one legal consequence of holding those trials in the united states is the scope of the constitutionalrights that will apply. the more constitutional provisions applicable, the more options are available to congress in developing rules for these trials. in the united states, territorial arguments against the application of certain constitutional provisions would be wiped away once these military commissions come here and that will have all sorts of complications. everybody on the panel today talked about the need for some rules for hearsay. there's a broad consensus on that. but i think those would be the first to fall if the trials were held here in the united states in full constitutional guarantees apply to those proceedings. if the confrontation clause applies, the supreme court's recent decision in craw fortd versus washington would suggest that a safety valve for hearsay depend on reliability assessments by trial judge would be invalid. another consequence would be taking away congress' exclusive discretion as to whether guantanamo detainees are released inside the united states.

we are committed to a better and more economic and technical cooperation with the united states. lateral trade is now 300 billion u.s. dollars and will probably reach 3 trillion u.s. dollars in the future. we will not have the arms race with the united states. what is on top of our agenda to let our tim point-- are 1.3 chinese people have a better life, better clothes and better living conditions, we will not-- we are not willing to spend lots and lots of money on military expense, so i think the united states and the whole world should know clearly of china's strategic intention. it is predictable, transparent and well intended. the united states can deal with china and make friends with china reassured and we should not lose any sleep over china. you can completely rest assured. maybe someone is still not reassured. i am always truthful and sincere. itm sincerely committed to the basic policy of the chinese government that it is seeking a lasting, sound and steady relationship with the united states. my predecessors, the older generation, also took part in this great cause then

side, joint chairman of the united states army. they are setting the framework document of the development of corp. between the armed forces [inaudible] and to improve military cooperation between the armed forces and the united states of america for the year 2009. [applause] >> minister of foreign affairs of the russian federation and senior deputy of the united states of america are assigning an agreement between the government of the russian federation and the government of the net states of america on the transit of weapons material, military property, and military personnel concerning the participation of the men states of america in efforts to enhance security, stabilization, and restoration of the islamic republic of afghanistan. >> also, the notes have been exchanged by the russian u.s. commission on affairs of missing in action and prisoners of war and the memorandum has been signed. >> president of the russian federation, president medvedev, and president of the united states barack obama are signing a joint memorandum of

are you telling me all these people are doing this at the bidding of the united states? surely, you must realize that that is kind of a ludicrous claim? >> well, these not e rk, that'st i said. thonchts res the people asking the people to go out on the streets, not president obama. it is a president, all right, just happens to be president khatami and rafsanjani, not president obama. >> what i've been saying is that when external forces and governments outside of iran interfere in a country's internal affairs, it only makes matters worse and it only creates further tensions. i think it's extraordinary that the united states a allows itself to beam in tens of television channels, thousands of television channels that beam into the country and in many cases, they called for riots and they called for violence. >> do you worry that you will be seen in history as a mouth piece for a dying, repressive regime in the death throes, 20 years from now, you will look back and the world will look back at you the way it did some of those smooth-talking, english-speaking soviet spokesme

this is not just a problem for the united states. it raises the prospect of a nuclear arms while the ballistic program could also pose a threat to the broader region. we've agreed on a joint statement on cooperation of missile defense and a joint threat assessment of the ballistic challenges of the 21st century including those posed by iran and north korea. second, we have taken important steps forward to strengthen our security through greater cooperation. president medvedev and i agreed upon the need to combat the threat of violent extremists, particularly from al qaeda. and today we signed an agreement that will allow the transit of lethal military equipment through russia to afghanistan. this is a substantial contribution by russia to our international effort and it will save the united states time and resources in giving our troops the support that they need. thanks to admiral and his russian counterpart, we've agreed to resume military to military cooperation between the united states and russia. this provides the framework for

