he was in kandahar with general mcchrystal yesterday. we are working with the government on the way forward both in terms of military operations, but as we were just talking about before, working with specific ministries. we want to see the government of afghanistan step up, take responsibility in key areas, demonstrate the kind of leadership that the afghan people are expecting of it. we are there in afghanistan because -- in our national interest to do so. we're obviously spending significant resources both on the military side and the civilian side to do that. but there are clearly things that we want to see the government step up and do, and we're working with president karzai and his government to see that happen. >> so he's standing -- well, i don't know if he's actually standing alongside of him, but he's in kandahar with general mcchrystal and he says to about a thousand tribal leaders, "we will not conduct the operations in kandahar unless you say we can." do you share his assessment? are you -- is the united states going to be

and mcchrystal himself comes out of the special operations community. that's his entire background is in special operations. and you might wonder whether or not that gives him a better understanding of special operations to enable him to use that capability more precisely. or, you might wonder if it makes him too sympathetic to special operations. they're his guys, so give them a break. >> moyers: general mcchrystal himself has said that we've shot-- and this is his words, not mine-- an amazing number of people over there who did not seem to be a threat to his troops. >> i think that is... that's clearly the case. when mcchrystal was put in command last year, and devised his counterinsurgency strategy, the essential core principle of that strategy is that we will protect the population. we will protect the people. and the contradiction is that ever since president obama gave mcchrystal the go-ahead to implement that strategy, we have nonetheless continued to have this series of incidents in which we're not only not protecting the population, but indeed

there was a bloody stalemate there until general mcchrystal decided to pull u.s.roops out of there and i thisting questio it is a tough lesson in sort of the limits of american goodwill and the limits of power and i think it's a recognition that the afghan government at least in the next few years is not going to control all of that country and may never control a place like the korinnegal valley. >> it's a good indication of one of the overall objectives, which is that control the population centers, and because his resources are limited that means writing off some places. and the korinnegali was a place they decided to write off, come back another day, it's not worth the resources it takes. bring the american troops to some place with more people. >> charlie: when do you go back? >> soon. couple of weeks. >> charlie: are you going to see this story through? are you? >> i don't know. i don't think so. i don't think so. i think -- i think we're many years away from that. even -- even by the most optimistic projections, i think we're a long way away. >> charlie: ar

general mcchrystal, actually this is on importance of minimizing civilian casualties. this is not from the top, this is a field commander who understands casualty's along the afghanis set us back in terms of our operations and he has imposed and his forces understand the nature of the rules of engagement and finally we have reports that operations along the border are better. the pakistanis are more cooperative and if we can seal the border more effectively that will assist us immensely in afghanistan. let me stop there and senator kay hagen. [inaudible] [laughter] >> thank you. it was an incredible experience for me to go on this with senator jack reid who i believe has been to iraq about 15 times now and afghanistan nine and pakistan however many. >> [inaudible] and obviously one of the colleagues, senator kaufman from delaware the professor and just all of his experience it was an incredible experience for me to be able to join them. but i do want to emphasize the importance that my state, north carolina brings to the table and especially in iraq and afghanistan so

thank you. >> each of the units that goes in there has mission essential units that general mcchrystal and the staff has approved. we have worked up and defined what that equipment list is. high on the list are always mraps, radios, blue for strikers, counter-ied equipment -- blue force trackers, counter- ied equipment. when we get that equipment in there, we have units inside afghanistan who mount that equipment in the confederation -- configuration that we need so that we can draw from the issue point right into the fight if we need to. >> do you have any sense of how long this will take to get stuff out and he in? -- and in? >> without saying too much in detail, you know, the president told us he wanted to move in there as quickly as possible. initial estimates were tt

one was mcchrystal and one was -- petraeus responds to no four-star in the military. he responds to the secretary of defense. and that's appropriate. civilian control of the military. what you may be surprised to know is the joint chiefs and the chairman have no operational oversight whatsoever of the theater. i think we have gone too far to remove them because -- for the reason that you stated, they're concerned about their service primarily by statute, but there is no statute that gives them some operational accountability for what is being done in terms of the war. and the chiefs themselves, as a result of goldwater-nichols have even less influence out of their service because the principal military advisor to the president. most of us look at this, at some point we have to readjust this and bring this back into a more appropriate role for all of the joint chiefs, make the role of the chairman of the joint chiefs less of a political role which, by definition, it becomes today. >> so we're going to do one more question and then we're going open it up for questions.

