>> the u.s. and this we will shall dance iran does have been sent to test nuclear arms. one story says that they are 90% there. we expect a report by mid-week. in washington that is certain to generate lots of discussion this week. the president will meet with the nato secretary general and secretary of state clinton. the house is off this week. the senate will work on economic matters. iaeahere's the pending report says iran is close to nuclear weapons. democrats, republicans, and independents, your numbers on the screen.

is the headline. iran is close to a nuclear capability.

a little bit more from this story before we get to your calls. the report goes say that iran is closer to nuclear weapons. the post says this report is due to be released this week, letting out a finding on iranian efforts to obtain sensitive nuclear technology. fears that iran could quickly build an atomic bomb if it chooses -- georgia, our first call is harry on our independent line. are you there?

i'm wondering.m wonderin and let me turn the volume down. host: we are taking calls on the pending report on iran. go ahead. caller: what is going on with iran? what can we do about this situation with iran? host: what do you think? > caller: i am very puzzled about it. i hope the right decision is made to as what is going on with the nuclear arming of that country. host: what decision might be made and is their preferred decision in your mind? caller: i am puzzled about it. something else that troubles me,

last night i was watching "60 minutes." i'm a vietnam veteran. they had a lobbyist that had been sent to jail for, i believe, three years to five years or something like that. and this statement he made as far as what is going on in government, i am beginning to sympathize with the occupiers. host: mike from florida, independent. the iaea is coming out. what are your thoughts so far? caller: good morning, c-span. it is just another ramp up for more -- ramp-up for more war.

i am still technically registered democrat, but i will be changing my affiliation due to the fact that i did not vote for obama to promote this. now the un is taking the helm of this, but are they dictatingow er a government -- how we are governing? " we will have more sanctions and more innocent people will be killed over this strategic game. the iranians are no threat to us. no one is a threat to us but our own government. host: what's your answer to this deadline? caller: ron paul, the presidential candidate, who i hope to vote for, the good thing we can do is what he's asking us to do. that is we can negotiate with them. we can be friends with them. if we don't have to enforce

sanctions. look at what sanctions did in iraq. 5000 iraqi children died. that is disgusting. as americans, not only am i discussed it, i am embarrassed and this needs to stop. host: out to st. louis, bill on the line for democrats. caller: i say that the americans and the israelis have been threatening the iranians for 30 years. how could you talk about what the iranians don't have and not mention the israelis and thermonuclear weapons they have and they cannot sign any agreement. they have not acknowledged anything but the whole planet notes they are sitting on a stockpile of atomic and thermonuclear weapons -- the whole planet knows. you people in the media don't say a word. this is hypocrisy. host: there's this headline in

the washington post. the report is supposed to come out this week. during iranian officials have expressed indifference about the report being published. the controversy over the nuclear program in iran is 100% political, says a top iranian official. let's hear from dennis, a republican from las vegas. caller: i would like to rebut the guy from florida and the one from st. louis. the one from florida says iran is not expect to americans. they are an absolute threat. the israelis to possess nuclear weapons capabilities, but they do not openly say they're going to bomb teheran. if you go back to 1986 be

iranians were almost on the brink of having a missile. the israelis took it out without any casualties and sadaam hussein never had a nuclear weapon. they need to be taken out. they cannot have a nuclear weapon. post" --k to "proposed" -

iran is consistently maintained that its nuclear activities are peaceful and intended only to generate electricity. that is from "the "washington post." around those intent to test nuclear arms, in this publication as well. caller: first-time caller. i appreciate your service. you, sir. to avhave caller: if there is such a spread from iran, which i personally believe there probably is, but after what

happens and finding out much later that all the information that was given for the attack or the invasion of iraq that was not true, we are sort of faced with a similar situation. i guess i am just saddened that the trust that i have in the government is not what it was some years ago. host: michael, new york city. what would you like to say this morning. new on our independent line. caller: on the concept of s aance of power, he wante missile system. my view is maybe it is time to and russiar clewistputin

inside nato. we could use russian oil. t would strengthen nato's powers to have russia inside nato. host: facebook and twitter are a couple other ways that you can get your voice heard today as well as phone calls. also, cspanwj is our twitter address. the as long as some countries have nuclear weapons, every nation have the right -- should have the right to buy them says this person. brandon, your thoughts on the report that's coming? caller: the u.s. needs to do

something immediately, because i -- i know that we have issues with them. president obama should do something about it because the last president knew about attacks on new york city and did not do anything. >host: what should the president do about? caller: we should go in and try to work something out with iran. we don't need any more wars in america. host: let's hear from larry in mesa, arizona, republican. welcome to the program. caller: good morning. this was-- i have been falling this iran thing. well-analyzedry-wel

on the internet on noagenda.org and various broadcasts. the analysis is better than "washington journal." host: what you have learned, what are your thoughts politically and diplomatically? what is the answer? caller: i think it is just a repeat of iraq and everything else. we need to keep our troops and home. we need to buckle down and mind our own business with our economy and stop the saber rattling. host: i appreciate you calling, larry. here is the lead in the

financial times, page 6 today. the earlier caller touches on iraq in this piece in the new york times greedy and this piece in the new york times touches part of it.

the inspectors prepare a report on iran posing nuclear program. the obama administration acutely, aware of what happened or how what happened in iraq undercut american credibility and is deliberately taking a backseat, eager to make conclusions entirely, the iaea . john, from woodbridge, virginia. caller: the u.s. is the only country in world who has destroyed countries with nuclear weapons. libya gave up all their weapons and look at what nato did to their country. if we continue to focus on what other countries are doing as our country collapses, i am not concerned about iran or iraq or afghanistan or all these

countries. i don't understand why they even put it in the news all the time. we have problems right here in the united states. people losing jobs, homeless people. this is supposed to be the strongest country in the world and look what is going on in this country. yet we can talk about what is going on in iran. we don't talk about israel. they have plenty of nuclear weapons. it is really sad that we continue focusing on these countries. the u.s. is a conqueror. that's all it does is go to other countries and talk about what they are doing. i don't care what the other countries are doing. my only concern is what is going on in the united states. if our country is dying. the only thing we know how to do is create war. host: pizazz was kevin in woodbridge, virginia. that was sev kevin.

one more graph -- boulder, colorado, max, democrat. caller: the previous callers have no clue about the history of the mideast and what's going on with israel and the iraq and thomas turmoil is happening. dr. thomas had predicted that

old persia would rise up. old persia is iran. we are going to end up being a nostra dollars prediction if we attack iran. nca calendar ends in 2012. i could sell everything right now and party for the best of my life the best i can. host: thanks for calling. here's another tweet -- annapolis, maryland, susan, republican. caller: i agree with what you said about that other tweet. we don't get the real truth

about stories in the news media. i saw an interview with ahmadinejad and a few weeks ago. in the interview, i have to say, he mentioned that iran does not have any intention of attacking israeli and he does not have any problem with the jewish state of israel. he was referring to a small group of international bankers, corporations, that have no loyalty to any country do control the system. that is what he speaks out against. what he was referring to? is to build up a group because they do control what goes on, on the planet. i would love for c-span 2 program on who the group is. i cannot believe you have a meeting once or twice a year were the most probable people

get together and nobody in the news media covers what they are talking about. you are talking about the president of the united states, former presidents, the head of the federal reserve, the central bankers, economists, believe sitting and plotting behind closed doors and not one media outlet to talk about that. i would like to see more coverage on that. thank you. host: thanks for the ideas. lots more international news in the papers. some action in the senate this week. in greece the leaders are in a deal to form a new government. the prime minister george papandreou and his chief rival agreed sunday night that a new unity government under new prime minister will move ahead with the debt relief deal with the european union and then will hold new elections. papandreou pass agreed to resign once the details are completed

today. it get more news we will bring it to you during the program. there's a shot of the italian prime minister silvio berlusconi at the g-20 summit. red line says he stands on shakier ground as his parliamentary majority is in doubt as doubts over his country's economy grows. he might actually step down. france is said to rein in spending. the french government is finalizing an austerity package. that will be unveiled today. it's seeking to meet expected reduction targets and hold onto its triple-a credit rating against a backdrop of slowing growth. that's in the paper as well this morning. one more wall street journal story from germany. german coalition plans income tax cuts. the ruling center-right coalition of angela merkel of says it plans to cut income tax

for low and middle wage earners, a small but symbolic step as the coalition begins setting the stage for elections in 2013. back to the iran story. bob in illinois, independent. caller: we [unintelligible] host: let's hear from patty in kansas. caller: i was a teacher and by todd iranian children - - i taught iranian children. there's no difference in any children anywhere, but there is a difference in how their administration works for school. i taught in a very large school. i taught american english, esl

as a second language to them. this reign of terror has been or 80on in irtan 60 years now. we have been ravaging that whole country for oil. the oil companies are pressuring and privatization of our war years from america, which we are getting back more body bags from suicide than we are from people being killed. it is high time that we started constructing people -- conscripting the sons of congress people just like we did in the second world war and others. this is not a constitutional war. this is a war that we are not

going to ever win. we are riveted from winning it by all the pressure from our own country -- we are prohibited from winning it by the pressure from our own country and oil companies. i cannot reasonably think that anyone would think iran did not have nuclear power grid to go for at least the past 20 years. host: thanks for calling. sean is from oklahoma on our independent line. what you make of the report that's coming out? caller: good morning. i am a little dubious. i would like to ask everyone to stop and take a breath, step back, and i did some research on the history of the relations between the u.s. and iran.

the world view is a run is a sovereign nation. does anyone remember the shock of iran -- shah of iran, where it came from? also, we need to dismiss are highly paid mercenaries and reinstate the draft. that way everyone can share the pain and share the blame. host: thanks for calling. the federal share of debt is rising. they talk about offsets. the consumers reducing borrowing, but the country is barring more.

