assistance in usaid. he hashe has served as directore office of foreign disaster assistance within usaid. he coordinated the u.s. government's response to the indonesian tsunami, the pakistani earthquake, relief to darfur and southern sudan, as well as niger and easy open ethiopian emergency responses. he has more than 27 years experience working in the disaster relief field. he is currently leading the samaritans purse organizational efforts in liberia in response to the ebola epidemic. we will then hear from dr. frank glover, the director of the urology institute.

his discovery of the world's highest rate of prostate cancer in jamaica has been internationally recognized and published in numerous turtles and textbooks. he and his wife founded shield, which is dedicated to building a medical school in liberia, training doctors in various surgical specialties, and providing loan forgiveness for liberian doctors who have trained in the united states and would like to go back and treat patients in liberia. he has been involved in treating ebola in africa since the early 1990's. mr. isaacs, please proceed. >> thank you. chairman smith, esteemed members of the council, fellow guests of this committee. i am privileged to testify before you today on the ebola

developments of the ebola outbreak in west africa and purse experience and response there. i will read this one page so i do not forget to say anything and then i will put the script away to say things that need to be said. mertens purse has 30 years dedicated to humanitarian relief. we have worked in over 100 countries, including afghanistan, north korea, south sudan, sudan, and liberia. we have responded to medical emergencies such as the cholera epidemic in haiti and we have provided medical care to the people of bosnia, rwanda, and sudan during the genocide of those countries. the oboe let impact it's had a profound impact on our outbreakion, -- ebola has had a profound impact on our organization, and i would like to share with you about our

experience in liberia. i would like to take this opportunity to thank the united states government, particularly the department of state, the department of defense for assisting samaritans purse in the evacuation of american personnel. we would particularly like to thank dr. kathleen ferguson, dr. william walters, phyllis gotti, congressman wolf, and yourself. we would also like to make thank certain staff members of the cdc and the national institute of health for bringing to our attention and obtaining the experimental medication as a treatment option for our two infected staff members. as an organization we have worked to contain the ebola crisis in liberia and we were devastated to learn two of our personnel had contracted the deadly virus. samaritan's purse thanks you for helping bring the two of them home in the face of the incredible challenges.

the ebola crisis was not a surprise to us at samaritan's purse. we saw it coming in april. our epidemiologists predicted it. by the middle of june, i was by the middle of june, i was having private conversations with leaders. by july was writing editorials in the "new york times." in the 32 years since the disease was discovered, there were a total of 2232 infections. which killed people. easily this presents outbreak is going to surpass that, in dr. frieden as well as overall -- surpassed that, in fatalities, as well as known cases. it is clear to say the diseases uncontained and it is out of control in africa. the international response to the disease has been a failure.

it is important to understand that. a broader, coordinated intervention of the international community is the only thing that will slow the size and the speed of the disease. currently w.h.o. is reporting 711 ebola diagnoses and 932 deaths in west africa. our epidemiologists and medical personnel believe these numbers represent 25% to 50% of what is happening. the ministries of health in guinea, liberia, and sierra leon simply do not have the capacity to handle the crisis in their countries. if a mechanism is not found to create an acceptable paradigm for the international community to become directly involved, then the world will be effectively relegating the containment of this disease that threatens africa and other countries to three of the

poorest nations in the world. i know that a part of community and development philosophy is to work with your local partner and build capacity. the capacity that is needed in the nations that are fighting ebola should have been built three to five years ago, but in the times of crisis, i believe that the attention needs to be put on the crisis and the building of capacity should be a secondary function. we undertook a massive public awareness campaign in liberia starting in april and we have had over 435,000 people go through that training, but there are 3.6 million people there and the majority are illiterate. it is not going to be easy to change the way people think and what their cultural mores are. in the furthest months, we were able to provide support to the world health organization, the

cdc, the minister of health, and doctors without borders, also known as msf -- the only two known aircraft in liberia flying support -- we flew personnel supplies back and , forth across the country. it makes a difference from the triangulation area that dr. frieden was talking about, reducing it from a 16-hour road trip to a 40-minute helicopter flight. i want to take a moment to recognize our coworkers and doctors without borders for standing in the trenches with us. they are in sierra leone, in guinea, and they are filling the gap for us in liberia as we have had to pull back and plan what we are going to do next. if there was any one thing that needed to demonstrate a lack of attention of the international community on this crisis, which

