the revolutionary war was not just a revolutionary war, but it was also a civil war within a civil war. and what i mean by that is that it was a war waged by anglo-american colonists against the british mother country, within that conflict there was a struggle between colonists who supported the revolution and colonists who continued to remain loyal to great britain. john adams, following the revolutionary war, made the remark that about one third of the americans supported the war, supported the revolution, one third supported great britain, and one-third didn't give a damn. but, in fact, i think that most scholars feel that a better evaluation is that among those who played an active role, probably about 80% supported the revolution and 20% worked for is who remained loyal to great britain. and there was a struggle, particularly in states like new jersey and pennsylvania, and even more so in the south. we think of the south being caught up in a civil war in the middle of the 19th century, but the south versus civil war took place in the revolutionary war. and especially when the brit

war without end, war without meaning, against a tactic. if you take a stable definition of terrorism, something like the violence or the threats of violence against a population, a fascination's kidnappings, in order to influence the direction of policy, then you would have to say the american war in vietnam was a pure act of terror. in my view it was a terrorist war. we tried to resist that war by breaking the law, as i said i bro the law in 1965. i continued to break the law consistently for the next several year. i was arrested many times. i destroyed draft files. i committed stream -- extreme acts of violence but they weren't directed at randomly hurting people to influence policy. so i wasn't a terrorist. when we went underground we crossed line of propriety and common sense. you can say they were despicable acts but if you say that you ought to also add it was pretty despicable to be killing 6,000 people a week. so i don't defend what we did. i try as most literary memoirs do, try to understand how this guy got there, how this son of

like world war ii. i think that is pretty significant. but it has not been without a certain level of tension and awkwardness over the years. how do you commemorate, for instance, the german war dead? how much do you celebrate them in how much do you recognize them? all of these things have had to be worked out over the years. that is where the diplomats come p. host: our first call is from st. louis, missouri. thaddeus, go ahead. caller: good morning, john. guest: good morning, thaddeus. caller: i have a question for you. what was it that made the omaha beachhead so much more difficult to crack than the other three beach heads? guest: thanks. terrain is the key to the whole answer. omaha beach was about three miles of pretty rocky beach. you didn't have a whole lot of sand there. you didn't have a lot of shelf. and you had kind of a coastline that gave way to some prominent ridges. and even cliffsides. but it had to be taken because omaha beach was the key link between the british and canadian beaches

we should not be fighting war after war. we shouldn't be spending a trillion dollars a year which incidentally is half of the world's budget on armaments in war, and we spend half. the rest of the world spends another trillion. it's an outrage in this country that could be so great and should be so great. >> host: we have another question from a member of our studio audience. please tell us your name and where you're from. >> thank you. my name is jim. i'm from chicago, the near west side, and, bill, i want to get back to education with a question. >> guest: thank you. >> and that is what i'd like to know is if mayor daly instead of choosing mr. herber as our superintendent of schools had chosen bill ayers in that position, what kind of initiatives, what kind of policies would you have really administered and promoted to reach the kind of goal you have of teaching children, teaching people to be effective in a democracy? >> guest: wow. that's a great and challenging question. i think that, you know, i can think of, i could p

three years of war, a miserable war, an illegal war, a million deaths, but we'd won. and then five days later king is dead and two months after that, kennedy is dead. and a few months after that, not only is the war not going to end, the war's going to escalate, and here's the problem. every week that the war goes on there will be another 6,000 deaths. every week. so what do you do? this is a crisis for democracy, it's a crisis for the antiwar movement. in my own family, in my own family people made a range of choices. we were all against the war. one of us ran away to canada to get out of the madness. one of us joined the democratic party, tried to build a peace wing within it. some people went to the communes, some people went to the factories, and i did what i did and have never said and certainly in "fugitive days" you will not find, you know, a statement that says what we did was brilliant or right or perfect, but frankly, the 6,000 people a week dying i still don't know what was right. the only thing i'm certain of is people who did nothing were wrong and 350e78

for the war in iraq and for the war in afghanistan. i would always say give money, give money to the afghans so that they fight for the afghan national army and not that they don't work with the taliban because of the taliban gets much more money than afghan fighter. the main proposal, my main proposal get these, the american troops on. bring them all. it's good for the american soldiers and it's good for the people in afghanistan. nobody in the world wants american troops as occupiers. >> write. >> so that's the point. the surge didn't work. do you know what search meant, is that the americans would fight together in front with you iraq is. that's exactly what they don't do anymore in iraq. they are in their bases. but back to, if you want to go from one neighborhood to another it's extremely dangerous. you really risk your life when you go to sadr city, even the prime minister, he went once to this thick part and he doesn't dare to go there again. so there's no security in this country, there is no potable water. there is no medical

