battalion the rifles, rifleman jonathon allott of third battalion the rifles. all of whom who tragically lost their lives serving so bravely, so selfishly in afghanistan this lastly pick out also also like to add the attribute to everybody on these benches and to the late and lamented michael as we know from the tributes paid order that he was a great parliamentary, a great orator, a great and great integrity. it lifts the lid on labour's dark secrets. 13 years, 13 years of tough talk on crime has actually turned our prisons into colleges of crime. repeat one is the report shows now cost the taxpayer 10 billion pounds a year and the human cost of the tens of thousands of victims is even higher. we now admit the truth, this government isn't tough on criminals because it is during the young offenders of today into the hardened criminals of tomorrow. >> mr. speaker, i just got to tell him the facts. it is now 25%. so whatever he says he's got to face up to the fact that crime is down in this country, violent crime is down in this country. the number of police in t

from six battalion attached to third battalion of their rifles. riflemen mark marshall. from the second battalion the duke of lancaster regiment, sean dorsey. from 36 engineer regiment royal engineers, first battalion guards, lt. douglas. from first battalion scots guards, and sergeant david walker. these men of exceptional bravery are great courage and skill whose loss is deeply felt. we send our profound condolences to their families and loved ones. meeting with others in addition to my duties in the house i thought of such duties today. >> i am sure everyone will want to associate themselves with the prime minister's comments. my prime ministers never shared -- they paid for the bailout. what will my friend give me when they give their money back that threatens our services and we will not ever squander this investment on a halfback public share offer. >> we have imposed a 50% national insurance tax on bank bonuses which has to be paid by everybody paying cash bonuses over the next year and we insisted on the application of the g 20 rules which means cash bonuses cann

rival martin from fourth battalion the rifles, attached to third battalion, the rifles. sergeant paul fox from 28 engineer regiment, royal engineers attached to the brigade reconnaissance force. riflemen connor palace from fourth battalion the rifles, attached to third battalion, the rifles. and a soldier from third battalion, the rifles, who died yesterday. they demonstrated outstanding courage and skill, and they died serving their country, their comrades and the people of afghanistan. our thoughts are with their families and their loved ones. their sacrifice will not be forgotten. i'm sure the whole house will also join me in sending our sincere condolences to the people of chile following the terrible earthquake. >> misses out underlying? >> thank you, mr. speaker. indeed, the whole house will wish to join the right honorable lady in paying tribute to those brave men who have given their lives for our freedom. and also of course to the people of chile. can the right honorable lady please tell the house why has manufacturing decline faster under this labour government

from sixth battalion the rifles, attached to third battalion theÑi rifles, mark marshal.from sixth battalion, the lancaster regiment, kings man shawn dawson the guy millers. from first battalion and guards, lieutenant douglas dalsel. lance sergeant david walker. these were men of exceptional braverry, of great courage and great skill whose loss is deeply felt. each and every one of them say hero dedicated to their colleagues and to their mission. we send profound condolences to their loved ones. >> jamie reed. i'm sure everyone in the house will want to associate themselves with the prime minister's comments. my constituents never shared in the bankers' bonuses. what assurances with -- can the prime minister give that we will get the money back and that we will not ever squander this investment on a half-baked public share holding? >> first of all, we have imposed a 50% national insurance tax on bank bonuses which has to be paid by everybody paying cash bonuses over the course of the next year and i cysted on the application of the g-20 rules which means cash bonuses abov

battalion the rifles, rifleman jonathon allott of third battalion the rifles. all of whom who tragically lost their lives serving so bravely, so selfishly in afghanistan this lastly pick out also also like to add the attribute to everybody on these benches and to the late and lamented michael as we know from the tributes paid order that he was a great parliamentary, a great orator, a great and great integrity. it lifts the lid on labour's dark secrets. 13 years, 13 years of tough talk on crime has actually turned our prisons into colleges of crime. repeat one is the report shows now cost the taxpayer 10 billion pounds a year and the human cost of the tens of thousands of victims is even higher. we now admit the truth, this government isn't tough on criminals because it is during the young offenders of today into the hardened criminals of tomorrow. >> mr. speaker, i just got to tell him the facts. it is now 25%. so whatever he says he's got to face up to the fact that crime is down in this country, violent crime is down in this country. the number of police in t

