but in the russian eyes, what we did against serbia to free kosovo was similar to what the leader did against georgia to free the people in south ossetia and abkhazia. now, there are differences of details but the principal of the two was similar and that is why i say we in effect by the way we've treated serbia and kosovo and particularly leader recognizing the independence of kosovo when it wasn't truly independent set the stage with the but the russians did against georgia where none of the parties i think come off with clean hands and i accuse the russian of excess brutality. i also think they did all serve their own interest in creating more instability on the southern border. but psychologically if we look at what we did regarding serbia and what they did regarding georgia leader, you will see that in their minds they were following a pattern which we had set. >> host: jack, we don't have much time left. let me finish with a very tough question. the obama administration. you have expressed hope that the period of despair. when you look at what is happening now with the house ref

of kosovo when it was not truly independent set the stage for what the russians did against georgia where none of the parties i think come off with clean hands. and i accuse the russian of excess bortolotti. i also think they did not serve their own interest in creating more instability on the southern border. but psychologically if you look what we did regarding serbia and what they did regarding georgia leader, you will see that in their minds they were following a pattern which we had said. >> host: jack we don't have much time left. let me finish with a very tough question. the obama administration. you have expressed hope in the period of despair. when you look at what is happening now with the health care reform, whatever you think about health reform, clearly it became self of serving for the administration. some would say obsession but clearly most important occupation. are you concerned the administration doesn't have much time and attention and capital left to deal with most difficult asian security challenges to the united states particularly arab israeli conflict which p

he will reaffirm our commitment to pose a vote's sovereignty -- to kosovo's sovereignty. the under secretary will be in the vietnam this week for a bilateral pre -- bilateral meetings. he will also give a speech at the china institute for contemporary international relations. assistant secretary arturo valenzuela is in ecuador today. tomorrow he will deliver remarks at the university about the state of the world economic forum. he will finish up his trip in aruba later this week. -- in peru later this week. assistant secretary johnny carson will give a speech later at harvard university. that speech is open to the public and press. our special envoy is back in khartoum. he continues to work with the national elections commission and various parties regarding the upcoming elections in sudan. these are the first multi-party elections in sudan since 1986. we have seen over 16,000 candidates from more than 70 parties running for races at the national, regional, and state level, including legislative seats where 25 seats will be for women. this is a critical milestone within t

served in kosovo. you may not agree with the military actions we have in place now. it seems to me that having a capacity to do those things when we feel they need to be done is a very important thing for the federal government to have. if we are spending 4% of gdp on the military now, how much lower do you want it to be, and how much breathing room will that give us on entitlements? the answer is probably not a lot. >> i would like to say that i definitely think that defense needs to be on the table to be talked about. when we are talking earlier about how difficult this was going to be, and the first person asked about the bipartisan challenges here, tackling that along with the things we are talking about would probably double, triple, or quadruple the complexity of all this. that does not mean we should not put on the table. >> i have a question and comment. it's not just the numbers issue. is blown up -- is both law and cultural -- it is both bull and cultural. seems to me like if we work for fisc

he was later deployed in somalia and kosovo. he commanded the 18th air borne division and was army chief of staff. bruce is the author of the "before the next attack: preserving civil lints in an age of terrorism" he criticized stanley mcchrystal for challenging obama last fall was widely circulated. bruce is now at work on the expansion of the presidency in the 21st century. they are all joined tonight by terry moran, coan author of abc news "nightline." the questions for tonight's work is coframed, in addition, he's also the supreme court correspondent. he has reported extensively on the wars in iraq, afghanistan, and he was white house correspondent during the presidency of bill clinton and george w. bush. let's welcome our guest and get excited for a great evening. thank you. [applause] [applause] >> thank you, todd. thank you. it's an honor to be here with all of us and with this remarkable panel. it's a great topic too. a topic of abiding interest really to generations of americans. you never know where it's going to turn

even kosovo, the bombing campaign that was kosovo was conducted by nato.eing really pushed hard by bill clinton at the time. was not a you and exercise. having said all that there is moral authority to the blue flag. in my office i have a blue flag under my desk and people came in on a regular basis, almost a constant basis complain about atrocities that we tried to deal with. around the world it is a beacon. there is no other game in town. >> let's hear our final question. >> my name is joanne from east timor. thank you for writing the book. i am talking from 1975 from 1979, there were 200,000 people killed out of 800,000 in the population. i am a little bit nervous. you are writing about iraq. prior to that, going to australia to ask austria to intervene. what happened? in the conflict i was there. there is no word to describe what happened. if you were in that situation there is no word. 99-2002 the un was there so east timor was under the un. is it the enough to officially hand over the government in 2002 until recent conflict in 2006, and 2008 reflect