and the war had ended, and the war was the real defining reason that we had gone underground. we now had two kids, and it seemed a lot of effort and a lot of energy to -- and, frankly, you know, unable to do the kind of political work that we would have liked to have done, so we determined that it was probably time to, to make our peace with the law and to take whatever consequences were there and to come above ground, so we did. >> host: how many places did you live and how many names did you have -- >> guest: gosh, i can't even remember, but many. many, many. many places, many names. disguises are overrated. you know, i mean, it's more, i mean, there's not much you can do. i mean, i didn't have plastic surgery. i had, you know, i had long hair, but everybody had long hair, so it was no big thing. it was mainly staying away from places like your childhood home that allowed you to survive. and the other thing is, again, it's hard to put it in today's context, but there was an entire youth movement, an entire youth community that we moved fairly easily in. people recognized me

for the war. i think they could pay a real prize in 2010. readers on might blog are concerned about that, too. host: talk about your blog "firedoglake. guest: we have been engaged in this debate that has really not been caught up in the media. we have been talking about the white house energy. they are absolutely committed to this. rahm emanuel is wheeling and dealing on this. why do they need this? why do they need any hundred billion dollar bailout of european banks? i am not convinced that they do. host: do they need this to pass politically? guest: i am not convinced that they do. let's pass these bills on the sleek, debate them on their own merits, and then see where with -- see where they come out. host: let's go to a caller from new hampshire. caller: i was wondering if you knew how much money was being installed for private contractors like blackrock? guest: i do not know if it is broken out in quite that way. the money is going to the imf. the imf operates behind a veil of secrecy. there

the wars after all, you could certainly construct a historical construct showing the wars but the wars in the end were about machine guns, good gas, about atomic bombs, about the airplane. the history of the 20th century would have been totally different if it had not technologically advanced in a certain way. ernest rutherford then presents himself to me, born in 1871 on the frontier of new zealand. 10 miles from the next nearest house. built his own bicycle of wood and traveled and became the first colonial scholar accepted at the laboratory where he later came to head. in much of science, einstein is an example of this. men or you make their great discoveries sometimes when they're teenagers and then spend the rest of their lives refining it. rutherford was an exception to that rule probably because -- possibly because he started a little later in life because of where he came from. but between 1911 and 1932, rutherford and einstein were the two greatest -- two best known scientists in the world. rutherford was the great -- the greatest of experimenters with the possible exception o

the other aspect of the war in the south was a more conventional war as congress would send a southern continental army into contest the british. they didn't always do very well. the first th three continental army's sent to the south were defeated, including a defeat that very few americans even remember any longer, the surrender of charleston, more than 7,000 americans were killed, wounded or captured during that siege. but finally, at the end of 1780, general nathaniel greene was named the commander of the continental army in the south. in fact, at that point, after the battle of camden and the defeat of horatio gates, congress went to general washington and asked washington if he would select the commander of the continental army of the south. washington had, always through the war, declined to do that, naming commanders was to get into a political minefield and he wanted to stay out of that, but the situation was desperate in late 1780. and washington did name somebody and he named general gray. washington, early on in the war, had seen qualities, and ironically had not soldiered

not the civil war, not world war i, not world war ii. if we had followed this same thinking in world war ii, our courts would have been overwhelmed. people forget we had two million p.o.w.'s that we held during world war ii. over 400,000 of them in the united states. never was it thought that they had all of the rights under the constitution. but this question has basically been treated by federal courts in the past with this perspective. the connection you have to the united states is what determines your coverage under the constitution. that's why someone coming over the border illegally doesn't have the right to all of the constitutional protections because the only connection to the united states is trying to get in illegally. here we have people sitting at guantanamo whose only connection to the united states is that we have reason to believe that they wanted to kill americans. anywhere in the world. and so now what we are saying is , if we take them from guantanamo and put them in the united states, they have a connection to the un

