terrorist activities in the gulf, we are seeing in effect kuwait become more permissive, significantly more permissive. do you have an opinion on this yet? >> my answer senator if i may is somewhat general. i would say our relationships with countries such as kuwait and other gulf states and certainly countries like pakistan are complex and have multiple dimensions. i do think that the counterterrorism effort is a central goal or a central feature of those relationships. if i am confirmed i would look forward to the opportunity and the role of nctc director to provide my objective and my unvarnished view about the counterterrorism threat to contribute to the overall discussion and development of a posture or a country like kuwait. >> thank you madam chair. >> thank you very much. mr. vice chairman why don't you go ahead and i will finish. >> mr. olsen i want to ask you, on three or four different subjects here to give us a general discussion and response to some questions that i'm going to lay out, but i am more interested in your general discussion on the issues. but obviously i think

we must solve these problems and we have started this work five percent of our oil revenues go to kuwait as compensation and that will continue. given. the what's your assessment of the relations between baghdad and moscow is there a program to develop corporation relationship annoyance. thank god our relations are developing well and we're making significant progress i think that russian foreign minister lavrov his visit to baghdad is a good confirmation of this our relations in political economic trade construction and military areas have become quite advanced they are very well thought through plans of russian iraqi military cooperation aiming at increasing combat readiness of the iraqi armed forces which for many years have used russian military equipment and armaments there is also a plan for russian oil companies to participate in a number of projects to develop the iraqi oil industry including some investment projects i think that we've proved that we make no preferences and do not obstruct russia's interests on iraq's markets as russian business circles might have thought earlier

have been cancelled that are not relevant anymore but a number of decisions primarily concerning kuwait are still affected this is a very sensitive issue to say nothing about port mubarak but there are also other decisions that we should comply with resolution eight three three on the iraqi way down to re demarcation saddam's regime took this decision well our constitutional power must adopt this resolution. as part of our humanitarian record we must solve the issue of prisoners and those missing the issue of kuwait property should be resolved in the. but we also have casualties and separated families a lot was stolen from our country in two thousand and three but we must solve these problems and we have started this work five percent of our oil revenues go to kuwait as compensation and that will continue. they've been over the what's your assessment of the relations between baghdad and moscow is there a program to develop cooperation relationship annoyance. thank god our relations are developing well and we're making significant progress i think that russian foreign minister lavrov is

trees in kuwait are behind walls and privately-owned. here there were trees everywhere. more surprising and strange and off-putting than the trees were the people and what they were doing. they were sitting in lawn chairs on their front lawn visible from the road. they were playing with their kids, taking a hose to the bushes outside the front window. what surprised him was so much of american family life happening in public. this is not what would happen in the arab world. the more time he spent in north carolina the more he was persuaded americans were really backwards. they did things that should be private in public. they trusted each other very quickly and they didn't go out at night. after dark is when most social occasions happening kuwait but in the united states in 1983 and '84, there was one pizza parlor. no bars. it closed at 9:00. the town was asleep. far from the night being alive and social and friendly it was as silent as a tune. it was the day when americans were busy. he became more and more alienated by america because it wasn't an arab country. these t

it's a 14 hour flight from washington into kuwait, as you know, and for most of that 14 hours according to both senators, what was on this senator's - was viet monatana the lessons of vietnam because he was going to afghanistan and iraq and he wanted to learn from these men what was the relevance here. is it possible climate missing something? and he kept on asking them questions about vietnam over and over again and they were both amazed that he sat there and listened. he's a great listener. and the first time when he goes into the first national security council meeting, the first point that he makes to his people is, quote come afghanistan is not vietnam. well, why did he have to say that about the very beginning unless he thinks there's a possibility of getting into another vietnam. bruce at that time is writing and thinking through the president's first strategy paper on afghanistan, and bruce told us goes to vietnam and whites every day. he found that to be the case. and yet explained to me for a moment how it is that those ghosts can affect different presidents in such extraordin

