that letter to fox news.

what does the hampton want to happen now? we will be back in a moment. we are talking to doug hampton exclusively today, the former aide to john ensign whose wife had an affair with the center. he now wants restitution. at some point, there's a triggering event that caused you to write this infamous letter to fox news. you were keeping it quiet, things were going along ok, but at some point something happen. he did not provide the kind of restitution you wanted? >> after a period time, just the magnitude of what has happened to our life has settled in and we realize that we are going backwards each month financially. that was a big piece of an eye opener as to the magnitude of what had happened. i just really felt like maybe

some time had passed, that if i got legal representation and they talked to john's legal representation and handle this thing. when you talk about me and the anger and hurt and pain, it is a lot of pain personally toward john. i want to do the right thing. families, kids, and lives are involved. i wanted to get people involved and say let's take a look at this and maybe there can be some restitution. he basically said no, it is not going to happen. >> through his lawyer he said no way, i am not giving any money. >> he does not think he has done anything wrong. he thinks he has made restitution. the apology was initiated by the fox letter, but in a way that is not understood yet. >> the fact the to have hired an attorney would lead people to believe your planning some kind of action. >> my action was to try to

negotiate. >> but that did not work. are you going to file an action? does your wife what to file an action? >> we need a lot of help. we stated that in the letter. i need concrete help from people who are saying this is what i would do and how i would handle it. >> a lot of lawyers say they think you do not have much of a case. is your lawyer telling you you have a case on any actionable items this long after the fact? >> there is talk about the liability and as we talk about a libe the libel and slander. john needs to respond to a lot of things he has done. >> how did he find out about this? >> i solicited fox's help. >> but how did he find out? >> one of the correspondence

that is part of fox news -- i sent a note to rick and begged him to call me and talked to me, and he did not. in my opinion, i could be wrong, but that would be what i would suppose that happened, and i am wrong, forgive me. it appears to me how it happened, and john did not just travel on monday and then turn around and travel on tuesday. this was well thought out. >> has there been any attempt by you to contact john ensign or any attempt by your wife to contact him since the press conference? >> not at all. >> your wife seems to be almost a forgotten person here. your marriage is still in tact. >> i appreciate that, but that is because they are looking at it as though this affair, this nonchalant hook up, get together, took place. it was nothing like that. >> does your wife feel like she

was under pressure and has she told you that this affair ended much earlier than john ensign said it did? >> sure, and cindy is a great lady. all of her friends would say that she has great character. this has been harder on her than anyone could make it on her. what happened and what took place before someone to take advantage of that and pursue it and not quit, and be confronted by friends and another u.s. senator, constantly people approaching him saying this is a career ending, and damaging stuff. this gets turned into a black male, extortion -- it gets turned into blackmail. >> what are the odds that you will fall some kind of court action against john ensign? >> i am considering everything. i would hope that the government would do some things as an employer. >> we are out of time. i appreciate your willingness to come on the program.

>> illinois center roland burris announces that he will not seek a full term next year. he was appointed by illinois governor rod blagojevich to fill the seat vacated by president barack obama. this is about 10 minutes. . . [chanting "run roland, run"]

>> thank you for all that energy. we are going to need it. i'm here today to talk about some important issues, about the representation of the people of illinois and how important the united states senate is to the future of our country. when i was named to the senate back in december, i stated that i would serve a two-year term. i felt strongly at that time that illinois needed two full- time senators. and i still feel that way. i have served the good people of this stake for 30 years. public service means working, advocating, and fighting for your constituents and their needs day in and day out. that has been my commitment.

i have tried to do that every day of my career. and i am honored to be a member of the united states senate at the j. critical time in our nation's history carried -- at such a critical time in our nation's history. we have a president with bold ideas for dealing with health care, the economy, jobs, schools, and the environment. all important issues for the people of our state and our nation. i am proud to follow in his footsteps in the senate and i look forward to continuing the work with him on the pressing issues of our time. the u.s. senate will be at the center of debate for all of those issues. i have been a member of that body now for seven months.

and i have been seen firsthand that my colleagues are thoughtful, dedicated, and more americans, that is democrats and republicans alike. çand it is my hope that we can come together and work together in a bipartisan manner to address these important topics. now let me say this. the last part of my remarks deal with my future plans. ladies and gentlemen, life is about choices. make no mistake, i loved serving in the u.s. senate. make no mistake about that. i love serving the people of illinois. make no mistake witabout that.

>> we love you! [applause] >> i'm the only african-american serving in the senate. i believe that diversity and representation in all segments of our society is the central to we are as a nation. if we must have diversity. for the reality in the u.s. senate today requires not only significant time commitment to performing the job off, but almost equal commitment to raising funds to run competitively for the office. kfapolitical races have become r too expensive in this country. [applause] kfai am making this decision --s

i was making this decision, i was caught between choosing to spend my time raising funds, or spending my time raising issues for my state. i believe that the business of the state of -- of the people of the state of illinois should always come first, the business of our state should come first. and so, today, i returned to the place where my political journey began back in 1978, back to the south side of chicago, back to my community and my constituency. to announce, my friends, that i will not be a candidate in the 2010 election. and i will not run for the united states senate seat. last january, in the same month that i was seated, president obama and vice president biden swept into office, sending our

country on a new course in reaffirming the truth of the american dream. the obama administration and a democratic-led congress is bringing transformational changes to this nation and it is an exciting time to be in public service. it is more exciting and more fulfilling, with hope and possibility for them at any time that i can remember. i see young people in the audience here today. this is a world in which you will grow up. this is a world that you will shape and change. i made a decision as a young man, probably a little bit younger than a few of you in the room today, to get involved in public life never imagined that i would have the great honor to serve this state and this country for as long as i did.

now, young people, it is your turn. now it is your turn to decide how you will serve your community. because you in this room are the next generation of leaders. all of you have the potential to rise to any level you choose. i am encouraged at what the future holds. and i look around this room and i see future educators, community leaders, senators, and maybe even a future president of the united states right here in this room. serving in public life is not easy, my friends. it is a noble and rewarding calling. and for the reminder -- remainder of my senate term i am committed to working hard for the people of illinois and fighting for health care, education, and green jobs, and safe communities. i will stand up for our

veterans and the security of our country and the need for our men and women in uniform. and as i have done in the past three decades, i will keep fighting for the great people of the state of illinois. [applause] çover time, we have been successful. i want to thank each and every one of you for helping to make it possible. and for all of the progress that we made together, i am grateful for the partnership, grateful for the leadership, grateful for the help all of you have given me during my political career. and i thank my family who have been with me all of these years. my friends have always been my core of support and whose encouragement and support i

would -- i will never, ever forget. i am proud of everything we have accomplished together. and most of all, i think the people of illinois -- thank the people of illinois, whom i have the honor of serving in public service and private service over the past three years. thank you all very much and may god bless you. thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009]

>> senator burris, will you take a few questions? [applause] >> up next on c-span, u.s. central commander, general david patraeus, and security forces in iraq and afghanistan. after that, morris dees on hate groups in america. and pres. obama meets with reporters in the heavily kotalik -- in italy following the g- eight summit. coming up tomorrow on washington journal, ghana national now

american university discusses president obama's speech to gonna's parliament. -- ghana's parliament. john hutton from the government accountability office details the gao report on bonuses given to government contractors. and todd tolson of the young republicans. "washington journal" is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> q&a sunday, waddled and alice radosh on president harry truman to recognize the state of israel. the >> no one knew until may 14 what truman would do. there was a press conference the day before, what are you going to do if the jews declare a state, as they said they are born to do? he said, i do not know. we will have to see.

