army and police and under generals petraeus and odierno they changed the top priority and said protect iraqis and how do you do that? you cannot live on a big base, if you are on a big base and patrol a neighborhood an hour a day, guess what, the insurgency controls the other 23 hours of the day and intimidates anybody who cooperates with you and tells you things but if you are there, 24/7, you begin to protect people, you begin to understand them, and gets a sense of what is right and normal and what is not. around long enough and you'll learn arabic and recognize trucks that are from somewhere else, or even the neighborhood will point them out to you. in one battle, tar mia, there were 38 troops in and out post and one day it was attacked. at the end of the battle, 31 americans were either killed or wounded. two killed, 29 wounded. and hey held the out post, why? because one of the rules given them was nef give up any -- never give up any ground, and they were taking the neighborhoods and moving out after surfaced the allies and a generation of potential allies was lost this way, in

we are privileged to have general odierno is joining us this morning. as you will recall, he took command in september of last year. he was a multinational corps commander in iraq previously. he was a frequent participant in this format. this marks his 12th appearance in this format. we certainly appreciate you for giving us some time today on this important occasion. it is a historic day in iraq. it is a real milestone in iraqi progress. to give us a brief overview, and then to take your questions, general odierno, welcome. >> thank you. good morning. i want to make a quick statement. then i will get on to your questions. as brien said, today is a very important today. we are continuing to move toward our objective of a sovereign and stable iraq. 2009 march is the big milestone for iraq, as security forces assume responsibility for security within the cities across the country. it is a day when the rockies -- when iraq's practice their sovereignty. in accordance with the security agreement between u.s. and iraq, forces have completed the withdrawal of

odierno talk about the u.s. troops leaving cities in iraq. there is a winner declared in the minnesota senate race, we will hear from al franken and norm coleman. and the recently deposed president of honduras speaks to united nations general assembly. >> on washington journal, a look at the minnesota senate race with eric mcpike, peter brown on american health care opinion, randel johnson from the chamber of commerce and lawrence yun. on thursday, martha raddatz and edward montgomery. saturday, ken silverstein and richard miniter. on monday, rep. henry waxman. "washington journal" is live every day at 7:00am eastern. >> how is c-span funded? >> public funding. >> donations. >> the government. >> they get their funding from the taxes. >> maybe this is public funding? >> 30 years ago, america's cable companies created c-span as a public service, a private business initiatives. no government mandate and no government money. >> the military of iraq assumed responsibility in cities in iraq. president obama spoke about this at the white house. >>

just briefly, what about general odierno, they are not in sync with this general's report? >> absolutely not. and people here at the pentagon will tell you, this is one colonel's opinion and it is not the opinion shared by the commanders. they say that the likes of general odierno, the top military commander in iraq, and even secretary gates, who was just there in iraq this week, say that there is, in fact, some progress being made, particularly politically, and in terms of the ability of the iraqi military to eventually defend itself, so they're pretty much dismissing this as the opinion of one colonel. although, as we said, they are still the long-held fears and concerns of the u.s. military going forward, as they prepare to withdraw. >> thanks, mick. of course today, more bombs, friday prayers, shiite mosques in baghdad, killing at least 28 worshippers and wounding more than 100 more. >>> on the heels of president obama's so-calls beer summit last night, the discussion of race in america is putting the focus on the national urban league conference now in chicago. straigh

d this is something that general odierno did really ll for general petraeu in 2007. now ke that commander vion and sak quite bluntly am it down the throats of the surdinate commanders. neral mccrystal has articulated a very challenging vision for what he'd like to do in afghanistan. we are going to assume greater sk with respect to r force protecti. we are going tget out there, we're going touild relationshs with the afghan pele and it's going to fall to genel rodriguez to try to realize thatision of geral mccrystal's. >> rose:kay, but... go ahead. >> go ahead. >> rose: no, you finish i'm soy. >> i have trendous faith in those men but it's going toe a tough job they have ahea of them. >> rose:et's talk abt strategy and tactics. two things have come out of this: yowill not kill your y to victory and body counts are out. d secondly, vilians who... whose suppt you need, you cann gain that sport if you're indiscminate in your use of force so that therefore there are too many civilian casualties. >> yeah. one ofhe things that we've talked a lot about is at if you look at