the iraqis go into kuwait. it is seen as a direct threat to the united states. bush 1 decides to do something and pursuant to the powell doctrine, which is a direct consequence of the vietnam war, president george h.w. bush sends 500,000 marines -- troops to do something powell told us it could be done by 100,000 but because of vietnam, he wanted to send in -- many, many -- sort of overloading the circuit as it were to make absolutely sure the job is done. you go in. you do it fast and you get out. that idea is so different from our experience in vietnam. so the president, yes, can do it in different ways but is always shadowed by this haunting legacy. >> and yet let's come to the present day. here we are engaged albeit not on the ground but engaged in libya, where no u.s. interest -- or significant u.s. interest appears to be involved. we have no sense of how we're going to get out again. and the engagement to the degree that there is any engagement is rather timid. is that to a function, debbie as a function by president obama and his advisors. >> the libyan s

when you see trees in kuwait, they're usually behind walls, and they're privately owned. here there were just trees everywhere. but more surprising and more strange and more offputting than the trees were the people and what they were doing. they were sitting in lawn chairs on their front lawn visible from the road. they were grilling out, playing with their kids, taking a hose to the bushes outside the front window. but what surprised him was so much of american family life happening in public. and this is not the kind of thing that would happen in the arab world. and the more time he spent in north carolina, the more he was persuaded that americans were really backward. they, they did things that should be private in public, they trusted each other very quickly, and they didn't go out at night. after dark is when most social occasions would happen in kuwait and many arab countries. but in the united states in murfreesboro at the time, 1983-'84, must have frees borrow had one pizza parlor. no bars. that pizza parlor closed at 9:00. the town was asleep. so far there the n

saudi arabia, kuwait and bahrain have withdrawn their ambassadors from the syrian capital.lies ahead for relations between syria and saudi arabia. >> the only surprise in a way here is it took the saudis and the arab league this long to condemn what bashar has done, in contrast of their movement to libya. so, bashar's atrocities, i think, have finally gotten the attention of the saudis and the arab league. they've been quietly behind the scenes trying to encourage bashar to stop the violence, to stop the brutality. they were clearly ignored. they had no choice but to take this action. i think it's also quite important to understand, that saudi resistance to the influence of iran is also behind this because they view syria as a client state of iran. they have tried the last four or five years to wean syria off of iran's orbit, unsuccessfully. and this is now the result. >> so, when the saudis would have normally supported the status quo in syria, they can't be doing that anymore. the relationship has broken down to such an extent with iran, they're worried about iran filling

it includes the persian gulf, iraq, kuwait, afghanistan, saudi arabia, jordan, syria, the gulf states, and of course iran. in 30 years of service in this region, i've never seen it so tumultuous, full of promise, and also full of danger. and as the military commander, i am the sentineled. i am supposed to watch out for the dangers while recognizing and seizing opportunities for keeping peace wherever possible for one more year, one more month, one more week, one more day. sometimes you are just looking to keep peace for one more hour. there is not peace everywhere. we are heavily committed in parts of the theater, but there are other parts matriculate on. i would like to speak first about the arab awakening. i would call it that instead of the arab spring and how we crack policy and adapt to these changes right now, keep hold of our values, our american values, consistent policy to match those values, but balance with pragmatism. the military serves the foreign- policy and foreign policy must deal with reality in a world that does not always comport what we would like it to be. i am c

some bay area musicians recently returned from kuwait and iraq where they performed for the troops.lked about the trip and found themselves ducking for cover. >> we knew that it was dangerous because we were having to wear flack jackets and helmets to and from every airplane in case somebody shot at us. >> and you went anyway? >> yes. >> yeah. [laughter] >> it really didn't seem that dangerous when we thought about going. yeah, let's go play for the troops. >> the guy tarrist and vocal lift and singer songwriter jaymee kyle joined several famous rock entertainers to bring a little bit of home to u.s. troops serving in kuwait and iraq. ♪ are you going to do >> a lot of them are young but they know the songs. >> pablo cruz is known for songs like -- watcha going to do. >> we about the pablo hits, we did some chicago hits, and the toto hits and jaymee wrote a wild one, jake hill's first hit. >> did you perform that. >> i did. >> they loved her. >> ♪. >> and the danger of being in a war zone became a reality for the performers. >> and we just finished the last, the very last hit of watc