will join me in remembering the life and achievements of sergeant steven campbell from the third battalione died in afghanistan earlier this week. we pay tribute to his energetic, brave, and dedicated service. his infectious enthusiasm and his infectious enthusiasm and sincere patriotism will sorely missed. the thoughts of everybody and this house, i know, with his family, friends, and colleagues. in addition to my duties in the house i have further such meetings. >> mike pinning. >> thank you, mr. speaker. can i join the prime minister. our thoughts and prayers are not only with those that have lost their lives, but those that have been injured as well. last week the prime minister took on an inquiry of funding for the armed forces. when did the prime minister realize he misled? before or after he gave evidence? >> mr. speaker, i said last week and was shown this transcript of what i said. i decided to make it absolutely clear on the first occasion. i repeat defense spending has risen by 20%. every request by the ministry of defence and the commanders for funding has been matched by the t

combat team, 25th division infantry division battalion. june jared was killed killed at the age of 20 in afghanistan. this is his photograph. he is on this board. the board with 27 other texans from my congressional district area. he is the latest to have been killed in iraq or afghanistan as a volunteer to go overseas and protect the rest of us in time of war. he believed in protecting our country. he believed in it so much he was willing to leave his wife and go half way around the world to fight an enemy on the enemy's own turf. and he believed it so much he was willing to give his life for the rest of us. so, we pass this resolution, what message do we send to jared's family or young bride? that his sacrifice just wasn't enough? that it was all for natt -- naught? we don't quit war because war is hard. war has always been hard. every good thing this country has ever achieved has been hard. we don't quit and run because it is difficult. we stay because we believe like jared that the fight against the enemy that has bent on our destructi

one has been the same battalion commanders who feel that they were doing all the right names prior to 2007, but it didn't matter if it was happening for one tour in one area over the main zone of conflict because it would unravel the minute they laughed and it had nothing to hook up to. and this is like my topline conclusions are really about to teach a counterinsurgency. guess we have the type of grape but that mattered not at all if you don't get the big picture right. that means first diagnosis and on the application of the correct type takes over wide enough area. and in this case, baghdad was the main effort amounts why focus focused my reporting on it in the book because i just had a certain amount of time that i could spend and write this book while outstrip wording. so the critical thing is, of course we know the same search. increase in troops, 30,000, fine. if you do also had 100,000 iraqis been added. it wasn't the numbers so much as the change and how they were deployed and the dispersion of the troops was critical. and not just as a bumper sticker to do it. it had a purpo

of sympathy and condolence to the family and friends of sergeant steven campbell from the third battalion rifles to tragically died this week after serving so selflessly and professionally in afghanistan. mr. speaker, despite all the news that has not been raised yet today. that might be because when we put forth in a process they both dropped. when we tried to get people, when we tried to get people the right they both belonged to us. when we wanted to clean they both doctors. in the truth, mr. speaker, this parliament will go down as the most corrupt in living memory because they both lost. >> mr. speaker, we have proposed and will implement. and have also made it clear that anybody that goes before the business advisory committee are compelled to take the advice of the business advisory committee. future ministers will have to sign a contract in advance that is exactly what the will to. we have taken action to make the system. we cannot say anything other than the behavior of the members of parliament to were dealt with was unacceptable. i believe that the action we are taking is neces

it was the battalion chief's first mission there. >> just the magnitude of the quake, the devastation there. it opened your eyes. >> reporter: the captain has been with the team from the beginning and he was also there. >> a lot of devastation, it is -- the country is not as well equipped to handle that type of thing as some other countries. >> reporter: now they're ready and waiting to ship out to chile. it is not unusual to have these missions so close together. back in '99 they had three deployments in 90 days, to turkey, taiwan and back to turkey. the captain was there for two of those missions? mainly i guess you know everybody wts to get back into the mindset of you know you don't think you will go that quick. but once something comes up, you know an earthquake, if you have an earthquake somewhere and we're perking up, starting to get the game face on. >> reporter: the team leaders say it is a challenge from a logistic standpoint and tough to leave the family once again. but when lives are on the line, they do this to make a difference. >> we're used to running emergency calls e

