himself. he has paid for it by himself. it is not about the money. he is mostly for our country. he wants to make our country great again. i have been for him right from the get, and that is who i am voting for. host: ok, thanks for the call. we have gotten a couple of tweets this afternoon. this one is from john who says case it, preferring to ohio governor -- referring to ohio governor john kasich. he has the right tone for the day with a specific approach for dealing with isis. donna tweets ben carson was much correct thinking than rand paul, referring to senator rand paul who was on earlier today. his dad makes more sense. "awakeningeet from them -- "awakening."

overwhelming odds they will all be lobbyists. joanne joins us from washington state. go ahead. caller: i have for ted cruz all away. ever since he did the filibuster, i realize he of all the candidates is listening to the people. and he is so smart. i think he would be fabulous. my choice for vice would be and one ofn carson, those for secretary of state. host: thanks for calling. andrea joins us from pennsylvania, also a republican color. who should your party nominate next year? caller: i believe carly fiorina should be the republican nominee. host: why? caller: i believe she has the experience especially in regards to foreign policy that we need to make our country a leader

again among the world. we are safesure again, especially in light of what has happened in the last 24 hours. . host: thanks for calling. another republican caller joining us, roy, from arkansas. caller: yes, i would take anybody on there except trump. why peopleerstand want a man who has nothing to do but brag on himself and condemn everybody else. host: thanks for calling. bill, you are up from bring -- spring, texas, independent color. caller: absolutely donald trump. the reason why is our government is bloated. we are $19 trillion in debt. he is the only one capable of trimming the government down and getting this debt repaid in the next two terms, as well as

bringing all the projects the government has, including the military into budget where they need to be and get rid of all the waste. thanks for calling, bill. a couple of facebook comments on the g.o.p. field. not a great field, but anyone would be better than our current president. hillary clinton or bernie sanders . steve posted to facebook that we need to keep all republicans away from the white house. you can join the conversation at facebook.com. also, this article from the "orlando sentinel" today. summit:line " sunshine santorum leads off blaming dems prices." rick santorum was the first

republican candidate following friday night's terrorist attacks in paris. he minced no words declaring republicans must pick someone with foreign affairs expense. he was followed by governor jim gilmore who declared we are at war. louisiana governor bobby jindal who joined the candidates and former candidate secretary of state hillary clinton for allowing isis to rise and thereby enabling friday night terrorist attacks in paris. if you missed any of today's sunshine summit speeches by the presidential candidates, we will re-air them tonight starting at 8:30 on c-span, starting with the first candidate of the day, former pennsylvania senator rick santorum. back to your calls, lewis from largo, florida, on the life or republicans. who should the g.o.p. nominee be next year? caller: donald trump. host: why?

donald trump because i think he is the only one who can beat hillary. i am for building the wall. i think he is a very good businessman. i think he is the greatest one there. host: good enough. thanks. mary on the line from st. petersburg for democrats. what you think about the republicans and who they should nominate? caller: i think they should nominate carly or ben carson. i attended the g.o.p. summit yesterday. i would not nominate trump. it was more of the same rhetoric. and i do believe carly would be a definite good contender against hillary. host: thanks for calling. to the independent line now, tony joining us from ocean -- oyster bay, new york. caller: i think donald trump

would make an excellent choice because he is not the holding to anyone. that is why you notice the r.n.c. and everyone is against him because the lobbyists have no control. no one has control of film. that is why no one wants them in there, but i think would be best for america because he knows how to focus on the programs america needs, not what the lobbyists or any of the outside interests hurting america today. that is my comment. host: jerry in maryland, democratic caller, go ahead. caller: my name is jerry. i think ben carson would be the best nominee. i think he is probably the most human person on that whole group of people. i like his idea of citizen

government. i don't think you need to be a politician per se to be president of the united states. as long as you have enough good people around you to get you through the political morass, you can do your job. that is what i think. host: thanks for calling. dolores in sonora, california, republican color. what do you think about the nomination process? caller: marco rubio. i would never vote for trunk. he is an idiot. host: what do you think about marco rubio? caller: i think he is a smart man. all of his ideas are good. if trump was on, no way would i vote. i would write my dog's name in first. host: catherine, you get the last word on the line from

democrats the less for democrats from cape coral, florida. caller: i would definitely vote for donald trump. when i first heard him speech -- his speech when he nominated his presidency, from that day on. what is going on in paris, he is the first and only one that that we the americans do not need to let these illegal immigrant people into our country. there you go. host: thanks for calling. a reminder we will re-air all of today's presidential candidates' speeches from the republican party's sunshine summit. the florida republican party hosting the sunshine summit over the last couple of days. we will repair all the speeches starting at 8:30 eastern time on c-span.

