the fight is mainly to the south and east of afghanistan. the nato contribution there remains inadequate. even as the president has approved increasing the u.s. presence, by some 21,000 soldiers, the total u.s. force of 68,000 will be -- by the end of the summer. secretary gates testified recently that the secretary army trust fund has received contributions of less than one- tenth of its target of 1 billion euros from our native allies. any thoughts that you -- nato allies. any thoughts about how we can get our friends to do their share? to provide civilian technical expertise to build the country's governance capacity. the another issue relates to russia. vice-president and secretary clinton have called for resetting u.s.-russian relations. there are opportunities to build common security interests, including the development of a unified response to the threat of a nuclear-armed iran. the president, secretary clinton and secretary gates, and general jones have all commented positively about the prospects of the united states and russia work

and give our troops and the government of afghanistan the opportunity to succeed. lastly, the department of defense opposes the amendment and i also oppose the amendment. reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. mr. mcgovern: a military strategy that has no exit as is no strategy at all. i'd like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from north carolina, the co-sponsor of this amendment, mr. jones. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. jones: i rise in strong support of mcgovern amendment. when the previous administration was in office, many times members on both sides of the aisle kept saying, why isn't there an end point to the war in iraq? now after eight years in afghanistan, the current administration must clearly articulate the benchmarks for success and the end point to its war strategy. in my years in congress, i have many opportunities to speak to military leaders. time after time, time after time i heard this. to have a successful war strategy you must have an end point. an end po

the dynamic in iraq and afghanistan is changing. move to drawdown activities in iraq while the same time increasing resources and afghanistan. within this framework we must look of the mistakes of our her decision-making with respect to contracts in iraq and avoid a repeat of those mistakes in afghanistan. as we have said before lessons learned must be lessons bolles. we will need every bit of experience, judgement and resolved at our disposal to get this right. as such it is imperative the commission has every opportunity to perform its work without hindrance. so i want to take this opportunity to thank the commissioners that are here and the rest of the members if you would be good enough to exchange debt with them and the staff for undertaking this assignment. over a month ago when i appeared before the commission on its first hearing, we noted we would be looking for to this date when we would switch seats. done write, your help safeguard the lives of our civilian and military personnel in iraq and afghanistan. done write your wo

admiral, you said the outcome in afghanistan is support for the future of nato, but it is not a go or no go. in my view, it is, if made of cells and afghanistan it will never recover. is that off base? >> again, sir, i think it is critically important, and that it will have to succeed for a host of reasons, both in national and international. >> as saying this because i support what the president is doing. this has been a nato operation all along. -- i say this because i am in support of what the president is doing. quite frankly, we have gone backwards. if we go to 160,000 afghan man army, how much will that cost teacher? >> i don't have the figures. >> what is the entire budget for afghanistan? >> sir, i do not know. >> it is under $1 billion. we are about to build an afghan army which is the key to getting home, but we will wind up paying for it. we have to pay for our own army, we have to carry a lot of the burdens, but don't you think it is fair to ask our nato allies that it is in their self interest to build a larger afghan army so we all can come home and be safe and they cont

one team or deny iraq and the other two and afghanistan. they conducted more than 125 meetings, usaid, the military contractors working on a range of projects. the commission continues to develop a test for research and investigation to extend and deepen its knowledge and to cope with new change in issues. our plans include many more trips to theaters of operation, additional hearings and by the additional hearings and by the government agencies, academics and member of the contrasting community and continued liaison with congress. ghaffari conclude we would like to see a few words about the commission staff. firstly, all of the commission staff are federal employees. some more detail from agencies and services including the army, the air force department of state and defense, u.s. agency for international development, the defense contract management, the defense contract audit agency and the u.s. army corps of engineers. some have served one or more tours and duty in theater including working for the special inspector general for iraq, reco

