so the iraqis are now ceased of it. we have a way forward because it calls on cooperation between the u.s. and iraq to address issues like this. and to call on the expertise, i know there is some of it in new mexico, to call on the expertise from within our country to help the iraqis think in a systemized way. do they need dams? to redirect water supplies and to work with turkey in particular to address this problem over the long-term. all i will say is it has been overlooked. it's been overlooked because iraq has been involved in a fierce sectarian war. now that we're coming out of that phase, these very important issues need to rise to the highest priority within our embassy. >> thank you. thank you for your courtesies, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator udall. ambassador sison, i wanted to ask you about the so-called llrc in sri lanka, the lesson learned on reconciliation commission. i guess a two-part question. one is you heard me assert that i don't think they made anywhere near substantial progress. but i guess t

it's the personal interaction between the iraqi leader and u.s. ambassador so important to keeping everything stable and bridging the gaps. the kurds are having some difficulties with the baghdad government right now. the baghdad government is having difficulty with the kurds. the real rivalry is between with the prime minister. we have to play an important role in mediating that effort. i would just leave it as there's a constitutional system in place now. this is the third iraqi government. this is the second parliament. the iraqis are going to fight through their politics under the constitutional rules that they themselves have devised. we cannot direct outcomes through the process. we can help build bridges. we can be constantly engaged. that's what i intend to do if i'm confirmed. >> thank you for thoughtful and comprehensive answers. i appreciate it. >> thank you, senator. >> thank you, chairman casey and ranking members that are here. good to see you. and thank you for the panel being here and very much appreciate all of your service to our

and we have been working closely with the iraqis. ambassador jim jeffrey has really raised this to the top of our embassy priority. he's done an incredible job with it. through the joint coordinating committee of the fsa, we now have very deep ties with the iraqis. they cently had an inaugural meeting in washington with the department of energy in showing the iraqis how to think in terms of a systemized way to develop the oil resources. a number of do-outs came from that meeting and now we're following up. we can talk to the iraqis about high level strategic issues and how we can cooperate. through the oil sector and energy sector, there's a gateway for doing that. >> thank you for that answer. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. senator lugar? >> mr. elliott, i would like to pursue further just for our own knowledge, what is occurring in tajikistan presently. how would you describe the relations of that country, with russia, for example. or with china. or with other countries that may have strategic interests in that territory? >

we now have very deep ties with the iraqis. they recently had a meeting with the department of energy in showing the iraqis how to think in terms of a way to develop the oil resources. a number of do outs came from the meetingful it's an important way. we can talk to the iraqis about high level strategic issues and how we can cooperate. it's going to be really critical. >> thank you for that answer. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. senator lugar? >> i would like to pursue further just for our own knowledge what is occurring in tajikistan? how would you describe the relations with russia or with china? or with other countries that may have strategic interest in that territor territory. >> thank you, mr. senator. that's a very good question. tajikistan, i believe, shares good relationships with the country. we have good cooperation with them on the northern distribution network. they are a doing a lot to help in fighting crime and narcs. we believe it's not a zero sum game in central asia ya. we also had good cooperation. i

congress appropriate for training and equipping the iraqi army and iraqi police. we've issued an audit in april about the progress there making and making that money and the fms program for some concern about the obligation rate, the meetings of general cousin who runs the program assuaged our concerns will have a follow-up report in july. it gives concrete points on the progress made regarding the use of that money. the continuing issue addressed over the years since the transfer and sustain them of projects that we spent $51 billion producing and it is not a good story. the audit reveals there is no consensus upon how to transfer these projects. our audit program to stimulate development of a sustain the program and requirement in contract. it was for the most part too little too late and frankly iraqis have not bought into investing significant sums into what we provide in part because they're not sure what we provide. as today hear from iraqis and that's understandable given weaknesses in the database that we developed. indeed the reconstruction found that it

