words, when the architects of our republic reconstitution and the declaration of independence, they were signing a promissory note to every american. it was a note that all men would be guaranteed inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. if a man does if a man does not have then come, he does not have life will continue to invest to extend broadband, to bring wireless broadband access to serve rural communities, and create new jobs across america. in closing, at at&t, martin

luther king's dream of equality will become a reality. i would like to introduce to the 82nd attorney general of the united states and the first african-american -- please welcome air colder. -- please welcome eric holder. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

>> all the more than four decades have passed since his tragic death, it is clear that his spirit lives on. it still has the power to bring ordinary people together to accomplish extraordinary things soon inspire acts of courage, compassion, and cooperation and to move people to blaze new trails to overcome longstanding obstacles and, of course, to make history. in three days, we will do just that. together, before hundreds of thousands of people here in our nation's capital, and before millions of people on television all around the world, we will gather near the place where nearly half a century ago dr. king shared his dream with all the world and

called for the best in the american people, the best in all of us and the presence of leaders who once struggled alongside dr. king and shoulder to shoulder with many others who strive undaunted to advance his cause still today. we will join with president obama to dedicate a permanent memorial to this extraordinary leader and to his enduring legacy. this moment has been a long time coming. it has been too long. it never would have been possible without the tireless efforts of many of the people in this room. some of you have been working for decades to secure appropriate recognition of dr. king. you deserve the profound appreciation of your fellow citizens for all your efforts. i personally want to thank you for everything you have done to

make the start of this commemoration possible. [applause] while we have much to celebrate this week, our time together must not simply be marked by revelry and pageantry. rather we must seize this unique and important opportunity to rededicate ourselves to dr. king's vision of racial and social equality, to revitalize his efforts to expand economic opportunity, and to reaffirm the values that we're at the heart of his sermon, the root of his actions, the core of his character, and the center of his life. tolerance, non-violence, compassion, love, and above all, just as. although we consecrate this weekend -- and, above all

justice. although we consecrate this weekend, we must rekindle within ourselves and within our fellow citizens the spirit of the man who enlightened nation to these eternal truths of humankind and the quality of all people. despite all the has been achieved in recent years, the work of strengthening our nation and impairing all of our fellow citizens -- and empowering all fellow citizens isem complete. the challenge before us and the divisions that too often separate to many of us from one another have evolved over the years. addressing them will require the same skill, the same perseverance, and the same vision as those so nobly exemplified by dr. king.

the time to act has never been more urgent. let me be clear. it is obvious. we have not yet reached the promised land that dr. king spoke of. i say this fully aware of the fact that a direct beneficiary of the civil rights movement is now in the white house and that another direct beneficiary -- [applause] and that another direct beneficiary has the honor of leading our nation's department of justice. but we are not yet where we need to be. [applause] still today, after so many decades of struggle, even in america's most vibrant and prosperous cities, it cannot be denied the their communities where learning and job opportunities remain internally

closed and where thousands of children grow at risk and in need. even knowing these stark facts, we must resist the temptation to give into cynicism and despair. today, we're called to look upon our country as dr. king did, seeing not only great challenges, but also extraordinary opportunities. it is our moral imperative to remember the greatest lesson that he left behind, that each one of us has the power and the obligation to improve the lives of others. this is, as always, a difficult task. the work of protecting our union has never been and never will be easy. and it may not always be popular. but dr. king's example and very soon a monument in his honor will stand up as an eternal testament to the fact that the

work of eternal peace and justice, one person can and will make a difference. an individual must stand and be counted. those were willing to march toward progress, to defend the principles, to reach out a hand to others, or simply take a seat in a courthouse or in a classroom, at a lunch counter, or at the front of a bus can and indeed will change the world. each of us has this ability. i firmly believe in each of us has this responsibility. we have no excuses for failing to act. all of us have been blessed with extraordinary examples set by demand will guide our steps forward. on sunday, we will have the opportunity to rededicate ourselves to this mission and a this dirty and to the work that defined and distinguished dr. king's life.

as we dedicate the tomorrow, it is fitting to remember that, as long as this republic endures, this site will remain an indelible mark of our national landscape. his statue will stand at long last inside of four other national monuments to our nation's president, its architect, it's great to emancipated, and it's great defender. five towering giants of our history whose legacy resides in the freedom of each of us -- freedoms that each of us enjoys today. on the national mall, dr. king, not a president, yet far more than an ordinary man, will be honored among men who are, in a historical sense, his peers. and his legacy, if we work to make it so, will inspire generations to come. i want to thank you for everything you have done to make

this possible, for your continued commitment to dr. king's work, and for sharing his faith that one day we will surely work and walk together into the promised land. thank you very much. [applause] >> once again, please welcome minister ernest pew. ♪ ♪ let your glory feel this place fire fill consuming

this tabernacle ♪ purified our hearts in this place to breathe new life with dennis -- life with a bus -- life within us. ♪ let your glory fill this place let your all consuming fire pyrrophytpurify breathe new life within us ♪

anybody in here need him to rein on us? atheybody need him to bree ♪ power down can you hear it? usin onga spiritr down in your ♪ let your glory fire your all consuming y purify

placeound us in this ♪ ♪ rain on us ♪ lord, rain ♪ shower down ♪ shower down spirit, lord usord, breathe on ♪ shower down ♪ shower down ♪ send your spirit, lord

♪ rain ♪ rain on us ♪ breathe on us ♪ shower down ♪ shower down ♪ shower down ♪ shower down ♪ shower down ♪ shower down to pray as a people ♪ we need you ♪ we need you to shower down ♪ restorate ♪ we need you ♪ shower down ♪ shower down ♪ send your spirit, lord

♪ let your glory fire your all consuming ♪ yes ♪ purify this placeus in ♪ life breathe new loved a refreshing heartsate our god bless you. [applause] >> once again, please welcome comedian john slocum.

>> you did not clap for me? just give me a round of applause, just a little bit. [applause] i was looking around the building and an of something. hi, how are you? i want you to raise your hand if you have in your pocket your aarp card. they are actually doing it. [applause] we want to pay tribute to the people who paved the way. this is about civil rights, pioneers past and present been civil rights leaders, just raise your hand. if you fought for so words, if you're in the building, can you raise them a little bit -- if you fought for civil rights, if you are in the building, can you raise them a little bit higher? because of this event, they have

made arrangements for you to get around. i saw something yesterday that really messed me up. i saw a woman was waiting for one of the shuttle buses. every time a bus would pass by, her loose fitted dress would fly up and people would grab her hat. i saw it happen again. the bus went by, her dress went up, and the woman did this. so now i am thinking that maybe she did not know what was going on. i said, ma'am, excuse me, you should probably watch. she said, look, young man could i am 89 years old. i an not -- i know what is going on. i know that when the bus passes by, my dress flies up. i do not care. my sunday dress is old. i just bought this hat.

[laughter] i had to let it go. the old school people in the house, make some noise. let me hear you. let me hear you strong. [applause] we need for some of the back in the day to come back today. remember back in the day no one was hungry because we fed each other? all we needed was some white bread and some bologna. who remembers a white bread and bologna? let's hear some noise. you called your flag that government cheese. amen. back in the day, we had two things, water from the faucet -- remember on a hot summer day, we went outside. there was something about that water from that water hose. what ever happened to cool it, ladies and gentlemen? kool-aid was the way -- we had a

container full of water. you put the coup late in it. then you took a -- you put the kool-aid in it. then you took a two pound bag of sugar. we need that back today. church was different back in the day. they did not have the praise and worship team before the preacher. back in the day, they had the old the deacon who stood in front of the congregation. no one knew what he was saying. but all we heard was ah, eh, ah. come on, say it with me now. ah. we knew what that meant, though. raise your hand. you remember that. the good old days, yes indeed.

we are on a mission. we will start it today. we want our kids to have names that they can spell. can i get a witness? i hear you. i sign autographs for a living. every week, i give one of these. what is your name? my name is loquita zimbabwe jackson. my friends call me pookie. i can't spell my real name. [laughter] check it out. they are naming their kids out of -- after things they cannot afford right now. escalade. courvassier. morgan. -- mortgage.

[laughter] the good part about the afternoon as that the food is coming appeared get ready to eat and eat and eat it again, pass the hot sauce. thank you for your love. [applause] >> please welcome executive vice president and executive officer of bt networks mickey belfry -- vicki l free. >> thank you so much. good afternoon, everyone print on behalf of the two networks, it is truly an honor -- on behalf of bet networks, it is truly an honor. i am the reality of bet

marketing networks. you have heard many people say a debt of gratitude to harry johnson, to the dr. martin luther king, jr. foundation, and the countless warriors who have been supporting this effort for over a decade. we join you all in expressing that debt of gratitude and we stand here today on the brink of seeing an idea come to fruition. i am actually representing a generation whose lives remain a lot easier by our forefathers and the warriors of the civil rights movement were actually here today we did not face -- here today. we did not face some of the struggles that you talk about. you give us the opportunity to walking your footsteps by opening the door to offer to

-- the door to opportunity. the call mine generation, a generation xers. we keep that responsibility alive. we're proud to sponsor this effort to help realize the first memorial of an african american on the national mall. on august 28, we are dedicating our entire day of programming to dr. king's memorial and legacy. and for those of us who are fortunate to be here this weekend, thank you very much, we know we have family and friends who would love to be here but can opt. we will be broadcasting live on sunday to allow the masses witness and participate in this momentous occasion. [applause] thank you very much.

it is not possible to represent the extreme excitement and pride that the employees at bet feel about what is taking place here this weekend. but our employees just introduced a video that represents a snapshot of the oil and triumph of the civil rights movement. there was a tremendous amount of pride and excitement and passion that went into creating this video and i am proud to share it with you today. thank you very much and please roll the video. >> from anywhere is the sense of justice everywhere. ♪

>> the land of the free and the home of the brave. >> we are willing to be beaten for democracy. >> it was like being involved in a holy crusade. it became a badge of honor. >> i said i do not have to stand there. >> we face nonviolence and passive resistance with love. >> it was a genuine revolution.

