. >> if growing old means growing slow, well then 89-year-old delmar holbrooke hasn't gotten the memo. >> i'm really getting ready for 90, the big 9-0. my family is already planning it. i am going to ski up at mountain high early in the morning, come down and play a round of golf, and then head out to the beach to surf. >> you're not a sit on the couch kind of guy? >> no way. >> holbrooke credits his energy to a life of exercise and healthy eating, but also his faith. would you be as healthy as you are, in your opinion, without your faith? >> oh, no, no. i am what i am because of my faith. to me that is just as clear as can be. >> like many other residents of loma linda, california, holbrooke is a seventh day adventist. that's the christian denomination that observes the sabbath on saturday. adventists also emphasize a healthy diet and lifestyle as important expressions of their faith, and because of that emphasis, researchers say adventists often have remarkably good health. >> adventists have an evidence of living longer and dying at a later age. they die of the diseases of the gene

the first is regarding the other force of nature ambassador holbrooke, unfortunately, who we lost and the relationship between general petraeus and him and the wingman and i tended general petraeus and the second question is how did the afghans find general petraeus and the last half question is, among his many great strengths what are some of his actual weaknesses. thank you. >> thank you. good questions. bruce rydell who was at the brookings institute ran one of president obama's afghan reviews and he was working with holbrooke, with petraeus and clinton and to succinctly answer your question he would say that petraeus was and everybody knew he was the de facto leader of the team but it was important to have holbrooke as the face. >> but -- [inaudible] >> yep. think of the knowledge he had and the experience he had and the network he had so even holbrooke acknowledged that to bruce rydell, that's my source. your second question was -- >> the afghans. >> so, you know, the interesting thing to juxtapose is david petraeus's experience in iraq where they called him king david and maybe

even holbrook acknowledged that. but if the second question is the afghans. the interesting things do juxtapose they called him king david. maybe he gave himself that name. [laughter] is very well-respected in i iraq icahn not to tell you the stories iraqis would give up their riches to thank him what he did for their country. it is genuine. the afghans are not so much. but it has a much more complex terrain area he had visited but did not have the depth of knowledge, the network the enemy of the architecture that he could were quests. he felt he had to prove himself. a lot of people felt he talked about iraq of the time. and people with many years of experiencing gain this is not iraq but at the end of the day there were many principles we could take. it is not transferable obviously but he never came to the reporter that mcchrystal had with karzai and the afghan ministers respected him and not the same level he had with the iraqi government. the third question weaknesses? >> he is such as a drive-in individual which is a string he channels that drive and am

through the holbrooke of knowledge that. your second question was the afghan. so you know, the interesting thing to just oppose as david petraeus in iraq where they called him my late dad, king david and maybe keep himself the name. i hear a drawnout bear. he's very well respected in iraq or the name street south that had. they do give anything to thank them for what they did for their country and i think it's very genuine. afghans not so much. his entry level position in this country was much more complex terrain coming through. add enough you can't say much more complex, but a very complex areas you visit it for certainly did not have the depth of knowledge, the network is not only the tranten the enemy and the architecture there that he would have to work with a blue forces if you will. so i think he felt he had to prove himself. a lot of people felt like he talked about iraq all the time. they are thinking these people with experience are thinking this is not iraq. but it has mine at the end of the day there are many people who say it's not transferable. yo

holbrook for the last time before he's released from holman. >> hey. mr. pippin, how are you doing today? good to see you. >> i wrote my aunt. she wrote back and said i had a place so i'm going to stay with her. >> that's a for sure thing? >> yeah, that's a for sure thing. you can call her. i told you last time i would probably go to the halfway house but i ain't going to no halfway house. it's one thing to be able to go somewhere and be comfortable where you're at and another thing to be forced to be somewhere you don't want to go. when i get out of prison, i want to be free. i don't want to have to abide by some more rules that are institutionalized, you know. >> well, keep in mind that your aunt will have expectations, also. >> right. i know, she -- >> she has chores to be done around the house. >> that's one of the main reasons why i'm going. she's -- she's not a midget but she's a small person. and she has problems getting around the house and doing stuff and running errands. she lives by herself. >> halfway house would be better for him, but like he

