is a lucky break, i believe, for the united states and for president obama that there was a general petraeus who was ready, experienced to take over when mcchrystal was relieved of duty. it was a lucky break, because if it had been someone other than petraeus, i think people would have perceived this as being some type of a gap, a big bump in terms of our policy. but because general petraeus, who had done something similar in iraq and is sort of the father of this whole counterinsurgency doctrine and was able and willing to go back into the fray, it was just a lucky break for us and for america's continuity of policy. >> do you think general petraeus will change the rules of engagement and should he? >>> i downtown he will change them significantly. the rules have been fairly consistent. our troops will be able to defend themselves and can take any action they need to defend themselves. >> you aren't concerned with reports on the field that they had the whole backfire to prevent u.s. casualties? is that the right way to go? >> hold back fire in terms of defending themselves? no. taking offen

i think people would perceive this as being a big bump in terms of policy and because general petraeus would be doing something similar he was able and willing to go back into the fray. it was a lucky break for us and for america's continuity of policy. >> do you think petraeus will change the rules of engagement, and should he? >> i doubt he will change them significantly during give they have been consistent. -- i doubt he will change them significantly. they have been consistent. >> you have not been concerned with the whole back fire to prevent civilian casualties? do you think that is the way to go? >> in terms of defending themselves, will backfire, no. holding by fire in terms of taking action where they believe there may be innocent civilians that are going to be killed and where that would hurt our cause when that happens, i think the balance general mcchrystal struck and the general petraeus continues is the right balance. >> we are halfway through. >> given the importance of standing up the afghan army, you also pointed out nato is still short 2000 trainers to mentor these g

the way general petraeus will operate as leader of the forces? >> no, i do not believe it will. we had similar strategy -- tragedies happen in iraq as well. we grieve, we grieve the loss of our brave young british soldiers as we do americans. it is tough. what we owe them in return is a strategy that can succeed in the overall plan that does not tell the enemy that we are going to leave at a date certain. the strategy can and will succeed in my view. >> if you were president, what would your strategy be? what's my strategy would be exactly the same that i supported -- >> my strategy would be exactly the same that i supported. it would be the surge, what worked for us and our allies in iraq. that succeeded. everyone said that would be the end of my political chances to get the nomination of my party. i was right. all the pundits that you year in washington now is say we cannot succeed -- you here in washington now who say we cannot succeed are the same ones you said we could not succeed in iraq. people do not hold them accountable. >> last month was the deadliest month for colleg

general petraeus has a lot of experience in that in iraq. there is a lot of generals that could do a good job but i think he is really the one at this point. tavis: to your mind, if the government of afghanistan is so corrupt, why, if we think the government is so corrupt, at least you do, why, then, do we keep tiptoing and walking on egg shells. one day we love him and the next day we spank him. general karzai? >> the evidence shuggets it has gotten a lot more -- suggests it has gotten a lot more corrupt over the past few years. the guys who do the annual governmental corruption survey, their data is based on some pretty detailed field research. in my experience, most of the afghans i talk to will tell you that the main problem, the main driver of instability is actually government bad behavior and corruption. a lot of that, of course, also comes from the aid programs that we sponsor on international systems. it isn't just president karzai but i think one of the reasons we haven't been as firm with him as one might like, is it is hard to see

government we are want going to rearm the locals. >> charlie: general petraeus seems to be changing that>> about 10,000 militia will be armed. the best example is nuristan where general mcchrystal had a lot of meetings with the elders and his team. they had been trying to empower them. there was a lot of forward operating bases there that were a lot of fire. they were pulled recently. but part of the process was to empower the elders. two days ago -- the irony was general mcchrystal met with the nuristan shura on saturday. he left kabul on a tuesday. they had a great meeting and he was telling them, "we have to pull out so you are going to have to maintain peace there. but he also said, "i can't give you arms right now" but they were really clamoring for them. by saturday, after he was fired, the nuristan elders met with the taliban. >> charlie: the taliban? >> the elders. said that this was a seamless transition from their perspective, they had lost all contact with the high command who had befriended them and part of their role was survival. it doesn't matter so much who you affiliate