>> they came in jalopies, on trains, buses, anything they could get. >> we will be demonstrating here until freedom comes. ♪

>> and i have seen the promised land. i mean i get there with you, but i want you to note tonight that we as a people will get to the promised wheandland. -- promised land. [applause] >> please will come u.s. congresswoman dallas tx, sheila jackson lee. actress, author, philanthropist, victoria rawl. president of la raza, janet mordia. and the rev. jesse jackson. [applause]

>> who am i in this room with pioneers and laborers to speak about justice? when so many of you have had your pedigree, your dna in fused with the word justice by delivering you have done in the valleys of despair, who am i? but i come today as a beneficiary and an actor who uses the tools of a lot to be able to implement and to call on those who can render justice to do so. i call with appreciation to the organizations that toiled, the southern christian leadership conference with which i had a chance to work, the naacp, the urban league, core, and so many others that one cannot name. then i come with the idea of

justice, cesar chavez to work with martin luther king, who understood that people need to come together. who am i? yet, as a young child, knowing that the bible said justly and the bradley, having the opportunity to see a man walk taller than he was and walked alongside of a lovely woman who continues to litigate and press forward on his issues, loretta scott king, and together they brought forth yolanda, martin iii, dexter and bernice -- who am i? but justice is imbedded in our constitution. when the opening words say that we come together to formulate a more perfect union and the declaration of independence that says we are all created equal with certain inalienable rights of freedom and the pursuit of

happiness. when i sit in the judiciary committee chaired by the hon. john conyers who sat with my predecessor barbara gordon in the first early stages of the watergate proceedings when she said we the people, i wonder if we recognized that we should be fighting for justice that martin is asking is never to give up on what is justice. [applause] and so my challenge is for you to be reminded that work cannot come without action. it is for you not to give up on the tools, for you to be litigator's of life. talked about working on something we are willing to -- talk about dying

for something that you believe in, beneficiaries of martens walk and talk, you wonder whether there is work for you. let me provide you very briefly with your challenges. you must litigate equal opportunity. you must not continue to slide away from jobs without challenging whether or not you have been fairly treated. do not be afraid of the courts and the administrative procedures to insist upon a form of justice. martin king wrote in 1961 about love, law, and civil disobedience. he said that we must be determined to resist reactionaries. my friends, you are now entering a reactionary period probably worse than poster construction in the new jim crow system. i do not use race as an excuse.

but i want you to litigate justice. that is why we prepped hard to change the crack cocaine and those who wrote the legislation so that president obama for the first time in history reduced to the comparison of crack cocaine to take our brothers and sisters out of jail. you must leave no child behind because there are those bright side minority children looking to you to wonder why have i been condemned for scores when i am a talented artist or musician or writer? you must litigate leave no child behind. and as we look to all the elected officials and the say here comes one more minority official, you must understand that the tide is being turned by redistricting. you must litigate to ensure the opportunity for children that come behind us.

you must recognize that the scapegoating of public employees may not be you today, but as we are well aware, they may come for me at night, but they will come for you in the morning. then as we go to our respective communities and we shake our heads about school districts and we ask the question why are they performing poorly, you must stand up against the closing of minority school districts as martin king said, you must resist retroactivity that takes us back and reactionary actions. as martin pressed forward on civil disobedience, you do not know that he said that the end and the means must call here -- they must be coherent. for someone who wonders how i managed to speak about justice, it may be because andrew james

and hosea williams and others managed to touch me as i worked in the deep south registering poor farmers to vote. maybe it was at that time that the soldiers of dr. martin luther king, who grew on civil disobedience, it touched in me a desire to be a lawyer that would some day find the opportunity to litigate her entire life against just as. so the and aa cp legal defense -- and so the naacp legal trust fund, go out and litigate been loitering does not come from a law degree, but from your doesngness -- lawyer ing not come from a law degree, but from your willingness to litigate. i will make sure that martin's

mountaintop, his vision for his people, is never downed by reactionaries. and those who want to throw us along the highway of heap of garbage because we're people. we, too, are america. we, too, will litigate for justice that is embedded in our dna, our pedigree, our legacy. for justice's dream to spend justly and a brightly -- and uprightly. god bless you and god bless the united states of america. >[applause] >> i am honored to be among such distinguished guests, the king family. i thank all of you for your

love for children. i am off struck as a former struck as am ostricawe former foster youth of 18 years. i thought it would be appropriate to read a brief expert from the man more of the woman who raised me. it bears mentioning as i hail from the free state during the missouri compromise that black children were not allowed to be raised by any other family but black families. and there are a lot of black people in maine. believe it or not good that

said, my foster mother, born in 1902, whose sister was the first executive secretary to the united states gov., gov. deaver, give me this gift of love. at the armistice -- agatha arsis, room, i jumped into bed first. there were trinkets, be it, pill bottles, jars of cold cream, .ace hobblfounder all in the compact new england sleeping space. in the rare occasion that i was ill, there is always a jar of vicks they arrive at the ready. does anybody know what i am talking about? that cure that she would rubble on my chest with love and then give me a teaspoon of with love. i always thought it would kill

me. i never asked why. i just swallowed. i could feel it like a soft ball of fire. i had to see how deep her wounds were pinned how heavy was her burden, still facing the wall. i watched her shadowed so what fighting against the patterned wallpaper. i had to see more. i saw the agonizing steps she took with her over 30 finger and her bent over spine. not turning around to see if i was awake or asleep, she always remembered that the neck and chest were all up part of the face. add the new all and assumed that i had seen her restless body, curved and beautiful. she knew that i had seen her without her waigb.

how did she channel away the pain. after popping their role laid, she instantaneously look into the blackness of the time they cricket sang its first note. i join her in praying, not understanding why this foster mother prays for redemption or maybe i knew that she was as close to god as any human can be and threw her i could be, too. i was still trying to figure out what god was and what god meant. just lying there breathing with those plastic beads between her fingers, this was my fortress. she was my belonging, along with 500,000 other foster children needing a mentor, needing love. she was my mentor god bless the

child and god bless all of you who care for other people's children, giving them love unconditionally. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. it is a true honor for me to be here today during this historic week for our country. like millions of americans, i am filled with joy that dart took -- that dr. martin luther king, jr. is finally receiving the permanent tribute he deserves in our nation's capital. i look forward to welcoming members of my community to washington to visit our newest monument. we all know that dr. martin luther king, jr. was a man of great faith in that faith included his unshakable belief in our country. he reviewed the majestic documents of this great nation,

the declaration of independence and our constitution. he knew that the path to equality and justice lay in embracing our country's most fundamental values and principles. in his iconic "i have a dream" speech whose anniversary we commemorate this week, he spoke eloquently about the declaration of independence. part of history, in fact, was that this nation would one day live up to that creed. we hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal. i believe that he did this in part to demonstrate that those core tenets of our democracy cannot belong just to a few or just to one party or just to one group of americans. they belong to all of us.

i think there is no better time than right now to remind us all of that. he quoted from these cherished documents to reaffirm to other americans that democracy and living up to our hour -- to our ideals are not just abstract concepts, but a breathing and living reality. it is why his words also resonated so deeply with the latino community. thousands were on the mall that day, including my predecessor, who marched with dr. king. hope. child of dr. king's i know about the power of his dream. his team was -- his dream was an inclusive dream. it was universal and transcendent. and he lived his words. we are caught an inescapable

network of mutuality, tied in a single sermon of destiny. when he wrote to one of our communities great leaders, caesar traumas, during one of the fasts, in that telegram he said our separate struggles are really one. a struggle for freedom, for dignity, and humanity. dr. king's telegram was a call to action and his words are just as relevant today as we continue to fight to make the promises of democracy real for all americans. it is what -- it is why we are working so hard to make sure that all of us have a voice and that all of us exercise our right to vote. nothing is stronger than our commitment to civil rights and human dignity. nothing is stronger than our commitment to full and equal political participation. nothing is stronger than our commitment to increased

opportunity for all good nearly 50 years have passed since dr. king's legendary speech. so much has been accomplished yet it is clear that there's so much left to do. it is my hope that 50 years from now we will be able to look back on this time and that historians will say that we took advantage of this moment, that we came together, reminded of the vision and his great dream, and that we wrote a special chapter in our country's history, that we came together and stepped up to build a coalition, the bridges, the understanding that allows us not only to advance our respective communities, but to move our entire nation forward. together, we can move mountains. thank you all so very, very much. [applause]

>> let me express thank you to god for being a part of this. i wish for all the men of the fraternity to stand. give them a huge hand. [applause] a really big hand. [applause] the children of martin, please stand. the king family, please. [applause] a member of -- and the members of the king staff are here who marched on birmingham. i want you to stand. otis moss and j.t. and so on all of you on dr. king's staff,

please stand, staff members of dr. king. [applause] give them a big hand. [applause] dr. king's staff, give them a hand, will you please. [applause] give them a big hand all of them. [applause] let me ask you a series of questions, please. how many of you have a family member in jail? please stand. if you have a family member in jail, please stand. a family member in jail, please stand. be seated. those of you who are in hong foreclosure or are behind in your hand, please stand pin someone who is in home foreclosure or behind in their rent, please stand. be seated. in your house, there is a student loan debt, please stand.

we will get to it. someone in your house is in credit-card debt, please stand. how many of you need a job? please stand. [laughter] be seated. you know someone who has contemplated committing suicide, please stand. today, i consider myself blessed having just left to jail a1963 to come to the march on washington and to hear and see dr. king and will wilkens and dr. russo and whitney young and john lewis.

i prayed with them, talked with him, to walk with him in the battles, they confrontation bottles of selma and chicago and birmingham and cleveland and new york and gage park. we made our case against war in new york and united nations. many see the dream as an idle dream. why is dr. king down there talking about dreaming? unless you understand the broken promise, the dream does not

quite resonate with you after years of legal slavery, african americans were in the slave trade industry. congress made a promise that was passed by one vote, the 13th amendment. the court made a promise in brown v board of education. the promise had not been honored. the check has bounced. mark insufficient funds. [applause] give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, of those

who reach the port in jamestown, va., it is 165 miles from where the slave trade was initiated in this country. dreaming of equal protection under the law, dreaming of ending skin idolatry, dreaming for a day public accommodations bill, dreaming for the right to vote, dreaming of open housing, dreaming of it will have quality public education, dreaming of a poor people's campaign, dreaming of ending immoral unnecessary wars. so the march on washington was an act of defiance.

engaging in civil disobedience, and we wind up party and not what about the poor. -- and we wipe out poverty and poor.ipe out the cor we speak of this idea of hope. faith is a substance of things hoped for. i see ministry churches and names on their finance, faith baptist church, hope church of god, substance church of substance hope, of substance institutions. we hope we hit the lotto, but we will not talk about that type of

hope. hope for things unseen. today, we hope for a national jobs summit. we hope to bailout homeowners and not just the bank system. we hope to have the glass- steagall act. we hope that drones can drop bombs in pakistan can drop food in somalia. we hope for a fairer tax code where the will of his pay their fair share we hope for the

repeal of the bush tax cut extension. we hope for change and we fight for that change today. we hope for fair trade policies. lastly, we are in a pain because way have a captain -- those who rights want tos' overthrow the captain and threaten those on the deck of the ship. but we are all in the same boat. they will not allow the top of the ship. we must stop them in 2011 and 2012 could the tea party is not new. it is just a new name but an old game. their interest is not a negotiation. their aim is to and the reign of

democracy. too much wealth in the hands of too few people, too many wars, and too much violence and too much pain and too little will to fight back. this is the time to act when the state's rights voices are trying to take the voter rights back. many are facing voter rights suppression. as we meet today, workers want collective bargaining under -- workers have collective bargaining under attack. it is time to leave the fighting to make the dream alive, to make the dream real. today, we pray for our capt. of this ship of state. to stop the mutiny, we must fight back. we have come back. we're in the whole of that ship.

that is a painful reality today. number one in short life expectancy. number one in unemployment. while we have a captain of the ship who is african-american, the president of our choice. we need a ladder those who put us in the hull -- we must march out. do not let them break your spirit. i know is hard and difficult. do not let them break your spirit. that is what marching is about. we march because we are not afraid. we fight back because it is time to come back to washington. we fight back in dr. king's name. we fight for jobs. the lord is our life in our

salvation. it is healing time. it is hope time. we leave here to go back. to maintain gains, to maintain our present, to make the case of my people. god will hear our prayer and heal our land and we will all keep hope alive. march on. god bless you. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the one and only chairman emeritus naacp julian bond. [applause]

>> thank you a great deal. it is not right that i should be asked to follow rev. jesse jackson. and you know it is not right. [laughter] i want to thank back some of you to august 20, 1963. i was one of 260,000 people from around the country who gathered at the mall here in washington to hear this amazing array of speakers and a witness with what -- witness what we did not know at the time to be the biggest civil rights demonstration to be held in american history. the civil-rights organizations that sponsored the march each had a press spokesman who spoke for the organization and who worked in the march.

bill this organization then and now was the naacp. and the spokesman for the naacp was a distinguished man named henry lee moon. i was the youngest person of the spokesperson group. representing the youngest organization, the students' non- violence coronation committee. my job was to give coca-cola's to the movie stars. one thing i will remember was giving a coca-cola to sammy davis, jr. and him saying to me, "thank you, kid. the king family lived three doors apart in atlanta. their children and my children, the king children and my children, they played together and went to school together. i saw martin luther king in the

grocery store, in the drug store, and the bank. to me, he seemed to be a familiar figure. it had not yet reached the heights of fame he was destined to reach. you could almost say doomed to reach. his assassination sadly propel them into the atmosphere of distinguished people that we are so, sore, so sorry to have lost. but he was a famous person, but an ordinary person and a person who was easy to approach. one man who was put to follow me in this program, amos brown, i was looking up to be a student of martin luther king's. another are lots of people in this room and lots of people in this world who will say that i was a student of dr. king. but amos brown, julian bond, and six other people are the only people in the world who can honestly say that we were

students of martin luther king. martin luther king only taught one time, only top one class, with only eight people in the class. i am one of the eight. if you hear somebody else say that, they are telling a big lie. [laughter] i wish i could tell you that i had the wit to take it to a reporter to class or that i had taken extensive notes in class and kept them until today. but i did not do that. in fact, in fact, i remember also almost nothing that happened in that class. but i do remember one day, he said, julian, i hope you do well.

unemployment is high. i feel awful. i have a nightmare. no doctor, i said, turn that around. try it, i have a dream. [laughter] yoon know i made that up because nobody had to write dr. king's speeches for him or tell him what to say. he had a marvelous personality and a marvelous gift. he is one of the few people who could talk to black and white people in the common language of christianity and have each of them understand what he was talking about. we miss him so much. this monument we're going to dedicate on sunday is a fitting testimonial to him. but a more fitting testimonial would be if we decided that we would carry on this work and make the dream come true. thank you.

>> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome bill ghraib. -- bill gray. >> everything that has been said ought to be said. except for those of you who may say anything bad about me. i want you to remember that the person who wrote my recommendation to become a rockefeller fellow at a theological seminary was dr. martin luther king jr., and the person who came to new jersey to install me in my first pastor had was martin luther king jr. i want us to really reflect on one historical point. there were three revolutions in

america, the war of independence, or the american revolution of the 18th century, the civil war of the 19th century, and the civil rights movement of the 20th century. all three were watersheds in american history that changed fundamentally the direction of this nation. america has honored the leaders of the war of independence with the washington monument and the jefferson memorial. we of honor the leaders of the civil war and with the lincoln memorial, and now this week, located between all three, we gathered to honor the leader of the third revolution, the civil rights movement that changed america.

and when we go on sunday to that great moment, i hope all of us will remember that the martin luther king memorial represents truly the beginning of the fulfillment of american democracy and equality as a result of the civil rights movement. in fact, in my mind, that revolution was greater than the first or the second, but it was the culmination the to find who we are as a nation and the direction that we decided on. i am honored and delighted to be a part of those who lived on the apartheid side of america as well as the struggle for freedom in america. i, like all of you, will be delighted to stand there on sunday and rejoice, and say

thanks ian to god for this moment in our lives -- thanks be unto god for this moment in our lives. [applause] >> please welcome the rev. amos brown. [applause] >> the afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. ali members of the human family -- all you members of the human family and individuals gathered

today who punctuated your day i come into this historic and memorable proceeding in which we gather around these tables to honor civil rights heroes and sheroes of yesterday, today, and hopefully those of the future. i am amos brown. senior pastor of the baptist church of san francisco, and as i stand before you, i say to you in the words of our former president william jefferson clinton, that you may rest assured that if you ever see a

turtle up on the stump, you better know that he or she did not get up there by himself or herself. i am here today because of the love and support of my wife, jane brown, members of third baptist church who are here in the audience, and my fraternity brothers. brother eric johnson has -- brother harry johnson has been the moving spirit behind this occasion. i am here today because there are many persons who labored with me in this movement that we celebrate today for human dignity, decency, freedom and peace. but more importantly, i stand before you today because as

schoolmate julian bond referenced, dr. king taught only one class in his lifetime. that was the morehouse college 1961- the semester's of 1962. we sat in a seminar in social philosophy, and i am delighted to say to you that dr. king and rose to that great position of teaching because he had a great mentor in the personhood of benjamin elijah mays, howard washington thurman, and he has passed on to julien, others and yours truly, the great pearls of

wisdom that we received from him sitting at his feet at morehouse college. i want to frame my comments by saying, after all is said and done about dr. king, we must never forget that he was a black baptist preacher. [applause] i know many have not understood that, but may i remind you that he was also influenced by another baptist preacher whose legacy impacts our opportunity today. the story is told that in 1926 when howard university decided that it was being inclusive and

offered the opportunity for an african american to be president of the prestigious institution that we know it to be today, when they were thinking of who should be that person, there was many who had earned degrees and had the right to be president, but the board of trustees decided that there was a black baptist preacher that we have not said enough about. his name was mordecai johnson, pastor of the first baptist church of charleston west virginia. when dr. johnson arrived in washington, he did not seek to

find where the next cocktail party would be. he did not seek to find where the next social appointment would be. he sought out justice louis brandeis. and in the course of a conversation he said to him, justice brandeis, if you were to build a first-class law school, what the advice would you give to the builder? justice brandeis told him, on the condition that he would not tell anyone what he said until he was dead, he said, dr. johnson, if i were to build a first-class law school and take this school from being a night school to a first-class school, i would build a law school to teach young lawyers how to become a -- i would not teach young lawyers have to become corporate lawyers just to put money in their pockets.

i would not build a law school to teach young lawyers how to be criminal lawyers, also to make money only for themselves. he said, i would build a school that would teach young black minds how to master constitutional law. from that conversation, dr. johnson went, and knocked on the door of one charles hamilton houston, told him to get to work and to build that law school. it was the providence of god that in his first class, there was a black boy named thurgood marshall from maryland who had applied to the university of maryland law school, out of the hills of richmond, va., robert carter from new jersey, jim

neighbors, the sage law mind. when they came together, they went before that high court, argued and interpreted the constitution better than thomas jefferson and got the unanimous decision outlawing segregation in public education on the grounds of equal protection under the law. [applause] i tell you, a preacher did it. a baptist preacher laid the groundwork. do not ever forget that martin luther king was a baptist preacher inspired by mordecai johnson. women got equal rights under the

law. gays are crying for their day of equal protection under the law. handicapped people have a better day under equal protection under the law. everybody owes something to the black baptist preacher martin luther king and mordecai johnson. [applause] and, in a class, dr. king told us not to become priestley preachers, concerning the status quo. he said be a profit and speak -- prophet and speak truth to power. i never shall forget his words. i'm going to speak some truth

before i take my seat. i know barack obama is in the white house, but i have some news for you. i learned as a long time ago -- i learned a long time ago that my dad had diabetes and hypertension. his older brother had a stroke. the brother next to him had a stroke. one year ago, i had a stroke. but thank god, gods there by mind and my mouth that i could come here to bj god scared my mind and my mouth -- digod spard my mouth and my mind that i could come here and speak to you

today. but strokes are in my dna. racism is still in the dna of america. we need as therapeutic peace to get this out of our minds, out of our souls, and out of our bodies. and i hope that we can make this monument more than stone, but bring meaning and hear the message of martin luther king jr.. he sat at the feet of other teachers and he learned something about personism. what does that idea mean? everybody is a person. everybody deserves respect and dignity and should be treated as such. i say to you, we need some therapy in this land until we get is a coming get out of our

system -- get busy, get out of our system, phobia, something martin luther king would stand up for if he were alive today. he knew that gays were god's children also. the logistical brain, the organizer behind the march on washington in 1963, god knows we must not become that which we hate. if we do not want other folks marginalize us, we should not marginalize gays, women, and people who are different, but stand up for justice. stand up for truth. stand up for consistency.

stand up and do what the teacher would have us do until the day will come when all of god's children will be able to say i am black and i am proud. i am brown and i am sound. i am yellow and in mellow. i am read but i ain't dead. i am gay but i am godly. i am street but in sensible. i am white and i am all right. that was the message of martin luther king jr., my master teacher. [applause] >> wasn't that powerful? give him another round of

applause. ladies and gentlemen, according to the contract, we needed to be out of this room by 2:25. every speaker has complied by the time rolls. did the audience has been great. give yourself a round of applause for being on time. before we close out with the benediction along with an accompaniment of music, let me on behalf of the martin luther king memorial foundation say thank you to all of the program participants today. today begins four days of celebration as we celebrate the formal dedication of the martin luther king memorial on the mall. we want to again express our thanks to all of the corporate

sponsors and supporters, the individuals, the foundations, everyone who has given money, time, any sense of support to this project. when it was envisioned, there were many doubters. there were many who said it could not be done. this is a tribute to many, many people. again, a warm thanks to alpha phi alpha fraternity and warm thanks to harry johnson's and credible leadership. let's give them all a big round of applause again. [applause] i want to just say as the contemporary leader of one of the six organizations that helped to organize the march on washington, two things. one is the continuing debt of gratitude we also to the men and women who organized the 1963 effort, but also that 1963 and

the march on washington was just one part of a broad movement for social and economic justice which endured for many years in this nation. all of us on this day have to continue to remind ourselves that our accomplishments, the doors we have walked through, the things we have been able to do could not have been possible without the sacrifice of others at generation ago. it is touching to see rev. jesse jackson and julian bond, amos brown, andrew young, and many others, joseph lowery, many others who truly, truly were alongside, within, and an integral part of the effort in the 1960's. those of us who believe today -- lead today civil rights organizations know that while leadership has expanded and changed, while we do have an

african-american in the white house, we do have an african- american at the department of justice, black people in congress, city hall, a county governments, state legislatures, that our continuing role is to be the conscience of this nation, to challenge this nation to continue to work to achieve dr. king's dream. it is important, and i say all the time, those who say nothing has changed since the 1960's are absolutely wrong. those who say that america has arrived and equal opportunity is abundant and flowing are equally wrong. we must give credence and credit to the distance we have come while seeing today, 2011, at the dedication of this wonderful memorial, a time for each and every one of us to reaffirm our commitment to social and economic justice, the important

work of this nation in the 21st century. do boys said the 21st century would be -- dubois said the 21st century would be about the color line. i believe it will be about the economic line combined with the color line. we have important work to do. thank you for being here. please congratulate yourselves one more time for traveling from afar, being part of something great, and committing your life to social and economic justice. give yourselves a round of applause. ladies and gentlemen, reverent otis -- rev. otis moss, accompanied by an outstanding user group. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome naturally 7.

♪ >> it is our honor to be here at such an auspicious occasion. we feel right at home and we would like to bless this house. ♪ bless this house, o lord we pray. make it safe by night and day. bless these walls so firm and

found. bless the room and chimney. let thy peace lie overall. ♪ bless this room that it may be ever open to joy and love.

[applause] >> now we would like to mix the old with the new. how many people here like motown? i knew you would. i knew you would. we do a style, we call it old play. my brother is going to start a little something that goes a little something like this. [beat box] this is a little bit of news school. he is on the base. one, two, three ♪

i got a message for you and you know that is true. ready or not, here i go. if you hear the thunder rolled and if you try to hide i ain't on your side. you better be wise. ♪ i am coming, ready or not. i have been jealous a long time

since i have been waiting for you, you, you. every time was the wrong time, and now it is my time to move. ♪ you had better be wise because i am coming. what you going to do tonight if i come through tonight? i am coming ready or not. ready or not. ♪ i don't care what they say i don't care what they do. ready or not. for me and youen know that's true.

every time that i call you've got a message for me. ready or not, here i come. if you are trying to hide, you ain't got no pride. you bet to be wise because i am coming. what you find to do it tonight if i come through tonight? i am coming ready or not. ready or not. ♪ pretty are not, here i come. you cannot hide, gonna find you. ready or not, here i come. you cannot hide, then a fine view. ready or not, and if you hear the thunder rolled that is my

bass drum. you better be wise because i am coming. what you gonna do to night if i come through to night? i am kamen ready or not. ready or not. hey, hey, hey. ♪ i am come in, ready or not. what you gonna do it if i come through? i am coming, ready or not. ready or not. [beat box] >> give it up one more time for my eight younger brother on the

drums. -- for my younger brother on the drums. we had no use for a bass guitar. give it up. on the trombone.

what you gonna do tonight if i come through tonight? i am coming, ready or not. ready or not. clap your hands just a little bit louder. clap your hands. clap your hands just a little bit louder. clap your hands. clap your hands just a little bit louder. clap your hands. clap your hands just a little bit louder. tap your hands. one, two, hey, hey, hey. what you gonna do tonight if i come through to night? i am coming, ready or not. ready or not.

