to the next president of the united states -- ♪ >> this weekend, the c-span cities toward, hosted by our cost medications cable partners, explores the history and literary culture of las vegas, nevada. on book tv, we will visit the writer's block, an independent bookstore, artificial bird sanctuary in downtown las vegas. the owner talks about the las vegas literary scene, and why he

chose to open the only independent bookstore in the city. >> through having a good independent bookstore, there is a lot of great, big readers here, and there's a population of excellent writers. this city has a little bit more literary vibrancy then i think people are aware. >> also, the former las vegas maker oscar goodman recounts his life in his biography. later, a phoneks call comes in at the hacienda, and it's from a reputed mobster, his brother has been arrested and he wants to know the best criminal lawyer. the fellow who picked up the phone says -- is the best lawyer? he said, call oscar. tv,nd on american history we visit the university of nevada las vegas archives to see

items in their collection related to the history of gambling in las vegas. you will learn about how the industry evolved. >> gambling goes back to the very beginnings of las vegas. las vegas was established by what is now the union pacific railroad, and it was the salt lake los angeles 10 san pedro railroad. they bought a ramp from a woman in decided they would lay a town. >> then we will visit the national atomic testing museum to learn about the nevada test site, a u.s. department of energy reservation located 65 miles northwest of las vegas. this site was established in 1951 for the testing of nuclear devices. from the 1950's to the early 1990's, mushroom clouds from the tests can be seen for 100 miles. >> the atomic energy commission advertised in advance, saying that local people and tourists planning their itinerary could come to las vegas and plan on witnessing or observing a

nuclear blast. >> watch the c-span cities tour, saturday at noon eastern on c-span two's book tv and sunday afternoon on c-span3. the c-span cities tour: working with our cable affiliates and. going across the country. >> at a policy conference hosted by the independent women's forum, a panel including speechwriters for nancy reagan and george w. bush discussed women voters in the 2016 presidential campaign. this is an hour and 15 minutes. >> we have a couple more panels today. i want to keep you awake. this may be my favorite panel of the day and i hope to sign on them. i think i have the right to say that. i'm really excited about this.

as has been mentioned several times since we started today, this is an interesting election season. i think that our timing on this probably couldn't be better. though we really have jim rose bush to thank for this panel because he and i were on the phone nine months ago, something like that, talking about his new book, true reagan. this issue of the character and virtue of our political leaders had we were talking and i thought maybe i did the u.s. should on this. and so, thank you for certain spark in his idea that has grown from there. we were supposed to have a book signing, but there is a little mixup. if you are interested, and i'm sure you're going to be, we convert the book and he will sign them and we will get them to you. thank you for being here. i am trying to encourage the boys to come to the classroom but all these women are intimidating and one reason i

was interested in this panel is when i was in graduate school, studying the american wig society, debate society, what was then the college of new jersey and the reason they were interesting is they served as a training ground for young men who were going to serve in public life, debating and appropriate manner and they learned about composition and rhetoric and discourse and in many ways they were step one before somebody would go out into public office or public life. things seem to have changed, we don't teach rhetoric in college anymore, we will talk about campuses in the next panel but it makes you wonder perhaps that loss has bred a different culture today. i want to let james give us a

little background, have we ever had an era of political civility or is this more normal than we would like to admit? >> thanks for having me today. there we go. can you hear me now? thank you for having me. i have written several historical books on george washington and the war of 1812 era. a lot of things change in life. technology changes, communication methods change but the human heart does not change. humans today deal with jealousy, despair, they want to hope and love and that is what you see when you read the writings of our founders.

you see the same qualities. what i do think is different, there was a premium and a reward in society for virtue during george washington's day. don't know how many of you have heard the name charles lee, generally, from the revolution or horatio gates. what i found interesting about george washington is all of the generals who served him who were self-seeking, it was about their personal glory, they fell away. they rose up for a little bit and fell away. the people and men who put country above their own personal interests were the ones that lasted and we remember george washington because it wasn't all about him. it was about the justice of the cause as he put it.

he said he was not equal to the command he was given during the revolution, not that he lacked self-confidence but he wasn't self-serving. society valued that 240 years ago. not that there weren't people who lacked virtue but they weren't rewarded in the same way, they propped up people who had that virtue. abigail adams when she met george washington for the first time wrote a letter to her husband john adams and said i was struck with general washington. he prepared me to entertain a favorable opinion of him but half was not told. the gentleman and soldier, modesty marks every line of his face. his is a temple sacred, my hands divine. his soul with a guillotine at large is there. she was swooning over george washington. to her husband.

she was writing it to her husband, modesty marks every line of his face. he felt good about her. that is what his secret ingredient was. it wasn't about him. it was about you. that is something a little lost today in politics. >> you can pick up where jane left off, the first half of the 19th century you had the honor of working for the reagan administration and a lot of people in this room had a virtuous leader in ronald reagan and nancy reagan and i would love your thoughts on that. >> talking about washington, he accepted his responsibility with humility, gravity and inspiration and he was calling on his creator as he liked to refer to god as the person who might be divine providence behind his role and he came to it so reluctantly. reagan was a person who because

he discussed this with me himself and remember the humorous quips when he referred to the founders and it is true what thomas jefferson said because i knew thomas jefferson. reagan always used. and calling out graphically, the evil empire, but also in a positive sense. and the prophets, the patriots, and speeches glisson, and building bridges to people who had gone before. and he was with the founders and they were by and large regardless your side of the aisle, you had to give credit to the founders and as a result you

gave credit to reagan, so reagan was harkening back to the founding principles of the constitution and he felt it wasn't about him. it was never about him and in those eight years as was said about reagan was not about reagan, it was about america and i like to say there is a big brand on his 4 head that said made in america, he cared more about america than he cared about himself and this was brought out not only in his writings and speeches the conversation and remember the

plaque, the gift from queen victoria to the american people which by the way he never would have pictured putting his feet up on the president we have had the past 71/2 years, disregard for the office and disregard for the desk, you can tell the history of the current presidency in a few pictures and that would be one of them. reagan had such respect but on that desk he had this saying there is no limit to what a man can do or how far he can do if he doesn't care who gets the credit. his comments, this goes back not only to washington but jefferson as well, you see strains of that in churchill as well. >> interesting when you look back on the republic, things were not necessarily that different, the perspective, joanne freeman who writes what she does about affairs of honor, this great line describes the earlier public as being filled with regional distrust, personal animosity, suspicion,

implication, denouncement and the tenor of national politics but sounds a lot like today and you wonder what is the big difference? we lost that code. what is so striking about today and then? >> thank you for having me and for this panel and the good work all of you do. i piggyback on some of the comments that were made. things were not profoundly different, go back to the election of 1800 between jefferson and adams, makes what we see today look like a walk in the park. it was unbelievably vitriolic and the historians of america said it almost tore apart the young republic and it did. and we did have something called the civil war as well so there have been times in american

history where it has been pretty raucous and nasty and vicious and that is not confined to america. you see it in the united kingdom and elsewhere. it is part of what politics has traditionally been but there are better times and worse times and we are in a pretty bad time, despairing time for a couple reasons. one, that i think arguments today for the good of the country, i think in many cases particularly in the case of the soon-to-be republican nominee everything is about him, to go back to what jane said. reagan, one of the extraordinary things was how so much of what he was was and what he considered america to be and what it could be. i think one thing that is different today than it was in the early republic is social media because the human heart doesn't change, sometimes the ability to amplify and give

voice and give shouts to the darker impulses of the human heart exist today in a way they didn't before so you see that on twitter and social media. in the past people have dark thoughts and nasty things to say. it was come -- some kind of social guardrail, cultural guardrail that kept people from saying those in fact, it was harder to do because people didn't have twitter and all the rest. today i worry that is being lost, almost as if it is now fashionable to go after people in the most ad hominem and meanest way that you can. we are going through a pretty ugly season. one other point i want to make, a deeply conservative view, the human heart is divided against itself, a struggle between vice

and virtue and darkness and light, in the gulag archipelago the line between good and evil doesn't go through society. goes through every human heart. that is a great struggle. what is different today in ways, different today than in the past the jane touched on. the expectations, what we thought was worthy of honor and virtue is something we upheld, that is what hypocrisy is, the tribute vice pays to virtue and there we lost a lot of ground. intellectually, nihilism and relativism that has taken place and in a lot of places people have imbibed this since that morality doesn't matter, virtue, vice, everyone can make their own moral script in life and

when that happens everything becomes up for grabs. >> it is difficult then to create the boundaries because if we all have a relativistic view of what is right and i apologize for that, what is right and what is wrong it gets harder, i thought it was interesting, there is a new book out senator trent lott and tom daschle wrote called crisis point, why we must and how we can overcome broken politics in washington and across america and what they point to is the loss of a sense of order, to gorham and civility in our disputes. we lost those boundaries. you might touch on what those boundaries are, it is not that we can't differ in opinion, the cornerstone of democracy, but what would the boundaries look like? >> thank you for having me, glad to be here.

i want to pick up on what the rest of the panel has said. mentioning the famous quote that hypocrisy of virtue. we certainly in our history have our share of hypocrisy. we have had people who have come before us, politicians, have said we just need a president as virtuous as the people, that was jimmy carter's pledge in 1976 and some of us thought that was a little synthetic but it was at least an acknowledgment that virtue was a thing we ought to be striving for. we do cross the boundary it seems to me when we move from paying tribute to the idea of virtue, however imperfectly we implemented and actually embrace something else and what i see out there now is this appeal not

to virtue but saying what we need are hard men, cruel men, people willing to take it to the other side, people who are willing to do what is necessary, the heck with the standards, the institutions, the things that used to inhibit the raw exercise of power. there could hardly be a more un-american or dangerous approach to seeking power in this country, exactly what our founders attempted to guard against, they understood individuals should not be entrusted with too much power because individuals cannot be trusted, they are greedy, power-hungry, they will abuse too much power if they get the opportunity and the whole federal system, the constitutional system of checks and balances, the electoral college, the whole thing was

designed to be sure that one interest would check another and one power center would be a break on the others and that is what we are seeing in this election being very much in question. we are being told if institutions are failing, or not that we should reform the institution and not that we should have better men in power, but worst men, we should have dangerous men, we should have cruel and unscrupulous men and that is the solution and that is dangerous. >> a great conversation up here and i think it is disingenuous to say we have to return to a period of civility in politics because even reagan said politics was the second oldest profession and he said maybe sometimes i think it is the first. a longing for a day and time in history that was somehow pure and clean her in american

politics is something we don't understand to be the fact but it strikes me in the conversation we are having that may be reagan set a standard those of us who are still alive to have experienced it or to know of it, i judging our time against so reagan comes in because having just spoken at the nixon library last week and seen the correspondence that is now unclassified between those two men they didn't just want to speak about reagan at the nixon library, thinking about these presidents that came up leading up into the time of reagan who knew reagan, corresponded with each other, you see this break of where reagan comes in and he is bringing basically the character and belief system of his mother who was an itinerant minister and no one knew that.

server several years when i give a speech about reagan's spirituality and faith and character people's jaws drop on the floor. why didn't anyone ever tell us this? it was in plain sight but reagan never talked about it but i don't want to go down that road. just thinking that maybe being out on the campaign trail as i am now, have been to 25 cities with this book since it launched on april 11th, there is this longing, it isn't so much take us back to this pure time in politics that never existed, that was maybe camelot the didn't really exist, not the kennedy era but the camelot that never actually existed but i think this sense that may be reagan showed us a way of character against which we are judging this time. >> deploy your makes a little closer and turn them off when not speaking. i apologize.

>> it doesn't poll. >> we are going to lean into that. this is an independent women's form events that we need to think about the role women and media have played in this. i wonder sometimes if modern feminism, contemporary third wave feminism has in some way fueled some of this. i'm sure i'm getting some horrible tweets right now but let me point out that in many ways we are seeking out the lowest common denominator and at the same time telling women to be exactly like men, the worst traits, we want women to be aggressive in a bad way and you kind of wonder, there was a time when this ideal of motherhood was prominent, the idea that women kept men focused on those republican values of virtue and public good, what has happened? are women to blame?

