there are multiple things going on in congo, particularly eastern congo.here is the remnants of what was an interstate war. there are the remnants and indeed the ongoing manifestations of what is in fact a civil war among congolese parties in the east. there is the fact that the perpetrators of your wand in genocide remained in the form of the fdlr, operating with impunity in eastern congo and killing very large numbers of people. lords resistance army has also been active in eastern congo. and these are actors that i've committed massive atrocities in the case of the fdlr genocide. they continue to foment insecurity. then you have a congolese army

me, deo there's a great belgian construction company that builds roads in burundi and rawandan the congo and i was so excited sigh went to talk to the representative of the company. he sent some of the look of the road and estimated the cost at least 50,000 u.s. dollars. not to pave the road buchass to widen it and make it possible. i went back frustrated, wondering how to sell the hutu community this bad news. as i was explaining this one woman with a baby crying on her back said to me, you will not pay a penny for this road. we have become-- because we are poor but we are not poor because we are lazy. we will work on this road with their own hands. the next 166 people showed up with pickaxes, machetes and other tools for the one of the volunteers was a woman who came to volunteer with a sick child. when we lifted the baby we saw the baby was sweating. i have the mother why she came to work with a child gets sick and she said to me, when i already lost three children and i know this one is next, with the rest they, come to work here, so is better for me to join others to make my contrib

there's a great construction company that builds in burundi, rwanda, and congo. i went to talk to the representative. they estimated a cost of $50,000 u.s. dollars. not to pave, but to widen it. i went back frustrated. wondering how to tell the community the bad news. as i was explaining this to them, one women with the baby said you will not pay a penny for this road. we've with become sick because we are poor. we are not poor because we are lazy. we will work on the road with our own hands. people showed up with with other tools. one the volunteers was a women who came to work with a sick child. when the friend of mind looked at the baby, we saw the baby was sweating. she said, well, i've already lost three children. i know this one is next. whether i stay at home or come to work here. it's better for me to join others and make any contribution which will help to save someone else's child who is sick but alive. the entire road, six kilometers was rebuilt. the same day the road was finished, the representative of the road company called me to negotiate the price

in cases where governments are both unwilling and unable, like the eastern congo, we must support the courageous individuals and organizations to try to protect people in battle against the odds. the challenges we face are diverse and complicated. there is not one approach or formula, documentary work. they can they apply. i want to outline for elements of the approach to putting our principles and to action and share with you some of the challenges we face. commitment to write star to the accountability. president obama issued an order prohibiting the use of torture by any u.s. officials and ordered the closure of guantanamo bay. next year, we will report on human trafficking as we do every year. this time, not only just on other countries but also on our own her we will participate through the united nations on their own human-rights record just as we encourage other nations to do. by holding ourselves accountable, we reinforce our authority to demand that all government adhered to obligations. we must counter the pretensions of those that deny our abdicate their responsibilities an

in the cases where they are not willing or able, places like eastern congo, we have to support thoseduals that try to protect people. these are complicated issues. i want to outline four elements of the obama's administration approach to put our principles into action and share with you some of the challenges that we face. first, a commitment to human rights starts with universal standards and holding everyone accountable to those standards including ourselves. the president obama issued an executive order prohibiting the use of torture or officials cruelty by any u.s. official and ordered the closure of guantanamo bay. next year, we will report on human trafficking as we do every year but this time not only on just the other countries but also on our own. we will participate through the u.n. in the you know -- through the periodic review of our own record just as we encourage other nations to do. by holding ourselves accountable, we reinforce our moral authority to demand that all governments in here to obligations under international law such as not to torture, arbitrarily engaged

the lake chad basin commission has a plan to divert water from the congo river. but it remains controversial and unfunded. there are no easy solutions. heading back towards shore from lake chad, our journey here is coming to a close. what we found is that lake chad's disappearance isn't just climate change or simply overuse. but, instead, a combination of both. tens of millions of people competing for a resource that is literally evaporating. what's left is a daily struggle. but, somehow, anata holds out hope. >> you still are optimistic despite everything we talked about today, that water's going to cover all this once again. >> yes, it will. and as we heard from the fisherman, he said water will come. so everybody here -- >> from what we've seen in greenland, alaska, and africa, the earth's climate is clearly changing. it's not a theory. it's a fact. but what's causing those changes? the majority of the scientific community says it's mankind. but there are powerful voices who say otherwise. >> with all the hysteria, all the fear, all the phony science, could it

this summer to hear a playwright lynn no nodidge speak after she advocated for women's rights in the congo, and i wonder how you see creative practice accompanying and amplifying policy. >> that is a wonderful question because i think the arts and artists are one of our most effective tools in reaching beyond and through repressive regimes in giving hope to people. it was a very effective tool during the cold war. i have had so many eastern europeans tell me that it was american music, it was american literature, it was american poetry that kept them going. i remember when a guest came to the white house during my husband's administration duringing a state dinner. i said, well, who would you like to entertain at the state dinner? i didn't know what he was going to say. he say lou reed. and it was his music that was just so important for us in prison, out of prison, and you could name many other american artists who have traveled -- we're going to try to increase the number of artistic exchanges we do. so that we can get people into settings where they will be able to directly communicate.