♪ [applause] >> thank you so much. god bless. >> please welcome rev. otis moss for our benediction. >> once again, please welcome the rev. otis moss. [applause]

>> those who are able, let us please stand and join hands. as brothers and sisters, and keepers of the dream. if you have the strength, hold hands with the person next to you, recognizing that weather friend, relative, has been -- husband, wife, child, or member of your organization, you may never have the opportunity to

hold this hand again in this world. we regret that sister dorothy cotton could not be with us today. her job with the southern christian leadership conference was a revolutionary task, a leading the citizenship education program. may we left up in prayer -- lift up in prayer the reverend fred shuttle's worth, whose body is now a frail, but whose legacy and laborers are immortal.

many of our heads. -- may 8th we blough our heads. -- may we bow our heads. and i looked on the hill, and i saw men, women and children standing with their hands united, and each one looked into the eyes of the other, and nobody was afraid, and i asked the angel, what is this? and the angel said, this is the kingdom of god. and i asked the angel, where is this? and the angel said, in your own heart. and i asked the angel, when is this? and the angel said, when we all

learn how to love one another as god loves us. teach us, o god, to love one another, and send us away from these sacred and fleeting days of celebration to the heart and in -- hard and unnecessary days of labor -- and necessary days of labor, the task, 12, of voter registration -- task, toil, the

registration. as we hear all of the marvelous quotations, send us away from here in a mind to be of transformation, social transformation. keep us forever in the path we pray. this is our prayer, in the name of our lord, amen. [applause] ♪ [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

>> live from the washington convention center, the martin

luther king memorial luncheon wrapping up here. if you missed any of it, we will read-air it this evening starting at -- re-eric to this evening starting at 8:00 p.m.. -- re-air it starting at 8:00 p.m.. live tomorrow, we will cover the tribute to women of the civil rights. the unveiling of the sculpture is scheduled for sunday. we're planning live coverage on c-span. if you are not aware, washington, d.c., and most of the east coast is under the threat of hurricane irene. there is a chance that it could disrupt the ceremony. there is a meeting under way to discuss contingency plans. president obama will speak along

with jesse jackson, al sharpton, can salazar and music by aretha franklin. again, we plan to have that here when it starts at 11:00 a.m. eastern on sunday. ♪

>> up next, a pentagon update on the current operations in afghanistan. we will hear from the eastern afghanistan regional commander. he reported for about 30 minutes. also, at 4:30 p.m., a un security council briefing on developments in libya. we will have live coverage of that on c-span. >> good morning here. good evening in afghanistan. i would like to welcome army major general daniel allen. he is the commanding general for regional command east. he assumed authority in may of

this year in full partnership with the afghan national security forces. he commands a combined team of polish, u.s. and french task forces. it includes 14 provinces of 7.5 million afghans. this is his first briefing with us in this format. he joins us from his headquarters. he will take questions after opening comments. with that, general, i will turn it over to you. >> i appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today. on behalf of all the courageous crew mates of combined task

force one, it is an honor to represent the east today. our main effort is to partner with and develop the afghan security forces to achieve security primacy and set conditions for security, governance and economic development for the benefit of approximately 7.5 million afghans in the 14 provinces and 160 districts that comprise regional command east. we of built upon the successes of combined joint task force won a one and sustained the continuity and momentum of this campaign. we want to expand the kabul security zone and end in surgeon sees along the border -- and insurgent operations along the border. there have been courageous actions by our troopers and task forces. we're making substantive progress in building the

capability and expanding the securities down. the afghan government continues to grow in capability and confidence, allowing us to build upon security conditions and deliver essential services for the people of afghanistan. tactically, along with our security force partners, we have kept the pressure on the network, cleared several support zones, and in the process, strengthen the leadership and capability of our afghan partners. a side effect of this pressure on the insurgent networks is the ruthless, desperate and inexplicable actions of insurgents against the people of afghanistan. their blatant disregard for the afghan people manifest itself in suicide attacks that predominantly target innocent civilians and brutalize populations. over the past 90 days, 85%-90%

of afghan civilian casualties are caused by civilian violence. as a result, more and more communities are becoming inhospitable. we see increased cooperation between the afghan people, the local government and the forces that serve them. as an example, the afghan national police lead the combined effort during early august and delivered 160 tons of humanitarian assistance to the citizens. unlike bonds before, this operation was conducted with limited coalition force assistance. it was an extremely complex operation led throughout by capable afghan security forces with complete freedom of movement and with minimal insurgent capacity to deter success. during the first round of transition, we had two

provinces and one capital district begin the transition process. in each area, progress and development continues. transition areas continue the process toward full afghan privacy, security, governance and development. we will continue to support our partners and insure they reach stability. while much work remains to be done, we are witness to the afghan security force and government institutions strengthening in capacity and effectiveness. we will continue to press forward with our afghan partners to achieve a stable and secure future for the people of afghanistan. with that, i am happy to take any of your questions. >> with the progress that has been made in the south over the past year or so, and with the beginning of the withdrawal of forces this year, has there been

or will there be a transfer of either troops or other military resources to your region in the coming weeks and months? >> thank you for that question. obviously, that is an area being reviewed right now by the generals. while our campaign plan right now calls for us to accomplish our mission with the resources that we have, we are clearly identifying both opportunities and risks with future decisions they will make. >> just a quick follow-up, general. in your estimation, do you need additional resources in order to carry out a full-blown counter- surgeons the campaign in your region? -- counterinsurgency campaign in your region?

>> i have the resources i need for the mission. if there is a desire to accelerate progress, that creates conditions which might cause me to adjust that estimate, but as it stands right now, with the mission i have been given, i have the resources i need to accomplish our campaign plan. >> your predecessor described the mission as closing down the infiltration rattles from pakistan into afghanistan and securing the main road. you described yours as partnering to expand the kabul securities down along the border. can you talk about the degree to which this is a change from the security plans of your predecessor? >> it is really not a change. in fact, we had a very clean

handoff and we have great continuity between our two plans. frankly, he was partnered with the afghan security forces while he worked to interdict the border with pakistan. we remain consistent with that mission. concurrent with that and as an integral component of that, we are expanding kabul security zone. i hope that answers your question. >> i want to ask you about the valley. it has been in the news here recently due to the terrible crash of the helicopter. i was hoping you could elaborate on the decision to withdraw u.s. forces from their earlier this year and why the afghan forces were not able to secure that area or at least take control, and whether you are reconsidering going back in or not.

>> obviously, we conducted a very extensive operation in their immediately following the crash of the aircraft and recovered all of our personnel and equipment and operated for the better part of a week, in addition to targeting several networks that i know that general allan has talked about. we had freedom of movement in that area, as we do across all regional command keys. we work with our afghan security partners to determine where our forces need to be arrayed to attack any enemy safe havens that exist. >> could you elaborate on why u.s. forces withdrew their presence to begin with and why were the afghans not able to move in? >> the decision to reposition

from the center of the valley really amounted to where you could best achieve the effect that needed to be achieved. the decision was made several months prior to deny any access from that bally to proclamation senses -- and any access from that the valley to approximations -- enemy access from that valley to proximation centers. >> has there been any luck in catching and/or killing the original insurgents that were

part of the operation? >> i believe that effort is continuing as we continue to pursue all of the enemies of afghanistan. we worked, as you know, with all of our partners here in special operations forces and our afghan security force partners to pursue relentlessly all the enemies of stability here in afghanistan. >> can you give us a sense of how strong the safe havens are across the border.

>> my mission is on this side of the border. i am very focused on eliminating the residual safe havens that exist in afghanistan. that takes the full effort of my leaders and units that are partnered with afghan security forces. that is really the focus of my effort. >> back in july, there was a drawdown of several thousand troops from your area. can you describe how that has impacted your operation? >> we adjust as the situation on

the ground enables us to. that adjustment took into account the areas that we had achieved good stability in, and were able to accomplish the mission with a smaller footprint and a similar process will go into any future decisions. >> what is the state of your cooperation with the pakistan military when you are pursuing insurgents crossing the pakistan border? there was an incident shortly after osama bin ladin were there seem to be a lack of communication with the pakastani military. how would you characterize your cooperation? >> first of all, it is a work in progress.

we worked to improve both communication and coordination every day. the good news is, we have a liaison with headquarters. we have a liaison from the pakastani military in our communications center. the of communication en with our units along the border with their units along the border. does this last week, we completed a communications exercise that was scenario- driven. it was a very effective exercise in sharing, should we need responsive communications links, we are concerned that all of those are in place. as we continue to work forward, we hope to regain some of the momentum the general campbell

was able to build up during the time frame prior to the osama bin ladin raid. >> i have two questions. where are the taliban getting ?ophisticated weapons from d mean what comfort can you give to international workers going to work in afghanistan? many feel they have no safety there. >> if i could get you to clarify the second half of that question. i think he was talking about security for international

workers, but can you clarify? >> correct. he is looking for your opinion of the level of confidence those people have when they're coming into the region. in terms of the employment of sophisticated weapons, we have not seen that to any great extent. obviously, we watch that very carefully. obviously, we recognize there is ammonium nitrate being smuggled across the border from pakistan , and in fact, that afghan uniformed police conducted two independent operations responding to intelligence from their own resources and captured two different shipments, totaling over five deaths and 750 kilograms of ammonium nitrate -- over 5,750 kilograms

of ammonium nitrate. in terms of destability environment for the international workers, obviously, it just as we are focused on providing security for the afghan people, we are focused on expanding the stable environment for the international workers as well as the afghan people to go about their business and achieve a state of normalcy. that is improving. albeit not as fast as we would prefer, but we are pressing forward every day to increase stability across the region. >> this is tony from bloomberg news.

the chinnok downing put a face on the region. can you project over the next few months whether special operations raids against taliban leaders will increase or stay about the same as they are now? >> well, obviously, our counter- terrorism and special operations are an integral component to comprehensive counter insurgency. the pace and tempo that our special operations forces execute on a nightly basis has stayed very steady throughout the time that i have been here in the past 100 days or so. i fully expect that that tempo and pace will continue. >> there was a lot of

speculation about the role of the ch47 after it crashed. can you give a sense of whether operations have diminished or if they are in integral part of a special operation missions? >> we conducted ch47 operations every day and every night here in afghanistan. they have been an integral component of our arsenal and they will remain so. >> i wanted to ask for your assessment of the afghan mood in the east. are they confident that the afghan security forces will be able to gradually fill the void as u.s. troops pull out? how do they feel about afghan government institutions?

i want to get your sense of the mood among the people. >> yeah, i would say, in general, they have great expectations and there is some anxiety about the departure of coalition forces because they have obviously enhanced security and many of the neighborhoods. i will use the example of the recent operations. there have been many reports about the insurgent intimidation in those areas due to the white coalition presence. i can tell you in response to the delivery of humanitarian aid that was delivered exclusively by afghan security forces, the people truly gained confidence and trust, not only in those security forces, but the fact that the government reached out and delivered that aid to them.

