general david petraeus travels to washington next week to testify before congress. it will be his first testimony since he took over command from general stanley mcchrystal eight months ago. he's dramatically increased the number of special operations raids and an interview with the associated press general petraeus touched on the upcoming truth brought down as well as civilian casualties. >> as we get closer to the july time frame which as you'll recall in the policy is the time president obama has said we will initiate the responsible draw down of the surge forces. i will provide options to him, various packages and the recommendation with obviously analysis of all of that. we absolutely have to take measures to reduce to the absolute minimum of civilian casualties in the course of our operations. our forces understand that. we know that we're here to protect the afghan people. and by the way, to protect them from the taliban too. >> charlie: joining me now is james shin of princeton universities serve as the assistant secretary of defense for asia from the bush ad

as general petraeus will describe, u.s. and isaf forces fighting side by side with increasingly capable afghan units throughout the country have taken the initiative from the insurgency and a stronghold of centre helmund and kandahar provinces. return of the pressure on al- qaeda and its affiliates on the border to pakistan. we have significantly degraded their ability to plan and conduct operations. one contributor to this positive momentum is the afghan local police initiative. it is a focus problem that is already significantly disrupting terrorist activity and denied terrorist activity. at the same time, we have ramped up our civilian efforts to improve afghan governments and today, thanks to the civilian search, there are more than 1100 civilian experts from nine different u.s. agencies helping to build afghan governments and economic capacity. that is work that is absolutely vital to the ultimate success of our overall mission in afghanistan. nevertheless, the significant gains we have made in the last year are still

task force and in many ways i think also if you look at general petraeus general petraeus has a has a national security network that's in afghanistan that's about one hundred people that work for him simultaneously to develop policy and brought obama has none rock obama does not even have the equipment so what general petraeus has in terms of looking at the overall strategy and what not so basically we have a president who i think in many ways is is for concerns of foreign policy is is i didn't say i think is incompetent i think he doesn't you know i don't think he has the skills to control the pentagon to the political objectives and to just push forward because he's been a strong armed by the pentagon so unqualified to be in the white house when it comes to foreign policy yeah well you know you brought up the fact that the fact that american people of course do support the troops and you brought up the fact that this war is costing us a lot but it does look like when it look at when we focus on the treatment of the troops once they return home from these wars know that money is not

as general petraeus will describe in detail, u.s. and isaf forces fighting side-by- side with increasingly capable units the route to the country . -- wrestled th we have turned up the pressure on al qaeda and its affiliates. degrading but not defeating their ability to plan and conduct operations. one contributor to this positive momentum is the afghan police initiative, a village program that is already disrupted insurgent activities, denied uncertain influence in key areas, and it generated serious concern among the talent and leadership. at the same time, we have ramped up our civilian efforts to improve afghan governments and the developments. thanks to the civilian search, there are more than 1100 civilian experts from nine different u.s. agencies helping to build afghan governments and capacity. at work that is absolutely vital to the ultimate success of our overall mission in afghanistan. nevertheless, the significant gains we have made in the last year are still reversible. there is tough fighting ahead, and major challenges

general petraeus, i thank you for the feedback that you gave senator brown and i on that legislation.e will be incorporating your comments. i just wanted to ask you, general, what is your view on this type of legislation and the need for it. >> well, my view is very simple, senator. the sooner the better. as my comments back to you indicated that would be very helpful to us. indeed the fact is that we were not spending anywhere near enough time, energy or sheer man hours and focusing on where our money was going. don't misinterpret that. we knew who we were contracting who the subcontractors were. but in the subs to the subs, occasionally we found out that money is actually going to the insurgents or there is bribery, corruption or some other activity that is going on. the counterinsurgency contracting guidance in the past i've issued counterinsurgency guidance. in that guidance we have the phrase money is ammunition at a certain point in the fight. in this case, i said if money is ammunition, we need to make sure it gets into the right hands. and that was part of the counterinsurgenc