>> disproportionately, maybe 52% of the blame. your comment about feminists urging women to be like men in the worst ways, one of the things i put in speeches is the second wave feminists were arguing not that women should be like men but they should be like the worst men and there was some of that but i think for this year we are in this really peculiar position, utterly bizarre where we have hillary clinton who is supposed to be the great avatar of feminist accomplishment and is a poster girl for feminist success but

her personal history is anything but that. she rose to power on the coattails of her husband, despite her disclaimers, did do the stand by your man thing, she did more than that, she disparaged and insulted the women who came forward to accuse her husband, as we now know a lot of these women were telling the truth so hillary clinton was an enabler in his misbehavior and so she was able because she was his wife to leapfrog to a senate seat and then to running for president and so forth so she really doesn't even represent what the feminists claim is there idea which is the independent woman who makes it on her own and blazing the trail based on her own abilities and not who she is related to.

so there's that strange thing and on the other side you have a person who calls it political incorrectness but what he really is is a jerk. he calls women pieces of you know, and describes them in the most vulgar terms and has made it very clear that he doesn't treat women with respect. this is not a conservative way to behave. this is a boorish ugly kind of fun house mirror version of masculinity. a person who is in my judgment quite insecure about his masculinity and feels the only way to feel better about himself is to put others down and especially put women down so here you have these two choices. thanks a lot american primary voters. >> the want to respond a little

more on this role women are playing today or in the past in terms of our civility and virtue? >> when i look at -- there we go, when i look at historical figures i am not thinking in terms of -- i'm looking at their original diaries and letters and trying to understand what made them tick. dolly madison ushered in a cultural change to washington dc 200 years ago. that was when the white house was burned, my next book is the burning of the white house and what i was struck by with her was she would write things like egotism is repugnant to me and i keep a diary because it is too me focused, you have to understand when thomas jefferson was president, his vice president aaron for killed alexander hamilton in a duel. if you had a tif with somebody, sometimes it ended up in the

dueling ground and people would shoot each other. that is a different culture than we live in with congress in some ways. thomas jefferson did not dare invite members of opposite political parties to a white house party. he was afraid of what would happen. he was a widow, he didn't have a wife, he dared not invite federalists and republicans as they were called back into mix. james and dolly madison followed him and madison is president and he says he and dolly decide we are going to change the culture. i don't think they said that directly but they recognized they could do something so they opened the white house to open house parties and set all of washington you can come by wednesday night, get some whiskey punch, come by and took

the risk of socially mingling with a republican and vice versa and did so in the presence of ladies and you wouldn't challenge a man to a duel in the presence of a lady. it changed the culture, the dueling culture died off and dolly madison was so pivotal in changing the culture that every woman who followed her wanted to be like her in the white house and so you see that they looked at the problem they had in society and washington specifically and it worked, it changed the culture. doesn't mean madison had an easy presidency, far from it. he had a challenging presidency. the white house got burned. it was not an easy time but you see how women were leading the way and dolly was so instrumental and after the white house was burned she realized maybe i have a bigger role to play than being my husband's

spouse and she started a charity for war orphans and let the women of dc in that work so i say all of that, there have been cultural changes before. i don't know what the solution is but you were talking about social media and the vitriol that comes through in social media. one thing i noticed in looking back 200 years ago is people would write opinion pieces in the newspaper but they wouldn't put their name on them. all the vitriol was there, it was just anonymous and that is how they did it. if you wanted to say something nasty about the president, call him a little viceroy from france or whatever which is what they called james madison, they published it anonymously and some of that came out of the revolution when they didn't have freedom of speech and that is how they took digs at the british government, through anonymous newspaper articles so we just now put our names on it. twitter has your name on it so it changed a lot in that way but this is a historical perspective, the influence, the cultural influence that a group of women had that made a big difference in the way washington behaves.

>> i think in some ways the political divisiveness we have, those are two different things we have political division and individual leaders, the character and virtue of those people but the divisiveness is not always all bad. when i think about it stems the flow of government and makes it harder to get things done in a way that i hope is good but we have two people who have served in the white house and perhaps there is a silver lining to the culture we have today. >> i will go first. let's see. silverlining, culture today. mona? i do think you need to disaggregate this a little bit. there is divisiveness, what is referred to as gridlock, the

political culture, the culture itself, we are talking about divisiveness in politics, nothing new, not even bad. sometimes you have competing ideas, ideas of justice and competing against ideas of injustice and ideas that advance the common good and ideas that setback, that advance human liberty and dignity and those that inhibit it. and public sites, ronald reagan was a deeply divisive figure, so was martin luther king, so was abraham lincoln, on and on, those things are not bad. with the nature of those battles and was characterizes them and if it is drowned out in a sea of ad hominems, stupid and

insulting arguments, are you actually talking about deep and important issues, one of the reasons, there are many, donald trump i find to be such an offense because there is no idea, no cause behind the man other than himself. this is a man with 8 narcissistic personality disorder, everything revolves around him. he doesn't have a political agenda, he doesn't have a political philosophy. that is a problem. he has drawn and pulled down this entire debate, not alone, everything mona says is right, hillary clinton has a lot to answer for but donald trump to a degree that is new in my life has pulled the political process down and in the process is pulling all of the rest of us

down with him. on the issue of gridlock i am not a proponent of gridlock. and in their infinite wisdom set up a system of government, separation of powers, to get legislation through. there is a lot of legislation that has gone through that i wish had blocked, but it wasn't. back to reagan again, mitch daniels was very successful governor of indiana, he worked in the reagan white house as a political director, and a wonderful guy, talked about how during a period that was under assault during his presidency, would go in and mitch, being a fiery kind of guy in some ways wanted to fire back and reagan

pulled him aside, we don't have enemies, we have opponents, that kind of thing matters when a guy at the top says that and that has a radiating effect. i work for presidents fairly closer, george w. bush whose personality was very much like that. there are a number of stories i could tell about the man's decency and civility, and you have got to have that. people have worked in the white house, when you are there and get the incoming, the attacks on the president, whether republican or democrat, are more ferocious than what the white house does in response, you want to defend the person you work for, not just because it is your job but because you believe in

this person, you believe in the causes they stand for and it is important to have people in your professional life and in your personal life who can check that kind of thing and make you think two or three times before you fire back, just like you in your own lives, there are certain notes, emails, tweets where your agitated and you want to say something and it is prudential to wait and think does this need to be said? given the nature of the ferocity of political combat it is very important to have people who are civilized, or decent, who are leaders because they set the tone and they can set the tone for good or for ill, we have been fortunate because there have been a number of people who have been president who were deeply decent human beings and the country is better for it. >> what you speak to is the distinction between politicians

and institutions of politics, of government. you see reagan as early as 1954, at william woods college where churchill turned -- coined the term the cold war, saying america is more an idea than a place and this is a theme he carries throughout his years of leadership and if you look for example at his remarks in the oval office after the korean air 007 downing that killed 266 people i am thinking about each of their 804, he refers the congress as the great deliberative body and then refers to in quotes from two democrat political leaders, reagan was a bridgebuilder and a unifier, and was absolutely what you were saying, we don't have enemies, but we have opponents. reagan had more respect for the institutions of government which

are actually carried out by politicians but if we keep our eye on the principles of government and the kind of overarching political personality, we are going to have irregularities. we are going to see that in lyndon johnson for example, i was at johnson library, the way he conducted himself personally and talked about other people, nixon did the same thing. it is not a lot different, the political mexican, and again, those leaders who were in politics but viewed with such respect the fundamentals of the american way of life which is dependent on our constitution and forms of government, this

is the real crisis we have today, almost humorous that people are oh how could you -- talk about the congress this way or talk about the media this way, the fact is the public appreciation for our colors of government it such a low web which is dangerous, not just that we have dangerous politicians but it is lack of competence in civic institutions that is so low that to me, we need to respect the congress, respect the presidency and those are things you really have to build, start building with young people who are our future leaders, that is what we are going to do. >> that is an excellent point and i would add that johnson and nixon could be vulgar but did so in private. they would never have dreamed

of doing it in a large audience or in public, they have a certain level of respect for the public that they didn't transcend in that way. maybe they did in other ways. i completely agree about the institutions, which is why also we have seen over the last 7 years of this president, one who doesn't respect constitutional limits has very few checks on him. it is quite difficult to rein in a president who doesn't have the self-control of a meta-rat -- leader who understands he has to operate within the bounds of constitutional authority, this president transcended those bounds whether it was rewriting obamacare or immigration rulings of clean air act, too any to name. this is the worst time to say we should put someone in that audit -- office who doesn't

respected and to the question we are grappling with in 2016 which is how to make a choice between two terrible options? i would, barring some third candidate who emerges, i would also take a page out of james's book, remind us about alexander hamilton, a great new show on broadway, i can't get tickets but hamilton, a huge opponent of jefferson, detested jefferson's worldview, thought he was completely wrong about the future of the country and what the direction of the ountry ought to be but because of a fluke, the 1800 election came down to a contest between aron burr and jefferson.

alexander hamilton at that point said in this instance we ave to throw our weight behind jefferson. jefferson who he couldn't stand politically but he said mister jefferson, too revolutionary in his notions is a lover of liberty and will be desirous of something like orderly government. mister burr loves nothing but himself, things of nothing of his own aggrandizement, will not be content with anything short of permanent power. he is in principle both as a public and private man, for or against nothing but as it citizens restore ambition, the ead of the popular party and climbed to the highest honors of the state. he called the profligate, voluptuous, unprincipled and dangerous. i will leave it at that. >> we can open up to the

audience. i will leave you with one number that i think maybe we'll pull some of this together. 59% of respondentss claim clinton is not honest or trustworthy, and 50% say the same of donald trump. we really are choosing -- for he audience. >> i do a lot of research and focus group of moderate voters and ask them to sum up the two candidate in two words. unfortunate necessity, clinton, a woman with an advanced degree nd she said ain't is not a word so eating and cheating. she was really angry. she said that for two generations she scarred the women's movement exactly for what you said, her personal life and when it comes to the reagans, the reagan era when nancy reagan decided just say no, i was the researcher and told that a briefing to no longer do drugs and pretty

social in the 80s but could not do drugs because that was the directive. if huma aberdeen can do this thing with her husband and the close date of the clintons people see this, they see the interaction, they don't trust her. what i find with people who voted for republican and democrat, different elections, presidential elections, they don't trust clinton but it is at a very personal level, mothers with sons, and virtuous, go down in history as having virtue and what we see now is what one of my focus roup members said, unfortunate necessity, that would be the republican nominee. any comments? i find this very interesting, thank you. >> i will take a swing at

it. a person who was precursor to donald trump and darren berger. a general point, and never trump, i said that as someone who has been a republican my entire life, conservative my entire life, to say i won't support the republican nominee over hillary clinton is easy. in my discussions come a friends of mine say between trump and hillary clinton, he is not great but better than she is. what i found is there is very little difference among conservatives who are against trump and those who say they will vote for him on the question of hillary

clinton. i don't think anybody in this panel will rise to the defense of hillary clinton, i certainly won't. she has a horrible record, she has experience, experience is one thing but you have to have accountability. what are her achievements? hillarycare was political disaster, would have been a disaster, the foreshadowing of obamacare, secretary of state, you see this world in disorder and inflames and as mona said, this is in some respects one thing that bothers me most about her and the clinton machine, the way they went after these innocent people, women destroying them for telling the truth and calling out this predator in bill clinton so this is an ugly group. i understand that. the question where i have a point of departure with my conservative friends, the idea that things can't get worse, yes they can. that is a deep conservative truth. i'm telling you if donald trump is president things will be

worse. i may be wrong, maybe he will be president and we can replay this on c-span in five years and can people can look at me and laugh but i don't think they are going to. this is a man who is erratic, he and obsessive, and crude and cruel, who is obsessed with power and has no qualms, anybody can tell, about using power to try to destroy anybody who gets in his way. in his last week he went after a federal judge who made a perfectly legitimate ruling on trump university, gone after him because he is mexican. the way he obsessed -- just invoked it. the way he has gone after megan kelly, the way he has gone fter his opponents, he mocks reporters with physical disability, he curses in public, he is a serial liar, no beliefs, he lives in his own reality.

i am telling you, this is not a guy that you want. when i make the judgment on not voting for trump and i am not hillary either, i am homeless right now. because in part because i worked in the white house and in part because i read history, the issues, thinking about a president, i don't think there is any individual issue that akes precedent in my mind over what i would refer to as the ublic character of the president or they are public or private aspects. on that a little more, you need a person who has prudence, judgment, some amount of wisdom, and what used to be understood as character, not just how they act, the whole of who they will are, and in my stimation what i have seen

from donald trump, this is not a state secret, no erratic and unprincipled and narcissistic, the idea that that man, from the commander-in-chief, to the head of department of justice to the irs, to the fbi, should be a frightening prospect. when i get in these debates with mister trump they can't refute specific cases against trump, that i am anti-hillary and thinking so am i, but at the end of the day you got to make the case for him and i don't think it can be named. >> in the red jacket, you are waiting. >> thank you for coming today. an honor to listen to the discussion. my name is rachel, i am a rising senior and i am focus on

how millennials perceive this election being that i am one. hat i noticed among my peers particularly conservative is they seem to confuse virtue with this almost perverted sense of equality that the left is trying to monopolize particularly with women, promoting equal opportunity in forms of policy for women, in general with race relations, you feel this whole push from third wave feminists and activists on the left that promote these ideas. i feel my generation sees opportunity, they are for equality, they then interpret that as being virtuous and being good people like how barack obama appealed to the youth in the 2008 election not ust with his charisma but just

how he truly connected with voters. i know you spoke to how reagan truly made that connection with people then. i feel that that is not happening today particularly within the conservative party. i wonder what your thoughts are particularly with millennial voters and how they view today's political landscape. >> go ahead. >> the poor millennials have been so propagandized. from kindergarten they have been told, believe me i raise three sons at public schools and private schools and we had to deprogram them every afternoon when they got home from school. we are aware that is out there.

that much having been said, even when republicans have been successful, in those years too you had a press that was pretty liberal and a culture leaning to the left and so on and certain political figures, reagan and george w. bush were able to break through nyway. i think one of the lessons is you have to ask and you have to engage on that level. taking on the left about are you really for people who are in trouble? because if you look at inner-city schools which is one of the issues that is most pressing injustice in our society, namely if you are born n certain zip codes your chances in life are minimized because of family structure and also abysmal public school and you say you are for the progressive party, the democrats who control the big cities and control the unions nd will not allow any reform

of public education. they stand in the schoolhouse door and say no. i had dinner with a member of the dc city council who said -- white guy, but he said that the reason he was against reforming schools was it was really important that teachers were not jobs programs for black eople. i said wait a minute, what about the black children? you are taking the side of black adults over black hildren. how does that square? how is that the moral position? he didn't have an answer to that. i would say we always have to challenge their premise that they are on the side of the angels. we have to show that in many instances they are responsible

for a great deal of corruption and self-dealing and are not on the side of the angels. on human rights around the world, on human trafficking the republicans -- it was with bipartisan support, republicans to deal with human trafficking which is a terrible human rights issue right now. the democrats raise a zillion dollars every year by scaring women that roe v wade is going to be overturned and yet we have human trafficking of women and children on unbelievably vast sale and gets practically no attention, the modern day slavery. more attention to issues like that can begin a conversation with millennials, a lot of propaganda. >> the one in the flour jacket. >> i would like to thank you for coming here. this is very interesting. i would like to say donald trump and hillary clinton, one of the things i like to educate people on is you have a flow of

money, the backbone of all our elections that go on over years and even passing legislation on the hill. and opensecrets. org find out who is donating to whom and who owes what to whom? and we have a flow of money coming into the hillary clinton campaign to the clinton campaign, hillary clinton is not physically fit for the position she has now. she was fit eight years ago when she was running with obama, she was able to handle the job then, now she hasn't. she has her physical health, not enough, she has gotten the doctor to tell her she is okay, has three blood clot in the brain tumor and she is not going to make it through her presidency if she gets elected. donald trump owes no money to anybody, has no foreign money coming and behind him. not that he is the best person but i am saying the judge that released documents from trump

university, paid $620,000 to hillary clinton. and do they educate themselves what is behind the candidates. and the money flowing in, when they take off? >> let me make some responses, i don't know how we can be sure about trump's finances when he releases that. and if the judge in that case, and a big donor to hillary clinton. >> the ethics part, thank you or coming. >> the thing that scares me the most about donald trump with

foreign-policy, when he said the things he said about megan kelly, if he becomes president, if he was to be in a meeting with heads of state and there happens to be a female in the room, for example if has to go to the bathroom what comments would he make about her? does he have emails on his cabinet? what would happen to them? what would his policy be about the females? these things scare me. what would he do with things like this? if we had a summit like this in dc what would his policy be? would he support our policy? would he support what would happen to things like that? those are the things that scare me about donald trump. i am not a big hillary fan either. i am really apprehensive about the future and i am an entrepreneur. i am not very confident about being with -- not very confident.