the democratic candidates are holding a debate tonight sponsored by cbs. it will be airing on cbs tonight. we will re-air it here on c-span tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 eastern and again tomorrow night at 9:00 eastern. martin o'malley, hillary clinton, and bernie sanders in tonight's cbs debate. c-span radio will be simulcasting that debate with cbs tonight. that, we will re-air debate tomorrow at 4:00 and 9:00 eastern. tomorrow on "washington journal," the presidential race including the democratic debate from iowa and the republican sunshine summit in florida. ofer that, angus johnston city university of new york will be looking at the history of student activism. and of course, more of your phone calls, tweets, and facebook comments. "washington journal" every

morning at 7:00 eastern live on c-span. now, a portion of today's "washington journal." charlie savage joined us today to talk about the attacks in paris on friday and u.s. national security. continues. next guest is with the new york times, charlie savage joining us. also the author of a new book, power wars inside of barack obama's post-9/11 presidency. what are the takeaways, especially from what you write about about national security issues? guest: we see this cycle where there is a period of calm and people are grappling with -- they know the threats, they are trained to deal with the threats, how are we going to deal with issues like surveillance at home? then there is a terrible attack and a great convulsion of fear and anger that rippled across the home front. besties department in that

policies get pardoned in that period, like a ratcheting effect. there is another law and policies remain and there's another attack. thehe book, i open with reconstruction of the christmas, 2009 attempted bombing by in underwear bomber of a detroit bound airliner in which the hundred people were almost killed. it was only sure luck that the bombs did not explode. the rippling affect of that experience had both inside the obama administration and politically in making it clear a successful was attack, something like we just saw in paris, unfortunately, in the united states, the young president obama's watch, the recognition that it would destroy his presidency. everything they were trying to do, whether it was to get away from major land wars and the unique -- middle east, repudiate torture, or even unrelated

things to national security like expand health insurance, would be totally reversed. he would be a failed, one term president. that experience which i call obama's 9/11, in a thought experiment by people like his counterterrorism advisor to our today grappling with what is happening with paris, imagining what would've happened had it succeeded, what the president in paris is dealing with now. as i argue in this book, a major affect on the obama demonstration and counterterrorism policies and is a contributing factor as to why obama continues many policies that he inherited by george w. bush despite the expectations created by his campaign rhetoric. host: when it comes to policies concerning isis, that is under his demonstration. there is a period of rippling and heartening when it comes to isis. guest: maybe so that your

viewers are not familiar, this book is based on a couple years of interviewing more than 150 current and former government the obama mostly in administration, some republicans, some on the hill, as well, and some in the thesury -- judiciary, about recurring issues a happen in the 21st century in trying to deal with al qaeda and now the islamic state. tension, surveillance, drum strikes, guantanamo, tortures, interrogation, secrecy, leaks, these things are continuing. what are the recurrent issues that fly -- the fly on the wall, taking you in the room as these officials deal with these events like the last night in paris. out what theure right policies should be, what the law permits them to do, what they ought to do, whether or not the law permits it. trying to answer big picture

questions like why do things turn out the way they do? i just mentioned about the underwear attack in 2009 was a major moment. another one is the rise of iso-, isis in 2014. it was clear both externally and from a internal research that it was president obama's ambition starting his second term to wind .own the war against al qaeda he really wanted to be in a position to, by the end of his presidency in 2017, the clarity were over, osama bin laden was dead -- declare the war was over -- pulling out of iraq and afghanistan. off of the suburban war footing we have been on since 2001 and getting back to normal where there will always be some terrorism and you deal with it, you look for it, but you are not in a state of perpetual emergency. then, the islamic state arises

and breaks away from al qaeda and suites out of syria across northern iraq. suddenly, he is in the position where he wants to start doing things that he things as necessary like bombing them and returning to military action from the air. first any rock and then in syria -- in the rack. q. irawq can't wind it down. he is considering this part of the war against al qaeda, part of the armed conflict commerce authorized after 9/11. he doesn't do that because he doesn't think that congress is functional enough to pass new military authorization. they had totally failed to grapple with this issue and have acquiesced that this is part of the work and al qaeda even of the islamic state and al qaeda are currently at of those with each other. it is clear that his presidency

will and with the countries still on the war footing. in syria and the middle east, it is escorting rather than winding down. this terrible event in paris last night, assuming it is the islamic state, the president francis said that we don't know what intelligence he has based on a, so far, the united states government is not accepted the claim. it doesn't mean they are not rejecting it, it means they are just not prepared to verify it. i believe the islamic state has through social media taken credit for it. on the other hand, their wasement has nothing that not already reported. what we don't know is what surveillance and human intelligence behind the scenes is showing now that these attackers have been identified. we are looking through their travel, their e-mail, their phone calls to see who they have been in contact with an where they have gone and who they are. are they actually islamic state or are they nearly -- merely inspired by?

host: the associated press putting out a story saying that the islamic state group on lenders want to go before attacks on paris that killed 127 people. france would remain at the top of its targets. guest: that is damon i'm talking about. they are saying they did it -- that is the statement i'm talking about. i could have written a statement. they probably did it, but we don't have independent corporation of that yet -- corroboration of that. there was always stuff floating around on twitter that may or may not beach or as the dust -- may or a ornate may not be true. the fact that the president of france is believing it is the islamic state is a strong sign. i assure he is basing that on more than what people are saying on twitter. host: charlie savage is joining

us with the new york times. a washington correspondent. we will talk about themes in his book. 202-748-8000 four democrats, 202-748-8001 for republicans, 202-748-8002 for independents. given the history of how his team approaches isis, from what you write about, what does this suggest about the paris attacks? what do you think the administration is doing as far as the next step? crises that i the am accounting behind the scenes are because i'm interested in the obama era of presidency, crises that happen here. the underwear bombing, he attended bombing in times square, that would be a place where the u.s. government is taking the lead -- attempted bombing. finding out who these people are, searching through databases

