get off to the to -- and of syrian and i was in fear of the people think of as of that service. the blomquist together we are christian or muslim as far as americans' concern if you say you are arab be lumpy together as one. what is your feeling? >> i think -- that is definitely one of the reasons i wrote the book because i don't always ought to be reactive. i would like to try, were it possible to be proactive and that is true, that is what kind of always was mind-boggling to me was people came through ellis island, arab-americans' actually the so-called syrians served in disproportionately high numbers of other immigrant groups in world war i and world war ii but that notion persists and for many reasons i go into the first chapter part of it is because of how the history of naturalization, the first wave of syrians happened in the united states but what i would like to do is if american history or emeritus of american history or contemporary society is like a big prosaic. there's so many titles missing that we don't see so i am just trying to put some of the titles that up so

i remember one time during the '80s they kept talking about syrian terrorists and like you i am of syrian descent and i was actually afraid to tell anybody that i was syrian for fear they were going to think i was a terrorist. and they do lump us together whether we're christian or muslim. as far as the americans are concerned, if you say you're arab, they lump you as one. what is your feelings? >> no, i think you're right. that's definitely one of the reasons i wrote the book because i don't want to always be reactive. i like to try where possible to be proactive. that's what kind of is mind-boggling to me was that people came through ellis island. people -- you know, arab-americans, the so-called syrians were served in disproportionately high numbers in the other immigrant in world war i and world war ii and the foreignness persists. part of it is because of how the naturalization -- the history of naturalization vis-a-vis that first wave of syrians happened in the united states. but, you know, what i'd like to do is -- if american history or if narratives of american history or contemp

movement rose in the aftermath of the 2005 assassination of former lebanese product it came for a full syrian withdrawal all with full support of the bush white house. they call the movement the revolution but the lebanese call it the independent and the father and a o is decried the use of the revolution that was met in a way to connect to the war and revolution the ukraine had experienced as part of the unstoppable tide of democratization that the bush and administration promised would come from the provision. but within one year, the united states abandoned the democratically elected government of lebanon to a massive israeli bombardment in december 2006 following in the event -- of the vote hezbollah attacks against israeli troops inside israel's territory. that went on nearly one month in the summer of 2006. not only did the united states failed to restrain israel or first call for a cease-fire but they expedited the shipment of its shipments to facilitate israel destruction of a south lebanese villages and infrastructure in the southern suburbs. it seemed it would only be used for compl

as long as i could travel to the camp and bases where the media don't go on the syrian and iranian border i could get down there and meet with them, i'd be glad to. that's what i did. it visited 17 different bases and camps and shook hands with over 20,000 troops over there. >> mike: wow. [ applause ] that is fantastic. that is a lot of hand-shaking. >> every time i'd shake a happened, they would tell me a chuck norris fact, you know. then go to outdoor commode and here is chuck norris facts on the walls in there. it was crazy. so when i got back home, you know, i started thinking about it, because i write -- i'm a syndicated writer and i write about the problems we have in our country today and in my last book, dealing with all the situation, and i thought i got to lighten up. i got to write something lighter than this. anyway, i wrote the 101 chuck norris facts. and amazingly my 8-year-old twins as i'm coming through -- there is 500,000 facts out there. i'm trying to filter them out. and my twins are coming up and says dad, i have one. i said that's nice. you know. i keep writing. final

anyone who looks at the case in 1986, a pregnant woman in faded by her syrian -- inveigled by her syrianould not have alerted anyone, but nevertheless the issue of whether we can deal with some of the sensitivity issues must be part of l%9eÑ any defense we can find to ensure that this gap in our defenses, which thankfully was unsuccessful but which was found, and we need to recognize the concerns and the civil rights issues as well. on the issue of information sharing, we shared information all the time. we share information on a routine basis and you -- and the u.s. share information with us. we did not inform at the u.s. that addulmutallab was on our watch list because he refused a student visa, because that was an issue conducted without any concern that he was coming to commit a terrorism incident. it was about an immigration issue. we would not share that routinely with the u.s. but we share other information with u.s., and we share this information routinely with our european union partners, although if there are concerns about counter-terrorism, it would not wait for a watch list