there's the deficit-reduction commission tried to get its work done by november 23. here's a photograph. olf buddies turned frosty. the president and house speaker were golfing buddies, but it's turned frosty. and this headline, something john boehner said yesterday on one of the sunday morning shows - -- >> i understand people's frustrations. i understand their concerns. we have differences in america. we are not going to engage in

class warfare. the president is out there doing it every day. i think it's unfortunate. our job is to help all americans, not to pick one set of americans against another. the president is clearly trying to do this. and it's wrong. -- trying to pit one set of americans against another. host: the speaker said that the house will take action on its own infrastructure package. as we know, if they cannot reach

a deal, there will be across- the-board cuts out there. taker heights, ohio, sadie on the democrats' line -- shaker heights. caller: when we talk about the war with iran, i remember john mccain, a good military brilliant mind. he supposed to be the great military brilliance in our country. he was saying to bomb iran. ever since i saw him saying that, i knew that would be the next moves, they would start working on us psychologically so they could go to war against iran. i am totally against this. besides that, we all should have evolved past war right now as a human race. one country has nuclear weapons

than the other sovereign countries should be allowed to have them or nobody should be allowed to have them. we really don't need them. cut,'s why they want the cap, and balance in the constitution so we can go to war. the rich people don't have to pay any money or any blood either, does like the republicans are protecting them. they don't want to do a 0.5% tax increase on 0.2% of the population that are making more than $1 million to help us out of this whole that we are in -- hole. host: if we want any meaningful sanctions to work, we have to get russia and china on our side, says this tweet. a couple comments on all this on facebook this morning. his is another which uncover--

silver spring, texas, barbara, independent. caller: good morning. the lady that, yes, they do need to start covering the secretive meetings and quit keeping it secret from the citizens. it would not hurt for them to go to youtube and to check out the operations. thank you. host: woodstock, georgia, robert. what you think about the iaea report coming out this week? caller: the whole situation with

israel and iran is nonsense. they've been talking about attacking each other for years. i think we should stop and bring both of them to the table and see what can be worked out. i don't think there's peace in the situation, but some type of mutual agreement where we can coexist. attacking iran would just waste money, lives, and the u.s. cannot afford this right now. we should not risk bringing china or russia into a situation where they might have to choose sides. i don't see that really helping us. it does not help the israelis. seven minutes to get through their air defenses. out of all the middle eastern countries, iran is the only one that truly has a chance of beating is rail in a one-on-one if we cannot truly step bein. host: the u.s. house is out this

week. the senate is in session and there will take up another economic bill, jobs-related bills. here is more economic news. young men suffer the worst as the economy staggers. and this statistic -- the wealth gap --

with veterans day coming this week, there's this story about capitol hill and a bill aiming to boost veteran hiring. senate democrats introduced a measure on friday offering tax breaks to companies that hire veterans of the wars in afghanistan and iraq.

aurora, illinois, jack. caller: we should act now because if we don't it's going to be too late. they want to kill israel and america. we would pay a high price if we don't act now. host: thanks for calling. this is a story about a democratic senator rather majority whip david gergdick du.

steve, florida, independent. caller: thanks for taking my call. i think we can settle this wrestling. wrestling is the number-one sport in iran. anyone who was a wrestler in this country knows how great the sport is and how diverse it is. the thing is, i have called out for this before. we need to worry more about this than we are worrying about who is going to get the nomination, but we should send wrestlers to teheran or have them come over to des moines or wherever we need them to and taken out on the mat. sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. that's the way to handle the problem. host: abdullah, california,

independent. caller: i call c-span only when something pushes my button. this is pushing a button this morning. i am an american muslims. i want to ask other muslims in this country to please peopspeak up. we are sick and tired of americans but especially as american muslims of our country always attacking muslim countries. they lied to us. they vilifies and dehumanize the leaders of these countries that we have become friends with and then turn around and tell the american people they are bad and kill their people. there are millions of untold casualties. i don't believe 9/11 was perpetrated by 19 people with

box cutters. if america is really it's finally attacked -- you can only push a cat into a corner for so long before it will scratch you. we have to study peace and we have to stop villein rising the muslim world. as an american muslim, i feel under attack every day because of the politics of our country. please stop. muslims, please calling, american muslims, please make your voice heard. we club america just like everyone. we are christian country and we need to stop attacking muslim countries. host: silver spring, maryland, rick, independence. we will do this about six more minutes. caller: i'm happy to hear the american muslim calling because we do need more people like him to lead the world understand different types of people --.

bilderberg and other groups, these 1%. leaders go into these meetings and block these things tend to 30 years ahead of time for their interests. a sampling as the federal aserve -- the same king thin ag the federal reserve. they used the media to delay things. i'm glad the c-span is letting people speaks so you can see people are not being fooled. this is the information age and we have technology now. no longer can we be deceived and troops into going to war.

there will be repercussions for people if we go to war because the cat is out of the bag. appreciate you taking my call. host: another message via twitter. here's the front page of "christian science monitor." china. there's a bloomberg story this morning, back to the economic issues in europe, u.s. stock futures dropped on reports that silvio berlusconi will step down in italy. he may resign within hours. they talk about going. and wal-mart retreating more than 1%.

a lot of uncertainty still there. we'll see how it plays out today. kentucky, mary, republican. good morning. caller: hi. i want to make my comments about the possibility of nuclear weapons in iran. we went to pakistan on the pretext there were nuclear weapons and there were not. this is just some storytelling to say that we have those weapons over there that will attack israel or were never. that is so they can keep the military over there instead of bringing them back to the states as part of the pullout we're finally doing in afghanistan. i really don't think there's anything to it. i think it's another scheme to

keep the soldiers over there. we need to bring them home. host: thanks for calling. some headlines, around the country. elections in nicaragua. ortega poised for election victory. election day tomorrow around this country. this store talks about a vote in mississippi on the personhodd issue --personhood issue. life would be defined at the moment of fertilization possibly. 100,000 signatures appeared on the ballot. it proposes to define a person

as every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof. this has put many in the state particularly in the religious and medical communities. if this week the governor says he questions the consequences. let's hear from suffolk, new jersey, bill, democrat. caller: good morning. i want to comment about the iranian situation and the basic question comes up to me is, who made the u.s. the police of the world? we went into iran aimlessly on false information. the only one who benefited was the high rollers like the vice president at the time who had a financial interest. we have many people in this country going homeless, losing their homes, yet you see on the

news whenever there's an issue we send our troops. how many troops have to die before we get with the program and bring our troops home? i think anytime we demand to go over to iran or iraq or a scanner stands, the first move should be soon have the senate to move their offices over there and we will see how quickly they come home. host: anthony, on the republican line. caller: i have been listening and you may not like what i'm about to say. i'm a black man and i'm a republican. i cannot stand any more about these people talking about what iran is or what america is. america does not have any conspiracy on 9/11. this goes all the way back to the civil war. i'm proud -- my history goes all

the way back to the civil war. i am proud of what i am and proud to be a black republican. when a white man sees me is that they think i am a black democrat. my god is of abraham, isaac, and and jacob. louisis not the gods of farrakhan. i am proud to be a demonic rat. black people will reap what they the junk they have been believing. host: gloves go to queens, new york, independent, elijah. queens.s go to

caller: we call people from iran terrorists when we have more terrorists in our country than over there harming us than they have over there. we do nothing to combat terrorists we have over here attacking our young black men and black children. host: thanks for calling. a couple stories about elections. the governor of kentucky and is favored to win reelection. . he's a he has presided over states with large budget shortfalls and the jobless rate well above the national average and appears headed for reelection on tuesday. he will defeat republican david williams, according to some analysts.

and the mayor's race in san francisco. the race barrier may topple as voters choose a mayor. they're likely to elect a chinese-american mayor for the first time on tuesday. it's a milestone long overdue for many residents. looks like the race barrier will be beaten. and in ohio there's a showdown looming over workers rights. activists in this picture. they're right that the governor is known for his no-nonsense confrontational style. "you get on the bus or we will run you over." the deeply unpopular governor is

likely to get run over himself. the battle between -- they're saying it also resonates nationally. not only is ohio a swing state, but will be critical in the general election and they write that the referendum reflects the frustration of america's middle class. more calls on iran. the iaea putting out a report this week saying that iran is closer to nuclear weapons, some suggesting there are 90% there. harrisburg, pennsylvania, mitchell. caller: good morning, longtime listeners. host: it's the democratic line, by the way. caller: i don't understand what the big news is.

we knew this was headed this way for many years. one thing we cannot afford to do is to let iran have the capability of a nuclear weapon. you have to remember that israel is our allies. if they go in and take out that mechanism where they are have to back them up. most of our medications come from israel. i am a retired veteran. just because i'm a democrat does not mean i am a dove. obama a sure is is not a dove. they should lead us investigate. if we cannot investigate, but is will take the first step. -- if we cannot go to

investigate, then we can take the first step. obama builds 200 or 300 drones' a few years ago. we will not hurt any other people. we will take out the facility. this is a long time coming and this should not be a surprise. i'm sick of people thinking we have to negotiate. we tried to negotiate with them. host: mitchell, from harrisburg, pennsylvania. here is a tweet that says iran is millions and millions of real human beings and not an abstract shape on a map. york, independent. caller: i'm a combat veteran. we just can not leave iraq

because it opens the door to iran and syria. those are the ones supplying -- the same way as in vietnam. we were fighting the chinese as well and the russians. we cannot just quit the nuclear programs. i pray that is rail takes out that facility --- that israel takes out that facility. if obama remove skin troops from iraq, they will lose and they will be back over here taking us out -- if obama removes the troops. it blows my mind that people don't see what's going on. and the wall street protesters want socialism. i am a capitalist. i went to college twice and i am a retired machinist.

give people a chance to work. don't stick them on welfare. >> our guest will include molly ball, talking politics, particularly the gop race. we'll speak with carrie hines as well to predict of the american small manufacturers coalition to find out how that sector is staring. and lieutenant-general richard mills of the u.s. marine corps. potential budget cuts for the marines. we will take your calls a little later in the program. midland, texas, independent, gil. caller: we are part of a 19th century concepts developed by the british that is called the white man's burden.