, identifying who they have been in contact with, where the have traveled, who else might be out there through hidden associates. this is a crisis in france. the french government is taking the lead on that. with the united states, i am sure they are offering whatever they can. one aspect of that, i suspect has already happened is that the national security agency is going through everything that got. they sucked in vast amounts of , records showing who is in contact with whom and not what they have said. in some cases, bulk collection of content that is not necessarily get looked at and less there is a reason. -- unless there is a reason. there is a host of legal and practical individual rights questions around the nsa's abilities and practices. after the snowden leaks, some are furious about the revelations of that agency.

right now, that is not the sort of question europe has about the nsa. it is what do you have about these people? can you search for the name or e-mail account? what have you picked up? especially, the metadata. if you go back through five or 10 years of these people, whoever the attackers are, their phone calls, e-mails, and the people that those people have been in contact with. you build a social network so cameyou can see where this from, are they native french people? are there other people they were hanging out with? i am sure police are knocking on their door right now. what are their travel habits? who might have traveled with them? that is how the investigation on full. host: first call from you -- for you comes from john in ohio,

charlie savage, go ahead. ohio, let'swood, move on to brian in illinois. good morning, gentlemen. pleasure to speak with you both. unfortunately, i don't have enough time to read the new york times, but what concerns me about terrorism and isis is there is not enough coverage of the black box in the middle east, saudi arabia. it seems like there is a dearth .f coverage of the saudi's neither major political party wants to talk about saudi arabia or they do as little as possible. it is because all three of these groups are afraid of saudi money. commentlike to hear you about the influence of saudi arabia on the u.s. security establishment. people that read know that the saudi's and the gulf arabs are part of the problem of

fundamentalist islam. they are funding a lot of these groups. that is very disturbing. on the other hand, they are supposedly our allies. i want to hear more talk from you and your brother from the new york times about saudi arabia and the gulf state arabs. guest: the caller is pointing out a recurring problem or dilemma that people have been focused on, especially since 9/11. support for a extreme purist version of sunni islam, the lobby strain -- associated with al qaeda, the islamic state. .unni extremism there is another kind of islamic extremism that derives from the who the saudi torture is violently against. -- culture is violently against it is not saudi government which

enemy --ened by the and is the enemy of these movements, but it is the wealthy people. has been an attempt in saudi arabia to crack down on and dry up the financing. the caller is correct. this is something of continuing concern. they are always watching for money flows and trying to clamp down on them. host: george, jacksonville, florida, good morning. caller: i am a christian, a descendent of the night couplers -- knight templars. i lived and worked in three muslim countries including saudi arabia. most americans, and even patient -- people in washington are naive about the five steps of islamic on quest which are taught to every muslim child.

it was the life of mohammed. we are dealing and france with the fifth step, violence. there are four steps. withed to address and deal intensely. the first is one-sided diplomacy. we see the iranians on their way to getting nuclear weapons. rancid immigration into targeted countries to turn of islamic. the third step is conquest using save labor. that is profitable and the money can be used for conquest and oil. the fourth step is political correctness. the fifth step is violence. at every step, politicians are indirectly paid off. i know plenty of muslim people that would not fit that model at all. obviously, the world is facing

the problems in the middle east along extremists strains of islam. it is what it is. it is important in these harrowing moments not to paint everyone with a broad brush and assume all people are the same. that is not the road that the united states stands for. host: because he brought up the migration issue, does that combo kate the administration's efforts, especially taking in those from syria? guest: the biggest issue for the migrants flowing out of syria and that part of the world is not the united states because there is an ocean between us. the biggest issue is europe. europe has been trying to deal with this crisis. i was in budapest last summer when the train station crisis or not i was there with my family on vacation. it was a terrible thing to say.

-- c. these are people who are flying extremism thatd is destroying their country. they are trying to get away from it. there is going to be fear of who is coming with them or just a nativism. the incoming leader of poland today said we are not want to live with these quotas that the eu is trying to impose on us in terms of how many reviews you take. europe should not be taking in muslims of any stripe. -- how many refugees you take. these poor people with their kids were trying to get away and survive, this was the worst possible thing that could happen . paris is talking about closing its borders. what they mean is they are looking at who is going and i now. they are not saying we're not when to take in migrants, -- who is going in and out. and resonate with what i am sure is going to be -- host: virginia, mary judith,

hello. caller: thank you so much for taking my call. it is time for the obama administration to stop trying to be so friendly to the islamic community in general. most of them are peaceful. guy inblem is that the your town that owns the laundromat that has bought out several convenience stores can one a son who is radicalized the web. as americans, we seem to recoil from profiling. we recoil from anything we see is a threat to our civil liberties and our privacy. and our gun rights which is the one place we have to stand strong. and italian great grandma on the way to the vatican. get over it. we have to start profiling people. we have to take a strong stand

against islam in general. what one of your previous dollars said. -- callers said. stop -- we have to --t playing the policy diplomacy because diplomacy means nothing when you have nutcase is willing to die and do this kind of thing. host: thanks. hearing the passion in , in somer, the emotion ways, it is playing into what isis wants is a war between the west and islam in general. it would be a disaster. scene that i of a recount going back in this book,

and power wars, the situation 2010 in theary of aftermath of the failed underwear bombing attack. president obama had spent several hours going through what membersng with the top of his national security team. how did the cia fail? how to the fbi fail? how did the state department fail? that allowed this suicide bomber to come so close, to get on the plane with a bomb that failed to go off. after going through those operational problems, he asked them to go through an experiment of how the world would be different if the bomb had gone off. how political opinion and public opinion -- everything they were trying to do -- trying to close the door on torture, trying to