anyone who looks at the case in 1986, a pregnant woman in faded by her syrian -- inveigled by her syrianalerted anyone, but nevertheless the issue of whether we can deal with some of the sensitivity issues must be part of l%9eÑ any defense we can find to ensure that this gap in our defenses, which thankfully was unsuccessful but which was found, and we need to recognize the concerns and the civil rights issues as well. on the issue of information sharing, we shared information all the time. we share information on a routine basis and you -- and the u.s. share information with us. we did not inform at the u.s. that addulmutallab was on our watch list because he refused a student visa, because that was an issue conducted without any concern that he was coming to commit a terrorism incident. it was about an immigration issue. we would not share that routinely with the u.s. but we share other information with u.s., and we share this information routinely with our european union partners, although if there are concerns about counter-terrorism, it would not wait for a watch list and it would n

anyone who looks at the case in 1986, a pregnant woman in faded by her syrian -- inveigled by her syrianot have alerted anyone, but nevertheless the issue of whether we can deal with some of the sensitivity issues must be part of l%9eÑ any defense we can find to ensure that this gap in our defenses, which thankfully was unsuccessful but which was found, and we need to recognize the concerns and the civil rights issues as well. on the issue of information sharing, we shared information all the time. we share information on a routine basis and you -- and the u.s. share information with us. we did not inform at the u.s. that addulmutallab was on our watch list because he refused a student visa, because that was an issue conducted without any concern that he was coming to commit a terrorism incident. it was about an immigration issue. we would not share that routinely with the u.s. but we share other information with u.s., and we share this information routinely with our european union partners, although if there are concerns about counter-terrorism, it would not wait for a watch list and it

-syrian relationship. it is primarily, you know, to continue our discussions on how we might make progress in the other tracks of the peace process in addition to the u.s.-palestinian track, but i believe there will be other subjects. >> can you give us the numbers on the number of dead and missing americans so far? >> missing americans is much more difficult. but in terms of the current number, we still have roughly 27 confirmed u.s. may -- fatalities. there is 27. we have some that we have additional number that our -- are presumed dead. 27 confirmed. >> and how many are you looking -- we heard 24 yesterday unconfirmed. is that -- >> something along those lines. i'll see if i have the number here. i don't see it in my book. >> it includes the one official? >> we have the one u.s. government official fatality and 27 private. so a total of 28 so far. >> missing? >> missing. i mean, we still continue our efforts to try to determine the status of the roughly 45,000 american citizens. most of them are duo cit

who is now the once again regional power as the obama administration resets relations with lebanon-syrian overlord. accommodation with enemies is not a free lunch. it has its price. and finally the policy of this expensive accommodation, iran, where obama has consistently upheld the legitimatey of the clerical regime insists on maintaining good relations with it and has been slow and often silent in support of the democratic demonstrators in the streets. the basic critique of this foreign policy is not just that it is naive and that it is unseemly a stain on the american tradition of supporting democratic forces around the world, but that worst of all, it has been a failure. we chose russia over eastern europe and what did we get in return? cooperation with iran? nothing. and from china? from china, we received explicit statements that they would oppose any sanctions on iran in the security council. what have we gotten for our pressure on israel? the complete breakdown of negotiations. for 16 years, the palestinians have negotiated with israel without a settlement freeze. until obama arri

