my question is -- goes to that issue, in a way, but, general caldwell told us, when we visit him, is that there were a number of reasons for that significant increase in the number of recruits, that one of them was the increase in pay, but, he also said that a very significant cause of that increase, that surge in the number of afghan recruits, was that the afghan leaders are reaching out to their local folks, to the people in the provinces, to increase significantly the number of recruits that are coming in, and that one of the things that focused the mind of the afghan leaders, to do that, was the decision of the president to set that july 2011 date to begin to reduce the presence of american forces, not to pull our forces out, tnot to have a total exit n any sense but to begin reduction as a way of focussing the minds of the afghan leaders on their responsibility to provide for their own security, and to transition more that responsibility to them. did you and do you both -- do you support both the 30,000 troop surge and you also support the setting of that july 2011 date by the p

i am sarah caldwell. the honor of a baltimore county gas station is in shock, after he was shot during a suspected attempted robbery but it happened this morning at a station in towson. barry simms joins us live from the scene. >> baltimore county police tell us that the owner of this gas station was seriously wounded. this is the 1600 block of east joppa road bridge -- of east joppa road. investigators are not sure of a motive, although attempted robbery is considered a strong possibility. a man entered the building, confronted the owner, and shot the owner with a handgun. a detective explains what officers saw when they arrived. >> they found the witness and the victim inside the gas station in this location. the victim, the owner of the gas station, was suffering from old gunshot wounds. the victim was transported to shock trauma hospital, where he is being treated. >> so far we have not been able to get a condition report on the victim. police are continuing investigation, and are looking for the shoo

. >>> mary caldwell crosby, the writer for usa today "newsweek" and health magazine presents the history of an illness known as sleeping sickness which claimed millions of lives during the early 20th century. davis kid booksellers in memphis tennessee hosts this half-hour event. >> thank you for having me tonight. i am especially happy to be here at davis kid in memphis. it is one of my favorite book stores and i usually hear choosing one of my kids down the aisle so it's nice to be here under more professional circumstances to mind. i thought i would start tonight by answering the two questions i always get asked for and i discussed my books. no, i'm not a hypochondriac. [laughter] and secondly i like writing about these stories because to me they are much more about people than they are about disease. i am one of those people that if there is a natural disaster happening in the world on the include to c-span for days. i know i'm not the only one and i think what really draws us and is not the tragedy itself of these disasters, but more just the hope and a miracle of survival that we lo

all our republicans accept james caldwell of louisiana who is a democrat. and still others may join the multistate suit. the u.s. senate needs at 2:15 p.m. to begin work on companion legislation to the health care bill signed into law today. it contains a number of changes to the law. many added to get democratic support in the house. senate democratic leader harry reid says he has the votes to pass it in his chamber, but republicans plan to offer a number of amendments to slow change, what's called the reconciliation bill. we will have live coverage when the senate gavels. president obama will be traveling this week to explain the health care law. on thursday he will visit iowa city, iowa, where, as a presidential candidate, he announced his health care plan in may 2007. the american israel public affairs committee is holding its annual policy conference in washington, d.c., this week. among the speakers yesterday was colonel richard kemp, former commander of british forces in afghanistan. his comments were about 25 minutes. >> in his career colonel richar

time to get another check on the morning commute with sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. >> it hasst the beltway, that is gone. the delays are still there. they said all the way back to mountain road down past beltway. 25 miles per hour. on the outer loop north east side from belair towards dulaney valley, you will find delays. 13 miles per hour on the outer loop, stretching from reisterstown road down to edmondson. new accident for motorists get down to d.c. we had one on southbound to 95 in the area approaching the capital beltway. you can see heavy delays there. they are developing on southbound 95. 22 minutes on the outer loop with east side. it will take a 19 on the outer loop west side. 14 on the inner loop from 795 towards the 83's. east side of quarantine road pretty congested. those are in the loop delays in receiving from hawkins point towards the curtis creek drawbridge. and this is just a mess. plan to leave early this morning. southbound 95 barely moving towards the beltway due to an earlier accident. >> at least the weather is nice and quiet. we had a little sunshine

