and yesterday again, rajiv, gives us detail, the new book, "little america." right now these days, a short-term sequester to find $80 billion, but over the next decade we have to scrape up three to five trillion, which is just about what we managed to squander on an iraq war that left so many dead and so many more people who hate us. so let's start there. in the front piece of imperial city, he quotes t.e. lawrence who advised his british superiors in 1917, do not try to do too much with your own hands. better the arabs do it tolerably than you do it perfectly. its their war and you're there to help them. under the very odd conditions of arabia, your practical work will not be as good as perhaps you think it is. and among the flood of -- from the much lamented molly eye vans who says it's like reading a horror novel. you want to put your face down and moen, -- moan, how could we have been so stupid? we had this invasion, and a few of the reporters in the region were drowned out by the washington juggernaut. some of us reported from vietnam, recalled how thousa

. >> more with rajiv chandrasekaran tonight at 8:00 on c-span's q and a. > catherine wang and timothy zhou our second prize winners. the attendance eastern middle school in silver spring, maryland. in their video, they asked the president to make the economy and deficit reduction a party in 2013. >> we face the greatest challenge of all. a massive debt and exceeding the entire size of our company. >> the debt affects all of us. the nation is on the road to dallas -- two banker secured >> balance the budget now. >> it is a very big, political policy decision. does create large deficits into the future. we must reduce the deficit. >> it would affect a lot of people in a lot of different ways. >> it is time that we raise the bar. >> deficit is our our economy -- >> i'm pretty sure it has to do with the economy and the government. >> lack of something. debt. a debt that we can't pay. >> i really have no idea. although much of the younger generation is unaware of what he does that is, it is a factor in the nation, economy, and our future. >> stairmaster president, in order for the united s

i mean, this is what rajiv is talking about. that is for the american military in 2009 when there was a legitimate or there was an attempt at a strategic debate in afghanistan, there really wasn't a debate at all. this is one of the main points he brings out in his excellent book, "little america." and there wasn't a debate because there was only one way to go about achieving the core policy aim. and that was american counterinsurgency premised on the idea that general petraeus and the surge of troops made it work in iraq. so this is the problem that we have here. if strategy is going to look at problems in the world -- and maybe we do want to use military force to counter an insurgency or deal with instability or whatever -- at least the way it is now we don't have a variety of methods. we only have one. and it's called american counterinsurgency, aka armed nation building. >> yeah. i mean, insurgencies were counted using effective techniques in the philippines in the 1950s, in el salvador in the 1980s, in colombia more recentl

next, "two and a cause quote of .he washington post -- "q&a" >> this week on "q&a," rajiv chandrasekaran discusses his story describing the f-35 fighter jet, the defense department's newest and most expensive weapon system. >> rajiv chandrasekaran, you did a front-page piece on a sunday a-3 what is it? >> it is the most expensive weapons system in the history of the united states. history of mankind, quite frankly. it is an advanced warplane that is to be used by the air force, navy, and the marine corps. it is the replacement for the f-16. purposedvanced all- fighter jet. it is still in development, is an incredibly troubled program, it has gone tens of billions of dollars over budget. i bought into this program as a way to write about the overall challenges. of trimming the defense budget. this program is singular in terms of its cost overruns, delays, and the way it has been ured. its most effective attributes are not all of its radars and sensors and missiles and stealth technology and the ability to fight at supersonic speeds. it may well be the way it has been designed to evade bud

so, i am not a war reporter traditionally in the sense that rajiv. i've not made 16 or 17 trips to afghanistan. i've made to. this story of the outpost kind of found me. i have done a little bit of war reporting. i've been an abc news baghdad your note earlier before in 2005, 2006. but i've never been to afghanistan before i took on this project. i covered the war as a white house correspondent from the comfort of the nordhaus. i covered the squabbles that rajiv refers to between the pentagon and the white house and the the data over the surge, how much the surge, how many troops should be sent, etc.. but it wasn't until my wife and i had our son in october 2009 and i was sitting in a hospital recovery room holding jack and i looked up and the small tv in the recovery room and saw this report on this combat outpost that i never heard of. i never heard of the combat post being attacked. october 3rd, 2,009, 53 u.s. troops or in this unattainable vulnerable can't come combat operation. 14 miles from the pakistan border they faced an almost insurmountabl