the united states stands with you. the united states believes that israel has a right to security. we believe, however, that this approach we're taking holds out the promise of realizing our common objective, and we want to brief the israelis, we want to listen to the israelis, and we want to enlist the support of all of our allies and friends in moving forward on this policy. >> is iran an illegitimate regime? >> you know, that's really for the people of iran to decide. i have been moved by the, just the cries for freedom and a clear appeal to the iranian government that this really significant country with a people that go back a my lena deserves better than what they're getting. >> but if the united states decides to negotiate with iran over its nuclear program, as has been the stated policy of the willing months engage, are you not betraying this democratic movement trying to overthrow that regime? >> i don't think so, david. because you can go back in history and not very long back, where we have negotiated with many government who is we did not believe represented the will of

workers here in the united states into colombia. mr. conaway: it's interesting that we now own, between the unions and the federal taxpayer, we own general motors. and so a general motors car made in the united states bears a 35% tariff if you try sell it in colombia. so you have 35% to the cost of that car and that competes with the car, say, made in korea or other places that don't have that tariff. then we're out of -- we don't compete well on a cost basis. so those are american manufacturing jobs and speaking on behalf of the american taxpayer and the unions, for a change, which i don't normally speak to, if we're going to prosper general motors, why not do something that drops the tariff, makes us more competitive for the taxpayer-made automobiles to be sold in colombia? as you mentioned earlier, colombia's continued with the unilateral trade agreements that they're doing that continue to disadvantage american businesses that compete with businesses from those countries that colombia agrees -- mr. dreier: reclaiming my time. let's s

as a matter of fact, many felt unfriendly business relationships that across the board the united states after a promising period when the cold war ended and many russians saw the united states as a potential savior. their republic had taken now a very dim view of it and prime minister putin's popularity really came to the fore as somebody who could provide not only stability but once energy resources came along, wealth. and a very different kind of pensions that kept jobs going in company cities. so for all of these reasons, the atmosphere has not been very good. leaving aside arms control or military cooperation which, of course, terminated after the georgian incidents of last august. >> rose: what should the president of the united states say to the president of russia about georgia and the ukraine and nato? >> those countries are dependent upon us and, of course, we could terminate that relationship. we won't do that, but we'd like to have stronger ones. but nevertheless, when push comes to shove, we're a long way from really discussing georgia and ukraine and a sense that there is s

but the united states senate. i think that we have, every senator has a right and responsibility, as questions, good questions, tough questions, they disagree with a response of the nominee, they have a right to say system of but it should be done respectfully. we're a nation of 300 million people. only 101 people get the final say of who is going to be on the supreme court, the highest court in our land. first and foremost the president of the united states who makes the nomination as president obama did and then the 100 senators who vote for or against that person. we stand as the conscience of the nation in doing that. it shb the conscience of the nation, it should be respectful to the nation. not to score political points, not to do those things we think may just be popular for the moment but to make the right judgment to help all americans and i think most americans, certainly all of the americans i spoke with in my home state of vermont last week as i was around the state, whether they agreed or disagreed wit

throw them in the mix in prague the president said the only power to abused a nuclear weapon the united states has a moral responsibility to act and we can lead the endeavor and start it. in cairo he said i consider it as part of my responsibility to the united states to fight against negative stereotypes of islam and cairo he said we can't impose peace but likewise israelis recognize the need for palestinian state it's time for us to act on what everyone knows to be true. in cairo, any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail. progress must be shared. given i am particularly enamored of language, there it is, it seems to be staking out so there can be in mistaking ideas because the president has the opportunity to did that and create a new architecture. michael. >> so some extent every president has a blank slate. a new chance. people look at him for the first time and make judgments on the other hand as we've been discussing policies and problems do carry over from the past and limit any president's range of flexibility. let me comment on the

