excoriated, we all condemned him. from the right to the left. but the public square in ramallah is named after a killer who murdered hundreds of innocent jews. there's a difference in values. they glorify these people. e don't. so there is an asymmetry that produces this glorification of terror and right now what we see is a layer above that, or below that and that is the internet is meeting militant islam in the hearts and minds of children and teenagers and driving them to believe this fantastic fabrication, we will tear down the mosque, build a second or third temple. it is insane. you say, how can people believe that -- they believe it. if you repeat a lie often enough it becomes true.

this false is propagated in the minds of the people. when we have young minds poisoned, we take action. if we haven't taken dum -- if we haven't found the duma people, it will take time but we'll get them. i'm much more concerned about how to get to palestinian young minds, want to disabuse them of these -- one, to disabuse them of these lies and second to get them to accept the idea that we have to live side by side in this small piece of land. and we're going to have to do it in peace and prosperity. that's a tough order. i don't think their political leadership is ready yet to embrace this. it's the toughest obstacle there ishost: we will go to questions, i will ask one last one. everyone should identify

themselves and question should be short and to the point. i'll ask one last question. there is many areas, but i will focus on one, where israel has -- where we can learn lessons from israel, the military has been rrrr -- been very inclusive for a very long time. prime minister netanyahu: you have don't ask, don't tell. we have, we don't care. host: and for women as well. are there lessons in that space hat you can share with us? prime minister netanyahu: i think that israel has women fighter pilots, navigators, in aircraft. israel has women combat soldiers. and they've proven themselves

under fire. a number of times. including, by the way in the police. unbelievable. including this last rash of knifings. -- tremendous courage and help me out. what the young david had against goliath. resourcefulness. tremendous resourcefulness and courage. host: neither ambassador had that. prime minister netanyahu: i am very disappointed here. [laughter] prime minister netanyahu: amazing capabilities. i will tell you i got, where i was deeply moved, i went to the mossad. you're not going to meet these people.

and they showed me this cyber stuff. ok. and there's a 26-year-old young woman there. and i said, tell me about yourself. she said, well, i'm, you know, i aduated, she could be very wealthy. but she's working in the mossad. i said why are you doing this? she said, because i believe in this country and this is what i can give. i'll have enough time later this woman is probably responsible for saving more lives than, well, than anybody can even imagine, ok. this is something that we encounter, this human resource. i don't want to talk about it just in terms of intelligence prime re's something, as

minister you see this. you see it in special units, you see it in the police, in the a moral point of view it's the right thing to do. from a utilitarian point of view, you have to be crazy not to do it. i think israel is very sane and very moral in having this inclusivity of women in every part of life. there was a woman prime minister, as you know. host: we may test that pop sigs ourselves. i think we have time for questions. can you identify yourself. >> i just want to ask, you went in june 20, 13, hershel's fwrave who you venerate as every

israeli does, you said the current situation is not good for israel. israel wants to be a state. it doesn't want to become a binational state. obviously the preference is a negotiated outcome. i think everyone agrees to that. but what's the plan b, mr. prime minister, if there, for the reasons you say that the palestinians aren't willing to reach that, what's israel's plan b to remain a jewish state and not become a binational state? prime minister: let me come back to that, think about it. no, let me answer. that works less well than a negotiated solution. in any case, the main problem that we have is the acceptance of the principle that israel

ill take kear of security in the areas, basically west of the jordan. this is the main problem. the problem in gaza when we left gaza, we left not only the, we not only took the settlers out, we left no security. as a result, gaza has become a security threat not to the ommunities adjacent to gaza, it's now become this poison thumb, this poison dagger that sends rockets well beyond tel aviv. it can reach a long way. so unless you have an israeli capability to actually prevent the use of territories that we vacate in a civilian sense, hand over in a civilian sense, that we can patrol from a security

point of view, then you have, that's where you get into trouble. and there's another issue that came up, wasn't around in 2006, that would complicate things a little bit more. tunneling. there's tunneling from gaza into srael. and the west bank. any delineation of the border would be hundreds of kilometers and there'd be thousands of tunnels. these tunnels are where terrorists can emerge, take people hostage, kill them, squirrel them back. you've got enormous problems. the only way to deal with that, the only way is to ensure that from the security point of view, israel has for the foreseeable future, until you prove otherwise if there's somebody else who can responsibly take that territory, israel has the security control. i don't see the palestinians agreeing to that, ok. they'd say, well, how can we be,

you know, fully sovereign state if we don't have security control of it? how can we leave the skirt presence of israel for the indefinite future? said, well, ever here hear of germany or okinawa, or south korea? you can if you need to. no israeli in his right mind, the reason i'm here for the fourth time is just about any israeli believes in what i'm about to tell you. any orangement, binational or negotiated, must have israel maintain the ability to defend itself by itself against any threat including from territories that are ceded. ok? that's the most important provision. that is something that i don't see the palestinians accepting now. maybe they'll accept it tomorrow. maybe arab state wills accept

it. maybe the international community will accept it. if they do, then i think we'll be able to ensure that we don't incorporate palestinian populations in our midst. be able to separate from them. yet at the same time mane teen security in our land. that's -- that's the real test. i'm not sure that -- i think we have to talk about that more. i think we have to get into -- get that into the international bloodstream. that's basis of a practical solution. the middle east as it unfortunately will be for the ext few years. >> i am the chair of the board of j street and i wanted to ask about your negotiating advice, that you will negotiate without preconditions, but in negotiations, you want these two issues to be settled before you talk about other issues.

or negotiate them. i wonder whether you would consider as a way to convince arabs and palestinians and others about it to do two things. to give a sense of the generous borders you're willing to offer if these things are settled, conditions on them but make clear what it was. and second, show the palestinians that they can have an autonomous existence even if they don't control the security arrangements by beginning to allow them to have it now on the west bank. prime minister netanyahu: on the question of territory in borders, this is about 95% of what israel has to feed. on the question of recognition, recognition of a jewish state, nation state of the jewish people and the security

arrangements and so on, that's what we need on the other side. there's a question of the jewish land, the temple mound, i think it's -- i don't see right now a solution for that. i think it has to remain under israeli sovereignty and that's the only way to prevent this from exploding. but on these two issues, israel is asked to give virtually 100% of its negotiating position without receiving a concomitant return. nd i don't negotiate that way. but it's a point of fact that my predecessors who did negotiate differently fell off a cliff. they got nothing. because they didn't really breach that rejectionism. palestinian rejectionism. which has been around since the 1920's. it has lately been fused with

militant islam. which makes it even worse. but in point of fact, i think these things should be put on the table together. and that was basically the position that people tried to have. but it's become more difficult with the current palestinian eadership. nevertheless am willing to say i'm willing to meet him, my late father used to say, i translate this, he said conversation fertilizes thought. conversation fertilizes thought. so you can generate new ideas if you actually sit down and talk. i can't get this guy to sit down and talk. and it's, you know, i suppose i uld say today, my throat has

become hoarse from inviting him to meet again and again and again again and he refuses. but you're right to draw the distinction between the willingness to sit down without preconditions and what i believe are the two foundations, the two bill lars of any potential deal, neutral recognition and long-term security arrangements where israel is able to defend itself. he doesn't need to have me accept them to sit down. get on with it. conversation fertilizes thought. o sit down and converse. >> prime minister, i am greg rosen. i'm chair of the commarble jewish council.

