he didn't mention iraq. made him seem really out of touch with the american people. >> this race? the big engine is the tea party. correct? the tea party likes rubio. does that make a difference in >> you can't be elected president just with the tea party. they have the tea party. >> that is one of the miss. romney had a huge problem with the very conservative voters that will be with him no matter what. mitt romney does not need a choice that shores up the state. >> they have to be motivated by their hay dread of obama. he is go to guy now for republicans on trying to tweak the dream act so they vote for it. what he wants to do is offer kids who were brought here illegally by their parents. student vie a is a -- visa to go to school. it's a more palettable way to give legitimate city to people. >> the ax >>> this businessman people assume because of that somehow he will bring some magic elixir to the economy. when they get under the hood and see what he is proposing more massive tax cuts for the wealthy. fewer rules for wall street. deep cuts in the things we need to grow, educat

you mentioned iraq in the run up to the iraq war gallup trode right before the war seventy two percent support among the americans that support was much lower before the war was and now so there was a factor of rallying behind the leader what do you think a factor more on what the pm polls on the leaders or the leaders on the airplane are. sort of neither one what it is that is that americans are getting educated on what the crisis is so so in america only about twenty percent of americans follow the news like you and me and all those people that were in here a little while ago so when we're taking our polls like of a possible war in iraq you've got a whole bunch of americans aren't following it all up until it gets serious you see them and so it's about spinning thing it's one thing is gets there i would say spinning as much as just advancing those for being appalled by gallup recent data either way i look at it and say oh boy why doesn't the government pick the resulting took out of the back according great. guy and i roll around on the floor i've had this same job for twenty four ye

information i'm sure it plays a role you mentioned iraq in the run up to the iraq war gallup showed right before the war seventy two percent support among the americas and that's support was much lower before the war was and out so there was a factor of rallying behind the leader what do you think of the facts more on what the pinion polls on the leaders or the leaders on the opinion polls. sort of neither a lot of what it is that is that americans are getting educated on but the crisis is so small in america only about twenty percent of americans follow the news like you and me and all those people that were in here a little while ago so when we're taking our polls like of possible war in iran you've got a whole bunch of americans aren't following it all up until it gets serious you see them and so it's about spinning thing its way the right thing is that it's there and i would say spinning as much as just advancing news but for being our poll gallup played out in a way to look at it and say oh boy why doesn't the government pick up with all the characters and act accordingly great. guy

that other nations foreign policy is allowed to be about their national interests not to mention the war in iraq the nearly eight year intervention debacle that cost thousands of lives billions and treasure perhaps an unmeasurable amount of worldwide reputation somehow that wasn't even mentioned once so if this is the future of the republican party and their foreign policy is the g.o.p. in trouble joining me to discuss it is james fallows forbes contributor and daily caller columnist james thanks so much for joining us tonight and i'm going to start off with something that you wrote actually about this speech you said that it proves that obama has the g.o.p. beat on foreign policy so go on tell us more. sure well obama's foreign policy is pretty incoherent itself he's been pretty good at dealing with things that are urgent and not so good at dealing with things that are important and if we don't figure them out now they're really going to come to bite us and you know over the next five or ten years nonetheless his foreign policies is managed to be such a hodgepodge that he's put the conservative

i'm not mentioning jordan or iraq because they are taking a different position than saudi arabia in iran somehow and one how you see that it's trying to support the syrian regime and saleh a the foreign minister recently said that any any political change in syria should come within the framework of the assad regime and there are. they don't want to see the regime is or more from our dates they support them militarily their support and diplomatically. and before we go to break we hardly got a break it has nothing to do with democracy and the welfare of the syrian people right all of this western media coverage is this junk that well yeah. well i think all it is depends on who you're looking for and so if you would look on the iranian position as you've been here we'll go with your friend over ask you after the show break after a short break we'll continue our discussion on the arab spring and counter revolution stay with. us. and if. you want to. leave us keep this in society to carry the room. then. make. civilization notice their absence. but is there life outside civilization possible