close the door on major ground occupation land wars in the middle east, trying to get away from that post 9/11 crisis and problem. how the political system would sweep all of that away. even though the attack failed, it still resulted, as a recount in chapter three, in the worst month of the obama administration presidency for national security issues where his effort to close one, no completely collapses because he is imposing a moratorium on sending any more low levels but still detainees back to yemen because the attack originated in yemen. most of the detainees that are left are from yemen. if you don't send people back to yemen, you're not going to close guantanamo. thee are attempts to bring

detainees accused of aiding the 9/11 attack to new york for a regular trial in the seven district of new york federal court. it collapses because there is a wave of fear that sweeps through democrats in new york, not unlike what we are hearing from these callers and across france. a sense that we can't have a trial, what would that mean? even though there have been terrorism trials all the time without problems. we decided boston, for example, a noble trial, it happened fine. there was no problem. there is a sense of fear that is out there. extreme, undeniable thing the of ministration does is a hardened approach to terrorism out of that moment is the decision that it will use drones and target and kill if they can find them. which they eventually do.

the american citizen who the underwear bomber told interrogators was behind the attack or was part of the group of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. the great dilemma was this is an american citizen. he is not in our custody. he has not received a trial. do you kill someone -- does the u.s. government kill an american citizen without a trial? which shows who he really is that the cia decided he is. we don't have trials in absentia , so if he is not in custody, what will you do? they finally decide it would be lawful, he is part of al qaeda, a senior leader, his capture is not feasible, but we can take a shot from the air. from a civil liberties for sect of, that -- perspective, that is

an extreme thing that establishes a precedent that changes the balance between the power of the government and the power of individual american citizens. on the other hand, it was a terrible dilemma. what do you do in a situation like that? if he indeed was who they said he was? becomes part of the fraud record and the internal wrestling that i am very interested in in recounting behind the scenes in this book. course, there was the second order question which was how much are we going to tell the public about this? the legal reasoning? the scope and limits of this power in light of these dilemmas? and also, the evidence that we cited. they were extremely secretive about these matters. they took years to acknowledge this even happened even though this -- everyone knew from day one that it happened. it took a lawsuit by myself and

a colleague and a separate one by the aclu to make them cough up the abstract legal reasoning about the power of the government to kill american citizens teams to beat terrorist. we haven't seen all of the evidence. the emotion and fear and sense of anger and challenge that poses to fundamental american , constitutional values, human rights, civil liberties, rule of law in these moments of is something that in the government they were wrestling with over and over even as they were being criticized by the outside over and over. host: highlighting the book post wars, inside obama's 9/11 presidency, our guest, charlie savage of the new york times joining us for this discussion. michigan, go ahead. caller: i live in detroit. the plane the unabomber flew over my apartment building, my question is, i think your work

is fascinating. have you explored the wasibility that the bomber left on the plane by officials? there's video on the internet and interview from people from detroit that road on that plane. banker,er, a wealthy had tried to let authorities know that his son was very troubled and was trying to get them back home. he knew he was engaged in troubling activities. i talked with some reporters in detroit about the trial which didn't take place. they said the unabomber's was someonethat he who was working with the someone working with the was thent and that defense and he did not go to trial. were you able to uncover anything through videos or the information that shows he was purposely left on even though

the person questioning his paper , or the misspelling of his name? guest: i think you meant to say underwear bomber. evidence that he was deliberately let on the plane. it was incompetence. and ms. spellings of names and you are right, the story was that his father, a wealthy edge year in banker had come into the -- a wealthy nigerian banker had spoken to a cia station chief about his son. who have become this radicalized person and seemed to be involved in yemen and that led to the name beingomber's put on a terror watch list but

was not added to the no-fly list, a more extreme subset to the terror watch list. one of the many ways the system failed. the cia wrote up a report and it biography of him, but they had not distributed it widely, another way the system failed. the sorts of things president obama was going over with his national security team, john brennan, now the cia director. i recount where he says if this ever happens again people will be fired. this is a new day, since eric holder two people inside the justice department and the policies about the ballots had to be rethought. even though there had been a lot compromises and turbulence in the first year of obama's presidency and they already encountered and made the

decision to keep for detainees at guantánamo that seem to be an releasable the tool of indefinite decision -- detention without tribal -- trial even though they would keep military commissions and would not walk away from the authorities or renounce them. they embrace the idea that this was war. say one of thed insights from the book was is that, when obama is criticized from the left, the aclu will say he continued -- he acted like bush and continued these policies. the right says he has not gone far enough. he does not have the cia torturing people. they do not say torture but that is what they mean. he is stuck in between. part, a core-wing

premise from which a lot of the it is clearows is that obama and the people around him really believe this is war. the supreme court and congress says it is a war. on the left, some and in the international human rights community do not think it is a war. they do not think an armed conflict and exist involving a nonstate actor scattered around the world and a better way of thinking about it is al qaeda is a band of pirates or a criminal gang. an extremely dangerous one. some tools only available when it is war, especially away from a place there is sustained ground combat, like yemen or somalia. the ability to kill an enemy when there is not an imminent threat posed by that enemy. something you can do in work but not when there is no war.