i want to thank you for being here today in the spirit of reconciling americans of both parties to focus on the shared values that unite us with -- in support of israel, not policy issues -- disagreement we was that could divide us. my question concerns economics and trade relations. as we know from the famous gefilte fish emails, it's not easy to import products if israel to the united states and sometimes it's not that easey for israel to import from the united states. does your administration have plans to streamline trade relations between the two countries in order to create a more robust exchange of goods nd services in the future? prime minister netanyahu: i am minister of the economy for the next two weeks, so i will make sure that we put into effect,

ook, i'm an open trader. i do not know if you're aware of his, in the midst of the attacks and they occur every few hours, there have been calls for me to effect closure on the territories. and i said, i think it's very important to focus on the knife wielders and on the molotov cocktail throwers but not inflame the rest of the population. so about 140,000 palestinian workers, i think that's the number, work in israel every day. we kept that open. similarly in gaza. is is one of those amazing factoids, so here's a fact. gaza right now has had more than

one million tons of reconstruction material, humanitarian aid, economic fwoods, those have been passed almost exclusively through israeli land border. very little of it has gone through the other borders. from the sea, we don't want them to come through the sea. not because we care about pass am, but we care about weapons nd you can smuggle them. here we have containers that are scanned. in egypt, they don't encourage heavy flow into gaza. but we do. so we screen for weapons but we have increased the flow. we used to boast we would have 250 trucks passing thru gaza daily. t's now 900. if we get scanners from germany and hollande as i've asked the

leaders of those countries to supply, it can go higher. my position is, let the thousand economies blom. i think that's actually, it's not in lieu of a political settlement, but it helps. it hetches. it helps that people in the west bank and people in gaza see that they're not living at the edge of a precipice. that they have the wherewithal to have real life businesses. that's easier to do on the west bank. part of the reason the west bank has been relatively quiet. you know. it's worth it to ensure that that continues. they look around and say do, we want to be like aleppo and sir yasm to we want to be like yes, ma'am snn do we want to be like libya? or do we want to have a real life and a potential for a real solution down the line? i don't know if we can solve the political problem right now.

i think president obama has his own doubts as well, but i think we should work, there are three components here. there's political component, the political solution, there's security, and there's prosperity. at the very least we should work on security and prosperity, as we are, and if we can also advance the political solution. for that, we're going to have to sit down and talk. the unilateralism that was pointed out, i suppose that's possible too but it would have to meet israeli security criteria and that would also require, i think, a broader international understanding than exists now. host: thank you. i think we are over time. i really want to thank you for your remarks. are there any final remarks you'd like to meet? i know your throat. prime minister netanyahu: i'd like to make a lot of remarks but i have something to declare. i have a sore throat.

host: we are happy that the throat, your throat lasted. this issue came up of hosting you, we all wanted to move forward because we believe progress is impossible without dialogue, as you said. so we are grateful for you to be here and take questions on a whole range of issues. prime minister netanyahu: i'd like to make another discussion. invite me again. thank you very much. thank you. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please remain seated as the prime minister and his delegation make their exit. thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015]

>> this morning on veterans day, interviews with two members of congress who served in iraq. sensible to is a former marine corps officer, and steve russell was an army ranger who served in a unit that hundred saddam hussein. that is at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. live coverage of president obama taking part in veterans day observances in arlington national cemetery, including the replaying of the tomb of the unknown. that is at 11:00 a.m. eastern time here on c-span. >> c-span has your coverage on the road to the white house 2016, where you will find the candidates, this teaches, the debate, and most importantly, your questions. this year, we are taking a road to the white house coverage into classrooms across the country with our student cam contest, giving students the opportunity to discuss what important issues

they want to hear the most from the candidates. follow c-span student cam conference on tv, on the radio, and online at c-span.org. >> the organization for security and cooperation in europe issued a report on human rights abuses at the guantanamo bay detention center. citing the report's findings, the u.s. has called on the u.s. to close the prison. this is 40 minutes. with us today to present the

report, its findings and recommendations, are omar fisch er, the deputy head of the o'dear human rights departments, and lucille sengler, the advisor on antiterrorism issues and has an involved in the production of the report from the very beginning. i hope you had an opportunity to pick up the press release on the out theand on your way report in hard copy will be available on the table that you used for the sign-in. after the initial presentations here, there will be time for questions from the media, if such questions there are. so with no further it do, i hand fischer.r to mr. >> thank you for being here today at this presentation for a report on human rights in guantanamo. ntioned, we work at the

office for democratic institution of human rights. this is an international government organization and we work on democracy and human rights. we have 57 participating states in europe across north america and the united states is one of them. you may have heard more about the osce recently in connection with our work in ukraine. our office is quite active is to but our mandate work with human rights to the extent that we can cover them across the 57 participating states and to assist them in meeting their commitments. one way to do that is to get implementation. it is part of this work that we have over the past years have engaged with the u.s. on issues

of guantanamo. we have followed developments there closely. we have also repeatedly called to close the tension facility. yhe report represented toda is a combination of these efforts. we think it is coming at a fairly good time, when discussions in the u.s. about the future of the facility are ongoing, perhaps gaining momentum, and the report causes a rate of issues. the treatment of detainees in detention, proceedings before the military commission, as well as challenges that are related to the closure of guantanamo and to ensuring accountability for human rights violations. i should say -- i mentioned engagement with the authorities, and it this topic with the u.s. authorities we have open to discussions. we are very thankful for that. in some cases these were frank

discussions, certainly we didn't agree on everything, and one thing we do regret is having been unable to visit the guantanamo detention facility and interview, in private, the detainees held their. this is standard practice whenever carrying out monitoring of detention facilities, but we were not able to do this. and the findings are based on the many meetings and conversations we had with u.s. officials, with lawyers, with nongovernmental organizations, and five former guantanamo detainees. we did try to send through their lawyers written questions to current guantanamo detainees. we only received replies from one of them. was entirely redacted by the authorities when he received them.

our fact-finding did suffers limitations, but they were largely of our own making. i would also like to thank all those who spend time with us to share the information they had for this report. i see some in the room today -- thank you for that. lucille will talk more in detail about the concept. i would just like to highlight some of our key messages, and the first and obvious one, as i have already mentioned, is to close guantanamo. this is a recommendation we have made many times, a strong recommendation, backed by a detailed piece of research which provides plenty of evidence on why guantanamo should be closed and indefinite detention of the detainees should and. we very muchd, welcome the commitment made by the current administration to close the facility.

there has been some slow 112 still remain and we do want to see the facility close, but we do not want to see guantanamo substituted by a solution that is not in full compliance with human rights. one of the main problems in guantanamo is indefinite detention without trial, and we certainly would not like to see guantanamo detainees transferred somewhere else. where they would still be detained indefinitely without trial. what we are seeing is that guantanamo should. number ofin guantanamo detainees may be charged with criminal offenses. some are already facing proceedings before military commissions. we haveeport, identified a number of shortcomings in relation to proceedings before the military

commissions, and we would like to see them fully addressed. in the military commissions, we knowledge that the system has improved both as a result of changes in legislation, but also litigation before the commission's. we also think the best way to address these shortcomings is to ensure that detainees receive a fair trial and have those criminal offenses prosecuted before ordinary civilian court. i should add that u.s. federal courts have a strong record of trying those suspected of committing serious offenses, including acts of terrorism. the final point i want to make is on accountability. it is a major concern for us, well documented, that the people of guantanamo were subjected to ill treatment, in some cases, torture.

this has been acknowledged by the president himself. we think it is crucial that those responsible for those acts are held accountable. in our conversation with u.s. officials, we have been given all assurances that those responsible for torture will be held accountable. this is especially the case with those responsible for torture in the cia. those affected should have access to full redress. for example, compensation for any acts of torture. these were the key messages. i would now like to give the floor to lucille for more details on the findings.