and we have been working close where i the iraqis. ambassador jim jeffrey has raised this to the top of the priority and done an incredible job with it. through the joint coordinating committee we have very deep ties with the iraqis. they recently had their inaugural meet hearing in washington with carlos pascual. in showing how to in a systemized way develop their oil sources. a in of do-outs and we're now following up. we can talk to the iraqis about high level strategic issues and how we can cooperate, both whole of government and within our private industry. and getting our private industry harnessed and into iraq is going to be critical. and there is a gte gateway for doing that. >> thank you for that answer. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator. senator lugar? >> mr. elliott, i would like to pursue further just for our own knowledge what is occurring in tajikistan presently. how would you describe the relations of that country with russia, for example, or with china, or with other countries that may have strategic inte

next meet the russian bikers recently freed from an iraqi jail now spotlight brother. i. think the. last. hello again and welcome to spotlight the intern the show on archie and calgary knowledge and today my guests on the show are a group of russian bikers who got into big trouble with. the group recently became famous after being jailed in iraq detained on a visa for three charges based spend a week in prison where they were allegedly beaten and threatened with death bed but when the russian foreign ministry intervened the easier riders were released and flown back so how could this happen did they really enter iraq with fake visas or was it all fixed cost one of the travelers moxy mcknight's he and his uncle guinea put help organize the trip oh. i cheering crowd welcomed full russian bikers on monday when they returned home from iraq they were detained in new baghdad on the twenty eighth of may in charged with espionage and these a forgery the men are actually very experienced mood of bike tourists who previously traveled from the horn of latin america the united states mexico eur

the iraqi police peculiar method for interrogating people looks more like i don't know. but he told us there's this same meaningless question over and over again up sort of the flash absurd well that's what it looked like to us maybe they were giving it something i don't know finally they told him we have punishment for spying in our country now admit you're a spy hewett out a nervous laugh and said you see it's ridiculous it's that left they didn't like the ticket is an insult and get physical later on they said they had merely grabbed him by the neck so you should give them you want to say it was so they were trying to get you to confess to being spies after all security how soon was it that you actually realised this was not a misunderstanding or an accident that you're in serious trouble. you're in jail and you might even face a death sentence. socialism as you have said it didn't seem all that serious at first. i would say so. and then the going got tough then. i would say it was after our last call with the consul the security people got em into the excited and too

and regardless of the backgrounds, our goal is to help all iraqis. our policy towards iraq is drive by principles such as inclusiveness, power sharing, and a functioning free market economy that is integrated with the region and international markets. we stand ready to support any leader and political group that will work for the realization of these principles, because we believe that the only way to enhance the territorial integrity, political unity of iraq is to honor these principles. our profound concern is that unless these principles are upheld, a dark future may be awaiting iraq, and as a neighbor who paid a very high price for the instability in iraq over many decades, we will do our utmost to prevent that eventuality. as always, the strategic partnership between turkey and the united states is indispensable. turkey's ever-increasing cooperation with the krg is the linchpin of stability and prosperity in iraq. our cooperation with krg encompasses the wide range of sectors and is geared towards serving the interests of both iraq and turkey. w

they found that 48% of iraqis believed that iraq was headed in the right direction. oil exports have increased by 20% this year to nearly 2.5 million barrels a day. american presence is up in iraq and villains levels decreased. we're seeing signs of progress, but this progress is delicate and fragile. in october of last year the state department became the lead u.s. agency in the country. the u.s. embassy in baghdad is the biggest u.s. presence in the world with approximately 16,000 staff and contractors. questions remain about the state department's ability to operate in this still precarious security environment, and handle the significant work load associated with the processing of billions of dollars worth of arms sales to the iraqi government. a diplomatic presence of this size requires sustained oversight from congress, and i look forward to continued engagement with our nominee upon confirmation to ensure our footprint in iraq is the right size and that we have the right amount of resources to pursue our interests. the president has nominated brett mcgurk to r

