well, al from knew. he understood that to lead a party out of the political wilderness would take a different kind of democrat. today we have a different kind of democratic party because of what al from and that great new democratic president bill clinton accomplished. if you have front what the political wilderness waslike in those days, just take a look across the aisle at the sad state of today's republican party. [applause] >> now we can't feel too bad. after all, they did plenty to earn it. but it is still a sorry sight. republicans have lost back-to-back landslides in 2006 and 2008. they don't have the courage to challenge old orthodoxies and interest groups. they would rather hold on to old approaches that don't work, thnt embrace new ideas. they cling to the same old approaches that are sure to shrink their party faster. my fellow democrats, we have been there and al from, bill clinton and all of you are a big reason we decided long ago to be done with all of that. [applause] >> today the democra

well, al from knew. he understood that it would take a different time a democrat -- a different kind of democrat. if you have forgotten what the political wilderness was like in those days, just take a look across the aisle at the sad state of today's republican party. we can't feel too bad, after all, they did plenty to earn it. republicans have lost back-to- back land sides in 2006 and 2008. they do not have the courage to challenge old orthodox is and interest groups. they would rather hold on to old approaches then embrace new ideas that work. and even though their ranks are shrinking fast, they cling to the same old approaches that are sure to strengthen -- short to shrink itheir party. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for a long time to come . tomorrow, and in the days and months ahead, i will say more about the important work that lies ahead for the dlc. to " tony blair, a fair is a lot that is done, a lot more to do. we have of ideas tow wave of put forward, and a new generation of democrats -- th

and it was run by al from. and al from took me under his wing and dick gephardt was a member of the committee on party effectiveness, les aspin, tony cuelho, tim worth was a member. i could go on names that you know. it was an extraordinary group. i was proud to be added to that rank. a few years went by and one of the things we talked about that too many democrats thought that we democrats had lost touch with them. we were not representing their values or their vision of what this country ought to be and what our party ought to be about. this young man, al from, i had known at that point in time for over a decade. he decided that we would start an organization that would represent the man stream of or party and the main stream thinking in america about how we got from where we were to where we needed to be. al from was an example that ideas make a difference, ideas make an impact. ideas can change a state, a community, a congress, a country. but you need somebody to spark those ideas, to organize those with id

al qaeda was easy and defeat. we had to show the population was light and make the population feel safe turning against them. as soon as we did that the house of cards collapsed which is why i'm reasonably confident with regard to al qaeda in the long term. i think the ideologies of basically attractive to pretty much everybody. the only thing that could happen that would sustain that is ideology over the long term would be if we were to treat al qaeda as a competitor and make bin laden and pump up the che guevara value of ideologies. unfortunately some of the things we have done since 9/11 have done that but i think there's still time to calmed down, take a deep breath and i think that this with appropriate control measures which will include shooting bad guys with appropriate control measures will appropriately by a natural death. >> let's talk in detail about the campaign plan and iraq. you are best known to this audience and to the world as one of general petraeus's key advisers putting that strategy together

qaeda and said al qaeda muslims should not support al qaeda and specifically contradicted al qaeda as arguments about jihad and the validity of terrorism as a struggle so people in the west say where are the muslims? the haven't stood up and spoken out against al qaeda. they have. it happened in 2005. it's never happened again across the muslim world so what i would suggest is al qaeda has lost a lot of ground since 1911. the leaders are looking over their shoulders looking scared and a lot of cases and the fact they have not been able to mount a successful attack on the united states since 9/11 isn't only because of the sheer brilliance of the counterterrorism issues. [laughter] but also that lost a lot of support. people don't support their agenda at the moment. >> take that a little further if you would. there has been a lot of commentary by people who look carefully at al qaeda. lawrence wright is an example, arguing that our enemy is made mistakes as severe as the ones we've made that everywhere al qaeda has a foothold it's ended up alienating people. that was true in iraq and ac

