let me bring in barry mccaffrey and, general, it is always good to see you. first of all, sir, happy veterans day to you. >> yeah, thanks, chris. >> so much going on today. preparations in new york city for a big parade. this is one of the ceremonies that touches us always every year. all around the country there are various commemorations. what is this, what do these kind of commemorations mean to veterans? >> well, i think it's important demonstration. you know, 300 million americans when you have a small number of our young women and men defending us. 47,000 killed and wounded in afghanistan. it's never stopped and the willingness of young americans to step forward and protect their country, active duty guard and reserve is simply phenomenal. >> you say step forward and it never hurts to remind folks that the people who are in iraq and afghanistan and other far flung places around the earth defending our freedom chose to be there. >> absolutely. they're all volunteers. 100% of them and many of othem multiple volunteers. they volunteer for the army or speci

msnbc military analyst barry mccaffrey is here. we'll go over all that with him. >>> meantime in new zealand at least 27 miners are missing inside a coal mine after a gas explosion. a build up of methane gas may have caused that blast. rescue workers are not allowed in the mine just yet because authorities fear there might be pockets of explosive gas that are still inside that mine. >>> toyota motors is hoping that a federal judge in california will dismiss hundreds of lawsuits that claim sudden acceleration defects were in its vehicles. lawyers for toyota argue there is no proof the sudden acceleration was caused by any electronic defects. it blames the problem on driver error and floor mats and sticky accelerator pedals. the other side is charging that toyota bought back cars with acceleration issues and had owners sign a confidentiality agreement. >>> royal watchers around the world are waiting with baited breath. we could find out as early as today where and when the royal wedding of prince william and kate middleton will be. t

[applause] >> general barry mccaffrey, air vice marshal kym osley, honored guests, friends, and mostmportantly, veterans, although i have visited this memorial many times in the past, my attention is normally to the names on the wall. i never thought of the times that i would ever be standing here giving thanks to america's veterans. before i go on, there is a group of people i need to recognize. my brother was a member of the 173rd airborne brigade. i learned that are having their union. i would like them all to please rise, so we can recognize them. where are you? [applause] >> i want to thank diane for giving me this opportunity, as soon as i get my notes back. sorry. >> she might have to wait. >> to share -- to share the significant tribute. march 16, 1966, changed my life forever. it was on that day my family was notified of the death of my brother, who was a member of the hundred 73rd airborne. he was killed in action and subsequently awarded the silver star for heroism. it had been just over three weeks that he had said goodbye to us, he was off to war. he left just days after

taliban takeover you no way no way absolutely not i mean i was on larry king last year with general barry mccaffrey wes clark and you know both of those guys agreed that this is attend your operation that's going to cost you it cost united states an immense amount of dollars and afghans i mean i was in afghanistan used just about six months ago and i was with the afghan army and these these guys you know they're they're hardworking people but they're average people they're not trained military fighters like the taliban or the mujahideen so the likelihood that the afghan army is going to be able to mount to mount and assist us will attack against the insurgency is is fool's errand it's tomfoolery there has to be a diplomatic solution with the insurgency and with that with the karzai government otherwise it's just going to be a debacle for years what do you think about is really is a diplomatic solution i mean consider the news that we heard earlier this week that they always suppose it's second in command taliban you know commander that was willing to negotiate was a phony. yeah i know i can and lon

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i spoke with barry mccaffrey who said the turnover date reflects good political strategy on the partident. >> the president had to keep his nato allies in the game. and a bunch of them are withdrawing. the canadians are coming out, the dutch, the germans maybe next, the uk is talking about withdraw withdrawals. so this was a message well received in europe. and then secondly, the american people have had it. this is an $8 billion a month war. we had to reassure the american people there was some exit strategy. it is unrelated, i would argue, however, to what's actually going on in afghanistan. >> we have a new report from richard engel about the base there in afghanistan. that's coming your way at the top of the hour. >> fierce criticism is heating up with lawmakers crying foul in the trial of ahmad ghailani. he was convicted on one count of conspiracy in connection with the car bombings in kenya and tanzania. 224 people were killed in those attacks. republicans are citing this verdict as proof that terrorism suspects should be tried in military courts. edith lost her brother julian

williams, former governor frank keating, former clinton adviser jamie floid krista freeland and barry mccaffrey>>> some environmental protests hold protests and some make movies and then some take it a little farther than that. take mt. everest that's where eric larsen decided to make his mark. the latest massive peak he ascended to bring more attention to the state of our global environment. richard lui has the story. all part of our green week here on msnbc. >> also about people that have thick skin, evidently. this is a cold place that he came back from. eric larsen is the man we're talking about and also thick skinned if you look at him right here. he joins us by skype when it comes to his concern about global warming. i want to show folks what it was like for you up there. let's take a listen to this. >> it's about 35, 40 below right now. it's really cold. and it's been a tough two weeks. >> yeah, a tough two weeks. i can tell you, you can barely even move your face there. you climbed three poles over the course of 333 days. why are you doing this? why not just protest? >> well, my goal is

. >> okay, general barry mccaffrey, we'll speak with you again later this morning. >>> we are expectingf two women and an 11-year-old boy whose remains were found in a trash bag hidden in a hallow tree in ohio. the coroner will release more information about tina herrmann, her son kody and stephanie sprang. their bodies were discovered a week after they disappeared. herrmann's daughter sarah was found alive in hoffman's home. he is charged with kidnapping and could face murder charges. >>> sarah palin is taking part in a blog online. her publisher is suing for financial damages. on wednesday the blog posted scanned images of 21 leaked pages of palin's book "america by heart." the ex-governor went on to twitter to complain, but the website claims it was fair use to post the material. >>> so we are now just days away from the busiest retail day of the year, black friday. for those brave enough to face the mobs of people on the early morning hay hem, huge savings await. but you need some sort of plan of attack. i'm joined by vera gibbons to find out how to do this. >> you do need a plan of

shannon: general barry mccaffrey says mexico is in serious trouble and the violence cannot be minimizede people are operating 50 or more members in armored vehicles confronting mexican army or law enforcement. there is a struggle for the rule of laugh going on. its outcome is not foregone. it's going to get worse in the coming year or two rather than get better. shannon: we have a fair and balanced debate on what can be done. matt, is the u.s. military heading to the border more than the national guard we have now or more of a military presence necessary? we'll start with maria. maria let me ask you about the military? should the u.s. military be beefed you have along the borderer? how far do we go? >> we need to keep in find what general mccalf are you said, mexico and the u.s. are focused on this. it is something that this administration is taking seriously. you had secretary napolitano and secretary clinton down there. the presidents have met on this. this is something this administration is focused on. i don't think we can take a unilateral approach. this has to be something done in

ken salazar and retired general war -- barry mccaffrey will be speakers. >> this weekend, c-span3's american history tv learns how the longest-serving first lady used the media to communicate her idea. we'll see how very different thinking american and british leadership worked together to defeat the nazis. then a conference marking the 150th anniversary of the civil war, on the the experience of slaved and freed african-americans during the war. and then a daylong symposium on the civil war as prominent historians discuss the impacts of the war. american history tv, all weekend every weekend on c-span3. >> this year's student cram video documentary competition is in full swing. make a 5-8 minute video on this year's theme, washington, d.c. through my lens. upload your video to c-span before the deadline of january 20th for your chance to win the grand prize of $5,000. for all the rules and how to upload your video, go online to student cram.org. -- student cam.org. >> the national council on u.s./arab relations' recent conference included a discussion of the role of energy in foreign policy