themselves up and their society. >> how big is a question of gender inequality? >> is enormous. we sometimes forget that. most of the farmers 70% are women. who gets the seeds? most of the people in the field are giving us out to men. we have to really think about how you get women at the center of these programs. >> it is science and technology, but it is also culture and human being -- behavior. i should be out of here. one, you were in washington testifying. we are looking at a deficit.

what will be the impact on foreign aid? >> we are quite concerned. i have spent on the hill for a couple of days. most americans want to be generous. we think of ourselves as a generous a society. if we ask most americans, they think we spend 25% of our u.s. budget on foreign aid when it is less than 1%. .8%, less than that. i wish it was .8%. >> how does it compare to other countries? >> the netherlands the u.k. -- a lot of the g-8 countries are moving towards .8% going to develop them. we are nothing close to that. how much should we spend it? about 10%. there is an education issue about understanding and really understanding these dollars make

a huge difference, and they are not a line item budget. it is a life. a 13 cent measles vaccine will save all life. even though i have very sad moments, these miracle technologies are would give me optimism and the fact that prices are so low. bill and i spent a lot of time advocating and explaining why we consider it a great investment. >> the bottom line is that foundations, no matter how large, and you are the largest can only do a small amount. compared to government, it is a drop in the bucket. >> absolutely. even though our foundation looks large to people, it is tiny compared to these problems. all foundations can do is be a catalytic wedge. we can take on some of the innovation spurring the pharmaceutical companies to come up with new vaccines and creating a public-private

partnership so that we can guarantee a certain amount of vaccine purchasing to the manufacturers other is a market and they will make them. it is that kind of seat innovation, making sure new seeds are developed for africa in farming. it's large scale government that has to scale these things up. >> you have programs that can influence them. we are out of time. thank you so much. melinda gates. [applause] >> next, remarks by the iraqi ambassador to the united states. after that, a panel on the impact of new media on the courts. then from the conservative principles conference, we will hear from congressman steve king then possible republican presidential candidates michele bachmann herman cain.

>> on "newsmakers" the president of planned parenthood federation talks about the role of planned parenthood and the budget and political debate going on in congress. "newsmakers", sunday at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern on c- span. >> i am a numbers guy. >> as an op-ed columnist for "the new york times", he expresses his opinion using charts and graphs. >> i do not decide that i am going to talk about a subject and go out and look for data. i really do search for data first. if it is something interesting and something that agrees with an opinion that i have, or if it surprises me or surprises my readers. >> "q&a" sunday night on c- span. >> now from the howard baker jr. center for public policy at the

university of tennessee a speech by the iraqi ambassador to the u.s., ambassador samir al-sumaida'ie. he has been ambassador since 2006. prior to that, he was iraq's ambassador to the un. he addresses the current situation with other muslim countries and what the future holds for the region. this is just over an hour. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] and earlier this month >> >> i welcome you to this lecture. part of an ongoing partnership between the baker center, but this lecture offers us a special

opportunity to engage in a conversation with his excellency ambassador samir al- sumaida'ie. >> well done. [laughter] >> about who is the ambassador to the republic of iraq to the united states and will talk about a very important question -- is iraq still important to the u.s.? i would like to extend a special welcome to two former united states senators, and to former united states ambassadors who have joined us for today's lecture. one of the two senators is senator howard h. baker jr. [laughter] [applause] [applause] who hails from a great state of tennessee. served in the senate till 1985,

having served both as a minority leader and a majority leader. senator baker is the person his long and distinguished public service, at the university of tennessee, seeks to honor through the work of the center that proudly bears his name. senator baker, it is a privilege and a pleasure to have you with us. the other senator is a senator nancy kassebaum-baker. [applause] i will note from the great state of kansas, who served with distinction in the united states senate from 1978-1997 and who i now claim to be at least well grounded in tennessee, even though routed in kansas. we are very glad to have you here as well. one of the two u.s. ambassadors with us today is cran montgomery. [applause] who served after numerous

years of direct service to senator baker as legislative counsel, served as the u.s. ambassador to oman from 1984- 1989. we thank you for your service. the other ambassador is ambassador howard h. baker jr. [applause] who, in addition to is a senatorial services and his service as president reagan's chief of staff was appointed by president george w. bush to serve as our ambassador to japan. he did so with distinction from 2001-2005. it was of this service of senator baker that inspired us to establish our ambassadorial lecture series at the center. two other people here today that i would like to mention and deserve a special thank you.

susan and janon sitting at the head table with senator baker. [applause] they are natives of iraq. i am pleased to say, brought them together to meet in knoxville, which led to a liasson -- marriage is another word. and they now make not spell -- make knoxville their home. they are good friends. it is through their good officers encountered we have the pleasure to welcome ambassador samir al-sumaida'ie to knoxville, to the university of tennessee. thank you for this. also on the table you see a

pamphlet with the u.s. constitution, bill of rights declaration of independence, and the the tennessee constitution. this publication has men made available for dissemination by the political science department. very generous. i have been talking with them. our plan will be to add to our collection of the constitution and bill of rights of the republic of iraq as well. we think that will be a fitting addition to what i hope might be a continuation of a collection at the baker center of these organic documents that are essential to the self governance that we so value and tried to honor here at the baker center. so with that, i turn to my special privilege and that is to introduce his excellency ambassador samir al-sumaida'ie. he serves in washington d.c.,

as ambassador of the republic of iraq. he was born in baghdad. after finishing high school in 1960 he won a scholarship to study and the united kingdom where he graduated with a degree of in electrical engineering in 1965 and added a diploma in computing in 1966. he was one of the first few computer specialist in iraq. to work with the iraqi petroleum company. before sadly for him but ultimately for the best interest long run, left the country and returned to the u.k. upon the ascent of saddam hussin. ein.

the ambassador became a active member of the opposition to the regime in power in iraq. as a successful businessman he founded a procurement agency, and embarked on a number of other ventures throughout his career. in the 1980's he established a design office and pioneered the use of computers in islamic art in saudi arabia pakistan, and the united kingdom. i encourage you to go to as website and you will see some wonderful examples of his designs, and also some wonderful examples of something i will mention of little bit later -- his poetry. during the mid-1990s, he expanded into china and opened an office in beijing. as a political activist in exile, he co-founded the

association of iraqi democrats. as a leader of these organizations, he attended practically every opposition conference throughout the world during this period of time. bill close or relationships with other leaders of the opposition who would become the principal political leaders in the new iraq. upon his return in 2003, he served as the minister of interior. he managed to domestic security forces are 1 of over 120,000 strong. he reorganized to that minister. he served as a member of the governing council. he was the chairman of the media committee. he played an integral role in the founding of the iraqi telecoms and the public broadcasting institution. he was deputy chairman of the

foreign affairs committee and a member of the security and finance committee. in july, 2004, he was appointed iraq's permanent representative to the un. assume those responsibilities well until he assumed his current position in 2006. apart from all this, the ambassador enjoys a wide variety of cultural interests, and one of those is including arabic poetry. for those of you who have more fluency in arab, i commend you to the poetry that is on his website. i am negotiating for translation so that we will have english version is available otto us. also very interested and arabic -- in arabic calligraphy. there are some wonderful examples of this on his web

site. without -- looking for to a wonderful presentation, please join me in a warm welcome to aambassador samir al- sumaida'ie. [applause] >> thank you very much. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you very much, indeed. i was sitting there listening and thinking, have i done all this? [laughter] i'd like to start by thanking the senator -- howard baker center and this beautiful city of knoxville who gave me

this opportunity to meet such a distinguished audience. let me start by saying that i recognize that the intervention by the united states in iraq was and still is controversial in this country. we will leave that controversy to historians and to examine in the decades to come. but what ever the judgment will be we cannot change the fact that the intervention has taken place, and we cannot change the fact that now the interests of the united states and the interests of my country are intertwined.