he can beam his message in living rooms to the best by al-jazee al-jazeera. and it's in my cycle, it's the contagionon affect. radical groups have tried to take over local groups. it's been part and parcel of life in that part of that world for centuries. the different thing is now there's a contagion possibility which brings our response to the united states and other western powers. now, let me be very clear here i'm not saying intervention is bad. the alternative to intervery long is more 9/11s. we have have we have to get involved in this extremely radical but very small group that's opposed to the west. that's about how you do it. and doing it while make the local people your ally the vast amounts of my examples in the book that's a much better approach than doing it unilaterally or in a high profile way and alienates them and strengthens the radical group. it's how to intervene and not whether to intervene. >> yes, the gentleman over there, please. >> i'm from international peace operations association. in your book you recommend getting the lexicon rig

guest: we are seeing al jazeera international or al jazeera english. there are two strands. there is one in arabic that is broadcast on satellite. you can see that i set like anywhere in the world. there is al jazeera english that is broadcast on cable. it is still trying to put itself on cable on a large scale here in the united states. as of the first of july, they are going to beat on cable -- they are going to be on cable in the washington, d.c., area. these are two different strands. in many ways, they represent slightly different perspectives on the world. al jazeera arabic as the bulk of its audience in the middle east. it caters to be specifically arab audience in the middle east and elsewhere. al jazeera english has a broader perspective. it is broadcast in english. it addresses so many different audiences in various parts of the world, including the american audience. host: we are talking to abderrahim foukara from al jazeera. jimmy is on the phone. caller: i have a concern about hypocrisy. barack obama goes abroad and talks about democracy. i find it fascinating b

provide intelligence to al qaeda abroad? or stage an attack on americans at the direction of terrorist groups. reports indicate that etim's philosophy has dramatically evolved as a result of their training and cooperation with al qaeda and the taliban over the last several years. according to terrorism expert rohan gunaratna, an expert on the etim, he said in the post-9/11 era, etim began to believe in the global jihad agenda today the group follows the philosophy of al qaeda and respects osama bin laden. such groups that believe in global jihad do not confine their targets to the terrorists they seek to control. the etim presented a threat to the chinese as well as western targets worldwide. without detailed information about each detainee including a threat assessment, the american people cannot be expected to kohl toll rate trained terrorists being released into their community. that is not the transparency or the sound judgment eric holder promised to bring to the justice department when he appeared before the house comm

one of which fall from -- al fro m and bill clinton had nothing to do it. we were growing more reverse. therefore, there were more communitarian and less tolerant of the politics of division. the other factor he had a lot to do with. the government must at the two car parade, because they believe the government could perform and have a role to play in giving us a shared future. the bases were pretty even in 2000. president bush ran a brilliant campaign. compassionate conservatives may have been the best slogan of my adult lifetime. what is said to the moderate voters, i will give everything bill clinton gave you with a smaller government and a moderate tax cut. wouldn't you like that? al gore got more votes, but not enough to stay out of the supreme court where president bush was elected 5/4. he was reelected in 2000 for all right. we were still in the capsule of fear from 9/11. we never defeated a president involved in the military conflicts. it was the smallest margin of victory since woodrow wilson's victory in 1916. in 2006, we won the congress back. it

about the linkage between it tell the bad and al qaeda. there have been people in recent months -- that taliban and allocated. there are people in recent who have said that it is possible to break off that taliban to cooperate with us. he made very strong statements about your skepticism -- you made a very strong statements about your skepticism about our ability to do that, to break the taliban from al qaeda. not so long as they think they are winning, i want to ask you did speak in the open to the tally bad-al qaeda -- taliban-al qaeda a linkage. >> it is somewhat to the taliban, but it is other organizations there. with the taliban, they do have a bank -- link, and i don't think any reason to turn their backs on al qaeda. therefore i don't think there is a motivation to do that. what is probably more important is that i don't believe that the taliban or a single cohesive organization -- they are more a confederation of small entities. many of which are absolutely motivated by regional financial or almost warlordism. they don't have a la

