[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> libyan rebels want the return of the muammar gaddafi wife and children. we will get an update on nadel operations on libyan next on c- span. then, president obama talks to veterans about jobs and the economy. after that, an update on the security situation in afghanistan. with members of congress in their summer recess, we have been covering a number of their town hall meetings. they met with constituents in palm beach gardens, fla., and

maryland senator ben cardin to questions from the community center. we will have that later. but -- >> he is a partisan guy who wants to unite people. why we could not elect him, it is the same reason we eventually went to war. they could not be resolved. >> he had the misfortune of running against the great military hero dwight eisenhower, so i do not really think there is any way that adlai stevenson could have won. >> he lost overwhelmingly to herbert hoover, but paved the way for franklin roosevelt. there are 14 people in this series, many of whom i guarantee viewers may not have heard from, and all of them, i can pretty much guarantee they will find them interesting and certainly surprising.

>> a history professor, wheel clear politics professor, and the presidential historian talk about men who ran for president and lost. this is a preview for "the contenders," beginning friday september 9. >> nato says it will continue strikes on the khaddafi hometown of sirte. we will get an update now during this 40-minute briefing.

>> good afternoon. welcome to everybody here in brussels, in naples, and those of you watching on internet and especially those of you in libya who i also know are watching on the internet. i am joined by a colonel, a military spokesperson who is going to give us an operational update. briefly. the nato mission is important. it is effective, and it is still necessary. as long as threats remain, we will get that job done. the mission will continue in full compliance with united nations mandate for as long as needed but not a day longer. it looks as though we are nearly there, but we are not there yet.

we have seen more reports of how the regime has been using mosques, schools, and marketplaces as shields for its weapons. we must make sure that these threats are gone and gone for good, until citizens are safe so that the libyan people can build a new future based on reconciliation and the rule of law. once the nato job is done, it is for others to be supporting libya. rhesus -- expect the united nations to take the leading role, and we have already seen that it is doing so. last week, as you know, they

said that any future supporting role for nato must satisfy three criteria, demonstrable need, a sound legal basis, and wide regional support. the focus for now remains very much on getting the job done under the current mandate under the united nations security council. they have already taken part in the contact with meetings in doha, london, rome, and istanbul. this will be an opportunity for further coordination of the national support for the people of libya as they finally began to hold the future in their own hands. one last point i would like to mention, which has no connection with al liby

operation. as you may have seen, there was a mid-air collision earlier this morning between a military plane and a french jet during their training flight out of an airbase in northern lithuania. both lithuanian pilots eject successfully and walked away from the crash site with no serious injuries. their plane crash in a rural area. there has been no damage to private property. the french military jet was slightly damaged and managed to land. the incident is under investigation. we are not just talking about lithuania, but also latvia and estonia. now over to the operational briefing with colonel roland lavoie. >> welcome to those joining us

from naples and, of course, brussels. the gaddafi regime is collapsing and rapidly losing control on multiple fronts. a few days ago, we witnessed the people of tripoli freeing their city. now, the port is accessible to commercial and humanitarian shipping. the two metropolitan airports are now secured. they are able to provide for the overall security of the city. the national transitional council has ruled -- demonstrated its leadership and ability to start coordinating the provision of services to the population. these are very encouraging signs in deed. -- indeed. beenfi's forces have pushed of the greater tripoli

area, despite the presence of remnants of the regime. the tripoli region is essentially freed with the retreat of pro-gaddafi forces to the southeast of the capital, where they do not represent a direct threat to the population of tripoli anymore. there was the opening of the northwest coastal route linking tripoli to the tunisian border. as overall security improves, this vital link will allow for more road movement, which means more food, more water, fuel, medicine, and other supplies. our main area of attention is now the corridor between bin- waleed and the eastern edge of sirte -- bani walid and the eastern edge of sirte. that is where gaddafi forces

are maintaining a presence. several wonder if there is still a need for nato presence to protect libya. nato is still very much involved in monitoring the situation and intervening with extreme care and precision when and where we identify risks -- threats against the population, including surface-to-surface systems, multiple rocket launchers, air tracking radars, and anti-aircraft guns. just a few days ago, nato aircraft had to strike at the command-and-control facilities in tripoli, where attacks against the population were directed. as recently as yesterday, our

aircraft struck several surface to air threats and multiple military vehicles near sirte, and citadel last bastion of the gaddafi regime. -- considered the last bastion of the gaddafi regime. these interventions remain critically important until the libyan population is no longer under threat from the former regime. it is equally important to note that the alliance's air component is tracking numerous air and ground movements, which include humanitarian aid movements that are critically important during this recovery phase of the conflict. so far, since the beginning of

the nato mission, we have tracked and coordinated thousands of air and ground movements to enable approximately 870 deliveries of humanitarian aid by national and international organizations, including non- governmental organizations. these numbers may sound abstract, but they do reflect a very concrete reality for those who are in real need of basic necessities. from the maritime component perspective, nato is still enforcing the arms embargo, while ensuring this is done with minimum inconvenience to humanitarian aid cargo vessels. we further provide naval cooperation and guidance for shipping. with the return of security, the tripoli port is returning to normal state. commercial traffic is transiting in and out, and shipping levels are increasing, in creep -- including humanitarian aid. nato boss ships continue to provide an overall security presence -- nato's ships continue to provide an overall security presence. last weekend, medical assistance was provided to a

ship leaving tripoli with 32 of the ex-prisoners from the prison aboard. nato shares concerns expressed by many regarding the overall humanitarian situation in libya. it is reassuring, though, that we learn of more and more initiatives sponsored by governments and non- governmental organizations to help the libyan population. while individual nations and specialized non-governmental organizations are better-suited and equipped to conduct such operations, nato will continue to act as an enabler, essentially through its present at sea and its monitoring of the aerospace -- presence at sea and its monitoring of the airspace.

nato's mission is not finished yet. we remain fully committed to our mission and to keeping the pressure on the remnants of the gaddafi regime until we can confidently say that the civilian population of libya is no longer threatened. i cannot take your questions -- can now take your questions. >> we will start in brussels. >> i am from the chairman press agency -- german press agency. could you explain what is the process for amending the mission? -- ending the mission? how long will that take? do you need authorization from the un or anything like that? thank you.

>> the decision will be taken by the north atlantic council on the military a price of our commanders -- advice of our commanders of operation unified protector and of the military authorities. united nations secretary-general ban ki-moon also made that clear not so long ago. he makes clear that this is the assessment of nato. -- of military authorities and nato. last week, when the north atlantic council met, there was consensus around the table, together with the contributing partners in operation unified protector, that the anti- gaddafi momentum is irreversible.

there was full commitment to continue the mission until the mandate is fulfilled. but no longer than is absolutely necessary. over there. >> i am from sky news. we are reporting that gaddafi was seen leaving tripoli in a convoy to sabha. can you comment? as opposition forces advance on sirte, are you concerned that could endanger civilians? >> i have no information about the first question. >> since the beginning of the conflict, we have heard many rumors and allegations regarding the movements of gaddafi or his key supporters.

i have no evidence either confirming or denying these allegations. keeping in mind that there is a limit on what we could see from 20,000 feet or 30,000 feet above the ground. with respect to this situation in sirte, actually, we are -- we have seen recent reports, no later than a few hours ago, that there are discussions ongoing between the anti-gaddafi and pro-gaddafi supporters. we see these discussions as, certainly, an encouraging sign. we will see how they evolve over the coming days. i would like to stress, however, that we have seen many

villages and cities being freed since the beginning of this conflict. very recently, it was tripoli, a very dense, urban center with a lot of troops within and around the city. what we have seen, actually, is great care in the way that the anti-gaddafi forces were engaging the pro-gaddafi forces. we certainly expect that they will continue to act with the same level of care as this conflict evolves. >> just to add, the national transitional council has made public statements urging restraint and calling on all of their forces to respect international law, to protect civilians, and that is the way

that we would like this conflict to be resolved, with the full protection of civilians on the ground. we have already seen that the ntc has reached out to communities in zlitan. that dialogue was the way forward. reuters. >> two questions. following up on the question regarding possible end of nato's mission, can you rule out or is it still possible that, if gaddafi is captured or located, nato forces will stay beyond that point? on a different subject, there are reports that one of his sons has been killed in recent

days and reports that he was in a convoy hit by a military air strike that possibly caused his death. can you confirm that? any details that you have on nato attacking a convoy in which he might have been present, or a brigade of his, or what details you might have? >> if i may. the end of our mission is not aligned on the capture or non- capture of gaddafi. it is aligned on nato's assessment of the level of threat to the civilian population in libya. and this will be the criteria that will be used by our chiefs to call an end to this mission. with respect to khamis, similar to what i have said for gaddafi, there are a lot of allegations and rumors about what could have happened to him.

to be frank, we don't know. what i can tell you is that i am not aware of any operation that would have targeted specifically that area yesterday evening when it was reported. at this time, i would qualify this as a rumor. i will keep it at that for this stage. >> roland, we can go to naples for questions there. >> no questions from naples. >> ok. >> question for roland.

yesterday, your operational update shows that nato struck quite a few things around the sirte area. military vehicles, and aircraft, missile system military facilities. there are reports showing that the fighting is between the rebels and the remaining gaddafi forces. i am wondering why nato was striking all of these assets, including 22 armed vehicles. were these vehicles moving? were they together? were they static? >> essentially, since the beginning of our campaign, very often a significant percentage of our strikes were in areas where you have lines of confrontations.

it is not very surprising that these are in the areas where there is more activity, more vehicle movement, more movement of pieces of weaponry. this explains, certainly in part, why we have been active in sirte. keep in mind that we have been active in that area since the beginning of the campaign. from that perspective, we have focused specifically on striking at what we believe presents a threat to the civilian population. this is not based specifically on a given city or target, but more on a given threat. these vehicles, these different pieces of weaponry that we have targeted were assessed as threatening the population. >> were the 22 armored vehicles moving, or were they grouped together on a parking lot? thank you. ofi don't have the specific

every specific target that we hit. what i can tell you in general terms is that -- vehicles and pieces of armament rarely stand still at a given location. most of what we call dynamic strikes are done when we see the movement of military material going towards a population center. >> npr. >> thank you. i am with national public radio and global post. yesterday in doha, the opposition said that gaddafi could still pose a danger to civilians, even though he is in hiding and his assets have been so degraded. can you envision your operations being wrapped up if he has not been found? on the same topic, last week the british defense minister said that nato was helping, providing intelligence and reconnaissance. i know you have said before that you are not, but these reports

keep coming up. if you would like to have the opportunity to deny it again, please have one. or not. >> the trigger for the end of the mission, as i mentioned earlier, is based essentially on the assessment that the civilian population in the deal would be safe. -- in libya would be safe. it has little to do with one individual in particular. it has more to do with the overall security situation. again, this is not an absolute.

this would be an assessment made when there is the sense that, essentially, the libyan authorities will be able to assume the overall control of their security. a key trigger also been the decision of -- we're on a personal mission, at the disposal of other authorities in nato headquarters. or second question was about coordination -- your second question was about coordination. >> the british defense minister came out several days ago and said that, despite denials, nato is helping the rebels with reconnaissance and intelligence to want for gaddafi. -- hunt for gaddafi. >> basically, nato is pursuing its mission. what we do is dictated by the threats we identify. basically, we engage those threats. we're not engaged in direct coordination or tactical coronation of our actions with troops on the ground -- coordination of our actions with troops on the ground.

>> i am from german television. i have a follow-up to the question we had before. can you give us an idea of what is going on there? the british defense minister, mr. fox, said last thursday that there are special forces of the british operating, that the rebels were trained, that there were weapons given to the rebels. as nato know about that? how do you coordinate those efforts? >> our nato mission has no troops on the ground. as a spokesperson for nato, this is what i can talk about. i tell you, really, we have no ground troops on the ground. we do have the presence of allied nations on the ground. as part of the operation, operation unified protector, we have no such presence. >> let me make that doubly clear. nato has no special troops and

no ground troops or any sort of ground forces under nato's command in libya. we are conducting an air operation, a very effective peroration -- air operation. you can see the effects of that on the ground. follow-up. >> i understand nato has no troops on the ground. do you know that there are any other troops operating beyond nato? >> we can tell you what the nato mandate is, what -- and a maritime operation under the united nations mandate for

the resolutions. we're conducting the operation successfully. once we know the job is done, we're hoping to wrap up no sooner, no later when all the aspects of the mandate have been successfully fulfilled. >> from the english service at your nose. there are no troops on the should the situation deteriorate, but on the ground or support peacekeepers? >> as nato ambassadors and they can trading partners operation plan to put any ground troops

in libya. under the current mandate, that is not the case anyway. nato will not be taking the lead role in the post-gaddafi period. we stand ready to support the united nations if needed, if required. no decision has been taken. >> just to take you back to the issue and targets you have hit around sirte. does he pose a threat to the area and do you know which targets he is threatening. could you address the questions -- there are questions going

between pro-and anti-gaddafi sides. are is prepared to take action? >> generally speaking, we have to recognize that this represents a trip globally. wherever he is, the remnants of the regime still demonstrate an ability to command and control systematic attacks. we have seen in a few days ago one way -- a few days prior, both from the vicinity of sirte. we looking at the theater of operation as a global entity. does he represent a threat

specifically, i do not know. does he represent a threat tomost certainly. this is why we continue to engage assets that are deployed. your second question, the presence of the rebels. so far, the anti-gaddafi forces have shown no intent to conduct systematic attacks against the

population. whoe talking about citizens did uprisings on communities. they have shown some signs of restraint in older cities. we have no reason to believe it will be a different reason -- region of sirte. there is dialogue going on in sirte and in another area. we are aware anti-gaddafi forces are trying to seek a resolution if possible without violence to this conflict.

>> [speaking french]

german television again. >> the military equipment of the gaddafi forces was mentioned earlier. could you please be more

specific about the civilians, who are they, where were they. >> i do not have the specifics. what i would tell you is the gaddafi apparatus is a global threat, has been a global threat and is threatening the overall opposition. gaddafi has repeated aggressive intent. they have shown no intent at all to retreat peacefully and call their troops to stop. from that perspective, they remain generally a threat. but keep in mind also that the coastal area west of sirte is

full of smaller and larger villages. the maneuver of military forces in that area represent a threat to the population of the area. i believe we have one question. >> the leader of the national transitional council, until last saturday has mentioned -- ask the forces to surrender. otherwise they would be a military confrontation. i do not believe surrender is

likely by the gaddafi forces. at this point, if there should be a confrontation, a greater confrontation especially in the area of sirte, inevitably, the civilians would be in greater danger. what would need to do if the -- what would nato do if the rebels entered forcibly that area, as they get off the forces would attack the civilians. >> thank you. first, i would like to say that we welcome the initiative of

maintaining a dialogue. we have seen that in sirte but other regions. i would not dismiss the possibility of a peaceful resolution in sirte or the villages around sirte. it seems to be a long time ago. even also in the south. where some were expecting bloodshed that did not occur. the sense that we're getting is as the regime is being eroded, in many villages and cities, the citizens seem to wish to avoid a fight. a key element for these

discussions are what we call the elders. my apologies for the expression. those who have influence locally -- there is the possible -- possibility of a peaceful resolution. what if this does not work? tough to predict the future. what i could predict is not the behavior of the actors on the ground but the mayor of nato. we will pursue our mission and remain vigilant. i will not speculate about how we will react to a given situation. what i can assure you is our mission is to protect the civilian population.

