mr. bill ayers. -- i will now turn the floor over to mr. bill ayers. you have 18 minutes to start his minutes tohave 18 start his opening remarks. this question and answer session will continue for 30 minutes until the debate ends. members that audience reserve all the questions to the time allotted and i present their questions clearly and directly as to give others around him a chance to speak as well. we hope that making this event responsive to issues that interest you that we can create an evening of debate and as enjoyable as it is memorable. with outfielder -- without further ado, i yield the floor to mr. ayres. [applause] >>. call for coming. this keeps being called a debate, but i don't know who the pro or con is. i think it is discussion about a lovely question -- what is so great about america? when a dialog was proposed to me on this expansive question, i immediately said, i think i will make a list. list, toppingn my the list is chicago. it is my hometown and i know it well. he cause it is one small piece crazy of its outsized and complexi

mr. bill ayers. [applause] >> thank you all for coming. this keeps being called a debate, but i don't know who the pro or con is. when a dialogue was first proposed, on my what is great this, chicago. that is right because it is my hometown and i know it well and because it is one small piece in all its outsized and crazy complexities of america itself, the city of big shoulders. chicago is one of the things that is so awesomely great about america. musical, the blues brothers, corrigan, quindlen brooks brooks.wlyn described as ae beautiful woman with a broken nose. sameuld have said the thing about america. so great, and there is more. make michigan, the vast inland sea now under siege from climate change, the mass of prairie that , and the imagination chicago cubs, who teach us humility and perseverance. abroadr i have traveled and inside the united states, the name evokes a response. four years it was our opponent, rep that tat, and then jordan,ngly, michael michael jordan. someone asked me if i knew oprah. of course it is a small cap t

mr. bill ayers. he will have 18 minutes for his opening remarks. this question and answer session will continue for 30 minutes until the debate ends. we asked that audience members reserve all the questions to the time allotted and i present their questions clearly and directly as to give others around him a chance to speak as well. we hope that making this event responsive to issues that interest you that we can create an evening of debate and as enjoyable as it is memorable. without further ado, i yield the floor to mr. ayers. and thank both of our speakers for participating in this forum. mr. ayers? [applause] >> thank you all for coming. this keeps being called a debate, but i don't know who the pro or con is. i think it is discussion about a lovely question -- what is so great about america? when a dialog was proposed to me on this expansive question, i immediately said, i think i will make a list. let's see -- on my list, topping the list is chicago. that's right. because it is my hometown and i know it well. and because it is one small piece

mr. bill ayers. i am from newberry, new hampshire. am just a citizen of the state, moved up here from new york and am now living in the great free state of new hampshire. the point i'm trying to make was this -- it was going back to your questions of why we went into iraq. i believe, if i am correct that , the majority of the congress did vote on that and based upon the facts that they had at the time, we went into iraq based on that, weapons of mass destruction, and i think mr. d'souza was accurate on that as far as that goes. we did go there. as far as where the money went to, as far as halliburton and everything like that goes, my question is why were you not on the front lines going against that? i will tell you a little story about something that i heard from two kids that went and actually served in iraq. one served for three to wars -- three tours, the other served for two. the point i'm trying to make is that when you talk to the people on the ground, one of the troops over there fighting, what the people over there want is wh