>> well, the taliban approached richard holbrooke through germany and through qatar. the reason was once the date of withdrawal in 2014 was announced, they essentially wanted a deal. they didn't want the americans to leave pakistan in a state of civil war. they had made it clear that they wanted some kind of power sharing deal with the government in kabul. they didn't want to go back to the 1990s and have to reconquer the whole of afghanistan. this time, totally opposed by the whole world, just like they were in 1990. and, you know, with they were exhausted. they wanted also to get out of the umbrella of pakistan. they have been housed and based in pakistan and they have been very fed up with the kind of manipulation of pakistan. so they had a lot of reasons to see if the americans were interested in an end to the war, in a deal, which could result, first of all in a decent recall, so you're not fighting on the way out. and secondly, something that could eventually bring about a cease fire, and which could then lead to political negotiations with president karzai, for

introduced to other bureau county residents who were actively involved with the underground railroad, the holbrooks, smiths and pinkertons. lovejay wasted no time proclaiming his anti-slavery views, but his abolitionist advocacy was unenthusiastically received by the majority of his parishioners. in fact he was warned to stop speaking against slavery or possibly face violent consequences. but gradually, due primarily to lovejoy's persistence, many of the people in bureau county changed their minds about the institution of slavery. by the mid 1840s, princeton became one of the most important underground railroad stops in the state. there were four primary underground railroad routes through illinois, all of them twisted and zigzagged and sometimes made hairpin turns in order to confuse pursuers. one ugrr route traced the course of the rock river. this line proceeded from the cities of rock island and moline on the mississippi river, moved where the rock river turns north toward wisconsin. a second route left southern illinois, starting in cairo. this route split apart in chester, illinois. one leg m

holbrooke answers in oral argument are i believe fully consistent with the position that they have taken in their brief, and i say for understandable reasons. they believe that there is an internal failure of power on the part of the federal government to enact a law of this kind, just as if it were the government of brazil or of belgium. >> well, can the state require the federal government to do something? >> no. >> why doesn't it work in he will verse? >> because of the supremacy clause i think justice kennedy. >> saturday at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span radio. >> you're listening to "washington today" here on c-span radio. thanks for being with us. well by the time the suspect in an alleged bomb plot against the u.s. capitol was arrested in a parking lot wearing what he thought was an explosive suicide vest he had been living illegally in the u.s. for a dozen years. this is the criminal case against amid el caliph if i from alexandria, virginia. it also refewed the debate after the u.s. government a decade after the terrorist attacks from september 11th, 2001, routinely failed to trac

holbrooke answers the argument consistent with the position they have taken in their brief, and i think that for understandable reasons of, they believe that there is a type of failure on the part of the federal government to enact the law of the kind justice of brazil or the king dom of belgium. >> can the state require the federal government the do something? >> no. >> why doesn't it work in reverse? >> because of the supremacy clause, justice kennedy. >> and that argument on c-span radio saturday. >>> there are some members who are concerned about whether we are doing enough to stem the violence in syria, and that is understandable. and there are others who are concerned about the dangers of involving ourselves and still another conflict in that part of the world, and that, too, is understandable. >> the comments of defense secretary leon panetta testifying on capitol hill before the senate armed services committee with questions of issues surrounding syria. welcome the hour one of "washington today u "on c-span radio. i'm steve skully, thank you. the defense secretary is pushing bac

earlier this year the three companies involved in making total body formula settle lawsuits with dotty holbrooked the product caused the most serious health effects, but admitted it made people's hair fall out. so the question remains just how reliable are those labels you see on the back of supplements? frank jack says some labs fake tests and simply rubber stamp ingredients. >> a term that we use is the word dry lab. >> dry lab. what does that mean? >> that means the sample comes in, sample goes in the garbage can, never gets tested, and the report goes out. >> reporter: jacks runs a large testing company called chromodex. he is a defender of supplements because he knows there are plenty of honest supplement makers. in fact, some of them hire his company when they want to verify what's in their products. frank jacks says when he started double-checking results from other labs, he was finding so many mistakes he started to think some labs were just fancy fronts pretending to do testing. >> it appears that it's essentially a case of rubber stamping. >> is this a situation where dangerous produc

how holbrook came and met with her, and he has now been doing twain longer than twain did twain. [laughter] and the twain did you see is actually the twain that isabelle gave. so she taught him how he walks, talks, delivered a joke. >> isn't that an amazing story? i'm going to have to repeat your questions because it turns out this mike is bleeding into the other room. getting there questions for completely different authors. [inaudible question] >> all right. the question is about that. that my twin was in paris. >> he was -- 20 love europe and often visited paris. he -- i'm not sure exactly what you want to say about it, but he loved the parisian way of life. a man of letters, had many friends there. he first went to paris when he was on the first advertised tourist trip to europe. he wrote about that in innocents abroad. and in innocents abroad, that is 31st started to perfect the persona of mark twain who is kind of wisecracking westerner who had made jokes. you were never quite sure whether he was making fun of the character he had created, himself, you, the parisians. it's