the great. he tried to conquer afghanistan. he failed. look at what the british did, and they couldn't make it. so all we are saying is, we are not talking about a pullout. we are saying have an end point to your war strategy that the marn people will understand and more -- american people will understand and more important, our military. they're tired. they're worn out. they'll keep going. they'll go back five, six, seven, eight times. but ask a military family down at camp lejeune. do you want to send your husband back or wife back for the sixth time to afghanistan? we are eight years behind the fight because we should have never gone inside iraq. let's not make the same mistake they made during the vietnam era. thank you, mr. mcgovern, for introducing this amendment. thank you on behalf of the american people and our troops. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. mckeon: mr. chairman, i yield now to the chairman of the armed services committee, the gentleman from missouri, chairman skelton, two minutes. the chair: the gentlema

germany has been a strong partner in the nato mission in afghanistan. we honor those who serve there, including american and the german soldiers who gave their lives there this week. the chancellor and i reaffirmed our commitment to a new relationship with russia. in moscow we will continue to explore ways in which the u.s. and russia can advance our common interests, a joint commitment to reducing our nuclear arsenal and strengthening global proliferation. in meeting these challenges will be neither quick nor easy. i am reminded of the lessons from my recent visit. the chancellor took me to eight broke church devastated in the second world war. thanks to the donations of the germans, americans and people around the world it was rebuilt. and it was restored. today it stands as a stunning symbol of what is possible when countries work together. in that spirit, i want to welcome my friend, angela merkel. >> thank you. we have very but fond memories of your visit to our nation and moving memories to the former concentration camps. we are more aware that ger

that is the solution. in afghanistan allies during centuries of pact. a pact between different groups and the country. and every group, every tribe had a part of this. and we have tagged give them a part of the power. they should never run the country, but we have to negotiate with them. and then this is something that obama is doing. he says we have to negotiate. he says we have to negotiate with the neighbors in india. he makes, still. the political tactics. he says we can only negotiate with a moderate taliban. you know, that is a little bit ridiculous. >> use the microphone. >> it just seems as though they are differentiating between who they can negotiate with and to the can't. they are marginalizing the ones they can't, and it seems as though that is the perfect. the ones who will talk. >> we should start to the altai debt. sure. we have to talk with radical taliban. can you imagine. remember. the end of the vietnam war. your government had said we don't negotiate with the radical viet cong, although moderate viet cong. it is ridiculous. if you hav

general, what is your current assessment of the medical evacuation issues in afghanistan? >> senator, thank you. you are exactly right. they referred to it as the golden hour and that is how quickly you can get a casualty to their right level of care. we were behind in afghanistan what we had in iraq and not near as many as assets. the secretary directed some changes at the beginning of this calendar year in many of those forces have flown in and some of the others are flowing in as part of the 82nd combat brigade. i believe that the time will be down very close to about what it is in iraq. if confirmed, one of the things i will look at closely is to make sure we maintain the ability to get our casualty's -- and that is all of our casualties to the right level of care. >> thank you. admiral, a major focus of european command is building partnerships with in the region. there are several security cooperation programs dedicated to building relationships. these programs include peacekeeping and they help minimize conditions that lead to conflict. what is your assessment of the

that's the life of women in afghanistan. it's a living hell. i think it's fitting and appropriate that we, who have occupied the country militarily for years now, should take a look at the effect of our policies on afghan women. i'm very much in favor of this amendment because it's a matter of human rights. thank you, and i yield back to the lady from california. the chair: for what purpose does the gentlelady from california rise? ms. ros-lehtinen: i ask to claim time in opposition even though i do not oppose the amendment. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized. ms.s are lehtinen: with the fall of the taliban, afghan women came back from the brink but the gains made since 2001 have been fragile. we recognize that any prospect of better lives for the women of afghanistan and girls are inherently linked to the success of the development and reconstruction of their country. furthermore, we all desire greater levels of accountability, quality, and impact from foreign development assistance to afghanistan. all aimed at creating the enabling enviro

