david miliband: it was a lot of fun. molly ball: there was an e-mail released yesterday where she was you.zing e-mailing with sue blumenthal. she had just got the news of what happened in the labor election. she blames it on tony blair. "clearly more about tony then david or and." do you agree? molly ball: you cannot blame it on other people. you have to take it for yourself. what is very significant for visa.e with a you have your own issues you need to sort out. nationbuilding at home matters. we have been hearing about this criminal justice reform issue. certainly if you live in any other part of the world the most striking feature is domestic policy has to be allied with warm policy. we live with an interdependent world. in a village if your neighbor's house is on fire, your own houses on higher. i would be interested house foreign policy removes from something out there and nothing to do with us to being part of the discourse. it seems to me that the successful politics of the aligns national domestic internal prior

[applause] david miliband: remember, what is a refugee? a refugee is someone who has a well-founded fear of persecution. i went to school in the united states at the age of 12 or 13 and i learned about the idea of the founders of who put this country and founded this country. fear of a well-founded persecution can find a home here is one of the ideas. i live in new york. when people visit, we get on the stat and ferry, you look at the statue of liberty, and we are told it says, bring me your poor and hungry masses. that is not an invitation to confuse a refugee with an immigrant. when the debate about immigration becomes confused with the debate about refugees, that is dangerous. the intent of the status of the refugee, is someone with a fear of persecution and it imposes obligations on states throughout the world. that is the product of the .orrors the geneva convention, we have to hold onto. every nation needs and the immigration policy. for refugees and the absolute rights, the resident protection in the face of persecution, is incredib

david miliband needs almost no introduction. former environment minister.attle withentious his brother for control

our first witness is the honorable david miliband, president and ceo of the national rescue committee. he served as foreign secretary. thank you for being here. our second witness today is michelle gabaudan. thank you for being here, sir. president of refugees international. michelle spent more than 25 years at u.n. hcr. our third witness that we'll hear from today is ms. nancy lindborg, president of the united states institute of peace, someone who we also have seen many times and thank her. nancy has served as president of mercy corps. thank you for that service. i know you've been here many times. if you could each spend five minutes giving your positions, we'll obviously, without objection, your written testimony will become a part of the record. if you can go down the line and give your testimony, we appreciate it. we look forward to your questions and certainly your comments. thank you. [ inaudible ]. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i think you probably heard, but i want to say thank you and i'm honored to be here. i want to congratulate you on not just holding a hearing on the huma

thursday at the washington ideas them david miliband says united states is not living up to its idealsr commitment with regard to the syrian refugee crisis. this is about 20 minutes. >> high. . noid miliband needs almost introduction. yearsleft politicsv a few ago. i think it makes sense to start by talking about the rug

our first witness is the right honorable david miliband. president is co of the international rescue committee. he previously had a distant was political career in the u.k. serving as foreign secretary. thank you for being here. our second witness is michel -- thank you, sir. president of refugees international. michel spent more than 25 years an unhcr. thank you. our third witness is, that we will hear from today is miss nancy lindborg, president of the united states institute of peace. nancy has served at usaid. thank you for that service. i know you came here -- if you could spend five minutes giving your positions, we withouty will, objection, your written testimony will become part of the record. if you can go down the line and give your testimony, we look forward to questions and your comments. thank you. [inaudible] miliband: i am honored to be here. i want to congratulate you on not just holding a hearing on the humanitarian situation in the middle east but recognizing the links between the humanitarian situation and the geopolitica

institute of peace and the international rescue ormerttee headed by f british foreign secretary david miliband is an hour and 40 minutes. uortor corker: we thank witnesses for being here. nancy is tied up in traffic. we will go ahead and get started. we have a vote later on. we want to make sure we get the full benefit of your testimony. but i want to thank the members for being here. today's hearing is the second in a series of hearings examining the role of the united states in the middle east. this hearing will focus on the immense humanitarian crisis emanating from the region. the images hundreds of thousands of men, women and children fleeing for safety should challenge efrin moral fiber within us. -- every moral fiber within us. these are people just like us that want only to be able to raise their families in dignity h the sames th values, yet we watch them on television in these desperate circumstances. we know the scale is tragic but it is