and for what you said about al tonight. thank you, bruce reed, for all of your wonderful service in the white house and your friendship to me and for leading the d.l.c. and for what you said tonight. thank you, will marshall, thank you gyinger and sarah and jenny. and mark. and thank you, elizabeth. this is really all for you, after all. i would like to thank those who, like me, had the benefit of serving as chair of the d.l.c. they are all here and they have all been introduced. but it was a club i wanted to be part of. and world championship really blessed in those early years by chuck robb and sam nunn and dick gephardt, later joe lieberman, ev evan bayh. by senator carper, and there is a really, i think, magnificent person that will speak after me that proves the d.l.c. fellows program, rachel storch i'm glad you are hear representing the state and local representatives affiliated with the d.l.c. that was a really good movie. it had the virtue of being at least except for the stuff about me, true. i think secretary sebe

you should be proud of that, al from. i love the fact that the president and former secretary of education committed to that kind of reform. so that is my second point. it does not matter what president obama -- it does not matter that he has a special style and a special brand. he has put a lot of people who think like us and your part of our ranks who have a lot of ideas that were hatched in al's brain or in the lab of will marshall, bruce reed front and cetnenter because he has a good test. the most important thing by far is that any organization committed to finding new ideas that the real challenges will never be out of fashion. there will never be a new time. i was under no illusion that no matter how good a job i did, i could make all the problems in america go away. my goal was to leave you with a new set of problems. i did not want you to be stuck in the same box like a laboratory animal running around in the cage. you just think about the challenges facing the president now and the congress. i think we're going

and al qaeda kills servility in spirit to the al qaeda thought people are terrorists. but these people who just defend their country, who want to be free, they are for me freedom fighters, resistant fighters. and i'm trying to tell the story of the young resistance fighter, freedom fighter. he is 22 years old. he is a student who doesn't want to make war and the war abroad, and the war happens, and then he says to his two brothers i don't want to fight your i want to make my exams. i want to be a student and later i want to be teacher, professor. and he doesn't participate in the fighting. and then after three years in 2006, his brother is coming home and in the morning he is shot down by an american sniper. and he said together with his younger brother and they are as every human being there, extremely sad. and they say we don't want to participate in this war. we will continue our study. and he takes his little brother. they make everything together whatever they can. and six months after the death of his other brother, it's in january, the house is attacked by ameri

she talks about the taliban's control of the opium trade and the financing of terrorist groups like al qaeda. the half king in new york city hosted the event. gets 45 minutes. >> thank you all for coming. so i would just read a quick passage from chapter four, and then do my little routine, my talk. >> this is a chapter called the new taliban. win in game for the taliban's treasurer, he was hurtling down an isolated smugglers path in a rocky wasteland known as the desert of death. he traveled in a four by four with the regional taliban sub commander. after passenger was one of the biggest heroin smugglers. it was december 19, 2006. unbeknownst to him, a rural air force airplane had picked up his trip when he spoke earlier on a satellite telephone. according to british officials, the spy plane made contact with the u.s. special operations teams hunting high-value targets. the raf reached out to a military intelligence unit tracking military. once again for he was on phone, a u.s. warplane took off from back ran instead to haman. the four by four was obliterated in a flash. they never kn

we will have live coverage of al franken after. you have written a report that " general david petraeus that asks how this will end. are we at the point? guest: we are not. i would like to think, listening jane who says that conditions are better now -- i would like to think that we have seen real progress and are moving toward a condition where we can have a normal relationship with iraq and where the iraqi people can have an increasingly normal life. host: much concern expressed by the former was president. are they valid? guest: i think they are del. the security situation in iraq is far improved, but still tenuous. where handing more responsibility over to the iraqi security forces enough we have tried to do that before. i think they are more ready this time than last. we're keeping a substantial presence there now and for years to come to buttress them. the situation on the ground i think has changed permanently. but it does not mean that there will not still be car bombs. that is why i wrote this people to encourage the west

in addition to trying to escape from prison, al qaeda members communicated with confederates while in prison. it's my understanding that one was involved in plotting the 1993 world trade center bombing while in custody in at ka state prison. in addition, -- at attica state prison. in addition, another prisoner issued a fatwa while he was in prison. it emerged later that with the assistance of his lawyer, rahman continued to send instructional mess -- messages to the egyptian terrorist organization. in 2004, nbc news reported that despite their incarceration in max couple security conditions, convicted world trade bombers were communicated by mail with the terrorists in madrid, spain, where many, many people died in that attack. there would certainly be strong reasons to believe that detainees currently held at guantanamo, known to riot and grossly abuse prison guards, would use their access to counsel and investigators in order to convey messages to their allies. i'm concerned about the extra cost that would be incurred in preparing prisons and courthouses for trials. i understand the