and i think they will continue to be for the foreseeable future. this year of 2001 will -- 2011 will prove to be a very important year for those who are trusteesin theinterested in the arab region and will be seen for many years to come as a turning point for the region and possibly for democracy in the world. now, why is this region important, and as in the title of this conversation, why is iraq important for the united states? well look at it from the perspective of the united states come of this region is the source of a great deal of -- whichoil, which is necessary to

keep the wheels of the american and international economy going. it is also the source of considerable concern in terms of security. the arab-israeli conflict has created considerable tension across the entire islamic world and indeed visited europe and the united states in very unpleasant ways. it is extremely important to have stability in that region which will directly impact on the internal security of the united states. so for these two important reasons the region is very

important. it is also important because it is one of the areas which are the bedrock of the history of western culture. if you trace the roots of western culture, you will find them in their region -- the roots of christianity, today as an, as well as islam are in that region. -- a lot of the things we take for granted in everyday life, started in that region. let me take my country for a start, iraq. many people say iraq is the cradle of civilization but do not really realize how much it has contributed to civilization.

the first ever state as an organized society with hierarchy with power structure with laws and regulations was in iraq. the wheel was invented in iraq. writing was invented in iraq. so the first time human beings recorded their activities, they did that in iraq. people transecting the sale of the house would write the contract down on a clay tablet and preserve it. that was done in iraq, and we had the first of all school -- first ever school with teacher- student relationship and certificates at the end of

graduation. that was in iraq. the first ever laws were written in iraq. i could go on and on. let me take one more example. i wanted also to mention depth that beer was first brewed in iraq. [laughter] for those that like that. let's take the concept of a week, a period of time. it could have been six days or 10 days. the month we understand, because it is linked to the cycle of the mona. the year is obvious, based on the solar system. the week, why 7 days? it was the sumarians who first discovered or recognized that a week is a good rhythm for people

tow work for 5 days, take care of family chores on the sixth day, and have rest on the seventh. that was long before rel modern religions, from today as some on -- from judaism on. that was the pattern of life in early iraq. we take the week for granted. the week was actually adopted by agent -- ancient iraqs. is. just to bring these home to you i mention a few of them to illustrate how much ancient iraqis contributed to more than civilization, to our lives today.

that contribution continued in the middle ages which were referred to as the dark ages in europe but they were far from being dark in the middle east. baghdad was the center of the universe at that time. i have in my home, a large map of the then known world. it was drawn up around the year 1175. unfortunately, it did not have the united states or america audit, but it showed clearly europe africa, and asia. baghdad was a dead center in that map. people nowadays send their kids to harvard and london and paris to study. in those days, the princes of

europe sent their kids to baghdad to study. this is the importance of iraq in an historical context. with and the arabic culture iraq has a pivotal place. in modern times. iraq was established after the breakup of the ottoman empire, when the british came in. they established the state of iraq. initially, they thought they could govern directly, but after the 1920 uprising, it became very clear to them that iraq had to be independent. and therefore it was set up as an independent state.

and a started actually making considerable progress in building up modern institutions, democratic institutions. there was parliament. and we were ahead of all of the countries in the region in education, arts, women's rights. the first iraqi woman graduated from law school in and 1935, when neighboring countries did not even send their daughters to school. iraq was pioneer in literature art, poetry and in medicine. the medical school in baghdad was recognized by the medical profession especially in britain, an iraqi medical doctor could go and practice in the uk

without the nats it -- the necessity for any further examination appeare. iraq i ss also the land of history because of its a very long history and has one of the greatest museums in the world. unforeseen a, it was looted after american intervention. but to give you an idea of how much is true we have we have about 70,000 registered archaeological sites across the country. we have villages in the north which still speak the language of jesus christ today as a living language. it has potential for religious tourism, which is likely to be as important if not more important than oil. all this illustrates the importance of the country in its

regional context and internationally. now we come to ask the question -- why is it important to the united states? it is important because its influence in the region is going to be very important. the arab order will be directly impacted by political and social development in baghdad, for all of the reasons i have explained. iraq also is the interface between the arab world and the non-arab component. it neighbors iran with all of that brings in terms of good and bad, and with turkey. as such, it is a pivotal country

in terms of the arab relationship with the outside world. the americans decided to intervene. i was one of the people who campaigned to and curses intervention lobbed in washington and new york with other leaders of the iraqi opposition to encourage this intervention. you say, what kind of a patriot would want a foreign power to come and attack his country? well we reached the conclusion that saddam hussein could not be dislodged by any other means. he managed successfully to obliterate all possible opposition inside the country.

witness the masquerade. we have more than 300 mass graves. hundreds of thousands of people were murdered under mere suspicion that they were thinking throughts against the regime. in 1991, when the united states and its coalition of the willing at that time drove saddam hussein out of kuwait, there was an operauprising and cursed by the americans. iraqis rose up only to be put down ruthlessly. those that manage to escape biscuit, and some of them are still in excile. weile. we exhausted all possible hope

of removing that evil regime and it became very clear that we either live with this tyrant and possibly his sons after him or seek outside help to rid our selves of this tyranny. and for reasons which are partly internal in this country partly of other dimensions, the united states decided to intervene and they did intervene. on forcibly, the intervention was not managed farewell -- unfortunately, the intervention was not managed very well. the americans and iraqis paid a very high cost. a lot of it was avoidable, had it been managed properly. but that is now largely water

under the bridge. but the new form iraq took has been impacted by certain decisions the americans took in the earliest stages of the intervention appeare. they really wanted to create -- the first wave of americans who came to iraq were largely ill- informed about the nature of the country and the nature of society. and they simply came with their own ideological baggage, thinking they could turn this country into a democracy resembling what they have at home. rather naive outlook. and therefore they pushed towards speedy decentralization.