perhaps the most famous war still shot of the 20th century is from the spanish civil war. everybody knows it. it's the spanish soldier getting killed, and frank capa took it. he went in on d-day with the first wave at the toughest part of omaha beach, and capa shot, i think it's eight rolls of film, and then holding his camera high over his head he went running back out to an lct. there are a couple of his pictures. i interviewed a guy who was in the lct who helped capa back over the side. they took him out to an lst, and from there he got to england toward dark on d-day. he got on the train in portsmouth and ran up to london, got to the development studio. the kid doing the developing was so anxious to see these pictures that he overheated them, and the emulsion melted down and they all came out blurry. only eight of them came out. the kid ruined all the others, and capa was just furious because he's shot clean. but it turned out that that blur to these pictures suited perfectly omaha beach, so that's undoubtedly the most famous picture from the invasion. c-span: when you

the revolutionary war is subsumed by the civil war in the south. 2 major battles in savannah during the revolutionary war, some smaller but important engagements. but georgia was the newest colony at the time of the revolution and the settlement was just along the coast in and the savannah river which divides south carolina and georgia so that most of what we think of as georgia was settled later on, the town that i live in, typical of towns in georgia in front of the court house, there is a statue of a soldier, not a revolutionary war soldier, a confederate soldier, he is facing north to protect the south against what some southerners referred to as the war of northern aggression. 3 weeks ago i was at the citadel of charleston and came by frances marion park, a huge park, the statue of frances marion, a statue of john c. calhoun. >> there is a story, i don't know if it is true, about george washington having a lucid dream that he shared with lafayette that the united states was going to win the war of revolution and see the borders of the united states extend all the way to the pacific

the lobbyists completely took us into this war. they explained clearly that all we were going to do was shift the balance of power to iran. this is what has happened. we have completely disrupted the middle east. the lobbyists had their way. in fact, i think the military was silenced. i think it is a shame that the lobbyists can run the country. i don't know why we have military academies. it seems as though they're taken for granted anymore. i think it is terrible. when you think about halliburton, i sold halliburton stock for $150 that i bought for $20, 3,000 shares. imagine what those infiltrators of our defense had done to this country, i imagine dick cheney had 1 million shares. i made a lot of money with them but what kind of patriot is that? to take us into a war that put as in the worst position we have really involve ourselves, in an area that has no benefit to us. we probably made it worse for israel and iran has had 6 years to develop weapons and they probably have the bomb and we sit here like it was a great deal. >> ho

his most recent book entitled "now the drum of war: walt whitman and his brothers in the civil war". final 8014 who needs no introduction but he is the senior lecturer at the college of u.s. the and the best known for his presidential biographies of kennedy, nixon, reagan. his latest book was a biography of eight new zealand physicist ernest rutherford. he describes as a labor of love designed to show his fellow engineering graduates he was not as dumb as they thought he was. [laughter] to begin, i invited each fan us to offer some opening thoughts we're here today stock of biography and history through the development of characters do you want to go first as the award winner? [laughter] >> i think the greatest challenge it took me a long time to write this book. for many reasons. the course lots of new research not only have a full-time job as long -- as well as rating but also had to learn about biographies specific way. i had written about history but not biography. so so many of the first drafts i got the narrative rather than the story so it to to -- took me if you know, very mu

because the war in europe ends in may of 1945, the war in the pacific ends three months later. some were preparing to redeploy, a few did redeploy. but not very common for ground soldiers. for sailors that would be another thing altogether because ships were constantly going back and forth. so you do have some ships that participate in the normandy invasion and eventually then go to the south france invasion and then participate in other invasions like okinawa in the pacific. so that would be fairly common. but among ground troops, most did not redeploy. most spent the summer in occupation in germany. host: we are awaiting the beginning of the speech by president obama. we want to mention that his grand father and great uncle landed on omaha beach. there you see prime minister gordon brown on the left side of the screen and on the right side the french president. we want to thank john mcmannis for being our guest. we are going live to normandy as we await the speech by the president. ♪ ♪ ♪ [applause] >> president obama, your royal high ness, prime minister brown, prime minister

if we'll also be taking calls from families of veterans and veterans of warled war two. -- world war ii. we'll be taking your calls until president obama gets up to make his speech. in addition to president obama and president sarkozy, the prime minister as well as britain's prince charles, presumably all of them will be making speeches today as part of the memorial. the commemoration of the 65th anniversary of d-day. our first call from arlington, virginia. caller: thank you very much. i wanted to just say, number one, that i was delighted that you were playing president sarkozy live. i lived in france. i'm just sorry for the americans listening to this that there was no translation because it was extremely touching to pay tribute. >> tell us about what he said. >> he talked about. he went through a tribute to the canadians and what they had done. he said for the canadians there was no need for them, their land wasn't in danger. there was no need to be taken overtaken fwi germans. but he also spoke about the fear that these young 20-year-old soldiers must have imagined when they wer