. >> this week on "q&a," rajiv chandrasekaran discusses his story describing the f-35 fighter jet, thewest and most expensive weapon system. >> rajiv chandrasekaran, you did a front-page piece on a sunday about the f-35. what is it? >> it is the most expensive weapons system in the history of the united states. history of mankind, quite frankly. it is an advanced warplane that is to be used by the air force, navy, and the marine corps.

the bloody pinochet regime come to power the documents also reveal the late indian prime minister rajiv gandhi could have been a middleman for a swedish company selling arms to the country also actually to big scandal threaten to blacken sweden's name as its secret police were reported to be spying on leftist citizens and the cia orders and that's what made reports the current swedish foreign minister could be a cia informant and we can leak spokesperson kristinn hrafnsson things the you ass should think asuncion for his efforts because he is dedicated to bringing the historical records to the public attention when there is no attempt to keep them hidden although these documents have been declassified excused really difficult to approach them and assess them in their current form of the only national archives so what we did was to regard it as a gather with help and publish them in a searchable database a very robust database you're thorough here in washington of course they should be very pleased that we are doing the job that they should be doing themselves so maybe you should apply f

there is already a scandal in india over the release of the new cables as the late prime minister rajiv gandhi may have been a middleman for a swedish company trying to sell weapons to india there are also unconfirmed reports that cables are going to reveal that under cia orders the swedish secret police was spying on its left leaning citizens these reports are yet to be confirmed and there is another very big scandal where there are unconfirmed reports that unreleased cables are going to reveal that call built the current foreign minister for sweden was in fact an informer just cia from the nineteen seventies for many people the way in which they revealed the giufà let's see of us foreign policy will be very illustrative of the way that u.s. foreign policy may be functioning today so on the outside we've got a lot of talk about human rights and democracy but behind closed doors and in these private cables it looks to be like a much more complicated and often darker situation. and i can tell you that sweden's foreign minister is denying reports linking him to the cia saying they are par

published material that has been the great interest in the hindu for example bring forth a story that rajiv gandhi was involved in a. shady arms deals with sweden cetera et cetera so this is off the interest i mean there are people there that actually are still in the political arena that are mentioned there so this is not that long ago this is in from the period one nine hundred seventy three to one nine hundred seventy six a very interesting period in our contemporary history where a lot of things was happening in the cold war and in the emergence of new nations etc christian what kind of response to make spec from washington i mean as you said these are not strictly speaking classified anymore but you kind of collated them all together to make them easier to get hold of is washington talk uncertain about any of this. well i haven't heard of any response from the authorities here in washington of course they should be very pleased that we're doing the job that they should be doing themselves we're doing a public interest so maybe we should apply for some funds and continue his work from t

from three years to two but the verdict sparked an international outcry shortly before his arrest rajiv met with the world's best known whistleblower julian assange and artie's polly boy reports on that encounter it's not long before his imprisonment. ranes most famous human rights campaigner was in london talking to another prominent activist and whistleblower julian a sauna so we came here to london's ecuadorian embassy which the wiki leaks founder has been calling home for some ten months now in order to have a chat about the man at the forefront of bahrain's pro-democracy struggle i began by asking the fans why he was so keen to invite me to be over job for an interview on his exclusive show. nine hundred thousand people. has one hundred fifty thousand twitter followers comprised predominantly. the population of. sincere arrests of a number of other activists and for a new spring two thousand. job. came to present to the brain said human rights was the most prominent voice for the. speaking to julian assange over job was unequivocal about his determination to fight for democracy in