>> there are final questions in brussels that are follow-ups. i will go to npr first and then to reuters. >> i was interested in more reasoning as to why you considered it off the global threat. the united states downgraded him as a threat when they took away much of his nuclear capability. i would be interested in your definition of that, thanks. >> based on several factors. first it is the ability that he still displays to command and control troops movements. the troops that we see are not in disarray.

they are retreating in an orderly fashion. concealing ground and going to the second best position they could hold. we have seen it a few days ago. although they were being pushed back, there were aggressive in shelling the airports. let me declare the regime -- the threat still remains.

it has been demonstrated in the past. the threats will be over. people are starting to rebuild their country. >> you are identifying him as a global threat. >> my intent is not to -- we are talking generally speaking. projecting power within the borders of libya. there were a serious threats -- serious threat. >> when you were mentioning earlier you had reports of discussions between anti- and pro-gaddafi supporters, you were

reporting [unintelligible] and elsewhere. >> we have seen dialogue in several villages that basically were freed i'm not saying no hostilities. just to get your picture. several cities are not fortified war zones. several cities, especially

smaller villages are often controlled only with a few checkpoints. along the key road. in one or two relatively small command-and-control centers. this is the best way i could describe the picture on the ground. >> we have seen clearly where the threat has been coming from. we continue to call on all remnants of the regime to stop their threats and attacks and laid down their arms and stop the bloodshed and allow the libyan people to build the new future for libya in reconciliation, in peace and full respect for the rule of law. >> thank you.

>> the commission will issue its final report tomorrow morning. the bipartisan commission created by congress in 2008 will show billions of dollars in waste and fraud -- waste and fraud. we will have coverage on c- span2. then, on c-span3, we will take you to the resource -- retirement ceremony for general petraeus, who is stepping down to become the new director of the cia. that coverage starts at 10:00 a.m. eastern. president obama called on congress, the private sector, and state governments to take a new initiatives for finding jobs for u.s. veterans. the president announced his plans at the international convention in minneapolis. this is about 15 minutes. >> the american legion family nearly 4 million members strong

is honored by the parents of our next guest. he has said that we have a sacred trust with those who wear the uniform of the united states of america, and his actions as the nation's 44th commander in chief reflect that commitment. the recovery and reinvestment act, which he signed, provides the v.a. with more than $1.40 billion do improve services to american veterans. his administration has approved resources to effectively implement and improve the post 911 gi bill, changes that were strongly supported by the american legion. he has shown a commitment to winning the war against terrorists in afghanistan by increasing our troop presence. he has taken the fight to the enemy, using drone attacks to eliminate terrorists hiding out in pakistan and other areas. and who can forget his announcement on may 1 that a

united states navy seal team had successfully carried out a raid and killed osama bin laden? [cheers and applause] he has also felt the heavy burdens of being commander in chief, demonstrated earlier this month when he presided over a group of seals and other service members as they arrived home to dover air force base. with the american legion programs, the president took time out of his busy schedule to personally meet with every one of their participants. his wife, first lady michelle obama, launched a joint forces initiative with dr. jill biden to mobilize all sectors of society to give our service members and their families the

opportunity is and support that they have gratefully earned. ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm american legion mention to barack obama, president of the united states and our commander in chief. ♪ >> thank you. thank you so much. hello, legionnaires. >> hello. >> is wonderful to see all of you. let me first of all thank the commander for your introduction and for your lifetime of service. to your fellow marines, soldiers, and veterans, on

behalf of us all, i want to think jimmy, and i want to thank your entire leadership team for welcoming here -- welcoming me here today. thank you very much. dan wheeler, your executive director, your voice in washington, an extraordinary job. and the president of the american legion auxiliary, caerleon, thank you for your extraordinary service. [applause] end to all of the spouses, daughters, and sisters of the auxiliary, and the sons of the american legion. as military families, you also serve, and we salute all of you, as well.

there are some special guests here that i want to it knowledge. they maybe have already been acknowledged, but they are great friends, and i want to make sure i point them out. first of all, the one for governor of minnesota is here. [applause] two senators who are working every day, amy and al franken. congressman keith ellison, this is his district. and the minneapolis mayor. to wall of the other members of congress and minnesota-elected officials, welcome. it is wonderful to be back with the american legion. in fact, in illinois, my home

state -- illinois is in the house. hot we worked together to make sure veterans across the state were getting the benefits they had earned. we have worked together to spotlight the homelessness issues and the need to ended. as president, i have welcomed jimmy and the oval office to hear directly from you, and i have been honored to have you by my side when i signed the advanced appropriations for the veterans' health care for the budget battles in washington. when i signed legislation to give new support to veterans and their care givers, and most recently when i proposed new

initiatives to make sure the private sector is hiring our talented veterans, so, american legion, i think you for your partnership. i appreciate the opportunity to talk with you today about what we need to do to make sure that america is taking care of our veterans as well as you have taken care of us, and i am grateful to be with you for another reason. a lot of our fellow citizens are still reeling from hurricane i read and its aftermath. folks are surveying the damage. some are dealing with tremendous flooding. as the government, we are going to make sure that states and communities have the support that they need so there folks can recover. [applause] and across the nation, we were still digging out from the worst economic crisis since the great depression. it is taking longer and has been

more difficult than any of us imagine. even though we have taken some steps in the right direction, we have got a lot more to you. our economy has to grow faster. we have to create more jobs, and we have to do it faster. most of all, we have got to break the gridlock in washington that has been preventing us from taking the action to get this country moving. [applause] that is why next week i will be speaking to the nation about a plan to create jobs and reduce our deficit, a plan i want to see passed by congress. we have to get this done. we americans have been through tough times before. much tougher than the is. and we did not just get through them. we emerged stronger than before, not by luck, not by chance, but

because in hard times, americans do not quit. we do not give up. [applause] we summoned the spirit that says when we come together, when we choose to move forward together as one people, there is nothing we cannot achieve. and, legionnaires, you know this story, because it is the story of your lives. in times like these, all americans can draw strength from your example. when hitler control because mint, and fascism appeared unstoppable, when our harbor was bombed, and our pacific fleet crippled, there were those who declared that the united states had been reduced to a third class power, but you, our

veterans of world war ii, you stormed the beaches and freed the millions, liberated the camps, and showed the united states of america the greatest force for freedom that the world has ever known. [applause] when north korea invaded the south, pushing the allied forces into a tiny sliver of territory, it seemed like the war could be lost. but you, our korean veterans, pushed back, fought off coming year after bloody year. this past veteran's day, i went to seoul, korea, and joined our veterans for the anniversary of that war, and we marked that milestone in a free and prosperous republic of korea, one of our strongest allies, and

when they unleashed the tet offensive, and fuel the debate at home that raged over the war. you, are vietnam veterans, did not always receive the respect you deserve, which was a national shame, but let it be remembered that you won every major battle of that war, every single one. [applause] as president, i have been honored to welcome our vietnam veterans to the white house and find the present them with the metals, recognition that they had earned. it was a chance to convey on behalf of the american people those simple words with which our vietnam veterans greet each other. "welcome home." [applause]

legionnaires in the decades that followed, the spirit of your service was carried forward by the troops in the sands of desert storm, in the rugged hills of the balkans, and now, it is carried on by a new generation. in next week and will mark the 10th anniversary of those awful attacks on our nation. in the days ahead, we will honor the lives we lost and the families that love them. the first responders to rush to save others, and we will honor all of those who have served to keep us safe these tend difficult years, especially the men and women of our armed forces. today, as we near the solemn anniversary, it is fitting that we salute the extraordinary decade of service rendered by the 9/11 generation, the more than 5 million americans who

have more on the uniform over the past 10 years. they were there on duty that september morning, having unlisted in a time of peace, but they instantly transitioned. the millions of records to have stepped forward since, seeing their nation at war and saying, "send me." bob every single soldier, sailor, airman, and coast guard serving today who has volunteered to serve during a time of war, knowing that they could be sent into harm's way. they come from every corner of our country. big cities, small towns, and they come from every background can and every creed. they are sons and daughters would carry on a family tradition of service, and they are new immigrants who have become our newest citizens.

they are our national guardsmen who have served in unprecedented deployments. a record number of women in our military, proving themselves in combat and never before. and every day for the past 10 years, these men and women have succeeded together as one american team, a generation -- [applause] they are a generation of innovators. they have changed the way america fights and winds its wars. with the age of the internet, they have harnessed new technologies on the battlefield. they have learned the cultures and traditions of the languages -- and the languages of the places they have served. trained to fight, they have

taken on diplomatic roles, negotiating with tribal sheiks, working with the village sheriffs, partnering with communities. young captain's, sergeants, lieutenants, they have assumed responsibilities once reserved for more senior commanders and remind us that in an era when so many other institutions have shirked their obligations, the men and women of the united states military welcome responsibility. [applause] in a decade of war they have borne an extraordinary burden. hundreds of thousands have deployed again and again, year after year.

never before has our nation asked so much of our all- volunteer force, that 1% of americans that wears a uniform. we see the scope of their sacrifice in the tens of thousands that now carry the scars of war, both seen and unseen. our remarkable wounded warriors. we see it in our extraordinary military families who serve here at home, the military spouses that hold their families together, the millions of military children, many of whom have lived most of their young lives with our nation at war and/or mom or dad deployed. most profoundly, we see it in those patriots who have never come home. they gave their all. their last full measure of devotion. in kandahar, in the corn gulf,

in helmand, the battlefields of baghdad and fallujah and ramadi. now they lay at rest in a quiet corners of america, but they live on in the families who love them and in the nation that is safer because of their service and today we pay hommel tribute to the more than 6200 americans -- humbled tribute to the more than 6200 americans who have given their lives in this decade of war. we are the mall. we are grateful for them. -- we honor them all. we are grateful for them. to their astonishing record of achievement, our forces have earned their place among the greatest of generations. toppling the taliban in just weeks, driving al qaeda from the training camps where they plotted 9/11, giving the afghan people the opportunity to live free from terror.

when the decision was made to go into iraq, our troops accomplished their mission in less than a month. the reduced the violence and gave iraqis a chance to force their own future. when a resurgence taliban threatened to give al qaeda more space against us, the additional forces i ordered to afghanistan went on the offensive, taking the fight to the taliban and pushing them out of their safe havens, along afghans to reclaim their communities. and a few months ago, our troops achieve their best victory yet, delivering justice john osama bin laden in one of the greatest intelligence and military operations -- delivering justice

to osama bin laden in one of the greatest intelligence and military operations in american history. [applause] credit for these successes, credit for this progress belongs to all who have worn the uniform in these wars. [applause] today, we are honored to be joined by some of them and i would ask all those who have served this past decade, the members of the 9/11 generation, to stand and received the thanks of a grateful generation. [applause] thanks to these americans, we are moving forward from a position of strength, having

ended our combat mission in iraq and removed more than 100,000 troops so far, and we will remove the rest of our troops by the end of this year and we will end that war. [applause] having put al qaeda on the path to defeat, we will not relent until the job is done. having started to draw down our forces in afghanistan, we will bring home 33,000 troops by next summer and bring home more troops in the coming years. [applause] as our mission transitions from combat to support, afghans will take responsibility for their own security and the longest war in american history will come to a responsible and. for our troops and military families who have sacrificed so much, this means relief from an

unrelenting decade of operations. today, fewer of our sons and daughters are serving in harm's way for so many trips who have already done their duty we have put an end to the stop-loss. our soldiers can now look forward to shorter deployments. that means more time at home between deployments and more time training for the full range of missions that they will face. indeed, despite 10 years of continuous war, it must be said america's military is the best that it has ever been. [applause] we saw that most recently in the skill and precision of our brave forces who helped the libyan people finally break free from the group of muammar gaddafi.

and as we meet the test that the future will surely bring, including hard fiscal choices here at home -- there should be no doubt -- the united states of america will keep our military the best trained, best equipped, best fighting force in history. it will continue to be the best. [applause] now, as today's war's end, as our troops come home, we are reminded once more of our responsibilities to all who have served. the bond between our forces and our citizens must be a sacred trust. and for me and my ministration, upholding that trust is not just a matter of policy. it is not about politics. is a moral obligation. that is why my very first budget included the largest percentage

increase to the v.a. budget in the past 30 years. [applause] so far, we are on track to have increased funding for veterans affairs by 30%. and because we passed advance appropriations when washington threatened to shut down the government, as it did last spring, the veterans' medical care that you count on was safe. and let me say something else about v.a. funding that you depend on. as a nation, we are facing tough choices as we put our fiscal house in order. but i want to be absolutely clear, we cannot, we must not, we will not balance the budget on the backs of our veterans. [applause] as commander in chief i will not allow it. [applause]

with these historic investments, we are making dramatic improvements to veterans' health care. we are improving va facilities to better serve our women veterans. we are expanding our outreach and cared for our rural veterans, like those i met in my recent visit to cannon falls, including two proud engineers at post 620 and post a 164. are they out there? they are of their summer. [applause] that was a good lunch, by the way. [laughter] for vietnam veterans, because we declared that three diseases are now presumed to be related to

your exposure to agent orange, we have begun paying the disability benefits that you need. [applause] for our veterans of the gulf war, we are moving forward to address the nine infectious diseases that we have declared are now presumed to be related to your service in desert storm. [applause] at the same time, our outstanding v.a. secretary, rick shinseki -- eric shinseki, is working to build this program. many veterans are already submitting claims electronically. hundreds are order requesting that of its online thanks to the new blue button on the v.a. website. you can now share your personal health information with your doctors outside of the v.a. and we are making progress in

sharing medical records between dot and v.a. -- dod and v.a. we are not there yet we will stay at it and tell our troops have a medical record a letter from ackley that you can keep for your life. -- electronically that you can keep for your life. [applause] of course, we still have work to do. we have to break the backlog of disability claims. i know that over the past year, backlog has actually grown due to the new planes from agent orange. but let me say this -- the new claims from agent orange. youlet me say becausof this, wn have to fight to get the benefits that you have already earned, that is unacceptable. [applause] we will keep hiring new claims processors and we will keep investing in new paperless systems and keep moving ahead

with our innovation competition in which our dedicated va employees are dedicated to processing claims faster. we want to claims to be processed not in months, but in days. the bottom line is this, your claims need to be processed quickly and accurately the first time. we are not going to rest until we get that done. we will not rest. [applause] the same is true for our mission to end homelessness among our veterans. already, we have helped to bring tens of thousands of veterans off the street. for the first time ever, we have made veterans and military families a priority not just at the v.a., not just at dod, but across the federal government. and that requires agencies to work together so that every veteran who fought for america has a home in america. [applause]

we are working to fulfill our obligations to our 9/11 generation veterans. especially our wounded warriors. you know, the constant threat of a ied's has meant a new generation of service members with multiple traumatic injuries, including traumatic brain injury. and thanks to advanced armor and medical technologies, our troops are surviving injuries that would have been fatal in previous wars. we are saving more lives, but more american veterans live with severe wounds for a lifetime. that is why we need to be for them for a lifetime. we are giving unprecedented support to a wounded warriors, especially those with traumatic brain injury. and thanks to the veterans and caregivers legislation i signed into law, we are starting

caregivers with the skills they need to give this siphons for their loved ones. [applause] we are working aggressively to address another signature wound of this war, which has led to too many fine troops and veterans to take their own lives, and that is posttraumatic stress disorder. we're continuing to make major advancements in improving outreach, hiring and training more mental health counselors, veterans thanng more ever before. the days when ptsd was stigmatized, those days must end. that is why i made the decision to start sending condolence letters to the families of service members who take their lives while deployed in a combat zone. these americans did not die because they were weak. they were warriors. they deserve our respect.

every man and woman in uniform, every veteran needs to know that your nation will be there to help you stay strong. it is the right thing to do. [applause] in recent months, we have heard reports of some of our veterans not getting the prompt mental health care that they desperately need, and that, too, is an unacceptable. if a veteran has the courage to seek help, we need to be doing everything in our power to give them the mental health care that they need. secretary shinseki and the v.a. will stay on this and we will continue to make this easier for veterans with traumatic stress to qualify for benefits, regardless of the were you served in. if you served in a combat theater and a v.a. doctor confirms a diagnosis of ptsd, that is enough. which brings me to the final area where america must meet its obligations to our veterans. this is a place where we need

each other, and that is the task of renewing our nation's economic strength. after a decade of war, it is time to focus on nation-building here at home. and our veterans, especially our 9/11 veterans, have the skill and dedication to help lead the way. that is why we are funding the post-9/11 gi bill, which is now helping more than 500,000 veterans and family members go to college, get their degrees, and play their part in a moving america forward. [applause] it is why this fall, we will start including vocational training and apprentice ships as well, so veterans can develop the skills to succeed today. and that is why i have directed the federal government to hire more veterans, including more than 100,000 veterans in the past year and half alone.