. >> donny holbrook didn't have any idea why her hair was falling out either. >> this is where my hair was pretty much gone within ten days. >> ten days? >>. >> two weeks. yes. >> that's stunning. >> in a manner of weeks, she'd gone from looking like this to this. her names were falling off too. they never dreamed the culprit was hiding in plain sight. >> this is the actual product. >> this is the actually body. balance your body the way nature intended. >> right. >> turns out instead of taking a liquid vitamin they thought would help them, they were taking something toxic. >> what you find is an ingredient, a mineral which is potentially deadly. >> we wonder how what are supposed to be natural supplements make people so sick and how on earth could they make it all the way to reputable stores. >> it's like the west, they do whatever they want. >> wild, wild west. >> you and i could open a supplement company in the pack of a pickup truck. >> it might not be in the back of a pickup truck, but we're about to set up our own company, create poisonous substances and ask labs to check them. d

next up is holbrook, new york. this is a call from a democrat there. caller: good morning. the one thing wrong about what they are doing, they really need to evaluate things. two things are important. why people do not have a medical insurance. the setup think, why is it so high. just one treatment a half hour a week, up $3,000. this is the reason why madison cost so much. they need to go after the hospital and find out when they know you are sick or have a bad disease, they are ripping you off. insurance companies, we have to pay for this. of course, people cannot afford it. for me and my wife, we want to get insurance to we do not have to worry about the hospital. me and my wife bought seven of the $50 a month. that did not include a visit or dental. everything you want is actor. nothing is ever one of the present time cover. it cost us $1,100 a month. that is more the my mortgage every month. they want to force people to pay medical insurance -- how can you possibly afford? do i the somewhere or do i start to pay my medical insurance? they need to go after these doctors.

karzai didn't get along with the ambassador there carl icon berry, didn't get along with holbrooke and carl eikenberry was kept there, for i think another two years, was it? so it has just been such an utter failure and i don't understand how you had that many troops over in a war zone and yet on the diplomatic side, you are pursuing failed strategy. >> spencer is that correct, not been a political strategy to back the military one? >> i want to disagree with elise somewhat on that i think there was a diplomatic strategy in 2009, which was to marginalize karzai and it failed massively. >> why are we pursuing a counterinsurgency when the key premise of that is to have a reliable partner, you try marginalize your reliable partner? very flawed from the get-go. >> you are bright that the thinking as it went there you saw this from the first time that joe biden, who during the bush administration had a pretty good relationship with karzai, went to afghanistan along i think with jim jones, might actually, different country when they do it, but basically, biden hector also karzai about all th

asking experts and senators and congressmen, administration officials -- i remember asking richard holbrook this before he passed away. for four years now, what's the long-term difference between the united states of america leaving in 2012 and leaving in 2022? and the answer is, there is none. they'll mutter on about -- and mitt romney says, oh, we've got to stay there long enough to prop up the afghan army. i mean, our sons and daughters are dying. and in this case, committing horrific acts, in defense of the karzai regime? willie, how many decades do we need to stay there to prop up the afghanistan government? one of the most corrupt governments on the planet. >> and i'll tell you another thing. the really sad part about it you could have made this case nearly 10 years ago. we went in october of 2011, wiped people out immediately. and if you look now 10 years later, gotten out sometime thereafter and said we have been there building roads and schools and water treatment plants in an effort to rebuild a society that frankly cannot be rebuilt. >> and the bottom line is, i'm going to upset

it is between raum street and holbrook street.ne. police are on the scene there. over to i-66, had a crash here at gallows but out of the roadway. over to at bank of america, we're lending and investing in the people and communities who call greater washington, d.c. home. from supporting an organization that helps new citizens find their way... to proudly supporting our washington redskins... and partnering with a school that brings academic excellence to the anacostia community. because the more we do in greater washington, d.c., the more we help make opportunity possible. >>> back now with more of "today" on a wednesday morning, the 14th day of march 2012. and just another chance to say hi to some of the people who have come to new york on perhaps one of the nicest weeks of weather we have had in years. three days in a row reaching 70 deees in the month of march. that doesn't happen often. not a lot of complaints about it. i'm matt lauer along with ann curry, al roker and savannah guthrie. coming up, we're going to talk more abo