are the big lessons learned from iraq that are very valuable for you as you go to a more challenging place like afghanistan? >> you said that very well. it is different than iraq. the infrastructure is different. the population is different. it is just hard government business to perform logistics in afghanistan. that being said, the property accountability piece that i mentioned earlier is being set up in afghanistan so we don't go through this process again when we pull out of afghanistan. our contracting officer representative per formation has increased tremendously. we have a very much more decentralized operation in afghanistan than iraq. we need more contract oversight. our soldiers and civilians are getting training. in fact, we are doing a good job. >> in the 30 or so seconds we have left, all of this is predicated on a benign environment as we pull out. what happens? >> all of this is based on operations. when the general says we go, we go. when general webster in iraq and kuwait says it is time to go, we will go. we in the logistics world take our cue from the operators. as they say go, we go. >> are you not worried about a vietnam-style scene

iraq and afghanistan and less time on trivial matters like the scandal. for the first time since the war in iraq began over seven years ago there will be more u.s. troops in afghanistan than mike mullen. as of today there are still 97,000 forces in iraq down from 150,000 at the height of the surge and 83,000 now in afghanistan. for an update on both wars and reaction to some intriguing statements out of the kremlin today about the nuclear weapons agreement reached between the united states and russia we are pleased to be joined by jeff morrell, pentagon spokesman and press secretary. jeff, good to have you here. >> thanks for having me. >> we have election results in from iraq. it looks like a split. what role now for the united states? >> we really have no role other than to be there in an over watch capacity assisting iraqi security forces. we did not have a candidate obviously in this election. our interests were in providing or helping the iraqis provide a safe, secure, free, and fair election. by all accounts they had that. 12 million iraqis went to the polls this month, 62% of the population, relatively free of violence. it's taken a while to count the votes. we now

. >> there's more in afghanistan than hassling i know iraq -- you know, that's been settled somewhat by afghanistan. i know there was a transition period and there have been some concerns. i'll speak to senator graham about some additional questions that he and i were discussing and maybe we can off-line touch base. but i am chairing a hearing on afghan police training and i'm concerned and wondering if the mission that lagged has it's been divided by the states and the defense departments? >> well, i think candidly that there's a reason that we have over time transitioned tasks from traditional executive branch elements to the military. and that is because we have more capacity and capability. i mean, i stood up the multinational security transition command iraq and over time we took on more and more responsibility because the capacity of our partners in some of these areas and i & l there's a bunch of heroes in state department i & l but they are armies of one in many cases. now, we are going to transition the police task back to state department in iraq and we believe that process

our conference on lessons learned, lessons loss, counterinsurgency from vietnam to iraq and afghanistan. . . more than half a century ago marshal of the royal air force search on flusser warned that if there is one attitude more dangerous and to assume that a future war will be just like a last one, it's to imagine that it will be so utterly different that we can afford to ignore all the lessons of the last one. today we have three expert panels whose members will explore specifically how the lessons of vietnam have been transferred, ignored or adopted to contemporary conflicts in iraq and afghanistan. lessons learned convalescence lost, let's see. first palin counterinsurgency in iraq is chaired by dr. patrick turned one of the center for a new american security. cronin thank you very much. it's a great privilege to be here and i want to thank johns hopkins and texas tech vietnam center for the excellent work in putting together a two-day conference on such important issues. first when i was at oxford university many, many years ago, whether to get him was a counterinsurgency was a subject of debate.

the sue sides among active duty troops in iraq and afghanistan are higher than the rate in vietnam which was the highest we had as americans. these are our children. these are our children. to four minutes to the chair of the house armed services committee, the gentleman from missouri, mr. skelton. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for four minutes. mr. skelton: mr. speaker, have we forgotten, have we forgotten what happened to america on 9/11? have we forgotten who did it? have we fore goten those who protected and gave them a safe -- forgotten those who protected and gave them a safe haven? let me speak in favor of those men and women who wear the uniform today that are doing something about it. i'm so proud of them. every american should be proud of them and their professionalism, their devotion to duty, their patriotism. thus, i rise in strong opposition to this ill-timed resolution that threatens to undermine the recent gains by u.s. forces and our afghan and coalition partners. six months ago i wrote a letter to the president while he was conducting a full review

the sue sides among active duty troops in iraq and afghanistan are higher than the rate in vietnam which was the highest we had as americans. these are our children. these are our children. these kids did not come home to kill the spices are their children. but they were so wounded and they were not taking care of. by our people who sent them there. we bring them home and we say, ok, you're on your own and then what do we have? suicides. this war is tearing apart those who are taking part of it and it will have the same influence that the vietnam war had on our civilian society. half the home was on the streets tonight are vietnam vets. give me 30 seconds. the rate of homelessness is higher by our troops today. more people have died, more vietnam vets have died from suicide and died in the iraq war. that is what these wars are doing to our society. these are our children. it is time to take care of them and bring them home. but support the resolution on the floor. to four minutes to the chair of the house armed services committee, the gentleman from missouri, mr. skelton. the speaker pro