general mcchrystal is insistent upon the importance of minimizing civilian casualties.this is not an edict from the top. this is from the man who understands that casualties among the afghans set us back in terms of operations being honorable. the forces understand the nature of the rules of engagement. we have reports that operations along the pakistani border are better. the pakistanis are more cooperative. if we can seal that border effectively, that will assist us immensely in afghanistan. let me stop there. >> senator kay hagan. >> thank you. i will tell you, it was an incredible experience for me to get to go along on this trip with senator jack reed, who believe has been to iraq about 15 times now and afghanistan 9. my other colleague, senator kaufman from delaware, with all his experience. it was incredible for me to join them. i want to emphasize the importance that my state, north carolina, brings to the table. many military troops that we have stationed there -- the 82nd airborne, the second marine expeditionary group of the marines, national guard members wh

change in tactics and the change in leadership with mcchrystal. the problem in all this is the lack of government control by the afghan. it is a failed government right now and we are doing a great job but the afghan needs more help than they are getting now. >> what else can we do strategically to improve the outcome there in a short expedited amount of time? >> pakistan, we have to keep pressure on pakistan and build up the afghan government, police and military. as great as our guys are doing, if their government doesn't get right and continue pressure we will be in real trouble. >> what is the long-term plan for pakistan? i think you make up an excellent point. that is a huge problem for the u.s. we may be able to make inroads and make improvements, okay, in other area but if we don't take care of pakistan as well that could all be compromised. >> pakistan needs stability not as much as afghanistan. afghanistan is in a lot of trouble that way. but we have to keep pakistan stable because of a lot of issues, one, of course, is the atomic bombs a

most importantly to push as many of those troops, as quickly as we could come to general manas, mcchrystal so tht he's got the maximum boots on the ground time were bog time with the troops there. so i will give you the number, but our friends and allies in the region are helping us out a great deal. >> mike. islamic general, mike now with cnn. you had mentioned mraps earlier specifically the older ones. what are you doing with the older ones now if they aren't going to afghanistan or maybe some of them still are, but what is the after market value of those mraps if they are all that useful in afghanistan? >> thanks. i don't have a number of the after market value. i guess we could -- i'm joking here -- but i guess we get through a couple of them on ebay and see what the market will bear. what we are doing with those is adding improvements to them in terms of suspension and armor if we can and sending them back to the states. when we say the we've got 30 different variants of the mrap or more really there are five basic mraps and there are modifications to them so it's like -- well it is h

i think general mcchrystal thinks this is a man he can work with. he's taken him to kandahar, indicated he can go to kandahar repeatedly, as the kandahar campaign gets under way. i think the day-to-day working relationship, certainly on the military side and between general mcchrystal and president karzai, is working well. and i think we, frankly, have to be sensitive in our own comments about president karzai in terms of being mindful that he is the embodiment of sovereignty for afghanistan, also in the way we treat him. >> secretary gates, with the recently released video that showed u.s. troops killing some civilians in iraq, i understand, the cause of war and i understand this is a very difficult situation. does the release of that video, and the fact that that happened, damage the image of the u.s. in the world? >> i don't think so. they are in a combat situation. the video doesn't show the broader picture of the firing that was going on at american troops. it's obviously a hard thing to see. it's painful to see especially when you learn after

if you look at general mcchrystal's strategy and the civil military approach that nato is taking in afghanistan, there is now a clear strategy. i think what we owe the american public as military is to help explain how the risks our soldiers are taking, the sacrifices they're talking are contributing to objectives that are worthy to those risks and sacrifices, not to advocate for policy, i could go on more about this, but -- good question. >> that's the bottom line, it is a great question. who do we know when we win. : >> the point that general keane was making is the fundamental one. there is also the privatization of violence by small groups with more and more power to them, of this problem is not going to come to an end. not going to come to an end. there is too many crazy people in the world. and this problem has to be managed with the strategic use of force on occasion, but my plea is that, you know, i'm a pragmatist in the sense it's much more important to be clear about the distinct character of these different problems. and design structures to respond to these different problems. my id