thank you. lucille: thank you, omar. omar presented the methodology we followed when producing the reports. he also highlighted the main recommendations formatted in the -- recommendations that are formulated in the report. i would like to explain in more detail some of our findings, which have informed the recommendations. i will give you an overview of those findings as obviously they are also explored and explained and analyzed in more details in the report itself. i would like first to underline that our findings are based on international human rights standards and international humanitarian law to the extent it is applicable to the context of guantanamo. the first recommendation mentioned by omar concerns our call for the closure of guantanamo and the end of indefinite detention.

in that regard, let me highlight some facts. as of today, 112 detainees remain at guantanamo. 102 of them are detained without charge or did -- without charge. a number of them have been kept in guantanamo -- 112 detainees remain at guantanamo. 102 of them are detained without charge. and number -- a number of detainees have been held for 13 years. no charges have been brought against them. in addition, you have 53 detainees at guantanamo who have been cleared for transfer or release. this means the u.s. authorities consider that these individuals no longer pose a threat to u.s. national security. the majority of those 53 detainees have been cleared for

more than five years, but they remain in indefinite detention and it is uncertain when they will be released. such figures, such facts underlying the vast majority of detainees being kept in guantanamo without charges against them, and this is contrary to international standards. regarding the transfer of detainees from guantanamo, the report does acknowledge the increased pace of transfer at the end of 2014 and also this year. recent transfers also took place, and the administration has indicated it is working toward additional transfers of detainees by the end of the year.

we welcome these efforts in the report, but we also call for further increased efforts in terms of detainees out of guantanamo. the current pace of transfer remains insufficient to significantly progress toward the closure of the detention facility. regarding transfer, the report also underscores the obligation of the united states to ensure that detainees are not transferred to a country where they may be at risk of torture or ill-treatment. the u.s. has taken actions in that regard, and in some cases, the detainees have ended up in third countries because in their own countries they could have faced risk of torture or prosecution. however, our findings indicate the united states relied heavily

on assurances when concluding transfers and in some cases forcibly transferred detainees to states allegedly practicing torture. this is in contradiction with the united states obligations under international law, and osc commitments. we called for the swift closure of guantanamo. this means first that the indefinite detention of individuals kept in a detention facility without being charged should end. those that have been charged should be tried. this is the second area of the finding i would like to mention. our report assesses the fairness of the proceedings before the

military commission. omar mentioned a number of improvements in the legislation and litigation, but we still have identified in the report a number of shortcomings regarding the proceedings before the military commissions. the military commissions, first of all, remain a system that presents a number of flaws in terms of independence and impartiality. in addition, both the previous and current u.s. administration have implied the guilt of the defendants, which is contrary to the presumption of innocence. moreover, we recognize the complexities of the cases before the commission, but it is unclear when the trial dates for those cases will start, whereas

detainees have been kept for 13 years in detention. we also highlight in the report that the proceedings before the military commission lack publicity due to the remote location of the courtroom. we underscore in the report that the proceedings are not sufficient to the public character of proceedings is understood and international laws. another area of concern that we highlight in the report is the alleged violation of the confidentiality of the relationship between detainees -- between attorneys and their clients. restraints are placed upon

lawyers ability to meet frequently with their clients. there has been alleged violations of the defendant's rights to privately and confidentially communicate with counsel. another finding in the report highlights that the defense, if not provided with the same resources as the prosecution when it comes to the proceedings before the military commission. the other one is the overclassification of information remains problematic in proceedings before the military commissions. the classification prevents the disclosure of evidence to the defense and also the disclosure of information regarding allegations of torture made by the detainees that have faced

proceedings before the military commissions. we also knowlso -- a number of the detainees are facing proceedings who have been ill treated or tortured. however, the standards are not as strict as in international law. it is still possible to have evidence of torture admissible in proceedings. the use of a 40 second delay is another area of concern related to the prohibition of torture because this 40 second delay may have been used to withhold information on the alleged mistreatment of detainees.

based on these findings, our conclusion is that the military commissions do not meet fair trial standards. we believe the individuals charged should be brought before ordinary courts, operating in line with international fair trial standards. finally, the third area of findings relates to the prohibition of torture and accountability. the report identifies a number of abusive conditions of detention and interrogation practices such as waterboarding, sleep deprivation that were faced under the previous administration and under the cia rendition program. these practices amounted to ill-treatment or torture. when it comes to the current

conditions of detention, our findings also have concerns regarding the management of hunger strikes, for instance. we underline in the report that the decision to force-feed mentally competent detainees is contrary to international standards. based on information we have gathered, we also consider the process of force-feeding amounts to ill-treatment and potentially to torture. allegations of torture at guantanamo and under the cia rendition program are serious. u.s. officials, including the president, acknowledged the use of torture in the guantanamo

context. in the cia rendition program and in the detention and treatment of detainees at guantanamo. investigations have been conducted by u.s. authorities. however, our report highlights that the investigation into abuses at guantanamo was not impartial and therefore not effective. regarding the cia rendition program, no u.s. official has ever been prosecuted for their involvement in the program. we also underline in the report that the release of findings on the cia rendition program offers a new opportunity for the u.s. administration to consider opening an investigation into the cia rendition program. finally, there is an obligation for the united states to provide

victims with redress. again, we know that cases of torture and human rights violations happened at guantanamo, but no detainee has received redress. no court has considered a lawsuit seeking redress on the merits. it seems the right to redress is not even part of the debate, which we regret also is in the report. those were some of the main findings contained in the report. the report also provides further details and advice in that -- and analyzes in that regard. i will be happy to answer potential questions. thank you. tom: thank you, lucille. as lucille mentioned, and myself earlier, we do have time for questions from the media or anyone on the floor.

razor hand, if you have something to ask, we will have a microphone brought over. before you ask your question, please give your name and the media outlet for which you work. >> how hard did you try to interview, meet the detainees in person? and can you talk through what the obama administration's response was as to why you could not have direct access to them? omar: we did try, as we normally do. we would indicate our intention or desire to interview detainees. we do that officially through official communication. we did learn that it was not possible, but we did not to really get a detailed explanation as to why it was not possible.

that is the answer i can give you. i don't know and we were not provided a detailed explanation as to why. >> we can work our way across the aisle. >> i am with a german newspaper. this is going to be speculative to a certain extent, but maybe not so much that you cannot answer at all. we are all waiting for more concrete proposals from the administration as to how it wants to proceed to close guantanamo. there are domestic politics issues you will probably not want to go into, but based on your discussions with administration officials, what kind of hope do you see for a short-term solution that is at least going to be better than

what you see? and to what extent do you think that what you mentioned -- the only real option being debated here is moving guantanamo to a different place with a whole new set of legal issues, colorado or somewhere. what do you see as a solution, if not a perfect solution? omar: we are very much interested in seeing what the outcome of the discussion is. we know a plan on the closure of guantanamo has been promised and may be presented soon. that is in itself what we are welcoming what we know as a stated commitment to close the facility. some steps have already been undertaken.

but the main point remains, what i mentioned earlier, that if this is about moving detainees from one setting to a setting somewhere else, that will not be satisfactory. as to whether that would constitute an improvement, i think it is difficult to say. indeed it would depend on the facility, potential conflict with lawyers anywhere other than guantanamo. guantanamo presents certain problems and challenges because of its location, but i wouldn't focus so much on that. i would say indefinite detention is bad no matter what, whether in guantanamo or anyone else. >> did you receive any

indication from administration officials that they want to move to the criminal justice system, the ordinary court system, or dramatically expand the military commission system? did you receive any indications to that? omar: we did discuss this. that is our recommendation, but that is a question better placed to the officials in the administration. >> i work for six german newspapers. i have two quick questions. you mentioned incidents like waterboarding and sleep deprivation that happened at guantanamo. this is the first time i have heard that waterboarding happened at guantanamo. maybe i missed something with all of my talks with the military and lawyers. the consensus was this only happened a black sites. is that true?