>> we have to marine battalions in there.we will make a decision later in terms of whether we keep two in there or go down to one. and there is no short-term plan for the titans that are there. we are very conscious of the fact that this is a fragile area. the necessity to keep the security forces in place for the foreseeable future is critical. as far as the time line for services, nothing can arrive soon enough. we have opened the roads. commerce has started. the return of families has begun. i was in marjah twoi days ago and we saw families coming back. that is a great sign that there is beginning to be some trust. the area is increasingly secure. in terms of medical and construction, i think we would all agree that unemployed men and women are bad news in any society. our goal to get out there and hire more than 1000 to get them off the street and get them working. a lot of the people we hire have probably been taliban and on time. the notion of integration probably a flawed assumption. they just quit being taliban and up

can be avoided. >> my sympathy and condolences to family and friends of a soldier from the first battalionnd royal anglican regiment who died on monday after sustaining terrible injuries in afghanistan and the two soldiers from the same regiment who were killed in afghanistan having served just yesterday and i would like to add my own tribute to dr. kumar. he was a defender of the steel industry. he spoke on the environment before it was fashionable and always spoke for fairness. charlie wi learn and ashcroft are the same. [shouting] >> order! the house must come to order. and here mr. nick clay. >> i am talking about cleaning up policy right now. we need a deal on policy funding. why should anyone believe a word they say about party funding now? >> we in the liberal party agreed changes in political party funding more than a year ago it was the conservative party that rejected the deal. >> they are rewriting history. maybe they could listen to this and learn something. they both lost amendments we took to the table. just last year they capped the donation. it is just like the expense, lot

combat team, 25th division infantry division battalion. june jared was killed killed at the age of 20 in afghanistan. this is his photograph. he is on this board. the board with 27 other texans from my congressional district area. he is the latest to have been killed in iraq or afghanistan as a volunteer to go overseas and protect the rest of us in time of war. he believed in protecting our country. he believed in it so much he was willing to leave his wife and go half way around the world to fight an enemy on the enemy's own turf. and he believed it so much he was willing to give his life for the rest of us. so, we pass this resolution, what message do we send to jared's family or young bride? that his sacrifice just wasn't enough? that it was all for natt -- naught? we don't quit war because war is hard. war has always been hard. every good thing this country has ever achieved has been hard. we don't quit and run because it is difficult. we stay because we believe like jared that the fight against the enemy that has bent on our destructi

will join me in remembering the life and achievements of sergeant steven campbell from the third battalion he died in afghanistan earlier this week. we pay tribute to his energetic, brave, and dedicated service. his infectious enthusiasm and sincere patriotism will be sorely missed. the thoughts of everybody and this house, i know, with his family, friends, and colleagues. in addition to my duties in the house i have further such meetings. >> mike pinning. >> thank you, mr. speaker. can i join the prime minister. our thoughts and prayers are not only with those that have lost their lives, but those that have been injured as well. last week the prime minister took on an inquiry of funding for the armed forces. when did the prime minister realize he misled? before or after he gave evidence? >> mr. speaker, i said last week and was shown this transcript of what i said. i decided to make it absolutely clear on the first occasion. i repeat defense spending has risen by 20%. every request by the ministry of defence and the commanders for funding has been matched by the treasury for the operation

in 2004 while deployed in iraq major soltes was serving in the 426th civil air battalion in the u.s. army when the vehicle he was traveling in was struck by an improvised explosive device, costing him his life. he was the first army optometrist to be killed in action while on active duty. but the legacy of major soltes leaves behind -- the legacy major soltes leaves behind remains strong with the veteran community. particularly amongst our blinded veterans. the v.a. estimates that approximately 157,000 veterans in the united states are legally blind, and over one million additional veterans are suffering from debilitating low vision. approximately 60% of veterans with known combat-related traumatic brain injury and 30% with noncombat-related t.b.i. report visual symptoms. as eye >> continue to plague our service members overseas, these -- as eye injuries continue to plague our service members overseas, optometrists remain important. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from california is recognized. m