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 up. i was in the taxi over here, told the taxi driver, i'm going to national constitution center. he starts driving, a couple of minutes later,

. >> i entirely agree with your description of what -- >> -- mcchrystal's peach, word for word, because that really isn't what he did in my view. >> well, -- >> it was in the q & a period and it was a general question between a rating approach to a complex problem in afghanistan, versus more comprehensive counterinsurgency and he answered it honestly. it was not meant to lecture anybody or to influence policy, i don't believe. >> well -- >> we can disagree on that obviously bruce. >> the basic structural point is, because i entirely endorse your description of the appropriate role of the military. the question is whether the emerging structure, since 1986, actually did what is being proposed to do here and i do not believe that is so. it is propelling the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff into a celebrity position. notice, as soon as bill clinton wins, the chairman's role -- appointment ends, eight, ten months after the term begins, bill clinton sees this, you know, he says, gee, i think for the -- i think we're going to appoint a new chairman of the joint chiefs who is not going to

general mcchrystal has tried mightily to limit that, although there are still episodes. but the overwhelming reason for the negative attitude toward international forces is his appointment that people's lives have not in -- have not improved that they don'-- have not improe way they hoped they would. host: trudy rubin, thank you for being with us. coming up, we will talk about diversity with our guest, christopher metzler of georgetown university. we will also need one of our winters of studentcam this year. >> is 9:19 a.m. here in washington d.c.. the lead republican in negotiations with democratic senator christopher dodd on pledges -- on financial overall legislation says no vote is likely before a key meeting this afternoon. richard shelby of alabama said "i do not believe we will have a deal today" although, he says the two sides have setup a meeting for early afternoon. shelby also says ultimately measure will be passed because both republicans and democrats understand the agitation among voters for something to be done a among high risk business practices. the sen

so i think mcchrystal is executed the best conceivable policy. now, we also have to matter what mcchrystal said. the policy we had was a no hope, couldn't win. the policy he proposed is not one which will certainly succeed. it's just a better policy than the previous one. and i think that's quite correct. as to what happens to afghanistan, it is increasingly a decision to be made by the taliban, and i suspect but albus of pakistan. that it has to do with our military operations on the ground. >> this is john richardson. i guess i am back on afghanistan. if you take the long historical view, and you were king for a day, what would be wrong? will be the tremendous benefits for having a million half people's liberation army should put in afghanistan got it would encourage the russians to think more clearly, encourage the rogue states like pakistan to think more clearly. i think it would also have a sobering influence on iraq. >> if the chinese were crazy enough to do that, yeah. these are all things that could achieve. none of which the chinese care

he has cooperated with general mcchrystal in going down to kandahar to begin to set the stage as the kandahar campaign gets under way and talking to the local tribal leaders and so on. i think we have to understand the pressures he's under, but at the same time understand their sensitivity -- this is a country that has been at war for almost two generations. they have had armies come in and leave and who paid no attention to afghan sovereignty. we are working very hard at that. we have to work as hard in our rhetoric as we are in our actions. >> is the message here, don't overreact to some of this? >> absolutely. >> did you not overreact when you spoke to him on the phone? >> i certainly didn't overreact. i think, david, some of what is said is not true. and a lot of others who make claims are short on evidence and very long on rhetoric. this is a very difficult situation, and we are working very closely with not only the president, but there's a whole government that is there. we work well with a lot of the ministers who are dealing on a day-to-day basis with our civilian and milita