the war in kuwait, a very stupid act by saddam hussein was the thing that kept them from getting that last step that they needed. after the war, the persian gulf war, the fact that the united states had been making these materials available to saddam hussein became known to the saudi government, and they were highly enraged about this because they said we had violated our friendship that went back to world war ii, the special arrangement between presidents roosevelt and kinks out, and that they were going to announce our duplicity unless we would he helpful to them. now, had have taken that set of facts and suggested that maybe the form that help would take would be the form that our help to saddam hussein had taken that his assistance in gaining access to a weapon of mass destruction. now that is a fictional statement but i don't think it is a long leap from what we in fact no. i am very distressed that the facts that underlay the kings to the kingdom have been so effectively withheld from the american people and there have been some serious consequences of that withholding, one of w

saudi arabia, kuwait and bahrain are all taking a stand against the crackdown.rwa damon is tracking developments from beirut. >> reporter: despite all of this international condemnation and what we're hearing from some arab leaders as well on sunday morning, troops entered the eastern city, residents reporting as we have been hearing indiscriminate tank shelling, arrests appearing to happen at random, snipers being station on rooftops, people being prevented from accessing hospitals. in hama, the city we have been talking about for over a week now, the siege there continues. there is disturbing video posted to youtube. we have to warn our viewers they might want to turn away at this point. it is showing how gardens, residents are being forced to turn their gardens into graveyards. in this video, you see makeshift gravestones crudely etched with the names of some of the victims of the regime's brutal way of handling these demonstrations. you see a number of bodies also being buried there. so the image that continues to emerge from syria is one of just growing and

saudi arabia, kuwait and bahrain are withdrawing their ambassadors.irst sign they're turning against syria. >>> the obama administration is planning on giving $100 million to refugees in somalia. today dr. jill biden visited northern kenya to visit camps. >>> in florida a manhunt is underway for three siblings on the run. their mother is urging them to surrender. >> and right now we're still waiting for president obama, but joining me now in the studio as we await the president is chris matthews returning. let's talk about the challenges for the president as a leader, as commander in chief, as leader of our economy as our president speaking on difficult subjects and both on the same time today. >> that's right. i think the most important hat today is probably chander in chief in terms of reacting to the horror in afghanistan. of course, he has the head of administration responsibility as chief executive to try to begin to convince the american people if he knows the answer what's wrong and what can be done to solve it. i don't think he has to put the

kuwait, bahrain, and saudi arabia have withdrawn embassies from syria. the king of saudi arabia called for an end to the bloodshed. residents say at least 65 people have been killed in just a day. tibetans in exile have a new prime minister. it is the first time someone other than the dali lama has been declared the political leader of tibet. he took his oath of office in india earlier today, with the dali lama on hand. 50,000 tibetans in exile elected him in april. tibet has been occupied by china since 1980, and beijing refuses to recognize the prime minister's authority. in ukraine, a judge has kept yulia tymoshenko jail. the trial is raising tensions in the capital, kyiv. yulia tymoshenko was detained last friday for contempt of court after refusing to cooperate with the judge, denouncing him as a puppet of president viktor yanukovych. let us go back to ban for more business news. >> we are in the middle of the holiday season. not a good time to go on strike. air traffic controllers have pulled a 6 hour strike, starting first thing tuesday. 3000 flig