first off, if you've got a battalion of u.s. marines garrisoning a district in afghanistan, that's kind of a waste of marines if there is not actual fighting taking place. but if you have it ask and partner with a u.s. marine company in that same district, now you are doing a lot of things because first off, you've got afghans on the grand. you don't have as many u.s. troops on the ground. you're able to start partnering in such a way that the type of training, the type of mentor and that's taking place, it's not kind of the big brother's little brother type of thing that i think we never really got beyond in iraq. it's really, you know, living together, sleeping together, working together, train together, planning together. and then operating together. in such a way that we would hope that the way we do business, both operationally and culturally, begins to have an effect on the way the host nation troops begin to operate. as far as instilling, you know, values ideas or patriotic values and whatnot, devotion to a greater cause,

now, georgia -- and we visited the georgian battalion outside tbilisi, which will be deployed next month to afghanistan. the u.s. vereen's who are advising the training and to do this as a profession, said these are among the best troops that they've ever seen. many of these troops fight in iraq with the coalition. those of you who know georgia, know that is a mountainous country with terrain features that are sometimes similar to afghanistan. they have a tremendous fighting tradition. and they are going into afghanistan with no national caveats and after they unpack and get acclimatize, they will be integrated into the marine operations in helmand. on a per capita basis, right now they appear to have the highest per capita troop contribution of any country in the world at about 950 troops when this battalion gets there. it's extremely important deployment and we are great for for it. president saakashvili and i have discussed this a year ago and started the process, which has led to the deployment and he accompanied me on this trip to the training mission. i was not there on any other s

a battalion that hopefully can serve as a model for what professional behavior is and what it could leadto for other parts of the armed forces of the democratic of the republic of congo. we have begun that program in earnest. about two weeks ago. it will run about another six or seven months, and should it prove successful, there is potential it could be expanded to other battalions as well to help a process of increasing professionalism of the armed forces of the republic of congo to move ahead. the work being done by the fdlr in the east, those activities, the congolese are addressing that through some of their activities, supported by the united nations, and i think that, too, is important work as a part of overall comprehensive way that those rebel groups have to be addressed and as we've also seen, i might add, with the cooperation that exists between uganda, the congo, rwanda, as well as the central african republic, and the regional way to address these common threats is something we also will continues to encourage. >> well, i'm extremely concerned about the number of people that

appreciated the gesture that i should call the officer who during world war ii commanded an engineer battalion unit across a german minefield against enemy fire, received the distinguished service cross and call him andy was quite simply to me incomprehensible. but serving on this committee gave me a unique opportunity to honor one great american while learning from another. and it was an experience that i will always treasure. which brings me to the heart of my talk this evening. when i began to think about what subject i should talk about, i asked myself the very simple question, what would general goodpaster have suggested and of course the answer was obvious. of the many people that he served during his many, many years of public service, the person that he was closest to was, of course, dwight eisenhower. in 1954, president eisenhower summoned him to serve as a staff officer in the white house. their relationship dated to ike's tenure as nato supreme commander. where general goodpaster served as the assistant to ike's chief of staff general alfred grunther. he formulated policy in the pol

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in a personal memoir, the drug haze war in southeast asia, a sergeant, who served with the 4th battalion, 60th artillery from october 1967 to june 1969, commented, for many of us drugs were a form of self-medication and day dream under their influence and offered a temporary relief from the cons at that point in time fear and physical suffering. and mark leavey with the first cavalry decision recounted the story of a wounded gi who demanded a toke from a joint, before being medevaced to a hospital and lying with shape nell wounds and blurted out, give me joint and that is medical marijuana in action, he said and you have to realize when we were in the jungle, the tension would build like a coil over several case and come bass was the civil consent of sex and release the emotional drain and the incredible rush of energy and you needed something to come down and drugs provided the perfect tranquilizing effect. a doctor, founder vietnam veterans against the war commented, quote, use of drugs in the combat zone as a particular appeal -- had an appeal because the psychological anesthesia prov

about more than gettysburg is that there's a misty about what happened specifically with customers battaliones and how to get massacred. there were indian witnesses, but for 100 years nobody took those seriously, as paul notes that they're just got dismissed as being irreconcilable. a lot of work has been done in the last 20 us to sort of examine those and realize they did have a lot of very reliable information to tell about the battle. and that's the other reason i wanted to write this was to see if i could find that what really happened to custer's command, specifically. and how they actually got to where they ended up and were massacred on that hill. and i think i did. and i think there's enough material from the indian account that were taking suzy for a hundred years, and also a new forensic and archaeological research they have done over the past 20, 25 years to do that. >> with custer you confront a character who once was highly regarded whose reputation has fallen precipitously and now is almost used as a sort of a punchline and late-night comedy. bonnie and clyde are just, and you