general stanley mcchrystal who arrived last year has made that his number one priority and the number of civilians killed by u.s. troops is down over the last two years. the number of troops killed by the taliban however is up. general mcchrystal has also tried to rein in some of these special forces and trying to rein in these night raids. but obviously these incidents cast a huge pall over the entire u.s. effort there and do drive people away from the u.s. and toward the taliban. >> abc's nick schifrin, thanks. >>> back here at home, three of the teams involved in the school bullying case in massachusetts that led to a 15-year-old suicide have pleaded not guilty. the teens did not have to appear in court yesterday. they were represented by their attorneys. phoebe prince killed herself in january after what prosecutors say was months of harass three other teens charged in the case will be arraigned tomorrow. >>> here is the wednesday forecast. indianapolis, cincinnati, and memphis cod see some of the worst severe weather expected to hit the center of the nation. there could be thunde

they have to control an area, but there's certainly a clear way ahead your look at general mcchrystal's start and the civil military approach that nato was taking in afghanistan, there is now a clear strategy. what we owe the american public is to explain how the military is -- not to advocate for policy. great question. >> a great question. how do we know when we win? >> general was saying, there are two different questions here. is our continuing intervention in the conflict -- another word for civil war -- yes is it. there are two groups who are organized militarily that engage for control over the same territory. that's my definition of a civil war. and the talk of an enemy invites that kind of thing and that's fine. and whether we should be having won the wars wars in afghanistad iraq, whether we should continue. it's a fine policy -- reasonable people can talk about this. those wars will come to an end. the point that general keane was making, there's the privatization of violence by small groups with more and more power to them. this problem is not going to come to an end. not go

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 honor to be here and with this remarkable panel. it's a topic of abiding interest to generations of americans. you never know where it's going to turn up. i was in the taxi over here, told the taxi driver, going to the national constitution center. he starts driving. a couple minutes later of absolutely nothing, she s

commander general stanley mcchrystal, one meal a day, eight-mile runs and a ban on alcohol.y this isn't about depriving troops of a taste of home but keeping military priority straight as this enters what could be a crucial face. command sergeant major michael hall wrote, "this is a war zone, not an amusement park." he says supplying fast food outlets with french fries distracts from supplying the front lines with ammunition. >> we did the latest surge, it was like let's do it faster. we can only do it so fast because we only had so much capacity to bring things in. >> reporter: emphasis will be on what makes a bigger difference to troop morale, maintaining gyms and expanding internet and phone access. >> somewhere along the way we lost focus of why we're here. if we didn't have burger king, would the war be over? of course not. perhaps we would be a little bit further along. >> reporter: the age-old choice between guns and burgers. john yang, nbc news, bagram air field, afghanistan. >> that's our broadcast for this thursday night. thank you for being with us. i'm brian will

i left afghanistan hopeful that general mcchrystal's plan and working hand in hand with the coalition forces the tribal leaders afternoon the individuals in afghanistan. that's the best chance we have of success. >> schieffer: let me add finally, your daughter... how does she say her name? she has joined cbs news as the correspondent on the early show. how do you feel about that some. >> she's a broadcast journalism major. she's been dealing with tv ever since her time on idol. i've watched her segments. they're very professional. she works very, very hard. she's she was the hardest worker on the show. she's going to have to stand on your own two feet. i'm very excited for that opportunity. i hope she takes advantage of it. >> schieffer: senator, thank you for coming by. we hope to see you many times down the road. >> i'm looking forward to it. >> schieffer: thank you. we'll be back with in one minute with some analysis. somewhere in america... the slightest breeze harbors immense power. the tallest buildings leave the lightest footprints. a fifty-ton train makes barely a mark on the

our analysis is the general mcchrystal's effort to do just that, the new combined effort with working with the afghan police and afghan national army as well as the the local tribal leaders and our coalition forces and the military has enabled us to, i think, in all sincerity, have the best chance to do just that. keep our troops safe until we finish the job. and what is finishing the job? finishing the job to me and to general mcchrystal and others is to make sure we provide that safety and security around the citizenry in afghanistan to protect them, to allow them to flourish and start to grow and weed out the corruption and not rely so much on the poppy fields and ensure that they can bring their produce to market or keep their government entities safe and secure so they can start to be more and more self-sufficient. by doing that and working with our coalition partners and president karzai and oh i think that gives us the best chance of success. and i want to thank the team members for their patience. it was a long haul, long flights, 12- 15-hour flights. we weren't partying there