requires iraqis to match the contributions on a dollar for dollar basis. efforts and in contrast with the larger infrastructure for stabilization projects earlier engaged every work of the government should first establish object is for new activities and then come to an agreement with the gao on matching contributions and plans for ultimate responsibility for projects to the government. run implementation of a monitor and the prize is. these steps help ensure long-term iraq investment community sustainability of usaid duties that is typically benefit governing institutions. the focus on sustainability is not part as an reflects congressional guidance. in early 2009 state department and the cid in consultation with congress adopted a set of policy guidelines matching for u.s. assistance funds, which require iraqi government contribution for most u.s. funded programs and projects that directly benefit on faulty iraqi central government. for american taxpayers used effectively in our contribution to that progress for sustainable resolve required careful and

the headlines -- six iraqi provinces are hit by explosions. many of the victims were shia pilgrims, raising fears of a new securing campaign. four senior football officials in china have been giving heavy jail sentences and heavy fines for bribery and corruption. let's catch up with the business news now with aaron heslehurst. boss, jamie dimon, is going to the american the senate, apparently to apologize for the $2 billion loss. he will face the music. >> is not often we hear somebody bigger in banking facing the music. he will explain how the company lost at least $2 billion in these very risky trades that went horribly wrong. we know what he will say. they have already released his testimony. he's going to apologize. he's going to say, "we let a lot of people the wrong." he will stay the trader did not fully understand the risks. >> deja vu. >> exactly. >> the committee is interested in -- can banking executives actually spot these risks before they get to the point where they damage the whole bank or the whole banking system? we also know

perhaps the best way to understand who he was is what the iraqis said about him.in the words from the man who created the awakening movement, cohmad anixter mariane who played a very important role. he was my brother and spoke arabic. when he came at the start of the awakening we needed somebody like him he helped us with but then zandi ammunition, deliver food and defended women and children against the terrorists. he would build rapport and cap 10 patriquinn was extraordinary and said he was in love with iraq and addicted to the culture the food and that people and another interpreter told me i iraqis can like you but they loved him. he had a magical personality the presence was noted immediately propelled he had dark skin and a muscular body and a mustache. his heart was connecting. iraqis can be hard to talk to but he enjoyed being with his hands. >> host: ed -- gave the impression he would do what we he had to do. he give the most honest picture of the american military. they thought he was the true heart. my god, and nobody in the world who perform a closer

the iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons. iraqi regime is building the facilities necessary to make more biological and chemical weapons. and according to the british government. the iraqi regime could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as forty five minutes. now. yes since then we have obviously found out that there weren't fact no weapons of mass destruction in iraq unfortunately it led to an eight year long war there were thousands of people who died of the thousands of iraqis that have died have been displaced and so this is a huge lie you would think that we would have a moment in america where we'd get it yeah and say well i like the turnout again yeah yeah yeah yeah poll and this i mean you know there are polls obviously there's always a sampling size of take into account it's a new poll constructed by a professor at dartmouth and it found that of the respondents sixty three percent of republican respondents still believe that iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the u.s. invaded in two thousand a

the iraqi army was one of the few functioning institutions in the country. not functioning well but a bunch of institutions. ambassador bremer who was the man on the scene felt strongly the army ought to be disbanded because it was such an instrument of oppression. that was his point of view but we have studied this and received three separate briefings from the pentagon saying that they were counting on getting rid of the really bad leaders of the iraqi army and filling it back up with individuals because the structure was still there rather than building a new army. the cia felt that was the right way to go. i did. my staff did and the president was briefed that this was what we were going to do. between the pentagon is it is not clear where it originated -- [talking over each other] >> gave jerry bremerton necessary guidance and instructions to disband the army if that is what he thought was right and he issued the order disbanding the army. i did know what was coming after. i knew senior members of the joint chiefs of staff to know. the cia didn't know w

the first iraq war had brought the iraqi army down in size considerably. so i had no question about that. but as we developed the plans, i was concerned that perhaps maybe not enough force was going in anticipation of what else might be a problem once we got there. so i called general franks, who was the commander, and i said, tommy, colin. i don't want to get in your business, but are you sure you have enough troops to deal with this? and i don't know what "this is" is. that's the interesting thing about war, you don't know what's going to half after you achieve the objective. he was satisfied that he did, and i presume the joint chiefs and secretary rumsfeld were satisfied. and these are the military authorities, and they persuaded the president. baghdad fell quickly, and what surprised me is as soon as baghdad fell, you could almost see within a week or so that ministries were being burned down, old animosities that saddam hussein had kept suppressed had popped up between sunni and shia and kurds, and then the bombing started. and my colleagues dismisse

so far this month, attacks in iraq have killed more than 160 people, mostly shiites and iraqi security forces.