has now become an epidemic, it was the fact that the international community was comfortable in allowing two relief agencies to provide all of the clinical care for the ebola victims in three countries. two relief agencies. samaritan's purse and doctors without borders. it was not until july 26 when kent brantly and nancy writebol were confirmed positive that the world sat up and paid attention. today we see headlines of ebola fears. there is a man who has bled to death, evidently in saudi arabia, and the saudi government has confirmed it was the hemorrhagic fever and he came from sierra leone. there was a man, a liberian american, who came to a hospital with one of the most prominent

physicians in liberia, and that physician openly mocked the existence of ebola. he tried to go into our isolation ward with no gloves, no protective gear. it is not an issue of no gloves. it is an issue of no millimeter of your skin can be exposed or you will most likely die. is the reality of it. those two men left our hospital. they went to the jfk hospital in downtown monrovia where the doctor did examine ebola patients and he was dead four days later. the other man was dead five days later, but not before he went to nigeria, and now there are cases of death from ebola in nigeria and there are eight more people in isolation. our epidemiologist believes what we are going to see is a spike of disease in nigeria. it will go quiet for about three weeks and when it comes out it will come out with a fury. as i am talking to you today, we are making preparations for a

hospital that we support 200 laigos, whatof they're going to do when ebola comes to them. one is the general public. their issues is kissing the death. to fight ebola, i have identified four levels of society that need intensive instruction, because they simply do not understand what is going on. one is the general public.

the custom that they have of denigrating be dead by washing the body -- i'm going to be graphic as i think people need to know. part of that is kissing the corpse. in the hours after death from ebola, that is when the body is most infectious. the body is loaded with the virus. everybody who touches the corpse is another infection. we have encountered violets on violence on numerous occasions by people in the general public when we have gone out at the request of the ministry of health to sanitize the body for a proper burial. this is going to be a tough thing to do. this general awareness in the public and the general public. the number two area that needs to be addressed is community health workers. the entire international community has built a medical system around community health workers which is essentially a moderately educated person who is given a few simple medical supplies, and outdoor them here, are you passing blood -- the doctor can talk about this more than i, but i think i am getting this right. they do not have the information to understand what ebola is. this last friday, we had 12 patients with ebola present. eight of them were community health workers.

everyone of those health workers had seen a patient, had diagnosed him for whatever they thought -- every one of those immunity health workers had seen a patient, had diagnosed him for whatever they thought they had. the third level of society is actually medical professionals. something needs to be done with the focused attention on medical professionals, because when i hear reports that prominent physicians, who are educated and credentialed and respected, denied the disease, i think they need a little bit more education. the fourth level is leadership in politics, academics, and religion. i don't know how to make those things happen, but those are the four stratus that i see. to turn the disease back. i think turning the tide on the disease has to be focused and on containment. to contain it means you have to identify it. the previous panel was saying it could be contained. we have the information. ok. liberia, sierra leone, and

guinea are poor. like all countries, they have their problems with pointless bureaucracy and corruption. i know the second-largest center where ebola is manifesting in liberia, the workers at the ministry of health clinic were not paid for five months even after the european union put the money forward. the money just did not get downstream. again, i will say ebola is out of control in west africa, and we are starting to see panic now. around the world, people want to know. i don't know about you folks. i look of the drudge report. it can drive a lot of panic. there is a guy in new york, a woman in england. six people have been tested in the united states. there are reports of 340 peace corps workers coming back. i greatly appreciate the work of the cdc. dr. frieden and i have spoken.