of the united states. think they finally found the lightest man in the found. the president needs to find his flavor flav. that won't do. after that rousing introduction, the president kept it short and sweet. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. >> good evening. please be seated. i have great health insurance. thank you, everybody. [ laughter ] >> that was that. went in the back and -- joe biden filled the other 59 minutes making balloon animals. some sad news today. i don't want to bring you today. the loss of yet another beloved entertainer. amazing how much is happening lately. the great gidget passed away, and gidget was best known as the taco bell chihuahua. she died last night. guillermo, by the way, thank you for coming in on this national day -- did you want to say -- [ laughter ] maybe you want to say -- a word or two about gidget? did you want to say anything about her? >> i hope she goes to heaven. >> as you might expect, the loss of gidget has hit the chihuahua community

health care, what influence is she having on her former political rivals, now the president of the united states. our exclusive guest for the full hour, the former first lady of the united states, democratic senator from the state of new york, and candidate for the democratic presidential nomination in 2008, secretary of state hillary clinton. >>> but first, here she is, the secretary of state hillary clinton. welcome back to "meet the press". >> thank you, david. it's great to be here with you. >> glad to have you. and you're here for the full hour. we have a lot to get to. >> well, with your preview into it, there's a lot to talk about in the world today. >> absolutely. so let's get right to it and talk about some of the hot spots around the globe that you're dealing with. first up is north korea. and got tense this week. here was the big headline. "clinton and north korea engage in tense exchange." it began on monday during an interview you gave to abc. let's watch a portion of that. >> what we've seen is this constant demand for attention, and maybe it's the mother in me or the experience th

he was the president of the united states. sually doesn't get that much censure in the public domain, perhaps, but not in the courts. this is the vice president. this is the first time in the history of the vice presidency that this has happened. >> he was no average vice president. >> unprecedentedly powerful. >> one final question. this program that the vice president apparently tried to start, it maybe never even got off the ground according to our sources. what do you know about it? >> i don't think it did get off the ground with regard to the cia actually executing operations, because they couldn't bring it together logistically -- >> or executing, period. >> executing period, yeah. it did get off the ground with the military and that's a different matter. >> we have to leave it at that. so great to have you once again. my thanks to you for coming by and sharing your perspective on this. >> thank you for having me, rick. >>> rallies against recent deaths of young somali american men. this is an amazing story we have been f

a fundamental question, should the united states even be there? >> the assumption in washington seems to be that afghanistan constitutes a vital security interest of the united states, and, therefore, we should be investing tens of thousands of soldiers and many billions of dollars to try to remake it. i question that assumption. frankly, i think afghanistan is of marginal interest to the united states. >> let's get started. >>> and now i welcome rwandan president, paul kagame. mr. president, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> many look at what's happening in rwanda as a miracle. 15 years ago, you had this extraordinary, horrific genocide, and now rwanda is one of the most stable countries in africa. but what i'm most struck by is that you have done this with a very strange kind of process. why was it important not to punish the killers? >> we -- first of all, there are many killers. as you said, there are hundreds of thousands because of the genocide that took place in our country yielded a huge percentage, both in terms of those that

the ited states time and resources and givingur tros the support thathey need. thanks to admiral mullen and his russian counterpt we he agreed to resume military-to-military cooperation betwn the unitedtes and russia. this provides a framework for improved cooperaon and operatity between o forces so we can better address the threats that we face from terrorism to privacy. we'valso agreed reore a joint commission on proners of war and missing in action which will aow our governments to coopere i our unwavering commitment to our misng rvicemen and women. third,e've taken important steptoward to brden our cooperation on a full range of issues tt affect the rity and prosperity of our people. president medvedev and i are creating u.s./rus blael presidentialommission to serve a new foundationfor this coeration. too often, the united states and ruia only comnicate on a narrange ofsss or let old habits withi our bureaucracy stand in t way of our progress. that's where why this cmmission wi include working groupsn the devopnt and economy, energy and the environment, nuclear ergy and secity, arms control and iernational security, defense, feign policynd counterterrorm, preventing and handling

