begins to draw down its own forces and we asked general petraeus about that? >> we think that we won't be able to commence transition here by indeed, i will make a recommendation to the nato command. make a recommendation to president karzai somewhere around the end of february. and so that recommendation will go forward and we believe that there are some very viable candidates for transition that we will be able to identify. clearly a lot of this hinges on the ability of afghan to do more as we do progressively less. we are not just going to say, "tag, you're it, we are out of here." we are going thin out, not just hand off we will stay and support but progressively over time. obviously, we do want to reduce our numbers and locations based on conditions and then either reassess that transition that are or ultimately begin to send some of them home. we are very much on target with the growth of the afghan army and the afghan police but it is because the recruiting has been so high while the attrition is still above what we would like to see and what more impor

we do not have that now. >> what about general petraeus? mean, he has spent an enormous amount of time, or general childers over there in afghanistan. what kind of marks do you give him? >> i think he is pursuing a fool's errand in afghanistan. i think the surge he is being credited with in iraq was not a reason why we have a less disasterous ending in iraq than we could have had. al qaeda is not an operative entity in iraq. the sunni revolt that was a large part of the reaction to our occupation in iraq was suppressed, not because of the surge, but because the sunnis got sick, and they needed to affect change. their decision to change their behavior in reaction to the occupation proceeded the surge. it was not caused by the surge. general petraeus has a lot of status in this country, but it is my view that he got lucky in iraq, and we will see how it turns out in afghanistan. so far, it is not turning out too good. >> but you can also look at what is going on in the middle east right now and conclude that the united states' effort in iraq

profiling actually imply and mean the same thing that is exactly what general petraeus tried to present in he's page deep paper regarding the main lesson he learned from his experience in vietnam conflict that is whatever happens on the ground e's irrelevant what really does matter and what they use as decision makers and american public thinks about what's going on overseas regarding their military affairs their bottom line ease the whole american operation enduring freedom has nothing to do with the military conflict neither on bank you stand on afghan territory it has nothing to do we have a counter terrorism or counter narcotics operations what it really does matter is a clandestine percept sion menage a man by the pentagon oath political leadership in the united states and american public. well let's take a look at some other headlines from around the world is marking the first anniversary of last year's earthquake that left five hundred dead and hundreds of thousands homeless a remembrance service was led by the president sebastian pinera there were also protests at the scene with

and i want to draw from a letter that governor -- i'm sorry, general petraeus, the general of the united states army commanding forces in afghanistan most recently wrote to rob goldberg, the director of international affairs at n.s.p. he says, and he extrapolate, usip's experience in working closely with the u.s. military will be a great asset in developing unity of effort between levels of the government. i hope soon to see u.s. military officers training alongside civilian government and nongovernment counterparts in usip's headquarters at 23rd and constitution, the wonderful building of my colleague mr. weiner pointed out to us moments ago. their facility is not an important symbol of our nations commit to peace but home to a wonderful training center to increase understanding in today's complex operations. . therefore getting access to our military leaders who are fighting abroad and i yield my time to the gentleman from new york. mr. weiner: the things we are doing on behalf of the department of defense. is the gentleman aware that in addition to the money i have identified here $13

. >> charlie: on the ground today, general petraeus is successful to what degree? >> he is successful. actually something, the people, i mean all those who are familiar with counterinsurgency operation, they should realize that the success and victory cannot be quick and swift like other type of warfare even if we apply the right strategy and the right forces and the right resources. so it will take time but we already see a good enough indicators. all the attempts and such unconventional warfare is the people. they get the support of the people then i think they will win. but in the moment of the focus of the recent operation in this last six, seven months in afghanistan, i think we do see the indications of the campaign. because what has happened that now that we have managed to have a permanent presence of security forces in the local level and the people are assured that we are going to protect them and we are not there just temporarily like we used to in the previous years. and with that every day we get more support of the people. they are participating in di

