>> richard ford reminds me somewhat of hemingway's writing.also leaves stuff out in a way that leaves it in. if you know what i mean. reynolds price is probably the best describer of a place, of a setting. he does it so skillfully, and he's a real wordsmith to use the old term. >> charlie: let me talk about. so here it is, garden state super," a novel, you have already -- "super" a upon novel, you have already started the novel? you have two or three stacked up? >> i'm working on a nonfiction book out next about my presidential debate experiences about moderating and asking questions. that's the next book. that's going to come out probably in the fall of 2011. >> charlie: what will it be? just a history of the debates? or will it be -- >> no, it's about my experiences as a moderator. but also, i had a great -- man, this is right down your alley too -- i was so fortunate. started as an oral history and then we did a documentary, but i interviewed every presidential and vice presidential candidate about the debates over a 20-year period with the

hemingway, and look at the environmental impact of the gulf oil spill with aaron viles. and after that we will hear about congressional concerns paid to military personnel from todd harrison. "washington journal" is next. host: well, most likely you saw the news report yesterday or seeing it this morning, or reading online or in papers, the top kill effort by bp has failed to stop the oil gusher in the gulf. it's sunday, welcome to "washington journal." we want to ask what is the next step after the top kill effort to stop the leak. the number for democrats, and republicans and independents and others. reminder if you made it through to "washington journal" in the last 30 days, give others the chance to phone in this morning. we will take your e-mails, and tw tweets. and looking at the headline, top kill fails, bp's next strategy to pipe the leak. and next from the miami chronicle, top kill a dud, robots next. and one more, bp's new plan after top kill fails. that's our question for the next 45 minutes or so, and look at the headline, day 40 with no end in sight. and mor

you have written several books. >> guest: i did not become ernest hemingway. i became a journalist. 1988 i went to the west bank. i realized i could not report on it. i was too politically involved. i began meeting israelis and palestinians. i was a guest in mr. arafat's office and worked with him on and off. i worked very hard in the west bank to try to shape a number of unilateral ceasefires but did not work. three of them fell apart. very tough time. very bloody. saw some of that. after mr. arafat's death that decided that i would continue. i went out to meet hamas and hezbollah to try and shake an understanding of what i t i call political islam and using them as the great middle ground of the muslim world of political islam, the moderate to open up the region and to provide a way of shaping and american policy that makes sense. >> host: why did you decide to spend so much time in the middle east and israel particular? it looks like you have been to of israel more than 30 times. >> guest: 30 times. well, you know what this is like. you go to our region. yo

you're supposed -- i think it was hemingway who said you're supposed to go to the nevada-california border and you go to the desert and you hurl your manuscript over and they go that their trunk and they hurl the money. it's nothing but heartbreak. >> we don't give much thought whether our books will be turned into movies and they'll give us lots of money. no, not at all. [laughter] >> i have a degree in film from texas, not yale. and that's a good point. all i want to reiterate is what hampton just said because i like to think seeing those thousands and thousands of movies and writing about them and examining them in detail may be contributed to my, quote-unquote, expertise in storytelling in a good way. >> the one other thing is that when you undertake a book project like we do, you're going to devote two or three years to it. so you better not just come up with an idea i'm going to do this book because i think i can sell it to the movies 'cause if you hate what you're writing about or you find it boring, it would be two or three lousy years. the thing we have to start with is something

that is all for our show today coming up tomorrow, our guests include mark anyway -- mark hemingway. we will also check with aoron viles and todd harrison, with the senator for strategic and budgetary assessment, continuing our focus on veterans, looking at pay and benefits for military personnel. thank you for joining us. believe that it's 7:00 a.m. eastern time -- we will be back at 7:00 a.m., eastern time tomorrow. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] . . >> good morning. will you please rise and raise your right hand? false statement is punishable by as rigid by fine. do you solemnly swear the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? >> yes, sir. >> thank you. >> for the record, could you please spell your name? >> charles creber. >> who are you employed with? >> drillquip. >> how long have you been there? >> 12 years. >> any previous experience with oil and gas? >> yes. i have been in the oil field for 30 years. >> the other 18 years, what did you do? >> i