host: bill gertz, thank you for being here.g up, turning our attention to the rotc program, its mission, and history. >> 9:14 a.m. eastern. prohibiting air strikes on nato air strikes on houses. a city air strikes will have no immediate effects on strikes. they say they never do such strikes without afghan approval and that these are key on the war against insurgents. war on the 2012 presidential race. michele bachmann is considering a run and says that she does not compare herself to sarah palin but president obama. she went on to say that she has no problem running against a friend. congresswoman bachmann is expected to address this next month. the first presidential primary in iowa is next year. she recently filed disclosure reports for international travel that she had failed to report a race -- over a time of several years. they filed for official committee travel to africa, south america, europe, and the middle east for trips taken from 2007-to thousand nine. travelers accompanying her included other committee members. th

we are with bill gertz of the "washington times." michael is joining us from hawaii on our independent line. you are next. caller: good morning. my question is for you, bill. i believe that general cartwright should have been -- i wanted to ask you about that and the astronomical $100 billion plus money towards this war. i would like to get your input on that please. guest: we are addressing that someone. general cartwright is not a combat veteran. i think that is one factor. certainly, he has had a remarkable career. no one questions his amazing service, but people had differences with his outlook. for example, there right now is a debate in the pentagon on how to deal with the emergence of china. it is not get attention with all the other issues going on. the pentagon is fighting whether our forces should be structured to deal with high end conventional conflicts with china or to refocus as defense secretary gates has done on these counter insurgency conflicts or what some critics call general custard type indian wars. that is the

. >> bill gertz with, the washington times, thank you very much. next, live, your calls and comments on "washington journal." then jack jurors, president of the national petroleum institute and after that, eric holder. >> if the amateurs do it over and over until they get it right, professionals do it covert until i can't get it wrong. >> a former navy so was a platoon leader of seal team won during vietnam and is the author of 14 books. he will discuss the life and training of today's navy seals on "q &a." this morning, national journal senior correspondent discusses the potential use of intelligence gained from computers seized at the compound were osama bin laden died. chris hennick who worked for rudy giuliani and george w. . bush

then bill gertz talks about funding u.s. military operations. the president has threatened to veto one plan. and then major paul kremer on the mission and goal of the rotc program in the military. plus, your e-mails, phone calls and tweets. >> we conclude our look at commencement addresses now with remarks from g.e. chairman jeffrey immelt. he spoke to students at the university of maryland last week for about 20 minutes. >> i am honored to be up on the stage. welcome retrievers. it is great to be here. thanks for that introduction and for this honorary degree doctorate of public service. i like the sound of that. it is going to come in handy the next time someone asks me about my credentials to serve with president obama. i have a message for students. you have worked four very long hard years for your dip. i showed up at 10:00 a.m. this morning, and all of a sudden i am the man? doesn't seem quite right. but i do have one thing going for me. gemplet will hire 4,000 college graduates this year, and we have a strong recruiting relationship with

joined on the phone by one of the reporters in the room, the "washington times" national editor, bill gertzation and details are coming out. the briefing was by a senior official who disclosed there was lots of new information about al qaeda. the citigroup has been damaged by the death of bin laden there remains a threat. my own take away from the briefing is that al qaeda is in its death throes. 20 of their leaders have been killed over the couple of years. now the top leader is dead. when al qaeda made the announcement, according to the official, they did not name a successor. there were some details in there about how the number two al qaeda leader is not popular with the group and appears not to be the person who will take over the leadership role. >> we are showing some of the home video footage taken from pakistan. what do they say about these home videos and the way they identified bin laden? >> they say this is the largest intelligence take from a senior al qaeda leader since 9/11. there were five videos. the first was a video that was a message to america from bin laden. they show

we are joined on the phone but when the reporters in the room, bill gertz. >> my own take away from theis in its death throes. some 20 of its leaders have been killed over the past couple of years. another top leader is dead. when not yet made the announcement, according to this official, they did not name a successor. there were details in there about half the number two allocate the leader is not popular with the group and appears not to be the person who will take over the leadership role. >> we are showing some of the home video footage that was taken from pakistan. what did they say about these videos and the way they identified it bin laden? >> this is part of what they said what the largest intelligence take from a senior al qaeda leader cents 9/11. basically there were five videos. the first was a video that was a message to america from bin laden. it showed about one minute of that video from that and did not release the audio. the senior official said we do not want to be in the position of replacing propaganda, but they said that it was some time warned dames of allocate up a

then bill gertz talks about u.s. military operations. the house recently passed a spending plan the president has threatened to veto. and then major paul kremer. plus, a your emails, phone calls, and tweets. >> the c-span video library makes it easy to follow campaign 2012. get instant access to events from announced and potential presidential candidates. all searchable and free. it is washington, your wife. -- your way. >> earlier today, president obama named his nomination for the replacement for admiral mike mullen. this is 10 minutes. >> all right. good morning. in a few moments, i will be joining members of our armed forces for the memorial day observance. we will honor those who gave the last full measure of devotion and service of our country. it is the ultimate sacrifice, but it is one that every man and woman who wears a uniform is prepared to make. the men and women of our armed forces are the best our nation has to offer, and they deserve nothing but the absolute best in return, and that includes leaders who will guide them, s

host: we are going to be talking about national security ises shortly with bill gertz from the "washingtones." let me show you this piece. iowa's record there back in 2000, pickled george w. bush. they have not picked the right one since 1988. with these two states have an impact on 2012? guest: i think so. there is so much momentum you can get from coming in second or third. we saw the last time around michael huckabee carried a national campaign way into the 2008 primary. i think he was the last man standing against john mccain because basically he won iowa. they might not pick the front runner, but if you look at who places second or third in new hampshire, i think itas a lot to do with it. host: jimmy, last phone call for chris good. caller: i have three points. number one,he economy will be a majobstacle or a major asset for barack obama. i think he can quickly say it is better than what it was when i first came into office. if you look at the empirical data, that is the case. sarah palin has had numerous opportunities to convey what she thinks publicly. we have long debates and you c

bill gertz of the "washington times" talks about his funding operations. a $649 billion defense plan which the president threatened to vito. after that, major paul kremer on the mission and goal of the rotc program and its presence in all of the branches of the military plus your e-mails, phone calls and tweets. "washington journal" live tuesday at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. earlier this month members of congress gathered in the u.s. capital to dead cade a new statue of former president zpwerled ford. he served in the u.s. house from 1949 until taking the office of vice president in 1973. we'll now hear remarks from the former president's son and daughter at this hour-long event. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our honored guest, the honorability henry kissinger, governor of michigan, members of the united states senate and speaker of the united states house of representatives. >> ladies and gentlemen, the speaker of the united states house of representatives. the honorable john boehner. >> distinguished guests and fellow citizens, today we forma