they have helped articulate their procedures and protocols for americans returning to this country and we are grateful for that. while our liberian office remains open doing public awareness campaigns, we have suspended all other program activity. i would say we are in the process right now of backing up, replanning, and reloading. we intend to back up and fight the disease more, but we have found some things that are needed. one of the things i have recognized during in the evacuation of our staff is there is only one airplane in the world with one chamber to carry a level four pathogenic disease victim. that plane is in the united states. there is no other aircraft in the world that i can find. that means the united states does not have the capacity to evacuate its citizens back in any significant mass, unless the

defense department has something that i am not aware of. it was not easy to get the plane back. but one thing that is important is if the united states -- and i believe the united states is going to have to take the lead on this. it may not be popular for us to take the lead today, but i think that we need to take the lead. if we're going to expect people, including the cdc people to go abroad and put their lives on the line there has to be some assurance we can care for them if they are sick. that may be a regional health care facility that is exclusive to the citizens and workers, or that may be a demonstrated capacity to get them home. but one airplane with one chamber to get them back is a bit of a slow process. lastly, i think i want to say, i it is a necessary thing that more laboratories be set up just in liberia. the one laboratory now is at the jfk hospital.

there is another one in guinea. it can take sometimes 30 hours to get a sample back. i have had conversations with the cdc on that. if you can lean into that, that would be helpful. if you have six people come in and for our suspected, you have to put them in a semi-quarantined area and you have to hold that until you get a positive or negative back on them, and that takes time. i understand the world bank has just committed $200 million to fight the disease. that's fine. that's good. it's a little late, but it's good. as someone with 26 years of experience, including being the director of ofda, running many darts around the world, interacting with governments on multiple levels, i have some practical questions. i would like to know where the money will go. i would like to know what it

would actually produce. i would like to know what it would actually buy. i fear that money alone cannot solve this problem. i disagree with earlier testimony that there is ppe in liberia. that is inaccurate. i have an e-mail i received in the last 90 minutes from the hospital, the sim hospital, they are asking us for more personal protection gear. this is a problem everywhere. i am in touch with the headquarters of msf in brussels and we are working hand in glove. i appreciate them so much for the way they are fighting this. the biggest challenge that we all have is the logistical support to get the materials and the supplies on the ground to fight this disease. as one of you quoted, if we do not fight and contain this west africa, we

will be fighting and containing an multiple other countries around the world. the truth is -- the cat is most likely already out of the bag. staff andthank my recognize them for who had been there and done a valiant job at great risk to their own lives. i want to let you know that the reintegration back into their country is awkward. people are afraid to get around them. their husbands and their wives do not know if it is safe to hug them. their communities may be ostracize them. we are doing everything that we can in the staff care way to give them a safe place to be to protect their privacy. i want you to know how difficult it is for american citizens and in fact citizens of all country -- we have people on that team that came from maybe seven countries -- they all suffer these issues. i believe this is a very nasty and bloody disease.

i could give you descriptions of people dying that you cannot even believe. bo i think we have to fight this disease and we have to fight it now. we will fight it here or somewhere else. i am talking about here in west africa, but i do believe that an international coordinated response, something significantly more is needed. thank you. >> thank you very much, mr. isaac for that testimony and i , think for underscoring your experience in the office of foreign disaster relief. i mean, you have lived it. i don't think your resume tells the story of all those years of dedication. thank you and we will take extraordinarily serious your recommendations in the questions you posed. i thank you for it. dr. glover. >> do, mr. chairman and members of congress, for the opportunity to share with you. my name is dr. frank glover. i board-certified urologist. i earned my md degree at

johns hopkins and also a doctorate of public health in health systems. i have also done some work as a research fellow at johns hopkins in epidemiology. i am also a medical missionary working with sim, which is a christian missions organization with works in over 60 countries. in addition, i am the president of shield in africa, a us-based ngo working in liberia. my first experience was in 1988. as a medical student, i did two medical missionary work at a hospital called elwa. eternal love winning africa. i worked at various hospitals throughout liberia. i had teams of doctors and nurses several times a year. , we'rethis time period

taking care of thousands of medical and surgical patients. i have spent time rendering services of teaching, training, and patient care in most of the counties in liberia. i have therefore had the opportunity to assess many hospitals and clinics throughout liberia. the hospitals were understaffed and lacking in many basic essentials and pharmaceuticals. this ebola outbreak in liberia has exposed the country's inherently weak health system. less than 200 doctors existed prior to this epidemic. after the outbreak in march of this year, prior to the ebola outbreak, that number went down to 50. the nurses went on strike or slow down work rugby country due workrk -- or slowed down