there was also a natural disaster that occurred where a flash flood took out a bridge on the only route that connected to the communities with the provincial capital. of the provincial governments responded -- the provincial government responded within hours to coordinate in emergency response that not only delivered emergency aid to the people in the valley but also enabled an international response and a coalition forced response with bridging assets to restore the capability in a matter of days. that was a clear sign to the people of the river valley, of

the capability of their government to respond to their needs. it is a work in progress. obviously, we have much work still to be done to bring stability and capacity to what it needs to be, but the leadership of the afghan security forces and their government is working very hard to achieve that level of support. >> do you see any willingness on the part of the top taliban leaders? on an operational level, do you see a change in the planning of the taliban? >> i think you asked about the ongoing reconciliation efforts

between the government of afghanistan and the taliban. to be honest, i do not have -- i have no interaction with the process so i cannot speak to that. what i can speak to our their reintegration efforts that the provincial governments to work with the committees that had been set out in support of the reintegration program. we see significant progress being made in several areas where the insurgents, both taliban and others, are growing weary of the violence. the people of afghanistan are demonstrating their weariness 48. i think you understand there is both a formal and informal process. what we hear from the governors in the province is there are a significant number of informal offers being made by taliban

leaders across regional command east that they are in dialogue with, and obviously, they ask us to keep the pressure on the insurgent groups so they can continue to make progress in that dialogue. i hope that answers your question. >> i wanted to go back to the chinook crash. the target of the original operation -- is it fair to say that there is an active search for him and the other members of the group? i know everything is under investigation, but what is your understanding of how he slipped away? they found and killed the guys that shot down the helicopter, but how did the original target himself slip away from the scene? >> well, obviously, there is a

number of neighborhoods in the area that was originally the subject of the target. frankly, with the aircraft crash occurred, the assault force responded to the crash scene. so the initial isolation that had been done may have given an opportunity. quite frankly, i am not intimately involved in the process now. i think there are other folks that you could ask specific questions. >> is this still an active search to find that target? >> i would not want to speculate about what my teammates are

working on right now. i suspect he was a significant interest, and that would remain. >> can you describe the tactics that the insurgents have been using along the border region? are they working in larger groups? there have been reports of several hundred insurgents crossing into the area from afghanistan. is this something that you are seeing, larger groups on the border area? >> no, lou, we are not seeing larger groups. we are seeing them being forced to infiltrate in much smaller groups because of the efforts of afghan security forces and coalition forces to deny infiltration. in terms of other tactics being

employed, the most significant is in direct fire attacks. normally in conjunction with their infiltration efforts. >> we have time for one more question. >> i have a simple question. how much confidence do you think the people of afghanistan today have in their government because of violence and corruption in the country? >> obviously, we are focused on building the capacity at the provincial and a sub-national government level and insuring that they can be confident of that government to be able to deliver capability to them. 9 of our 14 governors are assessed as either stronger or

very strong. that is a very good progress report. as we identify evidence of corruption, we in sure that we shine a spotlight on that for the leadership of afghanistan to deal with. we have seen them to be very responsive to countering that corruption. >> with that, we are going to turn it over to you to any closing remarks that he would like to make. >> thanks, jim, and thanks to everybody enabling us to connect to everybody today from bagram airfield. we are proud of the courageous efforts of our troopers here on the ground, the units that are here serving their nation, on behalf of the people of afghanistan, and we send our special blessings and prayers to

the families of the fallen as well as the families at home that are supporting us to do this work for the nation. we wish all of you a great day, and god bless everyone back home. >> thank you, general. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> said the united nations security council has scheduled a meeting later this afternoon to discuss the situation in libya around 4:30 eastern. we will have it here for you on c-span. at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on c- span, we will show you today's martin luther king memorial foundation honoring civil rights

pioneers. on c-span2, book fair festivals, including las vegas, chicago, and a los angeles times festival. on c-span3, a look at state pensions and retiree health benefits. that is tonight on the c-span networks. >> what caused the demise of great american newspapers? in managing editor takes you behind the scenes of decisions made in boardrooms and newsrooms across the country in one of the books we are featuring this weekend on c-span2. including christine o'donnell for her bid for -- ronald bishop talkedtalks about the lack of

moderation. threw out the weekend, interviews from our trip to frankfort, kentucky. coming up next month, join us for a conversation with the newsweek editor on racism and the role of the media and america. get the complete schedule online. >> according to a survey on global terrorism trends, there have been more than 38,000 terrorist attacks against all nations including the u.s. this survey looks at international data on global and domestic terrorism. next, a discussion on the findings and u.s. counter- terrorism strategies since 9/11. this is about an hour.

>> good morning and thank you for joining us. it is my privilege to welcome everyone to our auditorium. we welcome those who join us on our website. we would ask everyone in house if you could make that last courtesy check that cell phones have been turned off. we will post this program within 24 hours on a website for future reference. hosting our discussion this morning is the director of our center for foreign policy studies and deputy director of the institute for international studies. he is a member of the national academy's board on science and technology, the department of the army historical advisory committee, and a senior fellow at george washington university.

he served as a visiting professor at georgetown university and has authored several books. as well as co-offering with many of our colleagues here. please join me in welcoming my colleague. jim? [applause] >> let me thank all of you for coming. numbers are important. they can be horribly abused. why are we worrying about terrorism? you are more likely to get struck by a meteoric than a terrorist. we should not be spending money on this. all of those numbers are true and totally relevant hang bank terrorism is not about killing people.

9/11 is an aberration. terrorism was never about killing people. it is about threatening a way of life. you treat it differently than a car accident, so it is significant because there are people out there threatening our way of life. some out there like to kill us in the tens of thousands and millions which are big numbers that will make a difference. numbers are important, but they are in port and in context. let me answer all the 9/11 questions up front. then we can get to the real work. are we safer? of course we are safer. if you look at the numbers, we are saver then we were on september 10, 2001. it is demonstrably provable.

are we safe? no. of course we are not safe. if we spend a gazillion dollars, we would live in a country with vulnerabilities - 1. are we going to be a less safe in the future? probably. the reason for that is because of the decisions made by this administration in going forward and how they deal with counter- terrorism. when president obama came into office, many analysts said that this was really bush light. that is a true statement bank that is why, generally, the progress that we have made has continued. the administration is going in a very different direction than

the bush administration. that, i think, is going to create greater problems in the future. i have a concern that if we stay on the new path, in the two years, we will be back where we were on september 10, 2001. in strategy will be released which is an alternative to this strategy on counter-terrorism. i want to talk for a second about the foundation of the strategy. it is based on what works and what does not work and what we have learned. it is an assessment of -- i get very angry with people who are reflective and say using 9/11 as a baseline. is interesting but irrelevant because the world has moved on. truly looking at 9/11 is

fighting the last war. we have to deal with the threat that we face today. that is what we have tried to capture in our strategy for the next wave. foundational part of that strategy is really looking at it in paraclete on america's experience in combating terrorism over the last 40 years. what i have asked analysts to do is talk about some of the research we have done to understand the trends. dave is one of our analysts. he will talk about what we have done in looking at trends aimed at attacking the united states and globally over the 40-year period culminating in 2009,.

another analyst is going to talk about the work that we have done to track terrorist attacks in the united states since 9/11. i will come back at the end and talk more about the counterterrorism strategy that we have laid out. dave, over to you. >> i thank everyone for coming out today and everyone watching on c-span. with the 10th anniversary of the september 11 terrorist attacks approaching, america is going to be thinking about terrorism. 9/11 was the most significant terrorist attack against the united states. there have been other attacks. i will present the findings of the report entitled "terror trends." i code-authored this with jenna

baker. the data looks at -- start with 1969 and goes all the way up to 2009. it only includes terrorist attacks that were successfully carried out. it does not consider prevented a taattacks. the raw data became more than just numbers. is dead meat thinking back to the days growing up in the 1980's -- it made me think back to the days grow in up in the 1980's. 1983, the beirut bombings by has a lot. -- by hezbollah. another incident was a 1995

hijacking by lebanese shiite terrorists. a u.s. navy diver was killed. who could forget seeing the videotape, watching the slide or on the nightly news, the pilot of the airplane in the window with the terrorist in the background. it made a striking impression on me. another incident was the 1985 hijacking of a cruise ship by the palestinian liberation front. in this case, an american who was wheelchair-bound was brutally killed and thrown into the mediterranean. these are just a few of the terrorist attacks recorded. they are only a small sliver of all of the attacks have been heard worldwide.

from 1969 until 2009, there have been over 38,000 terrorist attacks against all nations. about 8% or three dozen incidents where against the united states. -- 3000 incidents were against the united states. the others were directed to other nations. nearly 5600 people have lost their lives and more than 16,300 people have suffered injuries during this 40-year time span. there are 38,000 terrorist events that have occurred in this time. how harmful has terrorism been during this 40-year p [eriod? the average number of fatalities for terrorist attacks against nations other than the united states resulted in 4100 incidents.

if we exclude 9/11, and that number drops about 1. that shows how many people lost their lives. the same holds true for injuries. the resulting number of injuries yields about 3.9 injuries per incident. the united states, the average is about 5.9. it is obvious that most terrorist attacks are not as deadly as september 11, but people die and people are injured. what about other regions of the world? for certain targets, the united states is a disproportionately the object of the axe. out of all the attacks worldwide, the united states

accounts for 43%. that is a significant portion, i think. for diplomatic offices, the united states accounts for about 28%. for businesses across the world, during this time span, the united states accounts for about 24%. all businesses that were targeted, 24% of the incidents were against u.s. businesses. most x of terrorism occur outside of our borders which i think is good. or region of the world do you think? the middle east? the persian gulf? do you think most terrorist attacks occur in the middle east? well, only about 20%. during this time, about 36% have

occurred in latin america in the caribbean banking europe accounts for about 23%. africa, 4%. north america, 4%. how did domestic terrorism and international terrorism compared to one another? from 2001 to 2009, there were -- as opposed to 380 international terrorist attacks. during the same time, what were the most common targets? the most prevalent u.s. targets of international terrorism where businesses at 27% and diplomatic offices at 17%. the two most prevalent u.s. targets were businesses at 43% and private citizens and property at 24%.

so, with domestic and international terrorism, what was the preferred method? with international terrorism, bombings account for 65%. domestic terrorism, arson accounts for about 46%. of these 91 domestic homegrown terrorist incidents, arson is the preferred method. these attacks were conducted by left-wing groups such as the earth liberation front and animal liberation front. this human cost incurred during this time, if we look at fatalities and injuries, we had 21 fatalities from domestic terrorism and almost 3900 fatalities from international terrorism. 9/11 looms large, and the same

holds for injuries. we had about 83 injuries for domestic terrorism and about 5100 injuries resulting from international terrorism. that is my overall review. you can get the full report online. i hope this report is helpful for the public and policymakers to understand the trends of terrorism in the last 40 years. >> in 2007, the heritage foundation become the first and all the organization tracking terrorist plots against the united states. we reported 19 publicly known terrorist attacks against the united states that the been supported since 9/11. today, that number stands at 40. it speaks to our successes.