so if your economy goes down 6% like it has been going down into quarters in europe and the united states that means something different for the private sector in europe versus the united states because essentially you can take the point of view that the government sector doesn't move. i mean the government will not throw people out now given the recession, so essentially the size of the sector more or less remains the same. the negative six is for the whole economy. if europe half of that economy stays as zero the government sector and the rest of the sector of the economy is the private sector you have negative 12. >> so when you're saying is the effect of a 6% of all because only half of the economy -- >> given the fact that the overall contraction is more or less the same, the contraction in the private sector in europe is much more pronounced in the united states. >> by how much? >> private-sector contraction in the united states must be -- how hard it does that make it for everybody to come out of the mess we are in right now? >> i think everybody is waiting again if you look outsid

honorable members, ghana has played host to three consecutive sitting presidents of the united statesica, since 1998. the uniqueness of this occasion is formed by the fact that this is the first time a sitting president of the united states of america is addressing this house. equally worth noting, is ghana being the first country south of the sahara to play host to such an illustrious [ inaudible ] whose [ inaudible ] of change, yes, we can -- beyond the borders of the united states of america and the slumber and despair out of many people around the world. permit me to say on a lighter note, but significant to ga -- ghanas ghanasens, africans and all people of african descent of this memorable visit of the 44th president of the united states of america, and his family, is a special reunion to ancestral [ inaudible ]. many of us sit right in his presidency as the first black american president of the united states of america. indeed, we have seen in our lifetime the true realization of the human equality as proved by the declaration of american independence invoked by abraham lincoln

the secretary of state had said the opposite. and i think the problem is -- what the vice president may have been saying is that the united states cannot block an israeli attack on iran. it can only discourage it. but we've sent mixed signals and given the sort of impettus that israel has to attack. that can be very dangerous. >> and there was a report recently in the "london times" that the director of the massoud had met with saudi officials and that the saudi his granted perm toilgz use their airspace for any attack on iraq. do you think that's really likely. >> to put bluntly i wouldn't regard anything in "the london times" as being as anything as an irresponsible tabloid journal. this is not the newspaper of 20 years ago. it's made up one defense story after another. the saudis have denied this. the flight patterns almost certainly would move in a somewhat different direction. and saudi arabia in any case is not going to confront a full-scale israeli attack. is this credible? no. >> iran presumably would respond to any attacks. so what kind of responses would you expect to see? >> it has a very limited, relatively ineffectiv

will never become china and china will never become the united states. but the living fact is that china and the united states interactions have never been so frequent. our interests have never been interwoven so closely. and mutually cooperation has never been so broad and the driving force, the china-u.s. relationship has never been that strong. the two great peoples have tens of thousands of reasons to seize the historic opportunities to improve a strategic mutual trust, actively enhance our relationship and even build a more beautiful communication. there's a saying in choib. in the past few years i have worked with the two deputy secretaries of state mr. sellic and negroponte have fruitful strategic dialogue. and today i am happy that i wo can work with secretary wang, secretary clinton and secretary geithner for the benefit of china-u.s. relations. i'm honored to work with secretary clinton to co-chair the china strategic dialogue within the framework. and we must live up to the expectations and fulfill our mission to make this good beginning of t

>> because the great threat to the united states and to the stability of -- guest: because the great threat to the united states and to the stability of the national community really comes out of the muslim world. and parts of the muslim world that are really viewed by a sense of shall we say religious commitment and some would say even fanatic simple but their efforts are provoked by very deep set of religious beliefs that are very difficult to sort of engage in because we are not in that cultural mode as a country. we separated church and state a long time ago, but you have religious leadership particularly now in iran that is very scary. and they have clearly taken over the dominant role in iran. whatever hopes we may have had from the uprising that we saw graphically on many television screens and read a lot about has proven to be totally inadequate to the forces against them against the grand ayatollah and ahmadinejad. and they now control a government which is benefiting from good oil prices, which is sort of the expansionist muslim country which is threatening the sunni countri

