i want to begin by thanking suzanne dimaggio and hassan abbas and robert you and all the other folks at the asia society who have undertaken this important work. as hassan said earlier this morning, the purpose of this report is to take a comprehensive look at the problems facing pakistan, and toward that end i'd like to make three points, three related point. the first is that the stage relationship with pakistan has predominantly been in relationship with pakistan military and pakistan intelligence agency. whether it's been intentional or not, the fact is that u.s. government supported strengthen institutions of coercion in pakistan, and weakened institutions that promote rule of law. as the report notes, quote, top western civilian leaders, especially from washington, d.c., continue to meet with top military commanders in pakistan and one on one meetings without the involvement of officials in pakistan's ministry of defense. end of quote. in another example the supreme court justice insisted that security agencies act in accordance with the constitution of pakistan, some years ago,

now when pleased to introduce you to hassan abbas. dewaal had his biography in front of you, the interest of time, let me just say that hassan is one of the leading experts on pakistan and the u.s.-pakistan relations. he is the bernard schwartz fellow at the asia society is also a professor at columbia university south asia institute. he previously served as the government official in the administration of prime minister benazir bhutto and the president musharraf. so please come join me in welcoming hassan. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. welcome, all, once again on behalf of the usip society. i welcome pakistan at the institute here. once again, we are pleased to be coasting this event with the asia society. i just want to sit a few ground rules to let everyone know how we are going to proceed and say a couple of words. before anything, please, make sure your cell phones are turned off or are on silent and mcgeorge you remember to turn them on when you leave the room. and also for the panelists, since we are on tv i would ask you