general petraeus is not involved in running our forces there. from what you said, is the president doing enough in your judgment to insure that we are successful in afghanistan and pakistan? >> well, first of all, i think that the general petraeus appointment was the obvious choice. he was a great choice and he will do a great job. i think that the surge of forces that the administration has committed to and is now implementing is a plus. the key is that when i think about afghanistan, is a very difficult set of circumstances. it is one of the poorest countries in the world did it is a leading producer of heroin. it has never really had a strong central government. you're not going to get a full- blown democracy overnight out of a place that starts as the van the whole less afghanistan is under normal circumstances. on the other hand, we have to get it right over the long haul because there is the base of operations for al qaeda. it is where the terrorists trained. it is important that they not revert back to the safe harbor for such a worry for

general david petraeus expects fierce fighting in the spring as insurgents try to retake towns captured by nato troops. the general's wife, meanwhile, is fighting a battle on the homefront on behalf of military families. many have been ripped off by banks. today, j.p. morgan chase apologized for overcharging thousands of military families for their mortgages. as i discover, the general's wife is gung-ho about her new mission. >> i haven't been in the spotlight personally, but i'm willing to do it for the cause of our military families. >> couric: holly petraeus has always preferred to let her husband, general david petraeus, take center stage. >> i appreciate the opportunity... >> but now she's answering the call to service. >> ...to compete on a level playing field. >> couric: leading an office in the new financial protection bureau to safeguard military personnel and their families from financial fraud. >> they are a targeted population. it's sad to say that, but it's true. you'll see outside the gates of military installations, there's usually a strip with the "buy here, pay here" ca

certainly less exciting than the mcchrystal profile was in the sense that this is not good and general petraeus is career trash talking no no no cussing over beers but i guess that's because he wasn't interviewed for himself right right he refused to be interviewed and he does often give interviews even to publications which are normally military he gave an interview to runner's world a couple years ago that talked about his work out happy. and so forth so he certainly knows how to manage his media identity and his media persona but interesting then why do you think that he didn't take this interview i think that everybody in the military is afraid of michael hastings who wrote the mcchrystal article so that it's very hard for people to talk to him right now. which i think is why there's been so much insider and stuff here it's a lot of stuff that we've heard before in this particular article now you know well some of the things that i've found a little funny that was that it's very technical in the beginning and then it kind of goes into start praising this man if you've ever seen those commer

as you know, general petraeus is now investigating this. what happened? >> well you know, that's been tried on me in the past, david. i don't know what happened. i do know that the general caldwell is a great leader and has done a great job in leading the afghan army. i also know that these briefers are briefed. senator x is interested in the following, a, b, c, d and e. and that i think is perfectly legitimate. if it went any further than that, i don't know. general petraeus will make a, a full investigation. general caldwell has steadfastly denied it. but i don't see how it could have affected my positions. in any way. and so we'll see what happens. but i'm, put me down as skeptical. >> senator mccain, we'll leave it there thank you very much and safe travel. >>> coming up, as a government shutdown looms, budget battles front and center in the capitol and in state houses across the country. ground zero for it all this week -- wisconsin. what is at stake there? what will it mean for the rights of workers? and how will it impact the 2012 race for the white

sourcing rehab in general david petraeus probably the best qualified general we have had since world war ii. he is coping with an extremely difficult situation in afghanistan and pakistan but of all the generals we have had he gives us the best shot at coming out of there with some kind of a viable situation. i think the real decisions on what to do in afghanistan and pakistan will come next year. there is a very fine book out on the war called the endless war written would -- which deals with our war with al qaeda, written by peter burton and it is very full of the impact of general david petraeus's thinking. he feels that al qaeda has been so violent in so much that it has done that his alienated a lot of moderate muslims and i think that he is -- he feels that we ought to hang on in afghanistan. that we perhaps have the chance of doing something there. the situation in pakistan is getting worse and worse. i have the feeling that the general -- is a very fine officer, may step into the breach and once again pakistan may fall under military rule and that may be the only way to make