i believe they are training the troops in afghanistan. i believe they are working to build a civil society there. at the end of the day we can't be the policemen of the year, madam president. we have to make sure the people we are helping want to be helped and want to run their own societies. and that is our hope in iraq, finally. and that is our hope in afghanistan. so as i look around and i look around the world and i look around this world and i see the pain and suffering in this country, this recession, we have to understand we're in a global economy. that's why the president wantd those i.m.f. funds so we can divert a depression out there in the world. there's peacekeeping funds here in this bill. none who is following what is happening in africa, whether did is darfur or the congo, understand the brutality that is going on. we need to help end the brow talt, particularly -- and i know my colleague in the chair knows this -- the brutality against the women where in these countries, rape is used as a tool of war and rape is used as a t

i think our credibility in the world -- we have the ability to support the people of afghanistan then move and shake a better future that they want. i think that will make a difference in how we are viewed worldwide. about the linkage between it tell the bad and al qaeda. there have been people in recent months -- that taliban and allocated. there are people in recent who have said that it is possible to break off that taliban to cooperate with us. he made very strong statements about your skepticism -- you made a very strong statements about your skepticism about our ability to do that, to break the taliban from al qaeda. not so long as they think they are winning, i want to ask you did speak in the open to the tally bad-al qaeda -- taliban-al qaeda a linkage. >> it is somewhat to the taliban, but it is other organizations there. with the taliban, they do have a bank -- link, and i don't think any reason to turn their backs on al qaeda. therefore i don't think there is a motivation to do that. what is probably more important is that i don't believe that the taliban or a single cohesi

the people of afghanistan do not believe this and the best approach is to try to go local as much as possible. they are more likely to trust the local tribes, not to say that we should not try to make the national government better. in balancing that going forward, what is the best approach to striking a balance, and with pakistan, this is affecting pakistan as well. there was some testimony about this with a good summary, the strikes are actually well thought of because the people living there have been dealing with these violent people who have been in their community, this is in pakistan itself, where the civilian population sees this as a threat and is less likely to be supportive. pakistan needs to learn counter insurgency, and i will not go through the challenge is there, because you know them well. we have to be able to help them and at the same time, we have to play a limited role, the sovereignty is very important, it is incredibly important to give them support for the government. my questions are, what can we do to better help pakistan get to the counterinsurgency level wh

among them, letting the inspector general overseeing afghanistan war spending hire more inspectors. we will take you live now to the floor of the u.s. house. we expect them to come through the doors and get started in just a moment. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father coughlin. chaplain coughlin: as people of faith, we often pray to you lord god -- to you, lord got almighty, out of a sense of need. each of us cries out in frustration to you as our refuge and as healer. prayer helps us whether we are leaders or just ordinary americans to live our lives with greater integrity and meet our daily responsibilities. sometimes we are more conscious of our common needs. it is then prayer helps us identify with one another, feel compassion toward others in need and pray for them. we all desire peace of heart, help and wisdom as well as prudence to make the right decisions needed each day. whether we are in public service or work in the private sector. in all cases, through prayer, lord, you help us to see ourselves more hones

at the farm gate level, i kilo of opium now costs about $75 in afghanistan. y the time it reaches pakistan's border it's gone up and die or 12 times. by the time it's refined into crystal heroine, and move towards the west it's gone up again about 200 times. so if you're the guys who are moving it out of the farm areas, you're making a bit of money. if you're the guys moving it to other parts of the world, you're really making a killing. and so i'll end on that note. 9/11 only cost $500,000. so i think people often say to me, well, the last thing we want to do is get involved in another messy drug war. colombia has been a total disaster. mexico is looking pretty messy. why should we bother doing this, getting involved, sucked into this in afghanistan? and i'll agree that the things i think need to happen to turn this around are going to be extremely expensive, extremely complex or it's going to take a long time. it's not going to be easy. it's going to take a lot of coordination, which is something that the coalition operating there has famously lacked since 2

the casualties the numbers of attack and so forth are on the rise in afghanistan. you have seen the recent actions of the department of defense and president obama's administration in terms of how we intend to deal with that. the marine corps portion of that is some 10,700 marines who have now reported to afghanistan at the end of last month. we'll be operating in the south as a marine expeditionary brigade but as important, maybe moreso, as marine air ground task force. we'll have responsibilities for the province of helmen. there's a particular issue in that province we have to deal with that troubles us greatly. that is 893% of the opium harvested in afghanistan coming from that province, representing 95% of the opium sold throughout the world. i'll admit to you that the last time we went into the theater, that we went under a misperception. we were concerned the drug control effort there didn't have a holistic approach associated with it. there were eradication team, their efforts were spotty and in some cases arguably political. we thought that was a disaster -

