after our involvement in the vietnam war ended, vietnam went to war against china. we have complicated historical strands rolling through that. your point is a good one. why doesn't the international community stand up as well? they have. we have got contributions from foundations around the world, as well as some governments, because i think everyone wants to put in a little bit of effort to say this is an art interest for our security to have good relations with vietnam, and this is a way we are as a people. we believe in alues in cleaning up our mess. that has always been the strands of american foreign policy, which is we act based on strategic interests and moral values. this happens to coincide with both. host: the next and call comes from tennessee. caller: i am dave. i am a vietnam veteran. i served two tours. 1967 and 1968. and when i came home and got out of the military in 1969, 1970 i started having muscle spasms in my back. and finally, when they put out that agent orange and numbers for us i applied, got my number. i will try to make this brief. i have

after the vietnam war.rs, lance corporal john granville, lance corporal clayton hough, jr., captain edward miles, sergeant michael morehouse, lieutenant colonel william taylor, corporal ronald vivona to those names remembered here. as we honor them, we pray you to get us the privileges and grave responsibilities to be in the united states of america. we thank you for your blessing to our nation's and ask you bless our assembly today. our nation continues to hill from the physical, emotional, and spiritual ones from that war. may we receive your comfort , and we will never forget those that gave their lives for your piece. in that process name that is above all the names we pray, amen and amen. >> thank you, chaplains. we've been working together for three decades to ensure that this site, one of the most visited areas in washington, d.c., continues to offer healing and educational experiences. we are going on a couple of preservation projects. one that you will see is the three servicemen statute. we are ca

we do not need to fight the vietnam war over again. we can now say we look to the future and have good relationships with a wonderful citizens jury of vietnam that has become great trading partners and allies. we have to realize how seriously they say it. you said the notion that there is still dioxin there. one point i would like to make disappears. it does not degrade. it is not one of those chemicals that if you just wait a year or so it will dissolve and go away. we need to continue as part of the plan. this is a very detailed plan of step-by-step three phases, clean up, testing, how you would test the soil, how you would test the fichicken to see how you get rid of the dioxin. host: next phone call is of knoxville, tennessee. the republican line. caller: hello. i wanted to tell mr. isaacson how much i enjoyed when c-span plays that aspen institute programs. i have something very serious that i think it is very important. they have lieutenant general honory during petrina. during this interview he senaid the president should declar

i am convinced that the lessons we learned from vietnam, the lessons of vietnam veterans have taughts, have played a big part of in this. it is taken many years for america to try to set things right for vietnam veterans and their families, and yet many task remain undone. many wounds remain unhealed. indeed today we are striving to meet their needs and to field looks visible and invisible ones for our afghanistan and iraq war veterans and their families. i truly believe that staying connected is the first out to healing the wounds. in my mind, one of the best ways we can strengthen this connection, cement this bond, is to listen and learn from our vietnam veterans. bettors like decorated marine corps veteran jack lyon, how posttraumatic stress coach who tes his young counterparts, you are all brothers but now you also have lots of locals here if anything ces up. whether it is coping with read or meant anxiety or suicidal thoughts, having an experiend saddle but you can turn to makes all the difference. my good friend and former commandant who fought in vietn said every marine, every

army during the vietnam conflict, madam chairman. i recall that the time of the revolutionary war, george washington with some 12,000 soldiers that were not very well trained and they had to go up against some 30,000 british red coats the most powerful military organization at that time, and we had to fight and we won the war, giving credit to general george washington and those who were able to assist him. another basic history also, the history of the u.s. army, madam speaker, just wanted also to say the time of world war ii, where some 100,000 japanese americans were incarcerated in concentration camps, despite the discrimination and hatred and racism heaped on the japanese americans, whereas the vol theefers battalion of the 4242nd infantry brigade sent to -- the 442nd infantryberry grade sent to europe, they became the most decorated units in the history of the u.s. army. the 100 battalion and 442nd infantry, some 18,000 individual decoration were given to the men who served, japanese americans. some 9,000 purple hearts were awa

he won two silver stars and other metals all in vietnam.on of a purple heart memorial in buffalo, new york. he said, and i quote, "most people think the battlefield -- think of the battlefield as a place of hate, fear, an anger. when you have bought and you have bled and you have survived, you recognize it is something entirely different. hatred would hardly be enough to make a soldier leave a safe position to rescue a buddy. there would never make one share the last sip of water with nine comrades. and anger whenever motivate a nurse to stand tall in the bloody operating room for half a day or longer to put a soldier or marine back together. no, only love can motivate that kind of heroism. only love can trigger that kind of courage. komen love onl -- only love. that is why we are here today, to honor the families to share that love it even more deeply. has the look of the headstones and gave their lives to win our independence, to save our nation, to save our union, to defend against fascism and communism, i wonder -- i wonder what they wo