general david petraeus urged them. where can people today to remember the reason why we're in afghanistan and all gave was one single date nine eleven the record number of americans now saying that this war has not been worth fighting with a progress report ten years in it says nothing more than a fragile and reversible perhaps we have to wonder why general petraeus why congress why president obama won't just come out and say it straight that we can't win it that we can't change afghanistan that basically. we might be screwed earlier i've got a particular verso co-founder of veterans for rethinking afghanistan and dr james carafano a senior defense analyst for the heritage foundation and i asked them just that. well i think because i would agree with it i mean first of all why you there we would argue there because the u.s. has a legitimate interest in being there that having afghanistan being a haven for the taliban and al qaeda doesn't work very well didn't work well before nine eleven and so when you're an interest

general petraeus reports to washington for the first time since taking over command of the war in afghanistan and general came to capitol hill today to reassure the lawmakers that it's still in america's best interest to keep troops in the country but how many americans agree with the traces comments about this war that's now lasted for a decade christine for south has more. it was meant to be an honest and open conversation about the state of the war in afghanistan and who better to report in general david petraeus himself ok. important but hard fought progress in afghanistan over port part of sorts for those serving on the senate armed services committee like senator joseph lieberman of connecticut nobody is under any illusion this is truly the question it seems to have many answers is in which direction it's turning here's one side here for we're me. can progress we have made a great deal of progress in afghanistan since the last hearing of this committee on the subject just over half a year ago while the security progress achieved over the past year is significant it is also fragile and r

we have to trust general petraeus. we have to trust president obama, in this case, that they know what's going on. he's the command for the chief, not us. we are not the commanders in chief. there's one of them and it's the other side's president. with that, once more, if you want to quote -- ms. ros-lehtinen: i yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hunter: if you want to quote somebody who's been there quote me. if you want to hold up pictures of families, hold up pub chicks of mine. they've been impacted by it. i thank the gentleman from ohio for bringing up this debate because what has happened is our side has cut defense by $16 billion in h.r. 1. if we're not going to support our troops while we're fighting this type of resolution might need a look at later, i don't think now is the right time. with that, i oppose the resolution and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. all members are reminded that

quite obvious that he is rejecting a public apology by the president of the united states by general petraeus when it comes to killing nine young boys well let's not forget that in afghanistan everyone use using casualties especially civilian casualties for different political ones right the united states is very keen on showing that they're making progress in the war that they're winning hearts and minds and that this will you know that this conflict will have some kind of a constructive solution i mean karzai is very worried about his position within afghan society he's worried about being attacked by the pashtuns right right that's the base that he has to play to win to the extent that use able to be seen as protecting that constituency from the international forces he's going to play that up in civilian casualties give him the opportunity to do that and let's not forget that the taliban is also using civilian casualties as part of its propaganda campaign and they use them to demonstrate the costs associated with being a foreign force on afghan territory but they also use it for the purpos

general petraeus. >> mr. chairman, senator mccain, it is a privilege to be here with undersecretary flournoy to report on the situation in afghanistan. before i proceed, however, i would like to offer my sincere con doleances to the people of japan, as they work to recover from one of the worst natural disasters in their history. for many years now, japan has been a stall wart partner in afghanistan, an important contributor to the mission there. now our thoughts and our prayers are with our long-time allies and with all those in japan effected by the earthquake and tsunami. >> i can say i believe every person on the committee and every american as well. thank you for doing that. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> as a bottom line up front, it is isaf's assessment that the momentum achieved by the taliban since 2005 has been arrested inch of the country and reversed in a number of important areas. however, while the security progress achieved over the past year is significant, it is also tragedy i will and revers

about general petraeus. -- let me say a brief word of introduction about general petraeus. he is a 1974 graduate of west point. he had many positions of command and distinguished honors along the way. in 1983, he won the george marshall ward. he then went to princeton where i had the honor of knowing him in grad school. he did his ph.d. in about 2.5 years. he continues -- it continues to be a princeton record. general petraeus and some time teaching at west point. many of us know the story from that point on. i would just remind you that he is in his seventh diplomat now, including a deployment in haiti, a deployment in bosnia, three diplomats in iraq, and now his command position in afghanistan. the nimitz and some wars he has one. the as the d