that has the four-star strategic commander there in general petraeus. we have a three-star lieutenant general caldwell who is responsible for this training, advising equipping effort. and we have actually as the chairman pointed out, we are three months ahead on the recruiting target. we're already at the october goal right now of 134,000. this is for the army. so we're making progress today. i think in a way that we have been unable to make it in the past. we did a lot of things right in the past. the afghan police who we started later, frankly, with our responsibility there, and i think it's on the right track now. but no longer do we recruit, assign and then try to train them on the job. today we recruit them, we train them and then assign them. the sense of urgency in the past combeated with the longer-term effort. i think we learned a lesson there. but we're on the right track now, sir, and they will be able to take over from us. in kabul, they alady have transitioned to afghan control, afghan leadership, and they were able to pull off that very com

chairman there is no military solution here, so as general petraeus in general mcchrystal said you are not going to win this war by killing every member of the taliban. it just doesn't work that way in this kind of war. so, the goal here is to create a new program. it was a massive gap in the food chain of our efforts. led by the japanese and the british almost $200 billion has been assembled for this fund. the united states or its part with the support of congress, has assigned $100 million of cerp funds for this effort under general petraeus' personal control and those of you who have talked to general petraeus now that he matches the highest importance to this issue. mr. chairman you mentioned your corruption report and we have as you said, talked about it. we share your concerns. we share the concern of chairwoman lowly and the other body, and we will read your report with great intention. we have prepared at some later date with your convenience to give you a detailed briefing of what we have done in the last 18 months and several of the people sitting behind me have an instrument

and if old lawmakers are really the ones to be dealing with that then we're going to examine general petraeus his approach in afghanistan he now wants to pay local police units that are not linked to the afghan government to help u.s. soldiers just don't call them militias but will that strategy really work then will shed light on a very hush hush issue here in the u.s. agent orange this deadly chemical wasn't touched by lawmakers until now when they took up the discussion about it on capitol hill earlier today r.t. correspondent john half is has those details and then we'll look into illegal immigrants who are taking jobs for americans now it's a heated debate in this country but now some are asking what americans really want to do those jobs anyway r t producer among the lindela bring us that story and at the end of the show a new study shows that more women are watching porn these days but some are speculating that this practice could lead to more women being victims of nonconsensual sex how do they figure that one would host a debate on the issue at the end of the show but now let's move

himself said general petraeus himself said on the record that his words were completely distorted by a politically charged government representatives following his testimony to the senate and what mr patris said which is that if the israeli the israeli palestinian conflict is won and you can check the protocols of what i'm telling you here go to google and check out what he said is one of a number of different problems in the middle east now you know extremely well that in fact the majority just answer one of mr mr fix misstatements of fact that the majority of the injured wounded and murdered israelis in the in the intifada after israel made a far reaching statehood offer in two thousand and one of two they made a second one in two thousand and eight which was rejected the majority of israelis that were killed in priest sixty seven israel and if mr fisk thinks that the israeli the israeli settlements are illegal or are not proper it outside of israel which is absolutely not true in fact there are two claimants here israel is a claimant to its own land the land of israel the palestin

i mean, one thing that these commanders or general mcchrystal or general petraeus has never had a whole lot of and that is time, time to show the kind of progress they need to demonstrate to the american public, to european allies, to the civilians on the ground in afghanistan that there is some kind of strategy is working. this is probablyoing to celete tt process ght now and put more pressure on the commanders in the field to show results, even as they are just now getting the last of the troops the surge called for, they will be coming in by the end of august. so it is putting that much more pressure on petraeus to show what the military can do in the field and almost certainly underscore the limitations of what military alone can do in afghanistan. >> rose: let me cover one thing, you covered pakistan on the isi. >> yes. >> rose: my impression was that because of general can i annie and others that the isi was changing a bit, that they were not as pro islamist as they might have been? >> well, i think like many spy organizations in developing countries the isi is not a monolithic or

he came out pretty close to where the military and general petraeus were. it to congress by pairing it with a deadline. i thought it was interesting to hear the vice president talk about it as the beginning of transition. when the time comes, and in the discussion leading up to that, if the administration continues to try to finesse that, which i think they have been doing, i think you'll see angry liberals. we have already seen it. people again signed on to this plan on the notion that it would be a specific period of time, not a long period of time, that we wouldn't be there for ten years, 20 years, nation building. and i think the language is leaving wiggle room. things on the ground have not gone as well as we had hoped a year ago. >> george, something else the vice president said. you and i talked about. you disagree with his assertion that the wall street reform bill that the president will sign this wednesday will end uncertainty among big business. >> the vice president was really responding to your point about all this mountain of cash that busines