but he had already decided. >> ronald and dallas radosh sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern and pacific on q&a. you can also listen to the program on a c-span radio on xm satellite radio and online as a c-span podcast kerridg. >> general david patraeus spoke recently about counterinsurgency efforts in iraq and how they can be applied to u.s. troops in afghanistan. this event was hosted by the world affairs council in seattle. it is about an hour and 25 minutes. >> good evening to while and thanks for that kind introduction and thanks for your service over your career and now, for your great work as the president and ceo of the world affairs council and for all that you are doing to contribute to

this conversation and dialogue that you just talked of. this is the second world affairs council i have had the pleasure of addressing this year and i have developed quite in admiration for the organization and for its goals. in fact, i will address another one tomorrow, co-host in san francisco. if i can get all of the requisite stands in my loyal customer car, perhaps i can qualify for a teacher. [laughter] çbut the seattle council seems particularly distinguished, being one of the largest dose of the international bidders -- visitor program. former secretary of state colin powell has talked about that program as one of the best foreign policy investments we make, and i agree. in fact, i was pleased to learn tonight we have with us and international security delegation with members from nine different african countries, and well done to you on that. a few moments ago i had a pleasure of meeting a remarkable

group of folks joining us tonight in seattle. it is great to have all of them here. in the audience in particular, i want to recognize general john shalikashvili. he is someone that we all know and recognize. [applause] the general is truly the personification of the american dream. he started as an immigrant. he began his career in the army as a private, and rose over the course of 38 years to four stars, including the supreme allied commander in europe position in nato and, in the end, the highest military position in the united states, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and during some important years during the mid-1990s.

as one who was in uniform at that time and respected enormously what he did then and what he continues to do, it is a pleasure to have you here this evening. it is also a tree to have in them out -- in the audience members of west point grade class of 1974. it was 39 years ago last week in the summer of 1970 that we new cadets realize what we had just gotten ourselves into. i'm sure if you locate any of these grade classmates of mine, that after a drinker to after the speech, perhaps without a drink or two, they will be happy to tell you stories about young cadet patraeus and how unlikely it seemed at that time that i might be standing here to address you this evening. [laughter] classmates, it is great to see you again. it's great to be here. and everybody else, again, thanks for such a one -- warm welcome. i'm thrilled to be here. coming through the clouds, as

always, we fortunately avoided the kind of scherwin experiments -- heroine -- harrowing experience i had last time. last time, there was fog so thick that visibility was only about 40 feet and to make matters worse, our pilot instruments went out on the approach. we circled the airport for about an hour or so trying to see through the fog for a landmark. as we started to get low on fuel, i have to admit i got a bit nervous -- and this from a group that was used to flying around in combat zones. fortunately, we had a very good private at the controls and he spied a tall building with one guy working alone in the 15th floor. he had his window open. circling, our pilot bank shot -- sharply and shouted through the cockpit window, "hey, where am

i?" the solitary office worker shouted back, "you are in an airplane." [laughter] on hearing this is useful information, the pilot immediately made a 270 degree turn and executed perfect blind landing on the cpac runway. just as the plane stopped the engines krofft for lack of fuel -- the engine coughed for lack of fuel. and finally my aide said, how did you do that? elementary, replied the pilot. i asked that by a simple question. the answer he gave me was 100% correct, but absolutely useless. therefore, i knew that must be microsoft support office. [laughter] [applause] and from there, the airport is only three minutes away on a

course of 87 degrees. [laughter] now, i want you to know i am keenly aware that microsoft is one of the sponsors of this evening's events. [laughter] i cleared this humor earlier. you see the hand right here -- in fact, we have a vote general command and staff college who works for microsoft who gave the thumbs up to this. that is particularly important because i'm going to use microsoft power point in one moment. [laughter] i do not want to see any bugs appear as the go through this. çwhat i would like to do this evening with your assistance of the great power point application is to provide the command responsibility. we will do it for about half an hour or so and then i'll be happy to take questions. next slide, please. this slide shows the area of responsibility of the u.s. central command, 20 countries

stretching from egypt in the west to pakistan in the east, kahzakstan in the north and yemen in the south. you know the challenges in that area and that is indeed why when people ask us what we do in central command we occasionally say we feel like the guy in the circus who runs around try to keep those plates spinning and revolutions that keep them from falling on the ground. this does capture, sort of, the money side, if you will, what is we tried to do in central command. needless to say, we are still hard at work in iraq, and i will talk some about that. increasingly enabling and helping the iraqi security forces, but still working against al qaeda in iraq and shiite extremist elements that are still active there.

we do a great deal of work in terms of partnering and building regional security initiatives and cooperation in the arabian peninsula. we're helping because of concerns about al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, we are helping yemen set up headquarters there. palkot has been quite soundly defeated in saudi arabia and many of the gulf states. -- al qaeda has been quite soundly defeated in saudi arabia and many of the gulf states. we have to worry about what goes to hamas or hezbollah appeared we a to worry about what kind of piracy would go out there. needless to say, the strait of hormuz, the other to a point in our area are of enormous importance to global commerce. it is somewhere in the neighborhood of 40% to 50% of the world's energy sources -- resources flow through that area on a daily basis. obviously, we have an enormous

challenge in the form of iran, whose provocative actions, the continue arming of extremist elements in iraq, lebanon, and gaza and western afghanistan cause problems and whose apparent quest for nuclear technology unduly remains. it causes enormous pause, as you would revive -- you would imagine throughout the region, but particularly the arab states. and then of course, we're working to build partnerships up in the so-called spans. we have a no. distribution network that is now established. the general pioneered a lot of the opening of the doors in it some of these areas.

i will talk about how the situation there has deteriorated over the course of the past two years or so. and we also helped to assist our pakistani partners, who in the last two months have carried out quite significant operations against extremists, more notably seen by them to pose a very extraordinary threat to them, which is very important, needless to say. here are the challenges that we have this year, and it is a reasonable number. as i mentioned, there has been a downward spiral -- spiral in afghanistan. we have to arrest that down or spiral and turned it upward. we are not carrying out that fight. is the pakistanis who are fighting the taliban and the northwest swot valley. the significance there of them

seeing this as their fight against extremist who threaten their existence cannot be overstated. meanwhile, i will show that there have been very substantial gains in iraq, but there are still significant concerns and i will talk about those. we are, of course, reducing our forces there and making other changes in accordance with the security agreement with iraq and the u.s. and that is on track, as i will highlight in a moment. there are certainly continuing challenges. i talked about the so-called iran in influence. this is, indeed, bothç the hard power on the soft power that they exert in this region in the general passion. although, there are common interests and it is not -- in the general fashion. although, there are common interests and it is not certain that they could not turn into

more common interests in the months ahead. lebanon has just had an election in which the coalition that really is seen as not meant as closely to iran has prevailed, as was the case, by the way, in iraq back in january of this year. i was just there, and should know for what it is worth, i was just also in afghanistan, pakistan, egypt, and turkey as well as lebanon. i can give some firsthand recounts during the question and answer time. i talk about the concerns of yemen, the need to assist them and ensure that they do not become a failed state. right across the water, somalia, without question is, i think, a failed state. it causes enormous problems and