lucille: sorry if i was not clear. that did happen, indeed, under the cia rendition program. >> in guantanamo? or other places? lucille: we covered mainly developments related to the cia rendition program to the extent that they were linked to detainees that have been going through this program to guantanamo. >> i'm just not sure because many of them -- lucille: there have been black sites and guantanamo as well. in our findings, we have not specified whether it was black sites or guantanamo. >> so this could refer to people who were waterboarded elsewhere and then brought to guantanamo. it did not necessarily happen on the island. lucille: yes. >> a follow-up. the reason you cannot interview

detainees is usually, supposedly, the geneva convention. is it that an excuse they get to they gave to you? or did they really say nothing at all? omar: they really did not provide an explanation. >> one question. are you expecting any kind of opposition within the political ranks of the united states in terms of your report? and what kind of authorities have you managed to speak with regarding your report? what level, i would say? omar: we did speak with various department agencies involved, defense, justice. the level was pretty high in

terms of the interlocutors we had access to, and we were grateful for the openings in these conversations. we had u.s. authorities on guantanamo. when it comes to how this report will be used in the political debate in the u.s., of course, we understand that a views are very different across the political spectrum. our hope is that the report will be able to contribute, somehow, to the discussion in a way that would promote human rights, which is the main aim for us. >> thank you. >> a question in the back. >> sputnik news. this has been going on, as you said, since the previous administration, and you are not able to get access to these sites, to these detainees.

you referred to limitations in the senate intelligence report on the cia renditions. what makes you confident that this report exposing these allegedly abuses which u.s. officials, including those lawmakers who are currently opposing the transfer of detainees into the united states, opposing the closure of gitmo, what makes you confident that this is going to change perceptions? or perhaps catalyze some sort of international action? omar: when it comes to our hopes or how much we think the report is going to be influencing policy, indeed, many organizations have already

provided their view of the guantanamo situation. the problem is that many have talked about guantanamo, the human rights impact of guantanamo, and the discussion about closing guantanamo. the report is going to be used, we hope, inside the u.s. it may be used in the political discussions with various political actors that have, as i mentioned, may have very different views. but we hope it can be used as a tool in those discussions. we also think it may be of use for local organizations in their own advocacy and efforts to bring about the closure of guantanamo and human rights solutions.

but we are an international organization and the purpose of our report is to bring the international dimension to this discussion. we do have our own body and we hope that a report like this will stimulate discussion at that level. >> what has been the response? >> are you talking about the u.s. state department? that is what i was also referring to, but this report might also be used out of state. when it comes to their response, we received from our u.s. .ounterparts

we had open and frank discussions. yesterday at the state department. we do hope that the recommendations will be implemented. >> we can go to you. i think we have time for two or three more questions. >> if guantanamo is now closed by mr. obama's executive order, how happy would that make you? how would you define that decision? >> we have been calling for the closure of guantanamo, so we

don't enter into a discussion of whether that should happen by executive order or otherwise. the important thing is the end result. closing guantanamo would make us happy, but with the copy yet that we mentioned before. we would not want to see detainees transferred to another indefinite detention setting. >> i want to go back to something you said about you sent one questionnaire to one prisoner, and you got it heavily redacted. what were you asking him? what percentage was redacted? and can you say anything about the content? lucille: we sent questions to detainees related to the conditions of their detention

and the conditions of transfer to guantanamo. as omar mentioned, we also received one reply, which was fully redacted. with the exception of the title. [laughter] it was 100% redacted, and that letter is part of the report. >> i am from slovakia. our country has adopted nine of the detainees in the recent three years. to what extent do you monitor the quality of their lives and the living conditions of those transferred to third countries?

lucille: the report is primarily focused on the united states, but we do cover transfer to third countries. we have not, however, covered the situation of detainees once they have been transferred to third countries, but we do note in the report to bet a number of other participating states have welcomed detainees. the osce to engage with the united states to welcome additional detainees. we have time for one more question today if there is one. sure.

[indiscernible] aboutn you are thinking the war against terrorism -- development, from our point of view, in short, with what i mentioned before. it is not the only thing that needs to happen. but it shoulden, be accompanied by a number of other things to make sure that all he human rights issues that emerge in the context of guantanamo are addressed. indefinite detention, accountability, preparation including compensation and rehabilitation.a number of

things need to happen but closing guantanamo is a key one. to thank you for being here with us this morning for this presentation. as i mentioned come on your way out on the table argue signed the registration, you will be able to find photocopies of the report. day.h you a great [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] discussion c-span, a about suicide prevention services for veterans. debate between's candidates for governor of louisiana. followed by "washington journal ," focusing on veterans issues, live with your phone calls, tweets and facebook comments. today, a special veterans day edition of "washington journal." ofsts include bill rausch iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. then a look at the mental

health of america's veterans with dr. harold kudler of the veterans health administration and colonel elspeth cameron ritchie. "washington journal" begins live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> a signature feature of c-span2's book tv is our coverage of book fairs across the country with nonfiction author talks, interviews and viewer call-in segments. book tv will be live from the 32nd annual miami book fair. our coverage starts saturday at 10:00 a.m. eastern. lewisverage includes john discussing "march." a call-in with peggy noonan. judith miller joins us to discuss "the story."

out."d koppell on "lights on sunday, speak with the authors live. p.j. o'rourke takes your calls. read --nbc host joy and read will take calls on "fracture." startingiami november 21. twitter.nd @cspan on a discussion about military veterans' mental health needs and federal health support for suicide prevention for returning soldiers. senator joe donnelly took part in a discussion hosted by the american foundation for suicide prevention.

this is just under one hour. >> thank you for attending this briefing sponsored by senator joe donnelly along with the american foundation for suicide prevention, dedicated to suicide prevention through education, advocacy and research. it is my pleasure today to introduce three distinguished panelists that are going to talk about the military and veteran suicide prevention and mental health issues in our country. it is a fsp's goal to reduce

suicide 20% by 2025. in order to do this, we are going to have to have to address issues around the suicide prevention that plague our veterans and military communities. currently, 22 veterans as an estimate die by suicide every day. veterans comprise an estimated 20% of suicides in this country every year. yockion the panel we have dreazen, author of "the invisible front." policy." for "foreign his book was picked as one of the most notable books of 2014 and one of amazon's best books

of 2014. he's made lengthy trips to iraq and afghanistan and has spent a total of nearly four years on the ground in the two countries. mostly doing frontline combat. he has reported for more than 20 countries, including pakistan, russia, israel, japan, turkey, morocco, and saudi arabia. bill rauch is the political director at afghan and iraq veterans of america. he supports the development of the annual policy agenda and advocacy campaigns through trust and relationships for government agencies. bill is a former army major who served 17 months in iraq and his broad experience working with veterans and veterans issues from his work on several major campaigns to serving as team red white and blue chapter captain for his local community chapter in alexandria, virginia. he has appeared on nbc nightly news, c-span's "washington

journal" and msnbc's coverage of memorial day 2014. last, we have major general mark graham, the senior director at rutgers ubhc national call center and director of vet's for warriors. he's lost two sons to two different battles, one to suicide and the other to an ied in iraq. he currently heads the rutgers ubhc call center and is director warriors -- which provides stigma-free peer support by veterans to active duty national guard and reserve servicemembers, veterans, retirees, and their families and caregivers. we thank you all for coming today. now i would like to introduce senator donnelly, who as senator from indiana, introduced his