general petraeus is doing a job for 11 days. he has met with president karzai every day about his new command. they have been meeting daily. they have been discussing when issue at great length. it has been this issue of local community policing. . these would be local community policing units, they would not be malicious. these would be government-formed, government-paid, government-uniformed local police units. who would keep an eye out for bad guys in their neighborhoods, in their communities, and who would in turn work with the afghan police forces and the afghan army to keep them out of their towns. what's more, this is a temporary solution to a very real, near-term problem. this would just be a stopgap measure, at least that's how it's envisioned at this point, because we clearly do not have enough police forces to provide security in enough of the populated areas. while we are growing the ansf on target and while we are getting the partnering rates up above even expectations, we are simply not in a position to provide as

putting them together is both central to general petraeus and the new plan. we're very fortunate for this extraordinary command team in afghanistan. the operational commander, and the coalition allies were very impressed with the british officer. we have professionals in the coalition, and they are also -- there are the very brave civilian leaders. the commander's going back to the units -- and there is the recognition that this has to be a civil, military effort. i sensed that the transition is remarkably smooth, and they are focused on getting the job done. and this is a big focus. >> >> do you see this happening from what you saw on the ground just now? do you see this going ahead as planned? >> this has real energy and urgency into the leadership of afghanistan. and they may reiterate something that they have said before. >> the american general in charge of training the afghan troops, they reiterated something they had seen before. this decision to begin the reduction -- and give reduction by july 2011, the decision to begin the reduction has been workin

i'm confident that general petraeus and our troops can succeed if given the time, space, and resources they need to complete their mission. as the general arrives in afghanistan, those of us here in congress cannot lose sight of the broader perspective, our brave military men and women and their civilian counterparts are in the midst of a tough fight that's critical to the u.s. national security. cutting off their funding in the middle of that fight is tantamount to abandonment. in december and again last week, the president oh minded us why we are in afghanistan. it was the epicenter of what al qaeda planned and launched the 9/11 attacks against innocent americans. after an exhaustive 90-day review last fall, the president recommitted the united states to defeating al qaeda and the taliban. the timeline for success in afghanistan cannot be dictated by arbitrary political clocks here in washington. it must be driven by the operational clock in cabal, kandahar and the afghanistan countryside. we all hope and pray that the goal can be accomplished by july, 2011, but the president must ad

but as general petraeus has alluded to, it may be the interpretation that's going down the chain. and sometimes at the bottom, at the pointy end of the stick the troops feel that they have to, they interpret the rule of engagement in they way that maybe wasn't intended up the chain him so that's an issue that i think general petraeus and the commanders have to address immediately. because there's obviously the perception that the troops are fighting with one arm tied behind their back. and the facts seem to be supporting that. the original rationale that general mcchrystal put out was to protect the afghan people. but what we've seen since the restrictive rules have gone into effect is afghan civilian casualties have reached an all-time high, as have the losses of young americans and young nato troops. so we really have to take a look at this situation, see if there's a better way of accomplishing the task. >> lehrer: do you agree, major, that there's a connection between the rise in u.s. casualties and the possibly some misunderstandings about the rules of engagement? >> i'm not

the new troops that president obama committed, and two good generals, general petraeus has now taken over and we have seen he has been very successful in iraq. and we believe he must be in afghanistan. >> senator reed, what did you think, what do you think of this huge release of these documents? >> well, first, i think we have to visit -- vigorously investigate the source because it represents a breach and particularly if the source is an active duty military person , that undercuts the notion of loyalty, fidelity and professional standards. so we have to investigate very vigorously. >> excuse me, that's the allegation, a 22-year-old u.s. army soldier, intelligence analyst, gave this stuff to wikileaks and that's what started all this? >> well, there's an allegation that he released a tape about it -- about an attack in iraq, and the investigation now is whether it went much further. but the suggestion that american military personnel would be leaking this goes to the issue of the appropriate military standards that we have to insist upon. so this investigation has to be very seriou

mattis would replace general david petraeus, who left to become the top commander in afghanistan. that's after general stanley mcchrystal was fired for criticizing administration leaders in "rolling stone" magazine. mattis was criticized in 2005, for saying: "it's fun to shoot some people." but gates played down that incident today. >> that was five years ago. action-- appropriate action was taken at the time. i think that the subsequent five years have demonstrated that the lesson was learned. obviously, in the wake of the "rolling stone" interview, we discussed this kind of thing. >> sreenivasan: the nomination of mattis is subject to senate confirmation. wall street regained some more ground today. stocks rose on news that first- time claims for jobless benefits fell. the dow jones industrial average added more than 120 points to close at 10,139. the nasdaq rose nearly 16 points to close at 2,175. an experimental plane powered only by solar energy completed 26 hours of non-stop flying over switzerland today. the "solar impulse" has the wingspan of a boeing 777. it used 12,000 so

