southern command, general doug fraser. topics include efforts to manage the flow of aircraft into haiti's capital city port-au-prince. general fraser speaks with reporters for about half an hour. >> good morning general phaser. how do you you hear me? >> loudoun clear, thanks. >> if you are ready we will get started. it morning everyone. joining us again today, although today the as satellite rather than here in person as general fraser the commander of u.s. southern command. he is going to provide an update on haiti relief operations. general-- your opening statement. >> thank you very much. good morning. as you know our efforts from the d.o.t. continue in support of usaid efforts on the part of the united states government to support aid efforts for the victims of the earthquake in haiti. based on that earthquake roughly 3 million people are estimated to be impacted, so what i would like to do this morning is give you a bigger picture if you will of the overall u.s. military efforts that are being taken to aid those vict

we're thrilled to have doug fraser, the commander of u.s.thern command will be coordinating the consider military response to this disaster. but will begin with cheryl mills. >> good morning. let me first start off by saying that our thoughts and prayers are with the haitian people and the vast internets community that is present in haiti as we are going to what has been a very challenging and difficult time. and we are looking forward to being able to provide all the support that we can bring to bear to try and ameliorate the impact of this terrible situation. as you well know, shortly before 5:00 yesterday an earthquake stuck outside of port-au-prince and outside the island of haiti and the multiple aftershocks that had an impact on the island as well. according to our initial overflights that i've gone on this morning most of the damage has been within port-au-prince and at the outer lying areas have sustained less damage are very limited damage. the situation on the ground is very fluid eras we have imitated telecommunications and certai

general fraser, under what circumstances would you feel it is necessary to deploy the marines there?in other words, is it a question of keeping civil order or is it just facilitating the disbursement of supplies? and what is the situation on the ground in terms of the degree of order or disorder? >> from what i've been told by general keane, my deputy commander, is the situation is calm, right now, and so we're anticipating going in being table provide that humanitarian assistance, that life-saving effort, that's going to be the focus get ought there it's going to be our assessments that are going to determine in conjunction with menusta how best to deal with any situations that come up. >> are you saying the marines are being sent there as a -- for a security situation or simply that they may be needed to help facilitate the delivery? >> what i'm saying is, we don't know what the situation is on the ground. we're leaning forward to provide as much capability as quickly as we can to respond to whatever the need is when we get there. >> can i also address that? this is about having op

southern command, general doug fraser. topics include efforts to manage the flow of airplanes into haiti's capital, port-au-prince. general fraser speaks with reporters for half an hour. >> it's the colonel here at the pentagon. how do you hear me? >> loud and clear, thanks. >> sir, if you're ready, we'll get it started. good morning, everyone. joining us again today, although today via satellite, rather than here in person, is general fraser, the commander of u.s. southern command. and he's going to provide an update on haiti relief operations. general, over to you, sir, for your opening statement >> thank you very much. good morning. as you know, our efforts from the d.o.d. continue in support of usaid-led efforts on part of the united states government to support aid efforts for the victims of the earthquake in haiti. based on that earthquake, roughly three million people are estimated to be impacted. so what i'd like to do this morning is give you a bigger picture, if you will, of the overall u.s. military efforts that

go on that date the british high commissioner, sir henry, decided to take a trip to fraser's hill whichis about 65 miles outside the capital city. he went in a four vehicle convoy but on the way, two of the vehicles had to stop for technical reasons. but they pressed on. and when they came to a turn in the road where they had to almost come to a stop, their vehicles were ambushed by 38 guerrillas. his wife stayed in the car. you decide to try to make a run for it, and was shot down, shot dead. and this was catastrophic loss for the counterinsurgency. at that time, but leah was still a british colony, and so this was a supreme authority in the country, being killed in an ambush by the emmy. the war was already going against them. so it seemed like things just could not get any worse and malaya. something very important happened just a few weeks later, and that was that winston churchill returned to position of prime minister after elections in britain. and churchill being a man with a keen eye for talent, selected search or old camper to go out and take command of the counterinsurgency.