and as far as al-qaeda is concerned the real al-qaeda, the bin laden, their operation capabilities that have been eliminated a long time ago. they've made speeches, but they have no direct contact. the real terrorists are everywhere in this world. this terrorist ideology has been globalized. and this terrorism is everywhere. in afghanistan. in iraq. in western europe. >> you actually make the point here afterwards. the majority of terrorist movements are worldwide. >> 35 of 48 terrorist organizations have nothing to do with islam. a long time in a trial against terrorists. it was the red army faction. nothing to do. >> well, i just feel compelled to say this partly because i have been edified by last month's author. this great new book out called selling piece which is basically a history of the cold crisis -- of confusing this with somebody else. thank you. he should know. the crisis. the history of the cold war in the middle east. when he was here speaking he noted that, you know, it was american foreign policy, official policy and israeli policy for a very long time to build up the m

al qaeda killed nearly 3,000 people on that day. of the victims for innocent men, women and children from america and many other nations who had done nothing to harm anybody. and yet, al qaeda chose to ruthlessly murdered these people, claimed credit for the attack, and even now states their determination to kill on a massive scale. they have affiliate's in many countries and are trying to expand their reach. these are not opinions to be debated. these are facts to be dealt with. make the mistake, we do not want to keep our troops in afghanistan. we see no military-- we seek no military bases there. it is agonizing for america to lose our young men and women. it is costly and politically difficult to continue this conflict. we would gladly bring every single one of our troops home if we could be confident that there were not violent extremists in afghanistan, and now pakistan, determined to kill as many americans as they possibly can. but that is not yet the case. and that is why we are partnering with a coalition of 46 countries. a

the united states has no glare al al -- no greater ally in the middle east. because our countries are close friends we spoke honestly and openly about a range of issues, and we are looking forward to continuing that dialogue in the u. u.s.-israel strategic dialogue which has provided a useful forum for a discussion of shared concerns and challenges over recent years. we exchanged views on the middle east including iran and reiterated the need for iran's leaders to comply with obligations to the united nations security council and the international atomic energy agency to suspend enrichment related and reprocessing activities. we look forward to iran's response to our offers of engagement. of course, we also focused on efforts to bring about a comprehensive peace between israel and her neighbors in the region. israel's right to exist in peace and security is undeniable and nonnegotiable. both israelis and palestinians deserve to live in peace an security in two states that will entail both parties fulfilling their obligations under the road map. building on th

and also not to provide a base for al qaeda in iraq. i fought against al qaeda, which is dedicated to starting a broader war. so, whatever the merits of the decision to invade iraq in 2003 -- and rational people can disagree on that, i think it is hard to make any argument except that an american commitment to maintaining and preserving the stability we bought at such great cost of the past several years is in the interest of the 19 states and of the world. host: the me ask you specifically about this area you know well. it is sunni triangle. what is it like there today? guest: it is very different from what it was when i fought there. in august last year -- a host: where is it on a thismap? guest: it is in the south of iraq. it used to be calm -- it was the triangle of death, now increasingly called the triangle of love. violences down, four down from what it was. it is still for american advisers to help the security forces develop and continue to build the fragile stability still growing there. host: new castle, delaware, good mornin

al is this going to work, a time line of going from these troop numbers? >> first, what i would say is we have constantly been drawing down. nine months ago we were at 165,000. we have withdrawn about 35,000 soldiers. we will continue to do that through the end of the year, although it will be not as many. we will slowly draw down towards the end of the year. i have been given flexibility by my chain of command to make decisions based on the situation on the ground, because we want to make sure we have enough forces on the ground to ensure good elections in january. we will see a bit of a drawdown between them and then. i have decision points i have established that will make some decisions for the end of the year. then i will make further decisions after the election, but i expect you will see a drawdown of soldiers between march and april of next year. >> when you say significant, i hate to say this, can you quantify that at all? >> we will get down to 50,000 people by the end of september. you just said it when you ask your question. we will go down to