bartlett. >> general petraeus, a bit more than a weeks ago you graciously hosted our could he dell -- codel in kabul. you were very generous with your time and energy, sir. because of time and resources permitted, you gave us a longer and more thorough brief than could be afforded by your testimony here today. i have had more than ample opportunity to have my questions answered. i therefore will yield my time to our most junior member who is present here. congressman roby. >> thank you, mr. chairman, thank you so much, representative bartlett. i just want to tell you how much i appreciate your testimony here today and being with us. general petraeus, as the commander of our forces in afghanistan, what is your view on the advisibility of the house of representatives passing a resolution offered by representative kucinich that would call for the removal of all u.s. forces from afghanistan no later than december 31, 2011? and specifically how do you believe our troops would view such a measure? and how do you believe the taliban and al qaeda would view such a measure? >> to start with th

. >> general petraeus, a bit more than a week ago you graciously hosted us in kabul. you are very generous with your time and energy, sir. because of time and resources permitted, you gave us a longer and more thorough brief than could be afforded by your testimony here today, so i've had more than ample opportunity have my questions answered. i therefore would yield my time to our most junior member who was present here, congresswoman. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you so much, representative barr look at images want to tell you how much i appreciate your testimony here and being with us. general because, as the commander of our forces in afghanistan, what is your view on the advisability of the house of representatives passing resolution offered by representative kucinich that would call for the removal of all u.s. forces from afghanistan no later than december 31, 2011? and specifically, how do you believe our troops would use such a measure and how deeply the taliban and al qaeda would use such a measure? >> well, to start with the taliban and al qaeda obvi

general petraeus also said the afghan army being trained by u.s. troops is coming along but said the recruits are improving in quality. >>> in sacramento, the senate president announced late this morning that he'll call for a vote on governor jared brown's budget proposal in the next 24 hours. senate president pro-tem steinberg announced the plans before meeting with the governor and assembly speaker john perez. brown wants to close the state's $26.6 billion deficit by cutting $12.2 billion in spending. he also wants to extend temporary tax increases for another 5 years. no republicans have signed onto the plan and some are needed in order for this to pass. more details are expected out of the state capitol later today. >>> today is the deadline for california school districts to send out teacher layoff notices and thousands are expected to be handed out. rallies and picketts are held by parents and educators to call attention to those layoffs and proposed education budget cuts. the numbers vary and the layoffs affect just about every school distri

general petraeus. >> mr. chairman, senator mccain, it is a privilege to be here with undersecretary flournoy to report on the situation in afghanistan. before i proceed, however, i would like to offer my sincere con doleances to the people of japan, as they work to recover from one of the worst natural disasters in their history. for many years now, japan has been a stall wart partner in afghanistan, an important contributor to the mission there. now our tughts and our prayers are with our long-time allies and with all those in japan effected by the earthquake and tsunami. >> i can say i believe every person on the committee and every american as well. thank you for doing that. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> as a bottom line up front, it is isaf's assessment that the momentum achieved by the taliban since 2005 has been arrested inch of the country and reversed in a number of important areas. however, while the security progress achieved over the past year is sigficant, it is also tragedy i will and reversible

there's been a meeting with president karzai and our commander general petraeus in light of a bombing that killed nine kids, a nato bombing. petraeus apologized. the and you have this morning president karzai saying the civilian casualties are no longer acceptable and general petraeus's apology is simply not enough. what has to be done to keep this partnership viable? >> well, president obama spoke with president karzai recently. no question. we feel terrible about, and not only the general, the president has stated his sorrow over this tragedy that occurred. obviously, these -- these are difficult actions when you're in the middle of a war. we went to afghanistan in order to get rid of al qaeda, and our goal is to leave -- and the president's goal is to begin to leave in 2011. >> have we done irreparable harm, though? >> no one feels worse than the people involved in this tragedy. and the military leadership in afghanistan. and our government. >> let me turn to domestic affairs and that's the budget baths at home. first, a piece of our wall street journal poll, what's the top priorit