but my city has specialized [unintelligible] the main market is the united states. it is because the decline in this market, my city has seen an increase in the unemployment rate, up to 18%. therefore, we do not see possibilities to increase exports dramatically to the united states in the short term. but we need the agreement as a sign for investors from all over the world to be much more confident in columbia. it is quite difficult for my government to invite investors to put their money in colombia when they ask, "i want to put my money in columbia, but why hasn't the united states approved the free trade agreement with columbia?" in a country with 46 million people, the only way for us to prosper is by having access to all of the market's@@@@@@@@@ @ economy was at the moment and when our administration began of how into the world economy should be by the end of the second term. we find one difficulty. some countries ask, explain to me why the united states has not approved the free trade agreement with columbia yet. therefore, it is a necessary signal for our cou

side chairman of joint staff of the united states army, that's admiral are to sign the framework document on the development of cooperation between the armed forces of the russian federation and the armed forces of the united states of america and memorandum on adoption of the working plan to improve military cooperation between the armed forces of the russian's duration and the united states of america for year 2009. >> okay. obviously, we've government a few minutes, i think, before we hear from either of the presidents. we're going to go back to our discussion for a second. john harwood, the point we were discussing before we went away, one of the big problems in russia still is property rights for investors. >> there's no question and the rule of law is necessary for attracting business investment, president obama before he left gave some interviews to russian media talking about medvedev's promise to strengthen the rule of law. there have been questions raised as you know, melissa about the jailing of mchale, but these leaders right now are putting out a memorandum about military coo

this is not just a problem for the united states. it raises the prospect of a nuclear arms race in the middle east which would endanger global security while iran's ballistic missile program can also pose a threat to the broader region. that is why i am pleased we agreed on a joint statement on missile defense and a joint threat assessment of the ballistic missile challenges of the 21st century, including those posed by iran and north korea. we have taken important steps forward to strengthen our security to greater cooperation. on the need to combat violent extremism, particularly from al- qaeda. it would have signed an agreement that will allow the transit of lethal military equipment through russia to afghanistan. this is a substantial contribution by russia to our international effort and will save the united states time and resources in giving our troops the support that they need. thanks to the admiral and his russian counterpart, we have agreed to resume military to military cooperation between the united states and russia, pro

opportunity lost by the united states and an opportunity seized by canada, france and brazil. it's a different story for american farmers. big u.s. agricultural companies have won the right to ship their goods to cuba. >> translator: the united states is providing just basic food and their exports are already 50% of spanish expos. that's only food. so the potential for the united states is strong. >> reporter: ships hauling american farm products routinely visit havana harbor. about $700 million worth of food last year and growing. rafael hernandez, the editor of "pamas" magazine in havana says good business trumps ideology. >> i have a business. rice growers, republican guys, who are not liberal democrats. guys from louisiana, iowa, delaware, nebraska, minnesota. the republicans that want to sell chicken and rice and wheat and soy sauce and soybeans. to you. >> reporter: actually, cuba thinks it can count on bipartisan support in the united states to end the trade embargo. according to a poll conducted by florida international university, even a majority of cuban-americans in

the first amendment in the world is unique. united states is the only country that provides such ironclad protection to expressive rights. it is unbridled and legal protections that exist in any other country. unfortunately that seems to be the case increasingly these days. other countries pass laws with judicial process sees that pay more attention to avoid being a fence of waiting denigration of religion, avoiding denigration of other groups that may take offense. they also pay increasing attention to libel and also the ones and needs often to the exclusion that reports those feelings and contribute to a better government overall. unfortunately even in much of the western world it is not the case of the united states where our projections for free speech remains strong. the supreme court jurisprudence in the area of lipo in particular are strong placing a serious burden on the plaintiff and a libel case to prove the falsity of statements rendered against him or her or as well as different standards of the mental intent or malice brought to