i have never had -- i do not believe there have been more soldier is particularly on the syrian border than we've had. right now i have got to in my back in the north i have got to cavalry squadrons battalion size units doing classic cavalry type operations in the open desert with an iraqi army division just inside the border. as you know, the border and horsemen units of iraq are literally on the border in border ports so they've got the first line in the an iraqi division in that particular part of western nineveh province has got the second line and we are bernard with them with more u.s. worse than we have had in a long time. two calories' squadrons. and so the decision will be -- how much do we as we draw down the really forces on the border doing that? the last place we draw down or do we leave forces there because of the importance of securing borders for a sovereign nation, helping them secure their borders? so that's the beefing up. and the other critical part of the beefing up is helping in the border enforcement brigades with their capability is. it is an iraqi central g

bell once again rising regional power, as the obama administration resets relations with lebanon's syrianenemies is not a free lunch. it has its price. and finally piece of resistance of this policy of expensive accommodation. iran, where obama has consistently upheld the legitimacy of the the-clerical regime, insisting on maintaining good relations with it, and has been slow and often silent in support of the democratic demonstrators in the streets. the basic critique of this farm policy is not just that it is not even -- of this foreign policy is that it is not just ninaive but that worst of all it has been a failure. we chose russia over eastern europe, and what did we get in return? cooperation with iran? nothing. and from china, we received explicit statements that they will oppose any sanctions on iran in the security council. what have we gotten for our pressure on israel? the complete breakdown in negotiations. for 16 years the palestinians had negotiated with israel without a settlement freeze. until obama arrived to reinvent the world. the arabs now refuse any negotiation becaus

i cannot imagine how out syrian the pain they feel is at this moment. -- how searing the pain in. >> we tend to use adjectives to heighten the description of a circumstance, but sometimes it results in hyperbole. but this is close to unimaginable. we saw what we went through in katrina and rita, and we lost several thousand people. but here we are talking about tens of thousands of dead. a city, a region, from the epicenter out if you look at that symmetry -- if you look at the telemetry. this is absolutely devastating beyond recognition. the american government and american people are responding in a way that makes me once again brought to be an american. yesterday, i was keeping a long standing commitment to visit lake charles, louisiana, and new orleans, louisiana. now, under the leadership of janet napolitano, fema is actually delivering the goods for the last year to louisiana. there is still a great deal to be done. i am meeting in an area of the largest parish in louisiana, where electoral system, out in a windswept area where some housing has recently been built for the elder

. >> you refer in your memorandum to the effect the syrians have on britain's relations with the uniteds but also had a huge effect on the standing in the middle east which lasted quite a long time and with any of the officials with a station in the region or in the foreign office worry that military action to topple saddam hussein could have a similar effect on our stand in the middle east and on the middle eastern stability to that of syria. >> i've never heard of but that we also as you know, yourself, the -- amongst the foreign office staff most of them have taken very serious history, very serious interest in political history and often are steeped in the understanding of the region they are serving so there are plenty of discussions i took part in about a british foreign policy and the middle east since the war. the problem above all was we decided to go it alone with israel without involving the united states and that was absolutely catastrophic as we know. you can mark it kind of decline in britain's before the standing of the world from that catastrophic decision which since i'

skills training is too short and so must come out illiquidity even with the funds they get from the syrian government ill-equipped to deal effectively in south korean society and in the face of massive discrimination. and ira right from time to time when i'm really against iran politics, if they can't get along with each other and we can't take care of 15 or 20,000 then how will it possibly deal effectively with unification? so i think on the economic side of preparing a large fund and on the political social side it's dealing more effectively with the ones that are already there. sorry for the long winded answer. >> leonard, a consulting international liaison. there are some underlying assumptions in your talk, such as the lack of utility of some of the studies that were done by financial institutions. i would like to ask you about a couple of other assumptions that i don't think he made and see how you would characterize those assumptions. one is the economic crisis has changed, a lot of the behavior of these financial institutions. in china, chinese banks have come to the floor in makin