the fact that the obama administration accepts that it is war and the tools remain available even if it is a last resort. fascinating to understanding why things turned out the way they did and what does it mean when people, you hear recurring criticism that obama acts like bush, what does it mean to act like bush? what is easier to see now that at the time, was that, during the bush years, the post-9/11 crisis time that unfolded, revelations about warrantless wiretapping and torture and through the end of the first term and in the second term. there were two very different strands of criticism of bush. older together and it was harder to see the time when they were distinct here one was a civil liberties critique and one was a

rule of law critique. the civil liberties critique is these polities -- policies are wrong, the government should not have this power, it is un-american. the rule of law critique is agnostic about whether the policies make sense in light of the dilemmas posed by 21st century terrorism. they said the problem was that president bush was breaking the law by putting them into place. the bush administration in secret said that the commander-in-chief cannot be bound by federal law, by treaties, so if he thinks something is necessary for national security, warrantless surveillance, he can put that in place. the will of our critique says no, if the law does not permit something necessary the president has to go to congress and get them to change it. the difference between these two, the civil liberties critique says that is correct, but it can only be fixed by

changing the policy. the rule of law critique can be cured by having congress change the law. any second term of the bush demonstration congress passes a law -- statute that brings the laws into the alignment with what the bush administration had been doing unilaterally. behind closed doors, the nation secret intelligence court was issuing rulings that brought legal authority and oversight around surveillance programs that had been in place unilaterally. the rule of law critique has largely been text by 2009. when president obama is senator obama running for the democratic primary against hillary clinton, he is not making clear which of these critiques he is making when he criticizes bush and that you can parse it now, he is a lawyer and a work clearly making the rule of law critique but in hindsight we see that is what they were saying the problem was. host: kilgore, texas, lewis.

caller: good morning. i think their deep historical foundations in the paris attacks. in the united states, we like to believe that our system was radical change from great century.in the 18th fathers were aristocrats. they established our own brand of imperialism. from the munro doctrine on up to supportingtiatives the bretton woods institutions, the international monetary fund and the world bank. alivemperialism has been and well since our beginning. we see it now in the multitude

of the u.s. military bases and the imf policies of austerity and developing countries. host: what would you like our guest to address? caller: i would like for him to military andw our benefit aic systems very small percentage of people. the 1%, the global shareholders of the transnational, international, investment banks and corporations. that, i will not address that is outside what i am here to talk about. point in a room next door. i had -- i spoke last week to glenn greenwald, a primary

exchanges -- we had an that was interesting. he was raising the question of whether the united states constitution and the country envisioned when the founders created it in 1776 or 1789 when the constitution took place. it links to what the u.s. has been since the middle of the 20th century especially, or did we get away from that and become a -- an imperial presidency. my work, in this book and my previous book, is about executive power during the bush administration and any post the a non-arab. -- and the post vietnam war era. the power of the president. understand where a lot of this comes from, you have to

understand what author stress and your says the impact -- states beginsed to play the moderate role with military bases around the world. part of my point in that conversation that i will raise here, there is two issues when you talk about america and the imperial presidency. the country as the whole and the president. the constitution is a framework for deciding how we will make decisions. who gets to make the decision? who is the final authority? it is true that the country was not founded to play the role -- not envision to play the role it is playing since world war ii when, usually when there was a war, there would be a large army and extra tools. when the war was over, the army

would be decommissioned and the powers would go away. after world war ii, that did not happen because it went into the cold war. the world was a mess. we kept military bases around the world and assumed this role of the world's policeman. there was not this downscaling of power. presidency under truman, eisenhower, kennedy, johnson, and it in, -- next and, that with thers constant threat of nuclear war under the soviet empire. they claimed greater power for themselves. power to do things without congress. the point i was making that i want to separate, the extent

that congress goes along with that and funds and is all for it , that is not an imperial presidency. that may be an imperial country and there is a separate issue, when the president acts unilaterally without congress or the courts or in defiance of them, which is an internal question, how does a country were, who makes the decision, how much power -- how much unreviewable power, exclusive power that exist whether or not congress authorizes it should united states president have? we have struggled with that through these national security issues since world war ii. it was renewed after 9/11 and remains a tremendous interest. host: what to do about guantánamo, the stories of possibility of using executive powers to close it. guest: i am totally fascinated with this issue and towards the end of the book i have a section about it.

guantanamo.to close he said he would do it during the campaign when he was running for president. an executive order directing the administration to close it. within a year which obviously failed. in that first year, things get complicated, he makes the decision to keep indefinite detention without trial for this group which turned out to be larger than some of them thought it would be, they could not try them and it was too dangerous to release them, 48 of them. he makes the decision to keep military commissions but does not use them very often. once you make that decision to keep them, you cannot make the argument that guantánamo has to be closed to restore the law. take the policies that made one-time moke controversial and move them somewhere else. his plan for closing guantánamo is to take the same people doing held without trial there and put

them somewhere else. the super max at florence in colorado or the military grade in charleston or the army barracks in leavenworth. if the same legal authorities is being used to hold these people somewhere else, the reason to" taught him all has to be something else. it costnother argument, 100 times as much to house them in guantánamo that it does at florence. and it makes our allies less willing to work with us. in orangeictims jumpsuits. he does not have that restore the rule of law argument anymore. he does not move quickly enough on guantánamo because they are encountering problems like the underwear bombing. imposes inmes in and january of 2011, a law that says

you may not bring any guantánamo detainees into the united states for any purpose, not for release or prosecution or continued detention elsewhere. that is a democratic-controlled congress. he signed it because it is part of a bigger law that has this other stuff. he complains and says he will work with congress to get a revoked by congress is not interested in revoking it. they are interested in extending it. force the end of his presidency now, a box is unchecked. he is thinking about the history books, are they going to say he promised to close gitmo and failed or say he got it done. he is driving it more than anyone else inside his administration. if congress is not going to revoke that statute and clearly not going to revoke that statute -- and they are not going to revoke that statute.