[applause] >> moly caldwell crosby is the author of the american played the untold story of yellow fever. her writing has appeared in several publications including usa today, "newsweek" and health magazine. davis kidd booksellers in memphis tennessee posted this half hour even. for more information, visit daviskidd.com. >>> here's a look at some upcoming book fairs and festivals over the next few months. [inaudible conversations] >>> we are concluding today's live coverage of the tuscon festival of books. former "baltimore sun" white house correspondent lynne olson discusses her book, "citizens of london." [inaudible conversations]

in your judgment, can the recruiting trend, which is to a great extent to according to general caldwell the efforts of the afghan leadership to stimulate recruiting as well as an increase in pay dirty attributes the large increase more to the leadership of the afghans into the pay increase when we met with him. what i recruiting trend in your judgment be maintained as a maintainable right into the spring? the >> i believe it will be maintained, senator. and i am also very focused on the other end of that equation, which is the retention piece, which is not going as well. and so we have to continue to focus on retaining, just as they do here in the united states. it's some important about the retention of him with the recruitment piece. it will be strong in the recruiting site. i'm working hard with stan mcchrystal and bill caldwell to work on the retention side. >> as a new missile defense program called phase adaptive approach that the obama administration has announced and begun to implement. does nato support that new missile defense plan? >> nato is beginning that conversation and a

according to general bill caldwell, the head of our training mission in afghanistan, a major problem is the continuing shortage of traders to provide the initial basic training. training the afton mission is a nato ally should increase regardless of their ability or willingness to be on the front line of the fight. yet at a recent conference that generate forces the nato members pledged fewer than half of the approximately 1200 additional nato trainers sought by general caldwell. that is more than disappointing. it is unacceptable european command faces a number of challenges within its area of responsibility. president obama's plan for missile defense in europe, the fee is deductive approach is supported by our nato allies. in addition, later this year than it wins to complete a revised strategic concept for how the alliance should adapt to today's security challenges, the first major revision of nato strategic concept since the even to of 9/11. general ward, the challenges in the africom aor are staggering from the conflicts that rage across borders to fragile governments to nation

according to general bill caldwell, the head of our training mission in afghanistan, a major problemis the continuing shortage of trainers to provide the initial basic training. training the afghan army is a mission that our nato allies should embrace regardless of their ability or their willingness to be on the front line of the fight. yet, at a recent conference to generate forces, nato members pledged fewer than half of the approximately 1,200 additional nato trainers sought by general caldwell. that is more than disappointing, it is unacceptable. the european command faces a number of other security challenges within the area of responsibility. president obama's new plan for nato -- excuse me, for missile defense in europe, the adaptive approach is supported by our allies. nato plans to complete a revised strategic concept for how the alliance should adapt to today's security challenges. the first major revision of nato's strategic concept since the events of 9/11. general ward, the challenges in the aor are staggering. from the conflicts that rage across borders to fragile gover

>> yes buddy caldwell of louisiana, the rest republicans we have reason to believe there will be moreocrats who join us as we proceed. most attorneys generals understand the impact this has on their states and the problem with the individual right of choice of the individual who is out there. it is unprecedented for us to have this sweeping attack not only on rights of an individual to be free from the federal government telling them they have to buy a product or service. they could require you under the premise that would be in this bill to go out and buy a car or to bibi -- or to buy amen in -- to buy a membership in a club. this is more than an unfunded mandate. i served in congress, i know what that is. this is take state's resources and putting it to use for the federal government's purposes and manipulating the stays to the degree that is beyond the southern protections in the constitution for states, -- sovereign protections in the constitution for states. >> greta: we are going to watch closely, thank you for joining us. attorney general john pruning join us live, i assume one

according to general bill caldwell. major problem is the continuing shortage of trainers to provide the basic training. trained afghan army should embrace despite their willingness to be on the frontline of the fight. they pledge fewer than the half of the trainers sought by general caldwell. that is more than disappointing. it is unacceptable. they face a number of other security challenges of in this area. president obama pose a new plan for missile defense in europe is supported by a nato allies. later this year, neda will complete a revised conflict with how they should adapt the challenge. the challenges are staggering. the rage across borders. they are sentenced the best and only hope for security and stability for extremists well confronting some of these issues falls in the lap of a military command. many do not. your command is the acid -- is being asked to participate in nontraditional ways. the committee this for to your testimony on these issues. this is cause for deep concern. the tinted christmas day bombi