and in fact by 2010, by the end of august, ray odierno, the general in iraq, says he'll have them down to about 50,000. i think you would have to have a terrible, terrible turn in iraq, and i mean the uptick in violence would be enormous for any of those numbers to change. you have a president who wants to get out of iraq. he made a campaign promise that he would get troops out of iraq. so i think that is the path they are on. host: we are going to take some telephone calls and come back from a break of calls to talk about afghanistan because there's clearly a major troop action there and i'd like to learn more about you. let's hear from c-span viewers. first being from halifax, massachusetts. this is chris on the republican line. go ahead, chris. caller: hi. good morning. thank you for taking my call. i was just curious to hear sort of what mar that's view on this, the difference in coverage between sort of presurge, you know, when we were fighting in iraq and taking a lot of casualties and, you know, the media was very critical of the bush administration, critical of the war's effort

which is a sole supplier, and one of our emphasis -- and i will point out that i think it was general odierno identified the same issue, which is, get on with the competition part of logcap 4. you know, we are just -- you know, lots of planning, lots of effort, and it is not happening to the extent that it should. >> thank you. the pace of withdrawal in iraq, you mentioned the report, some of the challenges that presents us with. what are some of those challenges? the rapid pace of the withdrawal that we have? somebody else want to take that? >> sure. i think that there are a number of factors. and centcom is planning for this, whether they've done enough planning, whether that plan is moving at a pace that is going to accommodate the downsizing and the ramp-up, we don't know yet. >> specifically, what opportunities are there for abuse or fraud or waste, with rapid withdrawal? >> i think as troops are withdrawn from iraq, as an example, we are probably going to have to rely on contractors to remain there, to close down those bases, or to pass them onto the iraqis. and, one difficulty that was

i'm in communications with general odierno on a regular basis treaty provides the weekly report of how this transition has proceeded. he has been extremely positive about the progress that has been made. what we have seen is that there will be differences in strategy at times. the interest of the iraqi security forces in setting up a checkpoint at some point -- are forces suggest that from our experience, a two. might create a target for aqi. there will be those kind of strategic and tactical discussions. overall, we have been very encouraged by the progress that has been made. it does not mean there are not still dangers in iraq. we have seen that in some circumstances, those who want to sew sectarian division inside iraq will still resort to the killing of innocent people that has plagued iraq for such a long time. we have seen that the violence levels have remained low. the cooperation between u.s. forces and iraqi forces has remained high. we have every confidence that we will continue to work together and make adjustments where necessary to assure that as we move into the national

we have 130,000 of our troops sitting there, outside the cities, the general odierno has told the pentagon, look. we can't -- the plan is to pull them out over the next year, but let's not do this too fast. because there are all of these worries. and the problem in the north with the kurds is only one of them. the other one is al qaeda and the insurgency. they have not been eliminated in iraq, it is still a violent country. there are still questions about, how do you get a political solution there. so, you know, here we are six months into the obama administration, and he has george bush's wars in afghanistan and iraq still very much on the table. >> and i know you're working on a book on the obama administration that will be out next year. bob woodward, thanks for coming in. >> thank you. >>> terrorists launch a deadly strike against two hotels in indonesia. peter bergen is here to assess whether it's the start of another string of attacks. >>> plus, sarah palin's decision to quit as alaska's governor, has it hurt her standing in the gop? we'll discuss that and more with the republican pa

same part of the message and there were these wonderfully done ads with a native american actor, odierno eis code to ask craggy face -- a single tear coming down his cheek while he was up the river canoeing. i remember that from my childhood. it was a pivotal moment because people changed their behavior and masses it seemed like because in a short period of time once the craziness of that kind of behavior was made clear and talked about people stopped doing it. the same kind of collective change in perspective has occurred with smoking and drunken driving. all because we have much work as a society or some visionaries put forth the motion we are behaving irresponsibly and we need to change and i don't know if we bought into that message. i'm not quite sure the dynamics. what i am sure is in a short period of time a majority, large majority of americans said you know, we are quick to change the way we behave. we are at that point now with climate because there are concrete things we can change that don't require a high technology. the empire state building just replaced all its windows. o

commander in iraq general ray odierno do not agree with that controversial conclusion. >> should thee victory in iraq and go home or with the time table withdrawal happening too fast. jack jacobs is a retired army colonel and the author n author. peter brooks is a retired member of the u.s. navy. mr. brooks, basically the colonel wrote the fact that the combination or the thinking behind it is the sectarian fighting, the corruption in the iraqi government, nothing is going to change in the coming, we don't need to wait two years. let's just cut bait, declare victory and go home. do you think he's smoking something or do you agree? >> i'm sure his input was welcomed, but his commander and the commander in chief don't agree with him. there is a schedule and i understand his frustration. at the time this was written in early july, just after the changeover was happening, but now we're a month away from that, and it's obvious that his commander does not grae wiagree his assessment. >> colonel, this is interesting timing. you've got gates saying that troops may be coming out early and the