administrator rajiv shah made the case for buying local, a u.s.te hearing today. >> a core part of our thinking is by using and partnering with those that represent real, local solutions we can bring the cost of our work down and create the kind of institutional strength that can sustain these efforts and activities after american aid and assistance goes away. >> warner: as rumors of the proposed change surfaced in february, u.s. farmers, food and shipping companies and some n.g.o.s objected in letters to lawmakers and a bipartisan group of 21 senators from agricultural states protested in a letter to president obama. the final decision rests with the relevant committees in congress. for more, we turn to andrew natsios, former administrator of u.s.a.i.d. in the george w. bush administration and former vice president of world vision, a faith-based n.g.o. he's now a professor at the george h. w. bush school of government at texas a&m university. and ellen levinson, director of the alliance for global food security, made up primarily of g.o.s that de

and then, of course, rajiv came to be prime minister. i knew him well, and he was assassinated in an election campaign. so i just feel a special bond with that family. they did wonderful things for india, and mrs. gandhi really cared about every single thing she did. she was such a charming woman, as well as being a very effective prime minister. c-span: you mentioned brighton, in 1984. what happened? >> guest: what happened was that thursday night i am always up very late because my main speech -- the end of the conference, the big rally speech -- is on the friday. you can't turn up with the speeches being carefully drafted before you arrive, although some sections will have been drafted, but the thing changes, the atmosphere changes, some of the issues perhaps take a different turn and you always have a very long evening on the thursday. first, you've had to go out to a special ball for the funds for the agents who look after political affairs in the constituency, and you get back about half-eleven and then do the final run on the spee

first we have rajiv chandrasekaran.e is author of "little america: the war within the war for afghanistan." from 2009 to 2011 he traveled extensively through the southern provinces of helmand and kandahar to reveal the impact of president obama's decision to increase u.s. troop levels. he is also of author of another book, a best-selling award-winning firsthand account dad's green bag zone and the troubled american effort to reconstruct iraq. he has served as "the washington post's" south asia correspondent, cairo bureau chief, baghdad bureau chief, national editor and assistant managing editor. our next speaker will be ambassador james dobbins, the director of iran international security and defense response after the terrorist activities of september 11, he was tasked with putting together and installing a task force for the taliban regime. the newd establish afghan government and on september 16, 2001 he raised the flag over the newly reopened u.s. embassy. stabilizationhe and reconstruction of bosnia and the nato in

. >> more with rajiv chandrasekaran on c-span "q &a."" democratoining is from wisconsin, tammy baldwin. we should probably start talking about what happened in the senate yesterday with gun- control. your thoughts? guest: i think the senate of the united states let the american people down yesterday. it was hard for me to fathom some of the basic provisions that enjoyed the support of over 90 percent of americans were voted down. a majority of the senate supported it, but as you know, we have the rules that require 60 votes to a dance certain provisions. certainvance provisions. ad was probably my most disappointing day so far in my short tenure. host: are there a lot of nra members or gun owners in wisconsin? guest: there are many gun owners, just like the country, wisconsin is reflective of that, but i would say the hunting culture and tradition is very deep. if you think about last year's deer hunting season, over 650,000 hunting licenses were taken out in wisconsin. that is over 10 percent of the that participate in the enjoy is the t

. >> more with "the washington post"'s rajiv command resake ran sunday at 8 on c-span's q&a. >> postmaster general patrick donahoe testified wednesday about the financial issues facing the postal service. he asked lawmakers to drop saturday coverage to cut costs. see this and other hearings about funding issues anytime on our web site, c-span.org. >> good morning, mr. chairman, ranking member cummings. and members of the committee, thank you, mr. chairman, for calling this hearing. the postal service is currently operating with a broken business model. since the economic recession of 2008, we have been experiencing a significant imbalance between revenues and costs. this imbalance will only get worse in the coming decade unless laws that govern the postal service are changed. in the past two years, the postal service has recorded $21 billion in losses including a default of $11.1 billion in payments to the treasury. the postal service has exhausted its borrowing authority and continues to contend with dangerously low liquidity. we are losing $25 million a day, and we are on an unsustainabl