>> i have congratulated al franken. the election of november is over. we will work together to support our new united states senator. >> was it money? was it in english? -- was it anguish? >> it was a long progress. we had a chance to enfranchise people whose votes had not been counted. we went to the highest court in the state. i think the issues have been heard. this is the first chord that considered and rejected the argument. it has always been a balance. we have talked about that. at the same time, understanding the challenge that minnesota faces by having just one united states senator. we have reached a point where it is now time to come together to put the past behind us and move forward. that is the point i am at. from the very beginning, i did not believe that we would have processed the appeal. that is history. i am not looking back. i am not questioning what is counted or not counted. the supreme court of minnesota decided. we are a nation of laws. the court has spoken. as a result, i think it is time to look forward and not look back. >> an

al jazeera english has a broader perspective. it is broadcast in english. it addresses so many different audiences in various parts of the world, including the american audience. host: we are talking to abderrahim foukara from al jazeera. jimmy is on the phone. caller: i have a concern about hypocrisy. barack obama goes abroad and talks about democracy. i find it fascinating because you do not have democracy in the united states. there is an issue in terms of the treatment of african american people in america. i wonder why al jazeera does not deal with the injustices for african-americans in the united states. guest: there is the issue of hypocrisy in the issue of what al jazeera covers in the united states. as far as democracy is concerned, i'm speaking as a non-americans living in the united states. the american political system is an amazing political system treat it is capable of redress corrections. it has checks and balances, freedom of speech, the first amendment. it is obviously not the perfect political system. it does have its failings. we, in th

>> i wouldn't start to guess as to why al qaeda does what it does. and without acknowledging what we have done in specific cases, clearly our efforts to target al qaeda have not been exclusive to capture and kill operations. we have also been very interested in trying to shut down their ability to produce propaganda and recruit people via the intent. so have we worked in that area, yes, we have have we had success in that area? yes, we have. don't know why that's not the reason we are having claims of this. >> could you give us a status update in the flag ship you have been following and explain what procedures you might enact? this secretary and the chairman last week outlined a quail and prayer procedure. has it been done? will it be done? >>i know there's great fascination about this one ship out there that we have shown some interest in. we have been interested in this one ship but we've been interested frankly in multiple ships, north korean ships for some time, that proceeded that. frankly. under psi we had an obligation and interest in trackin

new york times" decision to publish information, the terrorist situation that said it can only help al qaeda. since it was repealed, the u.s. has since to sustain an attack, so following your logic, can we then say that the terrorist surveillance program did not need to not be public because there has been no attacks since? >> i am not sure i understand the question. [laughter] [applause] i will answer my version of your question. how is that? my complaint about what "the new york times" did, this is one of the things we set up in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. we are working with the national security agency. we made it clear to intercept. there is khalid shaikh mohammed when he was intercepted and pakistan. the program was set up a very, very cautious way, and it had to be reviewed every 45 days. it had to be personally signed by the presence of the united states. it was a very valuable program. it was evaluated by congress and got legislative authorization to continue. the reason for my comment about "the new york times" was the program was classified, and there was a source of a

quote, we tortured al-kahtani. if we tolerate this and allow wait how can we object when hours servicemen and women or others in the foreign service are captured and subjected to the same techniques? how can we complain where is our moral authority to complete? well, we may have lost it, and of quote from susan crawford. this is one reason the president obama closing guantanamo and put an end to the abusive interrogation techniques that were used in guantanamo because they put the troops at risk of being abused of the troops are captured. senator kyl has also claimed there is no connection between the abuse that took place at abu ghraib and guantanamo bay. that is senator kyl's view that the senate armed services committee reached a different conclusion. here's what they found. quote, the abuse of detainees at abu ghraib in late 2003 wasn't simply the result of a few soldiers acting on their own. interrogation techniques such as stripping detainee's of their clothes, placing them in stress positions in using milita