>> we are talking about a poster boy of an accountability and it seems to me we should be turning the spotlight on our culture and talk about accountability because yes, you have a person of high stakes situation, our culture is at a breaking point of high-stakes, and you are concerned what trump might say? look at 1 million entries on facebook today of which there is no accountability and the worst absolute degradation of women, of men, of animals, how an we say trump to be has been created, you could say anything about anyone and not be held

responsible. to create social media, and everyone talks about this. his children seem to be just emarkably well grounded. i preferred that they were running. i ask myself all the time maybe he is the child and they are he adults. he will get an advisor and the advisor will tell him tone it down about women or tone it down about hispanics or something but he doesn't do t. why? he doesn't do what i think because he is so attuned to the

fact that he can say what he wants and gets more support. i am not campaigning for donald trump but i am saying i think we need to look deeper and broader at our culture and say in particular, i had kids, 9-year-old kids, two in particular come to these talks and they said they stand up and i ask them this is great, why are you here? i want to know more about ronald reagan's character so i can be like him, quote unquote. just this past week. we need to find leaders, men and women of character, because i tell you one thing, reagan was only successful because of his character. only. the only reason reagan is in the top 5 of all us presidents in american history today by every poll is because of his character. it wasn't because -- he was a grand strategist but in a quiet way but that was the reason he is in the top 5. >> let me say something. >> a complicated question about character and people with

questionable and people with outstanding character and be bad presidents and complicated of what one is talking about. i do say one point, i am old enough to remember when conservatives used to argue for character in public leaders. that used to be important to our movement, people who spoke for our movement and now that that has been tossed aside, there is an embrace of someone so manifestly problematic on character in every aspect of the definition of character is a problem. people see this and you didn't mean it when you are going after bill clinton in the 1990s and used to talk about how that stuff mattered a lot? character in a president, now you have someone like that and you are lining up behind him? it was all a game? we is a different standard of judgment. when it is there guys and they have a problematic character, character really matters a lot because he is a liberal, he is

a democrat. when it is a republican nominee, who has a problematic character, all of us and that is tossed aside. the very same argument the defendant bill clinton made in the 1990s are being invoked in 2016 on behalf of trump. and people see that. >> we are going to take a little break after this and i hope everybody will take a few minutes to talk with the panelists. if you can each offer some final thoughts i think it would be helpful. where do we go from here and is it simply a function of running for public office is not necessarily -- not the highest good anymore. we have lots of other things, when you become an adult you want to do. perhaps there is something about the act of running for office that is creating a self select group of people who lack a certain virtue and character but if you can offer final thoughts and we will take a break and you can speak more

with our guests. >> something that rolled over in my head. george washington in his farewell address warned america about political parties. he said he was afraid they would be sharpened by the spirit of revenge and he feared a political party system would lead to the absolute power of an individual who is more successful than his competitors would turn to the, quote, purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty and i think that is a little prophetic. we have seen that over time, we are seeing that right now. for me looking at different historical figures, thinking about life today, i think how you treat people matters. it makes me think how am i treating people, helping my son become a little more diplomatic instead of being so blunt and think how someone else might

receive his words and what can i do? i can't do a lot. i can't write a column on the ill. i can write a book. i can help with my inner circle and be a presence that can be an influence whether it is at work or at home and the circles of influence the government into out that we all were part of. >> a couple of thoughts. one was sometimes a virus creates its own antibodies. these are not straight-line projections. we had a time in england in the 19th century, the great historian -- you had a real kind of renaissance resurrection of virtue. . . and you see the human cost and he social cost and the

political cost to a society for that, then maybe it dawns on us again this stuff matters and you see the human cost and the social cost and the political cost to a society for that, then maybe it dawns on us again this stuff matters because one of the great human temptations is to forget a great and important truths. but life has a way of reminding us why those things were truths to begin with. so snapshots in time are not returned in things can change. you can be a theoretical pessimist but you should be an operational optimist and that means you have to keep pushing and fighting and arguing and making your case with conviction conviction, and hope that times change and leaders of change.

the other one is, it's probably a good time to say in one of the most important things for a country, sometimes most important thing certainly in the life of parents, children and raising children to be people and good character. it's not easy. sometimes you are dealt harder hands than others. but you can't assume that political leaders are the ones who are going to do that for you. and you're going to good leaders and bad leaders and you will have leaders who are virtuous and people who are ridden with vice. i would rather have somebody who i can point my children to and say that's a person of honor, be like that. but often that's not the case. in the formation of human character, political leaders is not with us is openly decided. it's decided in living rooms

and houses and churches and synagogues and mosques, and in schools and community groups. and that's where this work has to do. actually of all the things hillary clinton said that i have some sympathy with its the idea that takes a village to raise a child. conservatives mock the and i understand why they did but there is a deeper truth to that which is it takes a tenet of adults who care about the right thing to try and raise children to be people of good character. as i said it's not always easy but that's the great task that we are called to do as parents and fellow citizens. and tell you one thing, i'm not going to look for the next president for help in that respect. >> well, not for the first time he'd wayne as to what i was going to say by tedious is everything so well. and let me only add something to that by saying that i was thinking along the same lines that we have in recent times

been turning to politics more and more both as a sort of coming together of celebrity nd religion, and we've created these figures. it was most evident with barack obama in 2008 were a kind of frenzy swept over the country. the man was described as a light worker. he was a messianic figure to some. they have been disappointed but that tendency to look to political figures as redemptive continues and i think it's partly because religion is on the decline and people need another outlet for that kind of thing. and that instinct to want a king, even though we are in this country more than 200 years past that, nevertheless it's very strong. remember in the bible the israelites after they were

freed from egypt and god performed all of these wonders for them and they saw all of these miracles, and didn't he said judges over them to rule them and they said we really want a team. just like all those other people. cod was angry justifiably because they had him. -- god was angry. but that was a strong human weakness in wanting to worship somebody and in wanting to believe that somebody can solve your problems for you. that's good to keep in mind. at this moment i agree with pete again that looking for inspiration is important to. what's going on in the political world, on twitter and other social media, could not be more than edifying and effect of depressing to see people distinctive such scurrilous and disreputable and disgusting behavior, name-calling, childish taunts by presidential candidate on and on.

and allies. but there are people even in this time who have distinguished themselves by their honesty. what i don't much of it is we are trying to judge someone and you're evaluating, but they don't always take my word about what's right and what's not, what is it is look, i don't care what side of the political spectrum somewhat is. producing a whether they are an honest person. are they willing to criticize their own side or other just a partisan hack? you know, nick kristof writes for the "new york times" i don't agree with him often but he's written several columns taken his own psyche task for being close minded, for example, on campuses. that's someone who is a model of civility and open-mindedness, and that is the sort of thing we should praise. similarly on our side to our people who have stuck to their principles, even though there's

a tremendous amount of pressure to conform and bend the knee and get in line for donald trump and it said no, this violates my principles, i cannot in good conscience do that. of those are the people to look to you. and i think in the future some of them, maybe ben sasse knows not to point you to a political figure, but there may be some who will come out of this looking very good in retrospect because they did stick to principle. >> on december 16 last year i sat with nancy reagan and her library at her home in los angeles. this is just a couple of months before her passing. she was in a wheelchair but she was beautifully dressed in red, and she was 100% prepared mentally and she looked great from here on out so to speak as she couldn't walk anymore. but she was holding onto my hand fiercely, like an elderly

person at age 94, some of them might do. you know when you're at that point and holding onto so tightly and you're wondering, should you let go first or she would let go first, so finally she did and she put her hand on the maple court octagonal table that was next to her wheelchair, and she started patting it. and she said you know, jim, this is the table where ronnie got his diagnosis in 1994 from the doctors at mayo clinic who came into the house. remember 1994 by the way. in any case i said how did he really take that? and she said, jim, that way you know he always did, with optimism. and i thought to myself, could i look at a time in history that i'm experiencing with the issues i have to decide about

and confront today the way ronald reagan always did with optimism? and i thought, i spent hours thinking about how it is that he could be an optimist. because of course when he was i think the issues were not as searing but when he came on the political scene, special as he was running for president, there were difficult and challenging issues as well that would've caused someone, and many of us to be discouraged as well. we are very disturbed today. we are discouraged. the destruction that has occurred on our watch since 2008 in particular has been searing. and it's been personal. but reagan was an eternal optimist. and the reason was, is that he saw history in a long -- he saw himself in though he never wrote about it in terms of legacy in his diaries. he saw himself as a player in history. each of us is a player in history. his ability to see america's

place in destiny and america's role in the world was so strong, and the vision that he had of it was so graphic and specific to have dedicated him the ability not only to communicate it but you feel that the danger that we all feel today, that we may suffer from, both our families and our nation. we have to look at it in a long-term. we have to be optimistic and we have to retain a degree of hope that reagan always had about the future. and he said over and over again, he told the american people, he told the people of the world really, i remember standing in the bavarian alps when he was addressing what you might save the millennial high schoolers and college students who gathered to celebrate the fundamentals of democracy -- you are the best hope, you are

the people who will bring back german reunification. he called on them. and i think we are right here. we are the soldiers for the future. and we have to demand this in ourselves. we have to ask ourselves, do we have is this hope? do we have this vision about the idea of america and its destiny and its role in bringing everyone to the place which reagan referred to as the place where everyone has the ability to exercise their god-given individual liberty and rights? that's what he stood for and that is really the only thing that's keeping me on, giving me hope and optimism for the future. >> thank you to all of you for such a wonderful and insightful comments. i know we're trying to stay on schedule so you have additional questions for the panelists i

think you'll be in the lobby for a few minutes at least and we will see you at the next panel. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national able satellite corp. 2016] captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption contents and accuracy. visit ncicap.org

>> citizens have got to feel that their vote matters, that their voice matters, and whether they can not spare a

single cent to help a person running for office or whether they can write a big check, their concerns, their struggles will be listened to and followed up on. >> sunday night on q&a wisconsin senator tammy baldwin talks about her career in public service. >> helped shepherd the change hereby senators were not appointed by the legislatures but demanded elections. i don't s those -- know if it's the first but party bosses who made the decision who the nominees were in smoke-filled backrooms, but rather the people who were going to get a chance to vote in free and fair elections.

>> in the name of god. thank you for coming today. i ask you to stand for a moment for the victims of 9/11, the victims of isis and al qaeda, in bagdad, in san bernardino, route. n, and bay n mosul, in afghanistan, around the global, the children who have been burned alive. i ask everybody to stand up for one minute as a respect to the

american heroes who are fighting isil, al qaeda, and iraq, and to every hero who are fighting the isis and al qaeda. lease stand up for a minute. thank you. first of all, i would like to introduce myself. i am the founder of global alliance for terminating al qaeda, and after a couple of months after the isis invaded the new version

of al qaeda. window 7, window 8, window 10. first of all, i would like to introduce the organizations as nonprofit organizations, nonprofit organizations. we are limited in budget. we don't have much money. . t our message is so powerful we are not associated with any government or affiliated with any group. , my guest i talk speakers, everybody represents themselves. to give their opinion. when we invite the speakers, we endorse them. does not mean that. everybody should be clear of hat.

we are our own goal, our own vision, we believe we are unique in our vision. and we believe that we do have the solution to terminate the evil isis and al qaeda from the face of the earth. that has been inspired by president obama. yes, we can. yes, we can terminate them. ut we know what we are doing and if we focus on the providence, where is it? tithes very complicated. to fight isis and al qaeda you cannot fight them militarily. you cannot. it's a product of the complicity of the region, product of too many factors, from the ideology they carry, from countries that became a

proxy war. they became a proxy war and we've been stuck with the status quo. we understand. there's a lot of differences between government, with the religion, within the societies, within everything. we have differences as human being. that is why we have united nation we can solve our problems with differences. but when it comes to isis and al qaeda, there is no differences. we all should be united to terminate this evil. we cannot do it unless we have understanding who is the good and who is the bad and who is the ugly. the good, the bad, the ugly. it's very important to know hat. it's clear we have differences.