than the taliban. and the last point i'll make is that one key difference that afghanistan -- one way that afghanistan is different than iraqut that is very similar to vietnam is that afghanistan is a rural insurgency. it is a rural guerilla war. and, you know, you go read all the books about guerilla war and you read mao and all of those fellows and you will learn that rural guerilla wars are much harder to fight for our government. it's much easier for a government and a conventional military force to go into a city to lock it down to grid it out, set up its outposts and lock down and control that city just like we controlled the cities in iraq. it's much easier to lock downço k,a city than it is vast it's more true in!b afghanistan er+ásjjjp &hc% at the population in the afghans live in thousands of small tiny little self-governing villages spread across this vast terrain is very difficult geography, a destroyed transportation infrastructure. that means we're going to have disperse our forces out across this wide area to be able to control the country and that is going to be a huge weakness for us but a great strength f

than people expect. it is just that basically they lens of the press is a lot more focused on situations like afghanistan or iraq than of jamaica where basically every year every election year for instance there is violence as part of the political discourse of the different candidates. >> and just to add to that, said terry and hisism i think will continue and i think this idea of closed communities, a sunni arab community, there will be a sunni shiite community and there will be not-- makes communities. i think this trend is continuing and it will continue or go in terms of real violence, i would say of course that northern border area is mixed areas, kirkuk and diyala, the contentious areas. this is where we will see more real violence in the coming years or continued real violence. i think baghdad will probably settle down. it has been pretty quiet. there are reports of anecdotal sectarianism continuing but i think that is going to finish because i think people will just move out and you won't see those ms. communities and therefore it won't be an issue. 's be with that i'm going to actually close down our p

than people expect. it is just that basically they lens of the press is a lot more focused on situations like afghanistan or iraqthan of jamaica where basically every year every election year for instance there is violence as part of the political discourse of the different candidates. >> and just to add to that, said terry and hisism i think will continue and i think this idea of closed communities, a sunni arab community, there will be a sunni shiite community and there will be not-- makes communities. i think this trend is continuing and it will continue or go in terms of real violence, i would say of course that northern border area is mixed areas, kirkuk and diyala, the contentious areas. this is where we will see more real violence in the coming years or continued real violence. i think baghdad will probably settle down. it has been pretty quiet. there are reports of anecdotal sectarianism continuing but i think that is going to finish because i think people will just move out and you won't see those ms. communities and therefore it won't be an issue. 's be with that i'm going to actually close down our pa

iraq. it comes as the u.s. prepares to wind down its forces in that country while ramping up the fight against the taliban in afghanistan. more thantary personnel have died in the iraq conflict. >>> thousands of demonstrators turned out in washington to protest the iraq war. they put signs resembling tombstones with the names of fallen iraqis and americans. there were anti-war protests in new york and los angeles. >>> meantime, several hundred marines are deploying out of camp pendleton. their destination? south afghanistan to secure cities and towns against taliban militants who have been ousted from key strong holds in the region. >>> new year's celebrations are underway in iran. the holiday marks the first day of spring. a prominent pro-reform politician has special reason to celebrate. hussein marashi was freed from prison, but he will have to go back to jail on april 3rd when the new year holiday is over. >>> pope benedict tells irish catholics he is sorry for the latest scandal. is the pontiff's apology enough? >>> a blinding snowstorm so bad planes can't even take off. (announcer) nothing works stronger, faster, or longer t

armed forces from afghanistan no later than december 31 of this year. and it can be done. unlike iraq where we have significant infrastructure built in and around the country to support our presence there, prior to last year the united states invested very little in permanent infrastructure in afghanistan. president obama's call on the u.s. military to triple the amount of troops we've had in the country since the war started. if the administration expects the military to figure out a way for a rapid increase of troops on the ground, we can figure out how to have a method of rapid withdrawal. getting supplies into afghanistan is one of the biggest obstacles to providing adequate support for troops on the ground due to frequent attackses on u.s. convoys traveling to -- attacks on u.s. convoys traveling to afghanistan to deliver most of the supplies by air. now, madam speaker, we have in the last three hours talked about 1,000-troop casualties, we've talked about a cost of a quart of a $1 trillion and rising, we've spoken of civilian casualties and about the incredible amount of corrupt