after dark is when most of them what happened in kuwait and many arab countries. but in the united states even in murfreesboro time, 1983, 84, the had won a piece of parlor. millibars, the pizza parlor closed at 9:00 the town is asleep so far from the might be in the life and social and friendly it was the day when americans were busy. so he became more and more alienated by america because it wasn't an era of country. and these are very small observations. these are these things by themselves do not become a terrorist because it does set him at odds with the country. that made him part of this larger community. in fact one of the things i learned in writing "mastermind," this is nothing the civilian colleges do to integrate foreign students to explain this country to them. we take for granted that everyone knows these things. when the fbi searched the car of the 9/11 hijackers left behind at the airport, they found a small spiral notebook and a very careful arabic script. there was a description explaining the differences between shampoo, conditioner and body was

saudi arabia, bahrain and kuwait recalling their ambassador.ication the shift to arab condemnation will get president assad to back off? >> reporter: well, at this stage, there's been absolutely no such indication, but this most certainly is a significant move in that arab leaders are finally breaking what was a deafening silence on their part. but really, john, as long as syria has in iran the sole hid so lid relationship that it does have, iran being a regional powerhouse, it seems as if what we're going to see now is a shift in the battleground in syria and that it will no longer 'just be demonstrators calling for democracy versus this dick ta tore yal engine. but one that analysts are saying is increasingly going to morph into an arena for the broader. regional power struggle. you'll have saudi arabia on one hand and iran on the other. >> and what's your sense what's happening on the ground? is the crackdown more isolating or is it spreading? >> it's most certainly spreading. the crackdown now not just confined to the intense military campa

and this is what nurtured this young man as he came up so it turns out they were also exiled from kuwait because when the father of the bomber was a young man he moved with his family and worked iraq war most were kicked out of kuwait and sent back to jordan hit and exiled and mystery to all of a world and part of the sorted family's way of looking at the world and looking at the situation and he's seek to in this. at the same time, no one really had a sense of how far, how extreme he had become and when he decided to take on this false identity in the these costly things on the internet no one knew he was doing it. even his wife. until he was arrested nobody understood how involved in this al qaeda world he had become curious connected his wife no? the reason i ask is in the book it seems as if his father had the least kluge and within families anyone had a clue it was his wife. what did she share of the believes? >> guest: the ideology for sure. they met in college and had quite a number of things if anything she was more shrill than he was in the belief. it's kind of dillinger that wh

it turns out they were still in exile from kuwait because when the father of the bomber was a young man who moved to kuwait with his family to work as a schoolteacher and after the first iraq war most jordanians were kicked out and sent back to jordan said they had a sense of being exiled and mistreated all over the world so i think it is a part of the sort of families way of looking at the world and looking at the situation and she's sort of steeped in this. at the same time no one really had a sense of how far he had become and what he decided to take on to write these things on the internet no one knew he was doing it, even his wife he knew he had these internet hobbies but until he was arrested no one understood how involved in this al qaeda world he had become. >> host: did his wife no? in the book it sounds as if his father had the least clue and within the family if anybody had a clue it was his wife. what did she know and share with his belief? >> guest: his ideology for sure. they met while he was in college and they had a number of things in common in terms of the we looking a

this week also marks twenty years since the violin kuwait overthrow mikhail gorbachev changed the course of history for the soviet union next a close look at those dramatic events in our special report. central moscow moscow's regional k.g.b. headquarters. early morning of august the nineteenth one nine hundred ninety one. this is the officer and. the events of the day the could have reversed the country's history. in attempts to depose president mikhail gorbachev put his reforms on hold. tanks and other hardware thirteen moved into moscow. the city's key points have been taken over. as the nineteenth one nine hundred ninety one monday only in the morning teacher tatiana yakovlev or switched her t.v. on a sort of following picture instead of the usual programming every channel was broadcasting tchaikovsky's famous ballet. i thought of which i turned the t.v. on to check the latest news and i was so surprised to see swan lake everywhere i was switching the t.v. channels for a long time thinking maybe there was something wrong with my t.v. set. at the same time as the ballot will cast more