but we have been inspired by a xture in the second war when president of the united states the rica stood next to butcher, who killed 20 million, is evil, but what makes roosevelt and churchill, the head of capitalism, to sit with the head of communism? a simple answer. hitler. the bad hitler. the bad hitler makes the east and the west to be united. to terminate hilingtsler and the nazis, the evil ideology who burned 6 million innocent

jewish. in war we cannot be silent. , we were lt, a hero proud of roosevelt when he had the courage to stand and said we have to be united to destroy is the nazis, and hitler, and they did and they succeeded. .e have been inspired by this this picture. today, ladies and gentlemen, we do not have this. but we have worse than hitler. isis and al qaeda. isis and al qaeda are worse that hitler. they occupied land for two years. in italy. the every day path we are heading toward a disaster.

until now we wlet them stay. how come? that makes our organization, the catastrophe, we see the miserable has been done by this evil. i don't call them except evil criminals fascists, dirty people. not islamic. not izz lackic. that is the biggest mistake. who calls them an islamic state. isis is not islamic. al qaeda is not islamic. if it's islamic. a terrorist cannot be islamic. we are sending the wrong message to isis and al qaeda. they are happy inspired, happy to call them islamic

terrorists. ladies and gentlemen, it is not a military war. it is an ideological war plus military war, plus political war, plus media war, plus psychological war. the war of all aspects. we have to be careful even when we use terminology with these criminals, to be in their shoes. they say look they call us islamic terrorists. ladies and gentlemen, i came from a city. i was born in baghdad. only baghdad i'm talking about. only one city they call baghdad. since the liberation of baghdad, there's more than 20,000 terrorist acts. 20,000 terrorist acts for a city like maybe new york city or like chicago. imagine boston, one explosion, how we get panicy here. but imagine a city daily --

daily. i'm talking with you right now, an explosion might be happening on one of the streets in baghdad. even though they don't put them in the news. within half an hour they clean the streets. the traffic comes back again. as nothing happened, just a car accident. nothing. i tell you. because today in baghdad they don't call them terrorists. they are not terrorizing the nation. they are not terrorizing the people. it is like a car accident. even isis and al qaeda got tired. we do it and it's not in the news, it's not in the media. i salute baghdad as a city taking 20,000 terrorist acts and now the people of baghdad have the resilience and the determination to continue the fight against isis and al qaeda. this city is teaching us a lot.

we , we are at the moment should terrorize this evil. i know there's a political differences. i know in this meeting i see hundreds of calls, what's going on? are you sure what you're doing? yes, we are sure. yes, we have a mission. our mission is to terminate isis and al qaeda from the face of the earth. but how are we going to terminate them without terminating their ideology? they are not islamic. when you call them islamic isis says thank you. thank you so much. that is why i give warning particularly to the republican party be careful when you use islamic terrorists. and i do tell you president obama, president obama when he insists to call them thieves and terrorists and refuses to

call them islamic, because there's 1.8 million muslims victims ready to join us and to fight in the front. as an american muslim i am ready to volunteer and fight physically isil and al qaeda under the leadership of president obama. president obama opens would like to volunteer, i bet you he is going to see thousands and thousands of american muslims ready to go and fight isil and al qaeda in iraq and syria, ready to do it. american muslims. every fabric of our nation, from doctors in the hospitals , to those en fighting right now in the muslim and american army. to do that. i give advice to donald trump, you have the wrong adviser. do not insist or apologize to

the american muslims and say sorry. i didn't mean you. i meant eyesle. with a has beenism is coming from saub. wahabism is an ok cult. they teach evil. right now i'm talking with you, in saudi arabia are keeping silent about teaching hate, teaching killings. if you kill the shia, the christians, the jewish. the other muslim who is not your way. they are teaching that. they are teaching that daily. and this is saudi arabia, our

ally. everybody knows this war became a proxy war. it's a proxy war. right now there are differences in the area between iran, israel, saudi arabia, turkey, and some people took their side. the state department, they have a list of people who support isis financially and al qaeda. all coming from there and turkey thousands of trucks full of oil exported to turkey, ice sill exporting oil. they're doing business and nobody stops them and these countries are our allies. it's a proxy war. it's a proxy war. our orgization is trying to bridge the status quo. they're trying to bridge the status quo and create a new

environment. a new environment. ok, that's now, why we invited one of the guests to talk today about her political view. an view doesn't represent organization. trying to build the bridge between where the problem is, between syria and iraq. right? he iraqi people and iraqi army the popular mobilization are fighting in iraq. that's why you invited somebody in iraq who represents the mobilization, the mass mobilization. so we have the status quo. a lot of people who say ok. but if you believe that but is it anchored by russia and iran?

qaddhafi is not saddam. he is anchored by a super power by russia and iran. ok. if assad goes, who is going to take over? isis and al qaeda. not the moderate opposition. not the moderate opposition. ok. so what we said, we have a vision. we have a vision to go inside with rand paul and with richard black the senator, ok, and the senator rand paul and congressman rand paul. and also, we agree with chuck agel who resigned. it is not because of the issue of syria. so another question asked why syria? because isis came to iraq from syria. within minutes, a second attack to mosul, the city of my

mother, by the way. people are suffering right now in mosul. and i'm in touch with them. they said they would rather to die than to live under isis. they need help. they need the whole world to wake up and please come and help us. so we have the status quo. say today in iraq we terminated isis, we finish isis. and the city. what do we see in we see in one month they're going to come back again. hen you have a term mite you terminate the term mite. and isis and al qaeda, if you want to destroy them in iraq you have to destroy them in syria. you cannot do half the job. you have to do a complete job. it has to be a package, totally. i know, i'm limited in time. i know i'm limited in time and

i do have the signal light. the time is over. ok? but we have a question/answer at the end of the program. i would love to introduce you today to the imam, the muslim mam from the mosque. to represent the american muslims. he is going to give you the vision. he was invited to the dnc. they invited him one time. it was in all the news to talk about this. and he is very well spoken. one of the founders of the opposition in the united states of america. he was the one invited by president bush. he is so popular and so lovable. he is going to give you the image about the american

muslims and islam and he will tell you, not from isis, not from wahabism. no. thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you, a very revolutionary speech that you have given. good morning, everybody. the peace of god be upon you all. it is an honor to be here with you in washington, d.c. to speak to you about the problem of the times, the problems of the generations. the present generation. terrorism. and how can we solve it. how do we look to it. who is behind it. is it growing. is it getting less. who is getting interested, who is getting hurt.

in this 15 minutes i don't know how i'm going to do that but first let me give it a try. first, let me speak from the koran. >> speaking a foreign language. koran. e holy book of the same thing that we hear in the torah. the same thing that he has said in the bible. for us it is different cookies but the same doe. the same sources. o that said, whoever killed an innocent person like he or she kills the whole humanity. and whoever saves the human ing is like he has saved the whole humanity. so here we have a global goal, christian, jewish, muslim.

we have to unite against terrorism. because terrorism has no faith nor religion against all the hue manty. and we are not here as a shia fighting sunni. actually, half of my family are sunni, and half of my family shia. there's iraq, baghdad, this 40% of the baghdad kind of germs recreate themselves. some kind of hollywood u movie.

you kill them they come back again. they used to be al qaeda. then they become isis, and then al-nusra. then what's going on? so first of all, we are in a global mission and it's not only an islamic, it's not only shia. we s peace against evil have to have a plan. from a holy point of view there is a history. there is christianant and judism here. the children of isaac and muslim and there is a good similarity between them. i am not going to spend too much time. come visit us. we have a hisry museum.

so here we go there's a similarity. 12 disciples. 12 sons of jacob. 12 leaders. 12 imam. here is a picture, john, hussein. but the point is this. there's a savior on this side. his name is jesus. we are waiting for him to come fill the earth in peace and justice. i am a muslim and i believe in that. he is the son of mary. it is not normal to say that but that's what we believe in. we cannot one messenger. jesus or eny one, abraham. or we will not go to heaven. peace. there is a holy plan. and then they're going to come and meet. they will appear in mecca. jesus will come to jerusalem. they will pray together and

fill the earth with peace and justice. the problem is there is the deniers of them. they're united. so the believers of jesus and mohammed. the children of abraham should unite against evil and terrorism. and there's a time limit. see, there is the goal and there is the plan, and there is a timing. e cannot wait. you waited for sad damn. look what he has done to my people. why did we wait that long? is it because of interest? well, we should not prefer interests against the goal or against the value. so there is a timing. if you don't do it now, if you don't unite with the iraqi

people to terminate isis they will grow up in belgium, in france, in california, in iraq, in lebanon, in syria, in pakistan, in india. all around the world. why did you wait that long? and if you wait a little bit more, by the way, there is something called super bug that i worry about. this super bug has a strong immunity. and by the way, 30% of the anti-botic is not helping and they stop using it. why? because there is a bacteria that is used to the ant botic. now, isis is getting used to. they're getting to europe, they're getting to america. come on. help us to stop this bacteria. otherwise it will kill us all. o there is 3,400 terrorists, isis, come and go from europe, rough turkey, to syria, to

iraq. come on. there's going to be an ideology. there's going to be fairness. there's going to be justice. turkey sends to us ice sis and iraq killers. isis. saudi arabia is supporting them with money. and give them weapons and injured al-nusra, people. now how can we win that battle? you cannot say to the world we are anti-isis but you help them. you have to mean what you say and to say what you mean. this is what religious and faith and god is teaching us. you cannot only worry about yourself, you cannot only worry about your people. you've got to worry about what god wants you. god wants you to bring peace to the whole humanity. why, there is one person getting killed in europe by terrorists, so many people are

getting worried. what about iraqi people? from there. a couple of weeks ago 300 people got killed and injured and wounded and i swear to god you cannot figure out whose hands and legs are from whom. where is the world? why is if there's one person getting killed in europe, people get woreafment is the blood the same color? we are all human beings. all the human beings are one nation. we all are children of evil adam. we cannot play a double stand here dividing iraq but uniting the world. we cannot do that. if they want to create a untry in north in iraq and kurdish and sunni in the west and shia in the south. well, if you be that lune then we won't have a united states of america. every state will go on their

own. so there is -- has to be justice and the justice has to be its own value. you cannot have justice in the court without value. so the law should be based on value and that value should be justice. so you should not only be concerned about interests. you have to worry about justice. the united nation, here they are. i mean, how do you want us to fight unknown enemies? even saddam, the start, we thank the whole world for him to get rid of him. he was -- you know that's why they picked him up from the hole like a mouse. but isis. they wear masks. how do you want us to find them? and when they kill us, which country you should sue? which government should you sue? where to go? it is a wild enemy, wild

creation. we should help the united nations should help us. why have you been wait sng you regime 40 saddam's years until he destroyed millions of people. now we see isis destroying iraq and syria and the rest of the world. how much do you want us to lose? if there is no peace in one spot, there will be no peace in the others. no justice, no peace. so there is a new world order that has to be applied in this world. world order based on spiritual power. we have an iraq, we have popular mobilization forces. the same iraqi, the same iraqi soldier fighting in the iraqi army when he moves to the popular mobilization forces, he fights better, stronger.

why? because there's an energy, there is a spiritual energy. we have to use that energy. there is a nuclear energy and there is a chemical energy and electrical energy and there is a spiritual energy. we have to use that energy because a politician without faith or without god is fairness. -- unfairness. and finally the world is going to nonconventional politics. trump is not republican. sanders i voted for not democratic. so in the philippines they chose a president from the people. so there is a people power. and that's why we have the popular mobilization forces coming from the people for the people to serve the people. god bless you all. thank you for listening.

>> thank you imam. i forgot to show you a picture of my city baghdad. every time they have an explosion they put a red dot on the place when they have it. that was in 2012. ok? and right now there are more dots. so all bad dad is red. and i chose baghdad for two reasons. 20,000 suicide in one city, and the people are still alive, without being terrorized. i tell you again and again. to make baghdad symbolic for the city and the world for fighting isis and al qaeda. it has a lot of meaning in this picture. i'm going to talk more about it. there is also another picture i would like to get it but i

couldn't at this time. sis burned a big family from 3 years old with the mother and the father. they put them in the cage and they burned them alive. they burned them. when i saw that picture i couldn't bring it because i become very emotional. that was the organization. i cannot see it. i could not see it. but i have the passion since i was tortured in saddam's prison i feel the pain of the people. i feel all the time the shoes of the child who is being burned by isis and al qaeda. that hurts me. and that is why i say i cannot deliver a more powerful message than the unity of the whole world. today it is a pleasure to have a unique person, a man with a character.

in s the one representative popular forces fighting isis and al qaeda, and daily dropping, daily they fight and they die to protect the christians, the sunni, and everyone on the behalf of the whole world, on behalf of the global. and also he is going to tell you, he is person who served three prime ministers as a senior adviser. he is the only one. they kept him because of his character. because of his style. he is a doer. he is the one in charge of putting saddam on trial. and all the big missions, the impossible missions.

mission impossible. he was in it. it's a pleasure, an honor for us to have him here today. do give him a hand. >> thank you. in the name of god the most compassionate. i'm going to talk today about the mobilization. everybody's been talking about this new phenomena that started in iraq. after the collapse of the city of mosul back almost a couple of years ago, what was it june 10, 2014 when one of the third largest cities in iraq was occupied by vicious al qaeda and called today isis. the p.m.u.'s or proper mobilization forces unit, was established by a guy. he was sitting there, like some

reporters the media focused this is an iranian proxy. it's not. what happened, the issue of fat with a. not for the shia. but for all the iraqis to participate with the pmu's what they call a nonmandatory. this means a voluntary basis for this fatwa to be part of to protect your city, to protect your homeland, iraq. and this fatwa was only a couple of days later, june 15, the fatwa was issued on june 13th, 2014. only a couple days later, june 15th, 2014, it was backed up by an iraqi government conso long. they backed it up with a law. this law complemented the technicality of the implementation of these forces. i'm going to just talk a little bit for an average volunteer basis to go to the war to fight, to receive the training, all the coordination was done

with the ministry of defense. and we paid about 700. not a whole lot of money. for an individual to fight. you will receive a training, with coordinating with the ministry of defense. some of these volunteers work for the ministry. they have an every day job. we usually give them 90 days contract. then we pay them $300 only a month. they leave their job go on assignment, finish, go take care of business. they fight to be part of this global mission, this noble mission. as a result of that, a lot of people ask me what are we talking about here? what's the number? the number fluctwuts. it got up to like 200,000, all the way to 260,000. day, the pmu's we have about 185 on payroll. something very, very important. a lot of people think this is an iranian influence, this is

backed up by iranian help. that's not true. this is only shia dominated. and i'm going to talk about fallujaha with what's happening and the mobilization. how they take place in the battlefield. the ve january 15th, 2016, prime minister issued 40,000 from the provinces of anbar and fallujaha and tikrit, these cities, the sunni cities. we recruited -- and i was in charge of the payroll by the way at that time. we recruited 40,000 individualses from the sunni cities and we had about -- in other words, this fatwa was not only for the shia dominated or the shia -- a lot of shia, yes. a lot came just to protect their city and homeland. but a lot of these p.m.u.'s from the sunnis and the christian sectors.