they pushed for privatization of public-sector enterprises. before we were ready for that. in temrrms of decentralization in this country you have a tradition of decentralization. you have governments and then to the states, and at the local level. and people have learned how to do this over long period. in iraq, we did not have this capacity in the provinces. when the americans rushed to form a local provincial councils the council number really did not know what to do. they had no idea. they had no idea about how to create a budget, how to execute projects, and they spent their

time arguing amongst themselves and really going nowhere. but, you know, there has been a learning process both for our american friends and for us. democracy, as i was saying to students i talked to yesterday it is not like a tangible object you give to someone and after you give it, it is good democracy. it does not work like this. democracy is a complex system of relationships, and it is a cultural attitude. it is a mindset. democracy cannot be reduced to just the exercise of the elections, although elections are an important part of it. democracy has to involve looking after minorities looking after those who are dispossessed and

vulnerable protecting everyone's right even when you disagree with them. democracy means accommodation compromise adjustment the ability to live with someone who is radically different, very different. so and the institutions to make that possible. the legal system which makes that possible. indeed the constitution that makes that possible. it is a complex structure but it rests ultimately upon a culture, upon a mindset of the people, and the consent of the governed, and an awareness

by all that their participation matters and that their choices matter but there are lines that they must not cross in terms of stepping on other people. when all this happened, we reach a level of democracy which continues to be improved all the time. even at the end of this country after more than 200 years, you are still struggling with concepts of democracy. i noticed the day before yesterday, the supreme court made a judgment about 8-1, about the question of free speech and the tension between that and hate speech. now, it is an ongoing an ongoing process to refine,

improve, , just -- adjust to changes, because of society's evolves and change, and therefore, we are in iraq, and a very early stages of zepa. but we have put our feet firmly on the first steps of the latter, and we are going up slowly against considerable challenges, but we are moving. iraqs haveis have turned up to good in the last elections with a turnout of 62% or more. that is a keenness to participate. have we solved all our problems? no,w we have not. we defeated al qaeda in iraq. the iraqi people have

demonstrated their firm opposition to extremism, to terrorism, to al qaeda although we still suffer from them, but i don't believe they have any chance of establishing their islamic state of iraq. this will not have been in iraq. iraqis are because of their history, because of the fact they have lived for ever, for thousands of years as a pluralist society, will never be comfortable, they will never tolerate going back to a form of dictatorship such as the one which they suffered from under saddam hussein. i believe we have turned the corner in that sense.

we'll also managed to resolve and old problem which is the relationship between arabs and kurds. constituting a country on a federal basis -- the kurds in iraq have their region. they run it themselves with considerable autonomy, some might say too much. but we are proud of that. we believe that the kurds in iraq have fare far better than the kurds in our neighboring countries. we are not in the business of exporting our system, but we are happy with what we have done for our countrymen. that is an important achievement. there are conflicts between regional governments and the federal government. but at least there is a

consensus that these differences should not be resolved through violence. we will have to work through them by a dialog and by consensus. so all these things we have achieved with american help -- i must thank all american families who paid the price of losing a loved one or having one of their members injured in this struggle. we have, our people and your people, spilt blood together, and that is the strongest bond you can make between any two nations. so we have this progress. on the other side, we have real challenges. during the years of sanctions, iraqi institutions

really collapsed. corruption took root. it became endemic. many other problems that almost -- the almost total disintegration of iraqi infrastructure and the physical infrastructure was total. now we have to fight back and rebuild. rebuilding the physical infrastructure is the easy part. but fighting the culture of corruption is much more difficult. iraq has largely a young population. about 40% of the population is 14 years or younger. children. you can imagine. certainly, more than 60% of the population now were born and raised during saddam hussein or

during the period after him. they've never experience peace and normalcy. many of the young men were sent to fight against iran for years. those were not killed or maimed came back with no skill except how to fight. there were traumatized brutalized, and became really destructive members of society as opposed to constructive members appeare. that provided recruiting opportunities for extremism and fundamentalism. so we have to work on our social infrastructure to improve education, to provide working opportunities. it's not easy.

it's extremely tough. and people at the end of this room, having enjoyed an excellent life -- in this room, feel secure, surrounded by friends. it is difficult for you to imagine the mindset and the psychology of someone who is facing threats in every direction. leaving his or her house every morning not knowing whether they can return in the evening. sending children to school, not knowing if they are coming back or they would be kidnapped or hurt. this permanent state of terror is very taxing. it makes people behave not

totally normally and they become prone to extreme positions. we have to deal with all of that. one thing which is on our side is the resiliency of the iraqi people. i think they have demonstrated such resilience and as such perseverance that it makes me really proud. when i was minister of the interior i saw the most horrific examples of terrorism, but against that, i witnessed great heroism by ordinary people, by women who insist every day i'm going out and helping others. at great risk to themselves.

i lost also sadly a member of my closes =tt friends to terrorist assassinations, but one of them who lost three sons and they were all killed, told me, when i was talking to him and asking him whether he thought it is worth it. whether he thought he could still go on. he said, samir the idea of stopping never crossed my mind. so iraqis have gone throug a h a l ot. ot. and they are determined to

complete the course. the question is whether the americans will complete the course with them. i think this great country and the great people of america know instinctively what's right and what's wrong. they know that they have done a great deal to help iraq, irrespective of whether there were against the war or with the war. and they know that success is with insight and it can be achieved if they can stand by this young country. i think ultimately, although they have a lot of concerns, a lot of issues they have to deal at home, ultimately, i believe

we will continue to have the support of the united states. now it's just the final few remarks about the recent development in the middle east. the middle east is now on fire. many of the regimes which a year ago werwe secure or thought they were -- we thought they were secure. we never expected to have shaken or toppled are now blowing in the wind. leaders who thought they can prepare their countries for their sons to take over have already left with thiereir sons. has this got anything to do

with iraq? maybe iraq was an inspiration. maybe the site of millions of iraqis going to vote in elections, in which the outcome is not predetermined inspired some. but this is part of the story not the whole story. the story also has the element of young people who are well- informed who know what is going on in the world who know how the rest of the world lives and how they choose their leaders have decided they have had enough, that they will not stand for what they have and they deserve something better. they will stand up and fight for it, and they did. in tunisia, in egypt, no inw in

libya, bahrain and yemen. this is good news. the arab world has been behind the rest of the world in terms of democracy, freedom, women's rights, education, economy, growth. the system has to be unblocked. so this development agreed -- despite the fact the to outcome is not preordained and we might have some hiccups and setbacks ultimately, it is going to be opening up the region and the region will reintegrate with the rest of the world and move toward, iraq being a cornerstone of that

process. iraq despite all the things i've said, it nots not out of the woods. we still have serious challenges but i am optimistic. in the long-term very optimistic. in the short term, i have to accept their might be some serious setbacks. i believe it is in the interest of the united states to continue to stand with us. i believe that iraq really matters to the united states. if the united states, god forbid loses the war in can stand, this will not be a major, long-term strategic blow. if the united states loses its objectives in iraq, i think that

would be a fatal blow for the united states and the region and internationally. with that, i'll stop, and will be ready to answer questions. thank you very much. [applause] >> the ambassador does very much welcome questions. he had a wonderful afternoon fielding questions from students. please just wait for a microphone. there's one we will recognize here. then i will come back over. >> ambassador, i want to first thank you. i understand my own democracy better than i did before, which is humbling but very, very true. thank you. and i wonder if, as you talked about pluralism, the success with the kurds what your