in his apology, general petraeus called the incident a tragedy. he said these deaths should never have happened. >>> two members of the u.s. air force on their way to afghanistan were killed, two others badly injured today, when a gunman opened fire on a u.s. military bus at the airport in frankfurt, germany. a 21-year-old man was arrested at the scene. a relative says he is a muslim who worked at the airport. police aren't calling it an act of terrorism, but they so far aren't ruling it out, either. >>> the army filed 22 new charges against bradley manning, the young private first class accused of illegally downloading tens of thousands of classified u.s. documents that were then publicly released by wikileaks. the most serious among the new charges filed today is aiding the enemy, a charge that could result in the death penalty, but the prosecution will not recommend it. they're asking for a life sentence instead. >>> we have the results of a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll tonight and we got some interesting information on how americans

commander general david petraeus who greeted mr gates at the airport joking quote welcome back sir flying a little bigger plane than normal you're going to log some attacks on leave you or something and of quote the u.s. defense secretary responded to the comment by laughing and said quote yeah exactly well apparently the two gentlemen were unaware of the open microphone the world is now guessing whether that was just a joke or there was a kernel of truth even that's true even if it were just a joke with the situation in libya critical and really verging on a full fledged civil war a lot of people thought that was a highly inappropriate joke mind you this comes from america's top military man although the official position of the us is in order to decide on a military intervention the support of the international community do you want and nato are now you weighing in on the possibility of declaring a no fly zone over libya that would actually involve a large scale military operation including air strikes on media. including strikes on levy an air defenses and putting down everything that

what we've heard this joke between robert gates and general petraeus what do you make of it coming from such high ranked officials at this time. well i think we are in a very dangerous course for awards because. essentially the united states and nato are supporting an armed insurrection. in eastern libya with a view to eventually just a prying a humanitarian intervention now there's evidence they're back so you allied forces are already on the ground we've seen reports of the british as c.s. we've seen other reports that say that in fact the number of full of special forces and intelligence agents on the ground is in the several hundred. and the question one has the us with us anita ability advisors and special forces. theoretically helping the rebels what the supply in terms of international law this is this is an interference in their fares of a sovereign country whatever one's views are with the with regard to get out here. this is not a protest. as in egypt and tunisia this is an armed insurrection and public opinion has be led to believe somehow all their conditions in egypt and. t

you should know that you have the ability to bring your own questions to general petraeus. the general staff will take your questions. they will then be filtered and applied -- [applause] [laughter] >> you said filter earlier. >> i did not survive patrick's day intact. they will not be filtered. they will be put into and ipad which i will quite elegantly lose later and we will have those questions and mine for general petraeus after the first half hour. so again. no filtering. if you want to and are so motivated and are twitter said the as this conversation continues we encourage you to we would you are observing in taking this in, mjpetraeus. i will turn it over to our moderator michael o'hanlon. [applause] >> it is a real treat to be here. we all share in the great honor to be with you today. thank you and all your men and women in uniform and all of the families. let me say a brief word of introduction about general petraeus. there will go right into our conversation. the second half hour we will take all of your ideas and thoughts and questions. the general is a 1974 gra

. >> general petraeus? is the fighting with the last four or doing the right thing? >> i don't like to get into personalities. >> speaking of his strategy, it is evolving even as we speak. general petraeus has begun to emphasize much more what our special operations forces have been doing to take out the mid-level cod draw on that side. i hope gradually everyone kind of chefs a little bit. but going back to my philosophy of history, not that the generals too as much as they think they are doing but what they're doing on the ground. they will get back to the basic task they are military not nation-building force i really think that is the way to go. i would be very surprised beginning this summer you did not see us really withdrawing troops we made it clear victory but by june beginning to say we need to wrap this up. >> mr. west, i am struck by the similarity from what you are saying and the strategy you are recommending now and both the line that was taken from the u.s. military in the early years in iraq and the strategy pursued in afghanistan between 2002 and 2006