an iraqi tragedy. when american officials, civilian or military open their eyes and check out the landscape to matter where they've landed, all evidence indicates that the first thing that tendency is themselves. but as they see an american stage in the native factors and countries we've invaded and occupied but where is impacted income small income and to conduct what might be called and they were as so many players in american drama. this is why both iraq and afghanistan, military commanders, top officials like secretary of defense robert gates revisor james jones continue to call still utterly unselfconscious lay for putting an iraqi or afghan face on whichever war was being discussed. that is to follow the image to its logical conclusion, putting an iraqi or afghan mask over her face they recognized however inconveniently or in various miss america. >> watch this on booktv.org. ..

there are iraqi leaders with whom we could seriously talk. and i would like to set in motion the political process whereby all of the countries around iraq are engaged in trying to contribute to iraq's stability. because the fact is in different ways every one of iraq's neighbors, iran, turkey, syria, jordan, saudi arabia will be afflicted negatively if iraq explodes upon our departure. >> your first book april 2, 1989. here's the last clip where you talked about capitalism. >> struging signs came to life, are they to maturity, would that mean that capitalism was its own victim? >> well, it could. but that i doubt because the one area where capitalism is really successful is in ratifying material wants and desire for the satisfaction of material wants is still a very major source of social motivation. so i don't think it's going to be a crisis of capitalism as much because of these cultural difficulties. it could be simply a crisis of social commitments, social virility. we could become a decadent society. it's not a crisis of capital im. if

we will facilitate their business activities. >> iraqi officials are developing their oil industry and rebuilding infrastructure. but japanese businesses lag behind those of the u.s. and south korea. security concerns and lack of information have slore likely to join forces on a liquefied natural gas plant. leaders of russia's state back company and the deputy chairman said he's ready to help japanese firms join the project. the two sides are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding later this week during a meter of apec energy ministers in st. petersburg. >>> japanese researchers are preparing a deep sea search to explore the seabed of north central japan next year. they're looking for large reserves of natural gas or crude oil. the >> this performance pleases the crowd. no matter what she does on stage, singing, acting or acrobatics, she excels. in the world of chinese opera, she is a towering figure. she has devoted herself to chinese opera since she began learning it at the age of 10. now she explores new styles. she hopes they will awaken the interest of young people. >> tra

there was a photograph of an iraqi boy on the front page of the "new york times". he sat on the edge of the truck, 8 or 9 years old, surrounded by his family, his father, mother , and 5 siblings were asleep. his head was buried in his hands. all the clouds of the world were waiting on the threshold of his eyes. the tall man wiped off the sweat and started digging the 7th grave. the next reader is going to be diane dupris. thank you. >> i'm going to read a few things that i wrote sitting in a hotel room in, oh, whatever year that was, 01, i guess, when we started bombing afghanistan. these are short poems on the afghan war. 1, small bones of mountain children in the snow. two, bags of rice burst open, burlap flaps in the wind. even the label, usa, is fading. three, we air drop transistor radios. can you eat them? will they keep you warm? this one is called les american, october 5, 2001. we are feral, rare as mountain wolves. our hearts are pure and stupid. we go down, pitted against our own. there's one other short thing. we gathered there frequently, old scholars,