. >>> it is a prescription for war, this iraqi invasion of kuwait. but tonight, the united states, soviet and other powers are concentrating on diplomatic and economic solutions to the surprising and dangerous development. i love that my daughter's part fish. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. a vacation on a budget with expedia. make it work. booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can "stitch" together a better deal. that's a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices hotels and airlines won't let expedia show separately. book it. major wow factor! w

after the first iraq war knows jordanians were kicked out of kuwait and sent back to jordan. they had the sense of the exiled and maligned all over the world. i think this is part of, the sort of the families way of looking out the role in looking at the situation. at the same time no one had a sense of how far, how extreme he had become. when he decided to take on this false identity and write these cost savings on the internet know when he was doing it. even his wife. he had these internet hobbies but until he was arrested no one understood how involved in this al qaeda world he had become. >> host: did his wife no? for me in the book it sounds as if his father had the least clue, and then within a family it was his wife. what did she know? >> guest: she shared his ideology. she was turkish and met when he was in college. they had quite a number of things in common. some people say if anything she was more shrill than he was. it's kind of telling that when the children came into the family, they had two daughters, the oldest woman in after after a palestinian hijacker. the

then, a number of countries have come forth and offered loans most recently, turkey, qatar, the uae, kuwait and, of course, with political recognition they're hopeful they'll be able to gain access to the frozen assets around the world. and then lastly i would say militarily although it's been slow, they're also making progress, gaining territory from gadhafi. and the way i sort of break it down is, you know, there are three battlefronts. there's the western mountains where they've got fighters, you know, inching their way toward tripoli. the misrata front on the coast where they've not only fought off gadhafi's forces successfully but they're also pushing west up the coast towards tripoli. i understand they're getting close to sliton which is a significant town. and closer to where i am there's brega where they're now encountering difficulty with land mines, unfortunately. hopefully, they can get through those. now, i don't want to paint an overly rosy picture because there's challenges inside the tnc-controlled area and one of them is security. there was a security vacuum when the regime

>>bowker: there's a railway network being planned in oman, in saudi arabia, in bahrain, in kuwait and qatar and that will be genuinely joined up so we are building the railway to the same technical standards - the track's the same distance apart, the signalling system's the same, and so on and so forth, to make sure that you can have sort of seamless movement between the various countries. longer term we could even see further afield. it's not that far into the future that we could run railway trains into europe. >>reporter: there's no doubt abu dhabi has ambitious plans. the thing is though - it can afford to make them happen. but the question remains whether there is the demand or necessity to fill an industrial zone the size of singapore. >>reporter: natural disasters this year alone have had a devastating effect on countries in the asiapacific region not least for the loss of human life but also the economic impact. australia was hitby a double blow - the worst flooding in queensland in 37 years and then a cyclone - bigger than hurricane katrina. but australians are nothing if not

another great depression so predictably fifteen years ago president bill clinton drank the republican kuwait and pledged to end it welfare as we know it fundamentally changed the way welfare was administered in the united states by placing strict new requirements on impoverished families to collect benefits as a result he did and welfare as we know it and he didn't end poverty and his welfare reform ripped huge chunks of the social safety net away and that social safety net is now it wasn't so badly needed back then but it's now pretty badly needed but no longer exists as this chart shows the ruritania years of the one nine hundred ninety six when clinton signed welfare reform into law sixty eight percent it was would be ninety six years sixty eight percent of families living on poverty receive some sort of federal assistance to get by to pay their bills to put gas in the car to put food on the table but today in the midst of the worst economy since the great depression and persistent joblessness while we have millions more people facing economic disasters only twenty seven percent of famili

of foreign troops in bahrain also in april the gulf states saudi arabia united arab emirates qatar kuwait bahrain oman voice deep concern over what they called a radio interference in their affairs after you generally came to that dispatch to saudi troops in farai. you say the question have we done a bad thing that we said people should not be killed in bahrain what about the did we do in the past think it's a spectacle of how do you call it an interference. with who are using military force in bahrain or are they doing that because only the who are interfering in the internal affairs are the reason. this show me one place or one a spot in the world where iranian military forces well the president there is no place in the world because. it's illegal it is forces that the american forces and nato level nato forces are around us everywhere around iran they are surrounded iran and the same forces say iran is interfering in the internal affairs of the region which is what should we say. it's still better for me than about another neighbor of yours a rack of some referred to as your backyard i