secretary of defense bob gates is in iraq meeting with the top defense commander, general odierno and o'malley. secretary get is there to assess the withdrawal of american troops from iraqi cities, which is mandated by status of forces agreement that was negotiated by president bush last year. now, while u.s. troops have withdrawn from iraqi streets and they're preparing to leave the country entirely by the end of next year, the remaining numbers of the coalition of the willing are preparing to withdraw, withdraw, capital w, capital withdraw, withdraw. by friday of this week, every last soldier from every remaining non-american contributor to multinational force iraq, will be gone. the brits, the romanians, the australians, all gone. leaving the united states as the only member of the multinational force. so clearly a name change is in order. that will happen in january. multinational force iraq will become united states force iraq. between now and then, the name will continue to be only slightly more ironic than it was previously. since the initial invasion, u.s. forces have consiste

2011 will yield little in the way of improving the abilities of the a spokeswoman for general ray odierno, the senior u.s. commander in iraq, said the memo "reflects one person's personal view," not that of the u.s. military. troop deaths are up 50% since june-- roadside bombs are the biggest killer. most of the deaths occurred in the east, and in the south where the bulk of new u.s. troops were deployed this year. they're mounting a major offensive against the taliban in helmand province. the top allied commander, general stanley mcchrystal explained recently why it was so deadly in the south. >> you have a combination of factors there, there's the original home of the taliban, there's the narcotics production which pumps a lot of money into that and breeds corruption, and then there's the fact there's proximity to pakistan, where a tremendous amount of the leaders and whatnot can seek safe haven. >> warner: he assumed his post mid-june after secretary of defense gates fired his predecessor, general david mckiernan. gates said it was time for a new commander to come up with a new strateg

her gunports were unsealed and replaced by small roast of airport's board with odierno mabus for the benefit of the prisoners confined on her low were decked. on the quarterdeck a large awning or tent sheltered 30 marines who watched 310 foot darrigade when the prisoners came out on deck to exercise. on the part of the deck below the quarter deck were the officers cabin and various storage rooms. between the quarter deck and the land area of the gun deck known as the sport back it too was accessible to prisoners during the day to a good bit was already appropriated where officers kept pigs for their own consumption in wallabout de james anchored the jersey securely in the shallow channel that loop between the mud flats. shibley about 100 yards off shore opposite of the millrace and sheltered from the weather by the grassy sandbanks that image the bay to the south and east. one of that now of course has survived. it's been turned into the brooklyn navy. the rising and falling tide kept the water and the channel moving but never swiftly enough to clear away the greasy putrescent slick

i am in communications with general odierno on a regular basis.ovides me a weekly report of how this transition has proceeded. he has been extremely positive about the progress that's been made. now, what we've seen is that they are going to be at times differences in strategy in the interest of the iraqi security forces in setting up a checkpoint at some point. our armed forces suggesting that from our experience, a checkpoint might create a target for aqi. better to be more mobile than to go after them. there will be those kind of strategic and tactical discussions that are continually taking place between the two sides. overall, we have been very encouraged by the progress that's been made. it doesn't mean that there aren't still dangers in iraq. obviously, we have seen that in some circumstances, those who want to sew sectarian division inside of iraq are going to still resort to the killing of innocents and the senseless bombings that plagued iraq for such a long time after saddam hussein was deposed. what we have seen is that the violence le

the president speaks regularly with general odierno. that will continue. security challenges that we have to be mindful of as well as much as the political -- much of the political change that still continues or eight needs to continue in order us to continue to see progress in iraq. i have no doubt that will take up a large part of the meeting with the prime minister. they had a chance as you all know to sit down earlier in the year in baghdad, and continue these discussions. we want to make sure we continue to keep the focus on the political engagement that past happen to see necessary progress. that is one of the reasons the vice-president is focused on this as well. >> a question about how you interpret one of the campaign committed -- commitments that is relevant to the discussion about health care. when the president said in his campaign that he was not going to raise taxes on anyone earning less than two ordered $50,000 a year, does that mean -- that $250,000 a year, does that mean a tax goes up for these people, even if offset by other benefits and