reviewing those plots that the been foiled cents 9/11 to provide valuable information in understanding the nature of the threat and best practices. perhaps, two of the most well- known plots are that of the christmas day bomber in 2009 and the times square bomber in 2010. been made headlines because they were all too close to comfort. -- these are all made headlines because they were all too close to comfort. these plots are examples of how everyday citizens have prevented terrorist attacks. in times square bystanders noted specific suspicious behavior. they reported what they saw two police and luckily of the bomb was faulty and authorities were able to apprehend him. shortly after the times square

incident, the obama administration hailed the plot as a counter-terrorism success story. relying on the citizens to detect a terrorist attack is far from an effective strategy. this does not mean there is no room for citizens helping our overall counter-terrorism effort. citizens know their communities and they know when something is not quite right bank in the 2008 fort dix plot, a store clerk helped to thwart the attacks after discovering a video. this is why programs are absolutely essential. nevertheless, while these may be most well-known, the remaining 37 plots were halted through the efforts of law enforcement. bthe fbi arrested two men in a

seattle warehouse in a plot to attack a local military recruiting center. the seattle police department and fbi work well in coordinating their efforts with the fbi able to act on information provided. this incident illustrates perfectly the need for robust partnerships among federal, state, and local law- enforcement. such robust partnerships are equally as important on an international level. it was a fundamental part of breaking down plots against the united states and apprehending those responsible. terrorism is a global threat. every plot against the united states has had some international dimension. terrorists used latin america for safe havens, recruiting, and facilitating international

travel. " europe has served as a base for recruiting and planning attacks, including the issue bombing attempt in 2001, this means that america's homeland security effort cannot begin at the point where the threat has arrived in the united states. the program that allows for greater information sharing and cooperation enhance these efforts. in looking at our 40 plots, there is a clear -- where they are most asked -- where they are most at risk. new york city, washington, d.c., airplanes and airports, and finally new jersey. despite these trends, policy makers often try to child-proof

targets and airports. neither of these approaches make sense. resources are limited. it is not practical to think that we can put security measures in every jurisdiction of the country. since 9/11, not a single one of the plots stopped because of physical security measures at the airport. nevertheless, congress has poured billions of dollars into transportation security measures, introducing confusing measures like the 3:1:1 screening rule. once a terrorist is in the screen , the public is already in danger. information sharing and

intelligence of the absolute cornerstones of affect of counter-terrorism. simply throwing money at the problem or deploying new technologies is not the answer, just as much as relying on luck or the quick reaction of the american people to protect the united states then bank continued success requires a dedication by congress and the executive branch focused on information sharing and intelligence. >> thank you. just a couple of minutes on the counterterrorism strategy. i think a lot of people -- the difference between homeland security at large and counter- terrorism -- , security is really about protecting target, responding to threats. anti-terrorism is trying to pick up the bad guys out as they come through the wire. counter-terrorism is about

proactively going out and stopping the bad guys before they get to you, including everything from taking a leadership to disrupting organizations, to frustrating operations and planning, to decrease in funding and recruiting. so, we published earlier this week and we talked about the homeland security part of that. that report is called "on the security -- homeland security 4.0." we have been in this business since before 9/11. repeated the, time and time again, the biggest bang for the block is stopping the bad guys to begin with. the counter-terrorism piece is really essential.

obviously, stopping cancer is the best thing. it is nice to be able to treat it and recover from its. somebody is still going to get cancer and you have to recover from. i would never say do not spend money on a homeland security. if you do not have your investments in counter- terrorism, it is like waiting for the cancer to strike. those are supplemental efforts. 8 is important to get them right. that is what "homeland security 4.0" is about. look, this administration is about to make a very big. in its strategy. it is dead wrong. the problem where the administration going in a nutshell is that they are

ceasing to hold the initiative in combating terrorism. in every conflict, there is offense and defense. if you deconstructs with the administration is going, it is shifting from a proactive strategy to going out in stopping problems to basically a conservative defense reactive strategy. seating the initiative to the enemy is always a bad idea. more specifically, there are four fundamental problems that we talk about in our strategy. the first is that they really are consciously trying to revert to the law enforcement paradigm that we had before 9/11. this is the fundamental strategy that we used to combat terrorism in the 1990's.

just treat it like to duke murder, fire, and are sent. -- just treat it like you do murder, fire, and arson. treating that as a simple crime is like treating hitler as a simple crime. the second problem is what is going on in afghanistan. the administration is intent on premature prematurely leaving a. that is going to brighten up -- that is going to provide an option for al-qaeda to come back in and reconstitute. the pakistani commitment to combat terrorism is going to wayne. the third problem is what i call the small footprint strategy. the administration is never going to say that they are going to combat terrorism

overseas. we do not have to have an enduring presence on the ground anywhere, so we can do this by drone strikes, a couple of spies here and there. this is a repeat of the strategy of the 1990's. the problem is you do not have knowledge of what is going on on the ground. you are reliant on other people to give you that. you simply become dependent upon others for information. the more dependent yuba, and others, the more they will use that -- the more dependent you book, and others, the more they will use that information -- the more dependent you become on others, the more they will use that information against you. if we do not name the enemy that we are fighting, nobody gets angry about it. you lose your sense of moral purpose when it is not clear who

you are fighting any more. so what we have argued for in our strategy -- i will briefly go through this in terms of what we think are the key things that we think are very important. in the united states is going to have to be actively engaged -- the united states is going to have to be actively engaged in pakistan and india. that is just a reality of the next decade. we spend a lot more focus in our strategy on two the merchant problems which is state- sponsored terrorism by iran and transnational criminal activities in mexico which are taking on characteristics of an insurgency. this administration has simply refused to come up with a long- term sustainable program for the detention of terrorists. that is a serious problem.

because detaining and investigating terrorists is probably the most valuable source of operational intelligence. i talked to senior police officials in new york and they will tell you that 90% of the most valuable information that they get is from interrogation. we talk a lot in this strategy about capacity to lead. to united states should not have to be everywhere in the world, but we have an interest with working with friends and allies in building up their capacity. the administration says we are doing this now, but we are not doing it efficiently. we spend a lot of time talking about cyber security and combating terrorism online. we spend a lot of time naming of the enemy and the importance of talking about his longest

ideology and how it is different from their religion -- of talking about islamic ideology and how it is different from the islamic religion. we talk a lot in the report about the issue of domestic radicalization and extremism. the administration came out with a strategy not long ago about countering a violent extremism. there is some very valuable information in the document, by that document is not a strategy. the administration has not reviewed a plan on how they are going to operation allies at and use the federal government to give local communities the tools that they need. the final point that we make is that a robust strategy is completely unaffordable. i keep getting under the

impression that this administration believes that we have to crank back in the war of terror because we cannot afford. i think that is simply untrue. we have a lot of fiscal problems. defending ourselves is not the root cause of any of them. we cannot defend the country on the cheap. if, either through the super committee or the sequestering on the level that they are talking about, well over a trillion dollars, you are not going to have the ability to protect what you need. you are going to seek cuts to programs in homeland security and the anti-terrorism world that are really valuable. those cuts are our biggest threat to our security today as

any terrorist organization that we have in the world. with that, we will be pleased to take your questions and your observations and comments. if you have a question, raise your hand and wait until you get the microphone so the folks listening or watching can hear your question. if you could state your name and affiliation, that would be helpful. >> very interesting conversation. i am with middle east broadcasting tv. i want to talk about the massive terrorist attack. in 2002, 20003, 2004, a lot of the conversation was about anthrax and dirty baums. we have seen that conversation wane somewhat. how is that composition affected

by the arab spring? first of all we think that maybe it is a repudiation in some way of islamist ideology. but yesterday, we saw a story with the washington post where they said nuclear material in libya may be unsecured. where are we regarding that stuff? >> and that is a great question. i wanted to jump up when dave and jessup were talking -- when jess were talking. all of this stuff is no guarantee of what terrorists are going to do in the future. of the japanese cult, they were the innovators of all innovators.

they had all the money in the world bank they were not really smart in their research and development. certainly, if you look at it from the chatter perspective, there are still plenty of talks about massive terrorist attacks and killing large numbers of people. it does remain aspiration of. there has been, i think, some good work on the high end of focusing on corp. security initiatives to focus on the weapons of mass destruction. i think that is money largely well spent. i hate this discussion where they go nuclear terrorism is a low probability. that is stupid talk. if you are going to issue a probability, you have to have a data set. if you have a data set of zero -- how are you issuing a probability? you cannot issue statistical

probabilities on things like buying a weapon attacks or nuclear attacks. they will either have been or they will not happen. it is a meaningless term. these are black swans. these are things that can happen. when they do happen, we will all act like we are surprised. so, it is worthwhile worrying about weapons of mass destruction, but what we are seeing is the trend is what i call weapons of mass destruction which is stringing together a bunch of activities to create a larger scale effect out of scale with what you are actually doing. i think mumbai was a precursor of that.

magnifying their activities through chaos and destruction. those attacks are on their way back. multiple bombings are a good example. there is a bomb, people respond, and then there is a another bomb. if i was going to pick the terrorist trend of the future, i would say you want to look at people stringing together a bunch of things that you do not need sophisticated technology were very scarce materials to do but can have a consequence out of scope with what they are doing, so maybe adding a cyber attack to a physical attack like what the russians did into georgian warp. if there is a wave of the future, we are seeing increasing

signs of people looking to do the. when you do that, the more sophisticated your plot becomes, the more signals you are sending of that you are doing something. if you have good countered -- if you have good counter-terrorism in place, it should be easily countered. >> send somebody in this country would tend to lay low and not be a small criminal while waiting to carry out terror plot, as anybody made a correlation between not reporting the illegal aliens that we round up versus at the potential for terrorism? >> what the data shows, particularly when you look at the united states, terrorists and tend to be a small data set.

there is almost no community. we have seen that happen -- law enforcement has been able to 0 in this semi-affectively. we saw a lot of activity in some molly communities recruiting people overseas, but those communities -- in somali communities recruiting people overseas, but those communities have been red-flagged. you raise a really good point which i think is worth discussing. the secretary came out with this. everybody kind of throws out a lone wolf as that is something that we should all be scared about. few lone wolves are really lone and hidden and give off no signal. if we go back and look at the

norway guy, a good example of a massive disruption attack -- they discovered there were a lot of signals that that guy had done that should have drawn the attention of law enforcement. i am not talking about civil liberties or freedom of speech. there should of been indicators that should have triggered an investigation. few lone wolves are truly lone. again, you are going to find some of these people that are totally obscured. the good news, if there is good news there, if they kill a lot of people is because they are lucky. the other thing is they probably are only gointo do it once

because there is no network to support. what you are worried about is someone with a network that can do bad things. that is a threat to society. we talk a lot about transnational criminal activity and why that is such a great concern because it is an organized network with a lot of money, like $40 billion a year for people, drugs, money, and guns. they were the only people that did not ask for any stimulus money. [laughter] they have a vested interest, an organization, and increasingly have characteristics that look like insurgent groups. those are the people that we need to worry about. along wolf provision is one of the provisions. maybe talk about the patriot act

and the plots that we have afforded. >> if you look at the plots that have been foiled even though they have a red flags, if you look at the christmas day bomber, his father went to the state department and caved warnings. that point the need for early intelligence. within that is the patriot. in fact, there are 3 key provisions that have been aspiring s&p. it they have yet to get authorization. they have been a key in a thwarting many of these attacks. we have seen other incidents that point to the fact that this is an important provision for intelligence that should get

permanent authorization. >> one of the things that people do not realize is very few criminal investigations work on a calendar. many of them can go on for months and years. from the investigators perspective, if you are using investigative authorities to go after a systematic conspiracy and you do not know if those authorities are going to be around six months from now. that makes no sense. this annual renewal of these authorities -- that is the worst at all possible. the notion that we renewed it into good patriot, that is not affected anymore because we are not giving our investigators a predictable environment for investigations that may last a year or two years or three years or four years.

some of these cases, they take a long time to build a case that you need to build. >> we are not giving them many tools that are present in criminal investigations. >> i am a congressional staffer. looking at some of the different things going on in our country with the budgetary and political environment, do you perceive in the future that there could be a blood in the water effect that the terrorists may detect if we contract with our involvement with the rest of the world? is that a major threat? >> i want to bring dave in here. dave's got a great chart in his report. are two hills. one goes up in the late 1980's,

and then it plummets like a rock. what the result was the soviet aggression post-u.s. failure in vietnam, where the soviets believe that we were on the decline and all we needed was a push to go over the edge of. you sought insurgency and terrorism being sponsored world wide. the numbers in the 1980's just went up and up and up. then the cold war ends and the numbers fall off the chart. there is a case that we went to sleep in the 1970's, and it got worse. the cold war ends, and we live in this world of milk and honey. what you do not see in that

trend is as the numbers are going down and as america's interest in combating terrorism is waning despite the number of hearings going through the roof, al-qaeda is at laying the plots for global insurgency. while the decline looks good, what is missing is the planning and the set up for the 9/11 era. you see that being operational. is it 2005? in 2005, what happened? by 2005, all of our programs are in place or being put in place, and magically, the numbers start to go down again. in my mind, the administration is repeating the mistakes of the end of the cold war. the one to turn their backs on the problem. the number of attacks is declining. do you want to talk about the

trend numbers? >> if you go through the report, on page 5 cannot charge number four, it is right here. during the 1980's, terrorism is really taking off against the united states. rightand then, coming out of ths lull, we have them plotting their activities and a spike up in 2001. we are building resources during this time, and hopefully resources have resolved in the decline. we have other wave and a decreases. a question for policy is if we are going to be complacent and sort of be the problem and not be proactive.