syria's neighbors are turning up the heat on damascus to end its crackdown on protesters saudi arabia kuwait and bahrain have recalled their basters from the contrie and charities of foreign minister is also expected in syria on a tuesday with a quote tough lesson. for president assad this comes as government forces are stepping up their assault on opposition strongholds with tank and artillery fire more than three hundred people have reportedly been killed in syria over the past week bloodiest of the five not uprising against the regime but are suddenly are pledged democratic reforms which he claims to mask this needs more time to implement political analyst patrick hastings the president is on the verge of stepping down from power. if assad is serious about promising democracy and sweeping constitutional reforms that he has promised then clamping down on freedom of speech and freedom of expression which is the cornerstone of any democracy is not sending out a message to the syrian people that he can be taken seriously or trusted in his promise is a tool of diplomatic consideration is no la

been killed in the past week the bloodiest in the five month uprising against president assad's rule kuwait and saudi arabia have pulled their ambassadors from syria adding to the international condemnation of the crackdown on protesters international relations expert professor mark allman says syrian politics are riddled with intrigue and is not everything and everything i should say is not as it seems. hard to dispute. that. is what. i want. to hold. your go. so we have also. had. rhetoric. about. the real grander. war in sort of. next hour more on the situation in syria and the arab world when our team talks to iraq's foreign minister a look at some world news in brief for you this hour a document leaked to britain's times newspaper reveals plans for ruling libya after moammar gadhafi is deposed it could. not only gadhafi regime crumbling from within is likely to force him out but predicts mass defections from the security forces are likely the plan was drawn up by the national transitional council with the help of britain and other western nations. another nato helicopter has crashed la

that kuwait from their building we spent the whole day packing everything out so we're ready we hope it just goes right and doesn't cause anybody any damage we're just getting a lot of supplies here we have some food back home getting some. little bit extra things just because us president barack obama has issued a state of emergency for new york meaning that new york will receive straight federal funding obama did cut his vacation short and headed back to the white house on friday he said that this is a historic storm and everyone in its path should prepare for the worst some engineers believe that the infrastructure of new york city because it is so may not be able to stand the power of the wind that there may be flooding in tunnels of new york city some airports may be flooded possibly even flooded and word destroyed so at this point everybody is preparing for the worst bracing themselves hoping it's not going to be as bad as forecasted but if it is it is not clear what will be of new york come monday and you can watch the latest pictures from there is why the hurricane is also yo

confident is going to cover these pork to take thank you for groups with a deer's to give them kind of in kuwaitor conditions like we get it in a mist factory which we discussed with you when we were there and set up a small manufacturing and all that can develop your sample or your prototype and get custom corrections and this part has to be done in russia immediately otherwise we would never you know cross the bridge between science and manufacturing because between science and avoiding manufacturing there is a huge gap there is a prototype development and find just i myself am a scientist they very often they don't understand how huge the things get. if used to be an ideal place for a holiday but it changed in a moment. the demands of war are still visible. the republic is not only relieved but also shaping the future. fish fish. fish .

killed in the past week of bloodiest in the five month uprising against president assad's rule bahrain kuwait and saudi arabia have called them bastards from syria adding to the international condemnation of the crackdown on protesters and patrick from the online political magazine spike in london says bashar al assad is apparently at a loss as to how to deal with the situation. if assad is serious about promising democracy and sweeping constitutional reforms so he has promised then clamping down on freedom of speech and freedom of expression which is the cornerstone of any democracy is not sending out a message to the syrian people that he can be taken seriously or trusted in his promise is a tool there is a sense from really that the ease by which she is started to say this is the end of the single party rule and he will start to think about elections and the way in which he previously portrayed himself and his party as the only guarantee guarantors of syrian stability but is now talking about major constitutional reforms means that really there's a real uncertainty about what he's trying t