it will probably start in a couple of months and stan mcchrystal, who the president met with, all the forces there said we have to be successful in kandahar or there won't be success. >> and there have been surprise trips to war zones by presidents, and they've become almost s.o.p., standard procedure. >> and i'm always the one who's surprised. >> and the one who goes. >> there i am on air force one, yeah. >> the question is, after so many of them, do they still have the same political impact, or are they intended to have any political impact back here at home? >> well, i think just to wave the flag and certainly to go see the u.s. troops. i have to say that -- first of all, it's at night. so it's very odd that you're standing there standing in the courtyard with hamid karzai in the middle of the night. they plan these last minutes. >> they do that for security. >> they do that for security reasons, yes, indeed. but then it does become strange, because he didn't have that many activities. the u.s. troops had waited, some of them told me, four hours in a hangar, 2,000 troops, and i tho

lives in afghanistan i think even though i was a skeptic of the 30,000 reinforcements that stanley mcchrystal asked for, i was a real skeptic i do is think it has a good chance of working. because of what happened in iraq and losses that we learned there. >> host: let's go back. chapters two through 55 finger awful the first chapter alone deals with the missed opportunity in iraq we could have saved the lives of 2000 american soldiers if this when the fuse of opportunity was lifted iraq with the military solution by killing? >> ironically i think the military provided the political opening for a lopsided july 2005. all kinds of small towns and medium-size towns on the iraqi syrian border and the iraqi insurgency had been in the disagreement with al qaeda and anbar and finally al qaeda went up and surrounded hundreds of fighters in july 2005. they would be wiped out. the sun was setting in the insurgent leader called jerry jones a friend of mine at the pentagon who was a special assistant to donald rumsfeld and sid you have to help less than jerry jones called at camp pendleton and said i can

. >> we heard a lot of general mcchrystal's emphasis on avoiding collateral damage casualties and a lot of that is restricted to the air strike. how are your crews handling that? are you still sending missions up to be ready if they're needed or are you on alert? it just seems that your guys are not having anything to do if you are not able to do direct support for the ground troops. >> i thank you for that question because this is one of those misconceptions in the american media i would like to address and that is the more this fight is a counterinsurgency, the more powerful it is. we fly more now than we ever have because we need to be there for the ground force commander, troops on the ground. we are there to support them directly. even though general mcchrystal has a tactical directive that helps us do the right thing where the people of this country are the center of gravity and we are here not to kill the enemy, but to protect the afghan people. we fly those missions to protect the coalition, protect the afghan people and protect the country they live in from their homes, to irri

. >> the coalition military, general mcchrystal's troops. >> yes.he senior military officers are frustrated. they understand that their strategy is a counter insurgency strategy that depends on having a credible local partner. ca karzai is incapable of being reformed. if he's incapable of being reformed, we're not going to accomplish the mission of the troops and those troops shouldn't be there. we don't have to debate if the mission in afghanistan is important or not if the counter insurgency strategy won't work because we don't have a local partner, we shouldn't be wasting these military resources on a strategy that is not working. >> if that's the case, is there an option between backing karzai and the other extreme one that you suggest which is pulling out the entire mission altogether? is there an alternative to karzai? is there some -- somebody and some path to another credible local partner? >> well, i want to be clear, i'm not advocating a complete withdrawal. i'm saying we should stop the surge, reduce the number of troops to the numbers th

now, another problem of course is general mcchrystal is trying to stop is killing of innocent civiliansason. he's got some extremely rigorous rules of engagement in place. it looks as if this was a bungled military operation. they killed two guys who were armed. they were actually not bad guys. and then they apparently killed three women also. this is the kind of thing that does damage in the middle of the counterinsurgency campaign in afghanistan. >> general, it's good of you to join us today. thank you. >>> the u.s. is forced to deal with president karzai, yet he's in power thanks to the united states. listen to what former deputy u.n. had to say. >> he's prone to tirades, he can be very emotional, act impulsively. some of the palace insiders say he has a fondness for some of afghanistan's most profitable exports. >> if you're going to make that allegations, let's be explicit about it. >> so you're saying he's got his own substance abuse problem? >> there are reports to that effect. >> peter on the morning rundown this morning. glenn kessler is a senior reporter for the "washington po