thoughts are in the short-term about sunni and shia pluralistic issues. >> thank you. this question of sunni-shia tensions was on forcefully played up by the americans instead of being played down. traditionally, iraq is not like lebanon, a sectarian country or northern ireland. we grew up at school not really knowing who is sunni or shia. we have not less than 30% of the marriages in our towns and cities are mixed marriages between sunni and shia. a large number of our children

have different parents. it was part of being iraqi. americans came to iraq, part of this naive attitude i referred to and my speech, thinking that, well, iraq is made up of sunni shia and kurds. it was taken for granted that the three communities were at each other's throats. if only we could get them to be balanced, we cannot solve the problem. anyone talking in these terms was considered an expert. it was not like this. however, they stated -- instated a political system which gives this much greater prominence than it should have been given in my humble view. when people were talking in washington three years ago about a civil war, i kept saying in

many speeches, that there is no civil war in iraq. this is, however, a war on civilians by militias and extremists who have a kind of warped ideology. the iraqi p eopleeople vindicated and defeated those extremists. but sunnnii extremists represented al qaeda -- by al qaeda and shia extremists slaughtering ordinary citizens with no reason other than the fact they are sunnis. but people have turned against those extremists and really reduced their impact. now, they still can do harm, but

i do not believe they can change the political system. having said that, at least some of our neighbors have a stake in this. and can derive more power and influence if they can stoke this fire. and unfortunately, they do. thank you. yes, sir. i'm sorry. you choose the question, sir. >> thank you. [inaudible] i'm wondering about the integration for the kurdish population in the north with the rest of iraq. >> they are already integrated, sir. >> i am wondering how well you assess integration to be. >> let me tell you how well.

the biggest kurdish city in iraq is baghdad. the biggest number of kurds lives in in baghdad. the foreign minister is a kurd why president is occurrea kurd. how much more integration do you want [laughter] >> as you are aware there are refugees from iraq. [inaudible] do you see them coming back to iraq? do you think iraq will bring them back? >> this is a very important question, actually. over the past two decades not only the past two years, iraq

has been bleeding its intelligentsia the educated segment of society has been weaving in droves. college professors, administrators, and ignores -- entrepreneurs, industrialists have been leaving the country for a combination of reasons which we have been talking about. this has reduced our ability and capacity to manage this transition and move forward and rebuild the country. i always say that a whole society has left. we have two iraqs. the iraq inside the geographic boundaries, and another iraq outside it. the cox here are a fine example.

they are professional, they are productive, they are educated. they are iraqis, but they are not in iraq. iraqis are very successful people, wherever they go. we have more doctors practicing medicine and enter the united kingdom -- in the united kingdom than we have in iraq. that makes it extremely difficult. when, if ever, will enough of these people go home? only when conditions inside the country improve, when security improves to the level that they feel safe. and i believe we are getting their. when their opportunities, there are opportunities for them to make real contributions. somebody who has specialized in a very fine branch of science and who's working in an industry

to go back to iraq there is no infrastructure for that person to contribute. it is going to be not necessarily that people going back and settle and in theing the country of but it will be surgeons going back to iraq to do operations. professors going to teach for a semester every now and then. a gradual process. this is beginning to happen. industrialists, investors going back to take part in projects. i would like to take this opportunity to encourage not only iraqis, but american investors and businessmen to go to iraq and seize opportunities that are becoming now available. this year, 2011, and next year, the emphasis will shift to the

economy. and there are and will be many good opportunities for business. at the forefront we hope that our export tracatriate iraqi community will come and participate but also american european businessmen to come and do that. i see more participation by european chinese indian businesses and then americans unfortunately. we would like to see the americans in front not at the back of the line. thank you. >> i'll come back to you. >> ii was interested in your assessment of the concern expressed and many circles with the impact of iran's influence

and how it would affect maybe u.s. interests. >> you can change many things, but you cannot change geography. [laughter] we have more than 1,000 kilometers of border between iraq and iran. and severaly thousand years of history. so for better or worse, we are going to have to deal with that. we also have families who are connected. we have some of our rivers come from iran. we have a very close and almost all most integrated relationship with iran.

but we have different political systems. we continue to insist that our relationship should be built on mutual respect and the non- interference in internal affairs. . . . o the improved we don't want them to interfere. however, that is easier said than done. as you know, the best way to stop interference is not simply to admonish and to demand, but to build our own institutions and to build our own community. our own community. because we are in a vulnerable stage our transition, we are stillrone to influence and interference. the stronger our political system becomes the more routine becomes in the integration of

the government and the governors, the more immunity we will have. this myth that a rocky -- ir aqi are automatically subservient. this is not true. they have proved that to be the case. there might be some political elements who derive influence of power from iran but as soon as any of that becomes known they lose their clarity. in the long term, iraq will be ok. in the short term, [inaudible]

>> serve, right here. >> mr. ambassador, could you update us on this situation in the oil industry? have the questions regarding the ownership of oil and the disposition and distribution of oil revenues, has that been resolved? i have not seen much about that in a long time. >> thank you. that is an important question. the constitution has made it clear that ownership of all oil and gas belongs to entire nation. wherever it is found. that is already in the constitution in black-and-white. were there is a dispute -- when

there is a dispute, it is about the rights to award contracts the right to manage the export of oil. some local benefits of labor- management not when you will sold -- not when the oil has sold. to export oil, when that is done payments for that go into our central -- there is no question about that.

we have now awarded major contracts to major countries to come and rebuild the oil and the structure and increase the capacity to produce oil and export it. iraq has huge reserves of oil and gas. gas is -- we want to actually use it. to adjust to burn it is bad for the environment. we want to do is gas to generate electricity and then we will have plenty more to export. it's an oil out of the ground -- is the cheapest in the world to get out of the ground. but getting iout of the ground is the easy part. we need an infrastructure, pipelines, stations to get it exported. that old take a while.

we are well on the way in not ambitious project. major contracts have been awarded. we expect our oil production will increase. it is well above the levels of pre 2003. we are on course to increase hopefully to double our current level within two or three years. >> but we recognize the last question on the far side. -- let me recognize the last question on the far side. >> mr. ambassador, could you tell us how well prepared to the security forces are prepared to maintain law and order once the u.s. forces have departed? especially leadership of the government. >> thank you.

they have already been maintaining law and order. law-and-order inside iraq for the last year or year-and-a-half have been maintained by security forces exclusively. american forces have been almost compliant. very few operations have been coucted by the american forces. that is the import question. the real important question is counter security forces -- has not our security forces defend the country against all possible outside aggression after the americans leave? we have to look at that more closely. when the americans came, they disbanded our military. even disbanded the police.

now we are building a new military. touild a new air force, for example, that is not something you can do in a couple of years. to order fighter jets, you have to wait five, six, seven years until they are delivered. when they are delivered you need to have complete and the structure for maintaining them treading the pilots, train the maintenance people. the communications and radar systems to p them on the grounds. these are very sophisticated systems. we have to build the human infrastructure to support it. on that front, which are not there yet. we need a navy to defend our shores.