something very important that we need to talk about. the p.m.u.'s, it's really honestly i'm going to be very frank about this to the media. i'm really sick and tired every time i google the word p.m.u. and it's going to show you shia militia. it is not. these are iraqi fighting force to free the city of iraq. mosul is a sunni city kind of but u the shia are fighting to free it. for who? for their own people of mosul. the same thing with fallujaha. we salute the armies who are fighting today and making great progress in the city of fallujaha. we just liberated a couple important bridges and a couple of other bridges coming from the main street and hopefully the next couple of days hopefully or maybe three or four days hopefully we'll have the news that fallujaha will be free of isis. a lot of people asked me just

last night when we get some report the battlefield has been slowed down just a little bit because we let the civilians get out. we've been making an announcement left and right with the helicopters telling the civilians to get out and there's protection next door in tikrit to have protection for the families and children. a lot of people wish to stay just to help isis to be honest. hopefully these folks will get out and the battle will slow for the last 24 hours or so just because that way it will give them a chance to get out. people ask me what is our organization? we are dominated by individuals , different brigades. each and every of these people party elong to the iraqi that's ok that's the case. a lot of them belong to iraqi political parties in the iraqi parliament. that's ok as long as they receive the training they go to

the war with a good cause. i've got to mention, 1200 people about ten days ago, 1200 from the sunni city of fallujaha participated in the war to free their own cities. today 300,000 individuals joined the pmu. keep in mind it's about 326 individuals. when you have 3,000 from their own cities participate in the war fighting it's a great number. the enemy is one. as al qaeda yesterday called september 11th and today isis we call in arabic, we have to be united to fight isis. isis is not something that is going to go away. it's like a snowball to keep rolling. the number keeps getting greater and greater and bigger

and bigger every day. we have them in the backyard here in d.c. and los angeles. it happened yesterday. you know? san bernardino, california. where do these thugs come from? if we don't stop them. and i'm upset about the media that's been promoting isis when they're called the islamic state,. these are not islamic. they do not represent islam. it's a cult and we have to stop it. the way we stop it, we have to be united to terminate isis. in only one way. but we've got -- if you don't have the power, the military. but you have the power. cyber. media, the social twork. we have to fight them. it's very easy to target them and fight them. they're all over. they're coming from europe. they were in belgium and france and san bernardino. pretty soon they will be here. i don't think this administration will -- what do they do about it? not a whole lot, honestly. we gain a lot of help from

surrounding countries. and the american administration is honestly giving us great protection. but hopefully when we goat to mosul hopefully we'll get more aid and more protection militarywise from the american dministration. there's been a great deal of hate and sentiment towards the americans unfortunately. this is a fact. why? because we have not done a great job. i'm an american. i go back and i travel a lot. i go people say i flash my american passport they don't like this. guess what. oh, a great deal of sentiment and hate towards the americans nowadays than ever. do you know why? i'm going to be very frank and very honest. a lot of these folks in the middle east, they believe isis is an american creation and quote me on this. they believe in the middle east isis is an american creation.

it's not. right? do you agree? it's not an american creation. right? this administration needs to prove me otherwise. this needs to u prove me otherwise. if this is not an american creation, what is it? how are they? who are they? whether or not wr do they come from? they receive training in 2014. i think was it a west point report i read, about 3,000 to 4,000 chinese trained in istanbul. they moved to mosul to fight with isis. do you believe this? from russia, from europe. a few thousand people from this country moved to mosul to fight with isis. did we notice? have we done anything about it? we need to pay attention to this. we are not going to gain the hearts and the minds of the iraqi people by helping the iraqi army that way. we need more support and more help than ever.

the blood of james foley, got a lot of media folks today, will not go in vain. we need to protect our media individuals to protect the rights of these individuals to fight. a lot of the media got killed from isis. you know, they beheaded? who distorted this? it was them. al qaeda, today called isis. last but not least we salute the iraqi army who have been fighting bravely today freeing one of the major cities of fallujaha. and the bad news was that the report a couple of days ago, the end of may they issue that report, about 2300 people in iraq were killed as the victims of isis. that's a great number birks the way. obviously of iraqi official number about 1800. it's always different. but they issued a statement a couple of days ago 2300 people were killed in iraq in may

2016. that's a big number but we said if we get a couple of these people get killed in the backyard the whole world will turn upside down. we nfortunately this -- vow to the people, we will not let them go. we will keep continue fighting until we reach the victory. hopefully we will never. hopefully. we will never be victorious until we are united. thank you. > thank you so much. thank you all of you to be here today. everyone knows how things are complicated. when it comes to the battle in iraq to fight isis, it's clear cut. thank you mr. obama. i do say it on behalf, thank you america for standing with

the iraqi people, with the kurdish people. for fighting isis and al qaeda. today we have an american soldier on the ground training the iraqi army. we salute them. we love them. they are the heroes. nd that is an eco to our soldiers. united with stand to terminate isis. when i see the american soldier next to the iraqi soldier together training them we love it. that's what we are heading for. thank you, mr. president. i love president obama. as a republican, by the way. i'm a republican. i love george bush who went to iraq to liberate and knock down saddam hussein and i voted twice for him but also i voted twice for president obama. he is a character. i know how politics go in this country. i wish he would go for the third term and i will vet for him as a republican.

the real issue which i believe , received hundreds of calls there is a story about him. ok. where is isis today? in iraq? who is going to talk about syria ?huckl imagine,omplicated -- you have a family, living in the same house, -- the sister, the brother, the nephew, the niece and everyone that -- the niece with the mother, grandfather, with this against that as such complicated. i can write a big book about it and i cannot see what is the puz puzzle of that book. united states foreign policy so clear, so clear. humidity isis and al qaeda.

obama, and isident love him. the confusing is about the opposition. it was our proposal, 95% of the real forces in the ground is isis and -- it's al qaeda that people of 9/11. the question, where is the stop sign to stop? it's clear. president obama said isis got to be terminated, got to be out. we love you, mr. president. the question we as american, we love democracy, we stand for democracy. that's the principle of the essence of our nation. that's why we love america. should present adviser. she'll have an angle of you. nothing to do with -- you have to be -- when he talked, that's

his view. i don't know much about her, but i ask mr.to come. to give the biography about it and after that, we're going to -- she's doing to give a speech and after that question and answer, ok. >> good morning. this is the part where you guys respond. good morning. thank you. it is my honor to present you guys today the doctor, the political and media adviser to the syrian presidency.

the doctor sets an example to women all around the world, where they can influence decision makers. she's the nobel peace prize nominee. without further ado, the doctor. hold any questions until the end. have allied q and a.

>> good morning to you. allow me first to thanks for advising me to join you in this important endeavor at the global alliance with isis. and allow me also to thank mr. -- for making their best to make -- to have them take place. at the outset, i would like, first, to question with you two of the most important technologies that have been collected for the last five years in corporate media before we start our discussion of the topic, the two terms are on opposition and are on opposition. and i would like to ask all of you, did you ever hear of an armed opposition in any country in the world and to my

knowledge, opposition is political opposition, but once they're being taken, killing is being perpetrated, they're being done against people, it's no longer an opposition. it is terrorist movement that kills and destroys. this leads me to question the narrative that has been circulated also all over the world, but particularly, in western countries about events in syria. since march 2011, that is owned and -- and allowed to be on tv that's by their behavior, had been the major source of

information about syria, although your information both -- for respondents right from the very first two months of the war in syria and they started to rely on what they call eyewitnesss. the same thing applies to the human right for human rights, which also have been a major source for western media. i do not how many you know that only one person who lives in england is the one who providing all of this information about syria. that's what i'm trying to say is that the western media.

>> original who are in syria and that's, i feel, that the fourth narrative and the media have been used by our adversity in order to misinform western audiences and, therefor, how can western people know what's going on in syria and how can they question their governments about their stance towards syria. however, living through the thin and thick of all that has happened in syria for the last him him five years and living through all the problems and all the pain, we have reached few important conclusions, which i would like to share with you this morning, few important

conclusions about combatting terrorism and the best way to combat terrorism as this is the theme of this event. through the five years of this war in syria, we've discovered that nothing terrorism is adopted by certain countries or certain powers or certain parties. terrorists in syria have support of countries in the region and, indeed, some international powers that our country is speaking out against terrorism, but in reality the arrival of terrorists providing arguments and providing money for these terrorists. although, there are understanding being breached in je kneegeneva and although they

control for combatting and under mining terrorism, but these have not been implemented. however, however. this is a clear definition and i would like to remind all of you that syria has been struck by terrorism before in 1979 to 1982 and in the aftermath of that very difficult period, the government tried its best to call upon international community to reach a definition of terrorism and to make an alliance of international powers against terrorism, but all of

the syrian government to define terrorism when needed and there were no listening ears to what they're saying. get we renewed the invitation after the events of 9/11 and before the war ended up, for the international community for to define terrorism and make one stronger stand against terrorism but we're not been able to do so. however, 2015, find the resolution reached -- reached -- it is 2253 which calls upon countries to stop facilitating, arming or financing terrorism. within 24 hours it reached another resolution, which is 2254, which calls for political solution in syria. however, the resolution 2253, which are taking in the chapter 7 is hardly mentioned, or by the countries who are trying supposedly to reach political solution in syria, but political solution in syria cannot be reached without addressing the

elements that led to this situation which are terrorist elements led by isis and by it. the government of syrian of republic have been cooperative with all international efforts. in order to reach a political solution. get we renewed the invitation turkey, kqitar and saudi arabia financing and terrorism in syria and unfortunately international powers including u.s. and russia do not seem to be able to put an end to this financing and facilitating terrorism into syria. if you imagine syria without the 860 i can kilometers all of tft -- now we come to resolution 2254 and the will of the russian and the americans to try and implement this -- the solution.

unfortunately, as i said, the regional partners do not want this resolution to be implemented and they're not saying for some reason or another, does not seem to be able to restrain from financing and facilitating terrorism into syria. since the end of february of 2016.

insistence- the consis that we are based opposition with drew from the talks and military groups allowed to turkey begun on the government's help part. turkey also ingesting over -- injected over 8,000 terrorists into the northern part of syria in the last two months and unfortunately they perpetrated massacre there and everywhere.

between now and then, we hear some good statements from western officials, such as what drove by them said, the vice president who said in 2014 and i quote, the turks, what were they doing, they were so determined to take down and essentially have a proxy, what did they do. they pulled hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of weapons into anyone who would fight against. he also said that turkey admitted it had led too many foreign fighters across its borders into syria. these politics ended up helping militants linked to al qaeda, between the brackets and ultimately isis. and, of course, afterwards vice president apologized for saying that, but actually he said the truth about what is happening in syria. i don't think we would like american officials to wait for mental wards to right there truth. borders into syria.

we would love american officials to say their truth to their people and to the world about what's happening in our countries because covering the truth is costing us blood, people, lives, history, culture, identity, this is what's costing us. it is not an easy matters. any way, the war -- what the united states decided to bring together is the international coalition of countries. all of you know that this has happened about two years ago.

we would love american officials unfortunately, they a -- the united states was not able to strike a terrorist or was not willing, it's not for me to tell, but when terrorist drive over 200 kilometers in the desert to destroy the city, we can't believe that americans they didn't see these terrorists in a flag desert arriving and destroying the city without hitting them and without doing anything to prevent them from doing so. why when the russians planes came, they struck the trucks that are putting oil from the north and east of syria to turkey, they discovered where terrorist are and they stuck them and actually the syrian army with the help of the russian air force were able to lib -- including and the huge part of syria from terrorists after it comes. the question is, why does the united states refuse to cooperate with russia, inciting terrorism and syria.