change sovereign state the us says that syrians deserve democratic transition but when you mention countries like iraq afghanistan and libya shouldn't the u.s. and in some ways learn some lessons before trying to teach more countries about well let's imagine how this so those in the middle east where we were mubarak's great supporter. you know that i don't think anyone in the muslim world thinks that we care much about human rights or democracy we have since the first gulf war planted military bases some the size of small cities i think there is at this point absolutely no credibility i'm talking about within the middle east when the united states claims that it would like to bring liberty or democracy to syria. that said the assad regime and i was there under saddam is a pretty repugnant and horrible regime my feeling on syria and i'm not on the ground and as a reporter you know i i think that finally for one to make those kinds of judgments have to be on the ground but my feeling is that everything should be pushed through to create some kind of a cease fire because in cities like cities like homes

before moving on to concluding remarks i want to mention the rise in iraq, which has risen just into the top 20 for the period 2007 to 2011 as it seeks to rebuild its arms forces and security forces. with international assistance, also going it alone and seeking its own suppliers, we've also noted similar regard afghanistan increasing significantly, too. my concluding remarks, and the plug for the database is that i think there's a lot more information, a lot more data that's probably more interesting than the top five participates i've presented today and recommend people to check it out and play with the total, and i think what you can find there is transfer, perhaps not between the largest suppliers and recipients chut which may be of concern for a variety of reasons. chantel mentioned arms acquisitions between algeria and morocco in south each asia and of particular concern for me. one could locate the information on who is supplying arms being used for internal repression in syria or other states in the middle east. one could also identify transfer seeming excessive or questions

the foreign relations committee in '07 when we had a hearing on iraq reconstruction programs with the state department and they mentioned in their testimony that they had $32 billion in iraq reconstruction programs that were appropriated and in some form of being put into play. and i asked in a way that i would normally have asked if i were in the pentagon years before to see the contracts and the amount and what -- who the contractor was and what the state of implementation was on these different contracts. and they couldn't tell us. we worked with them for months and they could not tell us where $32 billion had been spent in a specific way where we could evaluate the results. and that was one of the motivations that caused me to start working as avidly as i did along with chairman mccaskill to see if we couldn't have the management structures in place catch up with the realities of what happened in the post-9/11 environment of military commitments overseas. this is a particular problem in the state department and usaid. i don't think they had anticipated these sorts of programs before the situation that existed once 9

this is the nats second annual wounded warrior game and as kristen mentioned, they lost limbs while serving in iraq or afghanistan. >>> and a little chilly out there for the game. how does it look? >> i think it looks really nice. temperatures in the 70s and 60s and i think it's pretty mild outside. so great baseball weather. in fact, some warmer air coming this way and we cool things back down and i also have your easter forecast. here's a look at our national, or michael and son weather camera right now of our beautiful capital. we have mostly sunny skies. temperatures now down to 67. winds are east, southeast at 5 miles per hour. and here's a look at the areas that we are seeing severe weather in texas. and those, we're talking tornadoes and also, we have had two tornadoes touch down so far. here in our area, high pressure is moving off the coast tonight and then we're going to see some clouds move in this evening through the overnight hours. and only a slight chance for showers later tonight. i would say after midnight. right now it's 67 in downtown. lower 60s for annapolis. 57 in pax river. bu

mentioned during u.s. immigration policy discussions all this despite the fact that migrant deaths near the border in the past fifteen years are about the same as the u.s. casualties in the wars in iraq and afghanistan are going to reports from arizona. sonora desert in arizona helping shape its. spectacular peaks. it's a treasure of the american southwest but this is also a frontierland where a deadly conflict is underway. it's almost a mass disaster situation the disaster which dr headspaces is the growing number of

in 2006-2007 iraq was wracked by a bloody civil war pitting sunni against gm. in 2012 as i mentioned baghdad was able to successfully hold an arab summit. political parties remain engaged in the political process despite the tensions and problems. iraq is on the pact to resolving outstanding disputes with kuwait. levels of violence have hit a historic lows. oil production from 2009 has risen from 2.4 million to 2.8 million barrels a day and is rising. there remain significant challenges. there are huge political challenges iraq's leaders must address. additionally iraq will have to create more widely shared economic opportunity and battle corruption. we are in an excellent place to work with our iraqi partners to help them accomplish these goals and build on the progress to make a pluralistic era of democracy for the first time in its history. one final note if i may. many of us in this room have for much of the past decade focused deeply on iraq's internal politics, internal security, internal economics. my current position in the state department reminds me how important it is to s

