when i was in iraq with other members of the committee, we want wanted to go see camp ashraf. one reason by malaki declined us to let us visit the camp ashraf was because the united states continues to put them on the foreign terrorist organization. is the united states succumbing to the keep them on the fdo organization list? >> absolutely not. >> our decision is entirely going to be ornt merits, and we are not keeping him on the list because of anyone else's concerns or views regarding the group. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, mr. pope. >> thank you, mr. chairman. before i begin, may i ask unanimous consent of my statement be entered into the record? thank you. i just came back from egypt and libya over the break and have some views about what's happening in both those countries. from the united states point of view, does the arab sling and its outcome so far help or hurt or have no impact on ant anti-terrorism policy. >> it's an excellent question, sir. let me frame it this way. the arab spring and arab awakening presents everyone who opposes extreme imwithin an

the arrangements that were negotiated between the iraqis on the one hand and the residents of camp ashraf on the other were the product of, we think, some very important and impressive and successful diplomacy by the united nations special representative martin kobler who with great sensitivity has negotiated arrangements and overseen this beginning of this transition of residents from ashraf to liberty. the united nations is in there monitoring the situation 24/7 and providing a degree of oversight and independent eyes and ears to ensure that the residents are treated in a manner that is acceptable and up to international standards. the unhrc, the high commissioner for human rights is beginning the process of screening those who may wish to move on and is doing that also in accordance with international standards of the sort that we respect and apply around the world. so this is an instance, sir, where a difficult problem we think has begun to be addressed and mitigated by the constructive involvement of the united nations. >> great, thank you. i think my time is almost up, but i'll resp

. >>> ashraf khalil as a journalist who covers the middle east. he recently spoke at the new america foundation in washington about his book "liberation square" inside the egyptian revolution and rebirth of the nation. >> [inaudible] >> i'm glad to see that everyone is here. we have c-span taping of this event here. we will begin with a conversation. we have with us with -- first let me into myself -- interviews myself, i am leila hilal. we have with us today to distinguished guests, and we'll excited to have this conversation that such a timely period in egypt's history as we see from the news it continues to face turmoil to read to my left is to rob malley the middle east and not africa program director of the international crisis group. he really probably needs no introduction for those of you here who are based in d.c.. but prior to his tenure he was a special assistant to president clinton for the arab israeli affairs and he was the executive assistant to samuel berger of the national security adviser from 1996 to 1998. he is published widely

very quickly, when i was in iraq's last year, we want to go see camp camp ashraf. -- camp ashraf. one reason we were refused to go to the camp, and one reason he claimed he was treating the people at camp ashraf in an inhumane manner, in my opinion, was the united states continues to put on a foreign terror list. is the united states succumbing to pressure to keep them on the list? >> absolutely not. our decision will be on the merits. we are not keeping them on the list because of anyone else's concerns or views regarding the group. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> mr. tom lee, -- mr. gerry connolly? >> >> before it began, can i ask that my statement be submitted in full for the record? thank you. i came back from egypt and libya over the break, and have some views about what is happening in both countries. from the united states point of view, does the arab spring and its outcome so far, health, hurt, or have no impact on anti- terrorism, counter-terrorism policy? >> well, it is an excellent question, sir. let me frame it this way. the air of spring, the arab awakening, presents a

so, we are here largely at the -- to launch ashraf's new book. is published just last month because. we have copies outside. it's entitled inside the egyptian revolution and the birth of a nation come "liberation square". the book has been received quite a critical acclaim. he noted it was calibrated in the background commentary and prognostication cut and above all described as an essential reading yadin the urgency and vitality of the era of the spring egyptian chapter with and the the daily beast voted council debate today the campus of the state, so we have copies of the book that will be arriving and it is available to science and chat with you further as i think rob has to leave immediately, but we will try to cover as much ground else we can in the discussion. just to begin with you, ashraf come in your book sort of seeps through the decades of mubarak's ruled before going into the tracking the 18 days of revolt when, then you close with some commentary on the key transitional challenges ahead with our economic corruption and freedom and s

so, we are here largely at the -- to launch ashraf's new book. is published just last month because. we have copies outside. it's entitled inside the egyptian revolution and the birth of a nation come "liberation square". the book has been received quite a critical acclaim. he noted it was calibrated in the background commentary and prognostication cut and above all described as an essential reading yadin the urgency and vitality of the era of the spring egyptian chapter with and the the daily beast voted council debate today the campus of the state, so we have copies of the book that will be arriving and it is available to science and chat with you further as i think rob has to leave immediately, but we will try to cover as much ground else we can in the discussion. just to begin with you, ashraf come in your book sort of seeps through the decades of mubarak's ruled before going into the tracking the 18 days of revolt when, then you close with some commentary on the key transitional challenges ahead with our economic corruption and freedom and s

and therefore we will list the enemies that they seem to hate the most and then finally the camp ashraf and to depresent violent attacks on them. and we see individuals at that camp unable to get refugee status in europe in part because of that designation. when reviewing potential fto targets, the state department and whether it retains the capacity and intent to carry out such attack and there are times when we should add to the terrorists more quickly. we did not designate al qaeda the arain bee general peninsula the days before the attempted bombing of the airline in 2009 by one of its members. similarly, the pakistani taliban was not designated until months after the attack on times square. and we have not yet designated the afghan kni taliban and whatn we do to make the designation process more nimble, better to carry out its purposes and act quickly to designate those organizations that are a real threat and to remove those who were either a threat or have changed their behavior appropriately. >> ranking member sherman, we surely agree with your desire to be more nimble or at lea