the women of afghanistan have borne the brunt of years of warfare but they'll also form the underpinning of a peaceful afghanistan. this amendment recognizes that limiting the rights of women is counterproductive to all of our efforts to help afghanistan move forward from the devastating damage of taliban rule. i urge all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stand up for the women of afghanistan who are suffering, who deserve our help and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from wisconsin. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 15 printed in part c of house report 111-143. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? mr. royce: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 15 printed in part c of house report 111-143 offered by mr. royce of california. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 522, the gent

do you believe that the realities on the ground in afghanistan and necessitate growing the afghan national security forces beyond the currently planned and s strengths? >> mr. chairman, my study of classic counterinsurgency doctrine, looking at everything from tea lawrence to david -- t.e. lawrence to david kilcullen, leads me to believe that we need a larger security forces. >> larger than the current and- strength? >> yes, sir. >> general, do you also believe -- in your judgment, will the afghan army need to get a significantly higher end-of strength than 134,000? >> yes, that is my belief right now. >> in terms of the pakistan situation -- and here, general, he made reference to this -- would you agree that assistance to pakistan would only be affected if the pakistani government is considered by the people of pakistan as taking the fight to the insurgents because of their own needs as a nation, not because of u.s. pressure? >> yes, sir, i do. >> admiral, do you want to give a quick comment on that? >> yes, sir, i do. >> the general mcchrystal, are you familiar with the national solidar

that's not so much the case in afghanistan. i think there are still some left over from the russian experience but we believe the weapons systems are mostly coming in across the border and from the most part from pakistan, from what has previously been called safe haven in pakistan. i'm encouraged that that safe haven could be going away that the lines of men and equipment coming in from pakistan can be disrupted to say the least and perhaps eventually closed. i think the introduction of additional u.s. troops into afghanistan are going to give us the opportunity to get out and work closer with the afghan border patrol units and help to strengthen their ability to control their borders, but that, i think, is the final answer. there has to be a more stringent border control to try to stop things before they get into the country. >> what is your opinion of the taliban movement in pakistan? does this group have close ties to afghanistan? if that they do, how do you differentiate in that border control policy? >> i think that for th

that's number one and number two how do you see us striking the balance in afghanistan between fighting the people we need to fight and stopping the number of civilian casualties? >> sir, i think you said it better than i could and i support what general mccrystal said in his confirmation hearing a couple days ago. if i could go to pakistan first. >> please. >> i think that we can't -- we can't help pakistan more than they want to be helped. and one of the filters on sort of their willingness to be helped is how -- is how the pakistan military is perceived within pakistan. it is the strongest element of pakistan historically. it is the element of government upon which the people depend and i think that we have to be very careful in recognizing that we can't take actions that would cause the pakistan military to appear to the pakistani people to be an extension of ours. we can only help them in a way that truly helps them and they are much more expert in that than we are. so i think the best thing we can do is develop the relationships that will erode whatever atmosphere of distrust exis

the u.k. comes from afghanistan but the vast majority of the drug crop and up in afghanistan or pakistan, iran, central asia comment kazakhstan have huge teheran problems. is a bogus argument that is totally hypocritical. good question. >> i am curious i have been looking at this book with the cia complicity with the national drug trade and i am curious about the continuity of your work and your debt to him. and at two weeks ago there was a former at npr journalist and i do not remember her name. but she was billed as the adviser to general mccarron. >> sayre of chase. >> yes. one day after her interviewed general mccarron was forced to resign i cannot help of wonder there was a relation between that interview and his resignation? >> i have no idea about that. i do not even know how the pentagon makes decisions nor did i see the interview briefing sarich ase has done a lot of great work in southern afghanistan but in terms of the rumor of the cia involvement, this is something i heard all the time over and over one of the reasons the u.s. was not stopping the drug trade was because our agents