it will take a few more years. we have to enter into some kind of security arrangements to vote us protect our air space and our shores -- protect our air space and our shores. if we do not, we will be vulnerable. thank you very much. [applause] >> one order of business. [applause] just bear with me for one additional words. as i came to know the ambassador as a politician and we at the bigger center still regard that as an honorable profession, a business person, as a diplomat to, but i also came to know them

as a person with a lot of design as an artist. we also have a senator baker who is an absolutely lover of design and an artist. as a gesture of our appreciation to you ambassador, for being here i want to present to of an example of a wonderful design captured by a wonderful artist. signed by our own senator baker. [applause] >> is this a self portrait? >> the integrity of the leadership i will acknowledge there is a resemblance. this has been wonderful. susan and john, thank you very much. we also have some smaller mementos of east tennessee that we will share with you.

we at -- a wonderful gathering, thank you for being here. we're very glad you were here. thank you for c-span for making this available to a much larger audience. thank you very much. [applause] [captioning performed by nation captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

even for us old-fashioned guys, there is a lot more pressure on us. getting a seat in the court room is what happens if you're not sitting inside. that brings me to transgress. [laughter] that was a great service for a while. we used a lot. it we could not be there that day, you look at the witnesses and there are some days you know you are not going to be on the air and there is 92 be there.

there is a service were you to get the transcript everyday of any big trial in the country. it was gangbusters for about five years. that is another thing for courts to think about. we've got through this successful battle with the supreme court. we can now get the transcript of the oral arguments of the court. are you ready for this? the same day. [laughter] it used to be if we wanted the transcript the same day, we would band together and cough up enough money to pay them. it would come to us at the early hour of 6:00 p.m. the court has authorized us to get an unofficial transcript for an oral argument that ends at 11:00. we can get it by 1:00.

we can see a rough draft at 1:00. it is tremendously helpful. transgressed are extremely useful. -- transcripts are extremely useful. i watched some of these people who live-blot files. obviously there tweets become their notes. eight weeks is hardly comprehensive. >> 140 characters. >> it would be helpful for them to get transcripts easily. >> if you are looking questioning. >> i am questioning how you might do that. >> we get trial transcripts every day. corston -- >> basically the court reporter would at the end of the morning session but limit it. then everybody could get the morning session within an hour.

but then you have the real-time transcript that after name. -- that afternoon. >> new media, digital media, a social media however we want to define it is raising the bar as far as immediacy. you have greater expectations of immediacy. would you agree with that? >> one of the things that was funny was we had a practice of sending it to the lawyers first. within 10 minutes, we would post this on a website. one of the lawyers went to cnn. all of the reporters were mad at us. they had a 10 minute lead.

we told the judge that from that point forward, the lawyers got 60 seconds before we posted it to the websites and nobody got it before anybody else. >> it is an eternity now in a very competitive cable world. >> immediacy does not always equate to accuracy. would you agree with that? >> yes. i would say seldom does it equate. [laughter] it takes a little time to figure out what a court order says. if you know what is coming and you are prepared for it and you know that the judge is either going to grant it or deny it or it will be affirmed or reversed, then you are well prepared. you know what to say. the new can go back and go into detail. when you are not ready for it, it takes a while to actually think about what it says.

>> one of the things we have found very helpful in the proposition 8 case is to get lawyers events of notice. -- advanced notice. they would be prepared. when they call for a comment they will have read the entire order and will be able to say whatever is they are going to say. i think they appreciate that. it is a service to them. we have no problem with providing that until the final decision when we set the final decision out to the lawyers with the understanding that they would hold it for three or four hours. after that, it was on the air. except for that experience, i think it is a helpful practice to at least give the lawyers 8 de's advance notice. -- eight days advance notice. >> we gave 48 hours notice of

intent to file my decision. that decision was filed six weeks after the trial had concluded. we thought it was inappropriate courtesy to allow the media together to do what they need to do. we knew they would come back to the district in many cases to have access to the parties can do follow-ups. we thought it worked very well. the roads to hear -- harrisburg was clogged with caravans of semi trucks. i did not think that was an idea courtesy to extend. that was the capstone of the media experience that we have. i understand why that would not

work in every case, but it seemed to work nicely in mind. -- in mine. >> i am competing with members of the public because i have no greater access to a court room than anyone else does. sometimes people step aside for the news media. it is a bigger problem getting access to the website. when everybody knows it is 7. we knew the proposition 8 case was coming. we were refreshing the website every 30 seconds. it froze. the backup website -- you could not get it. i had to start calling the lawyers and asking them to e- mail me the decision. i finally found one to e-mail it to us. the website completely collapsed. >> it has served us so well

during the trial. at the big moment, it fell asleep and got very tired. [laughter] this is a problem because i am not only competing with my other colleagues, but everybody else in the state of california and elsewhere who is interested. there is another dimension to this access issue. what's>> evidence that was introduced during the trial was posted on the core's website. it was a live video, which is a hit used ban with the. -- bandwidth feed. it crashed. it was a lesson learned. when there is something like that and you're concerned that the website will crash mark l.

an arrangement with a powerful server -- work out an arrangement with a powerful server company that can boast that one day for you so it does not crash. -- that can host that one day for you so it does not crash. >> we heard from howard this morning. we have all this technology that now allows us to have greater immediacy. but does it serve us better sometimes to take a breath to study, to look at something? >> that is career building

advice for someone in my line of work. [laughter] it is part of a balanced diet doctor. there are days when you want to know what happened. did he strike it down or not? we will read the new york times. we will watch it discussed on "nightline." at the moment of the decision, and getting the word out quickly is very important. yes. there are aspects to the trial that take a while for people to understand the subtleties of what he said in the decision. that is very important. at the moment, the big question is who won? who lost? >> there are a lot of cows that are very complicated. -- cal's better.

complicated. all the -- counts that are very complicated. you never knew one, who lost, what the answer was. then you can spend time talking about the nuances and the various details. >> today in pennsylvania, a judicial corruption trial just concluded. it was a very difficult, sat case involving juvenile and a couple of county judges. the verdict actually came down while we were eating lunch here. i, like many consumers checked and looked at the blog and watched as the counts came down and more red. that is what people wanted to see. the will to be time for the sidebar articles that analyzed what the real result is --

guilty, 12 counts of 39 counts how did he react what were the comments by the u.s. attorney's office -- that can be less related. it has been ingrained that we want that instant gratification and we want to know as the judge is reading the verdict on the individual counts. i am do not think they are exclusive. i think they can coexist. >> i have a whole list of questions. your questions are most important. let's go to yours. over here. >> i joined the district of colorado in 1995. in 1998 we got a trial.

one thing we were concerned about was no relation -- normalizing operations. there were other trials, cases and litigants. it was imperative that we normalize that as much as possible. i am curious how the justices have an end in direct ballots on the court's activities. even for the news media who may want to cover those trials. >> the question was there is a high visibility a trial going on in dominating so much attention, how does the rest of the court function in an appropriate manner said the high-profile case is not destructive? >> let's go with that.