that is the reason you have the kind of piracy challenges that we have in the waters between somalia and yemen off the east coast of yemen. and then you have the central states, some of which have extraordinary natural resources and some of whom do not. i talked about the narcotics trafficking issue, virtually one in all of the state's -- and virtually all of the state in the area are seeking to come to grips with this because it fosters criminal networks that challenge the rule of law, as do some of the elements of arms smuggling that take place in the region. and then we are fully supporting various policy initiatives that the obama administration is pursuing, and for which they have named special on voice. -- envoys. enormous concern in the area in which central command is responsible. there is these situation with

the palestinians, the overall peace process, for which senator mitchell has taken the reins in washington. it is very encouraging to have a man of his experience, having done the northern ireland peace deal prior to this. i am proud to work with one of the world's great diplomats, richard holbrooke, julie force of nature, as those -- truly a force of nature, as those who know him will attest. he was the key figure in the days in a course in bosnia -- dayton accords in bosnia. again, we are working on afghanistan and pakistan together. very important to have a regional approach. and then we have a very skilled and experienced diplomat who is focusing the efforts on iran and also, the average to syria. next slide.

let's talk a little bit about iraq and then we will go on to talk about afghanistan and some others and then turn to the questions. 2009 is a very significant here in iraq. it is a transition year. it is a year in which all of the non-u.s. coalition members have departed or will depart. although, there's still a nato training mission in iraq that does have other nations in it. we're obviously drawing down our forces. we have just completed the withdrawal of our combat elements from the cities in accordance with the u.s.-iraq security agreement and we are also changing our focus. we're going from being the primary conductors of combat operations to securing -- supporting combat -- iraqi combat forces. this has been ongoing for some 12-18 months and that was the consummation, the final withdrawal, if you will. and it did certainly accelerate in those cities in which we still have a large presence in

the spring, and that would be the case in baghdad, mosul, and basra. we do still have coordination centers, but those are not centers for combat forces. those are for to the coordination elements. for our forces, for so-called enablers in a tough position, to share intelligence, medevac assistance and so forth. they are, indeed, assuming and have been assuming those tasks again now for 18 more -- 18 months or more. interestingly,ç in january, the parties that succeeded were those that were leased associated with iran and most associated with more nationalist and secular tendencies rather than the moral, religious, and iran in oriented parties.

they are now, of course, prepared for the january 2010 election. you can see the maneuvering that is going on. it is quite interesting, the constitution in iraq requires a substantial degree of coordination among the different parties, the different at no- sectarian groups because of the political spectrum. it is fascinating to watch iraq and democracy. it is not democracy as we know it, but is certainly something in which the people are represented and in which the people have a say and they will go to the polls in record numbers next january. prior to that there will be a census. it is a very significant event in iraq because it will have a great deal to do with how many sunni, shiite, turkeykershaw,

germany's -- occurrekurd, and cn and others. there are still numerous challenges, al qaeda has extremist elements that we have seen horrific attacks in recent weeks, as we have seen in the run-up to june 30. they wanted to make a statement to imply that we have been run out of the cities and did, in fact, unleashed as many suicide bombers as they could. i will show you the statistics on that. and certainly, there is a reconciliation with some of the shiite extremists. there have been releases of detainees to pursue that with the iraqi government. but there is no doubt that iran does still fund and train and equip some of the groups that are still active inside of iraq. that is still a concern. there are these external

influences. again, i mentioned iran. there is still some movement of foreign fighters through syria, although, we have to note that syria has taken action against some of the foreign fighters facilitators and the overall number is probably down from 124 and fighters, many of them suicide bombers, per month moving through syria to about 10 or 15 in recent months for a variety of reasons. not the least of which are the host countries making it more difficult for military aged males to fly to iraq on a one- way ticket. this is a serious deal and the state department's counter- terrorism shapiro helped a great deal with this. there are certainly -- counter- terrorism bureau helped a great deal with this. there are certainly mistrust between arabs and kurds in this region this is where general sh

ali operating. there are disputes over where the boundaries are, disputes between the provinces because saddam redistricted, if you will, did a little gerrymandering during his time. there are certainly sunni- shi'ite concerns. there are intrashia and intrasunni concerns. there are budget pressures. iraq got used to that hundred 40 -- $140 per barrel price and that was pretty sweet to them. it was pretty sweet to boeing as well. i remember my friend to came over and several -- landed a several billion dollar deal and there are challenges now that oil has gone down. there are electricity challenges, elektra's the and

water, schools. although -- electricity and water, schools. although, they have broken their records by significant amounts this year. once we are able to achieve security and to keep the power lines from being knocked down, keep the pipelines from being blown up, keep the roads and bridges intact and all of the rest of that, it has made an enormous difference. if you look at this -- what are you back at again -- why don't you back that up again. this is microsoft taking revenge on me. [laughter] let me describe what you would see if microsoft was not mad at me. thisç is the height of the violence. there were 1600 taincidence in a single week back in june of 2007. that was the height of the violence. what you would have seen was a

scale that went about like this from the time of the mosque bombing in particular, a shiite shrine that was blown up in a sunni area, and the cycle of violence started and never stopped until we were well into the search and conducted operations to take away the centuries and safe haven said al qaeda had established. and also, to do with the shiite extremists. and it literally came down like this, as you can see. the no. 4 last week was the lowest on record -- the number for last week was the lowest on record since we started keeping records of the incidences. despite the terrific sensational attacks that we did see, the month of june did indeed go down to the lowest as well. next slide. this is sort of a macabre statistic, but it's our job was to secure anthe people and that

was our focus since the beginning of the surge until now, you keep track of a violent civilian deaths. this shows iraqi debts on the top. we had a huge gap because we were not out in the neighborhood at this time. we did not have the good data sources that we eventually developed. you can see that we largely closed that gap over time. the bottom line is that at this point right here, there were 55 dead bodies every 24 hours in baghdad alone. every 24 hours and we wondered what it could not get any legislation done. bridges were blown up, pipelines were blown up, high tension wires were blown down and it was a horrific time. i took over in february of 2007 and we launched a search. there were 42 car bombs in baghdad that single month and the number went up the next month. over time, our troopers and iraqi partners locating in the neighborhoods with those we were

seeking to secure, 77 additional joint security stationed in baghdad alone as an example, were able to drive the level of violence down, take away the sanctuaries and safe havens from the al qaeda and sunni extremists and also, over time, from the militia and extremist as well. we remain concerned about the number of high-profile attacks here, and that is what this shows here, the net of high- profile attacks. these been the car bombs, suicide car bombs and suicide vests. we have obviously been able to drive that down together with our coalition and iraqi partners to much lower levels, but still levels of concern. again, i do not want to diminish in the least the challenges that face iraq, nor the fact that, as ryan crocker, the best diplomatic swingman anyone could ever have had, i used to say,

iraq -- used to say, iraq does remain a problem, although less so in each respects as the conduct of the elections in january, and now, since the hand off of the security task to the iraqis as well. next slide. this just shows you where the al qaeda elements were in 2006, 2007. baghdad is right in here and what you can see is that they had a substantial presence in baghdad itself. the city of baghdad is about 7 million people and then you can see how it runs up and down the tigris and euphrates river valleys, the approaches to bagdad and so forth. over time, it has greatly diminished. microsoft is doing in here because this is much less than it was before.