ashraf is very much like the poet hero the psalms he is you are and on the floor you religious from thosenotes trust the media. let them know. a. little bit about love and. we've. seen the moslems in the club a lot like it but with a bug up the muslims look up the beat up little good to tell the truth to the defeated good looking at god it wasn't about you not a few miles beautiful nothing with green the caught up with a moment of movement we felt good that looked up to something about it booklet bloodiness time good luck letters full of them is about to come to life and that just a few of them i already knew going to hold on to the god that would you not buckle b'saabda not going to let me let you out of the cult of the mud you multiply come up to me look now give me give up everything but i did not you wanted my couple. let me give a couple follow up because you don't like the local music business that does doesn't look good if you know this job again come to. us to let. me look at the. good. news. though if you're going to. the hockey. that eunice yoon revolution has failed to achieve

ashraf is very much what the poet hero of the songs he is young and in the glory of religious beliefdoes not trust the media. i'm telling you. i'm. just looking for the. real. thing in the moslem love black market but with one of the muslims looking at a book deal well good yeah that's good to keep it looking at the bottom of you know the people i've looked up to it was really the flood of movement because. the couple who plotted to kill you know like you know polygamists about the country and just a few of them i already knew political leaders have got to know what you know how much of a sob not to let. the t.v. a lot of people get caught up in blood the more you play some of. the people get caught up in not you know but of all. the. public because you don't like some of them you would visit them is does not compute with the feel of this job again that's a. plus to let. me look stupid. kid when it comes. to the if you're going to see. a different eunice yoon revolution has failed to achieve its goals we wanted it to be beneficial to the people and we wanted jobs there were half a mi

we've seen the iraqis justify the violent attacks on camp ashraf, because of any? designation.nd we've seen individuals at that camp unable to get refugee status in europe, in part because of that designation. when reviewing potential fto targets, the state department considers terrorist attacks the groups have carried out, whether the group is engaged in planning and preparations for possible future terrorism, and whether it retained the capacity and intent to carry out such attacks. and organizations activities must threaten the security of u.s. nationals, or our national security interest. there are times when perhaps we should add to the foreign terrorist list more quickly. we did not designate al qaeda the arabian peninsula until days before the attempted bombing of the airline in 2009 by one of its members. similarly, the attacker then dash of pakistan taliban was not designate until months after the attack on times square. and we have not yet designated the afghani caliban, and i had him cosponsored with mr. poe who is just year, a bill to designate the haqqani network,

to the iraq war the bush administration had a choice to make do you get rid of what is called camp ashraf in iraq where the enemy is currently based or do you maintain it and to utilize it as a pressure point for the iranian regime most of the bush administration thought that you should go with the approach of the terrorists to the terrorists and discard these individuals but there were some prominent neoconservative officials that thought they would be useful to use of the pressure points were cited her story comes in as i but this is right this kind of vicious cycle and a trend and a pattern that we've seen you know many times over with the u.s. i guess you could say if it was you know. funding the budget he wanted was trying to get them to happen so they could fight the soviets because the soviets weren't on the side of america at that time and then who are fighting right now in afghanistan or if you want to talk about saddam hussein that was our friend that was our enemy at some point and you know so doesn't make it you know why don't we learn do you think that arming training funding

i want to thank rob and ashraf khalil for the conversation. [applause] >> thank you, everybody. "the new york times," "the washington post," newsweek, the guardian and the nation among other outlets. he is also the chairman of the foundation which is a you u.k. organization of university scholarships. a palestinian arab he lives and washington, d.c., the paris and i learn he has just flown in some from cairo so we are pleased to have him with us today. he is the author of two books, palestine and israel, peace or apartheid and the works he will be discussing tonight, the invisible arab the promise and peril of the revolutions of please join me in welcoming who 64 i'm not sure what you are doing on the one time still listening to me but i want to [inaudible] >> i just flew in from a 14 hour flight, 15 hour flight and i have faith, not sure what fifa is that they keep telling laura asking me to felch these evaluation forms so out of all of the people of the airplanes they always pick me to fill out the evaluation forms may be because i don't like flying or i look like i am pretty

contains meaningful changes in the rules governing the free agency some of the arbitration and the ashraf a significant revisions in the revenue sharing, competitive balance at and debt service rules, a new structure for the league and efficiency and format for the postseason enhanced health care coverage for international players and their families, improved benefits and other payments flowing to the former players and their widows, important changes in the joint agreement and dozens of other improvements in the working conditions of players. this negotiation touched more parts of the labor contract and any other which i've been involved in 24 years. none of the changes were made at gunpoint. some resulted from persuasion. there were times when one side recognized the validity of the other's position and acquiesce to a proposal. many changes resulted from compromise and frequently from creative compromise. one side or the other often expanded the scope of matters under the discussion to create more flexibility, more moving parts to fashion a compromise. other changes resulted from the pa