and we represent the united states of america. e other side of the balance sheet, we've got to find areas of collaboration, and i do think africa could be one such opportunity. if you take export controls aside and the work that we must do more of in terms of the flow of arms, i think looking at something similar to an africa growth and opportunity act having been involved when i was trade ambassador with africa many years ago, it is an opportunity where the two of us can actually focus on a continent that is in need of economic growth, it's in need of seed capital, it's in need of the right kind of peaceful infrastructure investment that will bring stawbility longer -- stability longer term to the continent, and that is an area i'd very much like to explore with chinese counterparts. >> good. i'd like to be working with you in that area. my time has expired, but for the record if you would give us your opinion of how to dispose of the uighur problem that is there, you might, just for the record, respond as to how we might be able

debraced the demand for clean energy technology are investing more per capita in clean energy than the united states. i would like to include an article from "the washington post" reporting china is poised to bypass the united states in clean-energy technology investment. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, we've got some catching up to do. while we have that catching up to do, ph-lgs of americans are out of work. my home state of rhode island has one of the highest rates of unemployment in the country. across the country couples are sitting at their kitchen tables late at night and they are trying to figure out how to make ends meet, and it is not adding up. that is the reality many americans face when we cling to the failed policy of the past. when we care more about keeping big oil happy than about finding new inventive ways for the average american worker to find lasting, secure kphroeuplt in the tra -- secure kphroeuplt. remarkably there are those in congress who would have us do nothing, who remain wedded to tired, centuries-old technologies and

the united states now have a black, or have black president, very poor in. in the book there are a lot of stories about blacks, not only in the united states, but even in one of the first stories here, i began asking if-- where blacks because all of the experts conspiring on the fact that we all came from africa. we are all african immigrants come up because the human being began existing there in africa, so perhaps they were blacks. and, i tell in the book some stories that were for me really relevant, especially because they happened just ten minutes ago. obama is not the president and the stories are very recent. for instance, in 1942, the-- prohibited the transfusions of black blood. when the united states was entering in the second world war, and at that time, the director of the red cross in this area of blood transfusions was a very important scientists, who had not invented the plasma, but almost invented it, because thanks to him it was possible to save millis of lives in the second world war. and so, it was a director of this part of the red cross,

you'd see the united states supporting the plaintiff or an antitrust case in which the united states itself is the plaintiff. whether that will make any difference to the with the court decides these cases is another matter. the first consists of two cases that were not strictly speaking business cases because businesses weren't parties. these cases have the names of seasons. there's the winters case and the summers case. they were both cases where environmental groups sued to prevent a government from taking certain actions. in winter, it was naval training exercises in the ocean, and summers was the sale of timber in national park. in both cases, the court held that the plaintiffs could not obtain relief and reversed the decision to the contrary. in winter, the court held that the plaintiffs could not satisfy the standards for preliminary injunction. in somers, they ruled that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue. it more lesson balls the application of settled law. -- and more established principles. no businesses were parties to either case. so no businesses were direct beneficia

public opinion polls show most russians remain suspicious of the united states and are skeptical of obamalevision coverage of the visit was sporadic with most popular channels declining to televise his speech. >> you know, it's one interesting thing to see here. nothing excitement about obama that you get when he travels to other country. parts of europe, people thronged the motorcade throughout but that partially sort of reflects the kind of russian, kind of, you know, i don't know. just sort of, not disinterest but sort of wariness of obama. >> tomorrow, president obama heads to italy, where he will attend the g-8 summit and meet with pope benedict xvi. >>> now for more on today's developments, we are joined by a specialist on u.s./russian relations, angela stent. she is the director for the center of eurasian, russian and east european studies at geortown university school of foreign service and she joins us from washington. thanks very much for being with us. what's your sense of the president's visit to moscow accomplished and where american and russia relations now stand? >> well, i