we made the slide to assure to congress when you head back to get -- to testify, ambassador crocker and myself, because dealing with a terrorist group requires much more than counter- terrorism operations. it requires much more than just our high-end special forces elements. indeed, they are very important. their operations at the height of the surge, for example, might have been as many as 10 operations at night, taking as many as six or more bad guys, specific individuals off the battlefield and in a -- in any 24 hour time frame. it is hugely significant, but not enough. we have been doing this in ramadi for four years, and you still could not drive from one side of ramadi to the city center literally without getting hit when you did that. until we used all of these çforces, not just counter- terrorism, but conventional large forces, increasingly large iraqi forces, and increasingly

capable iraqi special operations forces, and then ultimately, over 100,000 so-called "sons of iraq" the product of the awakening wear over time we were able to work with leaders of the sunni tribes in particular, although about 20% was shi'ite over time. we said, enough, we want to get rid of al qaeda from our areas. if you will help us, we will stand with you. although, in some cases, i should note that we generally had to clear first before faults could raise their hands because of the level of fear that had crept in during the years of al qaeda presence. also, it is not enough to do just kinetic military. you have to do political activity. master consummated with -- consummate it with political action, have a budget that recognizes all members of society and over time, reduce

ethnocentric contentions. what we were trying to do was create conditions in which the fabric could be lined back again and a couple of stitches put in it over time and eventually over time, it perhaps could be in it back together to what it was. it also takes enormous intelligence and the big break through that we have had, by the way, is not any particular discipline of intelligence that has been applied -- as has been implied by some of the books on the best-seller list. yes, there have been breakthroughs in intelligence, imagery intelligence, measurement intelligence, and the applications that help us put it all together with increasingly large databases and storage capabilities and pipes, but the fact that the real breakthrough has been in the fusion of all of this. that is what we have worked very hard to do, to break down all the walls around the cia, and say, n.j., special ops, iraqi

coalition and so forth. as well as the proliferation of vehicles and other platforms that made such a difference. we have to overhaul detainee operations. -- we had to overhaul the gynnae operations. mayor 26 or so operations -- overhaul detainee operations. we had over 26 or so operations. we had to do it inside the wire as well as outside. we had to identify the truly hard core and separate them from the rest of the populations they could not again be training terrorists to be released. needless to say, you have to get at the root of discontent, the problems that might lead someone to be willing to sign on with an extremist group to begin with. you have to give education, jobs, basic services, even in the religious arena. again, we learned lessons in that regard. all of this, and take a host of other areas with other source

countries as i mentioned, syria, borders, and the whole area of strategic communications operations in which we had a very aggressive effort over time, but always emphasizing the truth because public affairs, was -- our model in public affairs was to be first with the truth. all of this is what al qaeda -- all of this was covered to what a cut in iraq needed. overtime, we were able to cut down the flow of foreign fighters, to take away their safe havens, reduce public support, to degrade the attraction of their ideology, to label them for their extremism, their indiscriminate violence and oppressive practices, to get command and control links, especially those who went back

to tribal areas in pakistan and afghanistan, and to cut the oxygen it off too many of their movements. it takes all of that. we had a lot of big ideas that were active in this time. it was not just 30,000 extra troops, not just the extra 125,000 iraqi troops. nor even the 100,000 tons of iraq. -- sons of iraq. the biggest part with the ideas, concepts, the employment of the forces in accordance with these, starting with a focus on securing the people and recognizing that we also had to serve the people, and frankly, be seen to serve the people. to do that, you have to live with them. you cannot commute to the fight. you cannot live in a big based outside the city. at that time, with the level of violence thatç we had, we could not drive through the neighborhood a couple of times and go back to your big base and have people feel secure.

you had to move in with them, as i mentioned, 77 additional locations alone. next slide. comprehensive, as i explained with the slide there, but this is true and why we had to link arms so aggressively with our state department brethren, a id, all of the other groups, not just with other countries and achieve unity-unity of effort. we looked for operate -- opportunities to make that point and we had our offices right next to each other and spent a lot of time together each day. we had a congressional delegation together. we were always together even if you called on just one of us. who next slide. -- next slide. the military gets paid to keep

-- get your teetenemy with your teeth and to keep them there. and at times, kill or capture them. you should not clear an area unless you can hold it and have a plan to build on it as well. so, we launched our offensive, we knew what we're going to do what we have the areas cleared. when we began clearing ramadi, we knew how we were going to hold ramadi because we were when to fight like the devil to take it and it was, indeed, a very tough fight. next slide. now, you have to have such good intelligence that you can fill out -- figure out who are the irreconcilable because you want to promote reconciliation. you cannot kill or capture your way out of an industrial strength in certain security you have to figure out who can be made part of the solution instead of a continuing part of the problem and then, those who are truly irreconcilable do indeed have to be killed, captured, or run out of the country. that is part of this process here.

and it provides -- it requires a very granular and nuanced look at local situations because it takes place with individual tribal elements and midlevel leaders. when you transition, when you hand off, in this case, two iraqi security forces, you have to be sure of conditions of tainted to enable it to do that successfully. your not try to give them a problem that we cannot handle, which will only make things worse and perhaps lead to a challenge in a way that ultimately means that they are hijacked by some of the elements of the enemy just for their own survival. that was the case in varying degrees in late 2006 and 2007. we have to work very hard to reclaim the national police in particular. it took, to do that, by the way, all of their brigade commanders and something like 70% of their battalion commanders.

we were very aggressive with our operations campaign and public affairs, if you will. many of you know that we try to be very accessible to the press. we embedded them everywhere, but we did not put lipstick on pigs. if it was a problem, we said it was a problem. i had some people come out at various times in washington -- from washington way into the search and they said, you know, you have a perception problem, in messaging problem. and i said, with all due respect, we have a result problem. wouldn't -- when results from around, people will see it. we're not want to try to spin anything. this was our model and when you conduct an operation, there is a race for the headline of cnn or any of the other 24-hour news services, which is just about all of them now. and you can see who gets it first. but we have to do it truthfully to the best of our ability

throughout the process. but the militias had speed dialed in to their cell phones the local news organizations. next. i put out instructions in the fall of 2007 that when there is a bit of a concern, a grinding of, for years and years, it may have -- a grinding of combat for years and years, and have led some folks to say that they had turned a blind eye to their body when they saw something. we worked very hard to embrace and live the values for which we have fought so hard over the decades and centuries. we sought to create an environment in which young leaders, jr. leaders in particular, felt that they could exerciser)áu)páive. the idea was that at my level, i would sketch out some white

lines in the road and tell them to get on the road. each level between me and those guys would define those livelina little bit better as you get closer to the local situation. i realize that we might be doing ok of in a patrol in a tough area of southwest of baghdad that had really been coming back to life and we saw in the plywood door this company commander's command post a sign that said, in the absence of orders our guidance -- in the absence of orders or guidance, figure out what they should have been and execute aggressively. [laughter] needless to say, i took it off the door and to get back and it made its way into my guidance for counterinsurgency. then you have to continually learn and a doubt, continue to look for best practices, worst practices and then you must institutionalize them, you must

share them. this is a thinking, an active enemy and we cannot ever get into a rut where we think what works today will work tomorrow, or what works today in baghdad will work today in mosul, or vice versa. ok, let's talk about afghanistan. back in 2005 on my way home from a second store in iraq, secretary rumsfeld asked me to go through afghanistan and look at the so-called training and equipping of the afghan security forces. one of the things i came back from that, i was impressed with the enormous challenges of afghanistan, a country that lacks many of the blessings that iraq has. it certainly also lacked the enormous violence that iraq had, but again, did not have the oil, the water, the natural gas. iraq does have some fantastic mineral wealth, i might add, if it can be extracted and gotten to market.