45,000 americans who die every year because they're not covered, which is way more than we lose in iraq and afghanistanthings to say. you know, some of these things that come out, hitting, you cannot accept that. that's horrible if that's true. but the idea that because he was unfaithful to his wife he's a monster, i've heard that term many times. elizabeth, i think, said it herself. i didn't want to know because i didn't want to feel like i was married to a monster. america has to get a grip about infidelity. simmer down. hannibal lecter was a monster. chemical ali was a monster. this is a middle-aged guy that got horny. that's not a monster. what? it's funny. >> larry: we'll be back with bill maher. es. they rate its fit and finish and the amenities inside. they factor in purchase price and operating costs. fuel economy and resale value. in short, they do what you do to test its quality. now get a low mileage lease on this 2010 malibu for around $199 a month for 39 months. call for details. see your local chevy dealer. >> larry: great pleasure to introduce heart various mckay. "use your head to get y

with respect to iraq, but one thing worth remembering is that we have more troops in afghanistan -- iraq today than in afghanistan. we do in afghanistan. the plan is for them to draw down significantly by this summer and be out of their completely by next year. much of that will the plan on security conditions on the ground. host: mike, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. the previous caller was exactly right. why are we there? host: enter your own question. -- answer your own question. caller: the military industrial complex is too fat. we will not allow. host: brief comments there. jesse, -- we will not pull out . host: brief comments there. jesse, north carolina. caller: we may withdraw a token amount of troops in iraq. we have troops in afghanistan with a partnership with pakistan. all of these countries around iran. to what extent does the gentleman think our presence in the middle east have to do with iran? guest: first of all, the withdrawal from iraq is not a token. they are likely to keep drawing down very significantly. going down to about 50,000. next year continuing to d

iraq. it comes as the u.s. prepares to wind down its forces in that country while ramping up the fight against the taliban in afghanistan. more thanry personnel have died in the iraq conflict. >>> thousands of demonstrators turned out in washington today to protest the iraq war. they put signs resembling tombstones on the national mall with the names of fallen iraqis and americans. there were also anti-war protests in other cities including new york and los angeles. >>> meantime, several hundred marines are deploying out of southern california's camp pendleton. their destination, southern afghanistan, where they will link up with afghan troops. their mission, to secure cities and towns in helmand province against taliban militants who've been recently ousted from key strongholds in the region. >>> new year's celebrations are under way root now in iran. the holiday also marks the first day of spring. a prominent pro-reform politician has special reason to celebrate. iran's official news agency reports that hussein morashi was freed from prison. but he will have to go back to jail on april 3rd, when the new year holiday is over. >>>

of over 500, helicopters, the biggest in europe, in western europe, the biggest in iraq and is afghanistan, other than america and the argument we have not funded our helicopter program, we've provided additional resources for helicopters and bought helicopters where we needed to do so, and you may know the helicopters we used in iraq they have to be adapted again for use in afghanistan. because the blades that are necessary for iraq are different from the blades necessary for the weather and mountainous and high territory of afghanistan. all the time, we are trying -- and these are decision for the military commanders on the ground -- trying to match the needs they have at a particular time with the resources we can make available and i would say on helicopters, the former ministry of defense parliament secretary made it clear when he spoke to the public accounts committee, we have provided, and in my judgment the military judgment, all of the military operational helicopter assets, needed for success and that is in october, 2004, talking about iraq. on the needs that we have in iraq and afghanistan.

iraq and afghanistan. >> the iraqis have had several elections. it's time to bring all of the troops out of iraq, to bring them back home safely. >> we're making new enemies faster than we're killing them. >> i firmly believe war is not the answer. we can't do this. >> reporter: the raging grannies put their antiwar message to music. ♪ it's time now to take back our country ♪ and give folks a helping hand ♪ >> reporter: there appeared to be about 2,000 potesters in lafayette park. by the time the march down d.c. streets began in the early afternoon there were maybe 3,000 people in the crowd. i've covered antiwar demonstrations in washington, d.c. for about 30 years. among those that are nationally ornized with people coming in from out of state, this is actually one of the smallest i've ever seen. >> but it is a business disheartening. i would love to see a lot more people out here. i tried to conjure together some friends. >> it seems so long, people are tting discouraged, losing steam. >> reporter: some organizers believe the public is still giving president obama a prolonged honeymoon period. others think the continuing recession will eventually make taxpayers que

iraq and afghanistan. we need an attitudinal change more than anything else. shote humility, have respect, spend a lot of time listening to them. for something to work, it has to come from locals. imagine a military officer from iraq coming to tennessee and street here is how to run your city. that would not go very far, is specially if they do not speak english. but if foreign officer says what are you trying to do, how can i help you, that can be the key. host: you are on with tom ricks. good morning. caller: please pay us a picture of what life would be like if we never took out saddam hussein and his boys. guest: good question. i think it goes to the issue of what saddam hussein was. he was an aging, a toothless tiger. he did not have weapons of mass destruction, and certainly was not a threat to the united states. was a lousy leader? absolutely. was a terrible to his people? no question. they are all around the world. how many are we going to knock off? my big worry is a new strongman emerges, tougher, meaner, younger, more energetic than hussain, with a s

government has appropriated reconstruction funding alone of more than $53 billion for iraq and $51 billion presently for afghanistan the commission is interested in this fact because much of the money passes from taxpayers through the accounts of government agencies to contractors. in fact, more than 50% of the worse commonly understood and well documented are now contractors. our research and investigations since 2008 have naturally looked at the contracting process. contractor management, contractor auditing and related issues. that's one of this commission's mandates. but we're not strained from our mandate when we raise questions about interagency coordination. the language of our authorizing statute assigns the commission particular duties. these duties including assessing and i quote, the appropriateness in of the organizational structure, policies, practices and resources of the department of state and the department of defense and the department of state for handling program management and contracting. so here we are. our mandate includes organizational structure and how it's working and is it effective. as