sitting on foreign relations committee in '07, we had a hearing on iraq reconstruction programs with the state department. they mention in the chest with a $32 billion in iraq's reconstruction programs that had been appropriated and were in some form of, being put into play, and they asked in a way that i wouldn't have asked if i were in the pentagon years before, to see the contracts and the amount with the contractor was, and what the state of implementation was on these different contracts. and they couldn't tell us. we worked with him for months. they could not tell us where $32 billion has been spent in a specific way where we could evaluate the results. and that was one of the motivations that caused me to start working as avidly as i did, along with chairman mccaskill, to see if we couldn't have the management structures in place, catch up with the realities of what happened since 9/11 environment of military commitments overseas. this is a particular problem in the state department and the usaid. i don't think they had anticipated these sorts of programs before the situation that existed once 9/11 occurred. we

this country has spent in iraq, in afghanistan, well north of a trillion dollars. a prominent conservative mentioned to me this morning, well, the original afghanistan war wasn't really about oil. that's as i said earlier, osama bin laden declared war on the united states in 1998 because our troops were in saudi arabia and our troops were this saudi arabia because of the gulf war one. and president george herbert walker bush said the war was about oil. alan greenspan repeated it in his book. president nixon thought about invading saudi arabia after the first arab oil embargo. 10 this is -- you're talking about $15 billion over ten years to try to incent movement towards electrification. we at fed ex have also supported either vehicle mileage taxes or an increase in the fuel tax in order to fund the appropriate infrastructure in this country. we won't raisete x.

he brought home, as already mentioned, all 150,000 of our troops and developed a strong relationship with a sovereign iraq. last december, governor romney initially applauded the withdrawal, which he went on to say, partially which is true, went on to say the credit should go to president bush. but he applauded the decision. three months later, he reversed him, saying, and i quote, it was an enormous error, end of quote. i can act this up. and saying that he would have left tens of thousands of u.s. troops behind in iraq. in afghanistan, president obama developed a clear strategy to end the war in 2014 while building the capacity of the afghan government, its security forces, and its people. setting a withdrawal date was the best way to get the afghans to step up and take responsibility for their own country. without it we know from iraq it doesn't happen. if we're doing it all, why step up? so we know, we know, unless you set a date the likelihood of stepping up and taking on the responsibility is unlikely to cur. folks, as i've said in many circumstances, we cannot want peace and security in afghanistan

iraq leading the surge. he serve ed as centcom commande and the commander of u.s. forces in afghanistan. our guest speaker's name is often mentionedur revered leaders of the past, generals washington, grant, persian, macarthur and eisenhower. for the contributions he has made in the development of doctrine, development of leaders and his leadership in the battlefield. most recently president obama has called upon him to serve as the director of the central intelligence agency. ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to induct a long-time supporter of roa and the reserve forces into the minuteman hall of fame. please join me in welcoming director david petraeus. thank you, sir. [ applause ] >> thank you. >> well, thanks very, very much. good morning to you all. thanks for a warm welcome. it is great to be with you all this morning, it's great to be part of your 2012 national security symposium, the 86th, i note. and it's great to be with so many with whom i've been privileged to serve in the past decade in particular. just out of curiosity, in fact, how many here have been deployed since 9/11 if i could just see a show of

not to mention the hundreds of thousands of iraqis killed and not to mention the upheaval and chaos and other issues that arose in iraq as a result of our conduct. as a, a terrible consequence of this, and if people understood that, and almost more people more aware they have the power to make a difference about, then i think we could see things change to get i mean, they did have the power maybe it was occupied wall street that created the feeling that something had to be done about the banks or maybe we need a much by wall street or equivalent to give the american people the sense that we have to have in the top political decisions to engage in trouble, but -- in criminal conduct. that idea has to be put out of it and maybe all of us in this room if we go forth from here contact elected officials, talk to our friends, write letters to the editor, do stuff on the internet maybe we can begin to make a difference. anyway, if we don't do anything, surely we won't. thank you. [applause] specs before. >> it gives people a readable story of the constitution. not just that. i went by it and it broke it down so that students