in this tough economy, far too many of our veterans are still th is why i proposed a comprehensive initiative to be sure we are tapping the incredible talent of our veterans. it has two main parts. first, we're going to do more to help our newest veterans find and get that private-sector job. [applause] we are going to offer more help with career development and job searches. i have directed dod and v.a. to create what we are calling "a reverse the camp" to help our newest veterans -- boot camp" to help our newest veterans prepare for jobs and get into industry and into accepted life and credentials. and we are creating a path to make it easier for veterans to get the jobs for which they are

so clearly qualified. this needs to happen. this needs to happen now. [applause] second, we are encouraging the private sector to do its part. i have challenged companies across america to hire or train 100,000 unemployed veterans or their spouses. and this builds on the commitments that many companies have already made as part of the joint forces campaign champion ed by the first lady and the vice-president spouse, dr. joe nyden.l i have proposed a tax credit for companies to hire unemployed veterans, and a wounded warrior tax credit for companies who employ unemployed veterans with disabilities. [applause] when congress returns from

recess this needs to be at the top of their agenda. for the sake of our veterans and for the sake of our economy, we need these veterans working and contributing and creating the new jobs and industries that will keep america competitive in the 21st century. these are the obligations we have to each other, our forces, our veterans, our citizens. these are the responsibilities we must fulfill. not just when it is easy, not just when we are flush with cash, not just when it is convenient, but always. it is a lesson we learned again this year in the life and in the passing of frank buckles, our last veteran from the first world war. he passed away at the age of 110.

think about it. frank lived the american century. an ambulance driver on the western front, he bore witness to the carnage of the trenches in europe. then during the second world war, he survived more than three years in japanese prisoner of war camps. then like so many veterans, he came home, went to school, pursued a career, started a family, lived a good life on his farm in west virginia. even in his later years after turning 100, frank buckles still gave back to his country. he would go speak to schoolchildren about his extraordinary life. he would meet and inspire other veterans. and for 80 years, he served as a proud member of the american

legion. [applause] the day he was laid to rest, i ordered the flags be flown at half staff at the white house, at the government building across the nation, at our embassies across the world. as frank buckles lay in honor of arlington's memorial chapel, hundreds passed by flag-draped casket in quiet procession. most never knew him, but they knew the story of the service, and they felt compelled to offer their thanks to this american soldier. i had the pleasure of going to arlington and spending a few moments with frank's daughter, susanna, who cared for her father to the very end.

it was a chance for me to convey the gratitude of an entire nation, to pay my respects to run american who reflected the best of we are as a people. and legionnaires, it was a reminder not just to the family and friends of corporal frank buckles, but to the veterans and families of every generation, no matter when you serve, no matter how many years ago that you took off your uniform, no matter how long you live as a proud veteran of this country we love, america will never leave your side. america will never forget. we will always be grateful to you. god bless you. god bless all our veterans. and god bless the united states of america. [applause] ♪

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president obama will mark the ninth -- 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacked by visiting ground zero, the pentagon, and pennsylvania word flight 93 crash. he will end the day at the washington national cathedral. watch coverage on the c-span networks. up next on c-span, will get an update on the security situation in afghanistan. with members of congress in their summer recess, we have been covering a number of their town hall meetings.

today, republican freshman house member alan west met with constituents in palm beach gardens, florida. and senator ben cardin to questions at a community center in catonsville. we will have that later. >> the white house recently released a list of proposed federal regulation of rule changes that it says could save businesses $10 billion over five years. if we will get reaction from daniel mitchell of the cato institute on tomorrows "washington journal" and then former congressman dan glickman of the global leadership. he will talk about the federal budget. after that, james cantor of the center for ocean studies about weather forecasting and hurricane irene as well as climatology. "washington journal" here on c- span.

live coverage gets under way at 10:00 a.m. eastern of the u.s. chamber of commerce. >> next, and conversation with brigadier-general cosentino about afghanistan. barbara slave and hosted the council. -- barbara slavin hosted the council. >> good afternoon. on behalf of our president and the director of our south asian center, i would like to welcome you to what will be very

interesting discussion this afternoon. the south asia center, which was launched in 2009, has quickly become a central forum for policy makers, members of congress, and both european and south asian leaders. the center focuses on the greater south asia region, which includes the gulf, iran, afghanistan, and central asia. the center's establishment in the last two years has become a central point of this course on issues related to afghanistan. with the onset of the drawdown of u.s. and isaf forces in afghanistan and the deadline for a full transition to take place by 2014, many questions remain about the afghan security forces' ability to effectively

take on operations to ensure long-term stability and success. we are pleased robert kadhir general cosentino, the deputy commander general of the mission in afghanistan joining us today. to introduce a general cosentino, i would like to pass the microphone to barbara slavin, who in addition to the published author and an expert on the middle east is also our non-resident senior fellow and a vital participant of the iran task force. >> thank you all for coming. the we did not expect this turnout in august, but we are delighted to have you here. i had the great pleasure of meeting the general when he was a colonel and had a fellowship with the u.s. institute of peace in 2007, 2008. but since that time he has gone on to more distinguished things. he has worked at the pentagon

and has more recently been in afghanistan, but he has long experience working with these issues and we are delighted he was able to make time to come and talk to us, especially at this pivotal moment. as we all know, the mission in afghanistan has been very difficult, very complicated. it is, i believe, the bloodiest year, certainly for u.s. forces. we have had the highest number of u.s. casualties since the war began 10 years ago. there is a lot that is expected of the afghan national army and the afghan police. there has been questioned if we are of to the task, particularly with the united states beginning to withdraw forces of the summer and into 2014. i will ask a question or two, and then we will open it up to questions from the floor. i think, one of the major

concerns that i am hearing is that the ethnic mix, particularly of the officer corps, is just not right. there is a very small percentage of cautions from the south, and very few indeed -- of pashtuns from the south, and very few others. can this really be a successful national army as long as pas htuns want to stay away from? >> that is a good question. thank you for having me here. this ethnic balance issue is critical, but is tied to a few factors that are, you know, besides the historical factors, there are some practical issues, especially in the leadership

ranks in the army and police. most specifically, the literacy rate, or illiteracy rate of the pashtuns is one of the biggest problems, finding enough literate southern pashtuns to put in officer and acencio training has been a challenge. now what we have done, we have done a few things to try to address this issue. the first one is very active recruiting for southern pashtu and is largely a local assignment for the police so they can work and live in the same area, while the army is

fielded nationally. the second is, we have opened up regional training centers for the army in the south, which did not add this -- to exist just 18 months ago. we build a regional training center in helmand province. and we have a regional military training center going into kandahar, and then we have police training centers that we have built in both kandahar and helmand. by dispersing and disaggregating this process down to the regional level, we have had a huge uplift in southern pashtu in the last six months. that is starting to change. initially, the success has been more with the police and in the

army. -- a van in the army. the third piece is trying to get at the illiteracy issue. two years ago, nato training mission -- even though we have been in afghanistan as a mission as isaf, and the u.s. for 10 years, the nato training mission is only 22 months old, barbara. and one of the things that we realized right away is that literacy in afghanistan is really bunched at the two ends of the age spectrum. children are going to schools that have opened since 2001, and then the generation that went to school prior to the soviet invasion prior to 1979 have a degree of literacy. and the age group that you want in your security forces, 18-40,

there is a 14% literacy rate. >> is that countrywide? or just the south? >> it is countrywide, and it is worst in the south. the taliban and the areas that they took over shut schools down pretty thoroughly. what you have now is when you take a few officers that you can glean who have high school educations, and then those who have some level of literacy to noncommissioned officer training, what you have is effective 100% illiteracy -- illiteracy rate for your basic soldiers. any kind of basic military functioning or police functioning, they cannot take a police report. if you come to me with a crime and i cannot even write it down, you are going to think he is not even going to do anything about it.

we have now got every single soldier and policeman, 100% that go through the training base get literacy training. that is starting to have some traction now. at one of the things with the southern pashtu is that we have an accelerated program to take those pashtu of any level of literacy and intensively trained them up so they are qualified to be police or soldiers. >> what percentage of the officers are southern pashtu? >> i cannot tell you right off the top of my head. i do not have that number, but the general balance is still about one-third of the force that are when you think of the total afghan force our southern pashtu. we're working to address that balance. >> you mentioned to the police,

and this seems very much like the iraq model where you have the sons of iraq and you cannot get certain ethnic groups to join the army or you have a local force. how subservient are these local forces to the interior ministry of afghanistan? it seems to have a contradiction. one of the goals is to create a strong, coherent afghan government. on the other hand, you are building up local police, some might call them loath -- local militia forces. do the two worked together? or is there a danger that they will be really separate and go their own way and not answer to the national government? >> well, what i would say is there are two types of police at the local level. what are uniformed police who go through the full training, and the others are the local -- what they call the afghan local

police, which are really similar to the sons of iraq, who are trained by our special operations forces from isaf that are there. to date, we are nationally fielding the uniformed police. even the ones that are more regionally focused, like the recruiting efforts of the southern pashtun, they go through the same instruction, and i think we have seen good results on their tie-back to the provincial government, and then to the central government. although i would argue that they really do not feel the effect of the central government. they identify more with their provincial government and the connection is really the pay. on the local police level, to date, most of our afghan local police are not from the southern pashtu area spirit we are

recruiting there. we have had some and we have had great success there. again, if you are defending your home, once you bring the local leaders into the process of security, then those afghan local police are defending their own homes. it has been affected. there are elements out there who call themselves afghan local police who are unsanctioned and we are very clear that we do not pay them. we do not supply them. and we actively work to try to get them into the process. when we are talking afghan local police, the only ones that are truly certified are the ones that have been trained by isaf special operations forces. >> one more and then i will open it up. this is a summer we have seen some colossal incidents. we have seen an attack on the

intercontinental hotel just recently on the british consul. we have seen situations where clearly, afghan forces cannot manage on their own. why should we feel any sense of confidence that these folks are going to be able to deal with the insurgents? >> i totally and respectfully disagree. the intercontinental hotel was a huge afghan success. it was handled totally by the afghan security forces. they responded a very rapid manner. they dealt with it with a minimum of civilian casualties. they were professional in their approach. now, is the enemy able to execute spectacular attacks? yes. if we had that enemy here in the u.s., they would be able to execute spectacular attacks. it is a war zone.

are they able to hold ground -- in kabul? i will tell you, they are not. as an isaf team, the enemy is almost in a headlong retreat in helmand and kandahar. they run, but they cannot hide. well, like i said, though, the ability to conduct a spectacular attack -- anybody who was willing to blow themselves up can kill lots of people. we have seen it in mumbai. the we have seen it with the world trade center with 9/11 coming up. we have seen it in spain. we have seen it in london. you are not going to be able to address that fully with the security forces. a lot of that is going to have

to be addressed long term through the reconciliation process, through the education process. but as far as the ability to totally disrupt a society, the insurgent thread, the taliban for lack of a better term, it is increasingly limited in the places where they can do that in afghanistan. and i think it's actually great -- the intercontinental hotel, the response to the attacks in kandahar are success stories for the afghan security forces. we did not have to deal with it. they dealt with it. >> i believe there was some u.s. involvement. >> advisers. afghanistan is going to need air support for some time. it will not have a fully

functioning air force for some time. but the troops on the ground were afghan commandos that dealt with the situation. >> ok, thank you. we will open it up. the general has decided not to do the power point right now, but if people ask questions that are appropriate, he will refer to it. >> this is a pretty informed audience, so i think he would rather get to your questions and have a dialogue. >> please identify yourself. >> [unintelligible] >> and wait for the microphone. >> i have two questions. [unintelligible] they are saying thanks to the u.s. and nato because they are

now free from the taliban and the atrocities created by them. but they do not have enough confidence in the government because of corruption and other issues. >> that is a really good question about the future of afghanistan. what i will do is i will come back to what i know, and then if you want to do a follow-up, we can go from there. what i know is that from 2009 until now, everybody knows that the united states surged 30,000 forces to help address the security situation in afghanistan. what your people know is that nato surged 10,000 additional forces -- what fewer people know is that nato surged 10,000 additional forces in isaf.

what is often not known is that the afghan people surged 101,000 has grown fromce approximately 100,000 to approximately an additional 156,000 for a total of 352,000. a country that does not have people committed to their own security could not have done that in the last 20 months. it would have been impossible. i've would say that the first thing is, -- i would say that the first thing is, we are fielding an effective army police that will provide the base line of security. they have challenges. we are not done with that.

it is going to take all the way through the end of 2014 to build the sustaining pieces, logistics, complex capabilities like fire support to get them to where they can provide that baseline of security. from security, and obviously, i am a guy in uniform so you will hear my perspective, but when we say that they will provide security i do not mean that the war will end. i do not think that the war will be over on december 31, 2014. it will just be that the afghan army and police will be securing their own people and there will be occasional dramatic attacks that they will have to deal with, but by and large, my eight and i have driven all over afghanistan -- my aide and i

have driven all over afghanistan and in the last eight months, i have never seen so much economic activity. spelman province is a boom town. lashkagar, everywhere you go someone is putting up a business or a building. people are investing their own money. this is not u.s. aid. this is not ngo's. it is not the world bank or the united states of america. is afghans and some of their neighbors, to be on as to -- iran, others. and i'm talking private entities, not the government. if you want to see where there is security, follow the money. people do not make investments where their investments are at risk. and there is a great deal of economic activity flowing into especially southern afghanistan. i am very optimistic if we finish the mission that afghanistan will be able to

continue to progress and ride out this security situation. >> thank you for that answer. afghanistan depends on neighboring pakistan. >> well, a lot of that is a political, diplomatic, as well as security situation, your right. the two are tied together. and the security and the success of pakistan is tied to afghanistan. there is a vested interest. i will tell you that the new command team, not that the old command team did not have the focus, but the real focus of general patraeus was to get an afghan army and police fielded in the country and to turn back

the insurgency, which i think he successfully bid over the last year. ambassador crocker and general allan have a great, almost laser-like focus on leading the international community to get the government of afghanistan and the government of pakistan discussing their security challenges. i would be disingenuous if i said there was not a serious security challenge, especially in? as much success as we have had in the south, we're still really challenged in the east of the country. a think you'll see a great deal of both diplomatic and military effort go into that situation over the next six months or so. >> thank you.