[laughter] >> i join the prime minister in paying attribute to major shaun bunchel who was killed in afghanistannd also very much agree with the prime minister about expressing our heartfelt sympathy to the families of jason swindlehouse and jason crestwell and the hostage situation. capital expenditure will grow until the year of the olympics. the government's own figures show that it's just not the case. will he take this opportunity to correct what he told the house last week? >> yes. in the building of the olympics, capital investment will rise very substantially. i can tell him that capital investment is rising from $29 billion to 30.7 billion and then to 44 billion in 2009, '10 and that is to help complete the building of the olympics there afterwards it will fall as a result of decisions that we've made. but i can tell him -- i can tell him the comparison is between 44 billion of investment now and even in real terms a comparison with '99, '92 when he was involved in advising at the treasury. we are investing 44 billion. he was investing only 16. >> i'm afraid that is just not good enough

the insurgents in iraq and in afghanistan have targeted these hardworking patriots and their families in hopes of terrorizing the local people and discouraging cooperation. it is because of this very real danger that congress created the section 1059 and 12 4 special immigrant visa programs and they allow for certain iraqis and afghans to actually serve as translators. these are folks who are protecting our young men and women in uniform as translators or interpreters or otherwise employed by the u.s. or as contractors to come to the united states to escape the targeting by these terrorists and insurgents. i am aware that the state department prepared a study of these programs in july, 2008, but i believe it is necessary, actually, to follow up on this previous study in light of the troubling reports that i received earlier this year. i was informed by our state department folks in iraq and in afghanistan and i was informed by the commander of u.s. forces in iraq that they are still dealing with unclear eligibility requirements and that they're having difficulty processing these iraqi

of course the situation in afghanistan cannot be addressed in isolation from its neighbors. to a considerable degree the taliban resurgence began when pakistan made peace agreements with various insurgent and extremist groups on its western border. this allowed the freedom of movement and effective base of operations. that approach by the pakistani government has come to an end. there is now clear recognition by the pakistanis on the direct threat that extremists opposed to their national survival. the recent offensive by the pakistani military and the swat valley was certainly an encouraging first step. also encouraging is the support afghanistan has received from other nations including members of the gulf community. we are grateful for that assistance would urge you to do more to improve afghan governments, reconstruction, economic development and security capacity. the application of more resources, improve cooperation, better integrated civil military and diplomatic strategy and benefit of lessons learned both in country in iraq present a historic but fleeting opportunit

interpol believes they control as much as 70% of the herald been coming out of afghanistan and reaching the streets of europe. we're talking billions of dollars every year that they profit off of their work very close with the al qaeda and always have and what my research has found is that al qaeda and the imu come into the trade as the drugs reach the borders. the taliban tax it and protect it until it gets to the borders then that is where the other groups, and to play. that is precisely the moment when the value of the drug goes up exponentially often as much as 12 times so that is where you stand to make the most money which is funny that they want to launch more attacks against the west the other phenomenon we have seen over the last five years is the expansion into other forms of criminal activity even though lot of stuff has happened since the book went to final print, there is a lot of activity a lot of criminal kidnapping rings that operate you see people getting kidnapped in one town and sold of the food chain. lot of us know a prominent journalist based in the city that has b

there will be victory in the sense that iraq becomes a stable country, victory is afghanistan becomes a stable country, asking that people don't understand, will take more time and are harder to describe. >> towards the close of the book, you talk about the future, you write my view has been that since 9/11 we have not developed a national strategy adequate for dealing with global insurgency. we view operations toxic amanda knox place them in the larger strategic context. >> we would meet often, the national security council, on afghanistan war iraq. less frequently, many times less frequently, about the broader issue of extremism and how we deal with it. >> theaters in a larger work? >> yes. i would argue, part of a larger issue which is violent extremism. you see it in pakistan and india and china and indonesia and thailand, north africa, many places around world, where there is insurgent activity, trying to delegitimize legitimate government and do it through violence. that is why violent extremism is taught -- what i am on instead of the war on terror. >> why is it a more strategi