with more than 30,000 injured there, returning from iraq and afghanistan, dan decided to help them rebuildliterally. watch. >> baghdad ended up being a hell of a ride. i sustained a very severe blast injury. my life just came to a complete halt. >> how are you doing? >> how's everything? you look sharp today. >> thank you. >> i've been building custom homes for 30 years. one of the most important things for a family is a home. i want you to read the sign for me. >> future home of sergeant alexander reyes, united states army. >> congratulations. giving these folks a new home means the world. >> just thank you. that's all i can say. >> my nap is dan wallrath. we built homes for returning heroes from iraq and afghanistan. the houses are mortgage free. it changes the whole family's life. >> welcome home. >> it gives them just a new start so that they can move forward. these young men and women are doing this for you and me. how can i not help them? when i grow up, i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm goin

the sue sides among active duty troops in iraq and afghanistan are higher than the rate in vietnam which was the highest we had as americans. these are our children. these are our children. several hundred of these were their own family members. they were so wounded, and they were not taken care of. they were not taking care of by the people who were there. we bring them home, and we say, we will bring them home and we have suicide and homicide. this is tearing apart the people who are taking part in this. this is this influence that vietnam -- influence that vietnam had on the civilian society. the rate of homelessness among the people of iraq and afghanistan -- >> i yield him 32nd. >> the rate of homelessness is now higher, by the soldiers today. more people have died from suicide and in the original award. -- original worar. it is time to bring them home. let's follow the motion on the floor. >> the gentleman is recognized for four minutes. mr. skelton: >> mr. speaker, have we forgotten what happened to america, on 9/11? have we forgotten who did it? have we fore goten those who prote

afghanistan. it's terrific and the lessons learned areas and i think has a lot more to speak to iraq and afghanistan than the vietnam experience does. but since we are here -- [laughter] >> i will go on. it's also intriguing to me that david petraeus was very conscious of the imam and iraq. remember he wrote his ph.d. at princeton on the imam. what is striking to me one day we were talking and i had been reading some french history of the algerian war and i mentioned the general not by name. i said there's one general if he list of the top of his head about eight of the french generals of the 1950's who had fought in both the and on and algeria so he really was quite conscious of the back of especially the french background in vietnam and counter insurgency. i want to talk about to highlight two areas. the first is what petraeus did and i want to say this in the context of my believe the search field in the sense that it did not achieve a strategic goal. the surge achieved its tactical, improved security. there's a lot of iraqis alive today because of the surge. it was a real achievement. i think they fa

formerly fighting men on the streets of iraq with little or no prospect of driving at least a portion than into the hands of the insurgents in iraq. host: back to afghanistan you could, one of the headlines from "the philadelphia inquirer" talks about iraqi leaders fighting to hold onto power. "the prime minister is preparing for a long and bitter fight to hold on to power, even if it alienates the countries sunni community." how is the further drawdown of u.s. to connected to success in afghanistan? guest: part of the assumption is that we can pump up the number of troops in afghanistan as they are going out in iraq. nouri al-maliki, to some surprise, came in second in terms of the number of seats in i al-balawi came in first. -- in terms of the number of seats in parliament. i got balawi came in first. -- callawi came in first grade nouri al-maliki seems to be working the system so that he will be able to form a government. there are lots of talks going on among the parties. but i do think that the talk of renewed sectarian violence, or some even talking about a civil war -- i think the chances of that are extremely small. we have seen this month after m

there are now more than 100 women who have died in iraq and afghanistan and surrounding regions. so we are at a watershed moment. this was brought up in the "new york times" who in 2006 when she wrote a big editorial piece about why the american public doesn't care that women are dying in war. because everyone had expected that there will be a big backlash against this. and there wasn't. so i got interested in this topic, and i set out to write an op-ed piece and i was working on it when i went to pick my daughter up from a friends house where she gone for a play date. they had been best friends since kindergarten. and saw she and i had always sort of tossed her the idea of collaborating on something. and i suggested why don't we do a magazine article about women serving in iraq and afghanistan. and he thought that was an interesting idea and i mentioned it to a curator friend, ashley actually, who's been carried at the visual arts center in richmond. and she said instead of an article, one that work on an exhibit? i was really intrigued by the idea of an exhibit that would bring

increase, as you know and demand for isr systems to collect intelligence in iraq and afghanistan to a point where d.o.d. now has more than 6800 i meant aircraft systems alone. isr is also seen as the first line of defense for u.s. and allied forces against insurgent attacks, and roadside bombs. but to be useful to the war fighter, after intelligence is collected, it must be analyzed and shared with all those who need it in a timely manner. the presentation board beside me shows the intelligence data processing cycle, and you should have a sheet in your briefing book that shows that, too, up close. this processing cycle is commonly described in five interconnected faces that at the front and you have, first, planning and direction. and second, collection. at the back end you have third, processing and exploitation. fourth, dissemination, and fifth, evaluation and feedback. my testimony today focuses on faces three and four of the cycle, or the backend of the cycle that transforms the collected data into usable intelligence for the force. today i will discuss first the challenges d.o.d. faces and processing exploiting and

