host: you are on the air with matthew kroenig on foreign relations. caller: i wanted to point out it is a war of faith to the middle eastern people. for us it is political, pushing democracy. we are in the gulf or we could be in israel. our true ally is israel. since 2000 they have been pumping oil by the billions of barrels. people do not know about this and they are not a part of opec. if we send troops to israel to protect them, they are our most important ally. what iran is trying to do, what syria is trying to get into israel. they want to take over israel. the bigger plans russian help in these countries. host: is that really the motivation by iran? to get into israel? guest: i think there is a religious and ideological element to some degree. but i think we have seen since 1979 that the iranian government, despite rhetoric, has been pragmatic with security policy. that said, by pursuing nuclear weapons, which iraq things continues -- which iran things continues to its security. so, i think israel is right that a nuclear iran would pose an exist

washington times" and we will hear from someone from the national endowment of the arts, and matthew kroenigl of foreign relations looking at iran. that is on "washington journal" tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern time. that is all for today. have a good presidents day. >> this is president's day officials started in 1971, setting aside the third monday of the month to celebrate the birthday of george washington. there is another president with a birthday in february, abraham lincoln, february 12. president lincoln was our tallest president. james madison was the shortest period. >> i think a good american presidents

also sunil iyengar and matthew kroenig will talk about iran pose a nuclear program and his article. [video clip] c spans road to the white house coverage continues this week as republican candidates campaigned ahead of primary elections next tuesday. we will take you live to phoenix where rick santorum will speak at the lincoln day lunch and straw poll. you can watch live coverage here on c-span tuesday, at two o'clock p.m. eastern. in january, a team of navy seals rescued two aid workers being held hostage by pirates. several days after, a former commander chuck pfarrer set down for a conversation about the special operations force. he is the author of a recent book "seal target geronimo," describing the raid, capture and killing of osama bin laden. this is an hour and 15 minutes. >> good evening. this is the president speaker series. i am year special assistant on behalf of the president. we welcome you tonight. this will be a one hour interview. we will talk about navy seals what it takes to be a seal, and the killing of osama bin laden. it is my great pleasure to welcome our fri