walter lippman says this and walter lippman says that. he said the nexts time you need a dam on the snake river, why won't you call walter lippman? and frank church came around on that particular issue what they were -- >> what he also did, this was the other part, is he knew what was important for that congre congressman, that senator in their ticket. >> absolutely. >> and he cared about it. he knew when he could horse trade and he respected the congress. and he knew that you had to treat them as important people. and insisted all of this staff and larry will tell you this that you answered the phone call of senator dirksen or a republican congressman same day as you did one for democratic congressman and democratic senators. and that was a very important thing to know their pain, to know what was important to them. and one time, you mentioned senator byrd, and having these virginia connections myself now, i know a lot about senator byrd, senator byrd there was some vote coming up and nobody thought he would ever vote for this bill. and

. >> reporter: chief judge jonathan lippman wants to change that in new york. he is supporting legislation that would allow for the release of information in some cases. attorney general agrees with lippman's plan. >> if you want the public to support the process it has to be more transparent. >> parts of eric garner's grand jury testimony should be released to the public. >> i just don't understand it. we all know who they are. we know they are saying in sum and substance that they didn't intent to kill him to choke him that what they did they thought was justified why can't we hear that and read that? >> reporter: the public can read thousands of pages of transcripts in the ferguson case. >> the evidence and testimony will be released following this statement. i'm ever-mindful that this decision will not be accepted by some and may cause disappointment for others. >> reporter: but former new york prosecutor said, what happens in the grand jury room must be kept confidential. >> if you remove that secrecy witnesses are going to in all likelihood be far more he

lippman: thank you, paul. i look out at this audience and see so many friends -- i think doing this too long. [laughter] mr. lippman: in all the years i've been living in and writing about the middle east, i recently learned a fact -- a random fact. in islamic law, it provides for the exist for attacks that is -- for tha tax levied on non- -- one of his first acts upon consolidating his control over arabia back in the early years of the 20th century by abdulaziz was to levy it on shia. to me, if you want to understand the collective saudi attitude about shia, that tells you what you need to know. keep that in mind as we go through the rest of this discussion. i attended several institutions. basically, all of them said the same thing. we in the united states have an unshakable, no doubt about it anditment to the security protection of our friends in the gulf. you will find it in all our doctrines, in the posture statements, in whatever you want to read. the quadrennial defense review -- all these documents are

i have a question for both tom lippman and bob ford.do you think an iranian deal will make a -- between riyadh and bag dodd more likely or less likely -- baghdad? >> that gentleman right there. i know there are a lot of hands. i will try to get to them. >> a question for any of them. regarding whether the gcc countries need the u.s. more than the u.s. needs them, this is mixed. the gcc countries are key to 22 arab countries for leadership. 57 islamic countries for leadership. two, with regard to islam, they are the epicenter of prayer and pilgrimage of faith and spiritual devotion for more than a quarter of humanity. that is important for us. three, we have 80 years of investment in saudi arabia and, vice versa. now we're not about to turn our back on that. fourth, with regard to shia, saudi arabia has had good relations, better than bad relations with iran, with yemen, with syria, and with lebanon than it have negative ones that we're implied hire. lastly with regard to geography, saudi arabia alone is a continent more than a country w

to his left is tom lippman known i'm sure to most of you, is a scholar with the middle eastern antidoteinstitute. he is an award-winning author and journalist covered and written on middle eastern affairs in american foreign policy for several decades. he was also former euro chief at the "washington post" and is well-known in that capacity. he has a book coming out in early 2016 called of the crossing, the 1973 war changed the world. he will be sharing with us his views on how he sees the gulf countries saudi arabia and others reacting to the deal vis-À-vis the iran. he would be a followed by a doctor gonul tol. gonul is the founder and director of the center for turkish studies at the middle eastern institute. she is an object professor at george washington university lectures at the national defense university. many of you are familiar with the writing and appearances in the turkish press and the international press covering turkish affairs both domestic and in terms of foreign-policy and we are very happy to have her with us to help us understand the turkish reaction interest polici

to his left is tom mahon, known -- thomas lippman known to most of you i'm sure and it's had a long andillustrious career, is an award-winning author and journalist covered and written on middle eastern affairs in american foreign policy for several decades. he was also former bureau chief at the "washington post" and is well known in that capacity. he has a book coming out in early 2016 called of the crossing, how and where sadat in the 1973 war changed the world. he will be sharing his views on how he sees the gulf countries, saudi arabia and others reacting to the deal vis-À-vis the u.s. and iran. he will be followed by dr. gonul tol. gonul is founder and director of the center for turkish studies at the middle east institute. she is also an adjunct professor at george washington university, lectures at the national defense university. many of you are familiar with her writing and appearing as in the turkish press and international press, covers turkish affairs domestic in terms of foreign policy and we are very happy to have her with us, help us understand the turkish reaction insur