first it brought the iraqi army down. i had no question. i was concerned not enough force was going in with anticipation. are you sure you have enough troops to do with this? you don't know what will have been after you achieve the objective. the duties for satisfy these are the military authorities. as soon as baghdad fell you could see within a week that sadam hussain had kept suppressed end the bombing started. but then saving way they were not dead. then we were sending troops home. and then to be from the last number of troops. thain asked how many will it take? he said a couple hundred thousand. he was immediate leave criticized by the leadership the next day. and the judgment was immediately dismissed but what you don't expect have been. >> , pounding mess with then to help to maintain order once the regime was decapitated, you were surprised when paul bremer was disbanding the iraqi army? >> there was a serious discussion how do we keep order? the iraqi army was one of the few functioning army. and that it should be disbanded. we ha

iraqis still face almost daily attacks. we don't hear very much about it. why is this persistent violence? >> it got worse because of what's happening in syria. got worse because of the squabbling between politicians. because there is no political consensus. and this recent incident, what is worried -- what is worrying is the level of coordination and the timing of it. all of this indicates there is a developed infrastructure now for that insurgency. it seems strongly al qaeda- related. syria is going to affect iraq in a very clear way. >> anytime there is an attack like this in iraq, we ask that set blip or aberration or if it is a more serious trend toward instability. you are suggesting it is the latter? >> in the last 50 years, there has been a decline in those incidents. the state has a stronger security and police force and all of the indications are good. but what is happening now is there is an external factor, a serious one, and that is giving a new lease on life to the insurgency in iraq. it is worrying for the politicians and they need to get the

multiple powers because when we're talking about a unilateral approach we have an example of that iraqi troops absolutely that's a very good point that nobody was there to stop it exactly so i think the point you know it's a very good point that you make is that you know if you have you know a one one zero or you know even if they can sometimes you know do tings unilaterally which are bad objectives because they want to check that the u.s. is the world's biggest debtor and it seems the main way they address the gigantic that problem is the money printing machine. has money printing become america's main business. well i think yes and no i think it's on the one hand you know to have printed a lot of money in the last let's say three four years you know but i think they would argue with some i think fairness that that's what you needed to get the economy back. when it went into you know the kind of great recession after the crisis you wrote a lot about china keeping their currency deliberately undervalued to preserve their competitive advantage the u.s. is terribly unhappy about that but

that the american people are protected, but that iraqis who have worked with us, who wish to come to our country feel welcomed, that they know where they stand in the process and they know they're taken care of. i'll do everything i can to make this program effective. >> thank you very much. ms. elliott, i want to talk to you about the northern distribution effort. i guess on two levels. number one, the importance of it is so apparent as we drive down in afghanistan to get supplies, equipment and so much else through that network. and i guess, can you assess where we are as it relates to the role played by tajikistan, number one. and number two, how will you upon confirmation prioritize and focus on the importance of that, of their help for us in the northern distribution network? >> well, thank you, mr. chairman. tajikistan has played a very important role in the northern distribution network, as you rightfully mentioned. it has become extremely important in getting vital supplies to our troops in afghanistan. likewise, it will play an extremely important role in taking equipment ou

and iraqi tragedy. when american officials the bristol civilian or military open their eyes and check out the local landscape no matter where they have landed all evidence indicates the first thing they can to see is themselves. they see the world as an american stage and the country's we invaded and occupied, and a semi war. this is why in iraq and afghanistan military commanders

people and the iraqi government and they tried him and convicted him and sentenced him to death, it was gadhafi in libya who called in the west and said, i do not want to become another saddam hussein. i have a nuclear program. it's well advanced, and i am now inviting the west in to come into libya and take over my nuclear program. i am giving it up. that was a direct result of president bush's decision to go into iraq. and the world is a better place because gadhafi did not have nuclear weapons and did -- and gave up his nuclear program specifically for that reason. second, you now have in iraq an imperfect situation. but you have a government that is respectful of the various elements within the country, that's democratic, that fashioned their own constitution. apart from israel it's the only democracy in its early stages, immature to be sure in the entire region. >> see, in your book, you talk about how your wife, joyce, of 56 years had repeatedly after 9/11 woken up and said to you, don, where's saddam hussein? and my issue i think with you when you say that president obama is