you should read rudyard kipling concerning the evasion of the philippines in 1899. this was carried on by the united states. look at your history. look at formosa and vietnam. why did we invaded vietnam? look at panama. look at iraq. fighting. we need to stop this. thank you. host: illinois, democrat, peggy, thanks for waiting. caller: good morning. your program is interesting. the man from pittsburgh that was on a while ago making comments about this and that, his views

are pretty good, but somebody has to force international l aw since the united nations does not seem to step up to the plate. the u.s. is always has to be the one to go forward. we cannot allow terrorists to come over here and bomb us. on the other hand i think we go little far when we try to push our freedom on to other countries that have been suppressed for so many years. they have no way of knowing anything different. israel is our ally. it would be really bad if a war broke out in israel. i don't think the u.s. would be the only country going tthere

to help. as far as finding out what they have over there or don't have over there, like the other caller said, we have people that can go over there and protect these people out. if they don't want to lead us in, i say take them out. host: a supreme court case to tell you about. justices way privacy versus gps bugs.

bust the gridlock. style section of the washington post. picture of former supreme court justice sandra day o'connor breaking ground in public service. she is a trailblazer, they write.

the former supreme court justice visiting the national cowgirl museum in fort worth. the first woman on the nation's court is redefining the term "active retirement. marietta, georgia, republican. caller: a lot of the older we did aon't think lot of your older guests think that us younger guys don't understand about vietnam. saigon fell in a matter of hours when we left vietnam. the situation here, allowing israel to attack vietnam, but let's face it israel cannot be iran one-on-one. should we risk ourselves? they were given a country they should not have been given in

the first place. they lost that land fair and square. now they have to do defend it not necessarily on their own. if israel is attacked, by all means defend them. but for them to start planning an attack, no. this is not fair to us and all the other countries that would have to come to help them. it is people are so quick to say a bomb this, they use more bombs than i don't know what in the second world war and they still lost. host: thanks, robert, for calling. joseph is from queens, new york, independent. caller: the iaea is an international institution that opposed the iraq war and is against weapons of mass destruction.

when they say iran has the capability to build a nuclear weapon within several months, at the rest of the world should take it at its word. as to the point of whether the israelis like vietnam or iran is like vietnam, israel is one of the closest allies we have and one of the biggest supporters of american interests. allowing them to go on their own attack iran on themselves -- on their own would be a huge mistake. losing and other allied would not be in interest of america. host: the iaea will show to rimbaud's the intent to build nuclear arms -- will show iran's

intent to build nuclear arms. this photograph was from 2009. we will hear a lot about this once the report comes out. the obama administration acutely aware of what happens is deliberately taking a backseat, eager to make the conclusions entirely that of the iaea, says "the new york times."

toledo, ohio, dale, a democrat. caller: i wanted to speak on the iran issue. a lot of people do not know that iran is the leader of all the terrorist nations out there. we are getting rid of all of pushing theses, leaders out because people think that they are just bad leaders, which they really are, but when you take those strong people out, like saddam hussein was taken out of the way, it gives iran and its terrorist nations

room enough to go in and start their terrorist thing. what is about to happen over there right now in the middle east? iran is about to buy all of this stuff. they are about to push this world into a very bad situation. host: thank you for calling. republican line, colorado springs. caller: i have been doing this for a long time, but first of all, thank you for taking my call. i love c-span. i feel that we should not let israel do our work. i think that we should step up. if iran tests a nuclear bomb, we should let them know up front that we will not stand for it and the repercussions will be so severe that they would wish that they had never even thought about it. i really hope that people

understand that this needs to be stopped right now. unfortunately, if they start with nuclear testing, that is the first act of war. and i think that we should step in there and do our job, and not let israel do the job that we should do. host: let's hear from pennsylvania now. pat, independent line. caller: i agree with many of your callers this morning. i think that america needs to get back to basics. we can bring -- we can regain our credibility in the world if we speak softly and carry a big stick. we can be the greatest ally or enemy. we are still the greatest nation in the world. it is not all lost yet. we can regain our credibility if we get back to the basics.

we have the resources and the education. contrary to what alan greenspan thinks about generation x, we are not all lazy and entitled. all americans have greatness offer. host: pat, pennsylvania, thank you for calling. talking about politics this morning, there is a story in "politico," a new poll on one of the new major political events. "democrats as a whole are less white and more liberal than they were in 2008." this is from a new gallup poll today. "the percentage of americans --

host: you can read about that in "politico." one more photograph from the papers today. from george h. w. bush. "election, nhl-style." "the president, between two marines before the beginning of a game in houston, tx." that will do it for the first hour of the show. we have two hours left. next we will talk with molly ball, national political reporter for "the atlantic." we will be right back. ♪ >> well, this is the formal part. filling out the declaration for

candidacy. >> all that it needs is a signature? i can do that. >> this is some kind of slogan. you might want to leave. we do this every four years. >> you have got a great secretary of state with a great job. making sure that new hampshire remains first in the nation. i say that it is a responsibility and honor that hampshire richly deserves. i hope that this time it will take and i will be able to become, hopefully, the next president of the united states.

>> click on the campaign 2012 tab in the event. searchable and free, washington, your way in the c-span video library. >> see more videos of the candidates on the c-span video web site. read the latest comments from candidates, political reporters, social media sites, and linked to the seas and partners in the early caucus states. all of it at c-span.org /campaign2012. >> you pay taxes on the money you make and each dollar the to make. you are being taxed twice. it literally forces the u.s. to leave money overseas. >> tonight, gary shapiro on "the

communicators." >> the thought being that if you need economic stimulus, you have the money come back here. tie it to jobs or capital investment. >> "the communicators," tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span 2. >> "washington journal" continues. host: at the table, molly ball, national political reporter for the atlantic. " -- guest: thank you for having me. host: we want to get to one of your recent pieces. "religious right still lacking a champion in 2012." what is going on? guest: when you think about the evangelical community, the republican party is a key part of the base. recall how important they work?

this time around, there is not a candidate that they feel that they can rally around. in a lot of ways, they are frustrated, dissatisfied. they do not like the tone of the discussion around immigration. the leaders of the christian right are still not sure what they're going to do. host: what might they do in the year ahead? do they come out? coalesce? of what do you see happening? guest: this particular leader that i spoke to, richard lamm, insists that they will come out and be motivated, because they are -- because they want so badly to defeat president obama. but that negative motivation is different from a positive motivation of having someone that you actually want to vote for. the question is -- will they come out or stay home? before they became politicized

and activated in the 1990's, with the christian coalition, there was a strong feeling that maybe they should not be involved in politics. that may be their religious sphere was not the sphere of government. they may retreat back into the private sphere. host: the phone numbers are on the bottom of the screen for our guests. molly ball, a national political reporter for "the atlanta," here to take your calls on politics. there is this headline as well, molly ball. there is a new poll that shows mitt romney is electable, but that many republicans are still hesitant. more hesitancy in the party. they are saying that he has a significant advantage over the rivals except in that one area,

collectability. what does that mean? guest: i find this very interesting on the campaign trail. activists, the electability means something different to them than it does to the pundits. there is a feeling that mitt romney is the most electable candidate. he matches well against president obama, but many republicans and do not feel that way. they want a champion who is as angry as they are about the situation in america, about president obama. in someone like mitt romney, they see someone who is too much like obama to be elected. host: according to this poll, the best chance to be obama, mitt romney has 33%, herman cain has 21%.

you can read more at "the washington post." a little bit more story. herman cain was all the rage in the news last week, continues to be headed into this week. "the new york daily news," has this, "slip showing, sexual harassment scandal." they write that it is great -- cutting into his popularity. another one says, in "usa today," that he has raised $2 million amidst this uproar. guest: i am not sure of that particular poll is reliable. i believe that it is an online poll. but i think we need to look at more polling to see if there is a trend in his support. but there was a knee-jerk reaction amongst supporters to

rally around him and take his side against what they saw as a hit on him by the liberal media. also, it is important to add that we do not know if that fund raising is real or not. the claim from his campaign is that we have no way of checking on the exposure to find out how much money these candidates are raising. host: also in the post, in the obama tenure, a resurgent wall street thriving under the president. what might that kind of headline mean to the gop field in the broader race? of guest: on the one hand, the financial industry does not seem particularly grateful for what has happened to them under the broader administration. certainly, they turned against him in terms of the general

sentiment of a lot of the donations. i think we are going to see wall street being the big villain in this coming election. we are going to see democrats working to associate the republican nominee with wall street, whether it is mitt romney with his past in the financial industry, or really any other republican candidate that is the line of attack. the extent to which obama distances himself from wall street, it hurts him in some ways in terms of fund-raising and his friendliness with the establishment, it might be a good thing for him in terms of being elected. host: first guest, virginia, good morning. thank you for waiting. caller: good morning [no audio]

our god given freedom, our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as america should be, not as aggressive as want it to be. progressives are worse than liberals. they want to tax and spend you into oblivion. thank you. god help america. host: a strong voice. guest: that is one view that we have heard a lot of. a very strong anger in a lot of votes moving against obama. host: an interesting piece, "christian politics makes unholy alliances." about a professor in -- written by a professor in georgia.

guest: farewell, i would guess that i would say to the writer, good luck with that. politicians talk about these things because they work. you can decry it as a way to manipulate people or a play on tribalism, but politicians will seek advantages wherever they can find them. host: florida, independent line, good morning. caller: what do you mean when you say christians?

the only presidential candidate that i see with religion is what we all want. not just questions, we all want that, in obama. i do not see obama doing anything wrong. the united states was messed up when he got in there and i think we're better than we were then. why not keep him in there doing that job? guest: it is important to remember that the religious right, which consists mostly of evangelical christians, particularly older evangelical christians, is a distinct part of what we could call the overall christian vote. people that identify themselves particularly as born-again christians, not all types of questions, although many catholics are also in that very conservative bloc. there is a younger generation of

evangelicals and many of them are more liberal than that older cohort, caring more about environmental issues, helping the port. -- poor. obama mobilized many of those voters in 2008. in the past they have remained aggressively secular. he did have some success with those voters. i think that we will see that the evangelical vote less monolithic as time wears on. host: adding abortion to all of this, "the wall street journal," brings this back up as a headline.