i in my court, it is a fairly small portcourt the members of my court understood that there would be some disruption. we work around it as best we could. we have some logistical issues in terms of space. everybody accommodated me during the time of my trial which was about six weeks in duration. we rotate core reince occasionally. i can't tell what -- we rotate courts occasionally. there was no small amount of interest by my colleagues. frequently laypersons asked "did your colleagues want to know about -- did they ask you about what you're going to do?"

that was not a topic of discussion at all. i said the judge would give me a talk about a day of court. what a ups driver. did you get the job today? -- did you get the tru -- did you dent the truck today? my colleagues understood the enormity of the task. >> we want to get your comments. >> not sure we had any problems, at least nine i was aware of that interfered with eating the other cases out. we had a large enough court room and good facilities. those problems did not come to my attention. [laughter]

>> it is like anything in life where there is initial excitement and everyone is interested. but did you get into a retain. right at the beginning -- you get into the routine. but at the beginning everything is fine. -- right at the beginning everything is fine. did the interest address off. -- then the interest drifts off. over 8000 people were credential. at the end of the trial, there were probably 30 or 40 reporters who covered it on a daily basis. everybody sat where they wanted to sit. it just becomes -- the court

house gets used to it and were surrounded. you sort of forget it is going on. life goes on. is that sort of what you help observed? -- what you have observed? [laughter] >> you talked about in a high- profile case the pressures that go along with that. the greater accessibility and attention -- how much of it is a concern for personal safety? >> this deals with all the new attention. how much of the judge's concern about personal safety and security. >> that is a problem.

it obviously depends on a lot of circumstances. i would not say that the pressure i referred to relate to personal security. those could come up in any kind of a case and occasionally do. they sometimes come up not in the context of a case at all. the kinds of pressures on was talking about -- i was talking about was what you are saying is being intensely scrutinized. you try to be as responsible as possible. since you are in essentially managing the proceedings you want to make sure they proceed in an orderly fashion, that things do not get out of hand, that you do not have chaos in the courtroom of the tide in the videos i have shown.

those are the pressures that come to bear on a judge more than anything else. >> in my case, during a trial by marshall almost insisted that if i left the courthouse during the day -- i easily eat in my chamfers -- if i went out, i would have a marshall with me. i thought it was overkill at the time. i thought he was being excessively cautious. i deeply appreciated that. almost immediately after i rendered my decision, i had death threats -- very serious multiple threats that caused me to have round-the-clock protection for several weeks after the case had concluded. you live and learn. i never thought never had a clue that anything like that would be occasioned by a

decision about evolution and the first amendment. you get surprised sometimes when you get into areas of personal safety, it is very poignant to talk about things like that. that is a very tough area for all federal judges. >> york -- i think you have a question here. >> if you had the option of televising your case, which you have opted to allow cameras in? >> excuse me, the question was if you could had, would you allow cameras in? >> i received a motion to intervene in what was then in court -- intervene in what was then courttv.

i declined. i thought i had enough to do at that point without the bolder stroke. i was not as creative as my friend judge wapner was. i want to do. i really did. it was too late to change the rule and to televise it. i am sorry it was not televised. i thought exactly as judge walker did as he mentioned in his wonderful remarks, if it was a case that should have been televised with terrific lawyering on both sides -- we decried the lack of good civics education and failure by the public to understand what goes on inside the courts and we miss these magnificent moments.

i wish it had been televised. i think retrospect is a great regret. i really wish they would have been able to see the lawyers perform in the case. they were a credit to the profession. >> your friend, senator specter was a big advocate of broadcasting trials. >> yesterday, senator grassley and center schumer introduced a bill again which they call the "sunshine in the courtroom a ct." it does not require broadcasting but would allow judges the discretion of broadcasting trials. grassroots humor that is bipartisan. a leak is the chairman of the judiciary. it also had other support. as i say the committee will try it again. >> i believe there is a question

over there. howard? >> [unintelligible] what was the rationale corraled trial devices? was the judge in the particular case -- he did not want to go there? i personally find it troubling. >> the question deals with electronic devices why they are allowed in some parts and not others. go ahead. >> it is the culture of the courts predict it is also in to visit -- it is the culture of the courts. it is also the judges. some judges find them distracted

in the courtroom. you can flip a switch, and all they said in your connecting to the internet and are broadcasting which is a violation of judicial policy. >> real time blogging is broadcasting? >> they are not in the courtroom pripet >> humane actual sales or pictures. -- you mean actual saounds or pictures. >> it interferes with real court reporting. there are internal issues as well. it is not practical even. a judge does not want to hear a cell phone go off. >> there are practical reasons. there are physical barriers as

well as culture. as well as judicial preference. >> there are four houses now that do not allow cell phones or any electronic devices inside the courthouse. they do not even store them in lockers inside the courthouse anymore. you hear stories about alcatel lawyers coming, a cab stops them all out front, they have to-it in the bushes and hope that nobody steals it. that court made that decision because of security. because of whatever the reasons are. we are a long way from national comprehensive standards that are uniform in any way. >> there is a gentleman in virginia who makes a substantial part of his income from storing cell phones. [laughter] >> are there questions from the

audience, >>? >> our court reporters or individual contractors. maybe they can get the transcript from them. >> it is a question about transmits and accosted them. -- and the cost of them. >> they are not accustomed to doing it. if you call up the reporting service -- to give you an example -- these are these boats to walk into the office of senator mary landrieu. some had been involved in a pot video. they said there were from the telephone company and we're going to shut the fall. there were indicted on federal charges. we could not get there fast enough. we wanted to know what happened. we called the reporting service. i think we got the chance get

around 10:15 that night. they are not what to crank it out the same day. it is expensive. it is generally $1 a page. the thing about this service was, you can contract with the service. there were lots of people from around the country who were also by the chance to get that day. there is strength in numbers. all people sharing $1 a page it would drop down. it was a wonderful service while it lasts. >> it does not happen just automatically. >> they did do it automatically. every day. >> it was tremendously helpful. there were several other trials that way too. >> on the question of speed being the enemy of accuracy,

speed it can be the friend of comprehensiveness in a way. there is a reporter in wichita kan. that try to pioneer [unintelligible] the was at a big trial. at the end of the day he strung together is tweets. it was four times as long as most news stories. he also said the judge was reading his tweets on the bench. [laughter] >> i will read you four tweets. first time i have seen this, a

judge stop closing arguments and set a jury of the room because of comments by prosecutors. he made improper arguments to a jury. next one. lawyers are arguing about what the prosecutor can say about dna evidence. he said, by the way that he signed his -- he find his tweets -- he strings them together and he has his story. had you take stories when you are -- take notes when you are tweeting all the time. >> judges do not have anything to say about this. that is the system. you can listen to what the

sentence was or what the witnesses said. i do not know how accurate it is because it is not checked by the court. why is that not a common enough accessible enough, reasonably priced in not system compared -- enough system compared to a rough transcript? >> why would it and electronic form of the testimony -- testimony and not suffice instead the chance get? >> i do not know of any mechanism where i can buy the tape. i have to call the reporting service and what they sell is the transcript. i do not think they want to give me the tape. >> some courts have a chance get systems, stenographer's -- that is what you're talking about.