if iraq is going to have a constitution and afghanistan is, it's going to be a written document. that was our influence. one thing we haven't mentioned that has been influential is the idea of a judiciary. other states including britain, they created a supreme court. they finally lifted a few members of the house out of the house of lowers and said you will be the supreme court. that has been in the last two years. so a bill of rights, other states in europe adopted bills of rights. independent judiciary and radification came out of american experience. even though the separation of powers that, is to say we do not allow members of the ministry, the cabinet to simultaneously hold off in the legislature. that is exactly what the british mandate, that system of separation and powers has not been copied. all other respects, we have been influential around the world. >> i am glad to hear you say that. i said something in a similar in a blog post on the national constitution center website in response to a very interesting article in the "new york times" in which he suggested that the rest of the world was really not following the america

interesting that you have an institution that is established, and of course you mentioned the emphasis placed on peace in iraq. it seems ironic that as a result of those efforts the u.s. ultimately ended up engaging in a 10-year war. what would be the current outlook in many other world issue that can take us in a direction that will not ultimately end up in wars since this institution and other organizations are centered around peace? thank you. guest: it is a good question. our work today in some of the most troubled areas of the world like afghanistan are designed to get conflicts under control so they do not end of being a fight we have to get in the middle of. howard will lovelock program tries to establish legal procedures -- our rule of law program tries to establish legal procedures to manage conflict. in iraq, land conflict grew out of policies that created enormous tension. we helped the local people establish a tribunal and arrangements where they could adjudicate these land disputes rather than shoot at one another. i could give you lots of examples. our work is to try to find ways to get these ar

interesting that you have an institution that is established, and of course you mentioned the emphasis placed on peace in iraqit seems ironic that as a result of those efforts the u.s. ultimately ended up engaging in a 10-year war. what would be the current outlook in many other world issue that can take us in a direction that will not ultimately end up in wars since this institution and other organizations are centered around peace? thank you. guest: it is a good question. our work today in some of the most troubled areas of the world like afghanistan are designed to get conflicts under control so they do not end of being a fight we have to get in the middle of. howard will lovelock program tries to establish legal procedures -- our rule of law program tries to establish legal procedures to manage conflict. in iraq, land conflict grew out of policies that created enormous tension. we helped the local people establish a tribunal and arrangements where they could adjudicate these land disputes rather than shoot at one another. i could give you lots of examples. our work is to try to find ways to get these area

the president having mentioned theneump a ntnfite j a tirafcaie anberehegave secin frt troops, and a banner saying mission accomplished. when the mission wasn't accomplish in iraq or afghanistan. the notion that this is outrageous or out of bounds, you have to put into some context. this was president clinton giving testimony to the presidential decision, the priorities, the character test that all come together in that one mission. it is not just about giving thee d toe le binpoti toive tat oerorhe miio soai game. its aair issue and it is pretty downplayed in tone compared to what we've seen from previous presidents and previous election campaigns. >> that's right, isn't it? the president was very measured. he is not encouraging excessive celebration. you've just seen him in the press conference. what he did say was others, i assume he's referring to mitt romney, must stand by their own words. >> let me say one thing. i still applaud the president for having given the order and the decision to go ahead with that navseatrebo, yev harr thstwarinahuinon whe e id she tug t pridt'ne ad w despable with. what she took issue with, which i do, was to question governor

mentioned because it seems that that's it's like a fairy tale. well it's hard to know what they really want because what they have achieved in afghanistan and iraq and now in libya is pretty much chaos and yet they go on saying that they want democracy and this and that and the other. and you know some people can can really wonder is if that's a delusion or whether chaos is what some people really want in order to weaken all of the countries in the area in preparation for an attack say on iran it is so so you know you do what they say they want and how they behave really in quite serious contradiction ok just a very there's still ample evidence that assad is popular with some groups core groups in syria and that's not going to change and considering our geishas of atrocities by the quote he called opposition or oppositions or rebels whatever you want to call them i mean we've there's a specter of ethnic cleansing on the horizon. well you have an ethnic problem there in syria sectarian problems no question about it i don't know how you come to the conclusion that assad is popular he's obviously popular if you look at what is happening in syria yo