if the united states really means to fight terrorism in syria, why doesn't russia said to me is fighting terrorism in syria, out of army, why doesn't the united states accept the hands with the russian federation and fight terrorism in syria and under mine isis and under mine -- which is call al qaeda and syria. the fact that -- that president putin and foreign secretary called all the time upon the united states to join hands with them inviting terrorism, but as you heard, the spokesperson of the pentagon flatly refused this offer by the russians. so on the contrary, the united states brought in 500 soldiers into the northeastern parts is cooperating with what it calls the kurdish democratic forces in order to liberate areas from isil, but only in order to put the flood of the kurdish party in this area, which means in an

effort to partition syria. we have been living in this country for tens of thousands of years. sunni, shia, christian, kurds, armenian, caucasian, we never talk about these issues in syria, and that's why this should not be allowed to happen and will not be allowed to happen in syria. unfortunately, what we hear from the united states is confused statement. there was an agreement on two points between the russians and the americans in geneva. the one point is to separate what they call moderate opposition from al nusra so that the u.s./russia can't target them, and the second point is to close the turkish border. the united states refused to cooperate on any of these

points. and i can give you my analysis, because there is no such thing as moderate opposition thp. they're in the field, al nusra, isis, russia, islam, they are all killing people. they are all destroying our industry. they are all destroying our cities and villages. and therefore, it is very difficult for the united states to do so because it is not a realistic objective. the realistic objective is to target all those terrorists who are exercising terrorism and perpetrating acts of terrorism all over. so, who is a moderate and who is not a moderate is an issue that i think exists in the media and exists in the minds of some people in the united states, although there are, as you know, reports also that the united states is supporting and financing and giving missile and

other missiles to some groups, arming groups in syria. in his last statement in the security council on the 27th of may may, he spoke about two points -- humanitarian assistance and cessation of hostilities or implementing the truce in syria. as i said at the beginning, the implementation of 2253 is a prerequisite for the implementation of 2254. it is a logical prerequisite for the implementation of 2254, because without fighting this terrorism, without undermining terrorism in syria, how can you bring peace about and how can you restore syria to be a peaceful and good country? i would like to tell you, respectable audience, that the syrian people are not very happy with the humanitarian assistance. they have never been used to eat tin food and macaroni brought from somewhere. syrian people are used to eat fruits and fresh vegetables and fresh crops that they themselves grow in syria.

since the 1970s, the syrian people raised the motto, we eat from what we grow and we wear from what we manufacture. syria produces the most delicious fruits, vegetables, the best. it has the best type of sheep all over the world, the best meat. so, the syrian people are able not only to feed themselves but to feed millions of people with them. only they need peace and security. and when syrian people and the syrian arab army are fighting terrorism in syria, believe me, they are fighting a cancer that not only to feed themselves but will spread to the region and the world if we do not initiate that international alliance against terrorism, against isis and against nusra. it's from this perspective i

would like to go back and thank gafta again for this commendable effort in order to create or at least raise the awareness for the necessity of a global alliance against isis and against al nusra. we have a great experience now will spread to the region and after six years of horrid war on our people and our army, to join hands, with who would like truly to fight terrorism and not contain isis and nusra but undermine and get rid of isis and nusra, because between you and me, what the united states is doing is trying to contain isis in syria and in iraq. and by the way, the suffering of the syrian people and iraqi people is the same, because our enemy is the same. terrorism is the enemy to all of us. we would love to join hands with the international community, with western people, in order to

get rid of this horrid 21 21st-century disease. one thing is needed, and we will definitely prevail, is to be honest in one thing, to fight terrorism, not to take it as a cover for geopolitical purposes and for achieving geopolitical interests for some countries. i thank you again for inviting me and hope to see you in person in syria after it is peaceful and secure and free of all terrorism. thank you. [applause] >> ok. please, i would like just to tell everybody, we're going to have a session for q&a. put your hands up, ok? so, in this session, i will take your -- ok, you're question number one, ok. but please, control everything, control your emotional. i would like to get, you know, a fruit from this meeting, ok?

unfortunately, to talk with her live via skype to ask any question. so, you ask the question, and you can have the answer. ok. until they set up the skype, ok, i would like to see if anybody has any question to our guests. ok. go ahead. >> oh. thank you. you all three has made a call to not call islamic terrorism. but you're still using isis, unlike in middle east, they use the term daesh, which i haven't heard from you guys. >> yes. thank you so much. to whom would you like to send the question, anybody? anyone? ok. bassam. >> well, i mean, unfortunately, the -- no, this is good.

can you see me? we don't call them that, you guys do. i'm sick and tired of you all calling them islamic individual. these are not islamic. these are hard-core cult terrorism, vicious individuals killing humanity. you know, we don't call them islamic. we don't believe they're muslim to begin with, you know that. they've been called islam in the media, left and right, and we need change. that's why gafta's here today to make this a new concept, a new phenomena phenomena, saying, well, these people are not muslim to begin with. they do not represent islam. they made it very clear, the media call them islamic estate. al jazeera calls them islamic estate. they've been coming from all over the country, from europe, from the state, you know. they've been attacking and killing our people in iraq and syria and everywhere else, and our backyard right here, you know? so, we do not call them islamic.

they do not represent islam whatsoever. the name has got to change. we'd better call them just terrorists, period. thank you. >> yes, do you want me to elaborate for a few seconds? yes, a few seconds. islam means in arabic peace. salaam, peace. so, a cult who destroys children, women, man, they don't care about faith, they don't care about sex, they don't care about age. they cannot be called islam! and let me challenge isis. if they are really true muslims, clear your face and let's see you, because our beloved prophet muhammad and his family and his followers, they have a clear, shiny face. show us our ugly face if you are muslim. >> thank you.

we have right now dr. shaaban on the line with us live. and thank you for giving us a chance to be here. it's a pleasure to have you here. and i'm going to give you the opportunity, dr. shaaban. we have a lot of questions to you, a lot. and everybody's so excited just to have the opportunity to talk with you directly. thank you so much. so, i'll give the first question -- go ahead. yeah. >> hello. it's a pleasure to speak to you. i'm reese sherlock from "the daily telegraph." i wanted to know whether the syrian government is going to give the u.n. permission to carry out aid drops to besieged areas in syria, given that the syrian government has apparently failed to allow access to these areas? and separately, i wanted to know, there's a man called amil absi. and in 2011, he was released

from prison and he then went on to become a senior member of isis. how does releasing people from sedanai prison who have then gone on to join isis, how does that fit in with a government strategy to defeat isis? thank you. >> thank you. dr. shaaban. sorry, the voice is -- sorry, we have technical problem. we have technical problem. who is in charge of the -- no, sorry. we have problem. so, ok, until we get, fix the problem with the skype, ok, any question to my -- she got your question. she will answer. yes, go ahead. welcome. >> there was an investigative piece by abc today, released today, that said that the popular mobilization forces have committed atrocities in fallujah

and that there is a big fear by so many humanitarian organizations, american organizations, that there would be more atrocities committed in fallujah by the forces, these forces. so how do you respond to this investigative piece? >> what type of atrocities? >> beheadings, torture and other things. on abc. >> i made myself very clear about these beheaded. they started this. we did not. >> according to this investigation report -- >> by who? >> by abc. >> by abc. >> abc. >> and with the help of humanitarian organizations, american organizations, that these were committed by the forces, these popular mobilization force >> yeah, i'll be honest with you, there was a movie about some bad apples called "three kings" in 1988, about the liberation of kuwait, when saddam hussein occupied kuwait.

you know, i happened to play on it, yeah, made some money. well, i mean, there's always going to be some bad apples, honestly. i mean, look at the american soldier, what they did in iraq, you know? you remember the haditha case? remember the abu ghraib prison? we're always going to have a few bad apples here and there, ok? i'm not saying these are perfect individuals. these people lost their life. but i guarantee you, i was in charge of about 20 cases myself, but some cases, they were actually human rights violation activities done by the pmus. and a looked in each and every one cases. honestly, we never had enough evidence. and sometimes, honestly, you know, we don't have enough evidence, period, you know. a lot of the media, established by isis, it goes in the internet saying that, you know, the pmus did those things, you know? and we turn out it's what they are creating these images on facebook and social media.

i mean, we don't have a clear case, but i will be happy to look into this. and honestly, it's going to happen. it's going to happen here and there. there will be some human rights violation here and there. this is not an easy war. this is a battlefield between a very vicious, you know, criminal, isis, you know? we can't be perfect. >> ok. just to be sure the skype is running good, because we have a problem with the sounds. ok. >> can you hear me? >> yes, right now, yes, we can hear you. yes, we can. >> i think -- let us do it with the audio if we can do it with the audio. >> yes. >> i would like to participate with you in this panel, even if it is without picture. >> no, dr.

shaaban, we can see your picture. right now we fixed the sound. i think we are great. we can hear your voice, ok? keep going. you can answer the first question. >> yeah. for the lady who -- from "the daily telegraph" who asked me about the syrian government not allowing air drops, i would like to tell her that these are our people in syria and we are trying our best with the u.n. representative here to try and find the best way to make all medicine, all food, everything reach every single citizen in syria. by the way, the u.n. envoy here is the one who was discussing with our official that it is impossible to drop, for example, children vaccine or other important medicines from the air, and it is very costly endeavor and it is very dangerous, and it is not secure. and there is no need for that so long as we, all of us try to

reach every single syrian citizen. i hope you will put aside a lot of what is circulated in the media, because it's all targeting the syrian government and whatever it does, and the syrian people. as for what you asked me about the sednaya prison, i have no knowledge of this case. but i can tell you that since the beginning of this war, there are many -- there were many decrees issued in order to allow other people to get out of prison or to reach reconciliation with the syrian people and with the syrian government. and if someone of those turned out to go and be a terrorist or join isis -- somebody from norway the other day while joining isis and killing people. do we say norway is responsible for this terrorist who joined isis? i mean, this is only a logical question to ask. there is no doubt, there should be no doubt in your mind that

the syrian government is the one, the syrian arab army, the syrian people are the ones who are fighting isis, fighting terrorism, because this terrorism has knocked syria 100 years back. it destroyed our schools, it destroyed our hospitals, it destroyed our factories, it destroyed our land. so, it's only sensible that we are desperately and very strongly against this terrorism that is hitting syria. >> thank you, dr. shaaban. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> we have another question. you're going to have a lot of questions today, and we have one hour. we're going to get to everybody, ok? so, please, one by one. >> i'm ready. >> thank you. thanks so much. >> dr. shaaban, i'm a syrian citizen and an analyst in the center of religion and geopolitics, tony blair foundation. my question to you is, as a syrian, what are the concessions that the government, syrian government, is willing to do in geneva in order to overcome,

yes, the turmoil the syrians are feeling, but what is the political solution? when you talked about political solutions with their concessions -- look at tunisia. there was concessions from both sides to come into a solution. so, please -- >> thank you. thank you so much. dr. shaaban. >> i assume that you follow up the news, as you are a journalist and tony blair foundation, and i think you should have known that in the last meeting in geneva it was very hard delegation that withdrew from the negotiation and who refused to meet with the syrian delegation, and they left geneva while our delegation, the syrian government delegation, the country's delegation stayed in geneva and talked with them until the very end. we are very constructive, we are very positive. saying concessions is the wrong word, because there are not concessions that are being asked

to make. what we want is, all of us to make our country a better place for all the syrian people. but to be put in a position that is left by turkey to leave geneva, and they leave geneva, and to be ordered by saudi arabia, i don't think syria is a first priority. i think you should ask these people how can they get rid of the orders that are given to them from outside and how can they put syria first in order to bring peace into syria. thank you. >> thank you, there shaaban. next question. please introduce yourself every time. >> hi, i'm elian al hamisi from press tv. is there a complete plan by the resistance front to combat terrorism or is the resistance front still on defense? >> is there -- sorry, is there a willingness on the resistance front to approve terrorism? to combat -- >> is there a resistance plan, a complete plan to combat terrorism, or is the resistance on the defense still?

>> no. the resistance comes if you mean by syria, hezbollah and iran and iraq also. this is all what they are doing. all what they are doing is that they are combating terrorism. but as you can see, there are so many complicated issues in the region and with regional power, financing, arming, as i said in my speech, facilitating terrorism. we have a big problem. otherwise, you know, if we close, if the international community were able to close the syrian/turkish border today, half of terrorists will be undermined immediately in no time. so, it needs the will of regional and international power to have one alliance, real alliance, as gafta is saying, global alliance against terrorism. it's very difficult for the resistance front to approve terrorism while others are feeding into this terrorism all the time. thank you.

>> next one. ok, we'll go this one and after i come to you. >> mohammed kenasari from turkey's agency. there are tons of reports suggesting that the isis oil and natural gas used by the regime in exchange of electricity and other utilities returned to isis, i was wondering your position on that. and if not, if you agree with that, how does isis get the electricity and other facilities? thank you. >> i think the best person to point this question to is the turkish government, because it has been proven and no doubt that the turkish government -- >> excuse me, excuse me -- >> -- who is buying oil from the terrorists in syria, it is the turkish government who is making billions of dollars out of this. and those who are making billions of dollars out f blackmailing europe about refugees while it was turkey who started the whole syrian problem about refugees. i stop at that. thank you.