in the country due to work grievances. this was true in counties that had been hit hardest by the epidemic. this was just before ebola entered the country. after the outbreak began claiming the lives of the nurses , who did not have protective gear, the nurses fled the hospital. after the second dr. died, all of the hospitals shut down. the patients are too terrified to into the buildings. the nurses have said they will not return to work unless they are issued adequate protection. gloves, gowns, and goggles. doctors and nurses continue to treat ebola patients. there are five doctors and 77 nurses and aides. this is the only place where in the area where treatment for ebola takes place. currently there is only enough space for 25 patients in the isolation center. initial attempts to expand the unit were met by protesters a

s in the local community that did not want ebola patients coming from all over liberia into their community. samaritan's purse will complete an 80-bed unit in the next two weeks. the only other treatment center in liberia is a 40 bed unit. the case fatality rate range from 80% to 90% at both facilities owing in part to people seeking treatment. many patients die within 24 hours of presentation. is the only functioning hospital in the county a , population of one million people where it is located. many patients are dying with ebola in their communities and in part because there is simply no open health facilities. this creates problems because whole families were getting infected and dying. there is no way to count all the people dying of ebola in the villages and remote areas. the cause of death is often

unknown and there is suspicion towards government health workers. as a result, information is often withheld from government workers. advice on safe burial practices is oftentimes met with resistance and even violence against health workers. to complicate matters further, usual illnesses like malaria, typhoid, pneumonia, in certain and emergencies result in death as there are no functioning facilities at this time. the death toll will undoubtedly reach into the tens of thousands in liberia unless immediate actions are taken to increase the capacity to treat patients isolation, create an quarantine fornt those having been exposed to ebola. and provide protective gear for those that have expired. given the episodic nature of ebola, we must begin investing

in health care systems strengthening as we prepared to deal with future outbreaks. they stand ready to assist in the building of capacity for west africans by training and producing more african health care professionals. thank you. >> thank you so very much for your lifelong commitment and building up capacity and doing it yourself and working with others at sim. let me ask you a few questions. your testimonies i think were very comprehensive. you said, mr. isaac, that the international response that you deemed a failure, no failure need be a failure in perpetuity and i wonder if there has been the turn of a corner, again, inspired by the tragedy of two of your workers being affected by the ebola virus. and secondly, can you tell us how they are doing?

if there is a sense if not fully backed by science yet, that the drug may have had an impact? one of the questions i asked to the earlier panel is is some of these interventions proved to be efficacious, delay is denial if you have ebola. in this is that this seems to be ramping up, it your thoughts on an aggressive fda working in conjunction with the other agencies of government based on opting in, recognizing the risks, as dr. brantly certainly did, and ms. right writebol. >> on the failure aspect, i would say that i think the full international impact of ebola has not been realized. i believe that ebola threatens

the stability of the three countries where it is affected right now. my staff met with the president of liberia for almost six hours last wednesday. they described to me that the atmosphere in the room was somber because she realized the full gravity of it. if you read the ministry of health status reports that come out every day from liberia, i don't mean to be dramatic, but it has an atmosphere of "apocalypse now" in it. it is on the cover of the "wall street journal." today, there are gangs threatening to burn down hospitals. this is essentially a society that is, let's say, a generation where everybody had ptsd from a horrible war. they can go from a normal conversation to a fist fight to sticks in the flash of an eye.

so they have a lot of temperament and a lot of emotion but it is not just liberia. it is all of these countries. you can use your own imagination in nigeria. but what can happen there? lagos. but what can happen there? i believe this disease has the potential to be a national security risk for many nations and i think it will have an impact even on our national security. it has been a failure because it has now jumped another country. epidemiologists have totally misread the magnitude of the disease and because there are not resources on the ground, the status of the two patients -- i can say that i hear the same

thing everybody does. they seem to be getting a little better every day and i don't think this will be a fast process. after that medicine was administered and brought to us by the nih people, dr. brantly was very much involved giving his informed consent and he understood -- as did nancy writebol -- that there was improvement and as doctors were saying, i'm not a doctor and i don't want to guess at science but i will say that they seem to have gotten better. they are in emory. we appreciate emory. they get good treatment and we pray they survive and can recover their health.