combat stress on those units fighting remotely are actually higher than among many of the unit's physically deployed into iraq and afghanistan. but also changes the experience of combat and killing and what it was like to take out the enemy combat and. >> it is like a video game. interestingly the question is as you know, there may be certain things that you do in the video game world like grand theft data we would not do in the real world. we're also seeing ripple effects on the demographics. who can go to war? you'll like this story better than air force academy but one of the top zero pilots in u.s. military is a 19 year-old high-school dropout who joined the army wanting to be a helicopter mechanic, was not qualified because he failed high-school english so he wanted to be a drug pilot instead. he turned out to be so good after service in iraq they promoted him to specialist and he is now an instructor training academy, 19 and listed instructor. to the air force audience that is not a cool story story -- of your ad in the fact is shown soldier has taken out more and targets and saved more than every single f-15 pilot com

say massive about a lots of things but this one, more than 100 suspected members of al qaeda in custody now. we're not talking iraq or afghanistan at all. wait until you hear the potential target. jonathan hunt has the details when "studio b" is back in 90 seconds. healthy request soup. low in fat and cholesterol, heart healthy levels of sodium, and taste you'll love. guy: mmmm! chef: we're kind of excited about it. announcer: campbell's healthy request. or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. >> shepard: continuing coverage of news out of washington from steny hoyer. he came to the microphone a short time ago to report members of congress received death threats. legitimate death threats over their votes on -- the votes for the new healthcare insurance reform overhaul law. as they voted it into law and now they've received death threats. we'll have a live report. >>> saudi arabia breaking up three al qaeda cells in its borders. in saudi arabia. arrested more than 100 terror suspects inside the country. offi

know, after we went in to afghanistan, immediately the concerns were shifted to remaking the middle east. we went in to iraq, used this as a justification. it was nothing more than an excuse. most americans, the majority of americans, still believe that saddam hussein had nothing to do with 9/11. and i imagine most americans believe that the taliban had something to do with 9/11 and it's not true. we need to change our foreign policy and come back to our senses and defend this country and not pretend to be the policemen of the world. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. who seeks time? mr. kucinich: could i ask, madam speaker, how much time is remaining on each side? the speaker pro tempore: certainly. just a moment. the gentleman from ohio has 68 1/2 minutes. the gentleman from california, mr. berman, has 36 minutes. and the gentlewoman from florida has 27 1/2 minutes. mr. kucinich: if it's -- ok, i'll yield. i'll yield mr. kennedy three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. kennedy, is recognized for -- i'm sorry, from rhode island, is recognized for three minutes. mr. kennedy: i thank the gentleman, mr.

love you [applause] this evening, more than 3,000 members of the florida national guard are proudly serving our country in iraq, kuwait, afghanistanewhere. my friends, not since allied troops trained on florida's shores nearly 70 years ago have so many floridians fought to protect our freedoms. on behalf of these thousands of floridians, please welcome two members of our standing florida national guard. with us tonight, is sergeant michael makai. while serving in afghanistan, his determination and self-less service were vital in the detachment's success. in addition to insuring minimum down time for sentinel air defense radar, he volunteered his time, assisting the medical team when a high number of casualties were brought in. would you please stand, sir. [applause] also, with us tonight, is staff sergeant paul ligman a west point graduate, who's military career has spanned four decades. one month ago today, after a training exercise in preparation for his detachment's deployment to afghanistan, a bus carrying soldiers overturned in clay county. staff sergeant likman swiftly rescued several soldiers in spite of his own injuries. m

afghanistan and iraq. at least eight people were arrested after mock coffins were placed in front of a fence outside of the white house. surae chinn has more. >> reporter: some stood out more than others. >> we'd rather have money funding communities rather than war. >> reporter: but all had a message at peace. >> people don't have jobs and education system is broken. >> reporter: they called for renewed efforts. a mile and a half away, democrats are expected to vote on a massive health care bill to help americans. >> i will take what i can get at the moment. >> there's more that can be done with health care than they are talking about today. >> reporter: the large protests brought many antiwar groups together, each with their own reasons for being here. some more personal than others. >> her daughter was killed in action in iraq 2 1/2 years ago. since then her family has fallen apart, not able to hold jobs on the verge of losing her husband. this woman's son is alive but could be sent overseas again. >> he has had three tours. one more, i think they just want to send them back killed. after nine years, i want it to end and i want it to end for all the mothers, fathers and wive