first piece of legislation when he came to the senate, the jacob sexton military suicide prevention act, has been awarded the allies in action award from the foundation of suicide prevention as a champion of veteran and military mental health and suicide prevention issues. senator? sen. donnelly: thank you all for being here. to our panel, thank you so much. we really appreciate it. to john and trevor, thank you. the best way to start off is to talk about the incredible dedication and hard work of all of our men and women who serve. and of the love and devotion of the people in this country for all of them. then to tell you about a national guard unit in evansville, indiana, my home state. when our national guard was

serving in iraq in 2008 in extraordinarily difficult circumstances, and when they talk to each other, they said we have each other's back. there is a group that was in a truck there -- one was the driver, one was the lookout to make sure everyone was safe. another was the navigator. they are all working in that truck together. for a year, they had each other's lives in each other's hands. the most intense effort you can imagine. they came home to evansville and the streets were lined with people cheering when our national guard group got home. and they did and they began to live their lives back home in indiana. from 2011 through 2015, 4 of the members of that national guard

group have taken their lives. it is heartbreaking and has to end. that is what these wonderful people and all of you are trying to help us do that. in 2014, as my first piece of legislation as a senator we were , able to pass the jacob sexton military suicide prevention act. jake was a wonderful young man who served in iraq and afghanistan whose family and he helped provide coats and other things to the kids in afghanistan when it got cold. jake had unbelievable choices he had to make and that's what the military has to do. incredibly difficult choices, life or death, one side or the other. he came back home on r&r from afghanistan and when he got back home, he took his life. he also told his dad before he dad,on that tour, he said

i just don't feel like. something doesn't feel like it is working. it's not just those who are in combat, it's people back home with the stresses of finance and family trying to balance the national guard and career and the family and financial stressors. we want to make sure we are therefore all of them. so what the jacob sexton military suicide prevention act did was provid an annual military health assessment for each and every service member, active-duty duty, guard, reserve. and then provided privacy protections so there was the chance to seek this help and to be able to do it with privacy. this past year, and we hope we will get passed today, god willing, is the care package which says we have been able to

provide an annual rental -- mental health assessment. now we have to find the providers to do it. what this does for private providers all over the country, that they can go to places like the military family research inches to -- military family research institute and get the special training needed so that when our service member comes in, that in our vets, they know that this person understands the special challenges they face. they get what is called the vet friendly, servicemember friendly certification. there's an online registry that our vets and servicemen can go on and go this person gets it -- somebody i can talk to and feel comfortable with. that the department of defense folks take additional training in suicide risk recognition so they can start to understand.

we are trying to add additional physicians assistants so we have more frontline providers to help our men and women. our guard members, think of this , when they finish up, they cannot go to the v.a. they are not officially allowed to. they cannot go to military treatment facilities. they don't often know about what other available services are out there and so, oftentimes they feel like they are by themselves. there is a transition that takes place when you go from one to the other. we find ourselves with challenges with the formulary as well. the formulary is you are in dod, you are in that system and you are struggling, so they give you prescriptions to help and you

become a veteran and they completely change what you are on because x, y, z are not on covered by the v.a. so something you have begun to feel comfortable with and that is working for you completely changes and we have to make this seamless. we have to make the handoff seamless. we have to recognize that we have in a nation at war for such a long time, in many ways young people like our guard members come home and there's a complete disconnect to the community that loves them so much, to the world they used to be a part of. but before they went and when they serve, they see things and deal with things that completely change their lives. and the incredible dependence of knowing other people count on you for their entire life, you

a mission that every day you are under incredible stress. and the panel knows much better than i do, you come home and it is just different. we want to be there to help. we not only want to be there, we have an obligation to be there to help. to make sure that if someone has a question, there's someone there to provide an answer. they feel comfortable that there is no stigma. if they are feeling sideways, they know who they can call. they have the opportunity to talk to somebody. that is our job. that is what we need to do. we lost over 400 young men and women last year just in the military to suicide. we lost over 22 veterans yesterday, the day before, the day before, and the day before. we want to get it to zero. trevor and john, thank you, to our panelists, thank you so much.

thanks to your sons who have served and all your family who has sacrificed. we are grateful for your help to trying to provide answers. thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you again, senator donnelly, for your comments and your true leadership in the united states senate to prevent suicide among our veterans, military personnel, and provide support to their families. next, i would like to introduce yochi dreazen. yochi: good morning. it's a pleasure to be with you on this rainy day. setting aside journalistic objectivity senator, your , leadership on this is a wonderful thing to see. i wish you are not so often standing by yourself on an issue

that matters so much of this one does. i would like to frame the issue a little bit and then turn it over to my friend mark. in 2009, i began to hear from friends who had come back that they would look in the mirror and not recognize themselves. these were military friends i had met over the years in iraq and afghanistan. they could see in the eyes of their wives and husbands that they were scared, in their children, that they were scared. let themselves -- they themselves felt ugly or disfigured by what they had seen or done. they knew they had changed but did not know quite how to change it. some of them, over facebook, e-mail or by phone, began to say they were thinking of killing themselves. they don't want to keep feeling what they were feeling. a couple of them i knew did kill themselves. this was chattering on a personal level. these were guys i had known and had been with in both countries, these were guys who had made it back physically unscathed but came back with something all the

same. a darkness they did not know quite to deal with. if they were guard or reservists, as senator donnelly mentioned there were no support , structures. as flawed as the active-duty support is, it exists. a civilianack to world that is more disconnected than it has ever been from the civilian world -- from the military world. they came back in enormous numbers. up until 2009, the military suicide rate had been steadily rising. but the military response was we have a problem, but you civilians have just as bad of a problem. that was literally, factually true. if you look at the demographic in the civilian world, men between 18 and 25, generally speaking the demographic of the military. the two suicide rates were rising at roughly the same rate. the numbers were the same. 2009 was a horrifyingly important year. that's the first year where the military suicide rate exceeded that of the civilian suicide rate and it has kept growing.

if we think at one point they were rising like this 2009 is , when the military rate pulled ahead and kept going higher and higher. there have been a reluctant at a higher levels of the military to acknowledge what they were seeing, which was a legitimate epidemic. by 2009, they had no way of refusing to acknowledge what they were seeing because the numbers were so stark and horrifying. knowing as many people as i did, i began to ask at the pentagon if there were people i should get to know, people trying to fight this in creative or energetic ways. people who had a good knowledge to the problem early and were devoting themselves to solving it. kept hearing of mark again and again. usually you do not meet generals children, one

child, let alone two. ,t seemed incomprehensible especially for a person who had served for a long as marc i went to fort carson to find out what it was he was trying to do. was one of the highest suicide rates in the country and one of the highest homicide rates in the country. right before he got there, there was a single unit with a horrifyingly apt name lethal warriors -- 11 people, soldiers and civilians in and around the base. this was new and this was horrifying. this was new and this was were -- this was new and this was horrifying. so he got there and had the darkness of suicide and the darkness of homicide and these are things he devoted himself to fighting while he was there. part of the cause of what he had seen -- thomas senator donnelly alluded to the word -- stigma. that's a clinical word i would like to put in human terms to

describe what stigma is and how it manifests itself. here are a couple ways it manifested itself in an enlisted officer at fort carson who told another enlisted soldier suffering from ptsd, kill yourself and save me the paperwork. it manifests in a soldier wanting to kill himself, with black paint on a white wall what was basically a suicide note. thankfully, he got the help he needed and was taken to a hospital and is still alive today. the military response was this man defaced military property, so we will bring him up on charges. his mother called the base. this is the mother of a son who almost killed himself and said if i come and repaint that wall, can my son go? they said sure was so she came and spent a saturday repainting an entire wall. the mother of a son who almost killed himself. the military look at that nicely painted wall and charged the son