in your judgment, can the recruiting trend, which is a great extent according to general caldwell tothe efforts of the afghan leadership to stimulate recruiting as well as an increase in pay. but he attributes the large increase more to the leadership of the afghans and to the pay increase when we met them. will that recruiting trend in your judgment be maintained? or is it maintainable right into the spring? >> i believe it will be maintained, senator, and i'm also very focussed on the other end of that equation, which is the retention piece, which is not going, as well. so we have to focus on retaining just as we do in the united states. it's so important to have the retention along with the recruitment piece. i'm confident we will continue to be strong on the recruiting side. working very hard with stan mcchrystal and bill caldwell to put focus on the retention side, as well. >> a new missile defense program in europe called phased adaptive approach that the obama administration has announced and begun to implement. does nato support that new missile defense plan? >> nato is begin

. >>> moly caldwell crosby writer for usa today "newsweek" and health magazine presents the history ofan illness known as sleeping sickness which claimed millions of lives during the early 20th century. davis kid bookseller's of memphis tennessee hosts this half hour event.

general caldwell, who is the head of our nato training mission in afghanistan, has reported a large increase afghan army retreat -- recruits that are awaiting training. there is a shortage of trainers. we have gone into that. i think you would agree that one way or another we need to get those trainers present to increase the speed with which the size of that army is the increased. my question goes to that issue in a way. what general caldwell told us when we visited him was said there was a number of reasons for that significant increase in the cruise. one of them was an increase in pay. he also said that a cause was that the afghan leaders were reaching out to their local folks, people in the provinces, to increase significantly the number of recruits are coming in. one of the things that focused the mind of the afghan leaders to do that was the decision of the president to set that july 2011 date to begin to reduce the presence of american forces. not to pull the forces out, not to have a total exit, but simply begin reduction as a way of focusing the minds of the afghan leaders on their

but even if we keep it at 300,000, general caldwell briefed me that's going to be somewhere around $5.5 billion to sustain that level of military in afghanistan. and their gdp depending on which number you look at -- their total gdp of the entire country is somewhere between $10 and $12 billion. i'd like to put on the record your response to that problem and whether or not we have, in fact, signed up for the american people to do the heavy lifting in terms of sustaining the afghan military for decades to come? >> well, i'm not aware of anyone signing up to do that for decades to come. but clearly we are helping afghanistan build a military force to which we can transition tasks so that our forces can go home. and as you know, frankly, it's a lot more expensive to maintain our forces in afghanistan than it is to maintain even a comparable number of afghan forces that might be able in our forces in that country. in a business case actually i think there's some logic to continuing to support over time, although obviously no commitments have been made in that regard, but continuing to suppo

. >> next another nato briefing with general william caldwell.on commander for afghanistan. general caldwell talks about building up the afghan security forces and the need for allied nations to provide more instructors. this is just over a half hour. >> a training command in afghanistan. very, very important command for us as the secretary-general has just highlighted. he has just briefed the north atlantic council this morning and has had -- has the time to meet with you. you'll see how young-looking he is even though i've read in his biography that he has five kids and that's pretty impressive aside from his command duties. general, thank you for taking the time. >> well, thank you. first of all, let me just say on behalf of the nato training mission i appreciate the opportunity today to just give you a quick update on where we are. just over 100 days ago the nato training mission in afghanistan activated inside of afghanistan. and i was given the opportunity to serve as its first commander so we've been in existence to be exact 102 days today

let's get a final check on the morning commute with sarah caldwell. >> let's check the area roadways.e 895 split. down to two miles per hour on average. that past mountain road to the accident scene. it is affecting traffic on the inner and outer loop there and on the northeast side. and a vehicle fire here just approaching the beltway, off to the side. you can see heavy delays behind it. nine miles per hour on average. that delay stretches all the way towards j.f.x. once you get on to j.f.x., you'll find typical delays towards coldspring. southbound 29, watch for an accident wrapping up. another crash scene. then you will watch for us about 100 past i-97. a very busy ride out there. rain contributing to things. traffic almost at a standstill, southbound just past mountain road all the way down. on the west side, we're looking at delays in both directions. john has a look at the forecast. >> rate is moving on to the east. the heaviest rain. link rainshowers are around the area. " what will be of short. it will take the bulk of the rain with it. maybe a couple 6 behind. much colder air