about more than gettysburg is there is a mystery about what happened specifically with custer's battalion of five companies and how they got massacred and there were indian witnesses but for 100 years nobody took those seriously. as paul knows they were dismissed as being irreconcilable but a lot of work is been done to sort of examine those and realize they did have a lot of very reliable information to tell about the battle and that is the other reason i wanted to write this was to see if i could find out what really happened to custer's command specifically and how they actually got to where the end that and were massacred on the hill and i think i did and i think there is enough material from the indian accounts that have been -- that were not taken seriously for a hundred years and the new friends again archaeological research that the head on the past 20, 25 years to do that. >> would custer confronted a character who once was highly regarded and whose reputation has fallen precipitously and now is almost viewed as a sort of punchline in fleet light comedy. bonnie and clyde are just

their afghan counterparts, in a program that originated as a commando training program, selecting battalions, from the afghan national army, and, putting them through a 12 week training course that then created a commando program within the afghan national army, and that is how expanded slightly or recently, to include a special forces counterpart, with in the afghan national army. most of the training of the afghan national army, the raising of the army, if you will, is being done by force trainers. >> good. good and in terms of your responsibility in this special operations, the fact that you are not only dealing with the asymmetric threat but also a more conventional threat posed by north korea and iran, do you have the resources to be able to confront those threats in your opinion? >> sir, from a -- yes, sir. again, with the -- depending on army, navy, air force and marine corps, for service com and support we are in the tracking and planning of business to go beyond that, i think we should go into closed session. >> do you think as -- first of all, what is the ratio now to special opera

clearing training and one of those that's trained them, major richard harney, third battalion, 24th marines. you've been training these guys for sometime now. are they getting ready? >> yes, sir, we've had them for about eight weeks now. we picked them up from right out of boot camp, had the officers straight on of the officer candidate school and have been training them for the past eight weeks. doing an outstanding job. >> brought them down from kabul. >> yes, sir. took about a seven day trip. great experience with them. great partnering team with the marine corps and the afghan national army and it's been a good experience so far. >> not just americans either. we've got our british allies right here. major paul joyce is one of the mentor teams, are they ready? >> they will be by the time we finish. >> how long have you been here with them? >> we've had there for four days. we'll have them for three weeks. once they're finished, they'll be ready to deploy with the first armed forces and they'll be the future security of afghanistan. >> what's the sense of the quality of the troops? >> out

, the battalion that hopefully can serve as a model for what professional behavior is and what they could lead to further parts of the armed forces of the democratic republic congo. we've begun that program in the earnest about two weeks ago and will run about another six or seven months and should it prove successful there's potential it could be extended to others as well who held a process of increasing professional republic of congo to move ahead. the work being done by the fda nor, the condoleezza are addressing that through some of their activities supported by the united nations and i think that is important as the part of the comprehensive way that those groups have to be addressed and as we have also see my might add with cooperation that existed between ugonda, the congo, rwanda as well as the central african republic and the regional way to address the common threats is something we will continue to encourage. >> i am extremely concerned about the number of people dying every day and the abuse of the men and women. it's just reprehensible. thank you for your testimony. >> senat

first off if you have a battalion of u.s. marines and give them a district in afghanistan, that's kind a waste of marines that there's some actual fighting taking place. but if you have an afghan cam back with a u.s. marine company in the same district, now you're doing a lot of things because first off you have afghans on the ground come you don't have as many u.s. troops on the ground in europe to start turning in such a way that the type of training, the type of mentoring that's taken place is kind of the big brother little brother type of thing that i think we never really got beyond in iraq. it's really living together, sleeping together, working together, training together, planning together and then operating together in such a way that we would hope that the way we do business but operationally and culturally begins to have an effect on the way that the host nation troops begin to operate. as well as instilling values i guess her patriotic values and devotion to a greater cause, that i cannot speak intelligently about