other courts have electronic celled reporting systems. -- electronic sallet reporting systems. -- electronic sound reporting systems. >> i believe the eastern district of pennsylvania has purchased an audio tape program. the tapes are provided on line and you can download this. it will be just like another injury. i appreciate your criticisms of the systems however, i think it is a good system. you can have access to virtually everything that was said. >> there was a comment about some other courts in eastern

pennsylvania doing some taping. in defense of the pacers system, it might better be used to get it seemed quite clear to me. i want to be clear. when i started covering the courts we had to beg court reporters to fax us stuff. they were never happy to hear us calling. you sit there as the deadline time went by and wait for the fax machine to fire up to you can read the filing. i am not sorry to see the state's debt. placer is wonderful. all i am saying is it varies in terms of how fast things are posted. there are still things, for example, in some cases you cannot see everything. in some cases, you can only see the court's orders. you can see the doctor injury and the little blue dots so if

you click on that, it gives you three lines about what it says, but you cannot read the entire document. you can only read the court's orders. those are things to be worked out. pacer is a wonderful thing. i wish it was even wonderfuller. [laughter] >> let me wrap this up with one last question. i would like each of my panelists to comment on this. circling back around to where i started, the landscape is changing so rapidly that what we did yesterday may not apply to more -- tomorrow. what is the next step? what should courts the looking at and preparing for the is on the horizon?

>> it will be more people wanting to do more in a faster way. one thing more access. yes, that will be a challenge for the courts. the point i want otto leave with listen to what howard said. it was access. he does not want to be sent to the kids a table where all keep can see is the tv screen. it comes down to access. it comes down to being in the court room, getting your hands on the documents. the pressure is on the courts to accommodate more people, certainly for more high-profile trials. they had to get things out more quickly. >> i disagree. i think they like being at the

kids table because they can come and go. they can have a soda. they can have a sandwich. they can also talk to people in the room. if they have questions about what just happened there. other reporters are sharing information and having better accuracy. changes in the court are coming. i think the judicial conference's pilot made a mistake in that the way it is set up now the court has to provide the camera and the court releases the video. i do not think that is the best way to go. there should have been a pool. it should have been the media. b. media should have had the camera and did responsible for releasing it. we do not have the bandwidth. we do not have the staff to do this sort of thing. there are those who say the

media will take advantage. the first time they tamper with the jury, that will be the last time the camera will be in the courtroom. the media knows if it makes a mistake, they will lose their credentials. i am i hope that if the pilot ever gets going, one of the things we will learn is that the media should be the ones with the camera and they should be the ones to release the video. >> this is a terrific opportunity to have someone from court administration, major media, two federal judges to talk about these things. when you think about how far we have come with collaborating and hearing each other on the subject. the challenge, i think is to look at these best practices. this is a quickly evolving area of the law.

cameras are coming sooner rather than later. we have other challenges as well. it is something that we have a totally new paradigm and changing paradigms as it relates to the intersection of the media and the courts. we need to take judges to school in many cases and court in ministration to school as well. the old way does not work whatever the old way was. pressed be damned. let them figure it out. that cannot work anymore. you have a new generation of judges that get this intuitively in a way that frankly many of us had to end up self-teaching. i think it is exciting to exchange ideas and learn, not from just the good things we do,

but the dreadful mistakes we make in accommodating the media. >> we talked about how to get the news or the word help in high-profile cases. -- where the word out in high- profile cases. not everything in every case high-profile or not needs to be out in the open. in many of these high-profile cases we have juries. they are laypeople brought in to exercise a tremendously important public function. they are accustomed to what we are accustomed to in the legal community, the media where court administration. they need some assurance that their service will be respected and that they will not suffer any adverse consequences.

we need cooperation from the other side -- the media -- in providing them an appropriate environment said that when they are in a court room, they can do their jobs free of interference and free of the kinds of pressures that attend any kind of high-profile proceedings. our learning, i think, needs to go both ways. i am short we would get the same kind of cooperation from the media and those interested in court access that we are going to try to provide on our end. >> we will give you a 10 minute break. before that, we need to thank our panelists. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

>> next, from the conservative principles conference in iowa, we will hear from congressman steve king. then michelle bodman, -- michelle bachman. >> on news makers, scythia richards president of planned parenthood, talks about the role of planned parenthood and the political debate going on in congress. today at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> i am a numbers guy. >> charles blow expresses his opinions using charts and

graphs. >> i do not talk about a subject and not look at data, i do produce the data first. it is something that agrees with that opinion that i have. it is something that surprises me and i think would surprise my readers. >> "q&a" tonight at 8:00 p.m. on c-span. >> the 2012 republican presidential candidates are in iowa this weekend to speak at the conservative principles political action committee daylong conference. the group was established by iowa republican steve king to encourage constitutional conservatives to run for elected office. we will hear first from congressman steve king. we will then hear from michele bachmann.

[applause] congressman, steve king. >> thank you very much. good morning. this is a great way to start a conference. anyone who woke up half asleep is more like i did is wide awake and ready to go. i what is wide awake and ready to go. we will launch this caucus season so we can stand on these proposed and hopefully the principles we and body will be those embodied by one or more -- that we embody will be embodied by one or more of the presidential candidates. you as an activist iowans have

more to say about the agenda and the planks in the platform and who the next president of the united states will be. it is an extraordinary responsibility. it is a privilege and a blessing. you step up to it with great enthusiasm. i know the basis of knowledge many of you bring into this role. i know how seriously you take this. to start this off this morning i was just sitting in and thinking how do i best describe what is that makes america great and the constitutional conservative principles that i believe need to be embodied in the next president of the united states. i went back to 1997 when i was a freshman in the united states senate. i would read everything. it took me three years for me to

figure out i did not need to read all of that. i also thought i should read the code of iowa. i came to the education chapter in the code of iowa. i was reading through there and it said, each child in iowa shall receive a global, not- sexist, multi-cultural education. -- non-sexist multicultural education. that means all of the schools in the state would have acto teach multiculturalism. i have never been a fan of any of those things. [applause] i took out a bill draft request form to write a bill to strike all of that language out of there. i would get that drafted and get

it filed. i thought, if i just strike the language out that calls for the global non-sexist multiculturalism. but i thought people would think i did not believe in everything. i wrote a bill to replace it. strike up the language about global non-sexist multiculturalism. each child would be taught bad the united states is -- would be taught that the united states is the greatest nation in the world based on free enterprise capitalism. [applause] i remember i was green and i

leave -- and naive. i introduced the bill and you just drop it in the clerk's box and it would work its way through the system. the next morning, i went inside the house chambers and every democrat had their lights on. they wanted to talk, everyone of them. i am sitting there this innocent baby. they would get up and said, speaking introduce this bill. the audacity to say that the united states is the u.n. challenged greatest nation in the world. he wants to get rid of multiculturalism. they took turns beating on me. i am sitting there thinking, what is this hyperventilation about? aren't these things true? i will go further. i believe god guided our