never shown to the cabinet before the decision to go to war was made. neither of those matters, neither of them affect state security, neither of them require balances of lawyers, why cannot be ventilated and can best in public and without delay? >> my hon. friend has a deeply held views on issues he has raised. he will also be able to give than to ease of use during the inquiry and perhaps he may wish to offer evidence to the inquiry if he has it. >> may i say to the prime minister that i regret the nature of the inquiry which he has announced which is disappointing response to what is by common consent regarded as a catastrophic foreign-policy decision. on the form of inquiry which he proposes, he -- can he tell us if the inquiry will have the power not to ask for witnesses, but to compel witnesses to attend and put them on a oath so there evidence may be verified against that background? let me ask this question finally -- how does he think the kind of inquiry he proposes will satisfy the millions of britons who marched against this war when the inqu

so, many sons of world war ii veterans like yourself went off to war and that is the way so many fathers felt. they wished they could have done it so their kids wouldn't have to deal with it. i'm sure you can relate to that much better than anyone can imagine with your own son going to iraq. as a military historian, what strikes me is the tragic continuum of how wars seem to happen for every generation throughout human history, not just our own modern u.s. history, which i study in particular. but throughout human history there just doesn't seem to be any end to the cycle yet. host: we are watching video right now coming to us live of president obama and first lady michelle obama having landed in normandy where later on this morning he will be giving a speech at the normandy american money and memorial. we will continue to watch them as they are walking off of the u.s. helicopter there and walking toward where the president will ultimately give his speech as we 10 our conversation with -- as we continue our conversation with john mcmanus. the next call is howard from manhattan. go ahead.

for war and troops. guest: that is the way we have classically stopped wars. we have stop funding them. it is a long tradition in the democratic party of trying to do that. in 2007 many members of the house signed a commitment saying they would actually never vote for any war finding that did not include troop withdrawals. on may 15 representative mcgovern said what is the exit strategy that brings men and women home? until someone gives me a credible answer i will be voting no, but last night is reported that he will suddenly be voting yes. i think our -- people are concerned that that makes it look bad on all of us who wanted to use this as a way to end the war. in excess all look like we're insincere, so i think people are concerned. -- it makes us all look like we are insecure. caller: good morning. did you hear that from the huffington opposed the white house is [unintelligible] and they are saying you will never hear from us again if you do not vote for this war money. this is inhumane what we are

it's time to end this war. no to any more funds for the war in afghanistan and war in iraq and no to any legislation if they try to tie it to war funding. the speaker pro tempore: are there further one-minute requests? if not, the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. the clerk: leaves of absence requested for mr. kind of wisconsin for today, ms. bono mack of california for today and june 9 and 10. mr. mack of california for today, june 9 and 10. and mr. gary miller of california for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the requests are granted. does the gentleman from texas seek recognition. mr. poe: i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be permitted to address this house, revise and extend their remarks and include therein extraneous material, mr. paul for june 12, mr. burton for today, june 9, 10, 11 and 12. myself, for june 11 and 15. mr. moran for today, june 9, 10, 11,

now, under technical rules of war, canceling an armistice re-instates the war. we're not treating it that way. because regular rules of war kind of have been changed, not by what's written in the books, but by usage. so we never really called it a war, we called it a conflict and so forth, like we've done in so many other things we do. but the reality is they said the armistice is off, which means we should be technically back fighting. they said they're going to fire a missile on our independence day, the fourth of july. now why do i bring that up? because by my watch, this is the 23rd day of june. we've got to be able to trust our intelligence committee and our intelligence community in what? that's the next 10 days, in the next 10 days we have to be able to have that confidence in them. and we've already got the third most -- the third person in line for the presidency of the united states telling this body that the intelligence community lied about what they said about briefing them. now, you know what? i'll even give you the ways it can be handled. this pla