anyway. these are the kinds of things when we talk about stigma that we are talking about. we're talking about callousness and cruelty. we are talking about soldiers i am going to use soldiers speaking for everyone, soldiers feeling if they seek help, their careers will end. they will be mocked by the people around them. they are will be seen as people who do not want to serve anymore. people who came back from iraq and afghanistan and are scared, not people with any legitimate struggle to fight against. there was one case in which a colonel getting ready to deploy looked at a soldier who was underperforming and tried to kick him out. and said this soldier is overweight, there's something off about him, he's getting into fights and tried to kick him out. mark looked at the same case and thought this is a young soldier whose record before he deployed was perfect. it is different since he got back. this soldier has ptsd and needs

help, not to be kicked out. mark reached down from the height of being a two star general into this brigade and saved the career of that soldier. for people who look at the military from outside, it is the definition of a hierarchy. and it is extremely rare for a general to reach down into a specific brigade and say to the colonel you are wrong and reverse the decision. this is not popular. it was profoundly unpopular. i spoke to the colonel, and he's a very good man. one of the problems with this issue is there are no silver bullets but very rarely is a black and white. very rarely is there a villain and very rarely is there a hero. this colonel had a point, i need to deploy the best soldiers and he's not one of them. and mark had a point. he needs help. it gives you a sense of what the

military world is fighting against and what the civilian world is fighting against. we have to look at the military from outside and say it's its own world that we are not part of. the military made a gigantic mistake by consolidating itself in massive bases in the middle of the country deep in texas and deep in kansas where a civilian would never go. if you live in one of the coastal cities, washington being you may not ever see anyone who serves except at the airport. you probably have zero exposure to the military. it's easy to say that it is its own world, but it's not. the military reflects our country and it comes from the country. what impacts one impacts the other. from the moment the car was created until 2010, more people died from car crashes from anything but illness. that was the case literally from when the first model t rolled off the assembly line. in 2010, that changed.

it was another momentous year. it's the year the civilian suicide rate, the number of people killing themselves exceeded the number of people dying in car crashes. think about that for a moment. all of us watching local news, reading in a local paper, there are horrible stories of a crash y number of killed people. we see that and we kind of shudder. we see that but on the same day, , not more people military, more people total are killing themselves. that is staggering. i want to close with that because we know the military more than saying simply thank you for your service. we know the military the knowledge that we as a country understand what it as a part of our country is going through and that we understand what those who serve are going through, whether they are guard, reserve, active duty, it does not matter. these are people who wear or

have worn our uniform, who are fighting or have thought in our wars. afghanistan, as we know, is not ending. we thought it was and it's not. iraq is still going and even when these wars end, this is the most chilling thing i found -- even when these wars end, the number of people with ptsd will not end. the number of cases that manifest themselves for decades will not end. the suicide rate is not going to stop. we would like to believe the people in the military who are fighting this, they know better, but there a hope that when the guns of war fall silent that the suicide rate will stop or at least slow. that's not true. ptsd can go on for decades. someone can be relatively fine for decades. nowthen 30 years from something changes, they take , their own life. for a long time, the people who killed themselves most frequently were high school and college students. now we see suicide rates among men in their 50's skyrocket.

some of these men or veterans, maybe it was ptsd. some of these men have lost their jobs and are correctly figuring they will never work in the same way again. but it is jumping. understand as we are listening to my friend mark. i should point out that when my wife and i discovered we were having a baby boy, after we spoke to our parents and siblings, our first call was to mark and his wife. i love them dearly and they are family to me. as you're listening to mark and bill, keep that in mind -- these are not people speaking only about or for the military, they are speaking for our country. [applause] gen. graham: senator donnelly, thank you for your leadership. we help many will rally behind what you are doing. thank you and the american society for suicide prevention

for all you are doing each and every day and thank you to yochi. as yochi said, he is family. i've spent a lot of time with yochi as he was writing the book. and to my good friend bill with iava and all the good work he and so many others do. today is the marine corps' birthday. happy birthday to the marine corps. semper fi. i am an army guy,i will say hooah instead of hoorah. but tomorrow is veterans day and we want to thank our great american veterans and families and caregivers for all they continue to do each and every day. who do you call when you are home alone at night and you are afraid and isolated and you don't know what to do? who do you call? i run a program at rutgers now -- interesting story how i got there -- called vets for

warriors. vets 4 warriors. 24 hours a day, seven days a week, veteran answers the phone within 30 seconds of the phone ringing. they are trained in a program called reciprocal peer support. it has got for tasks and it is set up so veterans answer the call and there's a clinician on site 24 hours today. no matter where you are, no matter where you are, active duty, national guard, reserve, family member or caregiver. no matter what your status is or discharge is, you can call that number of anonymous or confidentially. we don't care if you tell us your name or where you live, you can call and talk to a veteran who understands what you are going through 24 hours a day. who do you call? who do they call in the middle of the night? i wish my son kevin had had a phone number to call. our son kevin took his own life and died by suicide in june of 2003.

he was getting ready to go to the army's advance camp having finished his third year of rotc. he was a straight a student, premed student and was going to be an army doctor. he was struggling with depression. didn't even tell his brother and sister he was struggling. there was huge stigma. he was on medication and came off his medication. i will never forget when we found out later that one of the kids in the apartment was using the computer in kevin's room and took the punch out from the medication and said who is on this? and it was kevin and he was embarrassed. he felt it was a character flaw. the stigma is deadly. this isn't a simple stigma, it is a deadly stigma. we can change. people say how are we going to change the stigma? america can do anything if we put our minds to it and our resources and research behind it. eight months after we lost kevin, our son jeff was a second

lieutenant officer who graduated from the university of kentucky. he was killed in iraq by an ied. eight months later. they were best friends as well as brothers. we have a daughter who is a nurse in new york city and she's married to another veteran. i will talk just a few minutes about vets for warriors and always thinking if jeffrey came back, would he have had a number to call, if he survived are not, he would have been struggling. many who are not deployed are struggling as well. our premiseors, is how do we help those before they are in crisis. we have crisis lines in the nation and they are very much needed. how do we help before they are in crisis? the day it -- the ideas call vets 4 warriors. you can go to our website. talk to a veteran who can work

with a veteran to get you through whatever you are going through. you can come out the other side and do great things. aren't we all going through something? whether it's you or someone you know, you are going through something. let's help those who are struggling. whether it is them or their family members, they can all call. we've got army navy, air force , and marine corps veterans on staff. we've got every era covered from iraq to afghanistan. we've got all the bases covered around the clock to connect you to somebody who can talk to you and work with you and connect you to local resources. lot of say that are a veterans service organizations, we're not looking for any of your rice out of your rice bowl. allnt to be soy sauce on the rice bowls. we want to be out there so we know we have a call center that you can call anytime day or

night. you are never alone. we connect you to local resources if you are struggling. whatever you need i will give you a couple of examples. we had a veteran in a hotel recently struggling. we don't normally do crisis calls, we transfer those to the crisis line but we can do them , as well. we had a veteran struggling in a motel. after a long conversation and one of the clinicians ended up getting involved. they talked to this veteran and helped convince him and he decided they were right. he went outside and locked his weapon in the trunk of his car. that was the only safe place he had to put the weapon. they contacted the local police at his agreement. he agreed he needed help after they talked him through it. the police officer came and took him to the emergency room and from there they took him to a v.a. hospital where they admitted him.