finally, general caldwell, working with afghan training forces, that looks like to me paramount for usoking at an exit strategy in afghanistan. do you have any idea on time frames of when you think you'll have sufficient afghan troops stood up for us to be able to pull down? >> i think it's got to be a gradual process. like we saw in iraq, as an example, when the marines first went into the south last summer, the partnering with the afghans was about nine americans for every afghan. now in the marja operation is three americans for every two afghans. as they train them, those capabilities will grow. i think that in some ways the way to look at the process that we will use is very similar to that, that we used in iraq. it's more a transition that a transfer. the afghans are with us and we are the leads. at a certain point we will partner and then they will be in the lead. then we will withdraw to a tactical or watch and then a strategic over what. this multi phase approach is the way we did province by province in iraq. it worked well. i think gen. mcchrystal has the same process in min

300,000 there is no indication we will have an army above 300,000 but even if we keep it, a general caldwell that will be somewhere around 5.5 billion dollars. to sustain that level of military in afghanistan. of their gdp the entire country was between five for 10 billion i would like your response to that problem and whether or not for the american people to listing in sustaining afghan military for decades to come? >> i am not aware of anyone signing of to do that for decades to come. helping to build a military force to transitions so that the forces can go home. it is more expensive to maintain forces in afghanistan even a comparable number of afghan forces that might be able to replace the forces in that country so in a sense in a business case actually there is some logic to continue to support all the no commitments have been made in that regard to that will continue to support over time with that national security force and that they cannot pay all the expenses for over that time. >> >> i guess we can continue to help with the presence in iraq reference from nato will step up althou

allegeny, ash, avery, caldwell, hayward, on and on and on and on. i looked through the list. we've had 16 or 17 disasters declared already this year across the country. luckily none of them from in colorado. i looked at last year. we had several -- well, we had dozens and dozens all across the country, including others in north carolina. none were in colorado, but i can tell you coloradans understand that this is a national issue. this is something that we take care as citizens, as americans across the country because we're in this together. it isn't, let's just wait until the whole thing runs out and then scurry around and try to figure out what to do. we are dealing with disasters. when i'm listening to my friend from north carolina, it's like she wants to have katrina happen all over again. where we're not prepared, the country is not prepared to deal with a massive emergency. that's what this is all about. it's about funding fema so that it can respond to the emergencies that we know are going to arise. and so all of this conversation about procedural tricks and you aren'

. >> general caldwell thank you for taking the time now. hewey and your staff. i know of some data has been passed around. we've also put together some stock footage of the trading which i offered to anybody here for the websites and broadcast but once again thank you for taking the time and it was good to see you. islamic there is a website we started it in a disinterested and it's open to the public. there's no passwords or anything protected were corralled or did a thing. just go to ntma-a.com and read anything we are doing over there to be we don't classify any to an organization and 102 days this on the big eight paper classified because was directed by the higher authorities so it is open and transparent you can see anything we are doing and this website you should be able to come and will get and ascertain any data you wan at this one hour and 50 men a hearing. howard berman of california chairs the foreign affairs committee. >> the committee will come to order. we have to adjourn shortly before you o'clock a.m. so the members can attend the memorial serv

. >> finally, general caldwell at levinworth -- standing up afghan forces. do you have any idea on time frames on when you think you'll have sufficient afghan forces stood up for us to be able to pull down? >> it will be a gradual process, much as we saw in iraq. when the marines first went into the south last summer, the partnering with the afghans was about nine americans to every afghan. no, in the marjah operation, it is three americans for every two afghans. as the train up, those ratios and capabilities will grow. in some ways, the way to look at the process we will use is similar to that we use in iraq. it is better described as a transition, a transfer. and some of these places, we are in the lead and the afghans are with us. at a certain point, we will partner, then they will be in the lead. then we will withdraw to a technical watch and a strategic watch. this multi phase approach is the way we did province by province in iraq, and it worked well. i think general mcchrystal has the same model in mind in afghanistan. we do not need the afghan army t