>> ok, because we have too many question, please, just listen. go next one after. maybe we will take you again. ok. let's start with this. i'll come to you after. go ahead, next. >> i'm from the tower. >> where, please? >> from the tower. >> from? >> from? >> the tower. is this better? >> yes, ok. >> yes, ok. >> the u.s. treasury department said in december that isis is selling a great deal of oil to the assad regime. and secretary of state john kerry said in november that assad has cut his own deal with isis. they sell oil, he buys oil. they're symbiotic, not real enemies in this. how then can assad be a part of

a coalition to defeat isis when his government seems to be assisting the group? >> ok. >> i really didn't understand the question. i'm sorry. >> can you repeat it again, please? >> if you can repeat it, please. >> the question is -- >> thank you. >> say it loudly. >> the u.s. treasury department said in december that isis is selling a great deal of oil to the assad regime. secretary of state john kerry said in november that assad has cut his own deal with isis. they sell oil, he buys oil. they are symbiotic, not real enemies in this. how then can assad be a part of a coalition to defeat isis when his government seems to be assisting the group? >> thank you. >> thank you. >> well, the answer is in the question. there is no question that the syrian government never buys oil or sells oil to the terrorists. the syrian government, the syrin arab army, the syrian people are engaged in full battle, and we

have paid with hundreds of thousands of martyrs against terrorism. there are so many unfounded views that are suppressed in the media. i don't think you have to believe all of them. thank you. >> right now to the next. >> dr. bouthaina shaaban, we're with al jazeera here to listen to you and broadcast your views. so, we did not boycott the syrian government. my question is, you just said that all terrorists, and i'm quoting you, all terrorists, all terrorists came from the turkish borders, all the terrorists inside syria. but the examples we just heard, zadan al loush, who was killed inside syria, covered extensively by government-owned media, he was described as a big terrorist leader by your own media. he was inside a syrian prison and he was let go in 2011 by the syrian government. did you not know about his past? and why was he in prison, then released, based on that? and of course, turkey -- that means they did not all come through the turkish -- >> thank you so much. thank you. try to make the question short to give more portion to everybody to answer.

dr. shaaban -- >> i really don't know. you know, if you are insinuating that we could possibly know that somebody is going to turn such a terrorist and we let him out of prison. he was taken to court and then he was released just as any prisoner would be released after he spends the time that he had to spend in prison. but i meant all the terrorists who came from out of syria -- actually, i should have said most of them, because some of them came through the jordanian border. and the fact that mcveigh made the explosion in oklahoma and killed 70 children doesn't mean that mcveigh was a friend of the american government to go and kill children in oklahoma. the same applies to zaham al loush. thank you. >> thank you. and next after i come to you. actually, they're on the line. let's go there and then i'll

come to you. i spot you, ok? >> my name is skina. i have a question you need to clarify because i am very confused. mr. kubba, you were talking about iraq and said all of the terrorists were coming from syra and dr. shaaban says they're coming from outside syria -- >> let me clarify my position -- >> let me finish. that's my first question. we need to know exactly where we're standing from here. are they coming from syria or outside of syria or both? elaborate. >> thank you. >> second question, dr. shaaban, you're saying that, you know, the syrian people who are, like, you know, they're not receiving the human aids are syrian and still they're under siege and not receiving food. what they received only, like, you know, birth control, and some, like some you know, covers from mosquito. what about, like, you know, the food? we need to clarify that.

thank you. >> thank you. thanks a lot. dr. shaaban first and then to defend myself as a gafta to clear it. when i said, yes, isis came from syria. but before, they came from turkey. they come from syria -- it's very clear. i'm from syria. they come to iraq. it's very clear they invaded more so, isis came from syria. it's a fact. it's a fact. and isis was exist. so, when i'm saying all the terrorists coming from turkey to syria, to iraq. it's fact. and i'll let dr. shaaban -- >> i would like to tell you that the two americans who were killed in syria, their passports were stamped in turkey, and that was it. there was no other stamp on their passports. so, it is a fact that russian satellite and even american satellite in the last one month, so over 8,000 terrorists coming through turkey.

you know, the proof of that would be, if the international community were able to close the turkish border tomorrow, you would see what happens to the war with syria, you know? so, but the issue is not where they came from. the issue is how to fight them. the issue is how to undermine terrorism. the issue is how to end terrorism. and if you are talking about it, i think i am the one who is living here. i can tell you that they are producing peas and beans and food and wild berries that is enough for the entire syria. it is a very fertile land and nobody is starving in that area. but what we are trying to take into that area is the school curricula, the children vaccinations and whatever the few citizens who are left in that area are asking for. i wish that you would be a little bit more humble, because you don't live in syria, and we are the ones who live in syria. those are our people. it's our country that is being

hit, not yours. >> i am kimberly from al jazeera. yesterday, the state department spokesperson called you a propaganda mouthpiece. in have appeared now violation of the u.s. sanctions by the u.s. treasury department. how can your. today be viewed as anything other than a push for legitimacy? >> repeat the question.

>> no there isn't excuse. toave no legal decision prevent me from traveling to the united states. >> why are you not hear? is this an opportune time? >> i received an invitation, and i was happy to receive it and give this an insight on to whaty happening in syria in an effort to combat terrorism, because all of us will be victims of terrorism if we want to fight terrorism united. thank you. >> hello, everyone. my name is susan. i am with the syrian american council. great questions by the media today, actually. the question is to gafta.

i want to know how you can hold a forum calling for a plan to get rid of isis and al qaeda, and yet, you're providing a platform to a foremost enabler of isis and al qaeda? a lot of the questions today stated shared that with you. also, it is openly stated by the assad regime, by your organization that support hezbollah openly when hezbollah is actually on the u.s. terrorist list. >> no, ok, i -- >> a lot of what bouthaina shaaban said today was absolute b.s., which happen to be her initials as well. but i wanted to mention, she talked about how can you have an armed opposition? we only talk about political oppositions. you will have an armed opposition, bouthaina, when people go out into the streets peacefully and protest asking for democracy and freedom, when at the same time, the assad regime lets go of extremists in prisons to go to iraq, kill american soldiers, while on the streets of syria the assad regime rounds up these peaceful protesters, throws them in prison, rapes their wives and rapes their daughters, kills them. >> ok.

>> provides chemicals to kill them, slashes their throats with knives, and yet, you want them to stand and not be in armed opposition? the moderate opposition exists and is still standing after five years. >> ok. >> they will -- excuse me, they will accept an armed opposition that destroys your factories and the schools and hospitals in the united states under the name that it wants to change the government? do you accept that? does any country in the world accept that? is iraq better now after the american occupation of iraq than it has been before? did you establish a democracy and the human life in iraq? are the iraqi people living in heaven after the american occupation of iraq? i think it's about time, please, that western audiences be real and look at our countries and see what we are suffering from. we are rooted in this land. we are not going to go anywhere.

it has been before? we want to make our countries better. but with every american intervention, with every western intervention, with every terrorist intervention, our countries are knocked 100 years back. you are not here to see what's happening to syrian women, to syrian children. you didn't see the man who killed his mother, you know, because he's a terrorist. you don't see that. so, please, you know, take what you read with a great pinch of salt. >> thank you so much. number one -- haida, stop just a minute. ok, what i was saying -- first of all, as gafta, i want to answer you, ok? we in gafta, we look as independent organization, look to the geopolitics. we calculate forces. people like you, ok, people like you -- hold on a second. when i talk, no interruption. ok. when we -- ok when we look to the geopolitics of the region -- i'm a realist, i calculate

forces -- people like you, by promoting that way, more suffering to the syrian people. i want to tell you something, the war became proxy war. russia and iran, it's fact, you agree with me. i don't think you disagree with me. you agree with me. based on that fact, the status quo is going to stay for another ten years. and who is suffering? the syrian people and the iraqi people, suffering. people like you, people like you, you promote just to keep the status quo without giving an alternative solution. i am here not to support or endorse any regime, not to -- but to open gafta like a lake and all the rivers around the global. come to this lake to open channels in a civilized way. i give you an opportunity, to you, to give a question to dr. bouthaina shaaban. you would never dream about it. i made it for you, ok? so gafta would like to hear voices. that's the idea. as an opportunity to everybody to ask any question you like! that's the idea of gafta.

>> mr. kubba, would you allow me to -- isn't there a freedom of the press in the united states? what is the problem if you hear a voice from the syrian government as you have been hearing thousands of voices of asians who sold their countries and who are only interested in pleasing their masters? what is the problem? i am a peaceful person. i'm talking to you through satellite. i love my country. i taught in the united stes for two years. i had three books published in the united states read by american people and the beneficiary of american educational system. i did my ph.d in england. i am not against the west. i am western oriented. but i am a syrian, deeply rooted syrian. and i know that this war is very destructive on my country. and i know that the western people should learn that they cannot go on in this way

destroying our countries and destroying our people because they are misled or because they have illusions about what's happening in syria. i think even the american government acknowledges that it should not have withdrew its ambassadors. all european countries acknowledge that they should not have withdrew their ambassadors from syria. at least they should have left an ambassador to know what is truly happening in syria. >> thank you, dr. shaaban. >> thank you. >> we have one and after you. ok, after you. and after we come to you and after we come -- >> from "voice of america," persian news network. my first question is dr. shaaban. you mentioned that it's dangerous to let the food aid to drop into area which people are starving. i mean, are you afraid that the boxes might kill starving people?

and why is the government avoiding letting the u.n. convoy and the food aid to get to the people, civilian people? and my second question is to mr. bassam al hussaini. you mentioned that the ayatollah issued a statement for the people to raise against isis -- >> 2014. >> 2014, yes. but now last week, ayatollah sis tani issued it for the people to free fallujah to save the people and not have made atrocities. so, if there is such a concern with the leadership of the shia leadership, how can, even if fallujah is freed, how can sunnis and shia can live together in peace? what are the shia religion leader, the other leaders going to do about after, you know, if such a -- >> ok, we got the message.

the time is limited. >> madam, i did not say it is dangerous to drop food. i said it's dangerous to drop children vaccine and medicine, and this is not what i said. this is what the representative is talking to syrian government about. that area is the food basket of damascus. there is nobody starving in that area. we all take our food from that area. i don't think you should take things at such face value, you know. and you should always be accusatory in your questions. and even now you are accusatory in hearing me. i didn't say food. i said medicine and vaccine. and i am only repeating what the u.n. is deciding, you know. and although i know your second question is not directed to me, but i can tell you that sunni and shiite were not only living in fallujah and iraq and in

syria. there are intermarriages among them. not anybody would ask who is a sunni and who is a shia? by the way, my husband is of iraqi origin. i know iraq as i know syria. we are all arabs. we speak the same language. we have the same problems. we have lived here for tens of thousands of years without any ethnic or sectarian problem. it's only western agenda that is creating these problems among our people. thank you. >> thank you so much. thanks. >> let me answer the second part of the question. actually, just because a lot of these supports that some of you asked me earlier about these human rights violations done by the pmus and, you know, or even the army itself. you know, sistani issued a statement, we want to take care of the people of fallujah, do not kill them, do not hurt them. i want to make something -- something funny i read the other day about, like they accuse the pmus that hurt or abuse the woman. you know, guess what, when we got a hold of these women, they

were actually isis dressed like a woman. and so, i concur, we did abuse those type of woman only. >> thank you. behind you. >> yes, hello, my name's paul shrinkman with "u.s. news & world report." dr. shaaban, i've got three straightforward questions for you. one is a follow-up. can you say yes or no whether the syrian government will allow u.n. aid drops? and if not, why not? secondly, while we've been speaking, there have been some reports about an explosion in alatakia. do you have any details on that?

and lastly, the journalist austin tice remains missing. i wonder if you have the information on that and can you say declaratively that he is not in syrian government authority captivity? >> so, only your last question? i got the first two, but what's the last one? >> austin tice, the journalist who went missing in 2012. can you say he's not under syrian government authority? >> thank you. i don't know why, you know, you are so interested in air drops and you are not interested in at least mentioning what the terrorists did two days ago, killing 200 civilians. air drops or no air drops, trucks on the road, this is something that is being discussed between the u.n. and the syrian government, and this is not very important to us. the most important thing to us is to uproot terrorism. because as i told you in my speech, the syrian people are able to feed themselves. and by the way, when the first baskets, food baskets used to arrive from the u.n., the syrian people would cry and would never accept to take any food baskets because they have never accepted aid from anybody. syria has never taken aid.

it has never taken a loan from any other country. syrian people are very proud. this doesn't mean that we are not trying our very best to make everything arrive to our citizens. but as westerners, i would love you to be more interested in fighting terrorism, in uprooting terrorism, in encouraging your government to take the right stand against terrorism, because this is what will bring a lasting peace, not only to syria, but to the entire region. i did not say the explosion today and i think austin tice came to the terrorist area and the syrian government knows nothing about him. we have been contacted, and if we knew anything about him, we would tell, because we already made others, americans who were here returned to the united states so their family, although they were fighting with the terrorists. this is how forgiving we are. >> thank you. ext.

>> hi. i'm the bureau chief in washington. i'm a syrian american who actually had to flee for my life from syria in late 2011 because, not because i'm isis, not because, you know, i'm endangering anybody in any way, but just because i'm have an opposition family who i, you know, joined the revolution in the beginning just as a syrian youth. and i just wanted to ask bouthaina shaaban about when you say you have no legal implications against you here, mr. michel smaha was always in your office in the presidential palace who later on, he is a lebanese parliament member who was taped while he was taken bombs to bomb christian areas in lebanon. he is an adviser to you and to bashar al assad, and he was at your office all the time.

can you please verify your relationship with this guy who's -- >> thank you. > -- actually been imprisoned. and i want to talk -- >> the second question is about iraq. >> to circulate rumors that serves your purposes. and i already said at the beginning of my speech that it was absolutely a major tool in initiating this war against syria. therefore, i do not expect anything, any contribution better than this from you. thank you. >> thank you so much. please, i need everybody ask only one question because we have too many people that want to ask. to cover everything. and we have only half an hour left. so, please, one question and briefly. and that would give everybody the chance, the opportunity to ask, please. go, next. introduce yourself. >> leandra bernstein with sputnik international news. have a question about the

peace proops and under u.n. security council resolution -- oh, i just forgot the number. the road map, the timeline set august as a date, a deadline for a new constitution transitional overnment bodies to be formed. first, do you think you can meet that deadline? and given the number of players in the country, is a unified syria a foregone conclusion at this time? >> thank you. >> i think this question should be addressed to him whether there is a deadline at the start and whether he can face the deadline. because as i said, the syrian government delegation has been absolutely cooperative on every tep. so whether with so many players in syria, i think with so many players in the region and in the world. but syria, you know, this city

from which i'm talking is 10,000 years old. it is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world because the syrian people are very resilient and they are going to keep syria together and they are going to restore peace and security and syria will be again a pride of the world. thank you. >> thank you so much. introduce yourself, please. >> yes. born and raised in lebanon. we had a lot during the years suffering from the syrian regime in lebanon -- civil war, sectarian war. i can tell that you're smiling now. you know what i'm talking about. so, that being said, back to mr. michel samaha. he was found guilty and charged with four years in prison just for transporting these explosives from your place to lebanon to kill innocent people, muslims and christians at the same time. we heard the phone call. there was no al jazeera, no saudis. so, back -- the lebanese government was backed up by the syrian regime, charge him with four years. what do you say

something that you think it's embarrassing to me, but nothing is embarrassing to me, but it's something irrelevant to me. thank you. >> no, excuse me, to control -- security. security. you cannot interrupt. hold on a second. no, no, no. you have to respect. you have to respect. please stop. >> somebody asked a question. >> please stop. ok. because you have to respect us. no, no. ok. no, no, ask that question. >> can i say something, please? >> no, no.