>> i have seen a lot of training is because i used to interpret for isaf. one of the concerns that have always been there is the mutual trust between the security forces and isaf. there have been cases where someone in an afghan uniform turning against the isaf forces. i do not know if they have used a news step for mutual trust lessons and ideas. >> the is a really good question. the afghan army and police are

amongst the people and so is the enemy. even in those places were the enemy can troll back, this is a counterinsurgency. so the enemy is still out there most people. we recruit from the people. these are not mercenaries. as much as you try to fully vet 0 1/4, some bad actors come into the force. that is one thing -- vet the force, some bad actors coming to the force. that is one thing. another thing is a process that includes technological vances -- advances like biometrics and

other techniques. we have no problem meeting our recruiting requirements or even now our ethnic balance requirements. the police were actually over our numbers in basic patrol. now it is a leadership training issue, not a recruiting issue. in the army, we met our 6500 goal every month, including last month. but we turn re -- but return with 1400 people who tried to recruit and become or join the military. that was for a variety of reasons. some of them were medical and stuff. but there was a variety of bad actors. either they had bad associations

that were worries some more they had criminal pasts. or issues of corruption. that was 1400 that were turned away through this vetting process. i think the progress is there and is providing a great deal of insurance and trust to the force, knowing that you have this active vetting process that is going on. but there are many thousands of members of the afghan army and police. scooter -- scattered throughout their, their may be a few bad actors. that is the second thing. the third thing is you have a lot of people who claim to be jihadis and insurgents at the moment they're getting captured

or they start trying to fight their way out because that is a much more honorable way in their view to go than being an out and out criminal. what we found in some of these cases is that these guys are not really insurgents. they are just out and out criminals. as they got caught in their criminal activity, they turned on either their ally -- their isaf ally or they turn on their fellow afghan members because the news was closing in on them. -- because the noose was closing in on them. i can tell you the stories of people who were insurgents or infiltrators. they are overplayed.

but it is still a threat throughout their, months of people. there will be some folks to get through. >> can i ask you about the attention. do you have some figures about that? that used to be a big problem. >> it is still a challenge. i would not say that it is a huge problem right now because we are meeting -- we get as many as we need to get to maintain the force. patricia has dropped. -- attrition has dropped. last month, some significant drops occurred, the last several months. we are at about two 0.2% per month. on a national -- figure it over a year, that is a lot. 24%, 26%, that is a big turnover. on the other hand, there are a couple of factors in that. the biggest factor is that there

is no law that requires you to say. -- stay. so it is not like, a few list in the united states army, you sign a contract and you cannot just leave whenever you want to leave. in afghanistan, you can just pick up and go home. often, what happens, to be quite honest with you, is to have mostly would -- mostly young men who it is the first time they are away from home and they do not like it. i remember the first time i was an enlisted soldier, i might have gone home, too, if i had not been contacted. but the real factors that drove attrition was really bad leadership, or pay, that living conditions and less about the fight.

the afghans are fighters. they're not afraid to get into a scratch. -- to get into a scrap. so we turned to leader training. we are very focused on helping the afghan army and police develop confident, honest, good leaders. that has helped. we looked the army and police and the disparities in pay and we brought them up to the same pace as the army, which has helped on the police side. and then we work in incentive pay so that every soldier, once they leave the training base, is considered at war. so they get combat pay. it is a 360 combat in burma and. and the facilities are much better than they were. there has been a huge investment in the facilities to make the living standards of the afghans better.

all of those factors have started to drive down the attrition rate. it is not where we would want to it yet. it is not a desperate situation because we are not losing -- we are able to meet our requirements. but like any big organization, there is an investment they have to make you cannot retain your people. >> how about all the way down at the end. >> i served in the marines and i worked for the former afghan ambassador. could you provide us with an update on the status of the afghan public protection force? as a understand it, they have three levels of training in the works. two week-program for petitioner is accorded -- for practitioner security. i just want to see where you

stand or where do we stand with regards to the legal steps in creating the acgf as a state- owned enterprise? >> i will digress for just a second. i am not budging your question. -- dodging your question. my roll over there, we have about 6000 mtma trainers and a advisers in the country. i have 3000 deployed advisers. and in six commands around the country. my actual interaction with the appf is small. i will tell you that the efforts of to this point have been largely in clarifying the

laws that will govern how the appf is brought on board and paid for. much may have changed in the last three weeks to four weeks since i have been on leave and back here in washington, d.c.. when we left, the first real plus for appf were ongoing. my understanding was that they were very well attended and seemed to be successful. the assessment of afghan justice department represents a truce came to observe it -- presented to us who came to observe it and the secretary of the interior -- i cannot give

you much more than that. i think it is a unique program. there is nothing like it, really, anywhere else. we had the facilities protection force in iraq. but even in those cases, they were truly paid by the government. there were not a corporate entity. so this is very unique. time will tell how it goes. initial reports from the training was that it was going very successfully. >> my name is frederick erickson and i am with the danish a

messy. -- embassy. i have two questions. with the after local police, that was the brainchild of general petraeus. there has been some criticism of it and there were some press reports a couple of weeks ago that some units had been closed in central and northern afghanistan. do you see the role of the afghan police changing? the second question -- as isaf is beginning to scale down, what do you see the role of nato training missions as being? and how do you coordinate with national contributions? >> there is a lot there. it is actually all really good stuff. first off, let me commend the

danes. the danes down in southwest have done fantastic. we encourage the danes to join the training missions in a more robust manner as they change their national objectives inside afghanistan. we love them and they are great. as a matter of fact, mortar countries have been fantastic, great partners. the alp, i think it will endure because it is having great success. i think i said it before. there is alp that is certified and then there is alp that may be a bunch of guys with guns with somebody who may have connection in the government and they try to get themselves

designated alp. we do not actually tolerate that. we'll support troop pay -- through pay and other supplies and resources and weaponsa those -- resources and weapons to those alp that are certified. those programs are highly effective and there will continue to grow. nobody is more effective than a motivated person defending their own home. while the rest of isaf is now drawing down,mtma is still growing. at some point, we will have some sort of decrease.

but i think what the very dynamic piece in mtma is the vibrant participation. we keep adding countries to it. we have 34 participating countries. we have moved into a phase of the mission where, as we transition over the basic training task over to the afghans -- we have trimmed about 4000 army from my instructors in the last year -- we're getting into more specific and higher level skills which mtma is uniquely postured to train. for instance, we are bringing some hundreds of personnel american over the next four

months focused on stewardship. when i mean by that is that the afghan people have a very good sense of stewardship, taking care of their stuff at a personal and family type of degree. what we do not have runout is a good sense of doing that at the institutional or national level. if you think about the governments that they had come especially since 1979 into the early 2000's, the government did not give you any pay, except for a problem. now teaching these forces to actually care for facilities, to take care of their equipment, to do networking, maintenance, logistics, medical, all of those kinds of stewardship of

both people facilities and equipment -- all of that requires a different set of skills. we are starting to move out of the counterinsurgency police training while we still calling it the foundation of this. we're getting into civil police training. before we had a six-week block of instruction for basic coin police training. have to be a policeman in a counterinsurgency fight. we have focused on civil policing. eventually, that will grow over many more weeks. it takes several months to train a policeman on how to understand and be part of the rule of law and justice.

our nato partners and our bilateral partners are critical. the germans and the dutch are taking the lead of north in northern afghanistan on this initiative for civil policing. we look at a lot of our mtma members either as a part ofmtma 4 in bilateral relationships with the government of afghanistan to pick up the load on that. we see a point not that far into the future where we will not have isaf-run facilities in the north of afghanistan. and then you have facilities supported by the germans with the support of other nations in participation with them in the police train. -- training.

for while, you will see an enduring mtma native training mission going on. and then you see these other bilateral relationships, especially in the area of policing and the rule of law. sir? >> good afternoon, sir. i am michael would occur. -- whittaker. i wonder if the afghan national security fits into the overall national equation. i'm curious on your thoughts and how to best utilize the afghan security and making sure they're not unchecked on doing their own missions, operating outside the rule of law, if you will. alwaysink there's concern to make sure that anybody we are partnered with in any place is working inside the rule of law.

and respecting human rights and justice. as far as the mfd and -- the nds and their operations, we want them to operate independently and be successful at it. some of this, i can i get too deeply into, but they have been very successful in ferreting out against the security forces of afghanistan, i guess the coalition, and against the people and government of afghanistan. i think of the nds has been not only a fourth mobile park, but a multiplier for good.

anything that increases the aggregates to treat it for the people of afghanistan is a good thing. that said, it does not mean that we are not very cognizant. there are actors out there in all military services who sometimes do not bind -- do not abide by the rule of law. in the cases we know about, we bring them to the attention of the government of afghanistan and we address them. >> can i ask a little bit of a big picture question? you mentioned some of the things you're expecting to happen in the next few months, in terms of transitioning. we have a conference coming up in november or december. can you give us a sense of how the overall strategy is? it seems that the

reconciliation is not going very well. there is no greater love for president karzai then there was the last time we checked. we do have ryan crocker who is a miracle worker, i know. but if you could give us a sense of whether the other pieces of the puzzle are beginning to fall into place while you work on the afghan forces. >> i do think that the diplomatic efforts of reconciliation -- a couple of things. first, there is no way that they cannot be directly tied to the security situation and the sense of the enemy on whether the tide has turned. i think we're seeing a change

regarding the internal afghanistan. i think that is largely because the enemy is back on the wheel in southern afghanistan. at a much higher level, -- that is at the local level. at a much higher level, it goes back to the of a gentleman's question of pakistan and there has to be no long term agreement and reconciliation cannot concerts -- can occur without taking into consideration pakistan. i will throw that back on ambassador crocker. i think that he and general allen are focused on that.

on broader issues of the effectiveness of the plan, how the government of afghanistan is doing, it is challenged. it is challenged largely for the same reasons that we have challenges in the development of the afghan national security forces. there is a human capital challenge. you cannot have a whole generation of people at war and then expect that, somehow, you will recruit enough people that will then effectively be able to provide government. that is just something that will take time. in my opinion a lot of this will come bottom-up, not top- down. a gentleman before talked about his role as an interpreter. they have started out as

interpreters a few years before. that is how long term the bigger picture will improve. it will be individuals kicking in and investing in the country. i think this human capital challenges not something you can fix overnight. and clap your hands and all of a sudden government will be perfect in afghanistan. to say anything else would really not be true. but i do think that we're seeing progress in areas. it will just take a while and the international community will have to make a long-term

commitment. one last thing i will say on this issue of human capital, i believe that the president's initiative to drawdown, to start recovering the surge -- i am sure nader is it i'm sure and there will also start recovering forces -- will have positive effect on providing more human capital in afghanistan. to some degree, just the numbers of people that we have their, historically to how things would normally sort themselves out -- i will give you an example. i use this example for the human capital issue. i am the guy who signs off on visa applications for interpreters. this is so they can either steady in the u.s. or come for a visit, whatever the case may be. we did about 38 rav4 went only to come home. -- 38 right before i went on

leave to come home. i had nine doctors working as interpreters just that the nato training mission in afghanistan. that upset me. i am having a distorting effect on what would normally be the economy or how things would sort out in afghanistan. on the other hand, what i will tell you, just like those two gentlemen who opened up a newspaper, at some point, as we leave, those nine doctors will get a micro loan and they will

go into practice or work in a hospital. we will see, i think, a surge -- as long as city is maintained and we stick with the people of afghanistan and follow through with them -- i think we will see a surge of talent into afghan society that will change afghan society. right now, we pay the more than anybody else around. once they have to give back into society to earn a living, they will have an impact. i think they will have an effect in government. i think it will have an effect in education. they will have an impact in business. they will have an impact in the professions. i think it will be a very dynamic time as long as we finish the mission in building at this afghan national security force and we continue and the international community continues. >> not to be cynical, they may

also pick up and leave as we leave. >> they could. they could flee. -- they could leave. but what i have found is that the people of afghanistan love their country. they're dedicated to their country. they believe, if we let the security situation dissolved into chaos, if we continue the mission -- and that does not mean 100,000 troops. that means building of the capability for afghanistan to secure its people. then people will stick with the country and they will make that commitment to their own country and their own people. sir? >> national du graphic retired. -- national geographic retired. it brings up -- with a contrarian congress that we have right now, how can we say to the afghans that we will be here for you? if it is not your protocol. how did you convince them that we will be there?

we did withdraw once before? >> it does mean what you mean by "to be there >" i do not think we will be their -- there past 24 team in tens of thousands of troops -- i do not think we will be there past 2014 in tens of thousands of troops. but there will be leaders to come out to afghanistan. i will not name names. from the department of defense, the department of state, and the administration, i think people understand that these are smart people. they know the history of the region. they know what happened when a much less capable force had

their funding cut out from underneath it in the 1990's. september 11 is coming up. i was at the pentagon. the flight flew over my head when it hit the building. i do not believe that we will pull pitch and not pay and run. i think we have a mandate to find ways to become much more efficient and kind of bring the cost down to maintain this force overtime. that is one of the things -- that is one of our missions right now. can i go into something for a second? >> yes. >> this goes to the point of the cost. we spent billions of dollars on

infrastructure in afghanistan. frankly, we're very concerned about the ability of afghanistan to maintain it for structure. -- infrastructure. not even so much from a money stem part, but from a technical standpoint. their technical class has not been fully developed yet to get to that point. that is one of the reasons why we bring in all of thses -- these stewardship people to train them. we were not very wise on how we did construction in afghanistan. we built to osha standards. we built to western standards. we put in western-style sinks and things that were not -- that did not match the culture and were not sustainable and the untenable -- and maintainable for the long haul. what we started doing for the last year oso is -- year or so

is building in the afghan style. 125 degrees in helmund about a month ago. we went from building these western-style buildings to building the adobe style that the afghans are used to with the bricks of the make and the mud walls and the more narrow windows. it is their style of building with some technological improvements. for instance, we put report could they shop would into the bricks because that is what they had. we provided better cement and so on. much cheaper to make. very easy to maintain. the first thing a afghan does is put up the wall. then i have to build and maintain walls.

outside, it is 125 degrees, no power, and no electricity, and is 80 degrees inside this adobe building with no fans and nothing. we should have been doing that for 10 years. we did not open up our eyes and see it. we started doing that and we think that building in a style that is adapting to the local capabilities and also to the local culture will be better. we stopped putting in big air- conditioning units and started putting in fans. in the more remote police stations, we have put in solar panels in a country where you have 340 days of sunshine. solar panels will actually provide the energy they need in a police station and you do not

have to truck in oil. you don't have to have generators to maintain. you just have solar panels and some electrical wires. it is a much different way of doing business. we think that that will crush these costs down and we will get them down to a basic bare minimum. it is still a significant amount of money for a country that has their own economic challenges. but when we think about the investment we have already made in afghanistan and what the costs and the results will be of letting the security situation deteriorates if you did not stick with them, we think it will be worth the long-term investment for america. >> i wanted to follow-up with your comments about human capital. as you know, women are an integral part of the human

capital in the future of afghanistan. as i look over your shoulder, i see if you know police officer on the part -- on the power point. i wanted to get your perspective more information about not only the participation of women in the security forces and the integration, but also police sensitivity training. a lot of the narrative or rational in fighting the taliban involves the rights of women. >> there are about three or four areas that i would bring in. the first one is that you have a very aggressive learning program. we are successful so far with the police then the army.

that is mainly because it is a cultural thing. you can be local and be a one policeman. -- and be a woman policeman. from a cultural standpoint, the idea of searching, that you have to search people and have your population or more are women, the afghans get it. they do not want men searching women care it is easier to get support from the afghan government and the local leaders to support women and police. it is tougher in the army, but we are making strides. if any of you would like to take a trip, you should go to san antonio. we have the first four women pilots in afghanistan. they are finishing their english training because they need to learn english before they can

get to the rest of the instructions. we have women pilots. we also graduated a class at officer candidate school. we have been successful, especially in the north, in recruiting women for the border police. what we found is that, we get a variety of women, young women but also a lot of war widows who come in and women are interesting. in the north, i will not get into the specific names of who the leaders are but there was a group of women who were policewomen. so a local leader was going to come speak to them. i think he thought he was going to go in there as the lord of

the manner and say aren't i great. they jumped him with we need child care, we need better facilities. it was almost like they had a women's union. he walked out of their goings, i cannot have them yell at me. we have to give them what they need. they have child care. there is no hard shrinking of violence in afghanistan. afghan women are strong. especially to go through what they have gone through. our numbers are not where we would like them to me. -- to be. but every soldier and a policeman -- policeman, the sides of the fact they are getting literacy training, besides that they learned the constitution and they learn part of their role is to respect the rights of all afghans, including behalf of the population who are women.

so, i think that that has been a positive factor. when you recruit a woman, you get a whole family committed to the process because it is a brave act for them to send a doctor or a wife or somebody to military police training. we actively tried to make sure they are supported. the last thing -- and this is really kind of empowering women but not directly in uniform. afghanistan, before the soviet invasion, had an extremely vibrant cottage industry, textile industry. afghan women mostly run and owned by afghan women. there was no cultural -- and most islamic countries, there is no problem. women can be businessmen with a no problem. and it is supported. and these textile industries were very successful and they

actually exported out of the region their products. one of the things that we did at nato training mission, using techniques like we have here in this country set aside, we set aside contracts to help women get textile companies up and running -- uniform textile companies. every piece of afghanistan uniform is produced by afghan- owned companies. they do not come from outside anymore. a couple of years ago they would have come from china or other places. they are all produce locally now. most of those companies are women-owned companies. that is having a dynamic effect on the local economy, especially in kabul. >> is it true of the women in the south as well? i can see -- are you getting pashtun women? >> we are getting some.

more in the border police. and it comes to this issue of searching. that is really -- it is a protection thing. they don't want their women searched by other men. that is really -- that is the hook to get them in. from there, all we report from there. obviously, just like we lag behind -- behind, because two years ago, frankly, the enemy owns helmont and canada are -- helmand and kandahar and now the people of afghanistan on it again been now we are recruiting more southern pashtun men and i think we will get more women involved.