to have close ties with israeli intelligence reports heavy saudi troop movements towards damion and iraqi borders off to can get done look at the countries. tree on high alert for joining in the uprising against president bashar assad in syria it's reported that special units have tanks missiles national forces and batteries and the plan is to enter jordan then move towards syria further and then enter syria and establish a security zone around the towns of the resort that i and others known as the epicenter is over the uprising against the syrian regime western gulf sources also reporting that jordan is on war alert to we are hearing this immense reports that turkey is continuing to build up its syrian border units with tanks and anti aircraft machine guns and missiles in what they say is defensive move full of when they down over turkish jet by syria last friday literal ations between the two neighbors deteriorated dramatically they didn't manage to agree on how and where exactly the fighter jet was hit shortly after the incident turkey has claimed that from now on any military object c

regime which is ironic given that this regime was set up essentially by the united states the iraqis the iranians the hezbollah in lebanon or are completely opposed to cora miller cream dimension and so a great deal is at stake and if there is a western miller cream to mention it is going to be very difficult to prevent it from spilling over into the now been a great guy indeed a very complex situation on the ground and around the world really many thanks tara kelley live with us on the line see a broad band from london thank you for that thank you have. a look now at some more world news this hour there have been scuffles in ukraine over a new language law which if they asked will officially allow russian to be used alongside ukrainian in some regions around one thousand people both for and against the proposal rallied outside part of the matter of the bill one initial majority its opponents are. mainly nationalists keen to keep ukrainian as the only official language the supporters are mainly russian speaking citizens who make up half around half i should say the country's populati

we share the concern of the iraqis with regards to that increased violence. and i think we're going to continue to work with them to do what we can to improve their ability to be able to deal with those kinds of threats. this is something we obviously worked in great cooperation on prior to our departure. we've continued to work with their security forces but we think it's really important now that we try to bring that cooperation even closer together to make sure that these kinds of threats are dealt with directly. >> yeah. and in terms of our engagement with them, the cent-com commander had high level consultive talks in the first part of the calendar year. i think it was late february, march. the acting minister of defense was here to meet with the secretary last month, i think. and what we're doing is charting a way ahead actually on, you know, the potential for exercises, the things we talked about at the closing ceremony, if you will. and i am going back to iraq. i'm scheduled to visit iraq in august. i was chosen august because it's the most miserable

police and the iraqis finally said will you please get out of here, you don't know what you're doing. apparently one of the things we did was to send over police officers who said one way you can tell if someone is going to be a suicide bomber is if he starts to drink heavily and has drawn down his bank account. well, the most orthodox fanatical islamist, obviously not the majority of muslims but the most don't have bank accounts and don't drink. so you got to have some other guy in mind. these are people who don't believe in interest. literally, you can't pay interest and you don't drink. we are wasting money and by the way, iraq isn't menaced by any outside element. what do we need to train their police for? they can train their own police. we can't be everywhere in the world. i will close with this. you are going to be told you got to cut back medicare and medicaid. one plan by the way was to say okay, medicare will be there if you're 55 or over, but for those of you under 55, there won't be medicare. they didn't mention you will continue to pay under that plan the medicare tax. y

peter van buren author of we meant well how i helped lose the battle for the hearts and minds of the iraqi people peter which of these leaks thanks for joining me today which of these leaks do you think are used for political pull here. i think the answer is c. all of the above the obama white house has been almost unprecedented in leaking information that makes itself look good of course politicians do like to do that and leaking information that favors you is not unique to obama i think what's unique you are two things first the secrecy of these infor of this information the stuxnet worm the things that are going on in iran this raid that killed bin ladin information came out in those instances that was beyond top secret and was known to very few people that's something new coupled with obama's aggressive persecution of whistleblowers his use of the espionage act that's the other side of this story and that's the other thing that's unique in this case even george bush understood an accommodation between the needs of a free press and the needs of government secrecy obama has taken it a st