host: first, there is a new dnc advertisement out regarding mitt romney and abortion. here's a look. >> under the constitutional amendment would you establish life as the moment of conception? >> voters will vote for a candidate in a key position and specific issues. one issue that has become controversial, the personhood amendment. >> i could have died because of my ectopic pregnancy. with him in place, i would have died. >> absolutely.

host: the gop and abortion? guest: this will be taken up tomorrow, the declaration of a fertilized human egg to be a person with all of the rights that a human has. this is something that will probably pass and has a lot of consequences that we do not understand, even with an anti- abortion activist communities there is a division over this kind of approach, with some groups thinking that may actually backfire. it is definitely going to be litigated. when it goes to the supreme court, there is a fear that they will lose and it will set back because of trying to outlaw abortion. host: may, good morning. guest: good morning. -- caller: good morning. why do you think that the

christians so badly want to beat the president? he has done more for this country than any other president. i do not understand that very well. i want to see what your answer is. thank you very much. host: something that you want to tackle, molly ball? guest: an interesting question. there has been a long history of very religious people being associated with the republican party and the right. not only on issues like these very divisive social issues, abortion and gay marriage, but also on economic issues. i think you would have to do some real parsing of historical trends to sort that out. that is something where, as you mentioned, even in an election that is focused almost entirely on the economy, these things almost always come out. candidates are always called to account for where they stand on

these issues. particularly when they go to iowa. there are activists that demand to know where the candidates stand on these divisive social issues. even in an election that is supposed to be about other things, we find ourselves talking about this over and over again. these are emotional issues that always turn into hot buttons. host: troy, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. the young christians, without exception, young christians are going to go for ron paul in this next election. she is right about different issues being important to us. like the environment. we are concerned about the gsa growing. camp trails over every state. -- chemtrails over every state.

that is why from paul is our candidate. host: what do you think? guest: ron paul has been trying to aggressively court the christian vote in this election in a way that he did not do four years ago. his campaign has run advertisements talking about him being pro-life. seeking to position himself as being more in tune with the social issues rather than emphasizing familiar hobbyhorses that we hear from him all over again, like hard money and the fed. we are still seeing that, despite the money he has in this campaign and despite his more professional operation, he has a hard ceiling where he pulls better than other candidates but is not able to break into that top tier, where he is actually giving romney a run for his money. someone like herman cain has a more conventional set of issues.

host: mitt romney, rick perry, here is an ad from the former massachusetts governor. ♪ host: there is that immigration issue, coming up again. guest: it will become a point of contention between the parry and romani. but perry, despite the way he has fallen off the map, is still the one that mitt romney is attacking, not herman cain, who actually competes with them in

terms of numbers. because rick perry seems to have the money and professional operation to have staying power if he can come back with voters. also because his only hope is to be the conservative alternative to mitt romney and immigration is the one issue is where mitt romney is to the right of rick perry, so he is seeking to paint creek perry as too liberal. host: john, independent. caller: the country keeps talking about jobs, jobs, jobs. jobs are not coming back to this country. you and i both know that. unless the people in this country started working for $4 an hour. there is no reason for big corporations to big jobs -- bring jobs back to this country when they can go to libya, china, indonesia, mexico, and pay labour whatever it is -- $1 per day, 50 cents an hour.

there are no jobs left in this country. topiclet's stick to the at hand. caller: obama is correct, this is class warfare. people are saying that he is wrong. it is class warfare because everything is slanted toward the rich and corporations. people have forgotten that eight years under the bush administration, they collapse of the economy. obama took over with a collapsed economy under unprecedented conditions. eight years under the bush administration, he gave big corporations their own way. the result was a collapsed economy. host: the collapsed warfare argument came most recently from the speaker yesterday during one of the sunday shows. that idea of class warfare, a plug that into the race at this

point. guest: recall that he explicitly said that this is not class warfare. democrats are accustomed to this attack on them and are trying to turn it around. a familiar refrain every time that something is introduced. particularly taxes on the rich. we see in polls that there is generally overwhelming support for requiring the rich to pay more taxes. but, republicans have had a lot of success in turning that around. including class warfare that it's essentially on the american feeling that we are not the kind of society where these classes war against each other. we are not europe. we will see. i think that the caller hit on the key issue for the president. can he convince people that he is going in the right direction

with the economy and that is not his fault? we have seen a lot less invoking of the bush administration as they realize that even if people still blame bush for the state of things, they are tired of having that brought up and they want discussions on progress. back to rick perry. here's a look at his advertisement. >> if you want a slick person with advertising skills, we already have that. he has destroyed the economy. i am a do'er, not a talker. we cut a record $15 billion from the state budget. they say that we cannot do that in washington. they are wrong. they need to go. i am a carry and i approve this message. -- i am rick perry and i approve this message. host: what does he have to do to get his numbers up?

guest: show that he can be as convincing in purpose -- in person as he is on camera. we have seen very erratic performances from him when he comes on live. when he is on screen like that, he can be exciting, energetic, and convincing. but in other settings, like that strange speech that he gave in new hampshire, he just is not on all of the time. even if voters are not looking for what he calls a slick talker, they want someone with a know who he is an to can perform, to some extent, and be convincing. host: one last call from jerry, democratic line. huntington beach, california. caller: thank you. the republican party seems to have a tendency to nominate weak candidates, like bob dole and

john mccain, as well as others. i think that they will do it again this time. the only one that i would consider voting for would be ron paul. but we will not get a chance to vote for him. host: what are you looking for this week? guest: this is a point in the primary where you have a sense of despair in the field. this is true for both parties. no one looks good. everyone is afraid that they are picking up everything. host: we are joined by molly ball, national political reporter for the event -- for "the atlantic." thank you for being here. guest: thank you for having me. host: next, we will talk about the future of small business manufacturing in this country. in the meantime, as we switch

out guests, we will go to c- span radio, for some news. >> at federal reserve report finds that households have reduced debt by $550 billion since 2007, mostly by cutting mortgages through default and paying down credit cards. during that time, the federal government has added more than $4 trillion in debt, raising the country's total bar went to $37 trillion, excluding the financial industry. as veterans day approaches, president obama meets with veterans groups to talk about investing in jobs as the president continues to work to get congressional approval for his jobs plan. in recent weeks, the president has signed executive orders for homeowners and college students. as for the global economy, the two biggest parties in greece resumed talks today.

after reaching a historic power- sharing deal to accept a financial rescue package and prevent bankruptcy. european governments will want concrete progress by this evening, when the euro zone finance ministers meet. >> almost every other developed country in the world, you pay taxes in each country the to make. in the united states you are taxed twice for the same income. the u.s. is very anti- competitive, forcing them to leave their money overseas. >> tonight, on "the communicators," gary shapiro. >> when we talk about economic stimulus, we have this money coming back into the economy at a lower tax rate, 10%. even tied to jobs or capital investments.

>> "the communicators," tonight at 8:00 eastern, c-span 2. >> "washington journal" continues. host: turning to economic business matters, specifically manufacturing, we have the executive director of the american small manufacturing coalition, carrie hines. thank you for being here. guest: thank you for having me. host: what is a small business manufacturer? guest: any manufacturing firm that has less than 500 employees. host: how is that sector doing right now? guest: relatively well, given the economy. we recently did a study showing the great challenges that they can overcome. host: what do you think that they are? guest: nearly six out of 10 manufacturers may have a leadership change in the next five years. there is a huge possibility that

when baby boomers retire, they need to get labor in replacement positions. host: from the bureau of labor statistics regarding manufacturing, 11.8 million employees in the country. would those be small manufacturers? guest: 9.7% are small. host: the most recent average for weekly hours, about normal, 40.5. the wage is $23.90. what has allowed that sector to do well? guest: one of the things that the american public probably does not grasp is that small manufacturers are critical to the supply chain. products that they use every day. i believe that because the economy is still -- consumers are still buying the products

that manufacturers make. host: let's but the numbers on the bottom of the screen for our guest, carrie hines. lines for democrats, republicans, and independence. -- independents. what are the challenges right now? guest: another thing concluded in our study is that sustainability has played an important role in manufacturing. two years ago we did a study showing that sustainability is something of importance to manufacturers. from 35% a couple of years ago to 39%. host of we want to mention that there is a fourth line for small manufacturers. 202-628-0184. we will get to your calls in just a moment. when you look at federal policy in the government, how does

federal policy look at small manufacturers as opposed to larger ones? guest: there are policy issues like taxation and regulation. but small manufacturers are obviously affected. there are programs out there to help small manufacturers. one program is the manufacturing extension program. whereby technical assistance and consulting services go to manufacturers. host: legislation on the hill to generate jobs, it is being distributed in various places on both sides of the aisle. flood that argument into small business. of what -- plug that argument into small businesses. what might change? guest: what is lacking is skilled labour to fill those jobs.