>> mark cramer. >> yes, sir. >> just hold it. >> a couple of questions and i have a comment under my sergeant major act. you mentioned the economic and small-business piece. one thing i would add to it, when i was there in 2005 and in 2006 that i watched in addition to that is the litter. the letter was being picked up and the streets were kept clean, and security people were feeling relatively safe. once that went down, construction went down, well, i did not like going through that area. it was consistent. that is one of the other things. on the construction, my question would be -- and i am

glad to see what was being done -- is being done because that is what i was saying in 2005. but the same -- certain buildings are going to need to adhere to u.s. standards. is that being done? like com centers, intel, these type, information centers. that was a problem in 2005 and in 2006 because there was a refusal to do with and the afghans and noticed. >> we are. those are primarily being built by the corps of engineers, u.s. army corps of engineers and the u.s. air force engineers. where those requirements are needed. what i am talking more about is the tactical infrastructure or the basic training infrastructure at the regional military training centers or

tactical and if the structure at a local police based in -- station. for some of these higher level facilities -- hospitals, intel centers, and so on, those are still u.s. corps of engineers projects. now, five years ago, i would tell you that most of those facilities under the corps of engineers direction was billed by pakistanis or by iranians or somebody from outside of afghanistan. i would argue that most of them today are being built by afghans. we enforce an entire industry of construction. we have problems getting afghans now to do our stuff because they are like, we are too busy. these are guys that we started up -- they build a wall and lay a foundation and was a rip down, it is going to fall down. they work with our engineers until they learned the techniques and they got it

going. now, we need to build something. they say, we are too busy, can we do it in two months. who are you busy with? we are building a factory over here, in business over there. it is amazing. so, i think mostly we are building to those standards, sir, but most of them are being built by afghans now, which i think is a great and proven. -- improvement. >> that afghans are building them. they are doing it so that when it comes to information sharing, the standards are there so we can share information. >> yes. i would say that those are fully invested and built that way. -- vetted and bolts that way. >> on the human capital side, one of the things -- in the group i worked with, they were all literate. the illiterate ones where the

u.s., and by that i mean none of the u.s. had -- refusal by the u.s. to teach us. my slavic actually helped me better working with the afghans. so, in working with afghans, an emphasis on getting the u.s. literacy rates in dahrir, pashtu, up. >> that is a challenge, to be honest with you, and that is why we have doctors, mr. rahim, as interpreters. i would say that the afghan hands program has been wildly successful. these are the folks who go into intensive language training.

they do that and then they usually go into a school environment, and then they go forward to afghanistan. they do a tour in afghanistan and then they returned to afghanistan and go back into a more intensive training and work on the policy side of the house or the planning side, and then they returned to afghanistan. that was an initiative largely generated by general mcchrystal before he went to afghanistan, which is now having great effects. so, for instance, one of these afghan hands it is one of my at lieutenant-colonel out in the west herat region. what he does is he goes out on a regular basis and works, because he speaks both languages. i don't know how well, because i don't. but he does. he gets out there and he talks to local police chiefs and it gauges with the police to try to get them to send those who

are on the payroll prior to this whole training effort back for training and convince them that you will actually get your people back. they will be told by somebody else and sent somewhere all spare it is highly effective. he also engages with the afghans to say, what is working and what is not working. so, it is a feedback loop that comes back in. we learned on that. so, no, i would be totally disingenuous if i told you that 150,000 nato forces are going to learn dahri and pashtu, and to be quite honest, i hope we are not in afghanistan long enough for that many americans to learn those languages. i think there has been a very intensive effort to get some americans and some members of isaf trained on it so they can actually work with and truly partner at a level that is probably appropriate for a long-term relationship.

>> just one last dig >> ok. then i will call a joint training between the police and the ana. certain areas, here in the u.s., you have what is called the wall that usually exists between what law enforcement and intel doing basic training. what is being done to ensure that that is not being set up by us within afghanistan? >> well, what i would say is a couple of things. number one, there is a force in afghanistan that bridges the gap. that is the afghan national civil order police. they are trained by our italian, french, spanish, -- frankly because we do not know how to do it, because we don't

have that in america. we don't have a paramilitary- type force. at an operational and technical level, you have a force that bridges between police and army. and they are very effective. and the europeans did the training and they are outstanding. i wish we had another 1000. we would do it much faster. functional skills we share a lot. we have, for instance, police and medics get trained in the army centers. a driver training is done in army centers. we are taking a hard look at logistics' because the afghans do logistics' probably in a way that will end up evolving into something fundamentally different than a western-style. so, training afghan army and police to gather on logistics.

there are certain skills that we don't want actually policemen doing -- artillery and mortars. so, we will not give it to them. at least we are not going to pay for them. that training will be segmented and staying with the army. i think there was a gentleman down there. >> it has been reported that to maintain the security forces after 2014, it is going to cost $8 billion. they seem confused about where that figure comes from and believed it is a high number. >> i do not know either. >> could you elaborate on the details? >> i cannot elaborate because i do not know where that figure comes from. --on't think is going to me

here is the problem. with stuff moving back and forth between afghanistan before policy decisions are made, part of it is there are numbers being thrown around that are based on courses of action and never became policy. you have a course of action that might have had $8 million on it before anybody did any real number crunching. and before a policy and what they're going to have from an infrastructure standpoint. that number probably got out there and it may be on somebody from some point.

i have also seen the numbers that are much lower. we do not know the exact number because the policy decision to go to 352,000, we do not know all lot of the factors involved. until we get a handle on the infrastructure, we don't know these what the costs will be. the final piece is we're not sure what the commitment from the international community will be. i agree with the minister. i think it is a high number. i think it is going to be some number much less than that. how much less i do not know. i am not keeping something in my

back pocket. i do not know. i would argue that there are still policy decisions that we are yet to get that will help drive that number. some of it has to do with the disposition of the forces and where we are from a standpoint of reconciliation in 2014. if anybody tells you this is the number, i think they're talking out of their hat. nobody knows. what i would say, it is not going to be cheap but i do not think it will be anywhere near $8 billion. >> this year it is 11.6 billion. >> that is different. he is talking about salaries and sustainment the.

we are in a building stage. we are in that the stage of building facilities, staging equipment, we're still in a growth stage until sometime next year. >> to you now how much his salary? >> that is a good question. i cannot answer that. it is a small portion. the large majority of the money is physical construction and fielding the equipment. the next amount is a combination of sustainment costs and salaries. the 12.8 is going to drop like a

rock. we are basically finished in 2012. with the exception of the air force which will grow out for some number of years. but largely the afghan police force will largely be fielded by the fall of next year. >> we have a little more time, 10 more minutes. >> this gentleman here. >> he needs to pick up the pace a little bit. [laughter] >> i had a question about the police training. i wanted to get an update on that and what the prospects are. >> there were reports earlier this year that the contractors

involved with the police training were not performing very well. there are issues around someone -- in terms of contractor support. >> i would say that there are a lot of dedicated workers in afghanistan who are good people. there are also fairly expensive. why we have worked so hard to expand ourselves out to 34 nations was it drives the cost down. we have saved hundreds of millions of dollars by cutting back on the contracts. when they stood up, almost all of the police training was done by contractors. very little of the training is now done by contractors.

to the point that by the end of this fall, you will have almost all of the actual training will be done by afghans or mtma uniformed personnel. where contractors are employed, they will be logistics advises or in and buys her to the commander on management of the facility. they are there just to allow around the edges. for instance, in some of our facilities, when i got there, it was 100% contract police training. there are now no contractors there. the number of contractors has dramatically dropped.

if you want, you could reach out to us later and i could give you specifics on that. a lot of that contract training was good, but it is better when you are being trained by italian california unerring -- by other -- better training and more professional and higher quality. also, as we move away from coin policing and police training to civil policing and more of a focus on a rule of law, then we will move much more on our nato partners to do that training. anybody else?

>> a quick question that mentioned the indian involvement in the economic growth. could you talk more about their involvement in some of the security forces? >> they are not involved in the security force training. at all. >> but there was consideration at one point. >> i cannot talk to that. i do not know. if there was, it was not while i was there. i do think that there is a very accurate in the and economic support to afghanistan -- in the and economic support to afghanistan. drive to kabul and look at all the cell phone and computer advertisements that have women's whose heads are not covered. the looks outpatient peridots are not pakistan. -- they look asian.

those are not pakistan. again, i cannot really speak for the government of india. i am talking about the people of india. that is a different thing. >> you ever raise the issue of the neighbors, so i have to ask the iran question. talk about their economic involvement and also the security situation. we hear reports from time to time that they are playing various sides of the fence. and there has been a troublesome uptick in violence. what is your sense of what the iranians are up to? >> first off, let me separate iranian people and iranian businesses from the iranian government. the iranian people and the iranian businesses have a long- term economic relationship with the people of afghanistan,

especially western afghanistan. i think that by all measures, that is a good thing. it is a good thing for the people afghanistan and the people of iran and it is a good thing for the prospects of peace and democracy if that is going on back and forth, especially with a democratic country in afghanistan. that is a first thing. the second thing, the unlimited -- to the limited degree to what i can say, it is troubling some of the weapons that we have found in afghanistan, and some of the munitions that we have found in afghanistan that clearly have their source -- and this is nothing that general

allan and general petreaus did not say -- that is troubling and that is all i am going to say on that. >> ok. do we have a final question? >> my question is the security for the international community, many people now are asking, what security can you give them? and the same question about the afghaniss? in what i would say is -- the fact that they are asking that question is a sign of success. two years ago or three years ago even, in large parts of the country, they would not even be there, ok?

because the enemy had the countryside. the fact that they are there and now look for guarantees for security means that largely they are secure and now they're wondering how to set security get sustained. i would say that those questions are a very good indication of progress, because there would not have been anyone they're asking those questions and a couple of years ago. the second thing i would say, is whenthe war does not anend isaf transitions to the government of afghanistan. i wish that it did. i do not believe it will. and no one is promising there will not be war in afghanistan grid if they are saying you will have an afghan national security force, army and police, supported by the international community, which would be able to hold its own and make sure

that parts of the country do not fall back into the control of these terrorists and insurgent groups. now, i think that the best security for afghans is an effective army and police and a very active population that seeks to participate in this security process. they now often the best intelligence you get comes from the people. , not from collection. they know who the bad guys are. all that said, there will be -- again, any time you have an enemy that is willing to blow themselves up and take other people with them, it is going

happen. but the afghan people are pretty tough people. they had a horrendous attacked at the intercontinental hotel, the commanders responded to it, business and life went on in kabul. it at the attacks in kandahar. the attacks and explosions happened. life goes on. commerce continues and people continue. it does not make it any less horrendous, but i do not see people packing up in wages and leaving afghanistan. -- in waves and leaving afghanistan. and the spectacular assassination of the police later. you did not see an exodus from northern afghanistan. people are taught.

when you have the opportunity to make a lot of money, like for instance, the people from india and other countries in afghanistan, because there is great economic potential there, they will factor in, they will pay the costs, the premium for security, and they will keep pushing. that is the way of the world. you're not going to get perfect security, but i think you will continue to see progress, especially from the bottom-up. >> very quickly because we're just about out of time. >> i have not seen any chinese. my suspicion is that the chinese will want to invest when things are settled. they are pretty conservative in

their approach. i have had seen a bunch of chinese roaming around. have you seen chinese in afghanistan? they may be around but i do not know where they are at. i have not seen a lot of chinese investment in afghanistan, to be honest with you. >> very fascinating and we appreciate everyone coming out today. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> the commission on wartime,

attracting in afghanistan and iraq will issue its final report tomorrow morning, the bipartisan commission created by congress in 2008. they will show billions of dollars in waste and fraud over the last decade. we will have live coverage and 9:30 a.m. eastern on c-span2. on c-span3, we take you to the retirement ceremony for david petreaus who is becoming the new director of the cia. live coverage at 10:00 a.m. eastern. >> this summer, c-span has been covering congressional town hall meetings around the country. coming up, allen west from earlier today. then, maryland senator ben cardin meets with residents at a retirement center. later, president obama talks to the nation's veterans at the national -- american legion national conference. >> is a partisan guy who wants

to unite people. all the problems of the era, you could get from this guy, and why we could not elect him is the same reason we eventually went to war. they cannot be resolved. >> he had the misfortune of running against a great military hero, dwight eisenhower. i do not think there is any way that at least the bentsen could have won. >> in 1928, herbert hoover pave the way for franklin roosevelt. did in their 14 people in this series, many of them guaranteed you had never heard of. and all of them you will find interesting and fascinating and thrilling and surprising.

history professor gene baker, a real clear politics editor, and and richard norton smith talk about the 14 men who ran for president and loss friday at 8:00 p.m. eastern and pacific. as a preview for the contenders, of 14-week series on c-span beginning friday, september 9. >> freshman republican congressman allen west meets his constituents in his district at palm beach gardens, florida. representative west recently returned from a trip to israel and the palestinian territories. >> all like to welcome you to our town hall meeting. i want to give you an an idea of

how this of them will flow. we will have a pledge of allegiance and the national anthem. the mayor will make some opening remarks. the congressman will going to the washington, d.c. update. then we will have a question and answer session. with that, we will get started. >> detail, attention! ford, march. left, left, left, right. left, left, left. left, right.

more time. detail, halt. left face. present arms. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. ♪ say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hail the at the twilight's last gleaming

whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous night or the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming glaree rockets' red the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there o say does that star spangled banner yet wave offreee land of the

and the home of the brave? ♪ ♪ >> detail, right face. forward, march. left, left. left, left. [applause] >> good afternoon.

look on the palm beach gardens in yankee for being here. thank you for coming out in this wonderful weather we're having today to see our congressman. one of the most important duties of an elected official is to meet with his constituents and bring that back to the governing body. i want to thank you all for coming out here and doing that. i like to commend the congressman for coming here and meeting with us today so that he can take our ideas and thoughts back to washington and better represent us. congressman allen west serves the 27 florida district. [unintelligible]

born and raised in the city of atlanta, in the same neighborhood where dr. martin luther king was born, and patriotism is in his blood. his father was in the army, and served in operations in world war ii. his mother worked as a civilian on my global military installation. congressman west served in the army. before retiring as an army cadet colonel, he served as it feel cultural or officer and served in operation desert storm. in operation iraqi freedom, where he was a battalion commander and in afghanistan where he trained afghan officers, taking on the

responsibilities of securing their own country. after serving in the army, he retired from the military and brought his wife and his two lawyers -- daughters to south florida to be closer to his wife's family. congressman west return to afghanistan as a civilian advising the afghanistan army. he was honored to be able to give his oath of office when he was elected as a representative to the united states congress. isi traded in my camouflage uniform for a suit. his commitment to protect the people of the united states is there. [unintelligible] i am having a hard time saying this.

he is an avid long-distance runner, he rides motorcycles, and attends church in the camera, florida. without further ado, our congressman, congressman wes. [applause] >> thank you. thank you so much, mayor levy. get this out of the way. thanks, mayor levy, and thank you to the men and women who serve to protect each and everyone of you here in palm beach gardens, your police department, the security that they are providing very the most important thing is your -- you and your safety, especially what we saw and january with cadre of giffords. it was an incredible honor to see her back casting that final vote before we left on recess.