general petraeus is one of the most capable officers. he's a great choice and he will do a good job. i think the surge of forces that the administration's commited to and is now implementing is basically a plus. the key as i think about afghanistan, it's a very, very difficult set of circumstances you've got in afghanistan. it is one of the poorest countries in the world, it is the leading producer of heroin. it's never really had a strong central government. you've always had war lords operating in various places around the country and you're not going to get a full blown democratty overnight out of a place that starts as deep in the hole as afghanistan is under normal circumstances. on the other hand, we've got to get it right over the long haul because in fact it was the base of operations for al qaeda when they killed 3,000 americans on 9/11. it's where they started from, it's where they trained. and it's very important that they not revert once again back to a safe harbor or a sanctuary, if you will, for terrorist groups trying to k

commander in afghanistan will leave us a post there are reports that general petraeus will step down this year he was appointed eight months ago as part of a senior u.s. staff we are in ization in the country but our military contributor says despite all america's efforts the number of mistakes is only increasing. american occupation of afghanistan has already exceeded all possible saw that mistake in that country and accomplished even more than that in a negative sense and simultaneously having missed all the positive developments that war triggered and promoted by the soviet union intentionally or not in afghanistan i'm not going to justify the soviet military campaign in afghanistan however i do believe the current american military campaign in afghanistan provides and ample evidence to exonerate the soviet political economic and military presence in afghanistan from their res e.g. of the united states information agency propaganda which rolled supreme during the cold war battle you know afghanistan the economic objective was to distribute the farmland to farmers and that's why th

the general betray us profiling actually imply and mean the same thing that is exactly what general petraeus tried to present in he's ph d. paper regarding the main lesson he learned from his experience in vietnam conflict betis whatever happens on the ground he's your relative works really does matter what they you as decision makers and american public thinks about what's going on overseas regarding their military affairs the bottom line is these the whole american operation enduring freedom has nothing to do with a military conflict neither on bank you stand on afghan territory it has nothing to do with a counterterrorism or counternarcotics operations what it really does matter is their clandestine per section menage man by the pentagon political leadership in the united states and american public. well let's take a look at some other headlines from around the world a massive landslide in the blue the capital la paz has swept away at least one hundred homes well there have been no reported deaths but there's been widespread structural damage across an entire neighborhood in the mountain

the rolling out of president obama's escalation of the afghan war this is the ruling out of general petraeus last year in the crystals new strategy for the war if it had gotten mired into a bloody nat knockdown drag out fight in the fields of marjah real quick it would have been a very very bad p.r. move so one of the why we advertise so heavily was the taliban know so they could get out so the fight wouldn't be so intense and that sounds a little detrimental right i mean if our entire strategy here is to weed out the taliban defeat the taliban and secure these small towns and if you know wanting them to to get out first of the fight isn't as bad just seems a little odd to me well steve i remember that perception is the most important thing this conflict has said it several times there's a great rolling stone article by michael hastings recently that lays it out very clearly that perception is the most important part of this conflict and not the perception of the afghan people but the perception of the american public jhumpa trace study this when he was up at princeton he was thesis on vietn

general petraeus understands this is counterinsurgency. i want to get out of afghanistan too, it's an expensive war in blood and treasure. but it's a war not started by us, it was starred by two airplanes flying into two towers and it's cost us more, nen has cost us more than afghanistan ever will in what it's done to this nation, makes us second-guess who our friends are, sending us to afghanistan and i would ask my friend from north carolina this, and i'm going to yield the balance of my time to any prend from -- friend from north carolina, if we're not the ones helping out the afghan people, i'll tell you who it's going to be. the taliban. the taliban are the bankers of afghanistan. they have drug money and they use it to loan to the locals in afghanistan. so if we don't help them out if we don't become their friends if we don't befriend the people, the counterinsurgency doesn't work. and i think that my friend, he knew that we would leave quicker, we would leave afghanistan in victory, quicker, by keeping this money there, i think he w