in iraq and afghanistan, we have more civilian contractors making tons of money than we have soldiersif you really want to -- what would you propose to do about this? if you have got to and bill insurance and to get into an accident your insurance goes up, the same way to deal with health insurance and do not smoke. i do not eat badly. i maintain a healthy lifestyle. i should not be forced to find someone who is irresponsible with their life choices. i never use my health insurance. i paid $2,000 for my family. i see people that are obese and abuse themselves. i have to support them. host: we will leave it there. guest: that problem is made worse by this piece of legislation which uses a modified community ratings and prohibit adjusting payments based on the risk factors. many companies do what you are saying. they will reduce your premiums relative to someone else. under this bill, that is prohibited. help the people will have to pay higher premiums to cover these poor health choices. that is one of the other aspects in this bill. i want to just as i did the we can afford to provide

tax cuts primarily for the wealthy and wars in iraq and afghanistan together accounted for more than $500 billion of the 2009 deficit and $7.1 trillion over the last decade. and none of it was paid for. second, we have the regulatory failures permitted, even encouraged, the financial exodus which brought down our markets. that is not hyperbole. they not only permitted it, they encouraged it. there was a feeling you didn't have to do any kind of regulation. self-regulation. alan greenspan himself said he was dismayed self-regulation didn't work. that financial collapse brought on by no regulation, reducing revenues, unemployment caused us to reduce spending, here we are on the floor debating about unemployment insurance, food stamps and other support requirements when in the previous administration, they didn't talk about these issues that cost $7.1 trillion over the next decade. they weren't funded. there was no funding for medicare prescription drugs. there was no funding for the tax cuts. it's true, madam president, that the budget for next year will not be as close to balance as w

iraq and afghanistan. back then what winant did because of who he was made him much more important than the ordinary ambassadorwhen he left britain the times of london called him the adhesive that kept the alliance together. he went above and beyond what most ambassadors do, and you're right defense is valued over foreign policy. franklin roosevelt was all of that kind of his ambassadors. to answer your question did i think, in no, i did in terms of this whole idea of team work, working on international cooperation, working on a true partnership, trying to understand the other countries as if their urine. and that is what wind and in particular really put an emphasis on. we can't constantly be confrontational. we have to really try to understand. and so that kept coming up over and over and over again in my fonts. >> you end this wonderful introduction with a , acknowledged that the a congressman of such goals would be an extremely difficult task. but he added so it was d-day. if that can be done anything can be done. given the stage, and i'm going to take you off topic. i know your knowledge and death in a

last year, probably more than the wars in iraq and afghanistan combined. this is a serious issue that's not only an issue to mexico but to the united states of america. i just want to give you by way of background how i got into this issue. i went down to mexico city with congressman cuellar who's right here, and we visited with president caulderon. this is a couple of years ago. he was just sort of getting into office and really unique experience to sit down, just the two of us, with ambassador at that time tony garza and talk about the future of mexico and what issues were important to him. and what he told us was that his number one issue was security for his country. and, of course, the economy -- his economy weighs into that as well. i know people from the chamber -- our economies are intertwined. the trade issues are important. it's in the best interest of the united states for mexico to have a healthy economy. and vice versa. but when we talked about security, he was very determined. i walked away thinking, wow, this guy really gets it and he really

the sue sides among active duty troops in iraq and afghanistan are higher than the rate in vietnam whichas the highest we had as americans. these are our children. these are our children. >> they were so wounded and not taken care of by our people that sent them there. we bring them home and say ok you're on your own. then what do we have? suicide, homicide. this war is tearing apart those who have taken part in it. it will have the same influence that vietnam war had on our civilian society. half of theless on the streets tonight are vietnam vets. the rate of homelessness amongst iraqi and afghanistan troops -- give me 30 seconds. >> to the gentleman, 30 seconds. >> thank you. the rate of homelessness is higher by our troops today, more people have died, more vietnam vets have died from suicide than died in the original war. that's what these wars are doing to our society. these are our children. it's time to take care of them. it's time to bring them home. let's support the redslusion on the floor. >> the gentleman from california? >> -- yield four minutes to my very good friend, the c

it means our troops will be in iraq and afghanistan particularly afghanistan longer than the need to be which means their lives are in danger longer and it means all the contractors who are their, their lives are in danger longer, and so i would like us to talk in my next round will be about the whole concept of nation building or state building. thank you, gentlemen. >> thank you, commissioner. we will start the second round now. and start with myself. i want to go back to -- i will have my second area of discussion but i would like to calibrate also author of the initial remarks about the importance of the very senior level executives secretary to secretary discussions and i am smiling because it is already now called the gates proposal and secretary gates in his presentation, and i want to read this because it's important on would propose he doesn't care ultimately what is accomplished as long as an improvement is accomplished because in his presentation are statement, he said, and i am pulling sentences out, unlike the existing structure and process these leftover from the cold w