my experience in kosovo were completely proximate is a quick answer to your question. living and working in the courts in the capital of the province now arguably a country. and when you are on the ground in the middle not to be too dramatic but the injustice or chaos, the decisions are made on a minute by minute daily basis. and what i found it is you just have to try. the international community has to impose some order i would always kid i would say what a great thing bureaucracy is people to fill out forms to us to do things like right to a parking tickets and different things we come to expect and i will ordered society and when you don't have that was no accountability, you go down a very bad path with humans trying to live together. to answer your question, things were very proximate and one of my a big tasks was to get police officers to come to court. my first trial was the attempted murder of a police officer and his family. just to try to do his job. i was looking at the case filed getting ready for the trial and i was thinking this is a good. we will win th

engagements in somalia, haiti, bosnia and kosovo. he commanded both 101s 101st airborne division and the 18th air corps and was army chief of staff. bruce ackerman is the sterling professor at yale law school. he is the author of "before the next attack beings preserving civil liberties in an age of terrorism," his op-ed piece criticizing general stanley mcchrystal for publicly challenging president obama last fall was widely circulated. bruce is now at work on the expansion of the presidency in the 21st presidency. they are joined tonight by terry moran, co-anchor of abc news's "nightline." terry is uniquely call need to frame the questions for tonight's program. in addition to his work at ""nightline"" he is also answer news' supreme court correspond correspondent. he has reported extensively on the wars in iraq and afghanistan and white house correspondent during the presidencies of bill clinton and george w. bush. so let's welcome our guests and get ready for an exciting evening. thank you. [applause] >> thank you todd. it's an h

and some people, because of that he needed back into kosovo by saying it is wagging the dog pic is doing this as a diversion. it's always been my view that when the president asked foreign policy against american troops you are with intel the evidence comes in. is overwhelming. the decisions stop. so some people have to be pulled back from the brink on the. but sure, politics, you can take politics out of politics. >> host: theirs is the center of administration because it is so this transition between the two bushes and everything else. is a period of peace, prosperity, huge economic growth. it is a period, as you say, a welfare reform and centrist policies, yet it is also the spirit of the scandal and great partisan outrage. how any and do you think historians are going to assess the clinton administration? a great presidency, we are presently? >> guest: i don't think a great presidency. may be a mid-level presidency. i think one could cite ill be regarded as you said as a presidency where people work together, on a number of things. i think also, and i say this in the book, this is on

he served in kosovo. and i remember the yugoslavian conflict started out and we can take military action and deal with these sorts of issues and at the end of the day they couldn't because they've become pension plans without an army. now you may or may not have agreed with that particular military action or the ones we have in place now. but it seems to me that having the capacity to do those things when we feel they need to be done is a very important thing for the federal government to have. and so if we are spending 4% of gdp in the military now, the question is how much lower do you want it to be? and how much breathing room low pressure give us on entitlements? i think the answer is probably not a lot. >> may i -- >> one more question. >> i would like to say that i very definitely think defense needs to be on the table to be talked about. but when we were talking earlier about how difficult this is going to be and the first person to ask a question asked about the bipartisan challenges here, tacklin

kosovo kicked off. i got a sent to the balkans-- the right place to learn about what humanity really has to hold, both good and evil. and then i joined the strykers. that's where i went to operation iraqi freedom i and ii with the tomahawks. then i came to california, and shortly thereafter, i got a letter in the mail. going back. >> scranton: toby's platoon calls itself the bad voodoo platoon... >> bad voodoo! >> scranton: ...and they are not typical national guard soldiers. >> hoo-ah, hoo-ah, hoo-ah! >> scranton: almost all of the men are prior active duty. ( gunshots ) they're not weekend warriors. >> what they are looking for is distance and direction, all right, so yell out the three d's. i'll yell them back to you. mainly, just shoot [no audio]. >> i'm going to [no audio] some [no audio] up, sergeant. >> alright. we got to watch our cussing. how about, "we are going to decisively engage and destroy enemy targets and combatants?" >> that sounds like a plan. >> scranton: most are highly trained infa