in any event, a staggering rate of illiteracy, 30 years of war and all that had accumulated through difficulties that had been visited on the country. i said, that would be along this campaign of what was then called "the long war" and i think that has proven accurate. it has taken a sustained commitment. more forces, about 30,000 at the beginning of the year to about 68,000 or so by this fall. attack helicopters, unmanned vehicles, route clearance teams, you name it. more traders to work with the afghan security -- trainers to work with the afghan security forces. clearly, the afghan national army and police have got to grow further. one of the cities that is

ongoing is to determine if they, indeed, need to grow larger, as it currently is in vision. i think that will be a conclusion that will be reached. certainly, you have to take a regional approach. you cannot solve the problems of afghanistan, if, indeed, there is not some ongoing effort in pakistan. that is ongoing in some pretty substantial ways now. the strategy for afghanistan and pakistan that president obama announced several months ago, the announcement of ambassador holbrooke as the special representative and so forth, all of these are manifestations of this. and of course, then you have to take all of this and ensure that you once again to achieve that unity of effort that i discussed earlier as being so important. that is in this case with a substantial number of international partners, non- kordell -- non-governmental

organizations, international organizations and opposed agencies as well. what has to be done? well, since this -- some substantial taxed. the violence has escalated in afghanistan over the course of the past two years in particular. again, as in iraq, there has to be a commitment to secure and serve the population. general mcchrystal just recently released a tactical directive that focuses on this and talks about the focus of support that can be used to minimize the chances of civilian casualties from the use of those close air support and attack helicopters and so forth, while still making sure that we do not end up with our soldiers with one hand tied behind their back. çwe have reintegration, local

level activity, but that does, again, require the kind of nuance appreciation at the local levels that in some cases is still a work in progress. so that you can identify who the irreconcilable are, separate them from the rest of the population and reintegrate the others back in to the population and make them part of the solution instead of the problem. elections are coming up on the 20th of august. you have to improve security by then to ensure that they are seen as legitimate, particularly in the pashtun areas. about 70% of the violence has been about -- in about 10% of the areas. and these have been pashtun areas. there is an enormous amount of work required to build the capacity of the afghanistan government for it to be seen as serving the people and not taking advantage of them, to clamp down on the corruption that has marked some of the

elements. and also, to get after this illegal narcotics industry that is such a plague on afghanistan, and indeed, makes one of the major export crops, is not the biggest export crop, a majon ill business and a major problem. all of these objectives are necessary to ensure that the overall objective of afghanistan is achieved, and that is, again, that it not become a country that is a century for extremists to plot attacks like those of 9/11 drive. now, microsoft is favoring us at this time. [laughter] you can see how the violence has escalated. there is a very distinct cycle, the fighting season that takes place, of course, released close down, needless to say, in the

winter in the mountains of afghanistan. but as you can see, the level of violence to level of security incidents -- and this occludes all attacks of all varieties, including attempted attacks, that is, in revised devices found -- and you can see how the levels have gone up each year. some of that is because our forces are on the offensive and seeking to take away again some of these safe havens, particularly in helmand province right now, to a degree in kandahar. but some of the also because it taliban is, indeed, trying to attack before we can build our forces up and before we can launch further offensives. next. this shows the country of afghanistan, kabul being right

up in here, and you can see that the violence is largely concentrated in a variety of areas that are the pashtun belt, as they're called, in eastern and southern afghanistan, especially down in helmand province and can our province -- canned arkandahar province, whio happen to be the major poppy growing areas. we have to separate the insurgents from the population. next. back up, please. this shows, in fact, where our forces are going, just in the macro sense, so as not to get into classified information. the third brigade, 10th mountain division went in here southwest

of kabul in a very important area, also right along the ring road, that is so critical to the commercial activities in afghanistan. the next was a combat aviation brigade that has gone into regional commands out and has just about doubled together with the marine helicopters the number of helicopters that we have had in afghanistan, which is of enormous importance. third, the expeditionary brigade that has been in the news of late because of its offensive, and it has launched a along the so-called fishhook, which is the helmand river, a populated area of hileman province. they're offering -- of helmand province. they're operating in the southern part of that area. they're engaged in some tough fighting, as are our british comment further north in helmand province. -- british comrades further north in helmand province. ça lot of these teams are based

at fort lewis. i forget the origin of this particular one, but those struggle organizations, named -- striker organizations, named for the platform in iraq, keen to get them on the ground there. we will focus some of them in can hard -- kandahar and some in helmand province. we will take a brigade and overlay get along with a number of advisers that will supplement its normal structure for the police and army elements that are in regional command south, having done something similar to that in regional command east. that is the plan for the future, and again, there are some tough months ahead, to be sure, and some difficult fighting that will be necessary first to secure as many additional districts as possible by 20

august and to continue the progress by the remainder of this fighting season and prepare for the 2010 fighting season. . . >> these activities have take

place in iraq and southern afghanistan and gaza. we have a particular situation in the peninsula, where our long time partners have expressed a desire to work with us that is uniquely strong since the gulf war. we have more patrons in the gulf states, and may date back to the gulf war. there is a great deal of interest because of the concerns of iranian missiles and delivery means and in sheer warning and missile defense. there are concerns about infrastructure that is vulnerable in areas and needless to say concern about maritime security and through

the difficult times. trying to disrupt the arms smuggling to hamas and to degrees in iraq and western afghanistan. there is regional training centers in the air base second only in the world probably to the red flag complex in the air force base in nevada. an extraordinary center for an extraordinary air force for a small country that has tremendous capability because of that center. and a special center that opened south in jordan, and we are putting in baha reign, and

other initiatives and activity to ensure that various components for nuclear weapons and various missiles can't take place. there is an outreach of arab countries of syria. and met with president bahar of syria, in recent months there is a number of efforts to reach syria. and one of our assistant secretaries of state, and others have made trips to damascus. will be interesting to see how that develops. one would think over time that syria sees that its future lies more with the arab world and

western world than iran. and giving the economic challenges and opportunities, one would think that's the way of the future. and we will have to see if that happens. and see what the impact of the upheaval i(iran might have on that. and then there is considerable outreach to iraq. and we visited arab country, and in iraq, i have been to all of them as a central commander, and when they expressed that concern. i said why don't you have arab influence and send an ambassador and that's is what is happening. and the president of cairo was

firm about that. and to strengthen the forces, not provoke but to build them, patiently and slowly, so they are the legitimate armed force in their country. next slide. yaman, this is a location that there is al-qaeda threat that is emerging. they have been pushed into other countries in the gulf, and has appeared to lodge in southern yenmen, and over into other country. and we are helping to host that nation, and to combat piracy, that is down, but because i

think that's because of the high seas, but other things are considering. maritime companies are taking the steps we advised. and the first were not followed. and the first is speed when a pirate approaches. -- approaches you. i am not making it up. and take action, and they have a dinghy, and with an outboard motor. and the third is take up the ladder. believe it or not -- it's actually not so easy, there is a ladder bolted on it. but if they take it up, it's pretty tough to get on some of these big ships. on a more serious note the coast guard has mentioned

