for example, early on it was thought vietnam was the place for the soviet bloc expanding and telling you the west and it turned out it really was at heart a civil war emerging from a colonial break up. more recently we were completely wrong notion of what iraq was doing with weapons of mass destruction. it was bartending and have them and it actually didn't. we thought it had them and was attending it wasn't and of course we did not foresee the situation that followed, the capture of the country and the way that would develop. sally it is really, with the united states turns to an area that is going to take action, make policy it is our responsibility to be realistic and tell people what the situation is on the ground. most of the public to-- policymakers we work with say we are somewhere between negative and cynical. it is very important for the united states when it is making these decisions that involve spending a great deal of money, putting our soldiers and civil officials into harm's way, to get it right. it is not just about passing on a worst-case scenario. we want policymake

systemic risk is not now being used the way the term internal securities was once used as a former soviet bloc. a justification for almost any and all government intervention. for those who truly want to reduce systemic risk, i suggest they first look to fannie and freddie. i give back the balance of my time. >> the gentleman from indiana is recognized for three minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. for your tremendous leadership on the issue of executive compensation and for holding this hearing. this promises to be one of the most important upcoming regulatory reform legislation. recently, there have been a number of interesting characterizations of efforts to reform executive compensation, structures on wall street. in the wake of the worst economic crisis since the great depression, many financial industry leaders have insisted that ceo compensation is self-correcting. they urge in action on reform insisting that shareholder and media scrutiny has already moderated pay for leader for poorly performing copies. they claim if we enact stronger reforms are financial talent will be overseas and

separated the free world from the communist bloc, and president reagan said, " general secretary gorbachev, if you seek peace, it d.c. prosperity for the soviet union and eastern europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. mr. gorbachev, open this gate. mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall." last week in france, president obama took a different approach. he demanded nothing of our current adversary, iran. he challenged them to do nothing, saying instead, "we are ready for direct negotiations with the iranian, a whole range of issues without preconditions in an atmosphere of mutual respect." ronald reagan demonstrated the power of an american president's standing firm for human freedom and liberty and against tyranny. president obama is pleading with a tyrannical, radical regime that sponsors terror and has killed americans to please talk to us. he is offering to convey a tremendous benefit to them in exchange for no cost from them. president reagan knew there was no moral equivalency in america and our adversaries and he was not afraid to say so. he also knew that negotiating from a position of weakness could never secure americ

separated the free world from the communist bloc and president reagan said, quote, general secretary gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the soviet union and eastern europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this date. mr. gorbachev, open this gate. mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. last week in france president obama took a different approach. he demanded nothing of our current adversary, iran. he challenged them to do nothing saying instead, quote, we are ready for direct negotiations with the iranians on the whole range of issues without preconditions in an atmosphere of mutual respect.