we need to continue to provide resources to help those small manufacturers continue to grow their businesses, becoming innovative and more productive. host: getting viewers in for those chats, michael is the first on the republican line. we are talking about small manufacturing. caller: what would happen if congress passed a law providing all importers to meet all of the environmental, labor, and safety standards in effect for u.s. manufacturers? thank you. guest: a great question. to meet all of the regulations required, those with the challenges when they tried to implement those requirements. there are impacts that we need to consider before passing those laws. i would need to look closer at

the legislation. host: charleston, south carolina. terry, hello there. morning, terry. caller: hello? for all i am on. host: yes, go ahead. caller: in the community, manufacturers at 300, 400 employers, they have a big impact on the community. i do not think that people realize that those persons that have a commitment to the community, now you have got absentee homeowners that have no commitment to the community. what do you think about that? guest: i think it is definitely -- you hit the nail on the head, when you said those small manufacturers being important to their community. i think that companies need to look at their impact on the

local economy. the company needs to employ more local workers, but also get involved in the community. host: what is it like for small manufacturers to get loans? guest: difficult, to say the least. there are legislation out there, multiple discussions being had about improvement. that is one of the biggest challenges. host: what about that challenge? they cannot grow, they cannot hire? how curran is that? -- current is that? guest: there are many manufacturers out there that cannot purchase the equipment that they need. host: tampa, florida, good morning. woody, what do you make? guest: we make would for guitars

and vases -- caller: we make the for guitars and bases. host: have his business? guest: the same, no matter what. i am one of those job creators, " anquote unquote. all of those potential business creators out there, every one of my vendors is american. we make everything that we do with these guitars here in america. simple truth. i hear everyone talking about reducing taxes on business, getting rid of a whole bunch of regulations, we will grow jobs. i am here to say that you can cut my taxes to zero, you can take every regulation from the

epa, osha, and everyone else and tear up the books and say that it is free rein, and i still would not -- i have spoken with all of my vendors -- none of us would ever be able to hire another employee until you didn't reach a deal with the demand problem in this country. -- until you deal with the demand country in this country. no one has money because no one has jobs. there are $3 trillion -- i was listening to former president clinton on c-span just yesterday -- $1.20 trillion held by the banks that they are just sitting on. $1.70 trillion that 75 companies on this planet are holding in their treasuries. unless they start hiring people to make things and putting them

in a warehouse and letting the lag time take up -- meaning that to hire a bunch of people that you do not expect to sell the stuff tomorrow -- but just because people have a job, in the next six months of a might stop -- they might start buying stuff. then and only then will we be able to bring the economy back into what it was. host: a number of points there, beginning with the all encompassing tax issue. guest: i agree that it affects small manufacturers. i also agree with the caller, it will love solve all the problems. the study that we completed showed that manufacturers look to outside resources to help them overcome some of their challenges. it is not just about taxation and eliminating regulation.

it is about providing the resources to help them succeed. host: in terms of the next generation report, explain that globally, those dynamics between small manufacturers here and in the rest of the world. host: a great question. there is a significant difference. 41% of small manufacturers believe that they have the equipment in place to become actively involved. that is compared to 65 large manufacturers. there is a significant difference. host: eddie, republican, good morning. guest: corporate tax candidates, lowered that to 15 -- caller: corporate tax rates, lower that to 15% so that we can compete. we need tort reform.

we had a ski slope on turkey mountain. we had ice skating, rover's skating, a dance hall. even 4h had to close because the insurance rates were too high. you need tort reform to get the manufacturers and businessmen back with a chance. guest: i agree. we definitely have to look at toward reform. it is about the cost, decreasing the cost of providing those products. host: our guest is the executive director of the american small manufacturers coalition. smallmanufacturers.org is is the web site. guest: on the website we have to study that we conducted this summer. it contains the evaluation and performance that we believe is critically important.

host: tell us more about your organization and have it started. guest: we are an organization of the manufacturing partnership center. guest -- host: is it spread about evenly across the country? guest: fairly evenly. located closer to their large minute -- they are located closer to the large manufacturers. the change in leadership is one of the biggest challenges. we need to help small manufacturers, provide them with the resources to help to export more efficiently, bringing their practices and improvements to cost savings. those challenges are continuing. host: florida, william, small manufacturers. what do you produce?

caller: of plating company. -- a leading company. host: how many employees? caller: 21. host: how long have you been in business? caller: about 20 years. business has improved. people that were doing plaiting overseas are finding that when there is a problem, they have to wait for on-time delivery. business has been growing. host: what would you say to the lawmakers in washington? caller: get the banks to help the small business. the problem is that banks generally want you out of the bank now. even though you pay on time and everything is going good. you have been with them through the hard times and they just want to decrease their exposure to small manufacturing. they want you to move to a different bank, which is very

difficult today. they also have eight different manufacturers in the building. the banks, huntington in particular, say that they have too much money involved in commercial industrial real estate. even though we have never missed a payment and our taxes are up to date, they will insist on trusties in the event that we cannot transfer the loan to another bank. it is impossible today. these of the types of things that occurred. these other banks that are not able to give us loans, these smaller banks, describing them as downpour fill list and so heavy in real estate that they cannot loan any money of any kind. host: any questions or further

point for the guest? caller: what about the ability to loan to small manufacturers? guest: -- host: would you like to elaborate on his comments? guest: riyad looking for a capital backing from banks to provide that funding to small manufacturers. right now, most of them are in the process of being evaluated. washington is looking at that issue and, unfortunately, i do not have anything on that process right now. host: charles, in vienna, good morning. caller: i was calling to say to the republican party that all they talk about is lowering taxes. one of the reasons that small businesses are hurting and that manufacturing is hurting is that there are so many people out of work, they are cutting teachers.

they want to cut the employees from government. when we have teachers, those are real jobs. they buy dishwashers. they buy refrigerators. they buy homes and cars. manufacturing is downfall because we continue to cut, cut, cut. we have seen, from this tax cut, what they have done. taxes, they do not even have to pay we need to look at not trying to lay off everyone and cut everything. they need to start investing in our schools and highways. those are jobs. real jobs. government jobs are still jobs. people use those jobs to create manufacturing. for if you do not have a job,

you cannot create manufacturing. republicans need to stop. guest: i agree that we have to look at both sides. we have to look at making significant cuts, but in the funding that we do have, investing it properly. one of the policies that we support is the investment in manufacturing extensive partnerships. small programs that cost the federal taxpayer $120 million, providing a 32 to one return on investment. host: democratic line, stephen, good morning. caller: yes. i have been having this problem with -- i do not understand -- why not have the people from whirlpool open their own

country -- company? why not take it all and invest in our own united states companies, the people that take it overseas can sell it to people overseas at $2 per hour. when bread goes down, we cannot afford to dollars for an hour. -- tito -- $2 per hour. guest: one thing that we have found is that many manufacturers are bringing back suppliers from overseas to the u.s.. because of the lead time and customization, innovative

products need to be in place. host: details on bureau of labor statistics in the united states on the small business personal manufacturing sector, there were 5000 jobs added based on the last report out there. the average weekly hours, 40.5 with an average wage of $23.90 cents. guest of these are significantly higher than if -- guest: these wages are significantly higher than other sectors. compared to $63,000 annual salary for non-manufacturing employees. i think that manufacturing provides significant, good jobs for american workers. host: at the same time we talk

about countries not being able to -- companies not being able to find skilled labor. speak to that. guest: manufacturers recognize that the need to have that in place, hiring workers, developing them and retaining them, yes, they do fail and the job is the implementation of that development. host: timber lake, missouri. george, good morning. caller: last i heard, we had something like a $600 billion trade deficit in this country. the theory of comparative advantage, there is a great textbook theory there, but it does not work out in the real world. all countries manipulate currency. if we could just start balanced trade agreements with other countries that we are in agreements with, it seems to me

that we have to do that, or we will be faced with endless deficits. what if a country can produce a wine and cheese cheaper than other countries? china will always defeat us. for they have better regulations. they do what they want, when they wanted. they are a comet -- communist country. we will never be able to compete with them on an even basis. look at the japanese. they are trying to manipulate the yen. all countries do that to protect their own labor force. i do not understand why we would enter into trade agreements that would allow other countries to export more than we do. carrie hines host:? guest -- host: carrie hines bella guest: he had a few key points.

really, it is about the enforcement of those trade agreements. that they must be enforced so that we have an even playing field. host: david, ky. bill, independent. good morning. caller: the word, free trade, is a farce. it should be fair trade the fact that we have an abundance of money in banks from manufacturers for the rich, we should be taxing the rich. going back to the early days of the bush administration, we won the jobs created, but they sat there and did not create any jobs. taxing them to create jobs, so that they would need more money to create these jobs. in other words, if they will

love make jobs, let's tax them to make jobs. guest: i think that what we need to do is find some way to create those jobs. in that, there will be taxes that come out of the salaries of those employees. host: here is a twitter message for our guest, speaking of money and lending. "will they lend money to small businesses close "? -- small businesses -- will the credit unions lend money to small businesses"? guest: a great question. we will have to ask them. host: next caller, good morning. caller: it is the fault of the bush administration. the unemployment rate was 4.5% the majority of the time that he was in office after 9/11.

not long ago, 5% used to be considered 100% employed. what jobs could be created? i believe that taxes -- back in the 1980's, we started sending kids to college and saying that they had to have a degree. stopped with raw materials according to the epa. the 10 main manufacturing plant rules, you want it there so that you do not have to haul it across the world. they get around the taxes by paying lawyers and accountants to get around them. like general elektra. i-- general electric.

we have jobs open without the skills to fill them because kids are going to college and getting degrees and not having the vocational skills to fill these jobs. we need to get the training back here and start capping raw materials. manufacturing will come back. guest: i completely agree. we need to look at educating our young people. we need to look at the jobs that are there and train them to those jobs. get universities and community colleges back involved in what is needed. host: here is another twitter message. this viewer wants better marketing about made in america. guest: made in america has become key in the manufacturing

community. there are organizations and politicians that are making it an issue. over the coming years, there will be a focus on that marketing campaign. host: this is from miami, florida. caller: good morning. host: what is your question, down there in miami? caller: the comment i would like to make -- what do you think -- what does your guests think about the u.s. government's and gibson guitars? rating those facilities, taking the wood, trying to -- a reading of those facilities, taking the wood, trying -- raiding those facilities, taking the wood, trying to destroy those jobs. host: something that you can

speak to? guest: unfortunately, no. not something i am familiar with. host: let's wrap up with your own thoughts about the next few years in small manufacturing. guest: it will be interesting. we will have a significant change in leadership in manufacturing companies. the manufacturing community needs assistance in helping to train the next generation of manufacturing leaders. host: smallmanufacturers.org, that is the website. our guest has been carrie hines. we appreciate your time this morning. guest: thank you so much for having me. host: we will take another time out and spend the final hour of our program learning about the u.s. marine corps. our guest will be richard mills. in the meantime, news from c-

span radio. >> as the united nations' nuclear watchdog group, iaea, plans to issue its most detailed report yet on iran, the pakistani military says that they are taking steps to protect their nuclear arsenal. the united states is concerned that pakistan's nuclear program could fall into islamic militants. republican presidential candidate newt gingrich is joining another gop contender, herman cain, in his criticism of the news media. in remarks on "the today show," the former house speaker says that news organizations care more about scandal than ordinary citizens struggling to make ends meet. he went on to question the media's judgment on what stories

should be emphasized. turning to the global economy, international stock markets are down today as italy's borrowing costs are rising and greece looks to name a new prime minister. this follows last week's g-20 summit, which some have described as inconclusive. we will hear more about that summit at 10:30 a.m. eastern time when british prime minister david cameron speaks in the house of commons. those are some of the latest headlines. >> see more videos of the candidates at c-span's website for campaign 2012. from recent events to the earliest parts of their campaigns, read at the latest comments from candidates and political reporters, social media sites, and a link to c- span's media partners in the caucus states, all at c- span.org/campaign2012.