turkey was involved in is really syrian mediation effort that ended and soon as the cast's began sorting the attempt to launch a peace process and i kind of hope that no one will notice that gaza is still there is not a smart way to go especially, and i would like to add one more point which is what i am really focused on which is if the humanitarian angle isn't good enough for you and the israeli security in goal isn't compelling enough then there is some american i would argue national security interest here. when the secretary clinton goes to a conference that took place last march, commits money to gaza that can't be disbursed because you can't get stuff in, when there is a new american peace envoy who has yet to set foot and gaza a year into office that doesn't do any good. by the way when someone like keith ellison visits gaza i would say that does more for american security in the middle east and public diplomacy than virtually anything else we have seen. i'm sorry to embarrass you if i have, than almost anything we've seen this year when egypt is building a barrier on its side of

turkey was involved, is really, syrian mediation efforts, that ended as soon as the lead began.o the attempt to launch the peace process and kind of hope that no one will notice gaza is still there isn't a smart way to go especially, and i would like to add one more point which is what amjad focused on which is if the humanitarian angle isn't good enough for you and the israeli security angle wasn't compelling enough then there is an american i would argue national security interests here. when secretary clinton goes to a conference that took place last march, kids makes money to gaza, there can't be disbursed because you can't get stuff in. when there is a new american peace on why who has yet to set foot in gaza a year into office, that doesn't do any good. by the way when someone like keith ellison visits gaza i would say that as good for american security the police and public diplomacy than virtually everything else we've seen. i'm sorry to embarrassing if i have been almost everything we've seen this year. when egypt is building a barrier on its side of the border which ma

i cannot imagine how out syrian the pain they feel is at this moment. -- how searing the pain in. >>to use adjectives to heighten the description of a circumstance, but sometimes it results in hyperbole. but this is close to unimaginable. we saw what we went through in katrina and rita, and we lost several thousand people. but here we are talking about tens of thousands of dead. a city, a region, from the epicenter out if you look at that symmetry -- if you look at the telemetry. this is absolutely devastating beyond recognition. the american government and american people are responding in a way that makes me once again brought to be an american. yesterday, i was keeping a long standing commitment to visit lake charles, louisiana i, and new orleans, louisiana. now, under the leadership of janet napolitano, fema is actually delivering the goods for the last year to louisiana. there is still a great deal to be done. i am meeting in an area of the largest parish in louisiana, where electoral system, out in a windswept area where some housing has recently been built for the elderly. i w

israeli, syrian mediation efforts. that ended as soon as parsley began. i think the attempt to launch a peace process and kind of hope that no one would notice, that gaza is still there, is not a smart way to go. especially, and i just like to add one more point, which is what i am really focused on, which is it the humanitarian angle isn't good enough for you, and if the israeli security angle isn't compelling enough for you, then there is an american i would argue, national security interest here. when secretary clinton goes to the conference that took place last march, commits money to gaza, that can be dispersed because you can't get stuff in, when there is a new american peace envoy who has yet to set foot in gaza, a year into office, that doesn't do any good. by the way, when someone like keith ellison visits cause i would say that does more for american security in the middle east than your public diplomacy, that virtually anything else would seem. i'm sorry to embarrass you if i have. but almost anything we have seen this year. when egypt is build

with lebanon's syrian overlord. in combination with enemies is not a free lunch. it has its price. and finally, the piste of resistance of this policy of extensive accommodation, iran were obama has consistently upheld the legitimacy of the thuggish clerical regime insisted on maintaining the good relations, and has been slow and often silent in support of the democratic demonstrators in the streets. the basic critique of this foreign policy is not just that it is naÏve, and that it is unseemly stain of the american tradition of supporting democratic forces around the world, but that worst of all it has been a failure. we chose russia over eastern europe, and what did we get in return? cooperation with iran, nothing. and from china, from china in fact, we received explicit statements that they will oppose any sanctions on iran in the security council. what have we gotten for our pressure on israel? the complete breakdown of negotiations. for 16 years the palestinians had negotiated with israel without a settlement freeze. until obama arrived to reinvent the world. the arabs now ref