>> you pointed out four different areas. let me ask you about the community health partnership. in one cluster of infected individuals, eight out of 12 or were community health workers. doctors obviously have a higher degree of training and they understand the importance of protective garb. community health workers might not have that same level of indoctrination of how important that is. in your view, are they much more at risk because they are more rudimentary? and what they do and therefore are not taking the precautions. they areview, yes, much more at risk. -- if you look at the disease, obama, diarrhea, i guess that is 50% of all presented to them. it puts them in untenable and weak positions in being exposed to the disease and not exactly

knowing what it is. i am i think there needs to be focused education levels on four areas of society. i don't think putting a poster on the wall that says ebola kills is going to do it. i think there has to be a programmatic approach to each one of these strata of society to get the information that they need to encourage people from their position and to deal with the things that come to them. >> i would take a slightly different take on it. i believe that community health workers, if properly trained, can get the same outcome of coverage as physicians. what we have to understand is that health workers don't get ebola because of carelessness. necessarily. or because of lapses in technique.

in the case of these workers, it that they likely contracted the disease from other workers who have gotten the disease from the community. if you are working alongside someone and they happen to have ebola, then you get it from the staff. there are a number of documented cases of staff infecting staff. as was reported where four nurses died and 11 more were infected. there's a lot about the infected that we don't realize in terms of how it happens. >> in terms of getting the message out in a way that will be most likely received so that people understand the catastrophic nature of the disease, my understanding is that guinea today is recruiting retired doctors, nurses, and midwives to convey this message.

are the heard that, and other two countries, perhaps even nigeria, too, looking to do that so they can convey the paramount importance of, for example, burial practices and the like? havee of the challenges we in liberia is after this 14-year brutal civil war, during that time, people did not go to school. we have a large population of illiterate people. many of the languages in liberia are not scripted, so you can't write something. there needs to be language appropriate in each dialect and in a way that each community can understand so they can get the message. people seen as authority figures and people that are able to communicate in the spoken language are able to get the message. so as he says, putting a poster up is not going to help someone when you have an illiteracy rate of 75%.

>> finally, let me ask, mr. isaacs, if you could come you said the president of liberia was a month late. is it too late? happened hadd have that state of emergency been declared a month ago? >> the month statement was not a scientific statement -- it is just an opinionated statement. when i do not have knowledge, i have opinions, rightly or wrongly. i do think liberia would have been better served if the status of emergency had been declared earlier. i do not know all of the actual mechanisms to go along with that declaration. but liberia is in a severe crisis that i believe threatens the stability of society as it exists today.

and i think as you see the disease spread in freetown and elsewhere, hopefully it has peaked there. you're going to see more instability and insecurity. >> we do ask about the question of testing. we heard the exchange earlier about the lack of labs. lack of testing capability. you might want to comment on it, but even in the best of circumstances, say in new york or new jersey, how long does it take to get a test back? because this does move very fast. >> well, we have a special test u.s. of a matter of a few hours, but logistically, the infrastructure of these countries to go from one point to another. it might look 50 miles, but it could take you eight hours because you can only drive three miles an hour through roads that are impassable. there are logistical problems here, but i think the number one

cause of health care worker infections in liberia is lack of the protective gear. they are asking people to go to work, to take care of patients, and they don't have gloves. to me this is unconscionable. if we're going to put people on the line, the brightest and best people in the country on the line, we owe it to them to give them a fighting chance. even in this country, no matter how well trained doctor is, if an ebola patient comes up to him before he or she knows what he has, he has already been infected. isaacs, you ask the question earlier -- where will the money go? in your opinion, where will the should the money go and , what should it buy? >> i feel that international personnel are needed. i do not think the ministry of health of liberia can fight this. they do not have the case

investigation capacity. i talked with a senior person at the cdc. i won't name her, but she is a well-known person who told me that in the united states, if there was one person that had a level four infectious disease, they would have many hundreds of contacts to run down. there are no contacts being run down in liberia. i do not believe the liberian government, as well-intentioned as they are, and i do believe that they are well-intentioned i , just simply do not think that they have the capacity. i think that there needs to be something to augment their capacity. i think that there needs to be some kind of coordination unit. i've heard here today that the world health organization has the lead. maybe, maybe not. i think something with a bit more of an operational edge to it is called for. that may be some kind of a -- i