he is going to be faced with two league options -- bleak options. one is policy failure. the other is, what if he makes a claim that he's the commander-in-chief and congress, under the constitution, has no authority to tell him where it is best to hold wartime prisoners during a war. the lawyers call that an article to override. he has clearly gotten more aggressive on using executive power and it has shifted from not wanting to be like bush and cheney to trying to get things done this fight the republicans in congress. host: christopher from georgia, hello. caller: how are you doing? fork you charlie savage letting me on. this will take 20 seconds. as far as the paris and u.s. it will security,

happen again if we do not do something about isis. that is all i have to say. one of the fingerprints taken from one of the suspects inside of a french -- is a french national. guest: i am not surprised to hear that. the islamic state has been calling on people in the west already and might be radicalized and share their ideology but have not been to syria and are not part of that war. instead of trying to get to them and join them there, considering attacking where they are. the fact that these attacks were at very symbolic locations in paris that resonate with french culture and french identity. they were not just random but carefully chosen and selected.

chosen suggest familiarity with french culture and the french community. not as someone random who showed up yesterday and wondered down the street to that street. i would not at all be surprised to learn that most or all of these attackers had spent significant amounts of their lives in france. host: marianne, pittsburgh, pennsylvania. caller: can you hear me? host: go ahead. don't: as a reporter, why -- why didn't you check out but maybe you did and did not report it, the lies. president is supposed to be a president for the people and he has done everything in his power to try to destroy our country. another thing is, with benghazi, him and clinton, why did you not

press harder for the e-mails, as a reporter you are supposed to tell the truth. there were guns and missiles missing. stevens know if mr. knew that he was with an offshoot of al qaeda in that one video that it was al qaeda. guest: got to love c-span callers. got another one? host: as far as the book is concerned, what was surprising to you as you look at the relationship between this administration and how they handle national security issues and the last one? guest: i dove or arching question of the book is -- an overarching question of the book, behind the scenes story and who was yelling at who and who disagreed with who, a clash of ideas. people on the same team. ideological insync yet they

disagree with so much and why is that with all of these problems in the 21st century where the rules are ambiguous, the rules were not written for the situations. the -- what that adds up to is this big picture question -- why did so little change as a policy matter between the end of the bush administration and the obama administration on so many counterterrorism policies? where did that come from? a disagreement over the issue for bush, the civil liberties critique or the rule of law critique? this has been the most lawyerly administration, obama and biden are lawyers. overwhelmingly prone to see the bush -- the problem as a rule of law with bush. the courts get involved and congress changes statutes to permit instead of forbid policies, they thought the problem was solved. when you have a tax like the

underwear bombing -- a tax like the underwear bombing and the rise of the islamic state they see the world as it is. the large surveillance is surveillance -- is necessary to prevent administration destroying event, like an attack in paris here. they keep these policies and that is where the disconnect between the expectations created by senator obama campaign rhetoric and how president obama has governed. host: all laid out in power wars: inside obama's post-9/11 presidency. charlie after that, angus johnston of the city university of new york

looks at the history of student activism. plus your phone calls, facebook comments, and tweets. live sundayjournal" at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. earlier today president obama left the white house and summit inor the g20 turkey. reporters shouted questions about last night's paris attacks but the president did not respond. he will also visit the philippines and malaysia on his overseas trip.

>> several tweets from presidential candidates about the paris attacks, this one from senator marco rubio. this one from hillary clinton -- and this tweet from donald trump, we need much tougher, much smarter leadership, and we need it now. american history tv this weekend -- >> setting out political boundaries, state boundaries, community boundaries for the future, and for this territory going forward.

>> lectures in history with iowa state university professor on the 1787 northwest ordinance, and act by congress to organize and govern newly acquired territory from ohio to the mississippi river. our new series, "road to the white house rewind." >> oh, i see. [indiscernible] told. do what i'm 1992look back at the presidential campaign of bill clinton during a visit to franklin high school in new ,"mpshire on "reel america marking the 70th anniversary of currentlyerg trials 1945 u.s. army documentary on nazi concentration and prison camps. continuing on oral histories -- >> the house they went over, he

was a couple days after d-day. land,hey had enough beach it's justified. there was a new captain on that job. my captain said, you stay here. again, it was one of those times when somebody reached out and i was left. off they went. later before or so i rejoined my outfit. >> an interview with a former chief prosecutor for the united states, born in transylvania to a jewish family, immigrated to america. he reflects on enlisting in the u.s. army after law school and being assigned to set up a war crimes branch to investigate nazi atrocities. "american history tv" all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. get our complete schedule at www.c-span.org.

tonight democratic presidential candidates martin o'malley, hillary clinton, and bernie sanders take heart in a debate from drake university in iowa. listen live at 9:00 p.m. on c-span radio, and an tomorrow we will re-air that debate in its entirety starting at 4:00 p.m. and then again at 9:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. >> two things are very different. we have a justice system -- mistrials -- these trials were not held according to what we consider modern law. there were no lawyers, by the way. the courtroom is an extremely unruly place. we don't happen to believe in witchcraft or prosecute witchcraft today. >> an author talks about her the, "the witches," on

salem witch trials and the scope and effect of the accusations the trials had on the massachusetts community. >> an interesting part about the wealthy merchants were accused as witches, homeless five-year-old girls were accused to be witches. we have five male victims, including a minister here. we did not burn the witches, we hang them. there was so much encrusted in myth and so much misunderstanding that i thought it was important to dispel. >> sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern and pacific on c-span's "q&a." earlier this week president obama took part in a wreath laying ceremony at arlington national cemetery on veterans day. joining him were vice president robert mcdonald, and

defense secretary ashton carter. this is 45 minutes. ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, please her main standing for the procession of our nation's colors and those of our veterans service organizations.