clues in the civil war started in iraq was falling apart until the physically fit phd general called david petraeus arrived in safety dave, the new american hero and now he will save the day in afghanistan , using the same brilliant tactics. but all that is wrong. the civil war in iraq to begin in 2006 at the samarra shrine bombing. it began in 2003 when the americans won the war, they basically lost work. the iraqi army for the most part didn't even say. even aside weather was right or wrong, the decision to go to war was right or wrong in of course it is wrong. if you're going to be an occupier. if you're going to invade a country, at least do it competently. we couldn't even do that. so the military planners knew from experience in haiti, bosnia, closer though, other conflicts in the road that you needed a significant number of troops for the postwar phase because you wouldn't have the state. they're pressing 525 troops and they were given. they were granted those troops. this would be a quick easy work to make him in there with 150,000 troops a tank and created this immediate vacuum, shipping w

a defense department spokesman said no decision on petraeus has been made, but there is a realignment of top generals coming in the fall, and petraeus could be promoted. >>> in washington, what's sure to be a long and bitter fight over federal spending is under way. republicans are pushing sharp cuts while president obama defends his $3.73 trillion budget plan for the new fiscal year. it was the main topic on mr. obama's first big news conference of the year, as joel brown reports. >> reporter: the president spent much of the news conference fielding questions on what he chose to leave out of his budget plan, social security and medicare. >> this is going to be a negotiation process. >> reporter: republicans had blasted the president's budget proposal for its record $1.65 trillion deficit. and for the fact that it doesn't cut social security or medicare. the government spends more on those items than anything else. but the president says even though democrats and republicans are far apart, they'll find common ground. >> i'm confident we can get social security done in the same way that ronald reagan

so i think we have been general petraeus probably the best qualified general we have had since world war ii. he's coping with an extremely difficult situation in afghanistan and pakistan, but i think of all the general sweetheart, he gives us the best shot at coming out of there was some kind of a viable situation. i think the real decisions on what to do in afghanistan and pakistan will come next year. there's a very fine book out on the war. it's called the -underscore. it's written -- which deals with our war with al qaeda, written by peter bergen and it's very full of the impact of petraeus. bergenfield al qaeda has been so violent and so much has been done but it's alienated a lot of moderate muslims and i think that he is -- he feels we have to hang on in afghanistan and may perhaps have a native doing something there. the situation in pakistan is getting worse and worse. i have the feeling that the general -- general kayani who was a very fine officer may step into the breach and once again pakistan might fall under military rule and may be the only way to make a decision as t

to make sure, general david petraeus has ordered a three-star general to conduct a full investigation. jim miklaszewski, nbc news, the pentagon. >>> big story out of texas tonight. a college student from saudi arabia under arrest, accused of planning to build and set off bombs in terrorist attacks around the united states. the fbi says this case broke open only because someone noticed something that wasn't quite right. our report from our justice correspondent, pete williams. >> reporter: inside this apartment in lubbock, texas, the fbi says, were enough chemicals and equipment to make a powerful military-style bomb. all gathered, prosecutors say, by a 20-year-old college student, khalid ali-m aldawsari. investigators say the tip that broke the case came just three weeks ago when a north carolina chemical company notified the fbi that he ordered a suspiciously large supply. >> hope that we were helpful and i hope that we thwarted what could have been a real tragedy. >> reporter: the shipping company in lubbock also alerted police when aldawsari sought to have the chemicals sent to its

i have mentioned general petraeus. i mentioned admiral mullen. i would mention bob gates, secretary of defense whom i know very well. we worked together in the jimmy carter administration. i would also recommend -- recognize secretary of state hillary clinton. so i think we are not going to hear much about this looming crisis tonight. i hope we don't. it's going to give the things we have put in place a chance to work, and i am hopeful that come next year, 50 years after the date -- or the cuban missile crisis that president obama will yield equally well with the crisis that he faces. thank you very much. [applause] >> are the questions? i hope so. >> i'm a freshman. you enumerative many other similarities between kennedy and obama. however, there seems to be one big difference how when kennedy was the with the cuban missile crisis, he had a specific enemy and representation -- representative of that enemy he could call up and sent a letter to khrushchev, and khrushchev controlled the opposition. and that's the difference in what obama is doing w