the problem being al qaeda. if in fact there were not parallel efforts and sufficient progress being made on the other side of the border. i again want to take the opportunity to salute the efforts of the pakistani mill stair, our counterparts, on what we have all recently seen taking place across the border in that country. in a very real way, i believe they achieved operational surprise, which is really difficult in this day and age with constant media coverage and the speed of the internet. but i think they achieved operational surprise because they did what they're doing now from a standing start. there was no threats, there was no buildup of military capability, there were no warning shots provided with the forces they had in the field. they simply started going at the taliban and the al qaeda in the swat and they have continued to sustain that effort over time. they have sustained it with forces off what they call their eastern border and the general would say, i am recognizing that we're accepting risk he

in december of 1988 i had my first meeting with the syrian president hafez al assad, a meeting which lasted four hours and 35 minutes. during the course of that meeting president hafez al assad, who is known for long meetings, we discussed virtually every problem of the world and he have peri problem of the mideast. -- and every problem of the mideast. it seemed president assad was open to conversation. i had many similar meetings with him, was the only member of congress to attend his funeral in the summer of 2000. at that time i met his successor, president bashir assad and have gotten to know him with meetings virtually every year in the intervening time. there have been back channel negotiations conducted through turkish intervention between israel and syria, and i think that dialogue between the united states and syria could promote future discussions between syria and israel. it would be my hope that the day would be sooner rather than later when syria would be willing to talk to israel directly. the israeli officials, the prime ministers have repeatedly stated their interest i

because we were attacked by al qaeda. we were attacked by osama bin laden. we were attacked because al qaeda had sanctuary in afghanistan, and instead of going into afghanistan the way we should have, we shortchanged that mission that i voted to go into and turned around and went into iraq and we had president obama with his constant focus on iraq lead us to a very dark period, very dark period in our history, where we lost thousands of our soldiers, thousands more are wounded, and you all know the story of the torture and all the rest that accompanied this and led us to a place where america has lost its standing in the world. this president inherited two wars -- yes -- he's trying to end one and refocus another. and he inherited the worst recession since the great depression. i call it the great recession. and he also has to cope with threats from north korea, iran, from pirates on the open seas, instability in pakistan and then on top of it all he's facing and we are facing a health threat from the swine flu so he comes to us with an emergency spending bi

and it demonstrates to al qaeda we are not intending to see this new strategy through, end quote. it could hamper u.s. strategy goals in the entire region. rather than focusing on an exit strategy, we should instead be focused on working with the obama administration to provide the necessary flexibility to craft policies that offer the best chance of success while ensuring congressional consultation and congressional notification. the underlying bill provides this balance and that's why chairman skelton, ranking member mckeon, chairman berman, and i ask our colleagues to support u.s. efforts in afghanistan and oppose the mcgovern amendment. the chair: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. mcgovern: i yield myself 15 seconds. mr. chairman, all we are trying to do is to fill in the holes of the strategy that president obama has already articulated. i think the american people would welcome that. i think the afghan people would welcome that. the notion that we are sending our men and women into harm's way without a clearly defined mission which incl

>> they could be al qaeda. they could be shiite extremists. they could be sunni extremists, but i would say they would not be connected, and not have a lot of robust capability but would still potentially conduct some attacks and some activity over time. i think we have to have the iraqi security forces prepared to deal with this type of threat. >> we have time for one more. why don't you close it, andrew? >> i am wondering if you could tell us something of your personal feelings today. this is your third stint and your the division commander. then you are back as the corps commander, and now as the top commander. s he watched developments today and saw the celebrations -- as you watched developments today, what has been your overall sense and what has been dominating your thoughts? >> i would thank you for the question. i would say that i really look back to 2006 as the -- when i first got here as the corps commander when these sectarian balance was so hot -- when these sectarian violence was so high that it was hard to see a way out. today,

i congratulate our newest united states senator, al franken. just a few words about my legal challenge. yes, i wanted to win. not just myself and my supporters, but so many have worked so hard and put some much into this effort. and for the values i have always fought for. i also thought was important to stand up for votes whose weren't counted like others were. voting is fundamental. it is the essence of democracy. i knew we needed to do everything we could to get it right. i am forever grateful and humbled by the people of minnesota. i'm even more grateful for their courage, wisdom, and patience of the last few months. it is not nearly as important today as the path we must now all travel together to strengthen our state and our nation. these are challenging times. i have never believed that my service is irreplaceable. we have reached the point with further litigation, -- were further litigation damages our state. the future today is that we have the -- a new united states senator. i congratulate alfred and his victory. he now enjoys the adv