. >> more with the washington post's rajiv chandrasekaran sunday at 8:00. >> defense secretary chuck hagel and joint chiefs of staff chairman dempsey were on capitol hill today testifying about the defense budget. the secretary also commented on the boston marathon bombings, calling them, quote, a cruel act of terror. it's a house appropriation subcommittee hearing, two hours and 45 minutes. >> this morning we are very happy to welcome secretary chuck hagel, secretary of defense. we're just really happy to have you. this is your first visit with our committee. we will place your biography and pertinent details in our permanent record. and -- along with your statement when we get to that point. which will be soon. happy to welcome general dempsey. and secretary hill who both have been here numerous times. probably secretary hill more than he would like to admit. but he has a heavy, heavy duty to go here. we have many, many challenges in our national defense and the threats around the world. one of our challenges is to be supportive of our military. to guarantee that our readiness is r

this morning, we are joined by rajiv shah, the administrator of usaid.iel johannes, the chief executive officer of the mcc. dr. shah is the 16th administrator of usaid, previously he served as undersecretary of research, education and economics at usaid, and chief scientist at the u.s. department of agriculture. welcome, dr. shah. and then we will hear from dr. johannes, who was confirmed as the ceo of the mcc in 2009. prior to his appointment, he held positions in the financial services sector, including as the vice chair of the management committee of the u.s. bank. welcome to both of our witnesses. without objection, the witness' full prepared statements will be made part of the record and members may have five days in which to submit statements, questions, and extraneous material for the record. gentlemen, please feel free to summarize your statements. and we'll begin with dr. shah. >> thank you, chairwoman. we appreciate your leadership and your guidance over the past several years as we've conducted our reforms and improved our performance. i want

. >> this morning we are joined by rajiv shah and the chief exhibit officer. dr.hah is the 16 that a master of the u.s. aid and previously served as the undersecretary of research education and economics at usaid and chief scientist at the u.s. department of agriculture. welcome, dr. shah. and then we will hear from dr. dr. yohannes who was the director of the mcc in 2009. he was in the financial service director including the vice chair of the management committee of the u.s. bank. welcome to both of our witnesses. without objection, the witnesses for prepared statements will be made a part of the record. and members may have five days in which to submit statements come questions, and extraneous material for the record. gentlemen, please feel free to summarize your statement. we will begin with dr. shah print >> thank you, chairman americas. we appreciate your leadership and guidance as we have conducted our reforms and improved our performance. i want to take this moment to thank the chairman and ranking member for their leadership and support and representative

after that, "q&a" with rajiv chandrasekaran.onday, republican senator mike lee of utah on the future of the republican party. noonis beginning live at eastern on c-span2. >> defense secretary chuck hagel testified before the senate armed services committee wednesday. secretary hagel said there is a $22 billion shortfall this year. general dempsey said the department is not sure how this will impact military readiness. this is three hoursnd 45 minutes. >> good morning, everybody. today, the committee gives a warm welcome to general chuck dempsey,neral accompanied by the department comptroller undersecretary bob hale, for being on the department of defense fiscal year 2014. we welcomet secretary hagel on his first appearance as secretary of defense before the committee. we thank all of our witnesses for their service to our nation and to the soldiers, sailors, and marines at home and in harm's way, we can never say that enough. your st today is a key component of the committee's review of the two dozen 14 budget request for the de

rajiv shah undressed akron and john nagl or necks and they will have a conversation about the war in afghanistan followed by a discussion of whether women can have it all or are ready to with sharon werner and hanna rosin. our live coverage of the annapolis book festival concludes with mickey edwards and rnc chair michael steele and they will talk about the state of american politics. that's her lineup live from catherine hull at the key school and now here are ralph eshelman and james johnston looking back at maryland in 1812. >> my name is edward papenfuse and it really is my pleasure not to moderate because i don't think this session really needs moderation but to actually introduce our two panelists today. we are going to be talking about their works and then we are hoping to get a fair amount of discussion and questions from the audience. please forgive the frog in my throat but with all this warm weather we seem to have gotten a lot more allergies around. the two books we are going to be talking about today, one is written by ralph eshelman and a friend of his called in full gl