we didn't know when we went into bethesda naval hospital -- we thought it would be an outpatient experience, but decided to stay the night. the president asked me, would i go back to the white house and get a change of clothes? so i said, i'd be happy to do anything the president asked me to do. i ran out, got in one of those small sedans that was part of the white house motor at the time, raced back, and went into the family quarters where i had been many times. i went to his closet. i have never been in his closet before, but i passed it many times. it was in between the bedroom, which had hand-painted bird wallpaper, and the president used to say, he would sit in bed with a slingshot and try to hit the birds off the wall. that is pure reagan. it was also pure nancy reagan to have the birds painted on the wall. so i go to the closet, which was very different than nancy reagan's closet, several rooms full of beautiful clothes. i drew the doors back on this closet and i stand there and, i've got to figure out something to take him, and it just hit me. this is a man of simple midwestern tast

we didn't know at that day when we went into bethesda naval hospital.e thought it would be an out patient experience for him. in any case, decided to stay the night and so the president asked me would i go back to the white house and get a change of clothes so when he came back the next day he'd have a different outfit. so i said, yeah. be happy to do anything that the president asked me to do. so i ran out, got in one of those small chrysler se dance that was part of the white house motor pool at the time. raced back to 1600 pennsylvania avenue. i went upstairs into the family quarters where hade been many times and i went to his closet. i had never been in his closet before but i passed it many times. it was in between the reagans' bedroom which you know by the way as an aside had hand painted bird wall paper. you know about this? the president used to say he'd sit in bed with a sling shot and try to hit the birds on the wall. that's pure reagan. so it was also pure nancy reagan to have had the birds painted on the wall. right? so i go to the closet.

i was married to an antiwar activist, and i ultimately became a physician at bethesda naval hospitalnd a retired only recently. so i have met lots of marines coming from the war zone. my question is, it appeared as soon as we got into iraq that no one in government had the idea what was in iraq or who was in iraq or what their history was. similarly with afghanistan. you in the state department, your whole function is supposed to come get people who know what's going on. the lesson from vietnam is it's not a good idea to support an unpopular government. you can't at the end of the day. that's why we're taking fallujah for the third time. and ramani the third time. you in those meetings, you said you were things that the people carrying the weight didn't hear. so what did you hear and did they really, did they just know what they were doing but not communicate it to the people who make the decisions? >> read my next book because i'm going to tackle some of those. it's a very important question. my dad and uncles were in vietnam. my dad again was there when neil armstrong landed on the

i was married to an anti-war activist, and i ultimately became a physician at bethesda naval hospital. i retired only recently, so i've met lots of marines coming from the war zone. my question is it appeared as soon as we got into iraq that no one in the government had any idea what was in iraq or who was in iraq or what their history was. similarly with afghanistan. now, you were in the state department. your whole function is supposed -- there are people who know what's going on, and the lesson from vietnam is it's not a good idea to support an unpopular government. what did you her and did they really -- did they just know want they were doing but not communicate it to the people who made the decisions? >> read my next book. i'm going tackle this. tell you, my dad and uncles were in vietnam. i had an uncle almost died in vietnam. my dad was there when neil armstrong landed on the moon, some i make connections between my back and vietnam. tommy coal's story, you don't here the ebb. when richard hole brook was criticized for bringing up his vietnam experience in this debate that was