i hope comes from this book is that it helps people to redefine what they think of the taliban and al qaeda. most of us have a preconceived notion of what the taliban are like. we think of guys with turbans, most of them desperately in need of a pedicure or a bad. living in caves in afghanistan. we think of them as a liberal fanatics, gun-toting, basically backwards illiterate people. and what i would like to put forward to all of you who have climbed days kindly come down to hear me speak out like to put out another model but i also think is useful. i am not suggesting that omar has developed a taste for pork or osama bin laden has started drinking nor are they about to open a new wing however what i have done over the last five years is to investigate the taliban operation on the ground level. when you start doing that, they start looking more like best. -- in this. antacid do with the way that they earn money. one of the mistakes that the western governments have made that was made in our operations in afghanistan is to underestimate them as religious fanatics who live in caves. we

and abderrahim foukara is going to be joining us as well from algeciras arabic -- from al jazeera arabic. john mercurialo, the battle lins are drawn in the democratic primary. guest: polls show the race is tightening. there is a new poll out this morning showing that one of the candidates, a state senator, is now in the lead. two of the three candidates are running -- one of them, former dnc chairman terry mcauliffe, is bringing in some big guns in the final days, big guns from outside virginia, to make his case. bill clinton is returning to virginia this weekend to campaign for mcauliffe. he will attend a fund-raiser at mcauliffe's house in mclean, virginia. it is at least the third visit that clinton has made on behalf of mcauliffe in this race. also yesterday, and this is interesting, mcauliffe announced the support of montana governor bryan schweitzer, who also -- announcing the support, schweitzer made clear he is supporting mcauliffe because they are friends. he is doing it on a personal level, not as chairman of the rg&e a. regardless, it is not entirely clear how many -- of the r

recall that al qaeda was sweulg its ranks throughout the 1990's before the war on terror and well before the prison at guantanamo was even created. during that decade it struck the world trade center, the khobar towers, the u.s. embassies in kenya and tanzania. in october 2000 it attacked the u.s.s. cole off the coast of yemen. by the time the 19 hijackers boarded the four planes that crashed on september 11, 2001, al qaeda already identify numerous grievances with america, including its contempt for western culture, equal rights for women, and men and our support for free speech and exchange of ideas. i've sent a letter to the national security council asking for evidence that keeping guantanamo bay open has created more terrorists than the facility has housed. that was a statement that president obama made. that the existence of guantanamo prison has created more terrorists than the facility has housed. it's an incredible assertion but it's at the foundation of his claim that we need to close guantanamo because somehow it represents a valid symbol of american torture or oppression that

the al-masri case most recently in the eastern district of virginia. the jeppison case will be discussed. all these reflect different approaches and different results. some better, some others are not so good depending upon your viewpoint. but i believe that congress, being the important third branch of government, should act to provide the guidance and clarity in terms of what is the right approach to provide the independent review of when the state secrets privilege is asserted. house resolution 984 is an excellent foundation to consider this. it provides for an independent assessment by the courts. it does not require substantial deference and i know this is a touchy issue but if i might make the point but in other areas of litigation where there is some deference, foia, other regulatory areas, there are fine guidelines and history and regulations that give guidance in those areas that fine-tune it before it ever gets to the court and perhaps there's the distinction between the deferences given this those circumstances and the independent review tha

to disrupt, to dismantle, and to defeat al qaeda. i agree with him on those goals. but success requires a sustained commitment and sustained support for both the mission and the brave americans and afghanis carrying it out. our strategy is having -- meeting with success, yet the mcgovern amendment is already looking for an exit strategy. this amendment sends a terrible message about u.s. resolve to both friends and foes alike. we are not alone in this concern is precisely why the obama administration also opposes the mcgovern amendments stating that the mcgovern amendment, quote, would demonstrate a lack of commitment to the new strategy. it will signal to our afghan partners that the u.s. presence and efforts in the country are fleeting. and it demonstrates to al qaeda we are not intending to see this new strategy through, end quote. it could hamper u.s. strategy goals in the entire region. rather than focusing on an exit strategy, we should instead be focused on working with the obama administration to provide the necessary flexibility to craft policies thatffer t