do not know what that could be, but more is needed. i think that if we leave the situation up to the ministries of health -- when you have a unique situation where you have have aoor countries that communicable, infectious, and lethal disease they clearly do , not have the capacity to contain it. and is the world willing to allow the public health of the world to be in their hands while they try to contain the zulus disease? that is the essential question. >> finally, dr. glover, you had worked on the outbreak of ebola , what, 20 years ago? >> actually come at that time, i was in the zaire, but the another was in kik place. >> how does this compare to that outbreak? >> there is no comparison.

back then it was a sparsely , populated rural area where it essentially burned itself out. but now, you have people who have moved to the city so that when you look at a taxi or a bus, you wonder how they can get so many people jampacked in there. or how many people live in a house, for example. there is an instance at the hospital where the it ministered or came down with the virus, and he infected his eight children and his wife and all 10 of them died. so the close proximity to the people living the concentration , of the population means that in this epidemic, no matter what we do, there will be tremendous loss of life just for the nature of this disease. >> i thank you both. if there anything you would like to add before we conclude the hearing? >> i would just say that i am think much more -- i am certain

there is much more than we know of but this concept of research and development for a vaccine and a cure is very important. i agree with dr. glover -- i think we will see death tolls and numbers we can't imagine right now. that is the potential. also i will tell you that we are thew as samaritans purse in process of developing a bowl of readiness and -- ebola readiness preparation and hospitals. glover any final , words? i want to thank you both for your extraordinary service to mankind and the disabled, those that are suffering this terrible outbreak of ebola. if we could stay with the subcommittee this is the first , of a series of hearings. we are looking to make sure that whatever we need to do as a congress and subcommittee, your and me personally and my

colleagues, what we want to do, and your guidance is absolutely essential. thank you for sharing your wisdom and insight. and incisive commentary to the committee. the hearing is adjourned. >> thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] >> on the next "washington journal," we talk to democratic consultant and pollster doug choen on gridlock in washington. then historian douglas brinkley will discuss richard nixon's resignation. we will also take your phone calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. "washington journal" live each

morning at 7:00 eastern on c-span. >> incumbent tennessee senator lamar alexander won his party's primary thursday night. after his victory, senator alexander spoke to supporters. [cheers and applause] >> thank you very much. thank you very, very much. thanks for being here tonight, everything. about a half-hour ago, associated press called this race, said we were winning, and i'm here to thank you emmy voters of tennessee for giving me an opportunity. [cheers and applause]

this is one of the largest republican primaries that we have had in our state's history. there are seven candidates in this primary. they all ran very well, and we are glad that it is over. why there are so many voters in our primary this year. on the one hand, tennesseans wanted to express to governor haslam how proud they are of the way he has led our state, and i want to congratulate him on his nomination. [cheers and applause] second, those who voted in the republican primary wanted to send a different sort of message, the message to president obama that we are not happy. we are very to the point with the direction of our country, and we're hoping of having after november a new republican majority in the united states senate. [cheers and applause]

there was another kind of message in this big primary tonight, and in the large primary, in one of the most conservative states in the nominated a get it done republican governor and a get it done republican senator. when i mean by that is both governor haslam and i are republican conservatives. both of us can make a pretty good, conservative speech. but both of us know when we finish our speech, we are not done. in fact, we ought to just be starting. that is how tennessee has led the country in academic achievement, and the large amount of debts, and in bringing the get it done leadership in washington is why our borders are out of control, why we have

a mess with our health care policy, and why it is so hard to find a job today. what i hope to do in a new term in washington is more of what i try to do as governor and what governor haslam does here, which is recognize that if we want to change obama care, we will have to pass something. if we want to fix the debt, we will have to pass something. to do that, we will have to work with other people to get it done. say tennessee's get it done kind of leadership, put in the united states senate, and move our country forward. [cheers and applause] some people say that our problems are too big to solve, they are worse than they ever were. i do not believe that. read much history, you know there is much more, we have many more difficult problems back in the earlier days of our country.