i fought two wars in iraq. i don't think have served for imperialism, but to increase security for the united states. in my first war certainly for the people of kuwait when i helped to expel the army of saddam hussein. he remained a threat to world peace and security throughout the region. his weapons of mass destruction program it now appears that he had terminated. not long after desert storm we did not know that. whatever the merits of the decision to go to war in iraq in 2003, the fact remains that we now have a responsibility to try to help iraq be as secure as it can be, not to disintegrate. not to present a threat again. and also not to provide a base for al qaeda in iraq. i fought against al qaeda, which is dedicated to starting a broader war. so, whatever the merits of the decision to invade iraq in 2003 -- and rational people can disagree on that, i think it is hard to make any argument except that an american commitment to maintaining and preserving the stability we bought at such great cost of the

we just don't have the entire civilian commitment to the war that we had it in the second world war. and we think it was important to show the level of sacrifice, the level of skill and the toll the war can take on the folks that are fighting it on our behalf. host: we have a clip from stephen colbert's show. guest: troops, not everyone can do what you do, like all on the line in 140 degree heat in full battle rattle. that is why you are the lead to 1 percent of americans who still have jobs. [laughter] host: " the new york times" wrote this week that normally celebrities go to combat zones with the u.s. appeared in this case, he took the uso on a trip with ", central pequot -- ", central power could be think he was successful in bringing the message of the war back to us? host: it seems to be. the best possible that to bring attention to a politically engaged, culturally and age group of americans. most viewers of c-span think about these things a lot. it is not to say that your base, so to speak, has forgotten about the war by any means, but a lot of other people have appeared and

the highest suicide rate per soldier of any war. but going back to the beginning of the war -- and i think "newsweek" was very fair, but i think the press, the fourth estate really fell asleep at the wheel. the wheat now see that these were not miscalculations on mistakes of intelligence but calculated lies to get us into the war from the bush-cheney administration. guest: well, i think that the debate over the pre-war intelligence is fascinating. i think the debate over the role of the press is particularly telling. and i had this conversation, as you might imagine, a lot with people. i don't know that i agree with the emergence of conventional wisdom that the press completely missed that there were questions about the case for war. you can find it too many -- as in any critique of something as complicated as "the press." another thing, you sort of have to define your terms. anything that includes the wide range of things that now count as the media in terms of -- if you define media as voices, whether institutions or not, that can

his base was camp war eagle. they're closing several bases and i'm hoping you had to baghdad on july 5 in be in kuwait july 20. he will be states side -- and, you know, he has been on several deployments and i'm just ready for him to host: come homcome h. host: how long has he been there? caller: he has been there 14 months of this last time. it has been extremely hot over there. i live in the south where it gets in the '90s, but he is enduring 130 degrees in temperature over there. there are no tears today because it was just great talking to him. even though we have different political views his boots on the ground over there has given me the opportunity to not be shy and to call this program. with my motherly instincts i have been emotional time and time again on this program. i love him, am proud, but just want him to come home because i think -- every base i have been on from fort lewis in seattle to fort bragg to fort jackson he has done his training at fort mead. these soldiers -- everyone has to understan

no longer at war. here there are people in this country, in the administration who do not understand that these people still want to kill us. look at the pleading of khalid shaikh mohammed. his words, we are terrorists to the bone. you release those people, bring them in the united states. we already heard from one case that the supreme court majority is wanting to give them rights to which they are not or should not be entitled. and that's justice justice scalia said this opinion will cost american lives. that was a bold statement by scalia but he's right. we should not allow this to hurt american soldiers and american people and put innocent lives at risk even though it may get some applause overseas from people who would not mind seeing america disappear. and i want to touch very quickly on the photographs. we believe in america that guilty people should be punished and people who tortured are treated prisoners inhumanely have been punished and are being punished. but if those photographs are releas

the world war i of the middle east, trench warfare. hundreds of thousands, in excess of over 1 million dalia on both sides. you can imagine living under the tyranny, living under the constant threat of war and then later on is the gulf war, the uprising, popular uprising that swept across iraq and was brutally crushed by the regime and less from the landscape that produced great mind, great artist's mind. it's a testament i think to the human spirit that someone like wafaa with his vision comes from that kind of landscape and it's not unusual, i know so many iraqi is who have been incredibly resilient and courageous are doing amazing things through art and literature, through humanitarian relief and civil society initiatives. that i think is an iraq that more and more americans need to be introduced to. wafaa uses interactive technology to connect the fewer with the art piece. he does performance art in a fundamental way that i think is true about the best far to. the kind of art that challenges us, the challenges our comfort zone and