al smith becomes governor of new york and a presidential candidate. when he goes to run, for president, he meets-- need someone he can count on, someone who is going to be a good governor and intends to franklin roosevelt. frances perkins is friends with owls smith before she becomes close friends with fdr. and, as fdr rises she rises with him. al smith was not the only person that came out of machine politics that frances perkins became a great friend to. another person she sawed during the candidates seek was harry truman, who she first met add add event in independence, missouri and they were being screamed and yelled at by the ku klux klan who were opposed to al smith running for president. harry truman was also widely believed to be a part of machine politics but he too with someone who she saw greatness then and she became a friend and ally of his as well so even when fdr died she went to work in the civil service commission and did. many things for truman on the review board, including rooting out communists in the federal government and convin

the central front now in the war against al qaeda. and it is absolutely clear that the battle over there has a profound impact on the national security of this country. this bill gives our troops over there, the resources and equipment they need to fight the fight and defeat al qaeda and protect us against the violent extremists in that region. and the battle in pakistan, they are funding over there. on the subcommittee portion of our mark on the terrorism subcommittee, we are focused on three main issues, first of all, support for counterterrorism efforts, the fight against al qaeda and broader counterinsurgency and counterterrorism efforts across the globe. second, the support for innovative new technologies to give the troops the updated equipment they need to best fight those fights. and lastly, protect our homeland against unconventional threats. all of these areas are focused on irregular warfare, the emerging threat we face. i want to thank secretary gates for his leadership in funding the money necessary, the programs necessar

and one brigade fighting the taliban and al qaeda, our enemy. their principle defense priority is f-16's which is a combat aircraft. our enemy doesn't have combat aircraft. we don't want to be funding a nation to fight against another ally. we want them to fight with us against our enemy. what this bill does is to enable the children of pakistan to have a decent public education and not be forced to go into the madrasahs where they learn violent extremism against india. this enables the women of pakistan, particularly the young girls, to grow up to be women of influence and power and consequence. this enables pakistan to develop economically, not to use its resources and a military posture against india but use its resources to become a full fledged first world nation. pakistan is our ally and this bill will enable it to stand on its own two feet. not to be able to fight india. not to be able to engage in nuclear proliferation, but to help us fight against the forces of violent extremism. pakistan is a valued ally. this will enable us to give th

and we certainly don't want a new nuclear power called al qaeda. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from california reserves the balance of his time. the gentlelady from florida. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like to reclaim my time and thank you to all of the wonderful people who came to my aid. the republican substitute, as i was saying, mr. speaker, also fully funds the administration's request for the critically important new pakistan counterinsurgency capability fund, pccf. forging an effective partnership with pakistan's military and intelligence apparatus has not been a straightforward affair. although the united states has enjoyed some success, our efforts have also been hampered by a series of exceptionally difficult problems. one is a matter of a threat perception and divergeans strategic priorities. with pakistan almost obsessively focused on their traditional rival in india. another problem is the legacy of mistru

host: if you just joined us, our guest is the washington bureau chief for al jazeera. our next call is vincent, joining us from ohio on the phone. thank you. good morning. caller: my question is, if the middle east did not have any oil, if there was no oil in the middle east, do you think the united states would be so invasive in a worrying about what we call human rights in another country? mai basic, it is that we have not addressed " we have seen. e united states. some people in the united states, we say that the muslims are terrorists. is in one man's terrorist another man's freedom fighter? when you allow israel to be able to do whatever they choose to do and to allow the palestinians not to have their own sovereignty, if it was reversed the other way, we would be, it is terrible. i feel that the united states should come clean and say that the arabs have basically been a tribal people. they have had battles with the jews since the beginning of time. they will continue to have battles. why don't we be honest and say that the only reason we're there is because of f