panetta will go to defense to replace secretary gates when he leaves in the summer and that general petraeusme back from kabul to be the next c.i.a. director. >> that's a good one. chris: 90% chance? 80% chance? >> i would say under 50%. that's why david broder would never have it! 3 chris: we'll be right back with the big question of the week. how many more mideast countries are going to erupt in revolution after libya? be right back. chris: welcome back. .2011 revolutions in the arab world started in tunisia, spread to egypt, but may be at a standoff in libya. our big question of the week, has itnded in libya or will it spread around the region snon david brooks? >> i'm afraid we will see massacres there if we don't do something. chris: should we go in without the arab league? >> we should. the question to me is should we arm some of the rebels. >> i'm ask surprise it's not -- stopping already. the military has screened off the very top layer of government but doesn't show indications that it's really moving to democratic rule. >> on the hill that's what i'm hearing as well. the elation fa

water you hoping to hear from the general petraeus and what is your feeling?i was hoping to hear from him that we have trained enough people in afghanistan, that of the end of the year we will begin to pull out our troops and we will be down scaling what is going on in afghanistan and we would be out of iraq. the reality is he testified yesterday, before our committee today. when we started in april 2009, we had 39,000 american troops in afghanistan. now we have over 100,000. there has been a build up. i would like to hear what our real mission is in afghanistan. we have been there for eight years, nine years almost, and we keep hearing we have to stay there for this. we will hear that things are improving but fragile pretty fragile but able to go back. we have heard that now for the last eight years. it is always fragile and always dependent on how we get the afghans to actually secure their own country. we have spent something like $30 billion so far to equip and train these afghans to take care of their own country. do you know what i could of been with $30

. >> so what's your view of general petraeus? is he fighting the last war? too big an ego, or is he doing the right thing? >> i, i think -- i don't like to get into personalities -- >> i was thinking of his strategy. >> the, the -- i think our strategy is evolving even as we speak. you notice that for the last six months general petraeus has begun to emphasize much more what our special operations forces have been doing in order to take out the mid-level cadre on the taliban side. i would hope that gradually, gradually everyone kind of shifts the ship a little bit. but, again, i get back to my philosophy of history. my philosophy of history isn't that the generals do as much as they think the generals are doing. it has to do a lot more with what the young men are doing on the ground. and once we send the signal you no longer have to do nation building, they're going to get back to their basic tasks. they're a military, not a nation-building force, and i think that's the way we're going to go. i think really that's the way we're going to go. i'd be really sur

and general petraeus' testimony this week didn't inspire much confidence either. he continues to offer the same vague reassurances about progress we've supposedly made while being sure to say that challenges remain, he can continue justifying a substantial troop presence in afghanistan. but i'm not reassured in the least. much more importantly, the american people aren't reassured. after nine and a half years, after seeing 1,500 of their fellow citizens killed, after writing the check -- a check to the tune of $386 billion, they've had enough. they are angry, they are frustrated. as well they should be. a new poll shows that nearly 2/3 of americans, 64%, think the war isn't worth fighting. this is one of the least popular things our government is doing and yet it's just about the only one republicans don't want to cut. i think it's about time the people's house listened to the people. on the issue of war and peace and life and death. we need to negotiate and we need to sign the status of forces agreement, sofa, with afghanistan. we need to move kickly toward the m

in kabul afghanistan by general petraeus betrayers job to come back so flying a little bigger plane a normal you know a launch some attacks on libya or something to which the u.s. defense secretary responded by laughing and supplying exactly something that has for the american administration and embarrassed them not our hearing rumors though that the united states has asked salvia radia to supply arms to whittles known him confirmation but. now just a week ago the coverage of this story in the mainstream media suggesting gadhafi is fate was all about what are you seeing on the ground in tripoli. so you not think that his fate is sealed to anything it seems it released immediately to be very good athlete hearing green screen and in large parts of it happen till city where it will be global and i people waiting in flags cheering it up to its name if it is a possibility and he said no winners and some of the supporters are being paid by the gadhafi regime whether that's true or not it can be tonight. so are the largest markets morgan city. policy there live for us in tripoli thanks very