stanley mcchrystal asked for those troops in july.t to stop this narco insurgery like what is going on in mexico. he waited so long to send them that now it is difficult to deal with the poppy harvest the opium that's how they fund corruption for people like provincial governors some related to the head of state there. it is how they fund theç ied manufacturing operations. now, what he is doing is reaffirming that we're gonna pull out and basically leave the afghan national security forces in the lurch. >> sean: what does it mean when you put a deadline, timeline on an exit strategy as the president just did? >> we are in unexplored territory. there has never been a commander in chief announce he's sending troops and announced the deadline when he is withdrawing. he did that in the west point speech. what does that mean to our allies? we have 43ç other nations with us. afghan national security forces some of which are very good. i put them on my flank any time. some are very, very bad. there isn't time to train these forces if you s

general mcchrystal's request earlier in august for those troops in the insurgency program.e a map program upfront and bold headline, much of this talk of an unconventional approach to this as a quote social problem. but i think those things or they are. i think karzai, president karzai going just last week to help me with tribal elders. you've got to remember, this would be -- i don't even know how to describe this. the fact that these people are fighting and fighting with the taliban is because they don't think karzai even knows they exist. and the folks he has in power there, they feel are so corrupt that any money they give never trickles down. for him to show up as a symbolic act to sit on the fourth 400 of these guys and they tell me what your problems are is an earthmoving kind of symbolic gesture. i think you're going to see more of this approach. we are hearing british foreign secretary miller brand so that we need to deal with the taliban and, the ones that work for the dollars opposed to the ideology. the $500 million package that was announced in london in januar

at december 1st, president obama's speech and the announcement of 30,000 more troops, general mcchrystal's request for the trips and the counter insurgency program, you don't see in that program up front in bold headlines much of this talk of an unconventional approach to this as a, quote, social problems but i think those things, are there. i think president karzai gunning just last week to meet with tribal elders. you have to remember i don't even know how to describe this. the fact that these people are fighting and fighting with the taliban is because they don't think that karzai even as the exist and the folks he has in power, they feel they are so corrupt any money that they get never trickles down for him to show what is a symbolic act to sit on the floor with 400 of these guys and say tell me what your problems are is an earth moving kind of symbolic gesture. i think you're going to see more of this approach we are hearing british foreign secretary millo brandt said that we need to start dealing with the taliban, the ones that work for the dollar as opposed to the ideology, the 500

i think even though i was a skeptic of the 30,000 reinforcements that stanley mcchrystal asked for, i was a real skeptic but i think it has a chance of working and it's because of what happened in iraq and the lessons we learned there. >> host: if the rest of your book, chapters two through five were all full i think the first chapter alone that deals with its call it the missed opportunity in iraq, the fact that we probably could have saved at least the lives of 2,000 american soldiers if this opportunity had been seized so what was the sort of in your view the first moment that the fuse of opportunity was light in iraq to say there's a way to seek a political solution here by talking to these people as opposed to a military solution by telling them? >> guest: i ron ackley they provided the political opening in al qaeda in july small town e iraqi syrian border and from the iraqi insurgency helped them engage in a disagreement with al qaeda and al anbar and finally al qaeda went up against the insurgency and surrounded them, surrounded hundreds of their fighters at this time and in ju

number one, nobody has done more to try to change the rules of engagement than general mcchrystal. he feels deeply and passionately about this. i really say that as a friend of his, not as a professional colleague. i know how deeply it matters to him. and he's doing everything he can to prevent it and to deal with its consequences when it occurs. after all, war is hell and civilian casualties are a part of all recent wars. and the second thing i would say is that civilian casualties increase as overall operations increase in intensity, and therefore it's not surprising this would happen. >> well, but how does it affect the civilian efforts you're doing -- the agriculture programs, the security issues associated with having civilians in the field? >> it doesn't affect the agriculture programs at all. it does -- it could affect, it could affect, the attitude towards the forces if it's not contained over time. and everyone understands that, no one more than general mcchrystal, and that's why he's made it such a high priority. at the same time, let's never forget the fact that the tali