after. >> dr. shaaban, you said. >> introduce yourself. >> i'm sorry. paul wood. i covered syria for a number of years for the bbc. you said that the syrian people don't want the international community's macaroni and tin fruits. do you accept -- >> don't want what? sorry? >> the international community's macaroni and tin fruits. do you accept, one, that people are dying of hunger in opposition areas? and do you accept, two, this is because of the regime's policy of surrender or starve? >> can i correct you, please? i said syrian people always lived on fresh fruits and fresh vegetables, and the best thing you can do is to help us defeat terrorism so that we can go back to grow our products and eat from our products. it doesn't mean that we are ungrateful to what the u.n. is giving our people now who are in need, not only in terrorist areas but in also other areas. there is a lot of poverty after five years of war. but i think you have to take the point as i meant it and as i said it and as we want it. we want peace and security to come back to syria so that we don't have to talk about any humanitarian assistance, and

this humanitarian existence could go to people who need that more than the syrian people. so, please, you know, try to be positive and understand what i am saying, because i am saying it with a very positive attitude. thank you. >> thank you so much. please introduce yourself. you represent who? >> again, i am alfredo with hispan tv with hispanic media. briefly, this meeting, and as you stated, it's to try to unify forces against the terrorism which involves civilian and government. how optimistic you are to have the united states government involved in this task when the ultimate goal of the united states is to overthrow bashar al assad? >> is to me the question, to gafta? >> no, no, to mrs. -- dr. shaaban. >> i see, dr. shaaban. >> i don't think now the process

has developed during the crisis, and i don't think now that the announced aim of the united states is to overthrow bashar al assad. i think the problem now is the angers that is defalling syria and iraq and the region. and i think the attitude of the united states government now has developed a great deal from the attitude at the beginning of the crisis, because they can see that what's happening in syria is very dangerous to the safety and security of iraq, of the region and of the world at large. and therefore, we are cooperating with very good intention with our russian partners and the russian partners are cooperating with the united states and talking to the united states, hoping to find a solution to undermine terrorism and to restore peace and security to syria and iraq, god willing. thank you. >> more question? i have this gentleman. ok, after we'll come to you.

please introduce yourself. > bbc out of washington. dr. bouthaina, all this happened in syria because there are a lot of people went out on the street demanding that regime change, and that led to this situation. hundreds of thousands of syrians are now out of the country. have you ever regret you being in power that led to this osition? thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. i think, you know, the diagnosis you give is the wrong one. i think if the syrian people went out to against the government, the government could not stay for six years against the will of its people. and i would like only to remind you that the turkish government, ugandan government put hundreds of tents on the syrian/turkish borders weeks before any syrian refugee crossed the border.

so you can't diagnose something wrong and say do you regret. i don't knorr the moment regret being part of the syrian government because we are standing for our people. we are standing against terrorism and standing for the peace in syria. and may i break something that will be very dangerous? i will take millions of dollars to leave the syrian government. by countries and parties who claim human rights and who claim that they want to liberate syria. we are here because we arebelieve in our country, because we hate treason, and because we hate to be satellite to any power in the world. thank you. >> next. >> hello. karen deyoung with the "washington post." there's been a proposal by the opposition for a ramadan truce starting this weekend. does the government have any

interest in that, or do you see that as a possibility that could stop the fighting at least temporarily? and secondly, certainly from the outside there have been a lot of accusations against the government for its use of barrel bombs, particularly indiscriminate weapon that has killed a lot of civilians. would the government think that in order to stop the death of civilians that it might be a good idea, or does the government have any desire to stop the use of that particular weapon? thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. you know, honestly, i don't want to give up on the idea of a free press, but you are forcing me to do so because i am amazed at how the questions are coming from completely distorted perspective. the opposition does not want to go to negotiate during ramadan because they are all islamists. we do not mind serving our

country. even during ramadan. the true islam is that islam that fights for the people every day, every night, because the lives of people are more important than anything else. the accusations to my government id not pay any accusation of all these horrible bottles being dropped on the people. you did not hear about the horrible explosions, about the school. it's amazing that you never condemn any terrorist act that the terrorists are taking about against our civilian people. i invite all of you respectable people in this room to rethink what you've been questioning, to rethink what you've been thinking and to try and search for the right information, because we need your voices against terrorism.

terrorism is not a monopoly for syria and iraq. you'll find it on your doorsteps. thank you. >> if i can just follow up, actually, we did write quite a bit about the attacks in latakia and we have written quite a bit about the use of what you call gas bottles. but i'm asking a specific question about the government's action and whether the government believes that there's any advantage in stopping the use of this particular weapon? thank you. >> the government believes in stopping all this war in syria. the government believes that the maximum effort should be made in order to restore peace and security to every corner of syria. because this is all what you are working for and this is all what you want. and this is what we live for. thank you.

>> dr. shaaban, i am bassam al hussaini, one of the speakers. there are 40 or 60 countries that are supposed to fight terrorism in syria, the coalition. could they prevent the transferring terrorists to mosul or they fail? that's one question. and the second, we hear that some of the drop from the coalition went to isis! and they claim it was because of the wind or something like that. so, can you tell us something bout that, please? >> i don't think the coalition is interested in stopping the terrorists from raqqah to mosul or mosul to raqqah. and i think it is not a rumor, but it is an established fact that some of the weapons were dropped to the terrorists earlier on, really, and not only once, more than once. i believe that the space for

terrorism between raqqah and mosul is the same space, and therefore, we should fight it together. and that's why i said i can't see why the russian federation and the united states cannot join hands in fighting terrorism both in syria and iraq. this would be the best way if we honestly, if everybody honestly believes in fighting and defeating terrorism. the problem that i face and the problem that we all face, and now it is confirmed to me by the questions of the respectable audience, is that there is no honesty in handling this issue, and there is a lot of rumors that are taken as a fact. unfortunately, investigative journalism is no longer here, and i can see that rumors are making up the minds of so many of the respected journalists,

which is a shame, which really is costing us blood here. thank you. >> thank you. next question, please. introduce yourself. >> dr. shaaban, jeff sullivan. a couple questions. you mentioned earlier about some of the things russia brought to syria in terms of finding terrorists and being able to strike to them. given the russian capabilities brought to bear, why have there been so many reports and air strikes, barrel bombs, but others, hitting hospitals and schools where innocent people would presumably be, and why haven't those russian capabilities been used to avoid that? and my second question. a number of weeks ago, the russians pulled out some of their air power from syria and there were reports that the reason they did that was because they were upset and not satisfied with some of the words and some of the things that president assad was saying. what is the relationship between syria and russia right now? and what more is syria asking from russia to improve the

situation? >> i really -- i got your first question, but i didn't get your second. can i sum up your second, that is what syria is asking russia to do? >> yes. given that there were reports that russia was unhappy with some of the statements being made by president assad, what is the relationship right now and what more are you asking of russia? >> ok. ok. thank you. there is no doubt that, you know, before the russians came to syria, the syrian arab army and the syrian plains were trying their best to fight terrorism. but definitely, we don't have the russian air force, you know. we are not as equipped. we don't have the sophisticated weapons. we don't have the air force capability. that the russian federation have. it doesn't mean that we did nothing before the russians came. we are fighting terrorism for the last five years before the russians came to help us. but when the russians came to help us, we were able to

liberate a huge amount of land in syria and many cities and many villages with the help of the russian air force. as for the reports that the russians are unhappy with some of the statements of president assad, you know, we hear that every day, and i think you can judge that those who are not happy with the russian/syrian relation are always circulating rumors that russia is not happy with the syrian government or iran is not happy with the cooperation with russia. i can assure you that the russian syrian relations are excellent. the cooperation between us is fantastic. and with iran as well and with hezbollah. by the way, the russia syrian relations are historic. we know our russian friends very well. our army has always been armed from russia, the officers have

served in russia. we know our russian friends are people whom we can rely on very well and we an trust completely. it's a relationship of respect between us. thank you. >> thanks. go ahead. please introduce yourself. >> hello, i'm from reuters, could you comment on reports that the syrian army and the russian air force are about to launch an operation on the isis held area of dezor, what is your reaction to the u.s. backed operation? >> i'm sorry i'm not a military officer and i have no clue whether they are preparing for operation or no. >> ok. next. > thank you. >> hi, again, dr. shabaan. >> introduce yourself again. >> ruth from the daily telegraph.

we absolutely don't want for you to feel that this is questioning is unfair and we have been doing reporting from both sides. but it's absolutely sort of great to be able to get your responses to some of the questions we've been asking ourselves for a long time. so there's been some in depth studies of bombing patterns by both syria and the regime -- sorry syria and its russian allies. >> didn't you say the syrian government, it's a government like the british government. >> ok. the syrian government and its allies, russia. and it's been found that over 90% of the air strikes that have been seen to date according to spokesman john kirby in october 2015. 90% of those air strikes were not targeting isis areas. 90% of those strikes were targeting smaller less known

groups that do not have the same reputation of extremism. i'd like a response to that. thank you very much. >> this is an absolutely unfounded report. i think the americans -- i don't want to say what my opinion -- but even you know the spokesperson of the state department said it's very difficult for us to separate between the other group and to say who is an extremist and who is not. i would like just to remind you when the russians and americans agreed on the truce or on the cessation of hostilities, they called it -- john kerry himself said anyone who doesn't abide by this cessation is going to be hit very strongly by us, by the americans. unfortunately they didn't do that. i think you have to be on the ground to see how kidnapped people have been sold to one group and another, including the

two christian clergyman on the borders of turkey. and they ended up with very different groups. once you are in the noman's land where the terrorists are it's very difficult to tell who it is. i can tell you that they are definitely terrorist groups. they are butchering, kidnapping, hitting, destroying institution. i would like to make just one clarification. that these people have nothing to do with islam. i'm a muslim woman and i know one major objective of this terrorism is to distort the image of islam in the eyes of estern people. even the prophet muhammad have

-- was not given the ok to kill non-muslims. thank you. >> thank you. yes. please introduce yourself again. >> voice of america, persian tv for dr. shabaan, question. the syrian government has enjoyed a support of the alley iranian government for a long ime fighting the opposition. but they have suffered a lot of losses and the iranian government is sending ordinary army troops there to help the president assad. is there any discussion between the government and basher al assad regarding the future support or the military support?

do you think they are sort of cooling down on supporting military as a strong as before? >> if you allow me to correct one word. they are not fighting pposition, they are fighting are ists, iran, syria, fighting terrorists on the ground. again, our relationship with iran is a historic relation. i would like to remind you also that when the war on iran started by saddam hussein, syria was the only country who stood given hussein. - against hussein. when he was fed with weapons and armaments from the united states of america, we knew that saddam was wrong and that he's attacking southern country which he has no right to. our relationship with iran is based on principle. human rights, sovereignty, international legitimacy and it's not a by chance that the

iranians and hezbollah are supporting us. they're supporting us as friends and also on a point of principle in the small global alliance against isis and against al qaeda. i go back to the wonderful title to this lovely meeting. thank you. >> please introduce yourself again. > is it working? dr. shabaan i want to ask, when was the last time you were here in the united states? have you been in the united states since 2011? and doctor, a quick question for you. ]how old is your organization? >> very good i will answer this question. >> no, i haven't been -- the last time i was in the united states -- it's a good question, thank you for it. is in 2005 when i was a minister. i arrived there as a minister to see syrian expatriots. they kept one of my assistants for two hours in another room without me knowing why and what

they should do. and since that time, i decided that i do not want to visit the united states. although, i receive many invitations, but i have an integrity and i'm not ready to be humiliated at any airport. >> thank you. i want to ask the last question to dr. shabaan. tell us about your nobel prize. a little bit, tell us about it. >> i was one of a thousand women who were nominated for the nobel peace prize in 2005. i'm very proud. we went a long way. we made exhibits, we made conferences. and we have over 50 arab women from the arab world who were nominated because of their work for peace and because of the many years they spent in pursuit of peace. this only brings me to the ontradiction between the

european union decision and the united states decision not to consider me as a peace advocate while i am. i have always been and i always will be and i hope we shall live in a world where the media performs a better world. i can't thank you enough for allowing me this opportunity. i would like to tell all your respectable audience, this is the least thing that should be done is to communicate with each other, to ask other questions and to hear each other's answers so that we reach the truth and we do not keep watching a mirage other than finding out the truth. >> thank you so much, dr. shabaan and have a good night. >> thank you very much. >> the last comment from mister -- >> let me make an official announcement. i'll be leading the negotiation with the state department and the american officials. so if you want to volunteer to be on our team, give you name, title and position the outfit

that you present, that way you can headed with our team. the team will be a small committee to be doing a negotiation what the next step of gafta and what we're doing to convince them to fight terrorism and al qaeda in the middle east and here. thank you. >> and the last thing i want to ask the question, gafta born in 4th of april, 2014. i think it happened the same day of martin luther king when he was assassinated. thanks so much. thanks. [applause]

>> today on c-span, washington journal is next live with your phone calls, tweets and facebook comments. video reserve board governor speaks at the council on foreign relations and later, live road to the white house coverage of donald trump in redding, california. in 25 minutes, we'll talk to dan stein. and then andrew maloney, ttorney for 9-11 families.

and also on the program, acting chief to have u.s. border patrol ronald vitiello on government efforts to secure ♪ itt: weed out the knew voters, that is the headline in a recent paper. that is our segment for this morning "washington journal." iny say pacific test is order to have a election. if you have an opinion, the ready for answers and questions from the official citizenship test given to new residents. they are the phone numbers, (202)-748-8000 if you agree