that was an incredible merkel. everyone sees the cameras here. i do not know when they're going to do it, but you will be on c- span some time. some make sure that you sit up straight. tucket end. [laughter] the world is watching us down here. obviously something happen while i was away in israel. i did and media interview and asked me what i start charging people to come to town hall meetings. i do not know who is doing that. maybe i can pick up a couple of dollars here and there. [laughter] that the hacking go to chi -- maybe i can go to chik-fil-a afterwards. i want to give you some insight. we got back from an eight-day trip over in israel. we were talking about

earthquakes and hurricane irene. some very serious things happening over in israel. we need to pay a lot of close attention to that. it affects our future national security and our relationship with our sovereign ally in the middle east, israel. i have something for you gator fans out there. we have two offices, the one that serves you. palm beach county, on the dixie highway. and then if you are in brower accounting, at the intersection of cypress creek and andrews avenue, off i-95 exit, that is our for water bill office. -- our fort lauderdale office. here we are, the month of august. one of the things i have been talking on is that when we had

that s&p downgrade, we should've gone back to washington and dealt with the issues with our fiscal situation, finding additional spending cuts to restore our credit rating. but here we are, in this last week here in august. we will head back into session next week. i had backed up to washington, d.c. on the fifth. i have duties on the house floor on the fifth of december. this is the last week, august dedicated to members of congress to go back and meet with constituents, having town hall meetings, and keep you informed on what is going on. next slide. thank you. i told you i went to the university of tennessee. let's talk about this budget control act. not the perfect plan, no doubt about it. one of the things i did not like was this commission, the super committee, what ever you want to college. i think it is so important to have gotten back there as soon

as possible. there is spending that has to be curtailed in washington, d.c. it is sad that we have to have this nuclear option hanging over our heads if we do not find the additional spending such as major cuts to medicare systems and major cuts to our defense systems. i do not want to see that happen. when i look at what we were able to do come up with the first time in history in the united states that this debt ceiling was raised and said -- and we said we would have spending cuts of all appeared with the amount i wanted? no, but there were better than having no spending cuts. no one can talk about raising the debt ceiling going forward without having massive spending cuts in washington, d.c. it avoided a very bad situation as far as the fall of and the raising of our interest rates. that is not the kind of thing i want to see happening when we have so many people in the

indicted states, and in florida, struggling. unemployment rates high, foreclosure rates high. we don't need more hot coals heaped upon you. the other thing we must stay away from -- now's the time for tax increases. i will show you some numbers to show you why we do not need that. now's the time to talk about reforming our tax code. we will talk specifically about that. the thing i want everyone here to understand -- a year ago everyone was upset about 8 $2 trillion health care law. now everyone in the united states of america is upset about not cutting more spending. that is a change in the conversation in washington, d.c. we have an incredible apparatus

and culture in washington, d.c. which is a self-licking ice- cream cone. ed perpetuates itself and the problems that it has. it is really hard to take that can be out of the baby's mouth in washington, d.c., but we are getting to the point that we're doing. the conversation is not about how much more we can spend, but the conversation is how we can cut back on our spending. and we have to do that. we are at a point, what they've $0.14 0.5 trillion in debt, 75% of our gdp, what the federal government spending about 24%. we're bringing about 20% of revenues in this country. that is why we have that separation of what you are bringing in, revenues, and what you are pushing out, alleys, and that creates the deficit. we're about to have our third

straight year of a $1 trillion plus deficit. now we are estimating $1.5 trillion dollars this year. in the first quarter, the deficit was zero -- was 0.4%. they estimated gdp was 0.3% and just downgraded it. if only group 0.1%. compare that with china. china is growing at 9.5%. that is the danger of where we are at right now. i always like to show this because we have to understand, it is a culture that will not be changed in eight months. it takes 5 miles to turn around one of the aircraft carriers

that we have. but we are turning that we'll in starting that motion. and that is what we have to stay focused on. if we can take the incremental steps to get us going in the right direction, but there is no way in eight months we are going to rectify almost 30 years a fiscally irresponsible policies that have come out of washington, d.c. and that is what we face. we have to do something about our medicare program. in 13 years, medicare is bankrupt. for people that are 55 years and above, the reform plan put forward, it does not touch anyone 55 years or older. i am 50 years old. if we do not do something for medicare right now, it is not going to be there for me. even more so, it will not be there for some of the people in

medicare at this time. we have to start looking at the viable solutions that we can do. we have to move away from this fee-for-service. we have to look at the fraud, waste, and abuse in medicare. we've got to look at the means by which we can rectify that. one of the things out there, there are medicare senior patrols, people in the senior committees talking to each other about how we go out and share information about fraud, waste, and abuse? i had the opportunity to talk to one group of individuals that does that pathological lab tests. they talked about the means by which we could streamline this program so that we do not have increased costs on seniors with all these additional technologies and tests that they

have to take. their means by which we can improve the systems. or else medicare will not be there for anyone. slowly by shirley, it is overtaking our gdp. right now the debt is 73%. any economist will tell you that when your debt to gdp ratio hits 85%, you are about to destroy your economy. that is where we are. we have to turn it around. we can i get to the point where will we go = what we produce. 43% of the debt in the united states is held by foreign nations. but while i was in israel, there was a peculiar visitors there. it was the chief of the chinese liberation army. it was very weird.

47% of wage earning households in the united states of america pay no federal income tax. that is a very dangerous statistic when you sit down and understand that we have about 53% pulling the wagon in this country. let's talk about facts. let's talk about that top 1% of wage earners. they pay about 37% of the taxes in the united states of america for the top 5% pay about 54% of the taxes in this country. the top 25% of wage earners in united states pay 86% of the taxes in this country. that is why it is not about shared sacrifice. we have to make more people shareholders in the united states of america. that is why i believe in the flat tax system. anywhere from 30% to maybe 16% and you have two deductions.

a child tax credit and you have a mortgage interest tax deduction. we want families and we want families to have homes. those of the two deduction is that if we could simplify the tax code, and very simple. $240 billion in two months. the federal government right now is spending about $3 billion a day. it is not a revenue problem. it is a spending problem in the united states of america. $3 billion a day is what the federal government is spending. it is a revenue problem. and that is what i said, it is about spending -- expanding this tax base. that is a proven thing in the

united states of america, but free market enterprise system. if you cannot lower these -- if you can lower the tax rates and curtail spending, it will increase the revenues being produced. the more money we put into your pocket, it will happen. it is about going out and spending. it is goods and services. if you purchase more goods and services, the small businesses are growing. with the regulatory and tax environment that we have, that is not happening. the united states of america has the second-highest corporate tax rate in the world at 35%. when you combine that with 46% -- when you hear that corporate profits are up, they are, but they are not up in the united states of america. they are up overseas which is where people are going. they have a competitive tax rates. if we took a corporate business tax rate in the analysis of

american bring it down to 21%, and eliminate loopholes and subsidies, just give them a competitive tax rate. then you would see trillions of dollars of capital come back to the united states of america and making get back to doing what our corporate business sector want to do, and grow businesses and higher americans and get back to producing and manufacturing in this country. that is what we have to be able to do. here are some points that i brought up that i think will be very helpful as we go forward. we have to find additional spending cuts up in washington. it is not that hard to do. in my first 90 days, i was able to find three wasteful programs in the department of defense that resulted in $800 million of savings to americans over the next 10 years. if every single member of their did the exact same thing, then

whatever agency they have oversight of, what would happen with the debt, what happened to the deficit, but what happened with spending in washington. that is what we have to be able to do. we do not have a budget. that looking at 855 days the united states has not operated with a budget. can you run your house all that way? can you run a business that way? but nothing has come out of the senate as far as a budget, jobs bills have passed and they have been sent to the senate. noaa can run any of their organizations -- no one can run their organizations the way the house is run right now. we have had $200 billion of those programs, out in the gao

report that whatever -- it was published in march of this year. nothing has been done. they would be a great place to start. the former regulatory systems. in the month of july, about 600 new regulations were sent down from the federal government. they will cost businesses up to $10 billion of compliance. if we continue in this fashion, we're going to preclude our businesses from being able to grow. things such as the epa criteria which says that farmers and as a polities have to have runoff water that as parts per billion purer than rainwater or else they will be fine. that is coming out of washington, d.c. that is frustrating business. this is the symbol of the inaction that we have had here recently.

these other bills passed in the house and as you can say, nothing is getting through to the senate. people said i should run for the senate, and i said i would rather go up there and work. i don't know what these guys do. [laughter] [applause] here is a flow chart. pech in february, the president proposed his 2012 budget. it failed in the senate, and house of representatives passed the ryan plan, it went to the senate and sat there. there are 12 appropriations bills that have to be passed in order for the federal government to continue to operate itself. so far in the house, we've only past six of those. we are working through the interior bill which is something we have to pick up when we get back. but the senate has only past one of those appropriations bills. what is going to happen when we

get back up there in september? we're not going to be able to finish those other six bills in the house. we definitely will not complete them in the senate. two words you will hear. continuing resolution or on a bus. that is why congress has a 14% approval rating. we know what we are supposed to do and yet we are failing to do it. i grew up in the united states military. you do not go home until the mission is accomplished. that is not how you do it in washington, d.c. in my optimistic about it? yes, i am. i stand here and i see americans. any time americans are pushed into a corner, we figured out.

winston churchill once said americans will eventually do the right thing after they have tried everything else. [laughter] that is why he is the only person not an american that we named a naval war vessel after. he is absolutely right. with at several different big bites on this battlefield. if any of you have ever read the " or sawe killer angels' the film "gettysburg," you can understand what i'm saying there. if one colonel could hold a piece of high ground in gettysburg and delay in time for the armies of the potomac to race back up to him, then they could possibly defeat the army of northern virginia, which up

to that point had never lost a battle. in those three days at gettysburg, thanks to a man such as joshua chamberlain who held that far right flank, they were able to defeat the army of northern virginia because of a foolish attacked by this confederate general, george pickett. he charged across an open field and of course law 16,000 men in one day. this is how we have to stand and be able to fight this thing incrementally. like i said, we're not going to turn around 30 years of fiscally responsible programs in eight months. but if we can hold on and fight and if you can once again ask yourself, what made america great, then that battle that is coming on november 2012, america

will rediscover itself and we will set the course for a new and brighter future for this great nation. and that is what i believe will happen. is it going to get tough? absolutely right. but we have to trust in the values that made this country great and that is what i stand for. all right. let's talk about my trip to israel. the american-israeli education firm sponsored the trip for delegations, democrat delegations and two republican delegation. we were allowed to bring our spouses. it was my wife angeles' first trip. the only place we did not get a chance to go down into a southern israel because of the rockets and mortars being fired out of gaza at the time. the people of israel a very appreciative to the united states of america, because we help them with the new system

called the iron dome. they can fire a rocket which can intercept a medium or short- range missile in flight. it has proven to be very successful when it engages missile to missile. it has been 100% accurate when it has been fired against incoming missiles. the people of israel thank you for that. the thing we have to understand -- why is there such an incredible bond between america and israel? it starts with the shared judea- christian heritage. if you read the writings of the founding fathers, that enabled this country to be established. that is one of the key parts. the shared values that we have with israel or freedom, liberty. we see a pluralistic society in israel just as we see it here

you see members of the knesset who are arabs there. just as you see various members all across our society who are congressman. it is that commitment to those democratic principles. but the most important thing we must understand is that america and israel to have a common enemy. and those of the words coming right out of the mouth of prime minister netanyahu when he sat there and speak with us. militant islam, or what i called islamic totalitarianism, that they are fighting against that we must understand. if israel goes, then we are next. what this nec's is a smaller say 10 and a greater say in. -- what this enemy sees is a smaller satan and a greater satan.

we were supposed to meet with president mahmoud abbas. i did not aware a scheduling problem. i questioned if they are a credible peace partner. listing to him and his 35-minute speech, i do not believe so. number one, during that time i was there, no one from the palestinian authority denounced the terrorist attacks. let me tell you about this attack which claimed the life of eight israelis. three of the attackers were egyptians. when they traced back their routes, they came out of egypt, they tracked across the sinai desert, which is nothing but a no man's land now, and they went in in a very well-planned, well coordinated ambushed and killed eight israelis. afterwards, the rockets and mortars that came in and out of gaza, no word from the

palestinian of party denouncing those rockets and mortars. present a boss put out a statement that said that he felt that israel was using firing back as a means to delegitimize the september vote of the palestinian statehood. he would not even recognize the fact that israel had been attacked. we have have people who will recognize the existence of the modern state of israel and we have to have people who will denounced terrorist groups in action. when people talk about it to- state solution, not with the boss has not been to gaza and about five years. they are two totally different organizations. fatah in the west bank does not have any connection with hamas

in gaza. there will probably be a free state solution. gaza is not going to be talking to the folks in ramallah. this is what it looks like. in a couple of countries, we do not have them. we have turkey and down here you have some of appeared over here, afghanistan and pakistan. that is israel. that small little past and of freedom and democracy in a sea of despots, dictators, autocrats, and theocrats. what concerns israel right now? with hosni mubarak being deposed, you have a iranian warships going to the suez canal in 30 years. the oil and gas pipeline has been attacked four times.

egypt brokered this reconciliation between hamas and fatah. there were talking about some type of agreement. we know what just happened in libya. we know what is happening in syria. here in the gaza strip, where you have hamas and a coordinated group of other tourist organization. here in lebanon, southern lebanon, where i look down, completely controlled by hezbollah. as the law -- they have rearmed and refitted themselves where there are 50,000 rockets and missiles in southern lebanon. united nations has an intervention force in southern lebanon. a spanish and italian contingent. they are now refusing to go into these different towns and villages in southern lebanon because hezbollah is now attacking them. they just lost about six spanish

soldiers. that is why israel has to have the golan heights. when you look across the sea of galilee, you can understand the strategic importance of it. that is why israel has to have a protective border. that is why israel has to finally come to the realization -- we have to come to the realization that their security is so important when you look at this greater neighborhood in which they live. fines -- turkey finds himself becoming more islamist and anti- israeli. iran is fueling all this unrest. at the end of the year, american forces are supposed to leave iraq. while in iraq, maqtada l. slaughter has returned and his mahdi army is stronger.

that is the neighborhood that israel is living in. oh. strategic depth. there was a place i stood in israel and i could see the entire industrial base, 22 miles, and one piece of high ground dominated that entire coastal plain of israel, tel aviv included. 1.5 million israelis. that piece of ground that ousted of was just inside the "green line." that is what we have had. israel has to defend itself. we have had a credible peace partner double recognize the state of israel and renounce terrorism. this is so important. there has to be an undivided jerusalem. i have a great opportunity daraa and around the old city three

times. an incredible experience to run around the old city of jerusalem. to climb that lsi and, it almost killed me, but that is ok. [laughter] next month as a critical moment it the united nations. they will bring forward a declaration of a unilateral palestinian state. united states must vote against it in the security council. the united states cannot continue to provide the millions upon millions of dollars of support for the palestinian authority which will not recognize the modern-day state of israel. and we have to dismantle the terrorist threat that threatens israel. probably the most emotional thing is when a woman came up to brief us and she was down from southern israel, and she talked

about how her child spends most of its day in a bomb shelter. that is not a way to live. i do not think any of us here want our children to grow of living in that type of environment. in our greatest ally, that is the environment they are living in. with that being said, what are your questions? [applause] >> good afternoon. i am told legislative affairs

director for palm beach county. i'm in a non-partisan capacity for the board of county commissioners. is my honor to help moderate some of your questions that you have for congressman west. we've had over 50 questions submitted. i apologize if we do not get to all of them. some of them are redundant. i have split up into eight different areas, health care, budget, war, tax reform, environmental, jobs, israel, and some administrative questions. without further ado, of rapid fire as many of these as we can. if i say something of already covered, say you've already covered. we will start with health care. what will you be able to do the work with your friends in the senate to remove obamacare as soon as possible? [applause]

>> as you know back in january, we voted in the house to repeal the patient protection and affordable care at. that has been sitting in the senate. as long as harry reid is the majority leader in the senate, nothing is going to happen with health care being reformed. understand that everyone has seen their insurance premiums go up. insurance companies recognize that and 2013 or 2018, they will be stuck. they're trying to milk the american people up front before they get to that point. it is so important to change that policy, that health care law, but for 2013. after that, you're talking about 159 new government bureaucracies. that will kick in. we can go back and reform health care, but we can do it by using the right type of market principles that put you in charge of your health care and

not the government. >> recent court cases about the constitutionality of obamacare. what is your opinion about the constitutional nature of it? >> the 11th circuit court of appeals out of atlanta ruled the individual mandate was unconstitutional. when you study previous supreme court decisions, the federal government does i have the authority to mandate to an individual citizen that they must buy a private commodity. some tried to like in that automobile insurance. but you do not have to buy a car. if you do buy a car, you operate on public roads systems and you are required to have automobile insurance. but the mandate that the american people purchase health insurance or they will be fined, that is not constitutional. i believe this will be coming up in the supreme court sometime next year. >> you discuss medicare earlier.