guest: public security for the people, the general mcchrystal adjustment in our strategy to in orderake progress in many of the other issues, on the economy and politics security is fundamental. the way to make progress, including bringing about change on the part of some taliban to join the government and reconcile with the government, you have to secure an area, protect the people, because in security after eight years on the part of the people, it has produced doubts about the strategy, the commitment, the efficiency and effectiveness of the coalition. that is what you see in these polls that we referred to. i support this adjustment, the focus on production of the population as a core objective going forward but -- protection of the population as a core objective going forward. host: we are talking with the zalmay khalilzad, a former u.s. ambassador to the u.n., iraq, afghanistan. let's go to florida. caller: good morning. i would like to make reference to a news story that came out of afghanistan about two or three years ago regarding the young man from afghanistan who went to g

mcchrystal from georgetown university. view --guest: there is at leaste of diversity in urban life. but i also think there is diversity of economics in terms of background and education. the issue for students is, once they get into college, it is where the two worlds meet. hopefully what we are able to do at the university level is to make an enriching experience despite their background. host: let's go to john on the independent line. good morning. caller: i just love c-span and i call occasionally. it is a pleasure to see a gal like crsystal come on and be so intelligent and well spoken. i am 53 years old and we still have racial problems. it is a shame that we cannot appreciate each other more than we do. that is what makes america great. we do have to be, i mean, united we stand. if everyone gets on the same page, it is a fantastic thing. i think obama is a good man and i think his heart is in the right place. hopefully, better days are yet to come. guest: i agree with you. i do think that we ought to stand as -- we have to stand as one america. there will continue to be racial

this is what general mcchrystal worries about -- incidents of civilians being killed by military actionut of control. what did the marines learn here? >> tactical pulse, figure out what's going on. you had an i.d. going off. >> reporter: how to work as a team under fire. >> did you know what was going on all the time? >> no. >> when you guys got contacted you just -- who said who the contact was from. i couldn't hear what was going on. >> reporter: how realistic, how good is the training? >> i like this. it's good training. we get in there. you have actual role players speaking the language, smells different. >> reporter: at the end of the day the idea is if a young marine is going to make a mistake, better here in training than on the front lines of the war. barbara starr, cnn, camp pendleton, california. >>> political dignitaries from more than 40 nations descending upon washington for a two-day security summit hosts by president obama, reportedly the biggest assembly of world leaders hosted by an american president since 1945. lye pictures now and in 15 minutes we'll hear what the su

. >> now it seems this week we are actually, i saw general mcchrystal and geraldo was there and olliehat, but we have another issue in kandahar in particular, and that is hamid karzai's brother. >> yeah. >> he's in a leadership position. how do we get him out of the way and how important is it that we build up other leaders so that he is ma marginalized at a mini? >> nats a great question, jamie. the bottom line is there's not a smoking gun with akmed karzai. the plan is to wire around him, to operate around him, to find other leaders they can use to buttress this guy, not force him out of office but to try to establish control in kandahar, reestablish confidence in the government while karzai stays in place. to your point exactly, jamie. this is going to be very difficult because kandahar is owned by the taliban. there's very little regard inside that city among the local population for karzai and his crooked cronies, a very, very difficult job that puts the coalition under a great deal of pressure to get this right. >> as we continue to send millions, if not billions more in aid and

number one, nobody has done more to try to change the rules of engagement than general mcchrystal. he feels deeply and passionately about this. i really say that as a friend of his, not as a professional colleague. i know how deeply it matters to him. and he's doing everything he can to prevent it and to deal with its consequences when it occurs. after all, war is hell and civilian casualties are a part of all recent wars. and the second thing i would say is that civilian casualties increase as overall operations increase in intensity, and therefore it's not surprising this would happen. >> well, but how does it affect the civilian efforts you're doing -- the agriculture programs, the security issues associated with having civilians in the field? >> it doesn't affect the agriculture programs at all. it does -- it could affect, it could affect, the attitude towards the forces if it's not towards the forces if it's not -- if it is not contained overtime. no one understands that more than the general. that is why it is a priority. at the same time, let's not forget the fact that the t