he was until recently the commander of this region and from battalion to battalion, we allow them to come back in the area and equip them with equipment and let them bring weapons and so on. and they are changing the way the west is won. if you go through mala or other areas, you'll find something you've never seen in years. more than a decade, the economy is growing very fast. public order is very clear. they are federally building both institutions and the canadians are helping them build a system and some are helping with a prison system. and the situation is much better. even when the -- you know, recently we imposed a freeze on new buildings on the west bank for 10 months and there was quite naturally quite a vocal and intense meetings with the leaders of the of israeli settlements of the west bank, they all agreed the security situation underground is better than anywhere in the past. and clearly part of it is our effectiveness in the security service in the idaf and it's part of the result of this building of security forces. regarding to the borders, first of all, if it's agr

the war mike and credibility with support of the commanders and their ability to understand what battalion and brigade and regimental commanders were saying in a way that never made sense to sanchez or tce. i remember the time of petraeus advisers seem to be i said to do you listen to when you are out and he said i look for the company commander of the second or third tour. and i said what do you feel out here? how does this please feel to you from the previous tour and he said those guys started saying to me in may and june of 07 things are changing he said that is what i really started thinking this thing may be improving the security of here. the second thing that happened and is still happening is the andrew and i talked about quite a lot in our call over at the cms where we write our instructions for the obama administration. this is the question of the host government and it is a hold on our whole theory on which we cannot borrow from the french and british. the french and british were essentially fighting colonial counterinsurgency campaigns to retain presence of some form in these

seven months, and should it prove successful, there is potential it could be expanded to other battalionss well to help a process of increasing professionalism of the armed forces of the republic of congo to move ahead. the work being done by the fdlr in the east, those activities, the congolese are addressing that through some of their activities, supported by the united nations, and i think that, too, is important work as a part of overall comprehensive way that those rebel groups have to be addressed and as we've also seen, i might add, with the cooperation that exists between uganda, the congo, rwanda, as well as the central african republic, and the regional way to address these common threats is something we also will continues to encourage. >> well, i'm extremely concerned about the number of people that are dying every day, and certainly the abuse of their men and women, it's just reprehensible. but thank you for your testimony. thank you. >> thank you. senator? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i, too, want to add my thanks to these three distinguished americans who dedicated their liv

combat team, 25th division infantry division battalion.une jared was killed killed at the age of 20 in afghanistan. this is his photograph. he is on this board. the board with 27 other texans from my congressional district area. he is the latest to have been killed in iraq or afghanistan as a volunteer to go overseas and protect the rest of us in time of war. he believed in protecting our country. he believed in it so much he was willing to leave his wife and go half way around the world to fight an enemy on the %gk'r"@ rrk)$$rrr >> who are risking their lives for us here at home. they told me that they miss their families, they miss their kids. but also they believe the work they're doing is worth it and they're eager to finish the job and get back home. they continue to fight and fight hard and they want success. and we must remember, mr. speaker, they're all volunteers, america's finest. general mcchrystal's new strategy is effective and already leading to key victory. and it makes no sense to all of a sudden pick up and leave when we'r

you know, we don't have battalions of civilians.is a much smaller number in comparison to our military forces, but each one beverages on average about 10 other civilians. ngo's partnering with civilians from other countries who are there as part of a government commitment, partnering with united nations, hiring afghans, partnering with afghans. one of the examples i was going to give, if senator bond had asked, on agriculture. as soon as the marines secured marja, civilians began to go out. they have a program called the afghanistan vouchers for increased production in agriculture. they have distributed 7000 vouchers for fertilizers, new seeds, trellises for grapes. it's that kind of intensive work on the ground if that does not take a lot of civilians, it takes the right kind of civilians. we have usda agriculture experts. we have people from national guard units who have expertise in agriculture. so we are leveraging the presence of our civilians and we will probably be adding more, but we want to be sure that where we add to them

if i took the commando unit lysol down there, exceptional, the commandos we have seven battalions and we are building two more for a total of mine. they performed superbly. well lighted and well organized, superb organization. the a.n.c.o.p., afghan national civil order police were brought in and are being a part of the hold fee is i would say are performing very well but they went through a retraining program by the coalition forces just before being employed behind the combat forces who had done the cui rig operation so they are a part of this phase in certain areas and they are doing very well. there's no question there is room for growth. it's like any army. you never quite a speech to your entire career in and that's something we are trying to still in the afghan army and police forces so they understand even the yukon through the basic trading at collective trading when you get to the field you have to continue training and growing into a developing and go back to leadership courses for the mid grade level leaders. it's a lifelong process of growing and developing and educating