to an argument that if we are now so preoccupied with the balkans, and differences over serbia and kosovod not create u.s.-russian estrangement, that these things did not happen we would have probably somewhat different relationship with russia then in the '90s and and and when you -- the new prime minister vladimir putin came to the united states to the clinton administration and said let's work together against al qaeda and that is on the record, if they said let's work together against the taliban and al qaeda and i do they did not know the rap to, it was obviously terrorist attacks in the united states with the world trade center, it was after the u.s. destroyer cola in 1990. and so with united states and russia to work together against the taliban and al qaeda, but what they clinton administration had at the time was the russians wanted to establish more presence in central asia. they wanted the united states to legitimize continuing russian imperial role in that important region and the clinton administration wasn't interested in there and i have no idea what could happen every took

you get pulled in to kosovo when we stopped the genocide there.to conflicts where we have gone and stopped genocide, stopped slaughter, to defend freedom and democracy throughout the world, and that doesn't mean we do it willy nilly. it means when we see the security of this nation is threatened, we act militarily. that is a direct contradiction to everything america believes in, which is american exceptionalism, which means we stand up for our god given rights. >> senator, real quick, what message are we sending to the world when our president says we're pulling back on nukes, where he's bowing to leaders from around the world? almost apology jetcally says we're a super power. what's the message? >> the comment that the president that we just described is, again, one of the most unusual i've ever heard a president of the united states make. look, we're off reductions in nuclear weapons, but somehow infer that the iranians and north koreans and other nations who are on the path to develop nuclear weapons are going to be affected by that. >> gretch

and some people, because of all that it gone on for clinton the immediate iraqi to kosovo by saying it is wag the dog. he is doing this as a diversion. and it's always been my view that the president acts in foreign policy with american troops you are with him until the evidence comes in an overwhelming that you should me. you are with him. divisions stop. so some people had to be pulled back from the brink on that. but sure, politics, you can take politics out of politics. >> host: in "a century turns" the center of the book really is the clinton administration because it is so -- this transition between the two bushes and everything else. it is a period of peace, prosperity, huge economic growth. it is a period, as you say, of welfare reform and centrist policies, yet is also this period of the scandal and great partisan outrage. how, in the end, do you think historians are going to assess the clinton administration? a great presidency, a great presidency? >> guest: i don't think a great presidency. maybe a mid-level present a. on the good side it will be regarded, as you said, as a

sendoffs and we're prepared to take people away from their families and children and houses, i was in kosovok visiting the troops. they're away from home for a year. they've got courage. when their country asks, they go. when they're called, they don't ask why. shouldn't this congress have the same courage to say if we're going to send people to war, we're going to pay for it, we're going to ask the american people to pay for the cost of that war? that's another significant part of this debate and discussion about how to deal with the federal budget deficit. mr. president, i yield the floor. i make a point of order that a quorum is not present. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

carried out three times as many robotic airstrikes into pakistan as we did in the opening round of the kosovo war. but we don't call it a war. we don't view it as a war. why is that what is it because congress hasn't had a vote on e.u. to support it or to go against it? is a because it's being operated by the cia, not by the u.s. air force? again, you've had over right now we're at 119 airstrikes. or is it a fact of the technologtechnology itself we view it as costless and we don't have to think about in the same wakeup or is it that war is changing? the third issue that comes out of this is something that they worked on as well as how do our laws keep up with all the change that is going on? this is a 21st century technology that's being used against 21st century actors in war like al qaeda, but yet the prevailing laws of war date from the mid 1940s. and i remember doing an interview at human rights watch and asking them who do we hold accountable when predator drone strike goes awry and the two leaders in organizations i was meet with got an apartment at one of instead we turn to the geneva

carried out three times as many robotic air strikes into pakistan as we did in the opening round of the kosovo war but we don't call it eight war, we don't view it as a war. why is that? is it because congress hasn't had a vote to support or go against it? is it because it is being operated by the cia and not the u.s. air force? again you have had over right now we are at 119 airstrikes. or is it the fact that technology itself that we view it as costly so we don't have to think about it in the same way? or is it the war is changing? of the third issue that comes out of it is something that ben has worked on as well which is how do our laws keep up with all of this change that is going on? this is a 21st century technology being used against 21st century actors in the war like al qaeda yet the prevailing wall the of the war date from the mid 1940's and i remember during an interview at human-rights watch asking them who do we hold accountable when for example predator strike goes are like and the leaders of the organization got an argument city and returned to the geneva convention of course a