the final i.g. report. >> one more question. just in focusing for a moment. your take on afghanistan or pakistan on the various situations there. in particular, two areas. in both -- and this is something that general mcchrystal highlighted in his comments yesterday and day before yesterday in front of the senate. talking about the balance between confronting the enemy and being able to track down the terrorists that threaten us and at the same time protecting against civilian casualties and taking a more classic counterinsurgency approach. i agree with general mcchrystal that we need the afghan people on our side. right now the two greatest threats of them being on our side are number within the civilian casualty issue, both real and in some cases i think generated by taliban propaganda, but we need to get better at countering propaganda, getting our own message out. but also it is a very, very real concern. of course the other issue is the efficacy of the afghan government which the people of afghanistan do not believe in. i think certainly the best approach there is to try to go l

same page but at least in the same book in confronting pakistan and afghanistan. and nato set up the way it's set up is an important alliance and very difficult to manage, that many different countries coming from that different amount of perspectives so i respect the difficulties the organization faces. we went through the meetings on increasing frustration and the last meeting we had which regrettably didn't have as much time we would like for was visit the operation and we saw it can work and you can bring that many different nations together to tornado nate -- coordinate in a way that is effective. and my plea is the soft forces over there try to spread that message out more prodly among the other aspects of nato i think would be very, very critical. >> sir, if i could make a point. i need to attribute more countries to nato and more to this conference. what we're seeing actually is an extension of special operations, cooperation beyond nato and those who parts pailt in -- participate in other operations where they work with a nato soft country are now becomi

no to any more funds for the war in afghanistan and war in iraq and no to any legislation if they try to tie it to war funding. the speaker pro tempore: are there further one-minute requests? if not, the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. the clerk: leaves of absence requested for mr. kind of wisconsin for today, ms. bono mack of california for today and june 9 and 10. mr. mack of california for today, june 9 and 10. and mr. gary miller of california for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the requests are granted. does the gentleman from texas seek recognition. mr. poe: i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be permitted to address this house, revise and extend their remarks and include therein extraneous material, mr. paul for june 12, mr. burton for today, june 9, 10, 11 and 12. myself, for june 11 and 15. mr. moran for today, june 9, 10, 11, 12 and 15. mr. jones for 12 and 15. mr. mcclintock for june 9 the speaker pro tempore: without object

afghanistan was central to that. the argument is we should leave afghanistan in chaos or leave iraq in chaos, i don't think that is a good argument. our national security is tied to stable countries and particularly stable countries in that region. let's say we didn't go into iraq, saddam hussein was still in power, their neighbor and hated foe iran, developing nuclear weapons, you would think iraq would be developing nuclear weapons. would that provide more stability in the region and the world or less? i don't agree with the premise that we are less secure, i think we are more secure. these countries, there are fifty million people in iraq and afghanistan, they have a constitution, they have governments, they are imperfect, every government has its imperfections, they are imperfect, their fledgling in many ways, the iraqi government has only been doing this for 3 years so they had to get their feet under them. they're doing pretty well by all reports. >> host: these concerns about the role of the military-industrial co

but the vast majority of afghanistan drug crop ends up in pakistan, iran, central asia, countries like tajikistan has used her when problems. a totally bogus argument. >> i am curious looking at the book on the cia with the national drug trade and i'm curious to the continuity of your work and you're dead to hamper also two weeks ago there was an e-mail former npr journalist and i do not remember her name but she was billed as the adviser to general mccarron and afghanistan? >> sarich ase? >> yes. one day after hurt interview he was forced to resign and i cannot help but think there was a relation between that interview and his ragged nation? >> i have no idea about that i don't know how the pentagon makes decisions nor did i see the interview. i think sarich case has done a lot of rework and afghanistan but in terms of the rumors of the cia involvement in the drug trade this is something i heard all the time whether the reasons the u.s. was not stopping the drug trade is because of our agents were secretly involved. i even had one governor, no less of a southern afghan province he was