afghan he started by general petraeus an interest job to come back so trying a little bigger plane than normal to launch some attacks on libya or something to which the u.s. offensive to responded by laughing and supplying exactly so that's something that has more to the american administration and embarrass them not our hearing rumors though that the united states has asked saudi arabia to supply arms it certainly does seem as if we're going to need it was too quick to bury it or. there are huge amounts of or him this is a phenomenon that i explored. on the streets and ascertaining and then just how right and in this case just how wrong the foreign media were in reporting the story in. the warnings on the streets i want to say it's not just because you. and dreaming no one can get more market that's the levy and we're coming to get that at the heart of the criticism of course it's a dusty small plays bombed and killed dozens of protesters in the capital city future of libya appears to be on a knife age fighter jets have been bombarding the capital tripoli reportedly on the orders of le

what robert gates was meeting general petraeus in afghanistan when that little chart was recorded the two men i guess didn't realize they were like to the times where gates quit yeah exactly the sarcastic question of whether he was going to attack libya he could hardly have suspected this reply would come back to haunt the u.s. former british intelligence officer and a microphone says that the coalition forces are becoming more and more entrenched in the libyan crisis now with no way out. i think they're a tangle soon as the whole uprising began in libya because they really didn't know which side to back and which way to jump and of course they're kind of our feet in a historic enemy of the west for many many decades and suddenly he's been brought back into the international fold and there were lots of nice juicy oil contracts and business contracts flowing out of libya towards places like the u.s. the u.k. and france and italy so i think they're very torn for a long time and it's only really over the last weekend that they did a bit of a rush job to take the violence to the next stag

cuts in hr1 undermind our ability to stabilize afghanistan, pakistan, and iraq, and to support general petraeus' strategy. hr1 provides $5.71 billion for economic support fund, a 27% cut from the fy2011 request. as secretary gates and secretary clinton have made clear in repeating testimony before congress, cuts of this magnitude will seriously impede efforts in afghanistan and transition the stability for u.s. operations in iraq from military to civilian. mr. president, there are many more examples of damage that have come from should hr1 be enacted into law which is why the president's promised a veto, and why i know my democratic colleagues will reject it and a thumbs up to a vote. the senate amendment also takes a responsible approach for funding the government for the remainder of the fiscal year making difficult decisions, but also ensuring minimal disruptions in economic recovery. mr. president, we are now almost halfway through fy2011, and if we are to have any chance of voting on another serious continuing resolutions for fy2012, we simply must finish our work on the current year and m

what i say between general petraeus and general was a level of cooperation that no one could have imagined across the border in the last couple of years. that's been a lot of hard work to improve the relationship and trust. we are not there. but we broke that in 1989, 1990. we have the gap. and just like the secretary, i believe that we have to sustain that for the long term that downside consequences of a pack -- a nuclear capable pakistan that -- who's government collapses and is there in the hands of violent extremist or thee cattic individuals is a huge, huge danger, globally and certainly for us. i believe we have to tonight to work that. we have to continue to invest in it. it's not going to happen fast enough for any of us. and our ability to work that has is significant impact on what's going to happen in afghanistan as well. so it is, in fact, working both sides, and, in fact, al qaeda is in much tougher shape than it was a year or two ago. some of the taliban organizations are certainly much more concerned about their future than they were as recently as a year ago. because we fi

started and earlier this month there was a conversation between defense secretary robert gates and general petraeus in which they were joking about striking libya well before of course it actually happened do you think that this really had been on their minds are the still current. well i'm not but i wasn't privy to that piece of information so i can't i couldn't possibly comment at all i would say is is that a number of arab countries in our arab allies called for a no fly zone i think that should have given a very serious consideration to them actually leading it after all the egypt is very well placed geographically to have instigated one particularly given that the submit concern about the civilian casualties was in the east of libya and i think you know at the end of the day as i say it does beg the question where does this policy lead us to give and that's what appears to be happening across the middle east is one of the other countries where autocratic leaders are putting down rebellions in their view or causing civilian casualties you know i asked the foreign secretary in today's debate sta