[inaudible] >> i am asking the people's questions, sir. i would be happy, i would say the names on each of these questions. i am moderating, sir. please, i'm sorry, but we will get to as much as we can. [unintelligible] >> the next question is from palm beach about medicare. what can you do to get medicare spending under control? >> one of the most important things to do is move from the fee-for-service defined benefit. if you have the defined benefit based on the individual, that puts them in charge of their medicare. right now people go in and get medicare. they do not know what that bill is it going forward.

a lot of times you see a service billed at $200, they bill medicare for $1,000. when you have to have -- you have have that system cleaned up. we have to get rid of defensive medicine enacted by some many of our doctors. they go in and require people that have many tests that are not necessary. they do that because of tort reform. one of the key things that we need, not for medicare, but the entire health care system, is toward reform so that chile's -- doctors can go in and do what they want to do, protect the patient. we talked about the fraud, waste, and abuse the system. we have to rectify the billions of dollars that we can save their. let's start talking to some of those medical professionals like i did with a group practicing anatomical pathology for quite some time. how you streamline and make sure that the copays we put on our

seniors are less. every time a senior goes in and is one of these pathology tests, that is another little copiague. all of the sudden, the 20% copiague that you have, -- copay that you have, it adds up. >> we have about six questions regarding military action going on around the world. with polls showing of 80% to end the war, why we continue to vote to finance the wars? >> you're looking at a guy that said we should not be in lebanon. i mean, in libya. i was one of the most outspoken people about the war powers resolution. we should not have supported any action in libya because it did not meet the war powers resolution test. after we found that a sum of bin laden was killed in pakistan, we should cut that money off. we're about to celebrate the

10th anniversary of 9/11. 10 years ago, none of us would have thought that airplanes flew into buildings. the enemy has a vote, ladies and gentlemen. whether or not you like that vote, you have to do something about it. i've been in desert shield, desert storm, r.i., and afghanistan. we could do better in fighting this 21st century battle. it is not about nation-building or occupation-style warfare. we have to focus on where the enemy is and taking the fight to the enemy. we are not responsible for fixing everything that is broken. [applause] but you have an enemy that is not going to go away unless you crush him. if we do not get back to the point of understanding the sometimes your enemy has to be crushed, the last time the united states fought a total world where they were committed was world war ii.

[applause] every time you fight half measure warfare, you give residual effects. you did not finish the job and career or be a non, you see what happens. we did not do the job and doesn't storm, and guess what, we were back over there. you have to develop the right kinds of strategically maneuverable military to take the fight to the enemy. a great example --today, the unf america has 283 war vessels. who, two weeks ago, launched their first aircraft carrier? >> china. >> 70% of the mass of the earth is what? >> water. >> the were concerns about the unintended consequences and loss of life and the united states potentially going into bankruptcy over financing these

wars. what is your opinion on these unintended consequences? >> when i look at the mandates in the constitution, there are five. it says injure domestic tranquillity, promote the general welfare, and so on. i can make you as prosperous as you want to be as a people. if i do not protector security, what difference does it make? -- protect your security, what difference does it make? there were people who were going to work 10 years ago on september 11, 2001. the world changed. the fight came to our shores. if we can get back to having a government that understands this constitutionally mandated responsibility, we can set it straight as far as our fiscal situation. but if we have the government continue to create agencies and bureaucracies that never meet their intended purposes -- there was only one reason we created

the department of energy in the late 1970's -- to make the united states of america energy independent. no one has yet to be able to explain to me why we have a department of labour. what do they do? the department of education -- what has happened to the performance standards of education? it has gone down. it is an inverse relationship. when we get a government that understands its proper roles and responsibilities, we will have a federal government that does not have these large debts and deficits. [applause] >> i think you guys said how we do that. it is about making the hard decisions. it really is. i am telling you. be specific? anything that does not meet the constitute -- the department of energy. why do we have a department of

energy when they are not producing anything, according to their mandate? when we have a department of education, education should be a local issue. it cannot be the federal government. those are the things. those are the types of things we have to do, and then we can get this budget on its right track. >> congressman, virginia wants to know why you feel it is necessary to be in so many wars up once. >> first of all, i have never felt it necessary to be in so many wars at once. the one thing that a soldier, sailor, airman, marine understands -- they took an oath to support. they took an oath to protect you. but we really would like to stay home with our families. we really would like to come home every single night and see our wife and kids.

when we go to war, we do not have to be. when we went to war in correa, 75% of the legislators had been in combat. they knew what it meant to send men and women into war. now you have less than 10%. and they do not have a phreaking clue. [applause] i know what it means to stand over an american soldier that has been shot. so the decision to say we're going to go into a combat operation is personal to me, because those are my friends, those are my brothers and sisters. that is my nephew. if we could get more people who have been on that side and understand what it means to tell

someone at 2:00 in the morning to pack your rucksack and your dufflebag and we do not know if you are coming home -- that is what we have to do to fix this situation, as far as commitment to conflict and combat operations. >> i want to move to one area regarding tax reform. i have a question from elizabeth moose. can you comment on fair or flat tax? >> that is a great question. i think there are a lot of misconceptions out there. the flat tax means we flatten it out, one basic tax rate. you eliminate loopholes and subsidies. you have very few deductions. that is why i say with a flat tax of 13% to 16% on every wage earnings -- mortgage deductions, child tax credit. on the corporate business side, 21%. you have no loopholes. you have no subsidies.

when you are talking about a fair tax, a consumption-based tax, that is what we had before 1916, when we created the kind -- the amendment that allows us to tax. to do the fair tax, all levels -- levels of federal taxation have to be gone, or you get what is called a value added tax. you have your basic federal tax and then a fair tax based on your consumption, and sales taxes on top of that. you have to get rid of capital gains tax, dividends taxes, the death tax, estate tax, the irs if you want to have -- [applause] i know. if you're going to have a fair tax. that means you have to repeal the 16th amendment. i believe the air attacks can be in a state, but a flat tax can

be a bridging mechanism. you have 40% of households that are not paying any federal income tax right now. what a shock it would be if they suddenly got a 23% national sales tax on goods and services. that is why we have a flat tax, as a means by which -- remember, incrementalism is not a bad thing. get more people into the tax base. then we can start doing things to move toward having a fair tax. that is the situation. >> congressman, i know you mentioned the corporate tax rate in that explanation. how about lowering the corporate tax rate to 20% with no loopholes. that could create an additional $100 billion. >> i said 21% because i looked that if we keep our states with a 4% to 6% corporate business

tax rate, ne corporation tops out at 25%, 26%. i think that would be the right place to go. that gives them a competitive tax rate with the rest of the world. we cannot lower it down to 12% to 13%. then there are no loopholes. there are no subsidies. we just give you a competitive tax rate. >> what is your opinion on the bayou added tax? >> that is killing europe. it is not a good thing. you are just increasing the level of taxation on people. if you're going to have a fair tax, you have to eliminate all other forms of federal income tax rate so it does not become a value added tax, which would crush american households. >> i want to move to the area of the environment. kelsey crane wants to know -- you recently voted to roll back

the clean air act, seriously compromising public health and our clean air. we promise to protect our future and support clean energy solutions? >> i do believe in clean energy solutions. but this is a thing you have to look at. it is the epa tightening up where we already have regulations to the point where you are putting americans out of work. i do not think that is what we want. the administrator of the epa set before a congressional committee, i believe the energy and commerce committee. when she was asked if she could take into consideration the economic ramifications of the regulations, she said absolutely not. now is not the time to end up killing our small businesses and corporations in the united states of america. i believe in protecting our air. i am a master scuba diver. i want good, clean reeves.

i want a great everglade. but -- say it. >> [unintelligible] what happens when a hurricane comes? >> i sit around and look at the fact that france is 70% to 75% nuclear capable and it is recognized as one of the cleanest sources of energy you have out there. [applause] >> there is a question about tourism being the life blood for an economy and many energies like hotels and fishing, which rely on clean water. how will you ensure that water quality standards protect these businesses from nitrogen and phosphorus? >> it is very simple. when you have the third largest reef system in the world, we are not going to have any pollution of our water system. we are looking at how we can

enhance and develop energy resources from the gulf stream. we are looking at how we can harness the energy of the ocean and use it to power our systems here in fort lauderdale and across of florida. no one is looking at how they can pollute. one of the critical things that is good to be happening soon -- in 2014, the panama canal is going to expand. bigger cargo ships are going to be coming here. we have to look at how we can do the dredging necessary for those ships to come here. but you have some people who are seeing how they can make sure they can protect our wreath systems, even while the of thinking how they can accommodate these vessels. once again, we cannot continue down a path of sacrificing america's jobs over these type of things which are not really proven to be so.

our oceans right out here in south florida are some of the cleanest around. you can laugh about it, but i was down 120 feet a few weeks ago and i think it is ok. [applause] hamas >> again on water, 1/3 of florida residents get their daily water supply from the everglades. how are you working to support everglades restoration project? >> i support also between richmond project. that is part of our tourism industry, as well as the everglades. i think michele bachman said something that was a faux pas yesterday when she mentioned the possibility for energy resources in the everglades. when i see her next week, i will straighten her out about that. >> there was one question i am not familiar with regarding the keystone, pipeline. are you familiar with that? >> that is a pipeline coming out

of canada, an oil pipeline. oil shale. >> do you support the keystone pipeline to solve some of our energy needs in the future? >> yes i do. i think right now when we looked at -- [applause] i would rather have a pipeline to canada than continue to send our money to saudi arabia, venezuela, or possibly to canada. we need to be very concerned about a spanish company called repsol. they are looking to drill off the international waters of key west. how they are going to go into deaths that are deeper than the deepwater horizon did. if you understand slant drilling, you understand you can offset under the water and go into the continental shelf.

but they are going to establish the platform in cuban waters, which means it cannot say or do anything about it if there is a mishap. that will go into the gulf stream. this is why i believe -- there is a piece of legislation to prevent cuba from allowing people to come in and slant drill within a mile of our international waterline. we cannot allow that to happen. >> i wanted to move on to some questions regarding jobs. there are some broad ones and specific ones i want to ask of you. emanuel new -- emanuel more asks what you feel is the best way to improve employment in florida, as well as the united states, but specifically florida. >> in south florida, we have an unemployment of 11%. there are three things we have to have. i call it confidence, capital,

and certainty. we have to have confidence in the economic policies, the tax policies, and the regulatory policies coming to our local level. you have small businesses looking to grow, but because of the tax burden and the regulatory burden -- with the health care law, they are taking people off health care plans or putting them on part-time because they cannot afford the increase in the insurance policy. when you look at access to capital, we have small banks who want to lend to our small businesses, but when you read the dodd-friend bill -- dodd- frank bill, it includes our small banks under the larger net the large banks have been caught under. there are regulators telling them they have to reclassify good loans as-assets. it is about the access to capital that will help our small

businesses grow. we see too many clothes store fronts. the last thing is certain to. people do not know what is when to happen day to day in the fiscal environment of the united states of america. if we can rectify those things, open up that access to capital so small businesses can grow and hire more americans, and we can provide certainty 7 know what is fun to happen as far as tax rates a year from now -- which is why i support a flat tax. small businesses operate as subchapter s corporations. they use their personal income tax rate. we have to provide them certainty so they know what their rates are going to be. >> if you have a question, write it down and bring it up to us. i have a lot to get through. we will get yours if we have a chance. the next question is from marjorie collins.

sir, if you have a question, please just write it down. if you could just write it down, that would be helpful. thank you. congressman, you are putting in place -- what are you putting in place to help those unemployed get jobs? specifically, are you in favor of tax deductions for outsourcing? >> i am not. i think when you look at the problem in the united states, we're out sourcing too many jobs. there was an urban legend going around that fast food restaurants were outsourcing their drive-through lanes. we do not need to do that. the important thing is how do we give competitive tax rates to corporations and businesses so jobs come back the united states of america. then you do not need loopholes and subsidies. if they continue to outsource, you have every right to fine them. right now, we are creating that problem. remember that ice-cream cone?

we are telling corporations and businesses -- we are pushing them away, and then we are finding them for having these incredibly high tax policies that are not enabling them to grow. they want to come to america. they want to grow. we just need to set the conditions. that is not what they are doing right now. [applause] >> , charlotte weiss of jupiter says you were elected to bring jobs to the country. specifically, what kind of jobs bills have you filed or introduced in congress to do that? >> if you look up h.r. 60 and 63, the small business encouragement act, it says we will extend the work opportunities tax credit until 2013 for small businesses who in the previous fiscal year had $20 million or less in revenue, had

120 employees or less. will give you a $600 tax credit for any american you hire off the unemployment rolls. -- a $6,000 tax credit for any american you hire off unemployment rolls. that is sitting in the ways and means committee. see if we can get that push through. but there are nine pieces of job-promoting legislation that passed the house as early as march of this year. nine pieces of legislation. they are sitting over at the senate. that is the thing in washington, d.c.. action versus in action. but i know we have hope with a new facility that opened just north of palm beach. we're talking to lockheed martin about possibly bringing a repair facility for a combat ship down to west palm beach as well. in october, we are going to

bring the small business committee down for the fort lauderdale boat show to show us how we can alleviate the tax and regulatory burden on them so they can grow. those are things we are trying to do. [applause] >> people are frustrated with congress and the seeming inability to have a job creation. when is congress coin to get to work and focus on this job, is ideology aside? >> when you say is ideology aside, you have to understand there is an illogical chasm in the united states of america. there is a group that believes the way forward is to have more people wedded to government either through an assistance check or an unemployment check. this is a group that believes

the way forward is to set the conditions for private sector growth so they're the ones that create the jobs and opportunities for american citizens. that is a very big chasm that is widening every day. if we continue to believe the best way forward for america is a bigger federal government, who pays for the public sector? 13 to 14%. it is only a matter of time. centrally controlled economies have never been successful anywhere in the world. but remember what winston churchill said. americans will end up doing the right thing after they've tried everything else. that is the antithesis of what we are in the united states of america. 235 years, we have been in existence.

what built america? big government or entrepreneurs? [applause] >> i know you spoke about your trip to israel, but there were a few questions people ask. what option -- and this is from jim hunter -- what option does israel have to protect itself from iran and the satellite nations? >> the biggest option is eventually they may have to take action to defend themselves. that is their right and that is their responsibility. prime minister netanyahu is responsible for the safety and security of the israeli people. 50 to 100 rockets and missiles were pouring into southern israel almost every day when i was over there. has the law has 50,000 rockets and missiles.