instructions to the u.s. companies, that is not easy, it's tax wise to do it in cayman islands. but they have issued direction to consider a variety of steps beyond that, all the way up and arming the security forces on them, which may be necessary over time. the challenge is that samalia is a failed state. and people say, what do you do, turn the pirates over to the authorities. and you ask which authorities. because the authorities in some cases will have them back in their boats before you weigh anchor. next slide. i want to talk about how we fight nowadays. you know there are people that say, gosh all you guys do is counterinsurgency, you don't do real combat the way we used to. let me tell you that our

troopers can do real combat. and two, we do it differently. if you contrast the spring of 2008, when the militia and ordered against iraq and ordered a counter in east baghdad. this is a tightly packed neighborhood, 2 million people in this large slum conditions. and launching volleys of rockets, 12 to 15 rounds per volley, and as many as 15 times a day, and in the green zone, and an enormous challenge and taking life. to combat that we, assigned a colonel, with all of these

assets here. never before has a brigrade commander have these assets. in 2003, we fought in the entire corp for one predator, and the picture was not that great. now for one brigrade commander, we have these full motion videos, and these special platform agencies, and six other lower flying shadow, this is 24 hours a day. circling the city at various levels, all of which has a screen associated with them and a chat room. that's how you command and control. because the pilots may be at nellous air force and others may be in germany and georgia,

and in iraq. and they are all in their chat room with equally indecipherable language. and we have three teams of apache helicopters, and guided missiles and count launches and aerostats with rockets, and all of this focused on identifying the rocket teams and the weapons cashes were. and on three different days we destroyed five rocket teams and destroyed 77 teams in a three to four week battle. and wounded a top eight leader and the three special assistance of the other. and about 80 militia members as

well. with minimal damage inside the city. some tough fighting along a particular line, because it was in an area where rockets of shot with precision. but this is how our troopers fight, and all the high fliers all the way to national technical means and youtubes and other exotic platforms. and it's all pulled together at low levels. and integrated all the way down to special forces snipers at the bottom and infantry men, and all the way up. and again our forces can do this and it's quite an evolution over the course of the last few years. next. now the key to all of this is our troopers. it's our soldiers and airmen

and marines and guards men. and this is a picture from july 4, a little over a year ago, i was privileged to reenlit 1,215 soldiers and air men and marines in one ceremony that is the largest in our nation's history. it's they that have fought the tough fights, and sought to secure the people, in body armor and 120 temperatures, sandstorms and mountain was afghanistan and all the rest. and i can tell you there is no greater privilege of serving with them in the capacities i have filled in the fast year, thank you very much. [applause]

[applause] >> i think your last comment, general, was particularly important. i know in this audience we have return veterans and parents of men and women overseas. i appreciate your last comment. as the questions come up, i have the privilege of asking the first. and one of the things i want to come back to, you spoke well of the importance to take after area to hold it and build on it. a number of years ago the council here in seattle had a leader that was responsible for overseeing those in iraq.

her challenge was they were never able to spend $18 billion. and there were challenges to release the money in the fields, go in and say, here's the challenge. you can write a check. and responsible for the lives of 135,000 men, but can't write a check. how is this now? >> vastly better, infact i remember telling ambassador brimmer, we were in the 124th air force mission. and we were going well, and had to carry the rough sack. and had a governor with council and people were pulling together but we didn't have any money. we did find some iraqi money, and that's another story. and we got them to spend that. and what i said, look, we could

launch a half million missile with a single radio call, and i don't have to duplicate. but i can't spend the money. and to be fair they fixed that. and that's the beginning of what has over time become the commander's resurgency program. as an example we had 1 million in that account. and our managers have learned to use that, and we believe that we use it responsibly. and by and large this has been successful to allow small amounts of money to be spent on projects. i knew robin and worked closely with her, and she described

accurately the situation at the time. there were the structures we were able to establish didn't exist. and there was ad hocacy in the organizations, and over time we were able to build structures that we had complex insurgency operations. and those were not typical structures, we had a cell to work on this and had one to support them to figure out who were the reconcilables. i was a video teleconference with general mcchrystal and to speak of what we have in iraq. and an initiative to build an operational headquarters, and they are not trying to do

tactical operations, and we had the core of iraq. and that was general ray, whether i was there, and we talk about him being the architectural of that surge. and his headquarters put out a document, called "money as a weapon system". and talked about how responsibly and properly with due diligence determine what the projects are and spend the money to execute them. >> so -- part of my role is to get the questions of the audience into this conversation. we have a series of questions here related to bin laden. essentially i guess the question is, why can't we find

him. [laughter] >> i ask myself this question every morning. i ask a few other people too. [laughter] the bottom line is that manhunts are tough. i think there was -- who was it, eric rudolph or someone in the north carolina hills, in our own united states of america, presumably in a part we control. and we couldn't if i -- if find him for quite some time, and wouldn't have if he didn't have a support structure and feed at the garbage pails. i was in a manhunt mission and

chasing malokasav and others, and we had the best year ever of getting war criminals. malosacih was in a deal. and we thought we had carriage, and thought we had hard intelligence, and he was found selling urban medicines in a beard in belgrade. when you translate that to hills and mountains, and when someone not from the tribe stands out like a sore thumb, vast differences. the fact that while bin laden remains an iconic and symbolic figure, he's not issuing even strategic direction much less

day-to-day direction of any kind. nonetheless, don't get me wrong, i would like to fine him. -- find him. but he's in an area where we don't operate. and i have flown the areas, you have to see the areas to believe them. if you go to the rocky mountains and add more to them, you have some sense of what it is i am talking about. and make them more remote than they are, and take away aspen and vail. >> we have a series of questions here related to military goals. talking about, you mentioned the natural resources in iraq and afghanistan. are u.s. troops protecting the resources or would they exploit them? how do you respond to those questions? >> this is actually a great

question, we used to get it in iraq all the time. the enemy is skillful of believing conspiracy theories, and an awareness topic we share with our soldiers. my response was hey, look, we could have bought all the iraqi oil, for at least 20 or 15 years, they export about 1.8 million barrels a day. you can do the math, we could have bought all of that for a year of operational services in iraq. this is not about minerals. it's not about pipeline wars, or trying to corner the market. in fact china is the one that

got the first contract for oil in iraq, in part because the iraqi pricing scheme was not that advantageous to the countries. in fact china and india are active in afghanistan. trying to get iron ore and minerals out of there. >> we got a series of questions arounds the question of reconcilable and irreconcilable differences. and how does leadership think about these issues. how do you determine what is and isn't reconcilable? >> again there are various wags, if the weapon is pointed at you, it's irreconcilable. no, to be candid, one of the tough things we have to get past in iraq, when i got back there last time for the surge.