the united states army band will play the national emblem march. please place your hand over your heart or render a hand salute. ♪

>> laser main standing for prayer for all veterans delivered i -- please remain standing for prayer for all veterans delivered by the chaplain. >> lettuce pray. -- let us pray. almighty god of veterans and nations, you are so awesome and all your ways. we give you thanks on this veterans day for the devotion haverage of all those who

nation's uniforms and offered military service for this country that we could now enjoy such freedoms. we thank you for our veterans service organizations who make every day of the year veterans day. god, we a nation, o honor veterans who have answered the call to serve to protect our american way of life. we honor veterans who suffered from the visible and invisible wounds of war. we honor veterans who have laid down their lives for others, and we honor their surviving families and the sacrifices they have made. god, we thank you for our ession's veterans' willingn to serve on our behalf and borne hardships in war and in peacetime. o god, we ask on this veterans day that you would encourage and heal those in hospitals,

rehabilitation facilities, mending their wounds at home. help us, o god, to never forget our comrades. help us to bring them and the returning warriors to a joyful reunion and peaceful life at home. give to us your people of this nation grateful hearts and a to honor these men and women and hold them always in your love and our prayers until your world is perfected in peace and all wars cease. god, give us all a sense of humor and find something to make us smile, as we remember the good times and celebrate our nation's veterans. amen.

the i'd like to invite national president, military officers association of america, to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. seated.e be distinct privilege to introduce the members of the veterans day national committee. the committee was formed by presidential order in 1954 to hold this annual observance in honor of our veterans and to support veterans day observances throughout the nation. please hold your applause until i have introduce these special guests. if able, please stand when your

name is called. national president, military officers association of america. national president, polish legion of american veterans. national president, korean war veterans association. national commander, american g.i. forum. national commander, catholic war veterans of the usa. national commander, american express and are's of war. -- ex-prisoners of war. paralyzed veterans of america. national commander, jewish war veterans of the usa. president, vietnam veterans of america. chief, veterans of foreign wars of the united states.

national commander. national president, blinded veterans association. junior, army and navy union of the usa. commander, noncommissioned officers association. national vice commander, the american legion. national commander, military order of the purple hearts. national president, fleet reserve association. richard gore senior, national commandant, marine corps league. lyman smith, executive director, military chaplain association. national commander, legion of valor of the usa.

director,islative national association of uniform services. ruth hamilton, commander in chief, military order of the world wars. national president, retired enlisted in so ch and -- association. congressional medal of honor society. national commander, disabled american veterans. members of the committee are located in the boxes to my left. i would like to ask the president and national commanders to comfort -- that comprise our associate membership to stand and be recognized. please join me and recognizing our veterans national leadership with your applause. [applause]

it is now my pleasure to introduce our veterans for 2015,on host military officers association of america. founded in 1929, moa is the nation's largest and most influential association of military officers. with more than 390,000 members, it is a leading voice representing active duty, guard, and reserved. retired, and former officers of all seven uniformed services and are spouses, family, and survivors. moa offers a powerful force speaking for a strong national defense and equitable treatment for all who serve and have served your country in uniform. network of state councils and more than 400 affiliate chapters across the u.s. actively promote the concept of lifetime service at the

national, state, and community levels. as you can see, they lived their motto. we never stop serving. they are represented today by their national president. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome him. [applause] >> mr. president, mr. vice president, secretary and mrs. macdonald, secretary and mrs. carter, members of congress, members of the joint chiefs of staff and spouses, medal of honor recipients, fellow veterans, members of the armed forces, gold star families, and other distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning and welcome. to all in attendance here and across the country on this most important day, veterans day.

honor for the military officers association of america to cohost this year's ceremony, a first in our 86 year history of providing servant leadership on behalf of the entire military family. americans to all honor the inspiring shared sacrifice and commitment of past and present members of the armed forces. valor, and honor, love of country have always been the defining characteristics of america's military, from bunker hill to the mountains of cam dish, afghanistan. but the battlefield is not the exclusive birthplace of heroism. our nation's heroes are also here at home, in the form of the families and loved ones of our returning warriors who provide the care and understanding that

enable them to regain a life of normalcy. also thes are organizations and individuals who have dedicated their lives to improving the quality of life of veterans in ways big and small. veterans day reminds us that this nation's greatest asset is not our leading edge, rich farmland, or material wealth. no, our nation's greatest treasure is our sons and daughters who serve and sacrifice in their nation's uniform. that is why we all never stop serving. those who serve, who have served. if we do, we risk breaking the faith that will inspire future generations to serve. thank you for joining us this morning, and giving thanks and praise to all who have served. rnation'sess ou god alwaysd may

bless the united states of america. [applause] please welcome the honorable robert mcdonald, secretary of veterans affairs. >> mr. president and vice president biden, thank you both for your leadership and sturdy, strong advocacy for our nation's veterans, service members, their families, and survivors. waysave shown in so many that your respect, admiration and gratitude for those who have worn the uniforms of our country everyiding commitments day of the year for those who have served, not just on a single day of the year, thank you. medal of honor recipients thomas kelly, we are honored by your

courage and heroism in battle. wife,ary carter and your white house chief of staff, administrator mccarthy, united states representative perlman, your spouses and guests, senators collins, franken, guests.your spouses and ambassador rice, chairman dunford, general silva, general grass, general welch, general , all, admiral richardson your skull is is and guests, other distinguished leaders of the department of defense and military services, former v.a. administrator harry walters, .ice admiral norm ryan military officers association of america, our cohosts for this year's celebration, and all the representatives of our veteran's service organizations.