peer asked the police call him backou once he is safe. guess what? the police officer was a veteran. he got it. just one example. another was a grandmother who called who worried about her grandson who was in korea. he wrote her a note on facebook and said he's struggling. his grandmother called three or four other places and finally got a hold of one of our peers and started making connections and got ahold of this young guy and the chain of command did a great job and took care of him. he sent another note to his grandma said please don't do that again. every day, no matter what the challenge is they are there. , you call us once and we follow-up, as long as it takes. a couple of veterans have been calling us for over a year. they call us and we call them back. they say i just want to know someone is going to call me back. one of the things we offer is a

safety net. they need a safety net. they are in transition. transitions are hard. all of our veterans are in transitions. we have over 46 veterans who do this. they are not volunteers. we pay them. we hire and train veterans to do this great work. all the time, round-the-clock. prevention is key. we have to do it early. let's not wait until they are in crisis. that's all for the help for them now. be that safety net and help them as they transition, whether it is transitioning out of the military or active guard service to normal drill status. there are so many times they are out there that they can fall through the cracks. we want to be there for them. i wish my boys had a phone number to call. i certainly wish my son kevin had before he took his own life. we can eliminate the stigma and america. i believe in our nation each and every day and i will tell you before i get off the stage, vets

warriors is here to help, not judge. it is stigma free. when you are walking into work or on your shift at night you , are entering a stigma free zone. we are here to help and not judge. whatever they are going through we will help them work through , it together. many feel like they are going to get hit with a fire hose or fire hydrant of issues. the peers help them break it down into garden hoses. what is the toughest thing you're going through today? how can we help you today and let's work through it together. one veteran at a time, one army, navy, air force, marine corps, or service member at a time one , family member or caregiver at a time, that is how we work through it. i thank you again and i thank you for your leadership and thank you for your great friendship. thanks to all the veterans out

there for your service and family members for sticking with them. i end as i always do. this is the land of the free because of the brave. vets 4 warriors is 835-838-8255 call. you are not alone. thank you. [applause] bill: i want to start by thanking mark specifically and sharing an anecdote before i think anyone else. i know mark because his son-in-law and i graduated at west point together and we were in baghdad together. e-de-camp at was one of those places no one would go to if they weren't in the military.

joe joked that one of two things may happen. they would either marry her or go to jail. we are glad he's part of the family now. we have known mark for a while and we also want to thank senator donnelly and your staff. you are a tremendous leader in this space. thank you so much for everything you do to change the culture and the stigma and promote community as you do. to afsp, amazing partners. thank you so much for what you do. two friends on the panel. we talk about this so often and i just realized i've worn this ties last two or three times we have spoken on the same panel. it is read, white, and blue and that is why i gravitate toward it. but i want to tell a couple of stories before i talk about iava's policy agenda. our number one priority is combating suicide in the country . the first story is related to a

point someone much and -- someone mentioned ago that this is a problem for our country, not just the military. i was speaking with a reporter last night about the medal of honor recipients from iraq and afghanistan. the most recent recipient, an army captain, was involved in an attack not long ago where a friend of mine died. i started to think about it last night. i started thinking of him as the most recent friend i have who has died as a result from these wars. i ask myself who is the first person? i started to go through a list of names. scott, he died in a training accident at fort campbell did jimmy, no, he was not the first. the first person in my class, 2002 west point who died was a cadet who died by suicide before the war started. he was home on christmas leave and he didn't come back and we

did not know how to talk about it. he's not on our website if you look at the list of the names of the fallen. that got me to think about two things. community and culture. it was described as stigma. the culture in this country is such where we don't talk about mental health or suicide and one of the amazing things i personally as an army veteran who left active duty eight years ago and the reserves two years ago, i transitioned twice. one thing i love about the legislation the senator has sponsored and is going to go out there and make a huge impact in the culture of the military is the idea of an annual checkup. i have a young son who is two years old. he has been to the dentist twice. very painful visits both times. i am embedding in him that he will go to the dentist every year. that is part of the culture i was raised in.

it sounds silly, what does a dental appointment have to do with mental health? it has everything to do with it. in this country, the idea of getting a checkup once the year for mental wellness is foreign to most people. when you start to look at it in that context, i will bring up mark again. the other element of joe quinn and our friendship and in april 2000as seven i was in iraq and i had been there for about 10 months and had to be there for another seven. i had a rap on my door and my commander a dear friend of mine , and mentor said you have a phone call and i was with joe quinn. it was my father on the line to tell me my oldest sister had -- never served a day in the military -- had died by suicide and had taken her own life. it got me thinking how did this happen? here i was in iraq and baghdad and i didn't know the signs.

going back to the culture peace. no one in my family was prepared, no one where i'd grew up was aware what those signs were. even though she had not served in the military and we talk so much about that, i think we talk so much about, it highlights the point that this is a challenge for our nation and our country. when i talk about culture in the community, it truly does impact all of us and i usually ask folks to participate. because we are on c-span, i'm going to ask the folks at home to participate. , how many of you know someone that you love or care about that has died by suicide? all of us know someone. why wouldn't we take action? why would we be more active in

our community? why wouldn't we educate ourselves to be aware of the signs. it is a situation we can tackle. i can talk about the iava policy agenda. we have worked tirelessly on it. we have worked on the hill. the we start to look at policy component, good policy changes culture while leveraging community. that's what it is all about. that is why we were important to pass the clay hunt save act. clay was a marine and it is apt that we talk about him on the marine corps' birthday. he tried to get into the v.a. he could not receive the help he needed. i think about clay and then i think about those who have even more difficult time trying to get over the barriers that exist.

as veterans -- i feel very privileged that i have a v.a. to go to. i receive care in the private sector as well as the ba the barriers to entry are different for each sector. but i feel privileged i can go to the v.a. and talk to the folks about the trauma i have experienced that is unique to war. but i think about my sister and i think about other folks the , guardsmen in indiana, the reservists that i served with who do not have the access to the v.a. and they go back to these small towns and big cities across the country and they feel alone. i felt alone in a very different way when i left the reserve than i did in active duty. i was not worse or better it was , uniquely different because i was in the exact community i was and i had, i had left the same neighbors, yet you have that aloneness. that sense of or lack of community.

in closing, from my perspective, tomorrow is veterans day and we are proud to have over 150 events throughout the country tomorrow where individuals are going to come together across the country and tomorrow is veterans day but every day, we should be striving to build community and change the culture. we should think about resources like vets 4 warriors. if you have not read yochi's book, read the book. i give it as a gift, i have read it multiple times even knowing the story. educate yourself, get active in your community and ask how you can help. this is a problem that affects the entire country and we can be leaders on this. just like senator donnelly has been a leader in d.c., we can be leaders across the country. that's what i want to leave everyone with. especially with tomorrow being veterans day, what can you do personally?

when you think back and raise your hand or did not raise your hand we all know someone who has , been touched by this. we know someone we care and love about an there something we can do about it. p for you again for afs being an amazing partner. thank you to my friends for sharing their stories. thank you. [applause] bill, i, mark and cannot thank you enough for being here today and i continue to stand in awe every time i hear you talk about this subject. at this point, i would like to turn it over to the audience briefly, if there are any questions. >> [inaudible] sorry, and mental health and veterans -- i do not think that was addressed.