this idea we would sit down and make a deal with our blood on their hands. and we had to get past it, and worked hard at it. i was fortunate to have sir gram lamb, and we chased war criminals together. and i knew him and he was a division commander in the beginning in the first year of iraq. and had exchanges there in the early days. and i asked that the governor extend them, and prime minister blair, and it was foritutous. and he said, when i was in northern ireland. and had to sit down with martin

briggess, and he was a tough customer with a lot of blood of u.k. soldiers, and he said i had to sit across from the table of martin, and i didn't know if i wanted to throttle him, or have dialogue. and it was that activity that blossomed into the northern ireland peace agreement. and advised we needed to think through that. and that's what we did. and i used him initially and two ss guys and intel groups and cobbled together the first element that was known as the force strategic engagement cell, comprised of a u.k. star

general and a diplomat. and they over time provided the guidance and direction that worked its way down to our troopers. and helped. it was the italian commander level, that this activity was taking place. you can see some folks out here that were part of that, based on seeing what they have on their uniform. they were the key. and we needed to provide increasingly left and right limits on that road, if you will. as they got close to the circumstances. and the kind of intelligent support they needed that would tell them if these guys were telling the truth. we have to go through that same process in afghanistan. because we haven't had the same

density of troops and not the same structures, we have some significant work to do there. but general mcchrystal is keenly aware of that and the new ambassador, carl ikenberry, and they make up a great team and working on a plan that is similar to that i put together in iraq. >> part of this is on leadership, and as these decisions are made lower down, how do you think of the leadership and the changing role of military leadership in this. it's been changes in leadership in afghanistan, how do you think about that stuff? >> this is a great topic, in fact there is a whole powerpoint briefing on it. it talks about big ideas, and how you change an organization. let me test the guys, and see

if they are awake. do you have the engine test guide, and see if microsoft is going to be helpful or not, sorry, the help desk is awesome. when you talk about -- first thing by the way, people ask how do you develop leaders that are comfortable in this kind of situation? and the answer i give, you need people who have had out of their intellectual comfort zone experiences. for me it was graduate school, i went from commander college, thought i was a swift fella. and our microsoft rep was first in the class and this stuff. and i learned there are real smart folks that don't see the world as we do. and some have assumptions of the state of nature in theory

and political science. and that's a very salatory experience to have. and to learn about political philosophy, and basic economic concepts and the rest of this, stands you in good stead. but it was the process of being in a situation where it was again out of my intellectual comfort zone. these shows cogs, this is an engine of change. when i was privileged to be a three-star commander. we controlled a lot of the elements that made up the cogs. we controlled the army that wrote the manual, and that's the field manual that was produced in that period. that drives, of course that cog, that's the big ideas that guides the education our commission, warrant and

non-commissioned officers. and you adjust that based on this. and you change the way you train your units, in the desert, and 29 palms in california. and in louisiana, and how you conduct counter operations. and these are conducted by leaders that learn this, right here. and then you have to have a feedback mechanism, and we have a center for army lessons learned. and that helps you find the do -- doctrine, adjust the center. and all of this facilitated by microsoft, and by a lot of applications that make up this greater world called knowledge management. but cbig pipes, virtual communities, the ability to

look over the shoulder of those in iraq from all the way in the states, to do it through the internet. to see in the sense the orders they receive and ñvx intelligen they get and orders they are issued and the activities of the day. so we are producing a learning organization. and what you are after is leaders who get it, as they say. so they are comfortable with this operation, which is different. this is not traditional tank on tank operations, it's a hybrid form of warfare, and they are comfortable with that. and they can lead units in the conduct of it, knowing they have to learn and adapt. and this model is applicable in any organization, leaders have to get the big ideas right, they have to communicate them

effectively, and oversee the organization, and capture learns and best practices. >> with our final question, leaders getting the ideas right, and communicate effectively, our final question is will you please address how if at all the change from bush administration to obama administration has affected the priorities and the way you do your job? >> i am pausing because i have had these compare and contrast questions. and to be candid, they are uncomfortable in some respects. because first of all, both commanders and chief are deadly serious about what they are doing, and committed to the welfare of the country and the men and women who serve in uniform.

one in the final years when i had the close contact, and the other in the early years. i will say that the processes we have gone through with president obama and his administration, has been very good frankly. we met the day after they took office, we met on iraq. in fact i was in kurgstan and got the call to be back in 28 hours and we made it back in time. and we had the meeting on iraq, and going to get back to the plane and they said not so fast. two days later meet on afghanistan. each of those began the process of a 60-day review. i strongly supported the decision made on iraq. i think it was a very pragmatic and good decision on the way forward for iraq. and feel the same way about the

afghanistan/pakistan strategy. we have had every opportunity for input, and subsequent meetings with president and various levels of committees, and chairman of the joint chiefs and secretary of defense. and again everyone is trying to get it right. i think the objective again that was laid out for afghanistan is vitally important for our nation. as i mentioned earlier, to ensure it's not a sanctuary for the extremists that were able to do what they did to us in 9/11. and that requires a comprehensive effort and substantial and committed exchange. and i think that process is good. i strongly support the outcome and strategies adopted and the

review processes and oversight that's conducted since then. >> the goal of the council is to help every seattlian to have the opportunity to be a good citizen. there is nothing harder than to think of the role of the united states and abroad. in the times of economic crisis, these hard issues are the things that will affect our community. we are the third largest military nation in the puggent sound area, please join me in thanking general petraeus. [applause] >> up next on c-span, morris

dees of the southern poverty law center on hate groups in america. and then president obama meets with reporters in italy following the g-8 summit. and an interview with doug hampton whose wife had an affair. >> coming up this weekend on book tv. saturday the late robert mcnamara talks about his book "in retrospect." and then joe scarborough. and also books on the economy, financial editor, says that the

financial collapse was predictable and is far from being over. and allen roth, tells us how a second grader beats wall street. and henry waxman on his 35 years in the house. more on book-tv.org. >> how is c-span funded? >> taxpayer dollars. >> public support. >> consumer funded, i guess. >> private contributions? >> how is c-span funded? 30 years ago, america's cable companies provided a public service, no government mandate or money. >> a discussion on hate crimes and extremist activities.

you will hear from morris dees, who talks about the groups of holding some groups accountable of acts of violence. this event is about an hour. [gavel] good afternoon, and welcome to the press club, i am teresa, the associate press broadcast and part of the governors. of journalism of providing communication and fostering free press, for more informations about the press club, visit our website. on behalf of our 3500 members

worldwide, i would like to welcome our speaker and guest in the audience. and i would like to welcome those of you who are watching on c-span. we are looking forward to today's speech, and afterwards i will ask as many questions from the audience as time permits. please hold your applause. for the broadcast audience, i would like to explain if you hear applause, it may be from guests and members of the general public, and not necessarily from the working press. i would like to introduce the head table guest and ask them to stand briefly when their names are called. from your right, craig gilbert, milwaukee sentinel. freeman derrick, freeman of the press.

austin kiplinger. susan star. jim bay. julian bond, chairman of the naacp and first w7vspeaker of public law center. to my right is melissa sharnada, vice chair of the nccp speaker. andrew snyder, associate editor of kiplinger, washington. the honorable elaine miller, president of the naacp chapter. cheryl hampton, director of journalism recruiting. peggy hudson and joe of the

bloomberg news. [applause] >> just off the mall, between 14th street stands the u.s. holocaust memorial museum. it's position is to preserve the memory of six million jews, and serves not just as a monument of a tragedy, but as a warning of unchecked hatred and the violence it inspires. one month ago, an 88-year-old man walked up to the museum. officer john, a museum guard for the past six years, held open the door for this man. he shot johns in the face with a rifle. it was only the fast action of the fellow guards that kept

john's murder in the first death of what could be a planned massacre. there was a list of other places, the white house, capitol and national cathedral, and "the washington post", calls the monument a lie. we shouldn't be surprised. prior to 9/11, was the bombing in oklahoma city. 168 people were killed, including 19 children and another 500 were injured. since that time there is no fewer attacks in the u.s. there are 10 such cases in the last year, including 11

murderers and three assassination plots .11 murderers and three assassination plots against .11 murderers and three assassination plots against candidates and president obama. morris dees has been in civil rights and litigation for 40 years. as founder of the southern poverty law center, dees holds hate groups responsible by filing civil suits that held those groups. his work has praised of the national association, and naacp and international league. and it's resulted on attempts on his life and colleagues. he shows us the report today on the increase in terrorism.