i would just like to maybe be a bad guy as a republican, i believe that because general petraeus, odierno and every other combat general said that being able to start over would take a tool off the table used by our enemies because guantanamo bay, quite frankly, is the best run military prison in history, do we all agree with that? the current state, admiral? >> yes, sir, i do. >> mr. johnson? >> i've been there. the professionalism of the guards at guantanamo is remarkable. i visited civilian clines -- clients in the bureau of federal prison. i believe the personnel there is remarkable. >> i, too, have visited gitmo and was impressed by it. >> the guard force families, what your ploffed one goes through every day at guantanamo bay is a real sacrifice. that is a tough place to do duty. but having said that, it is what it is, and starting over with detainee policy i think could help the country. mr. kris, you said one of the goals of a reformed commission is to let the international community know that there's a formal legitimacy to the commission that we have not been able to have otherwi

general odierno has told the pentagon, said, look, we capital -- the plan is to pull them out over thelet's not too this too fast because there are all of these worries. the other problem is al qaeda and the insurgency. they have not been eliminated in iraq. it is still a violent country. there are still questions about how do you get a political solution there. here we are, six months into the obama administration, and he has george bush's wars in afghanistan and iraq still very much on the table. >> i know you are working on a book on the obama administration that will be out next year. we will look forward to that. bob woodward, thanks for coming in. >>> happening now, after the bombing at two american luxury hotels in indonesia, i will ask marriott head of security what can be done to protect you as a hotel guest. criticisms push the chance for health care reforms towards life support. that's what the critics are saying. the president rushing out with some political cpr. can he resuscitate his political ideas? >>> fresh details on that shocking double murder in florida. the sheriff

>> first of all, i certainly have not heard anything from general odierno that would indicate whether soldiers have been put at increased risk. it is perhaps the measure their success in iraq that politics have come to the country. >> having been in kirkuk the the day and the spending part of the day with the commander there who has been there for over half a year -- his interaction with the security forces, police and the army -- in addition, he is in a spot where he is looking at to the interface between kashmurga and the iraqi army as well -- whether your hand cover unable to do what he is doing or what he is supposed to do never came up. >> what is your assessment of the level of taliban assessment or the u.s.-led offensive. are you confident that the new rules are not creating dangers for the u.s. troops? >> i have spoken about this brother with seniors and juniors alike. the issue of not being able to execute or protect themselves never came up. in fact, when i found was an enthusiasm for that. marines who actually had a group of taliban in the house were very patient. some time

and in fact by 2010, by the end of august, ray odierno, the general in iraq, says he'll have them down to about 50,000. i think you would have to have a terrible, terrible turn in iraq, and i mean the uptick in violence would be enormous for any of those numbers to change. you have a president who wants to get out of iraq. he made a campaign promise that he would get troops out of iraq. so i think that is the path they are on. host: we are going to take some telephone calls and come back from a break of calls to talk about afghanistan because there's clearly a major troop action there and i'd like to learn more about you. let's hear from c-span viewers. first being from halifax, massachusetts. this is chris on the republican line. go ahead, chris. caller: hi. good morning. thank you for taking my call. i was just curious to hear sort of what mar that's view on this, the difference in coverage between sort of presurge, you know, when we were fighting in iraq and taking a lot of casualties and, you know, the media was very critical of the bush administration, critical of the war's effort

he had a meeting with general o de haren el -- with general odierno. can you give us the background on yet another surprise visit to iraq that began with president bush, when he traveled to iraq on thanksgiving several years ago. guest: is a big week there, the withdrawal of u.s. troops from all the iraqi cities, a big milestone in the war. it keeps the u.s. on pace to meet the schedule of withdrawing troops laid out by obama himself and the agreement with the iraqis. so, in the context of this, president obama has tapped the vice-president to be his point man on iraq. so it is a very timely time for all biden to go there. it is not often a leader of his level spend a couple of days in iraq. so it is very interesting. one thing that the president raised yesterday was the notion of keeping to this schedule, and he and other officials talked very candidly about the fact that violence will increase now that the troops are not in the cities any more patrolling. what i asked him was whether he thinks that there is a level of violence or he has a concern tha