for organizations that are against our country, plotting new ways and the ideas and innovation. pulled intot to be complacency. we want to make sure that terrorist acts have gone down sharply and we need to make sure that we are still village in. >> while we have seen the number of attacks go down, we see the same breaking play a going up. -- and the same breaking point going up. >> i have a question for mike and jessica. did you look at economic impact as a factor? in the strategy, you talk about

leading the south asia impact and given 80% of the i.e. teas are coming from fertilizer based explosives, you mentioned among by end oslo. what do you think of of the ministration's recent efforts to rein in the explosive fertilizer issue. it doesn't look at outcomes such as economic or social factors. it is basically a descriptive analysis. these are what methods, what tactics we lose. this report doesn't take another step to draw the influential conclusions about things such as

the economic impact. >> in terms of restrictions on materials, when you look of the homeland's security side, it is kind of a cold calculus of cost and benefits. where is the break point between and the cost to you in terms of loss of individual freedoms and everything else. the constitution is a good guide because it creates a very clear line in terms of what government can and cannot do. but then we get into areas that are really about choice. there is a large gray area in what you definitely should not, and gray areas about things that government can do.

what you're really talking about is a tool use, something you can use for something good and something you can use for something bad. you could perpetrate evil with a baseball bat, right? so the question is, what do you do about these things with dual- use? this is really a question of strategy. i would say where you have a dual use technology that leads us to the weapons of mass destruction relman, nuclear and certain chemical things. on the high end, chemical was a good example. there is an enormous effort to regulate a lot of things like chemical that don't really rise to the concerns of the levels of weapons of mass destructions.

i think it is legitimate for government to pay a lot of attention and concern. when you get to the lower end in terms of the consequences and in terms of the positive value, i think if shift somewhat. that is not saying the will been nothing, right? it is like a gun in the home. i might tell a parent to have a trigger lock and key hit out of the reach of children. i would put much more of my investment in the tools to detect people that are likely to do that rather than going around and banning things like

the use of fertilizer. almost every truck driver in the universe has to have a has matt license. it is an enormously broad and general term that covers everything from fingernail polish. the driver of the truck has to have a special license. that is kind of nut, right? have a blanket requirement for everybody that touches hazardous material is a drag on society and it is really unnecessary. i am not horribly sympathetic with restricting more things. i would much rather see that go to investigatory and sharing tools to identify the bad people. let's go over here.

>> i just want to come back to the question about the budget, the physical environment, and the strategy you have outlined here. it seems you're advocating a very expansionary and activists international strategy. i'm wondering if there are things in the u.s. counter- terrorism strategy that you would cut to be able to afford that kind of activist strategy? >> they are more on the anti- terrorism side, we could not be in a debt crisis. why are you spending money on things that are not delivering goods?

the cost of money that we get no value for, or we're putting restrictions on economic productivity and the movement of people, goods, services, and ideas. the basic areas our homeland security kranz, i will have dave talked about this because he has done some really groundbreaking research on evaluating the efficacy of grants. i think it is a good example of the kinds of things that we should be doing. >> we look at 10,000 fire departments over a seven-year. look at purchasing equipment,

which compare them to other various socio-economic factors. fire departments that receives funding did no better than fire departments that received no funding in terms of saving lives due to injuries, and the american government is putting a lot of resources in paying the local fire departments. there is no value edit a role applying here. we are going to assume part of your local budget them. there is a move towards supplanting or subsidizing the routine operations of local fire departments as a way from trying to help regions build a capacity. how does a much more value added

role then just hanging fire departments to be fired apartments. it is truly not a value added role protecting from terrorist events or natural disasters. >> the notion is a post-9110 initiative. quite honestly, it was the most readily obviously vehicle we have done in the past. it was the weapon of choice because it was the weapon in hand. after 10 years of doing this thing is exactly what dave has said. if the federal government gave them 50 cents, we did not do any capacity building. that is a double problem.

we're not doing any capacity building, we are diverting resources from the federal enterprise. what is the problem? the difference is, you're not building any capacity. and you are actually making the federal government and less responsive in things that of the responsibility for the federal government. we are chronically underfunding shipbuilding and the coast guard, so we're not putting the ships at sea that we need. if you put that against the shipbuilding program, here is what would happen. these are public safety requirements in-house how it would pay for the things that they need.

let's go over here. >> you mentioned that obama is choosing not to call the enemy by its name and the emotional is the threat of the country faces. the question is, do feel that that is a fair critique? in light of 2001, following 9/11, the enemy was identified as bin laden, then saddam. think the bush administration had a great answer for this either. this is one of the key findings in the report, one of the key

assessments. in addition to the great were that we have done at heritage, which is based on pretty extensive open source intelligence research. there is a difference between an insurgency and a terrorist campaign. even terrorists that have an ideology. they had an ideology, but they were strictly terrorists. in the sense that they use the slaughter of innocents and violence to further hone political agenda. even though they had an ideology, that expression was primarily exercise through the act of terrorism. and insurgency has the same

goal. radical political change. insurgency can use terrorism and other acts of violence as a component of that goal. an insurgency also uses other tools. political advocacy, psychological warfare, so insurgency is a broader attack than just slaughtering people in the street. you have to have a different tack a different tactic. -- how you have to have a different tactic. look at the turn of the century movement, the twentieth century of anarchists. part of being an anarchist is that there should be no or does

-- organization. so it is hard for a anarchists' to get organized. we are kind of done here, the ideology is irrelevant because we got rid of them all. the insurgency, you have to battle the ideology. same with criminals, look at the mafia. there is an ideology there. it really prepares you well for working in washington. it was fictionalized, but it captures the ideology.

the primary expressionless through criminal activity. we can battle the mafia without combating the ideology. if the mafia was embedded, you had a corruption and the cartels in mexico. hugh not only have to battle them, but you have to battle their ideas. battling the idea is messy. and what is the difference between free speech and not legitimate free speech. if you read extremism, i will

call a report. there is very good stuff in there. it is about giving communities tools not just to defend themselves against terrorist acts, but defending against a civil society and how do you combat extremist ideas? in a sense, their knowledge -- i think that fundamentally gets to the root of the problem where many things they know are efficacious are not politically correct for them. they either have to not do them or they have to do them and pretend they are not doing them

because they can't seem to be doing them because they of like them. you get the last question. we have to and promptly at noon, so it has to be a short question. >> under the heading, why the president's strategy will fail, they are rooted in a culture that the president's strategy fails to appreciate. the mindset equates honor with power. do they basically agree with that assessment? >> there are different conceptions of honor and the world. our conception emerged from the

medieval notion of honor and chivalry. it is rooted in values, attitudes, and behavior. there are alternate conceptions of honor and the world. if you have the most chic, you're the most honorable person. it is a perfectly acceptable anthropological explanation of the differing views of honor. this is one of the fundamental problems of warfare. if you don't appreciate how they view the world and what they are trying to do, you basically wind up fighting yourself. time.out of

if you have been brilliant partners in this effort and we thank you for coming. join me in thanking the panelists for a great presentation. "washington journal ♪ ♪ [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> we will have a live for you here on c-span. today, the pentagon spokesman says the u.s. military is not engaged in a manhunt for the libyan leader and his whereabouts are unknown. they are conducting aerial surveillance to protect

civilians from attacks by government forces. until then, calls from "washington journal." he >> is the book of a proud conservative. he is nunhood looking to kiss up and make up with the new york times.

some of the details here, if your interested, the lead headline is on page 816. cheney says he urged bush to bomb syrian backing 2007. but mr. bush opted for a diplomatic approach. advisers, still stinging over th bad intelligence over iraq's stockpiles of wmd's expressed misgivings -- "the times" goes on to write --

here is one of them. he wrote --

we look forward to your calls on what you are hearing so far. here are the numbers again -- fit call this morning from sarasota, florida. democrat. good morning. caller: how are you today? i am doing ok. i am glad to see this book out. think if there is any honesty whatsoever in it, it will open up america's eyes about the absolute evil dick cheney is.

host: give us an example of what you are talking about. caller: secret meetings with the oil executives, push for democratization of foreign countries that we have no businesseing in. who else can get away with shooting people and not even get tested for alcohol, this last deal, shooting is guy in the face. this guy is bad. that's all. host: back to "the drudge report."

marcus, republican. michigan. what do you think? caller: i think that it is unfortunate that a great station like c-span would be wasting precious time with all of the mounting problems that the nation is facing on dick cheney 's memoirs of the bush administration. i think much more could be used in terms of time toward solng and creating a more positive dialogue. host: a lot of folks are reporting on this. this is not news, in your view? caller: i think this is news but given we are fighting two wars -- one in afghanistan and one in iraq, a proxy war in libya, a failing economy, a major

provision shall race -- presidential re, i think we could be focusing on more pertinent issues as opposed to looking in the past. host: g the point. for those looking for dialogue on libya, budget, medicare, it is all coming up on the program. mike, seattle, washington. caller: i concur with the caller that came right before me -- i think we have more pressing issues in terms of the high unemployment rates, the gang of six who will be operang behind closed doors when it comes to medicare, medicaid, social security, the budget, all the major issues that are happening around the country. host: how about what you have heard so far about the big chain e-book? caller: i have not had an opportunity to know too much

about that, but what i do know is that dick cheney, as being the vice president, to me, was really someone who was behind the scenes. and again, i know that as the topic we are talking about but i think americans really want to talk about issues at hand, which is jobs, jobs, jobs. host: let us get more detail about the book from "the new york times" piece. >> mr. cheney saw no need to apologize for making that claim.

they eventually came around to that view. the account of his experience with the terrorist attack of 9/11 when he commanded the government response. while he was away from washington and hampered by a communications breakdown, he played a peripheral role. mr. cheney did not want to make any formal statements that day. they prepared me to manage the crisis during the first few hours of 9/11, but i knew if i went out and spoke to the press, it would undermine the president and it would be bad for him and for the country. daniel. good morning. caller: good morning. i am going to try -- i doubt it will happen. i am going to try and correct the three major misgivings and absolute lies from the left about mr. cheney. while he does have a lot to apologize for -- these three he

do not. ere were weapons of mass destruction found in iraq according to the united nations and according to the bbc. they removed over 500 barrels of sarin gas, etcetera two, there were no secret meetgs between mr. cheney and the oil companies. he invited the environmentalists and the people of the left but they threw a hissy fit because they were not given the invitation directly from mr. dick cheney, one of the sobor indicated to them, and they refused to come. that is documented in the united states congressional archives. last, but not least, mr. cheney had nothing to do with the valerie claim -- plame situation. that was done by one of the subordinates. so, sit there and tried to

blame mr. cheney for those three things -- and again, he does have a lot ostuff he needs to apologize for, but those three things are not in it and to continusly like -- continuously lot about this, you need to start smacking some heads when they call and try to pull this noise. host: simon and schusteis the publisher. georgia. larry isn the line for democrats. any thoughts, larry? caller: dick cheney and his partner karl rove should have been prosecuted because they committed all kinds of treasonous acts -- little stuff they committed during their time. he is responsible for some terrible goings on in this nation. host: the headline in "the hill" memoir -- here is the quote, again.