harmony for hundreds of years and it's been made possible by land companies moving into in this case the congo basin and opening up the forests with roads and of course opening of the forests with rhodes is something that is damaging any way. opening any piece of wilderness with roads is deadly for the animals living there but in this case it enables hunters to go from the cities and to the logging trail and they are shooting everything, elephants, carlos, tramp didn't could chimps, antelope, guerrillas, anything they can smoke and then they take it into the town. so because so much money is being made, politicians are sometimes involved because there is very little political will in many cases it is tough and the only way that we are trying to make some headway is working with other ngos on the ground, working with for example the world bank and with industry. like all logging companies and miners to try and find a way to minimize this and provide other ways of livelihood for the hunters and other sources of protein for the people. >> i have a strong thing that came out of this book was the i

when there is genocide in darfur, systematic rape in congo, repression in burma, there must be consequencesings fail. and the closer we stand together, the less likely we will be faced with a choice between armed intervention and complicity the and oppression. this brings me to a second point. the nature of the peace that we seek. for peace is not merely the absence of visible conflict, only a just peace based on the inherent rights and dignity of every individual can truly be lasting. it was this insight that drove drafters of the universal declaration of human rights after the second world war. in the wake of devastation, they recognized that if human rights are not protected, peace is a hollow promise. and yet too often these words rig mothered. ignored. for some countries the failure to uphold human rights is excused by the fact that these are somehow western cultures or stages of a nation's development. and within america there's long been a tension between those who describe themselves as realists or idealists, a tension that suggests a stark choice between the narrow pursuit of inter

in fact, we have traveled together to africa, a memorable trip for us visiting the republic of congo and rwanda. i thank him for that. i know he is preparing for another public career in the state of kansas with the blessing of kansas voters. we do disagree on health care reform, aeupbd know that he's -- and i know that he's had a chance to explain his point of view. i will say that i disagree with many of his conclusions about what we are about, what we are trying to accomplish. this is the bill that is before us when we return to the health care reform debate. it is 2,074 pages long. itthe house of representatives spent a similar period of time to come up with their work product they passed a few weeks afplgt this is historic -- ago. this is historic because we have been promising this and threatening this for decades. it was theodore roosevelt, as a matter of fact, who raised the question of whether or not america could accept the challenge of providing health care for every citizen. then, of course, harry truman in a more modern era issued the same challenge. he was confronted by

movingly about our floor, the protestors on the streets of iran, hundreds of thousands and rapes in the congodepartment has been noticeably silent. the protestors in iran with a play on words on obama said first that he is with us and then they said are you with us? really questioning whether he was with the protesters in iran, for example, and they've done nothing much about darfur and he said we need to defend ourselves and yet we have troops in iran and in afghanistan who are plagued by ieds that come from iran and in the case of iraq they come from syria. and in addition, iran has threatened genocide against israel and yet the president's whole obsession seems to be in ending even modest improvements to homes in what he considers the occupied territories including much of jerusalem. so i think we need to see if his actions really are moderated from the extreme left positions on which he first based his foreign policy. host: the caller mentioned rhetoric. james off of twitter mentions rhetoric, too. baltimore, maryland. you are up next. caller: hi. this would be my first time ever calling

. -- like eastern congo.ied to take additional measures to make sure that our people can get around, but as senator mccain said, it is very difficult because of the security situation. what we are doing is partnering more by embedding our civilians with our troops. that carries a mixed message, as you might guess, because we are trying to have a civilian face on it, but we have to have enough security to the ocean. this is a highly complex assessment. we send individuals on the civilian side. the defense department since units, a battalion, and brigades. we are trying to do something that has never been done before, and we need the help and resources that are required. >> since we have to be successful at the end of this trial time, we look forward to that appropriation request, madam secretary. we will see if we can act expeditiously on it. >> thanks to all three of you for your leadership at this very critical time in the history of the world, not just our country. secretary gates, i thoughtéíhrfe president

peacekeeping force, the only space elections in 40 years in congo. it can do more and it must do more to protect civilians which is the core mandate now. i was out there in may. i met with victims of atrocities and raped and saw firsthand both the horror of what is happening, but also the contribution that the u.n. is making through some innovative means that i feel are not well known, joint project teams, rapid response, salles phone networks that allow ordinary citizens to phone and to a hot line innocence where they seized rebels and insurgents or for that matter government forces threatening them or on the rampage and at least in certain parts of north keeper now the number developed capacity to be able to respond in some instances within seven minutes. that is their standard. now that isn't uniform, because it's not to full strength, doesn't have the helicopters all that it needs, the mobility is limited and it has been involved in operation providing logistical support to elements of the government forces, the fardc trying to tackle the insurge

when there is genocide in darfur, systematic rape in congo, repression in burma -- there must be consequencescy -- but there must be consequences when those things fail. and the closer we stand together, the less likely we will be faced with the choice between armed intervention and complicity in oppression. this brings me to a second point -- the nature of the peace that we seek. for peace is not merely the absence of visible conflict. only a just peace based on the inherent rights and dignity of every individual can truly be lasting. it was this insight that drove drafters of the universal declaration of human rights after the second world war. in the wake of devastation, they recognized that if human rights are not protected, peace is a hollow promise. and yet too often, these words are ignored. for some countries, the failure to uphold human rights is excused by the false suggestion that these are somehow western principles, foreign to local cultures or stages of a nation's development. and within america, there has long been a tension between those who describe themselves as realists or

in cases where governments are both unwilling and unable, like the eastern congo, we must support theviduals and organizations to try to protect people in battle against the odds. the challenges we face are diverse and complicated. there is not one approach or formula, documentary work. they can they apply. i want to outline for elements of the approach to putting our principles and to action and share with you some of the challenges we face. commitment to write star to the accountability. president obama issued an order prohibiting the use of torture by any u.s. officials and ordered the closure of guantanamo bay. next year, we will report on human trafficking as we do every year. this time, not only just on other countries but also on our own her we will participate through the united nations on their own human-rights record just as we encourage other nations to do. by holding ourselves accountable, we reinforce our authority to demand that all government adhered to obligations. we must counter the pretensions of those that deny our abdicate their responsibilities and told violators