, he volunteered for duty in the republic of vietnam where he served with great distinction as a battaliongence officer on the front lines for which he was recognized with some of our nation's highest awards for valor. the bronze star with a combat v for valor, two purple hearts, the vietnamese cross of gallantry. he retired as a full colonel in 1990. those of us who have been privileged to serve with congressman murtha over the years in uniform and out of uniform will always remember his concept of the citizen soldier. in his elected capacity, he always went to the dangerous spots where men and women were serving their country. i accompanied him to sare yea vow -- sarajevo in 2003 which is not a good time to be in sarajevo. s a we were getting off a c-130, a piece of sharp nell flew past us and impacted on some sandbags about 20 or 30 feet in front of us. he turned and looked at me and said, i guess they know we're here. [laughter] but he did -- he did this time and again. he did it quietly. did he it modestly. wherever the danger was he went there to see how the men tanned women were, to

he was assigned to the marine forces reserve's third battalion, 24th regiment, fourth infantry divisioned out of johnson city, tennessee. after training in california, jonathan was deployed in support of operation iraqi freedom in 2006. his family recalls he left california on september 26, and just one month later, his life was tragically lost. a few days before his death, jonathan called his mother judy to wish her a happy birthday, but she was at the grocery store and missed his call. jonathan did get to talk to his wife toni. toni and judy talked later, and judy remembers they shared an uneasy feeling. i could feel god all around me that morning, and i should have known something, judy says. i could feel god protecting me from the harshness of this. later that day, they received the horrible news. funeral services were held at little rosa church in mcdowell where jonathan's two favorites songs, "the old ship of zion" and "amazing grace" were played. tributes to him were held in frankfort and back at south floyd high school. today on jonathan's birthday, madam president, our thoughts

if i took the commando unit lysol down there, exceptional, the commandos we have seven battalions and we are building two more for a total of mine. they performed superbly. well lighted and well organized, superb organization. the a.n.c.o.p., afghan national civil order police were brought in and are being a part of the hold fee is i would say are performing very well but they went through a retraining program by the coalition forces just before being employed behind the combat forces who had done the cui rig operation so they are a part of this phase in certain areas and they are doing very well. there's no question there is room for growth. it's like any army. you never quite a speech to your entire career in and that's something we are trying to still in the afghan army and police forces so they understand even the yukon through the basic trading at collective trading when you get to the field you have to continue training and growing into a developing and go back to leadership courses for the mid grade level leaders. it's a lifelong process of growing and developing and educating

you're the first published author, i wrote with affinity publishers, it's a book about of the tank battalion in world war ii, and it's strange mentioned book sales. they only books i sold in the 23 copies that i've got,. >> host: was this self published? commack yester. >> host: what your question for t.r. reid? >> caller: mr. reid, i'd like to know since he's bringing up the european hero, what are the ramifications? have been, wouldn't you think they would need a central government, would you consider like if we have 50 states, the government, each state has its own separate government, but the government in d.c. would be considered the central government. so what are we supposed to do, like if -- >> host: thank you, dominic. what is the situation? >> guest: can you make currency work when it's used by 16 countries, each with their own independent national government? that's what the euro is going to test, is it a real currency union. one way they have dealt with this is the have a central bank, just like we have the federal reserve. they have the european central bank which sets the inter

the commandos, we have seven battalions today. we are building two more for a total of nine.y. well-trained, well led, well organized and the superb organization. the transit, afghan national civil order police, were brought in on are being part of the whole phase down there. i would say performing very well. but they went to a little retraining program by coalition forces just before being employed and behind the combat forces, who had just done a clearing operation. so they are now part of this whole phase in certain areas. and they are doing very well. there's no question. there's room for growth. it's like any army. you never quit -- [inaudible] -- and that's something we're trying to instill also in afghan army and the police forces so they understand even though you may have gone through basic training and collective training, when you get out in the future have to continue training and growing and developing that you have to go back to leadership forces for your midgrade level leaders. it's a lifelong process of growing and developing and educating them. but back to yo