you can see a similar pattern in the gulf war. i will skip over some of this because it is so similar to the previous pattern. it was the same thinking, bomb them into submission, it totally fails. it was a major failure of strategic bombing. we thought we could get serbia to submit to terms that were totally undefeated. after 78 days of bombing. we offered better terms than they wanted in order to end war. just to show you the possibilities of doing business differently, if we continue business as usual, there is a simple pattern, the air force presents an expensive wish list, right now is a trillion dollars over is the next 20 years and, 3,000 airplanes. it will never happen. they had gone from that list with the secretary of defense, and lots of input from congress. they stretched out programs, and eventually they get down to $12 billion a year in procurement which is what we have been running. and we run something substantially less than 50 airplanes premier. basically that process is what leads to these shrinking forces. this

the end of the vietnam war. your government had said we don't negotiate with the radical viet cong, although moderate viet cong. it is ridiculous. if you have -- we negotiate with the russians. we had to negotiate with all the russians. not all the moderate ones. we have to negotiate with everybody. and as far as al-qaeda is concerned the real al-qaeda, the bin laden, their operation capabilities that have been eliminated a long time ago. they've made speeches, but they have no direct contact. the real terrorists are everywhere in this world. this terrorist ideology has been globalized. and this terrorism is everywhere. in afghanistan. in iraq. in western europe. >> you actually make the point here afterwards. the majority of terrorist movements are worldwide. >> 35 of 48 terrorist organizations have nothing to do with islam. a long time in a trial against terrorists. it was the red army faction. nothing to do. >> well, i just feel compelled to say this partly because i have been edified by last month's author.

even not counting the costs of the war in iraq, the war in afghanistan or the war on terrorism which of course have added significant billions of dollars. as for the revolving door, it occurs i don't think that is the reason for the rise in defense spending. >> host: he has led fairly easily into public service and private industry back-and-forth given the tenure of the times today, is that sort of position possible ability to do that possible? >> guest: it's possible they are trying to put additional controls about that. look, i mean, if it is a technical area certainly the experience counts. and i don't think we want to completely close the door either for those who have experience in the defense industry to come in to the government or those in government to be able to go into defense first. >> host: among the many photographs of the secretary rumsfeld with george casey and iraq and here with joint chiefs chair the former chair and here with troops also at a town hall meeting in iraq in 2005. how was he viewed by troops and the general staff? >> guest: he generally got very good b

emergency war funding bills should be about a-a war funding. this legislation includes zero hundred $8 billion in loans. i believe we do a disservice to taxpayers and those who support us. this is not right. i urge my colleagues to oppose this conference report. stanley governor troops and the american taxpayers and one more bailout. let us reject this bill tonight and come right back here tomorrow and bring a clear emergency war funding bill in a bipartisan fashion back into the legislative process. it is time for us to reject this legislation. we must reject the change is never mentioned the amendment and get our soldiers the resources they needed this serve the broadest interests of the american taxpayer. i recognize the gentleman from california. >> i yield tenements to mr. merckle letter. >> the demint from one area is recognized for 10 minutes. >> -- the gentleman from one area is recognized for two minutes. >> this is only 80% about our troops. we should not allow for that 20% reduction to the us. had the opportunity to read an article t

. >> host: on the afghanistan war indymac war how much of the plans were preemptive planning for those words were done before 1911, sort of scenario planning for those types of war? >> guest: for the iraq war was planning although the planning that had been done was pretty much thrown out the window at time the u.s. started planning the invasion. there's little planning for the afghan war. and in fact it was a cia plan the president first and braced to link up with the afghan militias and northern alliance against. >> host: here's cleveland good morning to cindy on the republican line. >> caller: good morning. thank for having me. i was curious if you were able to determine whether rumsfeld's political philosophy and big picture outlook was influenced in any way by having been surrounded by so many people, just to name a few like mr. wolfowitz, elliott abrams, people who were strongly influenced by wohlstetter, by philosophers and military strategists that would be considered like conservative blacks did he or was he influenced by that group or did he agreed in large part they were cor

i'm sure if you had won in '92 we would be talking about your war room or your form of the war room. because that all of these leaders i write about won for the elections in tumultuous times, political crisis, obviously south africa has a point of transformation. so these were tumultuous times and, you know, so they were defining elections and the impact the other elections, so we had the war room in little rock but in that room was the chief adviser for tony blair who observed the war room -- >> host: by the way being in little rock was a big change, getting out of the epicenter. if people wanted to know -- the press wanted to know what was going on they would have to go down -- >> guest: bill clinton's judgment and one of the smartest things he did. we all hated it but it changed us. brought us all together. you constantly are discussing, sharing, keeping the focus. we came to the end of that election in the last week he put up ads attacking us on a failed governor of a small state and should arkansas barron state. >> host: we did. we went to every state. hopscotch the body man on