than that to defend himself. [laughter]. >> the glad path for troop strength in afghanistan, and, the collateral issue of training the security force in iraq, are we on the right glad path, will we be able to meet the goal of next year. >> you are talking about afghanistan? >> yes, afghanistan. >> in terms of the deployment of the additional forces, we made the commitment to the president to have them all there by the end of august, with the exception of a division headquarters that is not needed by that time, 99% of the 30,000, we are on track to do that. i can tell you that transportation command, the lodge stations of the world have done magnificent work to enable that and get their equipment into theatres so they have what they need, obviously, shortly after they get there, or before hand. and that is on track and we're somewhere close to the 10,000 mark of the 30,000, increased a good bit recently, and, again, touch wood, that is on track. with respect to the afghan national security forces, we are behind a bit on the afghan national army side. somewhere around 1300 or so below the glide path we need to be on, to take to us that addit

as you know in the demand for the systems to collect intelligence in iraq and afghanistan to the point where the dod now has more than0 unmanned aircraft systems alone. diyala ksr is also seen as the first line of defense for the u.s. and allied forces against insurgent attacks and roadside bombs. but to be useful to the war fighter after intelligence is collected, it must be analyzed and shared with all of those who need it in a timely manner. the presentation board beside me shows the intelligence data processing cycle and you should have a sheet in your briefing book that shows that, too, a close. this processing cycle is commonly described in five interconnected phases at the front and you have first planning and direction and second collection. at the back end, you have third processing and exploitation, fourth dissemination, and fifth evaluation and feedback. my testimony today focuses on phases three and four of the cycle or the back end of the cycle that transforms the collected data into usable intelligence for the force. today i will discuss first the challenges the dod faces and processing exploiting and d

than most european countries. david cameron has suggested that we make cuts in the past, but when we get specific he tends to get more unpopular. the two wars in iraq and afghanistanctually very much on our agenda, firstly, because we have 10,000 troops -- a lot less than the u.s., but for a relatively small country, the largest -- second-largest contribution of afghanistan. and for soldiers being killed almost every day, that brings it into people's minds. we are currently having a public inquiry of it equivalent to an -- a congressional hearing into the conduct and consequences of the iraq war. those issues that you mentioned are very much in the forefront of the media discussion at the moment. all parties actually support the military involvement in afghanistan called a major parties. the third party, the liberal democrats, did not support the war in iraq. that is something that defines them, but if you're watching open quote prime minister's questions" yesterday -- if you were watching "prime minister's questions" yesterday, you would have seen it was a tight spot for gordon brown. military spending went up while he was chancellor of government spending. when

iraq and afghanistan. but despite this promise more than 23,000 troops did not receive the benefits they were promised due to the bureaucracy and the red tape within the department of defense. troops that were owed thousands of dollars, they didn't see a dime. this was entirely unacceptable. this was the type of delay, whatever the success, was certainly outrageous. and though this was not a new issue, i was proud to work on this issue as soon as i arrivinged in congress and in fact the effort was led by the minnesota national guard representatives john kline and tim walz from minnesota along with the rest of the minnesota delegation and representative bruce braley from iowa whose tireless work on this issue should not go unnoticed. mr. speaker, when it comes to our veterans issues, partisan pal ticks are not an option. we all share a common goal in congress to support our troops and have worked together to ensure that those that serve our nation get the respect and the recognition that they deserve. while we authored legislation that would have provided an immediate fix for this issue, a major hurtle we

as you know in the demand for the systems to collect intelligence in iraq and afghanistan to the point where the dod now has more than aircraft systems alone. diyala ksr is also seen as the first line of defense for the u.s. and allied forces against insurgent attacks and roadside bombs. but to be useful to the war fighter after intelligence is collected, it must be analyzed and shared with all of those who need it in a timely manner. the presentation board beside me shows the intelligence data processing cycle and you should have a sheet in your briefing book that shows that, too, a close. this processing cycle is commonly described in five interconnected phases at the front and you have first planning and direction and second collection. at the back end, you have third processing and exploitation, fourth dissemination, and fifth evaluation and feedback. my testimony today focuses on phases three and four of the cycle or the back end of the cycle that transforms the collected data into usable intelligence for the force. today i will discuss first the challenges the dod faces and processing exploiting and disseminati

talk because this war that we're fighting abroad today in iraq, afghanistan, very different from what we faced in afghanistan. very different thanthe way we're treating today's veterans coming back than we treated from vietnam. so to greg, i just say to you thaumping for your service, thanks for getting through. host: but also his earlier point about some of the language being used. guest: i find it offensive. there's no excuse for that. and maybe it was a slip of the tongue by some. regardless of whether it was or wasn't, it has no place in this country. it's a free country, we get to say what we wish. i know that. but there's a lot of history behind that. and i don't think there's any excuse that it can be given and there never should be. and i think if we could descend on some of those folks and let them see the ways of this country they would change their minds about what they think. and they said it, and in this country they get to say it. but we move forward. and those who were the subject of those kinds of attacks continue to rise up. in fact, we have a president of the united states that goes -- refutures the kind of sta