our biggest problem is the answer of the get it done kind of leadership that we need an washington, d.c. we are just as strong as we ever were in the country. we just need a different kind of leadership. i want to thank all of you, our campaign team, alice, tom, and all of you. i want to thank the congressional delegation and the governor and the former republican state chairman and the hundreds of young volunteers who make a quarter of a million phone calls and knocked on doors. steve smith and the finance team, thank you, thank you to honey and our family, taylor and are all hereill tonight. and a thank you to the people of tennessee. i want to congratulate those who competed in the republican primary. they are excellent men and women in that race. they have a real sense of purpose in their running, and i want to invite them out to join us, to join us to try to get things done and change in this

country, and i want to look to independents and democrats across the state and safe we want to change the direction of our states, if we want to fix the debt, if we want to control the border, then we want to control the debt and we want to regain control of our schools, we want a health care policy that us more freedom, more choices, and lower costs. we want to make it easier to find a job, then after we make our speeches, we're going to have to roll up our sleeves, get together, work with each other, and get something done. [cheers and applause] thank you very much. [applause]

>> the president of somalia was in washington this week for the u.s. africa summit. he will sit on this morning to talk about some of the challenges facing his country. topics include security concerns somalia.xploration in live coverage from the brookings institution starts at 10:00

eastern. in may, the european court of justice ruled that google and other search engines must by any usequests citizen to delete information about them under a policy known as the right to be forgotten. at noon eastern, the congressional internet caucus on onlineiscusseuiion privacy rights. what we covered here on c-span. president obama said last night that he is organize targeted airstrike in northern iraq and has begun sending humanitarian aid to religious minorities there. his remarks are just under 10 minutes. >> good evening. today i authorized to operations in iraq. targeted air strikes to protect our american personnel and a humanitarian effort to help save

thousands of iraqi civilians who are trapped on a mountain without food and water and facing almost certain death. let me explain the actions we are taking and why. first, i said in june as the terrorist group isil began advanced across iraq that the united states would be prepared to take targeted military action in iraq if and when we determined the situation required it. in recent days, these terrorist s have continued to move across iraq and to a city where and civiliansmats serve and our military personnel advise iraqi forces. to stop the advance, i have directed our military to take targeted strikes against isil terrace con -- terrorist convoys.

if they threaten our personnel or facilities in iraq including our embassy in baghdad. we're also providing urgent assistance to iraqi government and kurdish forces so they can more effectively wage the fight against isil. at the request of the iraqi government, we have begun operations to help save iraqi civilians stranded on the mountain. has marched across iraq, it has waged a ruthless campaign against iraqis, and they have been particularly barbaric towards minorities including christians in a small and ancient religious sect. countless iraqis have been displaced, and chilling recounts of isil conducting mass executions in enslaving women. in recent days, women, men, and children have fled for their perhapsnd thousands,

tens of thousands, are now hiding high up on the mountain with little but the clothes on their backs. they're without food, they're without water. people are starving, and children are dying of thirst. forces belowil have called for the systematic destruction of the entire people, which would constitute genocide, so these innocent families are faced with a warble mountain descend the and being slaughtered or stay and slowly die of thirst and hunger. i have said before -- the united states cannot and should not intervene every time there is a crisis in the world. so let me be clear about why we must act and act now. when we face a situation like we do on a mountain with innocent people facing the prospect of violence on a horrific scale, when we have a mandate to help, in this case a request from the iraq e-government, and when we have the unique capabilities to i believe a massacre,

the united states of america cannot turn a blind eye. we can act, carefully and responsibly, to prevent a potential act of genocide. that is what we're doing on the mountain. i therefore authorize targeted strikes if necessary as they fight to break the siege and protect the civilians trapped there. already, aircraft have begun conducting humanitarian airdrops of food and water to help these desperate men, women, and children survive. iraqi inhis week, one the area cried to the wall -- there is no one coming to hell. well, today america is coming to help. we are also consulting with other countries and the united nations was called for actions to address this unitarian crisis. i know that many of you are rightly concerned about any american military action in iraq. even limited strikes like these. i understand that. i ran for this office in part to