a battalion after italian, they came back to the area and they were equipped and let them bring weaponstem. the security situation is much better. recently we imposed a freeze on new building in the west bank for 10 months. there was quite naturally and a vocal and intense meetings with leaders of israeli settlements. they all agreed that the security situation on the ground is better than anywhere in the past. our effectiveness in the security service in the idf activities. parts of it is clearly a result of these meetings of security forces for them. regarding the border, first of all, did will be agreed to solve this. i personally think that leaders -- and i can talk from personal experience -- leaders take the challenge of having a break in diplomatic agreements, by looking at the whole gestalt. any kind of giving up or concessions on any isolated elements exposed to them politically when they do not know whether they have an agreement -- they do not know they have one. they have to pay the price for it. even if its it is in a closed rule, far from the public eye, when you negotiate

he served in the corps artillery in the headquarters and service battery in the fourth 155th battalion which was commanded by colonel john letcher. and one of the things john letcher did is he wrote a book about his experience in the marine corps called "one marine's story" and this is how he described his first night on iwo jima at the corps artillery headquarters. i had been asleep for perhaps an hour when a shell burst, which seemed to be right outside the tent. it was followed in rapid succession by others. the shells were bursting in the air a few feet above the ground and were spraying fragments in every direction. the command post area seemed to be their target and they were making a hit with every shell. most of our personnel were poorly dug in just as i was because mingled with the noise of the shell bursts i heard screams and cries of wounded men. i was trembling and found myself reciting the apostle's cede. 35 men were killed -- creed. 35 men were killed in my father's unit and wounded during that barrage and it was something that he carried with him every day of his life un

it will be up to 950 troops when this battalion gets there. it's extremely important employment and we are grateful for it. the president and i have discussed this a year ago and started the process which has led to the deployment. he accompanied me on this trip to the training mission. i was not there on any other subject. we did not discuss u.s.-russian relations. we did not discuss issues involving their future relationships with natea. this was an afghanistan related trip. but i want to express with great strength on behalf of the entire u.s. government how much the united states government appreciates the georgian contribution. it came by coincidence on the same day that the government in the netherlands fell. this is an important deployment and it's gotten far too little attention. germany was to continue our high level coordinations with one of the most important allies, but the main focus in germany was the german support of the police training program. germans by constitution, the germans cannot put their police under a military comma

>> we have to marine battalions in there. we will make a decision later in terms of whether we keep two in there or go down to one. and there is no short-term plan for the titans that are there. we are very conscious of the fact that this is a fragile area. the necessity to keep the security forces in place for the foreseeable future is critical. as far as the time line for services, nothing can arrive soon enough. we have opened the roads. commerce has started. the return of families has begun. i was in marjah two days ago and we saw families coming back. that is a great sign that there is beginning to be some trust. the area is increasingly secure. in terms of medical and construction, i think we would all agree that unemployed men and women are bad news in any society. our goal to get out there and hire more than 1000 to get them off the street and get them working. a lot of the people we hire have probably been taliban and on time. pan2. >> "washington journal" continues. host: our final guest is ron haskins, economic stu

, he volunteered for duty in the republic of vietnam where he served with great distinction as a battalion officer on the front lines for which he was recognized with some of our nation's highest awards for valor. the bronze star with a combat v for valor, two purple hearts, the vietnamese cross of gallantry. he retired as a full colonel in 1990. those of us who have been privileged to serve with congressman murtha over the years in uniform and out of uniform will always remember his concept of the citizen soldier. in his elected capacity, he always went to the dangerous spots where men and women were serving their country. i accompanied him to sare yea vow -- sarajevo in 2003 which is not a good time to be in sarajevo. s a we were getting off a c-130, a piece of sharp nell flew past us and impacted on some sandbags about 20 or 30 feet in front of us. he turned and looked at me and said, i guess they know we're here. [laughter] but he did -- he did this time and again. he did it quietly. did he it modestly. wherever the danger was he went there to see how the men tanned women were, to see