they aired an interview with general petraeus.ato forcesing making a lot of progress but he warns that combat will probably escalate during the spring thaw. >> several explosions rocked the city of kirkuk. witnesses say gun fire started right after the blast. violence across iraq has dropped dramatically but bombings and shootings occur almost every day. >> the only living soldier to earn a medal for his service is now leaving the army. staff sergeant hinton says he is going to leave to continue his education. the army says he's going use the gi bill. the medal of honor in november for killing a fighter dragging away another wounded soldier. >> berkeley is known too break the molds. but looks like the city is at it again. the city council is set to vote on a resolution that would bring detainees who have been cleared, to berkeley. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the berkeley piece and the jefferson commission is responsible for this. the commission drafted a resolution that invites a couple of guantanamo detainees to resi

general petraeus has said we are interested in stability, oil, the palestinian-israel and conflict, and those will become more important in the information age. we need our men and women in uniform to be aware. >> if you had to make a definitive statement about the role of social media in the middle east, what with the definitive statement be? >> it is a game changer. we appreciate your participation on "the communicators." >> thank you for having me. >> c-span, created as a public service by america's cable companies. next, leaders of ibm and dell give their recommendations for how the federal government can save $one -- $1 trillion over the next couple decades. after that, microsoft chairman bill gates attend a conference on the u.s. global leadership coalition. after that, paying tribute to the nation's 40th president, the late ronald reagan, who would have turned 100 tomorrow. >> tonight, former vice president dick cheney is the featured speaker at the closing banquet marking the 100th anniversary of the birthday of president ronald reagan, taking place at the right and center in sa

. >> chris: holly petraeus is the wife of general petraeus.e is serving overseas she has her own mission. >> just some of the things you need to think about before you retire. >> chris: she is setting up the office of service member affairs to protect military consumers. >> the mill tare i have is a targeted group. >> chris: there are a lot of young people with guaranteed pay checks on their own for the first time. >> ad all the factors together and it makes them easy pickings. >> reporter: like auto dealers selling cars at high prices or electronic stores offering expensive financing or military loans on the internet. >> outright scams or very expensive loans. >> reporter: as part of the new consumer protection bureau should be able to help military familys. >> a power to enforce the laws on the book books and also to e rules. >> chris: holly petraeus comes from a distinguished military family. >> how did you omit your husband? >> he was a cadet at westpoint. >> and what did you think? >> obviously we liked each other. >> chris: so much they

is it respect and dignity with general petraeus, david kuhl colin come all of these extraordinary officers and i have the highest respect for them and have the pleasure of meeting some of them. the of emphasized you deal with the muslim world through the dignity and respect i am quoting them again because if you get the population on your site, you automatically marginalize the taliban or the al qaeda or with all of our sophistication the bad guys. now if we can do this, we automatically ensure our position in iraq, pakistan and so on. that's one position. this directly at the end of the spectrum is the other position where we believe we are in a clash of civilizations. remember, our experts have been telling us this since 9/11. islam as evil, creates terrorism, but koran is evil that does nothing but preach violence and so on and so on. now you can't have these two attitudes and ideas about the civilization in one frame. if you have then you are creating a great deal of tension and conflict within yourself and then others being implemented. this is the great american conundrum, and i hope

look at what happened in the anbar awakening within iraq, and general petraeus authorized u.s. troops to pay sunni iraqis to fight for us. what happened was you had the revolution within the city of ramadi. then you had petraeus, reviewed the results and visited with sheikh sattar. sheikh sattar is the first sheikh to step up. very charismatic gentleman. he was killed in september of 2007 by a suicide bomber. but once we had the success, and once we saw what was occur, that was when petraeus instituted the sons of iraq program. once they instituted the program, sunnies needed jobs. they had no jobs. future was bleak. especially within the government. when we started giving the jobs to secure their own neighborhoods, you had guyed lining up in droves. because they want to work. they want to make money. they want to have a wife and kids. when we started giving them a future, whether it was securing their neighborhood or actual job, things really turned around. and that's exactly what we need to do in afghanistan. but if you look at iraq and afghanistan, the literacy rates amongst