it is not just a problem for the united states. it raises the prospects of a nuclear arms race in the middle east, which would endanger global security and could also pose a threat that is far reaching. i am pleased that we agreed on a joint statement on cooperation about missile threats of the 21st century including those posed by iran and north korea. we have taken important steps forward to strengthen our security for greater cooperation. the president and i agreed on the needs to be -- the threats from al qaeda. thanks to admiral mullen and his russian counterpart, we have agreed to resume military to military cooperation between the united states and russia. this provides a framework for improve cooperation and interoperable only between our armed forces so we can better address the threats that we face from terrorism. we have also agreed to restore a joint commission on prisoners of war missing in action, which allow our governments to cooperate in our commitment to our missing servicemen and women. we have taken important ste

the united states. that president, by the way, is about to hold a joint news conference with prime minister al maliki of iraq. as soon as the two men come out, you will see what they have to say for themselves. this may be the first time the men will hold a joint news conference and which are going to be covering it in full. >>> back to this question about the president and his legitimacy as a citizen of the united states, today, on the house floor at least one man stood up and addressed this, saying that maybe this is not something that should be talked about, at least not in this measure, even though there is now also a bill by four men who are sponsoring it to try and make sure that in the future the law is changed as to how people have to come forward to show that they are citizens or noncitizens. i want you to hear from bill paskral. he is the one that stood up on the house floor and made this statement. here it is. >> i bring you a cope andy and d it up of his birth certificate, which has been aut

there was a lot of pen pent-resentment and anger, especially towards the united states. the iranian population saw the shah as authoritarian figure and believed the united states was propping up the shah if you recall the u.s. organized in 1953 the coup that returned to shah to power. their foreign policy wasn't fully rational but based on emotional and ideology and extremism. as a result iran things not only did hurt itself but surrounding countries by ultimately did things that hurt its own interest. for example, it tried to export its revolution to arab countries and no, no one really wanted its revolution. iran tried to sponsor shia coup in bahrain. it set up lebanese hezbollah. and, it adopted a policy of undermining the arab states for the gulf corporation council. iranian calls for arab mon narcs to be overthrown united those count behind saddam hussein. so it was detrimental to iranian interests. but among the fundamentalist factions in the revolution, and there are many different groupings. you had nationalist, markists liberals but among the fundamentalist facti

soil saying "we don't want them around the united states. i can't make it anymore clear than the statement i have given to you. we will never allow terrorists to be released in the united states." senator durbin said the feeling was at this point we were defending the unknown. we were being asked to defend a plan that hasn't been announced. and i think senator durbin was correct then and is correct now. there are lots of questions, very few answers. what is the impact? say we close gitmo, what is the impact of placing detainees in the u.s. prison system, pretrial and post trial? has an assessment been done to determine the risk of escape as well as potentially creating targets in the u.s. for terrorist attacks? will gitmo detaineesing segregated from regular prison population? these guys are trained to recruit. and that would be the garden spot for them to get in the american prison system to recruit people to become terrorists. what facilities exist in the united states to hold the detainees? we talked about that. they tried to locate 17 fac

and many liberal economies in the united states will get the french system and the love that and bob frank explained to me why i love the french system and why i would like to have the same in the united states because it goes to france every summer and when he has a medical problem they go to a french doctor and they can choose their doctor and it is very cheap, extremely cheap and they are all surprised. most of them love the high-speed train. ago from paris to the riviera, we want that in the united states and frank says you can't blame me for wanting the same as you have and i say i pay for the high-speed train as a taxpayer and ip as a taxpayer to access premedical doctor when you were on vacation but if you were not on a vacation, if you were french, you would have half of your income used to pay for the train and the welfare system and also the people who pay the most are the unemployed people. the cost of the french health care is so high it does prevent the employment of a lot of qualified people. so economics is also a trade-off and you can't have both, you can't have a perf