palestinians and israelis you can understand the conflict and you can understand why someone like say general petraeus would say that the arab world view of the u.s. as being pro israel and the peace process. and command over the region is issues they have to deal with and strategy and with gaza being considered by some a humanitarian crisis and occupied territory they they don't understand that dynamic and they say that's a real issue now only two percent of the entire u.s. population is jewish but if we talk about money and influence when it comes to elections and campaigns and how much of it is really come from organizations like impact. well one thing i want to point out i'm glad you said that apec doesn't directly donate to candidates so doubts an important distinction but it is a powerful group and lobbying in washington by a pro israel lobby is like a pack amounts to several million dollars but as far as contributions as i had some estimates in my report but those are pretty conservative and the ones that are a little more recent is for a scholarly research in two thousand and six showed that u

troops are still fighting in afghanistan and will likely be there for a while general petraeus was on capitol hill yesterday trying to convince lawmakers that the fight in afghanistan is still worth it and with rogue nations like iran and north korea threatening to destabilize the very specter of regions is our military to overstretch to be able to respond to new threats congressman charlie rangle from new york joins me now to announce new legislation leaner introduce in congress tomorrow it could fundamentally change our nation's military congressman welcome good to meet you thank you for the good work you do thank you very nice to meet you we've talked on my radio program a number of times it was great to meet you in person first for the record you're a decorated war veteran the korean war purple heart i believe was the soul restore the bronze star around with valor sixty years ago yeah but the point is you know of what you speak i just wanted to establish that on the table tell us about this legislation you're proposing well it serves two purposes one it gives people an opportunity

you don't see and that's something that many activists argue is it is a huge issue i mean even general petraeus you heard say last year that america is pro israel stance and the perception of being more heavily supporting of israel in the mideast peace process by the arab world was a challenge for him and doing his job as a commander of that area so clearly this is an issue the palestinian issue is something that united states lawmakers according to activists absolutely need to understand and yet you don't see them going into the palestinian territories at all and we're somewhere like gaza you have people reporting it to be a humanitarian crisis and essentially occupied territory but yet you have u.s. politicians not even having an understanding of what that means and really kind of case in point driving that home sarah palin reportedly tried to go to bethlehem but she and her group that organized the trip evidently didn't know that that wasn't in israel just showing. how little understanding she really has of the dynamics the true dynamics in the region well wait a minute lauren she can see ru

beginning of march will recall that we robert gates was visiting a stand in his conversation with general petraeus that was actually caught on record much of their embarrassment you recall that i'm sure that the public in chief was jokingly asked if they were planning strikes on libya so it was yeah exactly you know but then it was perceived as a joke judging by what we're witnessing right now kind of prove that old expression really a true word spoken in jest here. well it certainly does and i think that lots of people who may have been taken in by this idea of the no fly zone being a relatively cost free why of. britain and france and the united states intervening in libya and now i think in many cases having second thoughts i can't remember a great issue military intervention which is so quickly become. contested become unpopular what we're seeing here is that. is that whole number of people a number of opinion polls are showing that there's a growing opposition to this because people are asking a number of questions if it is simply no fly zone to protect civilians. for nice and. missiles are b

general david petraeus, i don't think people understand the sacrifice and time. you have been going nonstop since you first deployed to iraq. it is hard for anybody -- is nothing compared to when you have gone through and your family and your wife and how tired you must be. nobody wants victory in afghanistan more than you do and we understand that. with that i want to thank you too in the fourth striker brigade. he is not happy with that but we are. pertaining to iraq, thank you for giving us victory. you and general jean and my father wrote a book called victory iraq ended is because of you. i don't think we talk about that enough. thank you for that. first question is in the first part of your testimony he said i do believe there will be combat forces included in those options, and in regard to chairman mckeon's question. the question is is every option you are going to submit going to have combat forces included or will that be one of the options? >> i am still working on the options. there are still some months to run. it is something that will be based on c