that's why president obama has said this is the last war supplemental we will have. and i compliment him on that. president bush did it year after year after year, madam president. and this president says this is the last time, and i take him at his word. so i think it's important, instead of being so terribly negative, to at least give a balanced view here. many of the funds in this bill for afghanistan will go to help the women and the children of afghanistan. it's very hard for me to understand how anyone could oppose that. we have women who have acid thrown their face if they don't obey their husbands or they take off a face covering. we have children being stoned -- girls on their way to school -- and it seems to me we ought to give it a chance before we leave these women high and dry. i, for one, cannot do that. now, again, i have said, we have to do this right and we have to do it quickly, because i am not going to give my vote to an open checkbook for another war. but i believe this administration gets it. i believe they are training the troops in afghanistan

the second world war did that. no man who shed blood or lost a brother would say that war is good, but all know that this war was essential. what we faced in nazi totalitarianism was not just a battle of competing interests. it was a competing vision of humanity. that is the ideology that sought to subjugate, humiliating, and exterminate. perpetrated murder on a massive scale, filled by hatred for those who were deemed a different and therefore inferior. it was evil. the nations that joined together to defeat hitler's reich were not perfect. they made their share of mistakes. they did not always agree with each other on every issue. but whatever got a parade to, whatever our differences, we knew that the -- whatever god we prayed to, we knew that the evil had to be stopped. citizens of all faith and of no faith came to believe that we could not remain as bystanders to the savage perpetration of death and destruction. and so we joined and sent our sons to fight and often die for the men and women than ever met, so t

war. there is a war in iraq. there is a lot of military going on in many regions. so i didn't mean to indicate that we were not at war. when i say the so-called war on terror, because that's what it was called during the bush administration and currently we aren't calling it the war on terror according to obama. that was more of a semantic argument. i do think there is a crisis in iraq and in afghanistan and there are serious issues. so i do not mean to imply that it's not a time of crisis. i am pretty clear about my politics and my view on social issues so i don't think there's any real subterfuge there. my partner is the producer of this film, rory kennedy, she's made films which also i think are pretty clear about their point of view. as a documentary film maker, we do have point of views. our claim is not to present everything as if we are totally neutral. what we do seek to do is allow all sides to tell their versions of the story. what you'll see in shouting fire, we have people from

the soviets don't want to win by war, but by threat of war. they want to issue ultimatums to which we have to give in. if we could talk about the basic steps we need to take to break the logjam and avoid the possibility of war, think about it, where would the survivors of the war live? major areas of the world would be uninhabitable. we need to keep it in mind, that that is what we are about, we are about bringing together steps to bring us closer to the recognition that we need to do away with nuclear weapons. so that is what reagan was doing, and maybe what some of our leaders today are trying to do as well. so i think we will have some questions. >> we have a few minutes for questions for anyone who does have a question, if we could ask you to come forward and stand at a microphone as all of this is being broadcast by c-span, we want to make sure they can hear your question. are there any questions? >> if you don't have any questions we will keep talking. >> i think we have one right here. >> thank you for coming and sharing this informatio

into unpopular wars. there is a difference between the two men in their mind set when they have left office. by the time robert mcnamara had left he was beginning to have doubts and express them concerning the vietnam war. not so with donald rumsfeld, but he may in time come to express regret. he did not with me. i pressed him on a particularly in our last interview last fall. he left office the number -- i mean, he left office older than it robert mcnamara was when he left office. robert mcnamara has had more time to reflect. so, we will see where donald rumsfeld finally comes down. host: and he is working on his own autobiography? guest: he is, he is. it is a little surprising because for many years he showed little interest in that kind of book. in fact, he often denigrated other memoirs, particularly those that go with events in which he was involved. he felt the authors did not quite capture the events as he remembered. he wants to write -- he is concerned about writing a book that others think would