i'm talking about the students who lost a parent due to the military action taking place in iraq and afghanistan. the higher education act re-authorization bill that was passed by this body last congress include add provision that would allow eligible students to automatically receive the maximum pell grant if one of their students died as a result of military service in iraq or afghanistan. the legislation before us today extends a similar benefit to students who may fall outside of the income limits placed on the pell grant program but who have also suffered the same type of loss. under this legislation, all students who have lost a soldier parent as a direct result of fighting in the war in iraq and afghanistan will be eligible for a grant. the parents of these students have given their lives in service to our country. a college student who loses a parent in war loses so much more than we can fathom. they will not have 24ir parent around to move into their first dorm room or hear complaints about cafeteria food. they'll not have their parents' consolation and encouragement to continue even af

congress should expect no less of the men and women who have already served in iraq and afghanistan and those who will serve there and elsewhere in the future. thank you for the information to provide these views and that would be happy to answer any questions you may have. >> thank you. mr. flake, you are recognized. >> thank you. what, if any areas, do you disagree with the recommendations of the panel? >> mr. flake, thank you. i have had a chance to look at the report quickly last night. the panel's focus on oversight is appropriate, but i think it misses an important part of the front end of the process, making sure there are resources available to execute the were correctly in the first instance. i support oversight, i think it is an important element of the overall acquisition system. but if we do not have the right people at the beginning the process, we can be sure that the oversight function will find errors and mistakes. we have been strong proponents of increasing the contract and officers, representatives, the amount of program management, bringing the work that iraq and afg

the contract arrangements we have. i have seen horror shows. i've visited a lot of construction sites in iraq and afghanistan and i think that the special former special inspector general for iraq did a fantastic job but for my business to afghanistan i think that the situation and inspector general in afghanistan is far less able, he is new or but far less able to police the contract situation so i am very apprehensive about our ability to lose money and afghanistan wasted through incompetence as well as fraud. one of the earliest arings we had back in 2003, 2004 all iraq i asked the director for the dca, the defense contracting agency, i said how many contractors, excuse me, how many of the terse do you have an iraq and he said we don't have any. at this point, we are spending billions of dollars, billions. and i said how does that work and he said well, we are auditing the work and contracts in iraq from alexandria va, which explained why, you know, it's reflected in your own report explains why we are having such a problem. and now i read again from the kennedys memo we've got four folks in the country spending billions of dollars. we have

chairman i can say without fear or contradiction the issues in iraq and afghanistan contract in are among the most complex ever experienced and are in a related and interdependent among numerous and changing government directive missions activities and priorities. while it is possible and certainly easier to be selected on the issues chosen for their review the value of any analysis on the current or past government contractor activities in iraq in particular must take into account several sets of realities. first, iraq contracting isn't one activity at all. it is three different subsets to support the military and military related activities, and the reconstruction of iraq and third, economic development assistance provided in iraq and afghanistan. second, we must look up the time frames for the nation's i effort. the reactions to the fall of the saddam regime presented a different set on the ground actions from the work undertaken by the coalition provisional authority and different style from the more recent rapidly changing physical security environment and new set of contract and dir

ann. >> what can you tell us about the status of the investigation into the-- in afghanistan, where, where does the investigation stand and to what degree has the inquiry found u.s. forces culpable? >> the anchor aires stands, i think it is wrapped up. it is being briefed to a number of people within this building. i think the chairman was briefed on it last week, the secretary was briefed on at this morning by brigadier general thomas it was the investigative officer in charge. i thank centcom, who has commissioned the investigation, will ultimately determine how the findings will be rolled out so i don't know that i can share them with you here today. i can tell you having sat in on the briefing this secretary got that this incident was exhaustively investigated. this briefing, in fact, the secretary took today, i think had been scheduled for half an hour. it went one hour and had to be rushed to conclusion, because they had many, many details to share with him. what it appeared to me as though what is that the personnel involved tick extraordinary care in tracking the militants tha