a couple of other graphs, here. i was strongly supports using it again if we had high-value detainee's. and that was the only way we

could get them to talk. it said he and bush argued over whether to order an airstrike on target believed to be housing saddam hussein. huntington, west virginia, you are on the line. >> looking forward to this memoir. i enjoyed the bushes, i enjoyed rumsfeld. >> when you read about? >> bush opposing first chapter was so revealing on what prepare him for the residency. rum's felt was the behind the scenes the in meetings, and he

became in confrontation. they were linked together so early in their careers, rums felt was full of the behind-the- scenes stuff. >> we have comments coming in now. he was a bitter young man that turned into a more bitter old man. >> in reference dick cheney, i have problems all during iraq, afghanistan, and here is somebody withbecause this is soh five draft deferments. the other caller who said that

cheney and rumsfeld were tied together, he is exactly right. you go back to the mid-1970s when in the massacre that happened in 1968 and was covered up and all that, you go back and look up history, and just put in chaney and rumsfeld -- cheney and rumsfeld of the cover up from the 1970's and forward and you look at the two of them and what they have done. i think it would give a pretty good representation of what kind of people most of them are. like rumsfeld, they called the guys who tried to stop -- milai unpatriotic, the same thing they did to the guy who

blew the whistle on torture and the pictures and all of that stuff and rumsfeld ousted him -- outed him on tv. host: "chaie-book reveals internal -- cheney book reveals internal battles." the text says -- cheney >> he thought the best way to give his views was by criticizing the people outside of the administration. in several other places, they

talked more here. much of what is being written elsewhere, the morning. >> i am helping with the publication of the above, it can be going around and publicizing in. there are questions that remain about his tenure? >> what do you want to know? >> has a statement before the invasion of iraq. he was asked about this with invasion pending in he said that it was wrong.

we have no doubt about it. we found out the inspector was exactly right. he has to explain why he knew what people on the ground in iraq knew was there. hope somody asks him about this. host: barak, california. gaithersburg, maryland. republican, steve. caller: looking forward to reading the book. i have to tell you as a moderate republican, i thought cheney was a good congressman. i thought he was a fantastic secretary of defense and the gulf war and i would argue one of the worst vice-president we have ever had. very disappointed. i voted first term for him, and the second, unfortunately because him. i will be interested to read his book to see what his take is.

so far from what you have been reading from the reviews, this seems like a guy who was always good and blaming everybody else for failures of the bush administration. host: go ahead. finish up, steve. caller: when of the previous callers -- we are entitled to our own opinions and not entitled to our own facts. the iraq war when it comes to the facts, iave yet to see facts about weapons of mass destructions. i still think we should have gone in regdless. but a previous caller, a fellow republican, the valerie plame story, that there was no connection between him. you can stretch and say there was no direct connection but don't forget the vice president we out of his way tryinto get president bush up to the final days to pardon scooter libby. if that was not a direct

connection it certainly was an improper use. i think he is a very, very good speaker. what frustrates me is somebody trying to bring the sides together -- most vice-president you think of historically go quietly away. this is one vice-president with just won't. and i wish to heaven he would. i am not sure why he wants to -- has to write a memoir host: coming up in about 25 minutes, steve forbes, president and ceo of "forbes" and former presidential candidate. we will talk about the economy and the new cbo numbers coming out. and also marc ginsberg later, former ambassador to morocco. and live a bit later, more of our coverage surrounding the dedication of the martin luther king memorial. today at noon, we will have live

coverage of a luncheon, a civil- rights pioneers. honoring those from the past, present, and perhaps the future, at the convention center. live coverage on c-span at noon. it should be a two-hour long events. and also covered friday. and of course, the big dedication ceremony sunday at 11:00 on the mall in washington. jack, independent caller. we have been reading some of the details about dick cheney's memoir. what have you heard that move you one way or the other? caller: i have not heard anything really, except that i would like to make a comment. i just wonder how much of dick cheney is going to receive personally from halliburton from the $400 a gallon gasoline that of the u.s. troops are paying for over in afghanistan. thank you.

host: some of the other front- page items here today. "washington post" lead story, focus turns to finding gaddafi. 1.7 million-dollar bounty. a shot of repair a, republican presidential candidate in "the washington times." we have maybe about 15 minutes left t the phones segment. we will get some other news out for you. talking about the release of dick cheney that a more. simon and schuster doing t publishing. coming out next week. some of the details are coming out in several publications, including "the new york times." again, the headline says "cheney says he urged bush to bombs syria." did not have any support in the room when the queion came up. lots more detail.

texas has been hanging on. spot on the republican line. caller: good morning, steve. i believe dick cheney was and is a no-nonsense unapologetic liberty loving patriot. and we as a nation were very fortunate to have this man post 9/11. i can't wait for the book. i believed the same tng about donald rumsfeld. the leftateshese two people, and their passion, their hatred is just, it is unbelievable. again, they were two absolutely great americans and we were very fortunate to have them both. host: let us see what other viewpoints are out there. john, mocrat from florida. caller: yes. a few things i just wanted to say. ohio and texas.

4000 dead, because the situation now -- helng everything that is wrong. halliburton, the cuts he got for them. remember the $4 billion, 1 billion at a time -- year misplaced -- misplaced and the bunker of money they found in iraq that they never returned. no weapons of mass destruction. this in-your-face situation he is trying to do, he is totally wrong andnybody who tells you different should go back and live a few years where we had dick cheney and donald rumsfeld telling about, that is why they we trying to get out of the way. about: paul -- colin powell 1

them there were no weapons of mass destruction -- let's wait. anybody tell you anything different, they are plainly lying. host: let's hear from westley on the democrats' line from sacramento. good early morning pretty caller: the last caller was flat on target. i am retired marines. received a purple heart while this guy mr. cheney, he had five deferments. he is a good liar. this should be on "book tv" as opposed to this show where more important things are going on. host: on twitter this morning -- here is an e-mail this morning --

hue was the lone voice of for a vigorous defense against the enemies of the united states. history will vindicate this man when the generation is long gone. the heaters are very foolish. independent color. >> my daughter took a postgraduate course in biological weapons from the biological weapons program. he said that not only to the soviet union have an of biological weapons to kill every man, woman, and child in the united states, there is no possible question that they have weapons of mass destruction. this methodology that there were no weapons of mass destructions

cannot have a collective intellect of dick cheney's little finger. host: randy. republican. wisconsin. caller: nice of c-span to pu on something about a republican like this, a great leader. he served his country well. aboutt see anything on the president, about his past, or what it would have been like if we would have had john edwards and the other guy -- i even forgot his name -- what it -- what would it have been like if we were attacked and those guys were in office? that would have been something. the united states would not have been safe. thank you, dick cheney. host: here is another e-mail --

>> not elected to, but appointed to the supreme court. >> can you pull up and article 8 of all possible from may 7, 2004? it is from the new york times. >> tell us more about the peace. >> it connection dick cheney to this day and down that was made. for some strange reason, i think another reason, he placed a standout order on any form of those aircraft. those involved on the morning

were destroyed about four or five months later. this was a heinous crime committed against the united states. they want to question why the videotapes are destroyed. the connection is, prior to them coming to the vice presidency, he had been under investigation for accounting fraud. what was revealed is that halliburton was in the red and the stock shares, that was the accounting fraud. it seems to me to be a major conflict of interest to have a man that does business. they have a vested interest in the of asian because of the profiteering that has gone on.

he needed an event, he needed something to occur that would allow the expansion of the business activity with the government of the united states. her head is basically war profiteering. then made it difficult to make money and what was a decrease in military leave. a decreasing military need. so, you know, there is a connection to that document. but if you look at the destroyed tapes, the supervisors at the center not only destroyed them but he shredded them and he put them in separate garbage cans, but you have to pull up the article and read it and understand what i am getting at. host: contribution from david. facebook.com/cspan.

and we are also taking your comments on facebook. a couple of comments from our viewers -- they coincide with a the 10 year anniversary of 9/11, an excellent timing for maximum profits. you see this picture from the washington national cathedral. the line says, "fallen angel." it is on the ground of the cathedral following the earthquake in b.c. in the eastern u.s.. -- in dc in the eastern u.s.. if you have not heard, there was another aftershock last night.

a.m. it was felt in parts of virginia, the district, maryland, and elsewhere. akron, ohio. ohio. caller: thank you for c-span. first, does -- he is emblematic of the problem of the gop. since 2000, he was elected to be george bush's right hand man to look for vice-president and i guess hlooked in the mirror and said, it is made. blame a the lame stream media for not seeing it as a red flag. as a result dick cheney became the most awful vice-president which means george bush would go down in history as the most insignificant president. never the greatest, never the worst, just the absolute most insignificant president. i would have been happy with a george bush-and john mccain take

it back in 2000 with john mccain as the president instead of being dick cheney and we could see george bush as a vice president and see he is nothing more than an empty suit, as a vp. tea party, they have two main leaders. one, of course, it is a big army and the other is dick cheney. they should call it the dick army brigade or the dick cheney cheerleaders. host: good morning. caller: i just have to say i hope of the memoirs cover his time as chief of staff under ford, because i do think he was a very respectable and very well regarded public servant at least at that time period. i have to say i have been hearing a lot of the callers,

and i dohink this man has created a lot of animosity. i would just like to let people know that just judging by how the past four presidents are regarded on the opposition, it is pretty hard to run this country, and it is pretty hard for everyone to be satisfied with the job that you do. i think he was more difficult than he could have been. i think he could have been a little more accommodating to people, particularly what was going on in 2000 with their recounts. i never understood why they did not just let all of the votes being recounted. it is neither here nor there. the fact is he is just an ailing man who wants to give his side of the story, and i honestly can understand why it would be very difficult to him to feel as though history is giving him a bad rap when all he hasone it

is dedicated his life to service country -- whether he is right or wrong. host: thank you for calling. another viewpoint by e-mail -- a couple of more minutes of your calls and then steve >> they have a story about their colder, the attorney general. the attorney general, telling the families of 9/11 victims he is probing the murdoch hack.

the anniversary, of course, coming up. we will have extended we will have extensive coverage from new york, here. it is about the pipeline that drew protests and arrests outside the white house in recent days. the canada to u.s. pipeline plan set to clear a hurdle. the state department will remove a major roadblock, construction of a massive oil pipeline going from canada to texas. according to sources, the move is critical because the project will have limited adverse environmental impact during construction and operation according to these sources. i will help the folks out.

these are some of the protesters, activists arrested tuesday. the last couple calls on the big cheney buck. the detroit, michigan. the morning. >> i have a short statement to make. is detainees still considered a war criminal? of -- who is -- is dick cheney still considered a war criminal? i will take your answer of the line. -- off the line. >> go ahead, ma'am. >> the comments are always being made about the leaders. every tea party group that i know in texas, we all have individual people leading those

groups. we don't come under a number of any particular political organization or name. we are simply conservatives who don't like the direction that the country is going in. we want to bring it back to our constitution. just get people back to work, get the country back on an even keel so that we're back to the center. and not far to the right or far to the left. >> this is the united nations where we expect the meeting about libya to begin shortly. the meeting was scheduled to start about half an hour ago and

is running late. we will bring it to you live when that happens. the associated press says that the u.s. military is not engaged in a manhunt for the libyan leader gaddafi. the statement is in conflict with the british secretary that says that reconnaissance assets are being used to try to hunt him down. we will have the live coverage when the meeting begins. until then, the chairman of the commodity futures trading commission talked about issues affecting commodity markets and the 2008 financial crisis. >> thank you for that kind introduction. [laughter] it was a very efficient. good morning and welcome to the commodity futures in