dispatches from the war room, stanley greenberg on advising bill clinton, tony blair, and nelson mandela. then, another look at all of today's coverage from the chicago tribune. and alive, tomorrow, and that with bill eyres. the university of illinois professor and former underground member. he will take your calls. for all of this weekend's programs at times, go to book tv dog or. >> today marks the sixty fifth anniversary of d-day. president obama was in normandy, france to attend the ceremony. joining him was french president nicholas sarkozy. this is just over an hour. >> president obama, your royal highness, prime minister rao, prime minister harbor, presidents are cozy, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. -- president sarkozy. it is our privilege to welcome all the illustrious visitors joining us today. we extend a special welcome to the d-day and world war ii veterans and family members in attendance to honor us all with their presence. [applause] today we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the d-day landings that took place in the early morning hours of

brzezinski said, the neocons first response -- people who think that any war is a good war -- senator graham obviously is a neocon and he said we do not want our neocons conflicting with theirs. this is a man that won the nobel peace -- peace prize. i think he knows what he is talking about and i agree with him completely and with the people, that they do need our help, they need help from the u.n. i have not seen anyone picketing the president. i have not seen anyone asking the president to help. they want help from us, as in support, for example, people can reset the times on their computers or on twitter to tehran time, that helps. host: how does that help? caller: being able to find people. i did not have as much computer expertise. i'm a recent twitter user. i have a little troublesome * -- sometimes. i used to be a computer geek, the ninth 52 years old. not that i'm against new technology but i am a little slow on the uptake on this one. host: @ thank you for updating all of us. anna from washington, d.c. come on independent line. caller: i think the cia is doing what it knows h

and the war in afghanistan and the war on terrorism all of which have added billions of dollars. as for the revolving door, i don't think it is the reason for the rise in defense spending, however. host: he transition the easily between public service and private business bega. guest: it is still possible to do that. bertran to put additional controls about that. -- they are trying to put additional controls. look, if it is a technical area experience counts. i don't think we want to completely close the door on those who have experience in the defense industry to come into government or those in government going into defense. host: among many photographs looks bad secretary rumsfeld with these other figures. here he is with troops at a town hall meeting. how was he viewed by the troops and the general staff? guest: he generally got very good, rousing reception. the episode concerning armor and kuwait was an exception where the troops asked pointed questions from him. one explanation might be that the group was largely made up of reservists. it was further into the war and many f

planted the seed for the next war and brought european peoples to the brink of annihilation. so yes, we have made peace, and we have billed europe so that peace will always remain. we owe this to all the victims. we owe this to all the young soldiers who sacrificed themselves for us. we owe it to our children to spare them from the same suffering. we owe it to all the people that you are a drug into this tragedy, all those who fought against nazism and fascism. they did so for a better world. we know there is much ground to cover. we know that the work before us will be difficult, but we know also what a united europe and the u.s., faithful to its values, can accomplish together. the threats that hang over the future of humanity today are of another nature than those of the great totalitarianism of the 20th century. what will happen to the world because of global warming? hundreds of thousands of men and women and children will not have enough food to eat. what will happen if out of cowardice we abandon democracy and leave the door open to terrorism and fanaticism? what will

number one peter's war. >> peter's war is one of the more delightfully written books.nd it's joyce malcolm who is a terrific historian. she's at george mason university law school. and there is -- this reads like a novel. there are no footnotes. it's compelling story of a 12-year-old boy who's a slave in concord, massachusetts, literally on the eve of the british coming through. the night of paul revere's ride. >> and it's nonfiction? >> it's nonfiction and it's based on archival research. and it follows peter's story. he escapes on the eve of the revolution. and he joins the continental army, not the british army. most blacks who did escape joined the british army because the british were known for abolitionism and they were antislavery. and it parallels another slave who escapes around the same time in the same geographic area who joins the british, and that slave ends up back as a slave after the war and peter doesn't. so he fights in the war. he's almost like a zellig, woody allen's zellig. he is at some of the main events at the revolution, the major battles and i

setting comedy with a new cold war with soviet union and helped to reconstruct europe. today we want to talk about some of the opposing forces that made the issues of jews and palestine a difficult dilemma for chairman. the american jewish community and changing relationship and the opposition of the british comedy arabs and u.s. state and defense establishments to the creation of the jewish state in palestine before world war i, zionism was a european movement with a very small following in america. the jewish establishment in america by and large body large state was unnecessary and could possibly be dangerous britain may threaten their status as americans and leave them open to the charge of dual loyalties. but the holocaust meant that they've word now the largest, wealthiest, and most influential jewish community and the world. it was a grave responsibility. the inability of the western democracy to save their fellow jews coming to give them a safe haven and the refusal even now at the end of the war to a mid significant numbers of the survivors strengthen the zioni