fellow veterans, members of our colleaguess, v.a. and other distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. as many of you know, president obama is scheduled to present a medal of honor to an american soldier tomorrow, a captain retired. tomorrow's ceremony will mark only the 10th time a living servicemember has received our nation's highest valor award for actions in afghanistan or iraq. seven more were posthumously awarded the medal. tomorrow's ceremony president obama will address the specifics of the captain's heroism. in the worst of circumstances and without hesitation, the captain acted in a manner that saved the lives of many of his comrades. tragically, he could not save them all. when he was informed last month that he would receive the medal of honor, he said, and i quote,

this metal belongs to them. it's my mission to tell everyone, thank you for recognizing me, but this does not belong to me. it belongs to them. this gives me an opportunity to represent them and their families. emblematic of the service and sacrifices of young men and women from every generation of american veterans. a halfost two and centuries now, they have selflessly answered the calls to arms to preserve and defend the ideas behind the words that are both vision and conscious of our democracy. we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. its generation has done part to deliver a strong and free america to the next generation.

they have done so with great determination, and willingness to risk it all for others. this veterans day we want to especially acknowledge those who served in two difficult conflicts. this year marks the 70th anniversary of the and of world war ii. beginning of our 50th commemoration of the decade-long war in vietnam. to those who fought in both wars, thank you for your selfless service. americans are ever grateful for your sacrifices. presidentent and vice understand and value the service and sacrifice to veterans. that's why they have provided strong and increasing resources for care and benefits, support of the new g.i. bill to educate the next generation of american support toemendous help v.a. drive down the back logging claims by almost 90%, and improve access to quality health care for all veterans.

as the president said in his state of the union address this generation the new of veterans come home, we oh them every opportunity to live the american dream they helped defend. joe bidenlady and dr. are also unwavering supporters of veterans and service members in their own right. they have joined forces to bring the public and private sectors together in support of employment of service members, veterans, and all of their family members, among many other initiatives. veterans could not ask for stronger advocates than our president, vice president, and their wives. ladies and gentlemen, it's a great personal and professional honor to present to you our commander in chief. please join me in welcoming the president of the united states, barack obama. president obama: thank you.

thank you so much. please be seated. bob, for your service to our nation. for your tireless work on behalf of your fellow veterans, to vice president joe biden, general dunford, major general becker, to ouruished guests, outstanding veterans service organizations and their womenship, to our men and in uniform, and most of all, to our proud veterans and your families, it is a great privilege to be with you once again. and, to the captain, as bob just

mentioned, tomorrow it will be my honor to present you with the medal of honor, our nation's highest military decoration. ,o all our veterans here today and to veterans across america, whether you served on the beaches of europe, the deserts of the middle east, whether you served here at home or overseas, and wartime or in peace, whether you served proudly in the army, navy, air force, marines, or coast guard, you are part of an unbroken chain of patriots who will serve this country with honor to the life of our nation. of ourugh the life nation. on the sacred grounds, a generation of heroes have come to rest. we remember all those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation.

today we gather once more to salute every patriot who has ever proudly worn the uniform of the united states of america. this year as we mark 70 years since our victory in the second world war, we pay special tribute to a generation that literally save the world. by several of those heroes, including our oldest known female world war ii , who this month turns 108. [applause] there she is. [applause]

president obama: and i would ask all of our veterans and families of world war ii, if you can stand, please stand or raise your hand so america can thank you one more time. [applause] president obama: today in big cities and small towns across our country, there will be ceremonies around flagpoles and parades down main street to properly express our gratitude and show our appreciation to men and women who serve so that we might live free. it is right that we do so.

but our tributes will ring hollow if we stop there. if tomorrow after the parades and ceremonies we roll up the banners and sweep the veterans halls and go back to our daily lives, forgetting the bond between the service of our veterans and our obligations as citizens, we will be doing a profound disservice to our veterans and the very cause for which they serve. this day is not only about gratitude for what they have done for us. it is also a reminder of all that they still have to give to our nation and our duty to them. that's what i want to talk about briefly today. we're in the midst of a new wave of american veterans. in recent years more than one million of our men and women in uniform, many of them veterans of afghanistan and iraq, have completed their military service and return to civilian life. each year at least another 200,000 do the same. our 9/11 generation of veterans are joining the ranks of those who have come before, including

many of you who are veterans of korea and vietnam. our tributes today will ring hollow if we do not ensure that our veterans receive the care that you have earned and that you deserve. the good news is that in recent years we have made historic investments to boost the v.a. budget, expand benefits, offer more mental health care and improved care for our wounded warriors, especially those with post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury. we have now cut the disability claims backlog by nearly 90%. we are reducing the outrage of veterans homelessness and have helped tens of thousands of our veterans get off the streets.