general petraeus was unanimously confirmed by the senate. he is on his way to kabul to take over the command and we are debating a rule that will delay further the money that those troops need over there. sunday is the 4th of july. george washington on the 9 of july in 1776 was so impressed by that declaration ofndependence that he had all of the continental army come to ranks and have that document read to them. we're going to be reminded again of that sunday. and how important it is for us to follow our commander in chief to give our troops the things they need. the -- mr. dreier: i would like to yield an additional 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mckeon: i wish we could have him here now and see the letter he would probably send to us accusing us of digittering while the troops are putting their lives on the line. we could defeat this rule. this afternoon, turn it right around, pass the bill that the senate already passed and have the money on the way to the troops next week. i ask my colleagues to pl

he also talked about a plan favored by general david petraeus to create local security forces in afghanistan. this is a little less than an hour. >> good afternoon. good to see you all. let me begin with a brief announcement about the upcoming trip. i am happy to get to your questions. there are travels to seoul, south korea. on july 21, the secretaries will participate in talks at the republic of korea. it will be the first meeting of them and the talks will address the full range of security and allianz issues including the development of a new chance for implementation plan agreed by president obama agreed earlier this month as well as other enhancements to the military readiness. in the wake of the unprovoked

we've got a great general in general petraeus. and we have the finest men and women who are serving and they are well equipped and well trained. but also the fact is that we have a big problem. and that is that the president of the united states announced that we were leaving the middle of next year. i asked general petraeus in the hearing, did any military person recommend that? he said no. and we are sending the wrong message. as you know, i was just in afghanistan. a police chief in kandahar said, the taliban are saying that you're leaving and if we cooperate that they're going to cut our heads off. no one follows an uncertain trumpet. i amount confident with the right leadership and conditions-based withdraw we will enjoy the same success that we enjoyed in iraq. i stood up for the surge when everybody said it wouldn't work and that my political ambitions were doomed. i was right. >> mr. deacon, on the very important question of afghanistan. >> right. afghanistan is not just troubling. it's an abomination. we've been eight yea

could he update us whether general petraeus will give it the priority by general mcchrystal and what the ambassador will be taking this forward and what will be the next steps in the so-called peace jurga that he implored of the queen's debate. third, our current work. we have noted the new announcements from the secretary of state for international development about increased aid. he will know that helmand province is the most heavily aided province in the world and the critical issue for the delivery of development aid in helmand is, of course, security. but we would be interested to know from the foreign secretary where he thinks in helmand we will be able to add to the already expensive aid that's being delivered. our immediate concern for the areas. we're told in the communique from the conference yesterday that reintegration shura which are critical to bringing all the tribes inside the political system are important in helmand and i agree but my understanding that in marjah and the whole of helmand province there has been only one public integrion in shura in months. can he al

with four stars across his hat, general petraeus is the new commander. with the new challenge, getting these forces ready. news that another afghan soldier turned his gun on his trainers. to americans died, raising fears that the taliban maybe infill trading. bringing british troops home depends on stopping the taliban. this was the scene for forces last summer. this year, the fighting is just as hard, the casualties are also great. the time line may prove to be unrealistic. two french international footballers have been put under formal criminal investigation under accusations that they paid for sex with an underage women. both have denied any wrongdoing. >> this has not been the most successful summer for french football. after the abject performance at the world cup in south africa, there comes another scandal. this time the biggest star of that team in handcuffs. the allegation is in 2009 he paid for sex with an underage prostitutes he met at a paris nightclub. the woman in question, now 18. in april, she sold a story to a tabloid magazine in which s

and general petraeus said very cleanly that it's likely to get worse before it gets better. >> reporter: a massive manhunt continues in afghanistan for two missing u.s. navy men. cbs news reports the taliban claims one is dead and they want to exchange his body for insurgent prisoners. >> [ inaudible ] >> reporter: the two servicemen were believed to be heading back to their base when they apparently ran into taliban fighters. there was a gun fight and a taliban representative said one was killed and the other was captured. u.s. military forces are searching earn afghanistan where they disappeared south of kabul. >> serves to remind of the challenges that we have and also the service and sacrifices that so many make. >> there is more evidence of the difficulties ahead. classified documents say while the u.s. spent $300 billion so far, the taliban is stronger than at any time since 2001 and the war is hamstrung by the loyalty of the afghan police and army. >> that is damaging evidence there. what else does it say. >> a whole list of things that the "new york times" laid off but the talib