and the nato operations in afghanistan will likely dominate those discussions. thirdly and finally the secretary returns to washington, d.c. on friday evening. and then early on saturday morning heads to washington state. where he will deliver the commencement address at the university of washington. which i believe is an open press event although i won't head there myself. >> what can you tell us about the investigation into the nato force incident in afghanistan. where does the investigation stand and to what degree has the inquiry of the u.s. force [inaudible]? >> the inquiry stand i believe is wrapped up and being briefed to a number of people in this building. i believe that the chairman was briefed on it last week and the secretary this morning by the investigative officer in charge. i think, cen-com, who has commissioned the findings and i can tell you sitting in the brief, that this incident was exhaustively investigated. this briefing, in fact the secretary took today, i think it was scheduled for half an hour. it went for one hour and had to be rushed t

. -- what the the exit strategy is for afghanistan. you don't have to say in 2009, 2010, 2015, 2020. but tell the american people where we're going when we send our young men and women to die in afghanistan without a plan, without benchmarks. i don't know if mr. mcgovern's amendment has been approved for debate tomorrow in the armed services bill, but i want to thank mr. mcgovern for bringing this to the attention of the american people and the congress. we need to have an end point to the strategy in afghanistan. the marines in my district will tell you that our military is tired and worn out. they will keep going back and forth and back and forth because they love this nation. we've got to be realistic about breaking the military, we've got north korea over here threaten, we've got the chinese, we don't know what they might do, we need to have a plan for victory in afghanistan, we cannot do what the bush administration did and keep going on and on. as i close, as i do every night on this floor, i have signed 8,000 families and extende

we are cutting the funding of the troops by what we did last year and we are expanding our operations in afghanistan. i think people should get the whole picture twitches this is a war supplemental and is being cut over what we spent last year for the same type of legislation. he mentioned the imf fund. the $5 billion for that. this is a war supplemental. this is not an imf bill. in view of the countries that will benefit from this are people that are not our friends like venezuela. yemen, syria, and zimbabwe. let us get all of the facts out there and not just part of them. the yield back the balance of my time. >> the gentleman from wisconsin. he continues to resurface time. the gentleman from california. >> to demint from indiana is recognized for tenements. >> thank you. and thank the distinguished ranking member. there rights and opposition to the bill is underway today. i joined my democratic colleagues in supporting the bipartisan military supplemental bill which passed this house earlier in congress. when it comes to providing our sodas with the resources they need to get the job done in retu

. >> topics of thursday's pentagon briefing include the investigation of a battle in afghanistan last month that killed civilians and the north korean threat to fire a missile at the u.s. defense secretary robert gates and joint chiefs of staff chairman admiral mike mullen speak with reporters for 35 minutes. >> good afternoon. first, i would like to extend my sympathies and commiserate with the secretary of state with her fractured elbow. having broken my right arm as secretary of defense and the left arm operated on, i can truthfully say i feel hurricane. -- i could feel her pain. i wish her a speedy recovery. last week i attended the nato meeting in brussels along with partners and allies who are contributing troops to afghanistan. in brussels, i was pleased to introduce general crystal to the nato defense ministers and it to our troop contributing partners. he is now on the job and in the midst of a 60-day review of operations. he brings unparalleled energy and determination, as well as substantial counterinsurgency experience and expertise to the international military effort in

or do you think in this particular case, the battle for the hearts and minds of the afghanistan people is already lost? >> i do not think that battle is lost at all. but i think -- what i have said in the past is where we believe there may have been civilian casualties, what i said months ago, was we should immediately expressed regret if there were indeed innocent civilian casualties. if necessary and appropriate, make amends, and then investigate. the truth is the way that we do investigation, which is to say fairly, takes time. that is the problem. in the past, we have not taken the first two steps until we have finished the third step. the changes that general mccarren put in place months ago put more emphasis on doing the expression of regret and making amends if necessary, and then carrying out the investigation. i do not think the length of time of the investigation itself is an issue. i think we do -- i think what we do in the immediate aftermath of one of these tragedies is what is important. i don't know if you want to add anything? >> you said there was a training issue? aft