they have the capability to strike every major city in israel from southern lebanon. when you think about the fact that they are developing intercontinental ballistic missiles which may have nuclear warheads, which definitely could have other dirty war heads, they have a responsibility to do that. i want you to do some homework before you go to mark. i want you to understand where does the word palestine come from. a lot of people think it is associated with a certain individual, but it is not. it comes originally from a roman word. in 73 a.d., when the romans conquered to suppress the jewish rebellion, emperor hadrian decreed the land would no longer be called today a, a derivative of judah. it would be called palestine. the romans got that word from the root word philistines.

but the original philistines were not arab. there were not from that region. they were great. when you hear people talk about free palestine, when you hear people talk about return palestine to the original owners, the original owners are the jewish people. [applause] it is time look at the situation in the middle east and understand the facts and history, and not irrational emotionalism, and not being a puppet of the information in the media that is put out there. [applause] a lot of people were talking about the earthquake and hurricane irene. the were not a lot of stories about the terrorism occurring in israel at the same time.

beth grossman from boca raton has concerns about the obama administration position on israel and asks is there any hope the obama administration might reconsider their current position. >> when you talk about 1967 lines, that is untenable for israel. now you are talking about the modern day state of israel would only be 9 miles wide. that is not feasible. when i talk to the leadership over there, there is uncertainty in the middle eastern situation. the saudi arabian is are really angry at america, because they saw what happened with costa mubarak. they believe now that are on their own. they are cutting deals with others. there are a lot of questions out there. they must vote against this unilateral declaration of a palestinian state.

we have to veto it in the security council. if they intend to proceed forward with it, the funding has to be cut off from the united states of america. >> i have a question from i think a chef. how is the food in israel? >> it was too much. let me say it was a very, very good trip. it was an incredible experience, the cultural aspect, the political aspect. every bit of it was so important. if you have never had the opportunity to travel to israel, i would recommend it. >> i wanted to talk in more of a broad category, administrative issues in washington, d.c.. the incident and audrey cassidy from jupiter ask what was the response from congress people

about spending more work time in washington. i think early in the session you questioned the work schedule that was put out. >> there were some people that were not happy with me about that. last december, when the congressional calendar came out, we only had 153 days of being in session. i fired off a letter to majority leader eric kanter. i had not even been sworn in yet. i basically told him the calendar needs to work. i did not see how it would be possible with all the things facing us as a house of representatives that we would be able to get everything done. look where we are. we have only done six out of 12 bills. that is on us. that is on us.

when you look at those 12 appropriations bills, one of the questions is what is the most important appropriation bills? what are the tears we can establish? maybe some of these appropriations bill should be on a two-year cycle and not a one- year cycle. we are never going to catch up and get to them. the united states federal government never has a budget. i really think we have to spend more time in washington, d.c., making sure we have the right type of schedule and votes to get things done. then we can come back in that last week of the month and can sit down for two or three days with our constituents. but there are a lot of pressing issues in washington, d.c.. this calendar schedule is a little bit lacking for me, especially when you come from a military background. when you're in a combat zone, it

is 24/7. >> peter kofu from west palm beach wants to know will we ever actually cut and the federal government staff in washington, d.c. >> you love, but one of those appropriations bills was a deal with the legislative branch. we have cut another 7%. you do see a lot of cuts. i've told my chief of staff met with the money we are allocated i want to make sure we come in -- i think i said 10% below the money we are allocated. i want to be able to turn that back to the treasury. those are the things we have to have people that are doing. >> these are a couple of questions that are more election-related. david frum, beach wants to know what will be done to prevent voter fraud in the coming election. [applause]

>> i know that we have the chairman of the palm beach executive committee. regardless of your party affiliation, this is what you need to do. it is important we do not have intimidation are the things we previously saw. >> congressman, gerry has been following the congressional race and wants to know why you think governor perry has become so popular so quickly. >> i do not know.

maybe because he wears cowboy boots. i could not tell you. i can tell you this. it is still pretty early in football. we still have a lot of people to fill up the roster. it is a marathon. it is not a sprint. let us see what happens by november. it only takes one single thing to flip. i remember back -- howard dean. remember, howard dean was well ahead. then he was forgotten. politics in the united states of america are very interesting. i think we have to be patient and watch this process. we have to continue to talk to people about the issues that are pertinent. understand there is a difference between a midterm election cycle and a presidential election cycle. in the midterm, you get people that understand the legislative process, people that understand

what the congressman is and a senator is. presidential election cycle, you see an increase of people that come out and participate because it becomes more american idol. it really does. be prepared for that. there will be people who will not know who they are going to vote for a week before an election. all of a sudden, i like his suit, or i like his smile, or whatever. that will be the kind of thing that puts them over the top. we have to educate ourselves and step back and be attuned to the issue. it is free seat -- it is preseason football. >> there were a couple of people in here who were willing to talk a little bit about the budget. you expressed opinions about that early on. john weingarten is concerned about having a budget that is not balanced. what are your opinions on the balancing of the budget. >> i think you have to. if you look at many of our

states, 49 have a balanced budget amendments. the federal government needs to have that. if you continue to see what is happening in the fed, where we are monetizing our debt and keeping interest rates at artificially low levels. we cannot keep that path. i think we have to have a balanced budget amendment. i think we have to get away from this budget which means each year we raise it up, then say we will cut it. we have to get back to a 0-based budget system. those of the structural reform things that have to happen. it takes 5 miles for an aircraft carrier. a lot of things we are contending with her husband over a 30 year time. the financial meltdown of 2008

traces back to the community reinvestment act. think about all the things that happened along the way. think about the creation of fannie and freddie. all of a sudden, there was the separation between investment banking and commercial banking. we started to sell mortgage- backed securities from bank to bank. we went on with all these things. 30 years later, we have a meltdown. if we can get to the point where we do not have financial election cycle sound bites, where we really start to look out 30 and 40 years and understand the policies and ramifications thereof, then we will get things on the right footing in the united states. >> what is the most important thing you think can be done to reduce the deficit? >> the debt is what we know, and the deficit is the difference between the revenues coming in

and the spending going out. the most important thing is that we have to institute fiscal responsibility. we have to understand the constitutional mandates of the federal government and get them back on the right side and scope to perform its duties. remember what i said. what built america? the government, or entrepreneurial spirit? if we continue down that path, the deficit is bigger. if we believe an entrepreneurial spirit, we will have the right tax policies and regulatory policies to grow the private sector, which means we will reduce the debt and the deficit. that is what that means. i think you need to reinstate glass-steagall. >> that was my next question. do you support reinstating that? >> you have to.

we blurred the line between investment and commercial banking. there are people in the big bank world that should not be. the dodd-frank does go after some of these larger banks, but remember what i said. now we have small community banks caught in that web as well. when timothy geithner came and testified before the small business committee i sit on, i ask one simple question. when are we going to go back and review dodd-frank and clean it up? he told me he would get to it. >> that question was from thomas simpson of poker upon -- bokca raton. julie johnson is from jupiter and says can't congress cut off the ridiculous -- [applause]

can't congress cut off the travel allowance to the president and his family? >> this is on c-span, isn't it? >> in the military, they teach you leadership begins with the leader. it is about setting the right example. i think if the president is going to be watching me, camera 1, we need you to lead by example. [applause]

>> this is a question from judith mcginnis from north palm beach. she specifically wants to know what we can do to make public schools more accountable. >> as i said, back in the late 1970's, the decision was to take education out and make it a separate department. back in the 1970's, the department of education had about 500 employees. the department of education today has closer to 5000 employees and a budget of $85 billion. education in the united states of america is broken. i did spend a year teaching high school. that was such an enjoyable experience i volunteered to go to afghanistan. [laughter]

what we have to do -- seriously. we have to make education relevant in the 21st century. we cannot believe that teaching a kid how to take the test is teaching a kid. it is not. [applause] involving our private sector to go in and teach the practical application of some of the theory we are trying to teach our kids. my 14-year-old daughter, who just started high school, can do things with her computer that are unconscionable to me. i cannot know how.

if students fail the fcat, they drop out. what we have to do is completely scrap our education system. we need to know the things that will produce the next generation that can be productive citizens. not every kid is corn to go on to college. there is not a right to go to college. but if every kid could leave high-school with a defined talent, a trade, something they can say that, "i can do this" -- there is nothing wrong with having summer apprenticeship where kids can take the thing

they are focused on, that trade, and start to put it to practical application. you are creating a future employee. you look at some of these things -- there is nothing wrong with automobile mechanics. plumber's need to learn the metric system. that is nothing easy. we have to reform education. >> should we observe constitution day, providing educational programs? how will you observe constitution day, 2011? >> i need to ask my staff if i will be in washington. if so, i will be defending the constitution.

i will speak about my responsibilities in one of these local schools if i am not. to many of our kids do not understand civics. it is not just on constitution day. every day, we need to start teaching our kids about civics. [applause] >> many are calling for term limits. repealing the seventh amendment would restore accountability to some of the establishment. would you support the appeal of the 17th amendment? >> i am not a senator. i think we can do better as far as accountability of senators. we do need to have a term limit in washington, d.c.. as a matter of fact, one of our constituents down here lives in

florida which in atlantis, florida. he has a plan for the house of representatives that max's you out at 12 years of legislative service. in the house, it messes you up from six to eight years. the longer people are in the sea, the less connection may have to the people. they never intended us to have career politicians. they intended us to have citizen servants who went to washington, d.c. they made certain pieces of legislation and came back and had to live under them. that is what we have to get back to. [applause]

>> stanley wants to know more about the growth of the welfare population and some of the programs that service them. >> when i went back to atlanta, i did not recognize it. we have a 41% increase in food stamp recipients. people came to america because they believe there was a land of opportunity. but if we start to get to being the land of a handout and suppressing the opportunity, we start to become a land of equal achievement and not equal opportunity, where government can decide how far you go in your life, we're going to lose the essence of the united states of america. in inner-city atlanta georgia, i guarantee my parents would have never thought i would rise up and be a lieutenant colonel,

command a battalion in combat, and the united states congressman. but the fact that we live in a country where it is possible, and the only thing that can hold you back is what is between your ears -- that is what my parents stressed to me. if we continue to have the breakdown of family structure in america and to make kids believe there is only a certain thing they can do, we're going to continue to see those failings in the social side of the united states of america. there is a reason something is happening in philadelphia. when we were growing up, when we went to fast-food restaurants, especially during the summer, you saw one adult at a fast-food restaurant. that was the manager. all the others were kids, high school kids. you go in these fast food restaurants today, what do you see?

they are all adults. what we are doing is we are now affecting those young people and their hopes and their opportunities, even at that early age of 13, 14, 15. we have to turn this around. we absolutely have to. >> this is more of a broad question regarding the budget. the reconciliation of the budget passed by the house and the need for continuing resolution as of october 1 -- what are you going to do to work with the gang of 12 to make sure a budget is in place by november 23? >> i cannot do too much to work with that game.

we have only past six out of 12 appropriations bills. unless we do some herculean effort, i do not see any way where we're going to get the remaining six bills voted on in the house and the other 11 bills voted on in the senate so we can have a budget as we go forward and get the president to sign it in fiscal year 2012. that is why we have a 13% approval rating. we are not staying there until the mission is accomplished. all i can do is continue to be the squeaky wheel. even if i don't get any oil, i will continue to be the squeaky wheel. this is where you are. we want something different. we really need to have the right type of structural reform in how washington, d.c. has been operating.

>> what are you doing to ensure individual land rights are protected by the u.s. congress? >> nothing has come up about losing property rights. i do understand the concern. i understand the concern and a lot of people have about losing american sovereignty to the united nations. there is a treaty where we could lose to the united nations. that is one of the things i will make sure i stay on top of. we have to make sure we maintain our sovereignty, securing our borders. because we have a huge problem.

>> there is a question about cfl bulbs is that something you're interested in doing? >> we could not even repeal that in congress. the government is telling you what kind of light bulb you can have in your home. we cannot even repeal that mercury light ball, which if you break it in your house you now have hazardous-waste in your home. we will keep trying to fight for the light bulb. >> how closely the need to work with the united nations?

>> i see the united nations as a failed organization right now. [applause] i do not want to see american soldiers having to wear that light blue beret. there is a different in the standards and style of leadership. the united nations intervention force in lebanon on right now, spanish soldiers are being picked off and kill by hezbollah in southern lebanon. i want to see us have leadership in parts of the united states of america. when you commit our forces in the united states of america, you give them the right guidance, you are given the right orders, you allow them to do the mission they are supposed to do.

when you look at the rules of engagement and how we are tying soldier's hands behind your backs, that is not enabling them to be successful and have victory on the battlefield. it comes back to having people on the end of the gun, because we know what it is like. [applause] >> congressman, there were a couple of questions about tea party politics. >> i think it was the week before i went to israel. i spoke in front of the palm beach tea party group. it was close to 400 people.

last time i looked, i was african-american. they did not, like, try to run me out or attack me, or anything like that. one of the things people have to understand -- what is this thing called the tea party? i think there is a lot of media disinformation. that which washington does not understand, the attack. [applause] all you are talking about is it constitutional, conservative, grass roots movement. they believe in effective and efficient federal government. they believe in fiscal responsibility. they believe in free market, free enterprise. anyone who does not believe in that, i do not know what you believe in. so that is it. are there going to be some folks that get off on the fringe?

absolutely right. but those are the core principles they stand for. who would not want to embrace that? that is what america is about. [applause] >> we have a few more questions. this is about it obama's executive many dream act. why hasn't the republican leadership been screaming? >> that is why i do not believe in going away on recess. he is talking about when the secretary of homeland security came out and said we are only going to enforce certain types of illegal immigration deportation. you do not get to pick and choose what you want to do when you are the executive branch.

that is one of the things we need to pay attention to when we get back to washington, d.c. part of being a republic -- the preeminent thing is the respect of the rule of law. if we do not have that coming out of washington, d.c., we lose our edge. >> congressman, this is a question from austin white head. is there any plan to eliminate the increase in lobbyists? >> i cannot make them go away. but i can stop them coming near me. you have 535 legislators. at last count, there were 35 to 40 largest -- lobbyists for each legislator. this is what you have to do. you just have to close your door to them.

there was a contentious thing about the second engine for the of 35 fighter aircraft. ge wanted to be able to come in and have that second engine. one of the top executives from ge decided to visit a young freshman congressman in his office. did not make a dent. that is what you have to be able to do. [applause] people will promise you a whole lot of things up in washington, d.c., but you have to stand on your principles. i do not work for lobbyists. i work for you. [applause] >> congressman, there were some questions about some of the uncivil discourse of some of the

dialogue that occurred after the tragic shooting of congresswoman deferreds -- giffords. there have been calls about disrupting town hall meetings like this. i think all of you for a civil and productive meeting. but what are your thoughts on some of that discussion between your colleagues in washington, d.c.? >> since i have been up there, i have been told i want to kill women and babies. i am told i hate everybody. i might even hate myself. name-calling is what happens when people do not want to stick to the issues and talk about the things that are going to make this nation great. we have to get away from that. whatever your ideology is, whatever your belief is, let's talk about it in the arena of ideas, not the cheap shots. i will tell you this.

i will tell you this. if you poke me in the chest, i am going to fight back. [applause] >> please come through on your commitment to see san diego. after everything i think we have heard today, you're going to spend a lot of time in washington, working on these issues. >> san diego is a beautiful place. i flew in there on my way to head up to camp pendleton. maybe one day i would get a chance to go out there and visit the seal training in coronado. the right now we have a lot of stuff we have to do in washington, and also being down with the folks in south florida. but god bless you for coming over from san diego. >> believe it or not, i think we

have gotten to just about everybody's question. if i did not call your name out specifically, i apologize for that. but i think this has been a great town hall meeting. we appreciate you being here to share your thoughts and answer some questions. [applause] >> i want to thank all of you for coming out. i know the weather out there is pretty nasty. but figure for participating in this process and allowing me to share a year -- share my thoughts and ideas. god bless america. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

>> , this first-term democratic senator talks about the dead -- the budget debate in washington and the effect it could happen on senior citizens. >> good to see you. great to be here. good morning. how are you? did you have a good summer? >> oh, yes. >> you had a lecture is of the all the time. yes. -- you had e