does not just an up tick, according to steve fraser from saint paul minneapolis who works with the familyviolence unit. we are seeing an uptick that is off the chart. now a lot of people who work with domestic violence victims, blame the recession. and recession has a lot to do with it. they talk about the fact that you would be abuser is home to much more. and i really now only talking about male to female domestic violence, although we all know it does go the other way as well. to would be abuser is home or, andy would be victim has fewer places to escape. shelters are closing, there are no hotlines available the way they used to be. and so of course we are seeing a spike in domestic violence. but there's another reason as well. because actually if you follow the numbers, domestic violence has been increasing in this country for many, many years. it's not just product of the 2008 recession. and a lot has to do with the threat that's been posed to masculinity in this country from a variety of factors. the sneak, devastating, terrorist attack on our soil. a seemingly endless and unwinnabl

general douglas fraser, head of the u.s. southern command, said its push is to get assessment teams on the ground, and bolster haiti's battered infrastructure. >> so we're focused on getting command and control and communications there so that we can really get a better understanding of what's going on. the bottom line to it is we don't have a clear assessment of what the situation on the ground is, what the needs within port- au-prince are, how extensive the situatiois. we also finally have a team that's headed to the airport. from my understanding, because my deputy commander just happened to be in haiti when this situation happened on a previously scheduled visit, he has been to the airport. he says the runway is functional but the tower doesn't have communications capability, the passenger terminal has structural damage, too, so we don't we don't know what the status is. >> warner: also headed haiti's way are u.s. coast guard vessels and an aircraft carrier. and being readied to deploy-- 2,000 marines to provide security

folks who are real-estate agents, mortgage brokers, fraser's, title attorneys, everyone involved. >> all of those people are on the industry side. it is bad behavior by people in the industry rather than a guy who wants to get into the half million dollar house so he fudges numbers. sounds like you are saying that universe of individuals who are lying to get into homes is a small proportion of the total amount of fraud. >> that is a significant portion because of what happened to the market. they couldn't afford to live in florida due to the increased taxes and insurance. >> to make sure i understand. in florida in particular there were a significant number of individuals who were not affiliated with the industry who were in a position they felt they had to behave fraudulently. >> there was nothing that increase the valuation of the properties. it is just that the speculation on the properties and condominiums and single-family homes went up to a point where folks could not afford to live so they had to do something. that is where you see the sub primes and everything else. >> the ho

it is so very, very important that not only the 82nd airborne but southern command led by general fraser -- francis, i am sorry, take the leadership, but not assume all the responsibility for the recovery. we still have a solvent government, still have an international community that is involved. we are getting more and more flights on the ground. the u.s. has a part of the flights in getting doctors and medical supplies and evacuation. some, almost close to 7000 americans have been evacuated so far from that island of haiti. everyone has to understand that there are a number of organizations and religious groups that are on the ground doing great things for years. at the southern baptists have a huge ministry in haiti. you have sent all doing great work in haiti beard -- senegal. he had doctors without borders, non-governmental organizations and individuals who took it upon themselves to adopt a village. 38 kids from orlando, florida, that were there on a mission. so, there are a number of connections between the united states and haiti. the last point i would like to make -- the failur

thinking of president obama, secretary of state, hillary clinton, usaid administrator shop, general fraserof the u.s. southern command, all the hard people working here and on the ground for their effort to save slides in the aftermath of this devastating earthquake. a number of states. i know california sent a search and rescue, virginia did and others. our own state of vermont is sending down a medical team today, recovering from this disaster is the daunting challenge for the people of haiti. vermonters and all americans have opened their hearts and are sharing generously. we will continue to do so. anyone of us, just as human beings, have to be moved by what we have been seeing down there. now to the subject of this important hearing, a terrorist's and tend on detonating explosives was able to board a plane with hundreds of passengers, headed for detroit, michigan on christmas day. after congress passed nature legislation 2004 to implement the 9/11 commission's recommendations. after the country invested billions of dollars to upgrade security systems and to reorganize our intelligence

good morning, privileged to reintroduce to you general dowling las fraser, the commander of u.s. southern command. he's joining us from miami to provide an operational update on our operation unify red spons in haiti. general, to you for opening statements, sir. >> ok, good morning. our relief efforts continue in support of the people of haiti, the government of haiti and the international effort that's ongoing. i guess i would characterize it as the situation improves day by day. the requirement is still enormous but that relief effort is continuing to flow in. from the united states perspective and the department of defense, we now have over 20,000 men and women in the theater supporting that effort, a little over 6,000 people on the ground in haiti but those numbers only reflect those men and women who are actually in the theater. there's a lot of effort that's happening within transportation command and across the department of defense to support these efforts that are ex-tenl to the theater, so i don't have a good precise number for that. we have 23 ships currently operating