more fundamental, the canada our project is urgent timewise, not like other projects because general david petraeus we are told in the most direct way, general david petraeus himself said he needed as soon as possible, he has a counterinsurgency to fight, the reason we got from usaid why they did that as terms of the counterinsurgency strategy, looking at the kabul power plant seems to me we have, ands by usaid and cigar not years ago but in january of 2010, usaid afghanistan contended it was not able to remove the project forward because the contractor did not convey critical information promptly enough to be useful and at the end of the same paragraph the mission contended that had it known of the problems the contractor was experiencing, it could have intervened suitor to solve the problem. and we have usaid itself when it gave you a rating as i previously said and business relations to the kabul power plant. they failed, contractor had not notified of the construction delays and critical in a timely matter. the same critique was put forth. by the cigar and usaid itself. >> we have comments from

uprising or discuss all that with nora erica and richard hellman next we'll take a look at how general david petraeus has handled the war in afghanistan longer robert farley would join me to discuss betrays his methods and a recent rolling stone article that portrays the general as can't david and at the end of february key provisions of the patriot act are set to expire but one side of there is working on bring.

there's a report tonight that the top commander in afghanistan, general david petraeus, may leave his post by the end of this year. that's according to the "times" of london which says the pentagon is now considering possible replacements. meanwhile, in italy, silvio berlusconi has been somewhat of a teflon politician. he's been charged with corruption many times but nothing sticks. now prosecutors believe the prime minister's luck is running out. as mark phillips reports, berlusconi was ordered today to stand trial in a sex scandal. >> reporter: she was just 17 but you know what i mean, the song goes. for italian prime minister silvio berlusconi-- 74-- what it means is another day in court, this time on charges he may not be able to dodge. she is karima el mahroug, a moroccan better known in italy by her professional name-- ruby heartstealer, a nightclub dancer who so danced her way into one of berlusconi's notorious all- night so-called bunga-bunga parties that he gave her $8,000 for her trouble. berlusconi is accused of paying for sex with an underage prostitute and using his influ

afghanistan will leave his post by the end of the year the british press earlier reported that general david petraeus is due to leave afghanistan along with a large share of u.s. troops washington's promise to pull all of its forces out of the country by twenty fourteen quote come hell or high water when our military contributor says the u.s. failed to learn from the soviet campaign there. american occupation of afghanistan has already exceeded all possible saw that mistake in that contrie and accomplished even more than that in a negative sense and simultaneously having missed all the positive developments that were triggered and promoted by the soviet union intentionally or not in afghanistan i'm not going to justify the soviet military campaign in afghanistan however i do believe that the current american military campaign in afghanistan provides and ample evidence to exonerate the soviet political economic and military presence in afghanistan from day raise e.g. of the united states information agency of propaganda which rolled supreme during the cold war battle you know afghanistan the economic

now, general petraeus disagrees with this view of the military campaign i presented, and he speaks ofs come over to the government's side as part of the reintegration program. there's said to be 900 excome baptings involved in the program, and a vast majority of them come from president karzai vineses in the central and northern parts of afghanistanings away from the heavy -- afghanistan, i away from the heavy fighting. it's hard to say where it's going, but i say the hard core taliban is not tantalized by this offer. it may not be a productive debate to engage in. the military have asserted that negotiations should be only conducted from a position of strength, and if they now claim to be making impressive progress, i think we should be asking the question of them, does that not mean that it's time to start negotiating? the realities, of course, that the fighting and the talking will go on for a long time in parallel, and i think everyone knows northern ireland in making this case, and we're the first channels established in peace were in 1972 for peace talks. careful, low level unof