and in fact by 2010, by the end of august, ray odierno, the general in iraq, says he'll have them down to about 50,000. i think you would have to have a terrible, terrible turn in iraq, and i mean the uptick in violence would be enormous for any of those numbers to change. you have a president who wants to get out of iraq. he made a campaign promise that he would get troops out of iraq. so i think that is the path they are on. host: we are going to take some telephone calls and come back from a break of calls to talk about afghanistan because there's clearly a major troop action there and i'd like to learn more about you. let's hear from c-span viewers. first being from halifax, massachusetts. this is chris on the republican line. go ahead, chris. caller: hi. good morning. thank you for taking my call. i was just curious to hear sort of what mar that's view on this, the difference in coverage between sort of presurge, you know, when we were fighting in iraq and taking a lot of casualties and, you know, the media was very critical of the bush administration, critical of the war's effort

and in fact by 2010, by the end of august, ray odierno, the general in iraq, says he'll have them downo about 50,000. i think you would have to have a terrible, terrible turn in iraq, and i mean the uptick in violence would be enormous for any of those numbers to change. you have a president who wants to get out of iraq. he made a campaign promise that he would get troops out of iraq. so i think that is the path they are on. host: we are going to take some telephone calls and come back from a break of calls to talk about afghanistan because there's clearly a major troop action there and i'd like to learn more about you. let's hear from c-span viewers. first being from halifax, massachusetts. this is chris on the republican line. go ahead, chris. caller: hi. good morning. thank you for taking my call. i was just curious to hear sort of what mar that's view on this, the difference in coverage between sort of presurge, you know, when we were fighting in iraq and taking a lot of casualties and, you know, the media was very critical of the bush administration, critical of the war's efforts.

odierno and general petraeus. they are looking at a variety of options. military guys can come up with a lot of plans. i have seen all kinds of options proposed, ranging from spread out in the countryside during training at ranges and facilities. just outside the cities to assist with counterinsurgency training tasks. moved out to the borders to help with more conventional missions in terms of a national army, prepared to defend against -- >> part of the news conference this morning from iraq. the u.s. house is gaveling and momentarily for legislative business. 20 bill to be considered today. including one on the coast guard acquisition program and another honoring the nba champion los angeles lakers. live coverage now on c-span. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father coughlin. chaplain coughlin: god of mercy and goodness, may this midday moment of prayer and dedication be received as a welcomed gift by all, refreshing your people and clarifying our purpose in serving this nation. bless the

gates is meeting with al maliki and odierno. challenges made a surprisingly strong showing in a regional election over the weekend. >>> president barack obama, meanwhile, will answer questions about his push to overhaul the health care system. he is holding a town hall meeting with aarp members about an hour and a half from now. the group represents people ages 50 and older. a senate vote on health care changes was postponed until september. >>> well, president obama, harvard professor henry louis gates, and james crowley will all meet for a beer or two at the white house thursday evening. we have learned they will get together at a picnic table outside of the oval office, both men have been invited to bring their families, as well. crowley will bring his wife and children, we hear. we don't know who gates is bringing just yet. crowley is the policeman who arrested gates at his cambridge, massachusetts home, after neighbors thought someone was possibly breaking into the house. you know the story, the episode turned into a nation

he had a meeting with general o de haren el -- with general odierno.ive us the background on yet another surprise visit to iraq that began with president bush, when he traveled to iraq on thanksgiving several years ago. guest: is a big week there, the withdrawal of u.s. troops from all the iraqi cities, a big milestone in the war. it keeps the u.s. on pace to meet the schedule of withdrawing troops laid out by obama himself and the agreement with the iraqis. so, in the context of this, president obama has tapped the vice-president to be his point man on iraq. so it is a very timely time for all biden to go there. it is not often a leader of his level spend a couple of days in iraq. so it is very interesting. one thing that the president raised yesterday was the notion of keeping to this schedule, and he and other officials talked very candidly about the fact that violence will increase now that the troops are not in the cities any more patrolling. what i asked him was whether he thinks that there is a level of violence or he has a concern that they cou

is actually a good question for general odierno and general petraeus because right now they're looking at a variety of options. the great thing about military guys, we can crank out a lot of plans so as you probably have i've seen all kinds of options propose ranging from from spread out in the countryside is sort of during training out in ranges of facilities, just outside the city is to assist with counterinsurgency type training or tasks, moved out to the borders to help with more conventional missions in terms of national army prepared to defend against potential invasion from some unfriendly country, we've seen those different versions. about the only thing i know right now is those decisions will be pretty import once made over the next few months and i think they will consider exactly the kind of range of options we have been talking about here. i wouldn't be surprised if one size does not fit all. iraq has been different parts with different things going on ever since we dealt with the folks over here. so you may see a combination of those in the one thing i can assure you is d