general petraeus and i and ambassador eikenberry all share that concern and we take that article very very seriously. >> you know there is a general charge of corruption and clearly issues people i've talked about and i think that is serious but i think the task force 2010. >> you made on the american side? >> yeah. but just saying to me where the rubber hits the road, the benchmark, the metrics and all that kind of stuff. one of them is when we get our folks over there and they bring in good folks from dea and at the eye and those cases, will the cases actually, will the government bring the cases is one of the key landmarks not just general corruption allegations, discussions, rumors but actually bring cases and they think this is especially true when you go into kandahar because i think when we go into kandahar we are going to find many many cases of corruption. this is the pashtun. this is the government so i'm just concerned i am going to be watching very carefully. >> you know senator, the anti- corruption tribunal of afghanistan just convicted a border police general and two of

i love to talk to general petraeus about it, love to talk to the president of the united states abouteed to win there. is winning there having the people who have freedoms, like we have many freedoms, able to vote, choose their leaders and what have you without the worry of being blown up while they are in line waiting to go to the store or waiting to vote? there is a lot of things in fact can happen. right now, i think world and afghanistan needs to know america is on their side and we are going to be there to try to make that a better country to live. >> larry: mark, how does the president win this? >> i'm empty sure you can. if wing means stabilizing the region, creating peace and imposing an american vision of democrat circumstance even if we conceded those things are good things, i'm not sure that is a winnable project f idea is to cut down the amount of american lives lost, that is the american project. if the idea here is to stabilize the region politically and support our own strategic interests that's possible. how does the president do that. by not continuing to send troops

and general petraeus has said very clearly that it's likely to get worse before it gets better. >> reporter: meanwhile, a massive manhunt continues for two missing u.s. navy men. cbs news reports the taliban claims one is dead and they want to exchange his body for insurgent prisoners. >> we will do all we can, everything. large number of forces focused on the return of these individuals. >> reporter: the two servicemen were believed to be heading back to their base in kabul when they apparently ran into taliban fighters. there was a gun fight and a representative said one was killed and the other captured. u.s. military is searching earn afghanistan for the two men south of kabul. >> it serves to remind of the challenges that we have and also the service and sacrifices that so many make. newly leaked classified documents portray a war more grime. it shoes in fine detail why after the u.s. spent $300 billion, the taliban is stronger than it was in 2001 and says the war is hamstrung by the questionable competence and loyalty of afghan police and soldiers but it does not cover the effects of

general petraeus seems to have been able to secure agreement first of all within his own government on that. now from president karzai for a strategy that does focus more at building local... including local security capacity. >> lehrer: along the lines that professor sharani just outlined. >> very much. >> lehrer: so we'll leave it there. gentlemen, thank you both very much. >> a pleasure. >> thank you. >> brown: still to come on the newshour, confirmation hearings for the director of national intelligence; salary cuts and pension reforms in greece; and a gel that may prevent aids. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan in our newsroom. >> sreenivasan: today marked three months since that oil well in the gulf of mexico exploded out of control. but federal officials reported a new containment cap is still holding, and they gave b.p. the green light to continue the pressure test for another 24 hours. a scientists were still monitoring five small leaks around the well, and retired coast guard admiral thad allen said seepage detected two miles away is not from this

he served as executive officer to general petraeus during the surge in 2007-2008.e now teaches military history at ohio state university. and peterman soor, in the recent news you haven't heard much about pitched battles with individual fighters, has the i.e.d. become the weapon of choice for the afghan insurgency? >> it. it's a smart weapon for the insurgents to use. they don't have to put their troops at risk. but it is also a fairly indiscriminate weapon killing civilians and military forces alike. so the enemy clearly is willing to use those kind of weapons and take the fallout as it occurs. >> suarez: well, what makes it, as you say, smart what makes it an attractive, useful weapon for them? >> well, again, they don't have to put their troops at risk in using the devices. they don't have to get into pitch battles with u.s. forces which tend to go against the taliban whenever they try that tactic. and instead they can plant these devices, put a pressure plate switch on it which will detonate whenever a vehicle rolls over it and then they can disappear into the