end our war in iraq and welcome our troops home, and that is what we have done. as commander-in-chief, i will not allow the united states to be dragged into fighting another war in iraq. asn as we support iraqis they take the fight to these terrorists, american combat troops will not be returning to fight in iraq because there is no american military solution to in iraq.r crisis the only lasting solution is reconciliation among iraqi communities and stronger iraqi security forces. however, we can and should support moderate forces who can bring stability to iraq, so even as we carry out these two missions, we will continue to pursue a broader strategy that empowers iraqis. iraqi leaders need to come together and represent new government that represents legitimate citizens. iraqis have named a new president, a new speaker of

parliament, and are seeking consensus on a new prime minister. this is the progress that needs to continue in order to reverse the momentum of the terrorists who prey on iraq's decisions. once iraq has a new government, the united states will work with it in other countries in the region to provide increased support to deal with this unitarian crisis and counterterrorism challenge. none of iraq's neighbors have an interest in this terrible suffering or instability, so we will continue to work with our friends and allies to help refugees get the shelter and food and water they so desperately need, and to help iraqis push back against isil. the several hundred american advisers i ordered to iraq will continue to assess what more we can do to help train, advise, and support iraqi forces going forward. just as i consulted congress on the decisions i made today, we will continue to do so going forward. americans, the world is confronted by many challenges

, and while america has never been able to right every wrong, america has made the world a more secure and prosperous place. and our leadership is necessary to underwrite the global security and prosperity that our children and our grandchildren will depend on. we do so by adhering to a set of core principles. we do whatever is necessary to protect our people. we support our allies when they are in danger. of countriestions to uphold international norms, and we strive to stay true to the fundamental values, the desire to live with basic freedom and dignity, that is common to human beings wherever they are. that is why people all over the world look to the united states of america to lead, and that is why we do. let me close by assuring you that there is no decision that i take more seriously than the use of military force. over the last several years, we have brought the vast majority

of our troops home from iraq and afghanistan, and i have been to turnto resist calls time and again to our military because america has other tools in our arsenal than our military. we can also lead with the power of our diplomacy, our economy, and our ideals. but when the lives of american citizens are at risk, we will take action. that is my responsibility as commander in chief. and when many thousands of innocent civilians are faced with the danger of being wiped out, and we have the capacity to do something about it, we will take action. that is our responsibility as americans. it is the hallmark of american leadership. that is who we are. so tonight we give thanks to our men and women in uniform, especially our brave pilots who are over iraq for protecting our fellow americans and saving the lives of so many men, women, and children that they will never meet. they represent american leadership at its best.

as a nation, we should be proud of them, and of our country's up enduring commitment to uphold security and the dignity of our fellow human beings. god bless our armed forces, and god bless the united states of america. >> will this be enough to stop isil, sir? >> how many airstrikes have actually happened? >> this month, c-span presents debates on what makes america great, evolution, and genetically modified foods. issues spotlight with in-depth looks at veterans health care, irs oversight, student loan debt, campus sexual assault. new perspectives on issues such as global warming, voting rights, fighting infectious disease, and food safety. and our history tour showing sights and sounds from america's historic places will sell find our schedule at c-span.org, and let us know what you think about the programs you are watching.

6-3400 ort 202-62 e-mail us at comments@c-span.org . like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. is next.ngton journal" we will take your calls and get the latest on iraq. the president of somalia will sit down to talk about some of the challenges facing his country. live coverage from the brookings institution. starts at 10:00 eastern. congressional internet caucus advisory committee looks at online privacy rights. -- liveerage on c-span coverage here on c-span. coming up, we talk with democratic consultant and schoen about gridlock and bipartisanship in washington. then douglas brinkley will

discuss the 40th anniversary of nixon's resignation. he co-edited the book "the nixon tapes." join the conversation on facebook and twitter. >> i therefore authorize targeted airstrikes if necessary to help forces in iraq as they help to break the chr not -- seige on mount sinjar. american aircraft have been dropping food and water to help desperate civilians survive. cry to the world "there is no one coming to help year ago today, america is coming to help. ♪ host: that was the president last night. his alterations in -- his