he gave his address where he was joined by the joint chiefs chairman admiral mike mullen and the debtand the deputy defense secretary. ♪ ♪ [star spangled banner] banner"] ♪ ♪ [drum roll] ♪ ["taps"] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [applause] >> please and gentlemen, please stand for the introduction of the vice-president, conners, invocation and national anthem. -- ownerhonors, invocation and national anthem. >mr. jack meter, arlingt national cemetery superintendent. major general carl r. horst, the united states army district of arm -- of washington. about role michael mullen, chairman, joint chiefs of staff. the hon. -- hon. william flynt iii, deputy -- wliam lynn iii, deputy secretary of defense. ladies and gentlemen, the vice president of the unid states. ♪ >> will you go with me in prayer? our gracious father, we ask you to be present among us today as we pause to honor those who ve served our nation and without hesitation, with selfless courage, and a love for our tion and the people we serve. thank you for the willingness to fight for freedom, for america, for home and family, anfour of their comrade

i'm very honored to introduce the keynote speaker admiral mike mullen. killed, over 300,000 wounded, and 3.5 million of us to serve, now the biggest surviving group of veteran. admiral mullen has had a long and distinguished career with the armed forces. it is now the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. he is the senior military officer in the armed forces. he is by law the principle of pfizer and -- to the commander- in-chief and the secretary of defense. react -- three months after we got out of the west point, he participated in duty off the coast of vietnam. during the course of his career he served on six other warships, three as commanding officer. as an admiral, he commanded the u.s.s. george washington strike force and the second fleet. he served in the navy staff and also the staff of the secretary of defense. he obtained them master of science degree in monterey, calif., and also graduated from the advanced management program at the harvard business school. he served as vice chief of naval operations 3 he served as commander of nato joint fo

among those who speak at the event are admiral mike mullen.r an hour. ♪ [applause] >> excellent. well, one day when she becomes even more thymus, you can say, i saw her alive at the vietnam veterans memorial. such extraordinary talent really makes us all proud and on a great day like this, this is memorial day, it actually began many years ago has warred decoration day, when people would decorate this cultures -- the graves of the soldiers that fought in war, and it gradually became memorial day for all of the nation for war casualties to receive honor and respect and recognition. on a great day, we're here to welcome you here on behalf of the vietnam veterans memorial fund and the national park service, and we are here especially to day to remember the many thousands and thousands of troops who were in harm's way today in afghanistan and iraq, doing a great job. let's give them all a big hand. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, please stand all the color guard will put the colors in place. what they do is that they have had joint service color

but secretary gates and the chairman of the joint chiefs, admiral mike mullen, defended the war effort. >> i do not believe we are bogged down. i believe we are making some progress. it is slower and harder than we anticipated. but for all the reasons the chairman just articulated, i think we are moving forward. >> woodruff: gates said petraeus was the natural choice for afghanistan because he already know it is players and the plan. afghan president hamid karzai had argued that the surest way to make progress was to keep general mcchrystal on the job. but a karzai spokesman today voiced confidence in petraeus. >> we hear from lots of sources so that he is one of the senior most generals in the u.s. army so it is a show of respect to what's happening here in afghanistan. >> reporter: around kabul, ordinary afghans praised mcchrystal for cutting civilian casualties . >> (translated): when mcchrystal was not yet in afghanistan, there were lots of civilian killings here. but after mcchrystal came to afghanistan, killings of civilians decreased. >> woodruff: others said they knew little ab

as a public service created by america's cable companies. >> on thursday, joint chiefs of staff mike mullen voiced the decision -- support to replace general the crystal -- mcchrystal with general petraeus. this event was hosted by the hill newspaper in washington. this is one hour. >> as most of you know his background, he was sworn in as the 17th chairman of the joint chiefs of staff on a sober first, two dozen 7. he was reconfirmed in the position in two dozen 9. he serves as the principal military advisor to the president, the national security council, and the homeland security council. the way we will work this this morning is the admiral will come and speak and we will open it up to questions and interests. i will run around like phil donahue with a microphone try to get everybody's questions answered. we will adjourn accomplish and about one hour greenback i am sorry. thank you. it will be very important that when i run around with the microphone that everyone state their name, affiliation, so we know who you are. then go ahead and ask your question. i know we want to get right to i