>> almost every other developed country and the world, you pay taxes on the money you make. it makes the u.s. companies very anti-competitive, and it literally forces them to leave their money overseas. >> tonight on "the communicators," gary shapiro on recommendations from members to the deficit reduction committee. >> we could have this money come back here, pumped back into the economy at a lower tax rate. that makes sense. >> tonight at 8:00 eastern on c- span2. "washington journal" continues. >> today on "washington journal ," we kick off military week. tomorrow we will focus on the united states air force. wednesday, arlington national

cemetery. thursday, the u.s. coast guard. friday, we look at the demographics in the armed forces of the united states. that is the rest of the week. today we are focusing on of the marines. here is the picture from the u.s. marine corps museum, south of washington, d.c., down at the quantico marine base. joining us is lieutenant-general richard mills, deputy commandant. thank you for joining us. guest: good morning, paul. thanks for having me. i cannot think of a better place to broadcast from then here at the national museum. thanks for the letting and slid off the week. host: number birthday is it? guest: to order 35th birthday of the marine corps. we started with the marine corps marathon last week. for the next week or so, they

will be celebrating it everywhere, from large ceremonies as we will have in washington, d.c., to very small ceremonies at operating bases like afghanistan and iraq, where ever marines are. they will gather together and remember the past and look forward to the future. great time for the marines. host: we have lots to talk about this hour, and we will get yours' -- viewer's comments. what we put the phone numbers on the bottom of the screen. we do have a special line in this morning for active or retired marines. we certainly look forward to hearing from you.

our guest is lieutenant-general richard mills of the marine corps. your title --, development and integration deputy commandant. what does that mean? what is your job? guest: my job is wide ranging. i am headquartered at the base at quantico. i also worked extensively in washington and places north. my job ranges across the entire capability spectrum across the marine corps, and it is to work under the direction of a, not to ensure that marines of the future have the capabilities, training, and education to accomplish the mission state bank are assigned. i work in everything from amphibious dock into what our new light tactical vehicles will look like, amphibious vehicles, while all the way to our efforts in the cyberworld, which are growing every day and becoming more and more important to us. host: remind us of the scope of

u.s. marine corps. what kind of work does it do? guest: absolutely. our current strength is 200,000. we are going to draw down somewhat as the operations in afghanistan began to drive down. the marine corps is the nation's 911 force. our job is to do crisis intervention, to be most ready when the nation is least ready. if you look at our history, that is what we have done. the marine corps is organized into three major areas. one is the ground combat units. we have three divisions, all divisions of infantry -- for all divisions of infantry. we have a very strong air wing -- fixed wing aviation an orderly wind aviation, the ability to move our troops and support them with fire once on the ground. and a strong logistics' element that operates everything from

simple maintenance on the ground to support the troops. our efforts are to be ready or ever crisis strikes, and we are committed to places like iraq and afghanistan, where we are ready to fight a war on the ground, we are ready to do that. we respond with navy ships around the will to humanitarian efforts in disaster relief. we have done all of that and more. we have been in places like haiti, we of course responded to the tsunami in japan when that struck and were able to provide disaster relief to very important allies in that part of the world. we responded to flood in pakistan, where you had people who were devastated by the rising waters caused by the monsoons. we were able to deploy heavy lift helicopters to provide much-needed disaster relief. when people say that the marines have landed and the situation is well in hand, that does not just mean the kinetic piece.

it means the entire spectrum of military operations -- disaster relief, at embassy reinforcement, all of those things. in very short terms, the marine corps is an air-ground- ballistics team, task with a job it gets a sign, worldwide deployable. host: lieutenant general richard mills will be with us for the full hour. he has at a place called triangle, a virginia, not far from quantico marine base. as you talk about afghanistan and iraq, speaker further, it take us deeper into the role of marines there. how many active marines and afghanistan? 19,000? guest: just under 20,000. they are operating throughout afghanistan. essentially down in the southwest corner, it was my privilege in 2010 to be the commanding general down there and lead the marines and our allied forces.

our entire coalition is fighting in that part of the country. the marines down there are doing everything from a close combat y, to the westemy i near the border, but more importantly, the they are doing an awful lot of counterinsurgency operations, involving things like ensuring schools are up and running, and area or the country is important to the pashtuns who live there. we are helping the local government develop and expand influence. most important is our effort to train the afghan security forces, both of the police and army. we have mobile training teams that are out, looking at the very lowest levels. we also have training teams at the camps that involve training recruits -- the afghanistan army and the local police. we are operating across the entire spectrum. there has been significant

success in the southwest. it is an area or the afghan army has taken more responsibility on a daily basis. that is the result of an awful lot of hard work by good marines and our coalition partners down there. in the southwest, we're working closely with u.k. forces. the british have almost 12,000 forces on the ground there. we also have our georgian allies with us, and other allies as well. it is a coalition effort and i think it has been very successful. host: i want to bring up the subject of money and budgets and the great potential for cuts at the pentagon. there is another story in the paper today about what the defense secretary, leon panetta, is trying to weigh. it says he is weighing pentagon cuts that were once off-limits. "orders to cut the budget by $450 billion over the next decade -- the secretary is considering a reduction in spending categories that were once thought to be sacrosanct,

especially in medical and retirement benefits." what do you worry about most, if anything, general, when it comes to potential cuts? guest: the underlying principle that the secretary has said on many occasions -- probably our number one concern as well -- is breaking faith with our marines and their families. the marines and their families have sacrificed a tremendous amount, as have members of all the services. i believe they have certain expectations, and i think that it is to train them, equip them, and to give them enumeration that is appropriate to the sacrifice that we are asking of them. i think it is important that would not break faith with the marines and their families, and the cuts that the secretary is talking about will not do that. we're taking a hard look, top to bottom, in the marine corps and all parties systems, our training requirements, and our manning levels to meet the budget cuts, and we will do

that. we will still provide the country with a crisis-ready force, a force capable of operating across the full spectrum of military operations, and perhaps most importantly, a course where the marines are comfortable that we've not broken faith with them and are providing pay and benefits that they richly deserve. host: quick thumbnail sketch of the marine corps fy2012 budget request. our first call this morning for lieutenant general richard mills of the u.s. marine corps is san diego. steve, republican. good morning. caller: i would just like to know what part will civilian production in forces take place, and when will it take place? host: thank you. guest: steve, that is a great

question. as part of our review of the entire force structure, we look at the military side of the house and the civilian marines as well, the ones who contribute so much to our success. there is a study and a weight at my headquarters that is looking at the civilians to -- c- sthere is a study underway right now at cmy orders that is looking at the civilian structure. that study will be transparent, fully published, and we will discuss it with everybody concerned before actions are taken. at this point, i cannot really comment on any reductions that are possible. there is the review that is being done. care will be taken to make sure we end up with the best size civilian force we can afford, one that will effectively support the smaller marine corps. host: on our line for marines, but active-duty and retired,

james is calling from the western part of florida. good morning. caller: good morning. i just got to comment, preferred ,tock, s -- but first off semper fi. i don't understand why, when the marine corps has the lowest budget of all the branches, we do more with less money than any other branch -- how can they cut our budget? hoo-rah. guest: that is a great question. we the marines are notorious for being penny pinchers. we have done a lot with the defense budget, and we don't want to change that. it gives us a certain mindset of being careful with our resources.

ensuring that we have the right equipment that we need. we're not overly demanding of the resources of this country, which is important that it be respected. we the marines are ready to sacrifice with the entire department of defense, because there are budget cuts that are coming, budget cuts that are important to national security and aour nation. we will do our shared. we will still be the fourth that you recognize, jams -- we will still be the force that you recognize, james privott we will not shortcut our brains, we will not sure what the equipment -- we will not shortcut our marines, we will not shortcut the equipment that they need. host: general mills, how would you describe morales these days at the core? guest: i would describe mor

ale as sky-high. it is reflected by many things. it is reflected by the response of our marines as you toward the battlefield and garrison situations in the states. marines are pumped, motivated the biggest question i get is, "hey, when do i get to go to the field, when do i get to go to the war, when do i get to go to the fleet?" our morale is tremendous and that is reflected in their reenlistment rates, which are the best they have ever been. we can be selective with the marines and they tried to keep on. we have more and more marines list --nt to rein reenlist. right now it is tough to join the corporate our recruiters are doing a great job. down -- right now it is tough to

join the core. our workers are doing a great job. host: what are the biggest problems the corps is facing these days? guest: the biggest issue is, as we draw down from afghanistan, we need to reset the force. we have been in that part of the world for at least 10 years, with much of the same equipment in both iraq and afghanistan. that equipment is getting aged. as we reset the force and prepare for the next major commitment, wherever that happens to be, we will look at our weapons systems, transportation equipment, and renew that. with the declining budget, the amounts of money available to us, we have to make hard choices. the second issue that we really have to come to grips with, working closely with the

department of defense, is what the size of the marine corps will be. we can now and we support that we will not be over to douse an -- we know and we support that we will not be over 200,000. we know that we need to be a crowd of 186,000-187,000 to be properly structured and man and ready at all times to operate. over the next year or so, working closely with the department of defense, talking to people on the hill, we will get resolutions. host: lowry, a democrat from indiana. you are on with lieutenant- general richard mills. larry, you there? i think we lost larry. quincy, illinois. troy, retired marine. caller: good morning, sir. i'm a retired gunnery sgt. ipad retired -- i have been