mexico has long been an important ally and friend of the united states. it is this country's third largest trading partner. as one of the largest economies in the americas, it remains the third largest source of foreign oil for the united states market. unfortunately, over the past few years, organized crime has made mexico a major producer that transit's state of illegal drug trafficking into the u.s. as much as 90% of cocaine that enters the united states comes to mexico. criminals in mexico are now the largest suppliers of marijuana and methamphetamine. apparently, crime pays. this criminal enterprise is estimated to reduce annual revenues ranging from $25 billion to $40 billion. in december 2006, shortly after taking office, mexican presidents felipe calderon began a major crackdown on the drug cartels operating in his country. since then, almost 11,000 people in mexico have been killed in drug-related violence. almost daily, reports from mexico depict killings, acts of torture, and kidnapping. >> is getting worse. this past june was the deadliest mont

and the citizens of the united states? if you can't have the debate here on the floor of the house, where can you have it? this is where we should be debating the issues and changing the rules and the process does the people of this country a disservice. if i were able to offer an amendment to the foreign ops bill i would offer an amendment to make sure that aid to honduras is not cut off. mr. chairman, the administration has cut funding to the people of honduras because some have claimed that a military coup has occurred in honduras. instead of being responsible on the matter, the administration's got itself involved with the likes of chavez, morales, ortega and too quickly reacted in a knee jerk reaction. and if i was able to offer an amendment, i would have fought hard to make sure that aid to honduras was not cut. this process makes a mockery of our democratic system, and i urge all of my colleagues to vote against this rule and support an open process but also support the people of honduras. thank you, mr. chairman. th

the united states will never become china and china will never become the united states but there are living factors that china and the united states interactions have never been on frequent and our it's never been interwoven so closely and the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries has never been so broad in the driving force and the chinese and u.s. relationship has never been so strong between two great people have reason to seize the historical opportunities, to active expand enhanced cooperation and appropriately handle differences of sensitive issues and even for the future in china/u.s. relations. there's a saying in china, what is begun is half done. i think you have a similar saying here in this country. in the past few years, i've worked with the two deputy secretaries of state. .... .. to a >> translator: yes, we can. that is forward from president obama. yes, we can. [applause] >> translator: thank you. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. [applause] >> thank you. good morning. it is a great honor to welcome you to the first meeti

some say can dada's plan could a model for the united states. tch mcconnell offered a downright different view, a frightening assessment of the canadian system. here it is. >> i had a friend of mine in florida who called up to say he just lost a friend of his in canada because the government decided he was too old for a certain kind of procedure and apparently he didn't have the money or the ability to get down to the united states for kwaequy health care. >> i asked him to join me and clear up what he had said, but yesterday he was voting and wasn't able to join us. but we did have the former canadian health minister to answer that same charge, just to be fair. which he did, by calling what the senator said "absolutely false." we deposidn't want to leave the story there. this is important to all of us. joining us now is republican senator john barrasso, who is also a doctor. senator, thanks for being with us, sir. >> thank you very much, rick. >> you know, maybe people misspeak or hear something that they shouldn't repeat but it seemed like sena

states stand visibly in latin america. the advice was based on the belief by not making the united states an issue this would allow the unitedup for democratic activists. unfortunately, no country or leader did so. most importantly, the secretary general of the organization of american states passed that idly by year after year, democracy after democracy being dismantled one piece at a time, one institution at a time, saying absolutely nothing. the o.a.s. has a responsibility to condemn and sanction presidential abuses, not just abuses against presidents. because the o.a.s. failure to uphold the checks and balances within democracies, it has become an enableer of authoritarian leaders throughout the region. the result of this has been a signal of acceptance to antidemocratic actions and abandonment of those fighting for democracy in venezuela, bolivia, nicarauga, ecuador and elsewhere. this silence was compounded by recent repudiation of the application of the inter american charter, democratic charter to the cuban dictatorship. it was in honduras with mr. zolia taking the leading role where the o.a.s. general assembly decid