. >>> first iraq, now afghanistan, new insights that iran's alleged proxy war against the u.s. is far from involved thanought. cnn's brian today has the latest from washington. >> reporter: u.s. military and intelligence officials tell cnn iran has gone beyond giving weapons to the taliban. the officials say the iranians are helping train taliban fighters in the use of small arms and are doing some of that training inside iran. these officials did not say how many taliban fighters have been trained in iran or whether this was sanctioned at the highest levels of the iranian government. we also spoke with bruce riedel, a former ceo officer who did a strategic review of afghanistan for the obama administration last year. >> what are they doing specifically that we know of. >> iran and its allies like the hezbollah are masters at improvised explosive devices, at putting bombs along the sides of ditches and roads and they're trying to transmit some of that knowledge over to the afghan taliban. the iranian regime has always denied supporting the taliban and contacted by cnn about this latest information and i

has sent more troops than any other country to fight alongside the u.s. in afghanistan and iraq.2007, blair could have done any number of things, but he chose to dedicate himself to pursuing peace between israel and palestine. he was appointed to be the representative of the middle east quartet, representing the united states, the united nations, the european union and russia as they traveled extensively throughout the palestinian territories to create the economic conditions that would be necessary for a viable palestinian state. to help improve the quality of life for palestinians. he has won the confidence of israel's leaders. just recently he added a new responsibility, helping to build institutions. he knows his current job is as difficult as any county faces as prime minister, but he is pursuing peace with passion, persistence, and poise. i'm going to let you know that mr. blair to derive from russia. before that, he was in belgium. as soon as he leaves, he will be on a flight to turn up. he came to the united states to speak at the policy conference. [applause] please join

are men and women serving in afghanistan and iraq serving as well and some of the people who have done a great job. let's find out what we have learned from that rather thanr tearing it down. and i will stipulate as well as they vary in may well be they were not the best people we had in the nation at that time to have interrogated the christmas day bomber because they were on vacation. they were having celebrating the birth of christ jesus on christmas day they may have been at a church service. they may have been somewhere else and that's not bad. it's okay for people to take off and so the point i try to make over at that time because this is such an important issue because the number of people that have died in this country, the number of people that died at fort hood that were impacted, did he have any impact on the major down in fort hood? yes, did he have impact on the army recruiter that was killed? yes. did he have an impact on john walker that may have been responsible for killing more involved in the killing of michael spawned the first cia people from my district? the answer is probably yes and you can go on and on and on. so i think it is wha

the united kingdom has sent more troops than any other country to fight alongside the united states in afghanistan and iraqas prime minister in did in 2007, he could have done any number of things with his time but he chose to dedicate himself to the pursuit of peace between israel and the palestinians. on the day he resigned as prime minister he was appointed to be the representative of the middle east quartet. in this capacity he represents the united states, the united nations, the european union and russia as he travels extensively throughout the palestinian territories and seeks to create the economic conditions that will be necessary for a viable palestinian state. his efforts have attracted foreign investment to the west bank and help improve the quality-of-life for palestinians and he has won the confidence of israel's leaders. just recently, he ended a new responsibility to his portfolio, helping to build transparent and accountable palestinian institutions such as an independent judiciary and the civil society. he knows that his current job is as difficult as any challenge he faced as british pri

than they anticipated even though it's higher. >> martha makes a great point. logistically you can't have a therapist in every outpost in every place in afghanistan or iraq.ust not practical. but yet these drugs are not enough if you have ptsd and you need somebody to talk to. clearly there needs to be that alternative. >>> when we return, preaching evangelical christianity with a punch. >> who's getting a kick out of this form of religion and why it is banned in some states. we can never be too careful when giving our kids over-the-counter cough and cold medicines. i'm chandra wilson and i'm a mother of three. children's cough and cold medicines are safe and effective but like all medicines they can have real risks if misused or stored incorrectly. research shows that most overdoses from otc cough and cold medicines happen when parents give the wrong dose or kids get into the medicines. here are a few simple rules all parents should follow when treating their kids with otc cough and cold medicines. always keep medicines out of the reach and sight of children. never give more than the recommended dose, and always use the enclosed measuring device. do not

than they anticipated even though it's higher. >> martha makes a great point. logistically you can't have a therapist in every outpost in every place in afghanistan or iraq.just not practical. but yet these drugs are not enough if you have ptsd and you need somebody to talk to. clearly there needs to be that alternative. >>> when we return, preaching evangelical christianity with a punch. >> who's getting a kick out of this form of rel >>> let's talk about some opposites. thin and fat, black and white, those are some of the basic ones. >> it's a little more complicated when you're talking about people. particularly those of faith who also happen to love a good fight. >> ryan owens went to kentucky where some believers are comfortable with both. >> reporter: late friday night at the pure country bar in paducah, kentucky -- a fight breaks out. but this isn't your grandfather's bar fight. >> hurt like hell. >> reporter: some of these fighters give bible beaters -- >> father, we thank you for the opportunity to go out tonight and to train and compete. >> reporter: -- a whole new meaning. >> lord, we pray you protect our fighters as well as the other guys, we