retired for about eight years now. i saw something on the news this morning that the secretary of defense was going to cut military and retirement benefits, and i wanted to get your take on that and see what that is about. guest: semper fi, marine. again, that is a great question. i know potential cuts to anything is of vital interest especially to our retirees. again, i have not seen specific cuts that have been recommended by either the secretary or by the super committee as it meets under washington. i want to reemphasize to you that when the secretary and, not say that we will not break faith with our marines, -- and commandant say we will not break faith with our marines, that also means our retired means. the commandant is interested in

anything that might affect our entire population. we know that you have worked hard and have earned what you have and have come to depend on what is that you get any benefits. the commandant is trying very hard to maintain those. i believe the secretary also intends to maintain those as much as possible. i can tell you it as specific ideas and suggestions come forward, we on the active service will be battling for you, those of you who have gone before and built a reputation and the standards by which we so proudly must today. -- rest today. we will keep an eye on that and keep everybody informed. we here in washington still wear the uniform and we will fight hard for you. host: beyond retirement pay, a lot has been written about jobs for folks in the military wants they the service and come back

to the country. we know there is some legislation in congress on this veterans day weekend to help. what can you say about that issue? guest: it is a major concern for us. as our marines come home and decide to leave the service, it is right and proper that they do so. one of the bedrocks of our philosophy is that the marine corps is here to build better citizens. we know that everyone is not going to stay in the court for 20 or 30 years, but some will come in, serve the country proudly, and returned home to their civilian lives, as better citizens and better people. but we are concerned about their employment opportunities. unemployment is a major issue in the united states, everywhere. our employers have been extraordinarily good about taking a hard look at veterans as they come home and giving

them opportunities. we need to prepare them better. we need to ensure that all of our exit programs are designed to fully prepare our young marines for entering the civilian world. we would not send a marine into combat without having proper training and understanding where is he was going and understanding thoroughly when he needed to do once he got there. it has yet to be the same as we prepare our young marines to leave the service -- it has got to be the same as we prepare our young marines to leave the service and enter the civilian world. meaningful programs that explain to them how to get a job, how to convert their military service into civilian ease, so that civilian employers understand the responsibilities at they have brought a young squad leader in the marine corps today, leading them in combat, making tough decisions, often isolated by himself, is much more mature and probably has a

higher level of responsibility than most 21-, 22-year-old young people in the civilian population. when a civilian employer fires a young man like that, -- we need a civilian employer who hires a young man like that to understand what he is getting. we need to make sure that as they leave the service, he has a good chance of getting a good job and contributing to i billion the civilian community. host: randy, republican. caller: my question probably doesn't pertain to a lot of what we're talking about. and -- listening., we're caller: i was just saying that i

don't think it pertains to a lot of the military moneys and so forth, but i was wondering what the general things about the facts of we have afghan over there, we don't know who did trust in that part of the country, then we have iran, who is determined to build a nuclear bomb, or warhead. this concerns me. i am just wondering what the general's thoughts were on that. i will let you will speak on that. host: perhaps a hearing for its policy on that, but do you want to tackle that all? .uest: sure i would be happy to answer that. the caller was concerned about trust between the afghans and the coalition forces on the ground. the trust levels between the coalition of forces and the afghan partners at the tactical

ever wear -- the tactical level where i worked was tremendous. we often work together, in cases where we both lived together very closely. our trust in each other was absolutely 110% to. we never had an incident which roused out suspicion about why we should mistrust our partners over there. the afghans are a loyal people with a great memory, many of whom remember america finally from the 1950's and 1960's where we at large u.s. aid projects. they remember very clearly and when asked about america and how people were who lead in their years and years and years ago. -- who had been there years and years and years ago. my marines and soldiers worked closely with the afghan police and the afghan army, under tough, conditions, and i saw them take care of each other. i lost a marine while we were

there on joint patrol. the site of a canal, and u.s. marines and afghand -- and you had marines and afghans working together. an afghan fell into the water and our marinae dove into the water. unfortunately, we lost both the afghan and marine. i was called at the next day and talked to by the afghan governor, who expressed his deep sorrow and deeper friendship with the americans, because american -- an american had sacrificed himself to save an afghan. more importantly, it was two warriors who thought about each other first and consequences second. the trust in the afghan

coalition runs deep. i know there are things and the paper and things and the news that people say, and much of that is political, i think. i think that when you go down to the war years and you talk to the soldiers on the police, trust runs deep and very firm. regarding iran, i can only say that our eyes and not simply focus on afghanistan. we have people look at areas throughout the world. i have strong confidence in our ability as military people to look at iran and keep an eye on what they are doing. host: harrison, republican from connecticut. caller: good morning. good morning, general. my question is this -- i have a father who served in world war ii, and he never ever talked about the war. i know he serve any great battles -- served in great

battles such as solomon islands, iwo jima. is there an information network or i can find out about the battles my father fought in? guest: absolutely, harrison, and thanks for asking that question dad is still -- if your dad is still alive, give him the semper fi for me. those were tough fights, among the hardest in our history. guadalcanal is eight touch-tone battle in marine corps history. when you look at the conditions they faced, those were brave men and one and all. your dad deserved remembered as a hero. what i encourage you to do is to

contact the museum here at quantico. there is a large section on the second world war. there are exhibits. there are great books -- i am not talking about a bookstore here, but great source of information. it is a crucial part of our history, one to remember. if you think about what the symbol of the marine corps is throughout the world, you go to the flag-raising on mount suribachi during the battle of iwo jima, something that has lived on in marine corps religion, lived in our motivation for years and years and. i would encourage you to contact the museum, i would encourage you to contact the headquarters of the marine corps historical branch and ask for information. we would be very happy to provide that. if your dad was a marine, they could provide information

specifically on where he was, what decorations you would have earned -- he would have earned. congratulations, your father is indeed a hero. host: lieutenant-general at richard mills is contact development and integration of deputy commandant. it is bprobably a great time to tell us more about the facility, how it came into being, and perhaps you can begin with the helicopter behind you. guest: ok, i would be happy to do it. i am a huge fan of the museum. it is 35 miles south, right off 95. there is a sign on route 95 that tells you the exit to get off. it is funded by private donations brought it houses the official record collection of artifacts. the building itself, extraordinarily impressive, was raised through private donations, part of the

foundation of mostly retired marines and civilians. it is, as you can see -- i am sitting in the rotunda, but off the edges of the rotunda are wings dedicated to various periods of history. world war i and world war ii dominate, because those are eras where we have a rich heritage to display. any marine and any civilian -- great place to spend a day, to look around, to enjoy, and if you are a marine, to relish the history of our corps. the helicopter behind me is one of the first helicopters were used in combat, in the current war -- the korean war, where we were the first service to utilize a vertical lift and particles fall as part of our techniques and procedures. -- vertical lift and a vertical

us all as part of our techniques and procedures. it shows the ability of the marines to move quickly, the strike deeply, and use asymmetric methods. much of the museum is dedicated to aviation. above my head, a dive bomber flown by the marines in world war ii to great effect. and there is one of our airplanes that can take off up and down like a helicopter and provide close air support for us wherever we are. it is kind of -- maybe the grandfather a ourf-35, -- of our f-35. host: new york city, irv, retired marine. -- ir: i'm not retired

served in the army. but i certainly honor the marines come i don't know how anybody could not. the helicopter that was part plane, part helicopter, and the blood and treasure the marines lost with that thing -- was that an example of a congress telling you what you needed? what is the status of the project right now? guest: thanks. again, another great question. let me congratulate you for your service in the army. i have operated many times with our u.s. army brothers, and they are tremendous soldiers and do what they do and doing extraordinarily well. i have a son who is a staff sergeant in the united states army and i am proud of him and what he does. he is getting ready for his second deployment to afghanistan shortly. i look forward to working with the army in the future. the question that you have four guards our -- the question you

have regards our v-22, which can take off and land like a helicopter, vertically, but takes its engines forward and flies like an aircraft and very high speeds. there was a long time developing that airplane. it was something the marine corps needed, one of the first envisioned as the next step forward in our vertical lift an order -- in order to move more quickly against sophisticated defenses we anticipated seeing. it took awhile to develop, and we didn't lose marines and developing that airplane. -- and we did lose marines in developing that airplane. the early stages of any aviation asset often marked by accidents. it is tragic. we hate to lose anyone. but it is a sacrifice made for the eventual betterment of the force. i am a huge v-22 osprey fan. the bank operated across the entire spectrum of aviation to give me great support, give my

marines great support. i had some 76,000 square miles of operational ground to cover, and people tell me that is about the size of indiana. when i got on that v-22 and move, it was like the size of rhode island. i have seen it take enemy fire and survive, i have seen a to deliver troops it right where you need them in conditions where other helicopters simply could not have done it. it goes to sea with our marine embarked forces, operates easily of those ships. it provides us with tremendous ability, replaces the ch-46, the helicopter that everyone is familiar with from the vietnam war movies, which is reaching some 50 years of age. v-22 gives us much better capability. it gives us speed and the

ability to land in places where dust and dark would prohibit other helicopters from landing. it allows us to more further inland at targets to strike when they might appear. it was an idea conceived by the marine corps, and despite some of the hardships we went through, it was one that the marine corps is stuck with and has had tremendous success on the battlefield. as i said, i am a big fan because i have seen and operate and i have seen the effect it has brought is a great airplane. host: diane on the line for democrats. caller: good morning. good morning, general. my name is diane and i live in san diego county paid as a young woman, my mother -- i live in san diego county. as a young woman, my mother remarried and we came where my

stepfather -- this is 1956 -- i have a son of a 41 and a granddaughter of a five. thank you. we were there for two years, 1956 to 1958, for his training. he was in the first italian marines, and then we were transferred -- first italian marines, and then we were transferred to camp pendleton, , staff housing. i have been inundated with military since i was a young woman, brought in oceanside. my first husband was in two t erms in vietnam, silver star, a forward observer. and then i have numerous people