i'm very honored to introduce the keynote speaker admiral mike mullen. are here on -- to honor 58,000 killed, over 300,000 wounded, and 3.5 million of us to serve, now the biggest surviving group of veteran. admiral mullen has had a long and distinguished career with the armed forces. it is now the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. he is the senior military officer in the armed forces. he is by law the principle of pfizer and -- to the commander- in-chief and the secretary of defense. react -- three months after we got out of the west point, he participated in duty off the coast of vietnam. during the course of his career he served on six other warships, three as commanding officer. as an admiral, he commanded the u.s.s. george washington strike force and the second fleet. he served in the navy staff and also the staff of the secretary of defense. he obtained them master of science degree in monterey, calif., and also graduated from the advanced management program at the harvard business school. heserved as vice chief of naval operations 3 he served

and later, defense secretary gates and joint chiefs admiral mike local -- and admiral mike mullen discussed their thoughts on the decision to replace general mcchrystal. starting monday, watch the confirmation hearing for supreme court nominee to elena kagan. she will testify before the senate judiciary committee as member's question her about her career experience as she aims to replace justice john paul stevens retiring. watch it live beginning at 12:30 p.m. eastern on c-span3, c-span radio and c-span.org. >> i want to say to the american people this is a change in personnel, but not a change in policy. general patraeus full report is a bit in our review last fall. and he both supported and helped design the strategy that we have in place. >> learn more about the president's choice to head forces in afghanistan. but general david patraeus has been on c-span more than 40 times. watch his hearings and briefings and other events on line. >> tonight on c-span2's "book tv" -- the author spent 45 days in a dark cell. he writes about it in open court captive." -- in a "captive." find the entire

and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, mike mullen, has repeatedly and passionately argued for allowing gay men and women to serve honestly in the military. [applause] we know that forcing gay and lesbian soldiers to live a lie or to leave the military, that doesn't contribute to our security -- it harms our security. and thanks to patrick murphy and others, for the first time in history, the house has passed a repeal that would allow gay men and women to openly serve in our armed forces. and this repeal is authored so that the pentagon can complete its review of the policy -- which is critical, by the way, not only to passage, but it's also critical to making sure that the change is accepted and implemented effectively. in the senate, the armed services committee has approved repeal for the first time, and the full body is poised to vote soon. so here's the bottom line: we have never been closer to ending this discriminatory policy. and i'm going to keep on fighting until that bill is on my desk and i can sign it. [applause] of course, ultimately, change is about more than jus

meanwhile admiral mike mullen, the joint chief and today the g-20 summit concluding. and president obama extending an invitation to that's chinese president. >> and "congress is a war zone." we'll read more from that editorial in a moment. as always you can call the numbers for republicans or democratics and our independent line. 3/4.com/c-span wj or send us an email. let's begin with the philadelphia inquirer editorial. we'll go to your call ins about five minutes or so. some of the biggest challenges facing this nation reducing debt, fixing the social security. reforming immigration policy can't be done unless democrats and republicans work together, yet part sonship is at its worst in decades. they disagree on minor matters much less problems that require hard work and political risk-taking. >> the problem one said, we become much such part son such part son this is the "sunday star." to give you a sense of the security around the g-20 summit taking place. behind the black block is the headline. meanwhile the toronto sun, the measures to keep things under control a

later, defense secretary robert gates and admiral mike mullen testified on next year's defense department budget. sunday on "newsmakers", senate judiciary committee chairman patrick leahy on the upcoming confirmation hearing for supreme court nominee elena kagan. "newsmakers", sunday at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern on c- span. supreme court justice clarence thomas on the prospect of a new justice. >> you are bringing in a family member and it changes the whole family. it is a different today than what it was when i first got in. and i have to admit, you grow very fond of the accord that you spend a long time on. >> with the confirmation hearings for elena kagan starting june 28, learn more about the supreme court in this new book. providing unique insight about the court. available in hardcover and also as an e-book. >> a look at the proposed merger between united and continental airlines. lawmakers heard testimony from airline executives and a labor union representatives. if approved by the justice department, it would create the world's largest carrier. held by the house transportat

mike mullen joined him for a 40- minute news conference. >> we have a change of plans in afghanistan. i support the decision of barack obama to take the resignation as the commander in the security force in afghanistan. i deeply regret the circumstances that made this decision necessary. this is one of the finest officers of his generation. and he has an extraordinary record in leading the fight against some of the most lethal enemies of this country. it was this -- these and other qualities that lead for me to recommend him to the command last year. but i believe the poor judgment that he has shown with regard to the profile in "rolling stone" has made his membership in the national security team untenable. this is unacceptable under our form of government and this is inconsistent with the high standards of military leaders. the soldiers anddthe coalition partners are making extraordinary sacrifices in the fight against al qaeda and their extremist allies. the focus -- the focus must be on succeeding without distraction. i am confident that we will be able to achieve this goal under