ladies and gentlemen join me in giving a warm national press welcome to morris dees. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much for the opportunity to address the national press club and those media people sitting here now, feel free to applaud. i want to thank the supporters who have come, and won't try to recognize those in the audience that we invited special guests. but i would like to recognize congressman davis, who is candidate for governor of alabama.

and a wonderful spokesperson for our state. i want to talk a bit about u.s. domestic terrorists. the threat opposed by extremists of radical right. we know that james walked in and shot officer johns in the face and killed him. mr. vonbron had a website called the holy western empire. and had written a book called "kill the best gentiles." i will read from the book, the calculated destruction of the white race and what it represents. europe the former fortress of the west is over run with whites. this man had a long history in

the holocaust movement, he blamed jews for the destruction of the white race in the world. and there was a note found in his car, he said that obama was created by the jews. obama does what his jew owners say. and he almost ended his life targeting the object of his hate. now was he just one lone nut? somebody that we shouldn't take serious? because we have lone nuts who have done these kind of things throughout the history of our country. you just heard about timothy mcvey, his bombing of the oklahoma federal building, killing 168 people. and you could consider him a lone nut. that was the largest number of people killed in the united states in any terrorist act until the world trade center.

and the secondest largest since. but there have been numerous plots since oklahoma city. if you check the website of hate watch blog, you will see a listing the incidents involving bombings to blowup federal buildings and plots to assassinate federal judges and many are. and through the good work of the f.b.i. and federal department, that most of these plots have been stopped. since the election of president obama, we have seen a rash of serious incidents called by domestic terrorists. on october 24, two skin heads were charged in a series plot to assassinate obama, they were

in a group called supreme white alliance. we were taking the head of that group, rod edwards of this group to court. but i can tell you that from the testimony we brought out in court, and from the dealing with these people, that they were dead serious. they would kill president obama if they could. on february 16th, before president obama was inaugurated. a marine was arrested based on writings in his journal of antisemantic hate material. and on the day that president obama was sworn in, there was a man arrested who was planning kill as many jews as possible.

fighting for the white race, and we know not far from pittsburgh, three police officers were killed by a white man, who said that obama he was sure intended to confiscate our guns. the incidents go on and on, and not just african-americans and jews, but latinos. the minute men american defense went into a home, home invasion, in arizona and shot a latino man and his nine-year-old son. the whole thing was a plot to rob this family who they thought was drug dealers, and take what money they could get. but the threat of white

extremists in this country is real. the flames are being fanned by many people in the news media. glenn beck, fox news, said that fascism is coming, fema is setting up concentration camps. and rush limbaugh, said that fascism, we must not be afraid to use that word. and he's talking about the government of barack obama. and michael savage, says there will a firing of white men in u.s. government. your guns will be sieged and your free speech will be gone. and dick morris on fox news, says that those crazies in montana who say we will kill the agents of the u.n. and they

will take over, and they are making a case. and congressman, paul brown of georgia, suggested that obama might establish an exstoppo, security force, and saying i am not comparing obama to hitler, but just the potential. and you know these comments when unstable extremists stewing in their own hate and rage. when they keep hearing their paranoia and view validated by figures, is it any wonder they take up arms and do what vondon did. and other individuals. hate groups on the rise in the

united states. a perfect storm is brewing up for the build up these hate groups. there are 926 hate groups that we have documented at the southern poverty law centers project. and i can't say we have been able to identify everyone. every hate group. because they don't register at the chamber of commerce. but we know that these 926 documented do exist. and you can pick up a copy of our year-end hate. or go on the website and see the hate groups scattered over the united states. that is a 54% increase since the year of 2000. there are just a run-off of a few groups. 186 groups affiliated with the ku klux klan. and the neonatzi.

and the hate groups of israel, that are not different on the far right, and jews are the children of the devil, and judaism is the religion. and that's not the reflection of the people that are muslims, but reflects the views of the extremist groups i mentioned. one of the most troubling things is i guess you call it the reemergence of the patriot militia groups. back in timothy mcvey. and back then their focus was anti-government. against the policies of our government, high interest rates and unemployment. but now there is a

re-emergence, and their focus is racist, because the face of our government is black. they see it, an african-american president. and these groups are merging with the neonazi and other hate groups. and hate websites are feeding this frenzy. and on the website at southern poverty law center, you can find a listing of the hate websites. and when they begin to investigate vonbron, they found he had his own website and a frequent visitor of the other hate sites. david duke, which we all know, picks up on this anxiety and frustration and distrust. and on his website he put, obama's victory will serve as a

visual aid to whites, provoking backlash in the increase in our ranks. and in the national socialist, there was a picture of obama, and it said kill the n-i-g -- and you figure the rest. and another said that we need to shoot mexicans as they cross the border. this type language is out there. now what is going on in america today? what is happening? well, i think it doesn't take a sociologist or expert on demographics to tell you that america is changing. america is drastically changing.

in 1970 when i was just getting started in the legal profession world. only 20% of our population was non-white. when i say non-white. i mean also non-latino. and now it's 34%. and by the year 2040, the population will be approximately close to 50% non-white in the united states. diversity is a great thing. i say many times when i speak to college students, that america is great because of our diversity and not inspite of it. gxdiversity brings series -- serious issues of people getting along with each other. recent polls show in a population, say in south

dakota, and wyoming, we have 95% anglo whites. the people trust their neighbors. polls show that when you have a diverse population, a third, each of several different ethnic groups. the trust of one's neighbors falls substantially and for no real basic reason. with diversity and values comes the problems we face. and that's what we are seeing. and another thing that clearly speaks for itself is that america has a black president. we had 250 years of slavery, 1 years of jim crow. and probably you might say 30-40 years when brown versus rowe meant nothing. and now we have a black president. and this is extremely unsettling to a large percentage of the population in this country.

another thing that's happening in our country, and i don't need to tell you, because i am sure your 401's are 201's, we are suffering a serious economic decline. not just in this country but in the whole world. and this creates issues, fear, paranoia and creates those who are looking for a scapegoat. probably along with this issue of our economy comes the fact that the united states is losing its place among as an economic leader of the world. we have serious competitors like china, india and brazil, whose gross national product will increase this year and ours won't. that's a good thing, not a bad thing, there will be a place

where we can sell our products. i think the world is frustrated and tired of financing the deficit habit of the americans. and those issues are a problem in the whole world. homeland security headed by janet neopolitan. issued a report. it was entitled "right wing extremist, political climate in insurgence and radicalism and improvement." and they cited in this report, that economic crisis is a problem, and downturn and enlisting of the movement. and they gave an example, six militia members arrested of

explosive violations. and the last thing in the report, and a significant thing, that was disgruntled military veterans. they mentioned mcvey and said that large numbers of neo-nazi skin heads are learning the warfare in the united states military. this report was roundly ridiculed. pat robinson said that someone in that organization is left winger or gay. and you know the other criticisms. .