military in my family -- my boy friend in high school and college, his father was military retired. and a colonel retired. i wanted to wish you a happy marine corps birthday, sir. your service for this country and its military. and my fiance, who four years ago was a navy captain in vietnam and was under president kennedy -- he went to the naval academy in 1946, came out of the naval academy, to submarine warfare in new london, and when he got out of the military after 33 years, he was in counter- terrorism and worked under the american legion -- host: diane, let me jump in. you have a question for the general? caller: i just want to ask you, what is the nation for women and

men in the military? i know the president has any program that you want military women and men coming out of -- the service -- the president has a new program for military men and women coming out of the service. i think it is very important, sir. men and women coming out of the service definitely should be probably first in line for our employment -- host: thanks. we touched on that briefly, but is there anything else you want to add? guest: sure. first, you sound an awful lot younger. you sound great. you probably should be sitting in the chair anrather than me, with your experience. semper fi and happy birthday to you as well. the marine corps background definitely qualifies you to celebrate the birthday as a

marine brat and marine spouse. congratulations to you on this birthday. you understand the sacrifice demanded of our young people, both in the navy and marine corps. i applaud you and thank you for your support for the young people as they leaves the co rps or the service and rejoin the civilian community. he spoke briefly about females in the marine corps, and -- let -- you spoke briefly about the mills in the marine corps, and let me touch on that subject. i was asked, how many? other than several hundred, i could not tell you exactly, because they were everywhere. i had females who flew aircraft, females were all quite electronics, who handled admin,

who did everything except conduct the actual inventory operations. we also had female engagement teams, young marines -- 20- 22- year-old women come out with our infantry units, engaging with the female population of afghanistan, a population that we as males could not get here. they provided information regarding what people in villages need it, what they were thinking, and provided a great conduit of information to us. surprisingly, or perhaps not surprisingly, once we had the female engagement team, we would get tips on the phone lines, ieds in place, enemies in be area. and mothers and wives would call us because it and felt fast and is because of what the female -- felt trust in us because of

her what the -- because of what the female engagement teams it did for them. 40- and 50-hour convoys, half of which were under fire by the enemy. those marines did a tremendous job, and they were absolutely no different, male or female, in those types of activities. females are contributing in the marine corps across the board, doing a great job, and i am a proud of what they have done. as i said earlier, i am hopeful, as our young men and women leave the corps, they will find a job opportunities out there that recognize the service they provided, but more importantly, recognize the talented and not think anybody out there simply wants a job because he or she was a marine. what they wanted his showed a talent they have -- what they want is to show the talent they

have and the service they can bring to the community. host: we have several more calls as we continue with the general. i want to get back to hardware, equipment. there is one story out there about the f-35. costs are rising 64% in 10 years, it is still pending development, five years behind schedule -- still in to all men, five years behind schedule. we are reading that the obama administration may cut some of the orders. host: i cannot go into a lot of detail, but the aircraft is critically important to us as marines. we operate off of ambev is shipping -- amphibious

shipping. we need fixed-winged support that can divide artillery until we get up short. i have had it in afghanistan and iraq, and they authave always done a tremendous job could we need a replacement, at and this would give us the capability. we recently did trials on an the amphibious ship at see, and f- 35 did great. as i said, is it the capability the marine corps needs. we are working hard with other services to protect and develop, and we look forward to having it in the inventory as soon as possible. host: california, republican.

caller: good morning. i wanted to know why defense, panetta, is going to cut their retirement of active marines and retired marines and not think of taking the contractors out of the countries where we have them, because they are costing so much money to the department of defense. host: we spoke about earlier, but to you want to add anything to pending changes? guest: i think all programs in the department of defense are going to be looked at. and they penaanetta commandant of the marine corps

at said on numerous occasions that we will not break faith with our retirees. everybody will be asked to sacrifice something, but i don't think there will be significant changes for those in the system right now. i know that the secretary is going to look at things like tricare and medical benefits, but any details would be premature. i can tell you that everyone here is extraordinarily concerned. they and is and what our retirees are and what they the -- deserve and -- state bank understand what our retirees to earn and what they -- bank -- they understand what our retiree earn and what they deserve. the caller also raised the topic of a contractor's permit contractors are being reviewed at every level to see what is important to maintain and what we need. although contractors from time to time get a bad name and

everybody has heard about the muffins, the contractors provide us a tremendous service. they give us the ability to develop weapons systems that are vital to national interest. there are people in uniform or simply not available. we have many contractors in afghanistan and iraq providing critical services to us that we no longer have the capability to do for ourselves. i would a non -- would not paint every contractor with the the pressure of being overpaid or -- with the brush of being overpaid or simply cheating the government out of money paid the contribution that contractors make is vital to our national defense. host: john, retired, columbus,

ohio. caller: good morning 3 i have a question for the general -- good morning, general. marine week 2012 will be held in ohio. i am the commandant of a local marine corps marine detachment active in the state marine corp. be. i would like to understand what the purpose and the outcome of the marine corps week -- i know it is help around the country -- what is the goal in cleveland? i'm 70 now. what role can the old marine supply to make marine corps week come off well? -- then the old marines play to make marine corps week come up well? guest: it is great to respond to a former marine. i am sure you are ready to jump

out of those airplanes still heard i will keep an eye on you during the marine corps week. marine corps week is a program that visits cities throughout the united states. its intent is to help educate and expose local civilians to what it is the marine corps does throughout the country. we always have a bat out there to represent the marine corps. -- band out there to represent the marine corps. it is to let those who support us understand what we do for the country to civilian support is critical to us. we need civilians who understand the marine corps, who appreciate what is we do, and it is right and proper that we do those kinds of things. i am sure the week in cleveland will be full of the events, parades, exhibits, all of which

will help understand what it is the marine corps gives them. it is a chance for our marines to get out and meet people in parts of the country we normally don't get too. we have a lot of marines in the cleveland area. it is the chance for our marines to see the country they defense, to see what is it they are sacrificing themselves for. i was struck by how much of support comes to us from local communities. i can tell you that, unlike our caller, who was probably a vietnam-era veteran one of support was not as evident, the outpouring of support from communities, churches, leagues, all those types of

organizations is absolutely outstanding. to see young marines in operating basis living under the conditions, opening a box of perhaps can dy, cards from local children and civilians saying "thank you for what you do," it is tremendously meaningful to our youngsters. understanding the appreciation from the american people is critical. wishing you all, telling us to keep a safe, thank you for what you've done. host: email here -- guest: well, i think it is a

partnership. we will refer back to my afghan experience. as a military operator in the southwest corner of afghanistan, i have a teammate who worked about 100 yards from me. his team and my team worked together. places where the department of the state belong, governance, local economy, while we can all security issues -- while we handled security issues that were rampant in the area. it is proper and right that we do so. i have found the department of state to be at extraordinarily good partners in ensuring and national objectives were reached, and very easy to deal with. i support cooperation and every level -- at every level and the department of state and

department of defense. host: shirley on the line. caller: thank you for taking my call. my favorite general is general bundler, who traveled the country after he retired to one as that -- warn us that war is a racket, and the marine corps went into many small countries to capture resources for this country, big business. i wonder what you think of him, and whether you would comply with what he said art would try try to make a mishmash of what he said. guest: thank you for the culprit of course, every marino's -- thank you for the call. of course, every marine at knows butler. he is one of our heroes. back here at home, during tough

times, he was very laudable. he was a flamboyant guy, and very valuable providing exposure to the marines during the 1930's to keep us in everybody's got straight as a matter fact, he had a job that i have -- keep us in everybody's thoughts. as a matter of fact, he added that job that i have. this is a rumor that in the basement, if you smell cigar smoke, it is butler checking up on current occupants. i have not smelled it yet. he was talking about a different time, and his views and opinions were of a different time in america. if you look at what the marines -- where the marines have been a lately, it has not been at time of us going into other countries to take resources away from them. if you look at places like haiti, marines in conjunction with other services went into

haiti because the people needed help. if you look at pakistan, because of the floods earlier, we went to help people who desperately needed our help -- food, water, medical supplies. if you look at our recent efforts in iraq, you don't see the americans looking that country. rather, you see us returning some of the objects they have lost over the years. certainly, we have helped them set up their own independent resource allocation systems so they can sell their oil to whoever they want to sell it to. i don't think it to the that correct history that general -- i don't think that if you look at current history that general butler was correct. he was speaking of a different kind. we are doing very positive things with different countries, working closely with them to

develop a democratic system, most importantly to develop their own system brought i would disagree with the general based on current events. host: putting more about the marine corps tuition assistance program, how it works, the benefits in the future of eight. -- of it. guest: i understand some news has recently come out about tuition assistance. it provides an opportunity to partially paid for the education. it is one that a lot of marines take advantage of, to get higher education while they are on active duty. it is being looked at from several ways. how much money is being used, how much goes towards it. right now the system stands as it has always stood. prince is still getting benefits, -- marines are still

getting benefits, and it will be transparent to judge the future of the program. host: new york, retired marine. caller: semper fi, general. happy birthday. guest: happy birthday, marine. caller: my concern as i entered active duty in august 1971 right after high school board am concerned about feet -- right after high school. i am concerned about the corps being depleted during ronald reagan's term in office. our going back to being depleted of those resources, especially in base housing. guest: first of all, thanks for your service, semper fi to you, happy birthday.

you served at a tough time. i came in in 1975. you and i stomped the same ground. our commandant and department of defense are adamant that that will not happen. we will provide it ready equipment and ready training. we learned a lesson from your time and my early time in the corps and we are not going to repeat those mistakes as we come out of afghanistan and re position ourselves for the future. i know there are not many marine bases in new york, but i encourage you, if you ever get a chance to travel up around, take a look at the bases today. they are revamped bases. you mentioned base housing. quarters have never been better bu.

there has been a privatization program responsible for that, but our marines live on a wonderful quarters. our barracks have never been better. we have had a good military construction budget over the past few years. marines live comparatively to what college students live at, perhaps a little bit better. i think -- you were in a tough time, and we appreciate the sacrifices you made. anybody can understand just how tough they were. but those times have passed, and we are very concerned about living conditions for our marines and their families. the schools on base, the housing on base, the ability for them to get health care has never been better. i would encourage you to take a look around if you get a chance.