founding fathers. he moved them around like men on a chess board to ship this nation. we need to defend and uphold what they did. it is not just to protect what we had. it is not just to declared that the shining city on the hill has been achieved. it has not. when and if it is, ronald reagan never said you can go home. he said we need to take ourselves to another level. we need to take this nation up to the next level of our destiny. i am hopeful that the next president of the united states, whose ideas and principles you help forge it today, will lay out an agenda and you can shape the plant and the platform for the next president of the united states, whose ticket will be punched out of i will and will be on his way to new hampshire. i hope we can link what we believe in on the whole spectrum of the seventh of ideas and but

another ticket out of new hampshire now to south carolina and launched that president to the white house so that barack obama is a one-term president. [applause] in the process i want to do this. if you are going to have a victory, you have to imagine that victory in your mind's eye. i have laid out a strategy for the repeal of obamacare. here is the balance of this strategy. we pass the repeal in the house. we need to continue to put the pressure on the senate. we need to shut off the funding to implement obamacare off $5.50 billion in automatic spending has to be shut off. we have to elect a president who will pledge to sign the repeal of obamacare. the next president of the united states will be sworn in on a

january 20, 2013 in the the west of the capital. when he or she stands there and take that oath of office, i would like to have at present is a with pen in hand. [laughter] [applause] i really like it when you get the pipeline before i get to it. i want him to say, so help me god. and before he shakes hands with chief justice roberts, i want him to sign the repeal of obamacare write there. welcome to the conference. i am looking forward to this day. i would be just as happy sitting in these seats soaking up the message coming from the candidates. the panelists we have our full spectrum conceptus. they are constitutional

conservatives, as are you. the-they are full spectrum conservatism's. -- >> hi, everyone. isn't it excitinto be here? >> there is no place like i will. we love it. it is wonderful to be here. my colleague. [applause] steve and i are actually a match, i think. in washington, d.c. we like to get in the same arena. we like to fight the same fights beginning with one of the fights that president obama

brought to us. does anyone remember the $1 trillion stimulus bill? and we were all promised tt we would never see unemployment go above 8% if we spent $1 trillion. right? so let me ask you a question. did president obama correctly diagnose the problem with job creation? did he have the correct solution with spending $1 trillion? what's his level of credibility on job creation? not so much. at's right. iowans are very intelligent people. besides being extremely good looking. and very well tempered. also another area that steve and i have teamed and worked a lot on is the issue of obama care. the government takeover of health care. let me z you. did the president correctly diagnose the problem with health care in this country? it was high cost. wasn't it? the high cost of health care.

did he correctly diagnose the solution? no. he didn't understand that free markets would help us bring the cost down. what's his credibility on obama care? not so much. that's right. oh, we're working here. ok. so now remember when the president talked about how during the obama care negotiations all of the negotiations would be like this today, what steve king is providing for you on c-span? did that hapn? what's the president's level of credibility? not so much. now, i want to remin you. that's not to mention that the president was 0-4 last year in his final 4 predictions. do you remember tt? ok. we'll let him have that. now he has us engaged in yet another third middle eastern war. so ink talk about march madness. can anyone say jimmy carter? that's kind of where we're

going. but i am here in iowa because this 2012 election is extremely important. how many of you feel the same way? oh yes. all of our chips are riding on 2012. number one, they have to clearly diagnose and understand the times that we're living in. number two they have to have solutions for the problems that america is facing. and number three and perhaps even more important is they have to have the political courage to stand up to the interests, stand up to washington, d.c., stand up to the big spenders and do what has to be done. that's what we need in our candidate for 2012. because we are a nation of risk takers. that is how the nation started. i am an iowaen.

i was born here in iowa almost 55 years ago to the week and i am a seventh generation iowaen. that's even better. my forebearers were bigall strapping. norwegians who casme from -- came from norway. they risked everything to pack up their five children and come to iowa because they heard that this was a land of milk and honey. and it's all true. isn't it? it's allrue. iowa is the land of milk and honey. look, we have one person clap for iowa being the -- i agree with you. i think you're absolutely right. thank yo and yet everything that my great great great grand parents worked for that your ancestors

worked for is at risk today. isn't it? it's at risk today. and what happens between now and november 6 of 2012 especially here in iowa will forge the difference with what happens in 2012. do you think you're up to it? i know you're up to it. i know you are. because what we are about to determine is whether or not quite frankly we will pass the american dream on to the next generation. this is faithfully happened at least for the seven generations that i know of here in iowa. but for the generations that add up to approximately 20 generations of american history, every generation has faithfully passed that torch of liberty to the next one. but we know what's at risk. and i want to share briefly with you a few statistics. let's start with the number 75. 75% as a matter of fact.

that is the amount the national debt has increased jt under the four years tha nancy pelosi held the gavel. it took us 231 years to establish something over $8 trillion in debt. it took her four years to run up $6 trillion more in deficit to get us up to $14 trillion. of course that made our chinese banker friends very happy. and you know that the chinese leader is named president hu. so now we know that hu is your daddy. so here's -- whoays iowa doesn't have a sense of humor. it's born right here. 107 trillion. that's enough to curl your hair. 107 trillion. that's the estimated number of unfunded net federal

liabilities in social security and medicare. and when today's college students retire, my son for instance who is 24 years of age, they are looking upwards of 37% of their income just going to pay that figure. let alone another 25% or so for their feral income tax let alone their state income tax let alone property tax sales tax, let alone gas tax let alone their every time you turn around tax and they will have a very different future than the ones our parents left for us. the nextumber 35%. that is now the highest corporate tax rate in the world. and it's in the united states of america. you only need to look at this number to know why we ha outsourcing of jobs. we want the united states to be the best place for job creation in the world. and we can be. cut taxes so that we can have

jobs here in the united states beginning with iowa. now, here's a very scary number for all of you. 3.8 million. what could that be? the i.r.s. can't even teleyou. this is pralkly the number of words in the tax code. happy reading. 3.8 million words. how many of you are filling out your tax forms right now? i'm a former federal tax lawyer. i've read some of these words. it's no fun. let's make it simple. what about fairer? anybody like a fair tax or a flat tax? i think it could safely be said that our current united states tax code is a weapons of mass destruction bloling let's look at the number one. that's the number of drilling permits since they came into

office. gee, maybe that has something to do be this next figure. $1.83. that is the price of gasoline the day before barack obama took office as president of the united states. is it time for a change? absolutel i'm an entrepreneur with my husband. we've created 50 jobs in the state of minnesota. we're proud of that. you cannot create jobs when you have a president that is unwilling tose american energy resources to solve our problems here in the united states. let's look at our next number. 19 of 20. hmm. what could that be? that's the number of major metropolitan markets here in the united states where home prices have fallen in just the last quarter. what do you think the one major metropolitan area is washington, d.c. where the