>> thank you for bringing it up. that was the clay hunt save act that bill was the first bill , passed by this congress addressing mental health and a -- in the military and veteran population. it was named after clay hunt, a proud marine who served in iraq and afghanistan. one of the things it did was provide an incentive for mental health professionals to go to the v.a. it allowed the v.a. about $30,000 or $40,000 in debt repayment that would help them recruit mental health professionals. there is a shortage of mental health professionals across the country. again, this is something that affects all of us. another thing it did was it mandated a website that would bring all of the many programs the v.a. has into one location which allows an individual to go to one place that would know where those resources are. it also required an annual

assessment of those programs. there are some of the efforts out there. one of the challenges we have is how do we measure outcomes? how do we know what is working well? we know that vets 4 warriors is doing tremendous work because of the impact they have. let's try to look at things using a similar assessment at the v.a. we have called on congress to check public hearing to the status of that we've been working with the v.a. and a half professionals to ensure they are informed and have the tools they need to implement. we're confident that over the three-year period, it is a trial bill, we will find out ways to improve the services at the v.a. that we can replicate and learn from across the board. yochi: if i could add briefly to that, one thing president obama did that was a massive change that did not get as much forntion as it deserved,

all of american history, presidential letters of condolence went only to those who died in service. those were killed in war or those who died in training accidents, but they did not go to those who died by suicide. president obama changed that and started sending letters of condolence to the family members of those who died by their own hand. i interviewed and profiled one of the families and my book. for the family that was a , massive kindness because they would look to other families who have lost someone. and they felt the same hold. they mourned the same way and have the same level of grief that will not ever fade. that letter from the white house meant a lot. it could have been a daughter or wife, in this case your son , served with honor and their death matters and we as a country recognize that. this was i believe 2009. >> you mentioned calling on congress to have a public

hearing about the clay hunt act. is there anything else you want congress to do to address this? bill: what we would like congress to do is build on the success of clay hunt. there were some things that were not included. in our policy agenda, one of the things we talk about is access to care. currently i'm enrolled at the , v.a. as a result of the five-year combat eligibility requirement that allowed me when i came back from iraq to go to the v.a. and enrolled. many individuals who experienced trauma, the challenges they have -- it was mentioned earlier that areare -- older men starting to see an individual of those individuals having challenges. happen not necessary directly after you come back. our recommendations was

to extend that up to 15 years. that is something that can be done. senator donnelly has been a champion for the community. and i know he has a package on his desk he has been working on. it is a bold and we think sound policy they are working with to not only address the dod side but also the v.a. side. there's the culture piece as well. having the president send a letter out, what a tremendous shift in culture. each congressperson has the ability to do something similar in their districts and state. they can go out and be leaders of change. they can use the right language. i never knew anything about using the right language until my sister died. they can speak intelligently about it and share their stories. there's the policy but good policy is going to impact the culture and community as well. >> i think the trouble of that whole thing sending letters --

we do not get notified of the people who have committed suicide. the newspapers don't report it. we would be delighted -- delighted is not a good choice of words. we would be honored to send that, but we do not get notified, so that's the hard part for us. i am rebecca totten with senator risch's office. may i ask a couple of other questions? is the suicide rate from operation desert storm and operation enduring freedom, is it similar to that of the vietnam era or korean era? it sounds like we hear more about it, that it is exponentially greater. is it similar? it is a great question. the honest truth is, the data, because it was not tracked as

closely, it is hard to parse. the feeling of many of those who study the issue is that it is worse. taking a step back, what we now think of as ptsd has existed since people began picking up weapons against other people millennia ago. there were different phrases. post civil war, half of those who were in mental hospitals or people who fought in the civil war. you had that phrase and that number during the civil war. in world war ii, you had half a million troops, half a million, discharged because of what were called psychiatric disorders. so these men of the greatest generation, half a million of them were sent home because they just could not do it anymore. we had the idea of shellshocked from world war i. ptsd emerged from vietnam. the issue is not new and the toll it takes is not new. those who study the issue believe the rate is higher. a couple reasons, multiple deployments without question, , has driven it up.

the majority of those who have killed themselves, a narrow majority have not deployed, but , there are units where the people around them all had. what they are hearing from the men and women next to them is this is what you are going to face. this is what we faced. they are absorbing behaviors. the other issue as was alluded to earlier by senator donnelly prescription drug use is , extraordinarily high. it is too high in the civilian world and it is too high in the military world. i was embedded once in a base in afghanistan or the military have put the base in a valley and the taliban controlled the mountains . they were shelling the base they after day. it was like world war i, you would front between bunkers. there were 50 men at the base. all 50 were taking prescription drugs. and they were not taking the dosages you or i would. they were taking six ambient or nine xanax multiples of what , they should. so they would come back and one of two things would happen. either they would go cold

turkey, you can have suicidal thoughts skyrocket. or they would go down to a normal prescription, three xanax, not nine, one ambien, not six. that kind of change can again lead to suicide. that is new. the reliance on prescription drugs is something that did not happen in previous wars the way it is happening now. a lot of research is going into that but i don't think we as a country have any sense of just how big the problem is. >> well, everybody, thank you again today for coming out in joining us for this important conversation. again, i have to thank partners like bill, yochi, and mark. at the american foundation for suicide prevention we are working every day with volunteers around the country in all of our communities to prevent suicide. with partners like the iraq and

afghanistan veterans of america, journalists and authors willing to speak up and out on the , who, and folks like mark i have a very fine love about this point, working with afsp, his wife, carol, your daughter, melanie, vets 4 warriors, and the important work you do every day and have done to prevent suicide. fsp, what bill said earlier really resonated with me. every day is veterans day. we are doing work every day to prevent suicide among our nation's veterans and military personnel. with partners like senator donnelly, the white house, up on congress, on capitol hill, inside and outside government, we are going to get the job done. we will prevent suicide. thank you for coming out.

have a wonderful day and a great veterans day tomorrow. [applause] >> this morning on veterans day, interviews with 10 members of congress who served and iraq. moultonltin is -- seth did 4 tours of duty. another was in a unit that hundred saddam hussein. then live coverage of president obama taking part in veterans services at arlington national cemetery at 11:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. things are different today. we have a justice system that does not come in these trials were not held according to what

we would consider to be modern law. hearsay is acceptable. innocent until proven guilty was not yet in place. there were no lawyers at the time. the court room an extremely unruly place. that is one piece of it. not that we do not prosecute witchcraft today. witches: on q&a, "the salem witch on the trials and the effect on the massachusetts community. >> the interesting part about the accusations is that merchants were accused, sea captains were accused, homeless hydro girls were accused. incident where all the victims are female, we have five male victims including a minister. the witches, we hanged them.

there was so much misunderstanding that i felt it was important to dispel. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern and pacific on c-span's q&a. louisiana's governor's race, state representative john del edwards and republican senator david ridder it will compete in a runoff election on november 21. candidates' of the political ads running on louisiana television. [video clip] >> the choice for governor could not be more clear. john edwards answered our country's call and served as a ranger. vitter answered a prostitute's call minutes after he skipped a vote honoring 28 soldiers who gave their lives. david vitter chose prostitutes

over patriots. now, the choice is yours. [video clip] ago, i failed at family but found forgiveness and love. i learned that our falls are not what define us but rather how we get up, accept responsibility and earn redemption. now louisiana has fallen on hard times -- a budget crisis, low wages and failing schools. i am a fighter. as your governor, i will get up every day and fight for you for a better, stronger louisiana. parte two candidates took in a televised debate last night in baton rouge. from louisiana public broadcasting, this is one hour. joining us.

we have a 40 year tradition of contributing to the democratic process and we continue that through the debate and other public forums. we welcome the entire audience this evening. thank you. >> i am berry erwin, president of the council for better louisiana and thank you for joining us. our debate features candidates in the runoff for louisiana governor. first state representative john bel edwards and state senator david vitter. thank you for joining us. >> kelly spires is one of the questioners and jeremy is here from editor and publish of lawpolitics.com. >> tonight we will dive into issues and topics of great importance to the citizens of louisiana. a drawing was held earlier to determine the order of questions