this is what general mcchrystal worries about, incidents of civilians being killed by military actionins out of control. what did the marines learn here? >> tactical pause, figure out what is going on. >> reporter: how to work as a team under fire. >> did you know what was going on in the back all the time? >> no. >> yeah. you need to get past that. >> yeah. you guys have to contact. when you have contact, you have to know where the contact is coming from. >> reporter: how does everybody think it went here today? how realistic? how good is the training? >> i like it. it's good training. we get in there. you have actual role players there speaking the language. smells different. >> you know, it was hot, smelly and sandy inside that tomato packing plant. you really felt the walls begin to close in on you. it was really some of the most hyper realistic training i have ever seen. and, of course, the goal here is to make sure if the marines are going to make mistakes, if troops are going to make a mistake, make it in training before they get to afghanistan because we all see the consequenc

in contrast, general mcchrystal said that the goal is to capture him alive and bring him to justice. cia director panetta said that should bin laden being caught he would be taken to a military base and interrogated by u.s. agents. mr. holder, would you like to explain that comment and clarify and when we all hope bin laden is captured? >> with regard to osama bin laden, it is part of the target for the united states. our plan is to capture him or to kill him. our hope would be to capture him and interrogate him to get useful intelligence from him about the structure of al qaeda, about al qaeda's plans. what i said in that hearing was an assessment of the likelihood that we are going to be able to capture him alive. what i said was that with regard to that possibility both in our attempt to capture him and from what we know about instructions that he was given to the people who surrounded him, his security forces, i think it is highly unlikely that he will be taken alive. but our goal is to either capture osama bin laden or to kill him. >> mr. attorney general the last time you can d

in contrast, general mcchrystal said that the goal is to capture him alive and bring him to justice. cia director panetta said that should bin laden being caught he would be taken to a military base and interrogated by u.s. agents. mr. holder, would you like to explain that comment and clarify and when we all hope bin laden is captured? >> with regard to osama bin laden, it is part of the target for the united states. our plan is to capture him or to kill him. our hope would be to capture him and interrogate him to get useful intelligence from him about the structure of al qaeda, about al qaeda's plans. what i said in that hearing was an assessment of the likelihood that we are going to be able to capture him alive. what i said was that with regard to that possibility both in our attempt to capture him and from what we know about instructions that he was given to the people who surrounded him, his security forces, i think it is highly unlikely that he will be taken alive. but our goal is to either capture osama bin laden or to kill him. >> mr. attorney general the last time you can d

after first seeing the graphic, general mcchrystal joked, when we understand that slide, we'll have wonhe war. that's a good one. >> and a stunning admission from the new york safety inspector in "the new york times," despite filing hundreds of clean reports for asbestos and lead testing, a longtime inspector admitted he actually had not performed a single one of those tests. >> that's terrific. "wall street journal," a federal appeals court ruled that a gender discrimination suit against walmart can go forward, clearing the way for one of the biggest class action lawsuits in history. >> and "miami herald," manuel noriega has been extradited to france where he's expected to stand trial on money laundering charges. >> "usa today," young adults are less devoted to faith. a major survey by a christian research firm shows most young adults don't pray or read the bible. more than 70% said they were more spiritual than religious. >> i've got one more. >> what's that? >> one more from the papers. so i'm googling mika yesterday, as i always do, every hour on the hour. >> weirdo. >> i feel you g

started, the capital, and it is in play now, kandahar, because we have made clear that general mcchrystal plans to go in slowly but build up to provide security for the people. the taliban has also been having activities. it is like the anbar of iraq, where al qaeda decontrol -- gained control and that they had to change the circumstances so that people could change sides. here, too, security for the people -- without that, at incidents such as what we saw, the killing at the deputy mayor, is likely to continue in the coming weeks and months as the fight for kandahar escalates and matures. host: the article goes on to say that over half of the todd heap on -- over half of the taliban are "incorruptible." what are the implications of that? guest: that is a worrisome number in that paper today about increase support look taliban. -- trees to support for the taliban. this is attributed to the corruption and the government. and people are tired of the war that has gone on for eight years. there is a sense that at least under the taliban there was a greater sense of security, although there wa