imaging couple -- imojean cupp, the woman who played a pivotal role in vietnam.ter, goldstar wife, and gold star mothers. none should be asked to sacrifice that much. and i also met the parents, the brother, and the beautiful widow of john howard. i had the privilege of meeting his family when i attended the memorial service in fort lewis in washington state. john sved in the striker brigade that was among the hardest hit in afghanistan. he left behind a wife, two young sons, and an infant daughter who he never got to make, but who i hope will grow up with a pride in her father filling part of the void that is loved by his loss. each of the goldstaramilies and bodies in the words of john milton, -- embodied in the words of john milton those who also served stand in waiting. those of you that are standing and waiting are relieved and to return, as jill and i were, at the return of our son from iraq. many of you are now waiting with family members still overseas, many in harm's way, and some of you have stood and waited for a loved one that did not return. and to l

it follows the soldiers of bravo company through vietnam. find the entire weekend schedule at book-tv.com >> the president visited the gulf region for the fourth time this week. from the oval office. he meets with bp officials later today. good evening. as we speak, our nation reaches -- faces >> at home, our top priority is to recover and rebuild from a recession that has touched the lives of nearly every american. abroad, our brave men and women in uniform are taking the fight to al qaeda wherever it exists. and tonight, i have returned from a trip to the gulf coast to speak with you about the battle we are waging against an oil spill assaulting our shores and our citizens. on april 20, an explosion ripped through the bp deepwater horizon drilling rig, about 40 miles off the coast of louisiana. 11 workers lost their lives. 17 others were injured. and soon, nearly one mile beneath the surface of the ocean, oil began spewing into the water. because there has never been a leak this size at this depth, stopping it has tested the limits of huma

and unit citations make it possibly the most decorated navy squadron during the vietnam war. between 1967 and 1972, hal-3 flew over 130,000 hours of dwat and logistical support and inflicted thousands of casualties on enemy forces, performed 1,530 medical evacuations, carried more than 37,000 passengers and delivered more than one million pounds of cargo. the unit's expert maintenance and support personnel worked tirelessly to ensure that the squadron's aircraft were operational ready and crews were provided with the daily support needed to accomplish their dangerous and critically important missions. this resolution serves to honor the families of the hal-3 veterans for their support and to express our condolences to the families and comrades of those killed in action. helicopter attack light squadron three left behind a combat and humanitarian record, recognized as bringing great credit upon the united states navy and role in the vietnam war. passing this resolution is the least we can do to honor the service and enormous sacrifice of the americans that constituted such a v

i'm here a vietnam vet. about leaving afghanistan -- the only thing we need to do is load up c-5a with 27 pitch pipe gallon drums, stuff like agent orange, the foliage, the plants they are using for their money, the poppies -- so just like in vietnam. these plants will be killed clear to the root. nothing will grow for over 60 years. cut their money off. they have no way to fund their war. the war would be over for them. and we can keep our status among the world. host: front page of "the houston chronicle" this morning. daytona beach, florida, on our independent line. you are on the air. caller: i have been trying to call for a while now they're trying to get through. some of these comments are hard to listen to. of course, we have to leave afghanistan. it is imperialism. that is why we are there. the idea that they can reign terror down on the united states with no navy and air force, kind of tough for that to happen. that is not a possibility. terrorism is a slogan. host: do you think we should have gone

juarez, aboutju mexico, and then "matterhorn," which follows bravo company through vietnam. and join us on twitter. 30,000 viewers already have. >> we have the c-span video library. we make it easy to follow the primary season, from the debates to the victory and concessions be six -- speeches. online, any time. >> an hour hearing on afghanistan. there is the 2007 goal of withdrawing u.s. troops from the country. the leader of u.s. forces, general david betray us, -- general petraeus, was here at the committee. he said -- he fainted halfway through this hearing, due to what he described as dehydration. >> we are receiving testimony on the progress in afghanistan, with the commander of central command. the troops deserve our support, and the committee gives them that full support. and the support of their families as well. >> thank you. >> last month, it was announced for the first timm that more soldiers are in afghanistan and in iraq. year since general stanley mcchrystal took command of the naked-let the news from afghanistan has been largely negative. the increase in casu

it followed bravo company through vietnam. more than 30,000 viewers have already joined us on twitter. >> tomorrow morning, simon lomax from bloomberg news joins us with an update on climate legislation and the kind of impact the oil spill will have. then congressman scott garrett, working with the senate on a financial regulation bill. and walter isaacson, we will talk to him about contaminants during the vietnam war. according to a new report, 3 million vietnamese people and 150,000 children are still feeling the health effects from the contamination. "washington journal," live every morring on c-span. bp's ceo will be on capitol hill this week to testify before a house energy and commerce subcommittee. we will bring you live coverage thursday on c-span 3 and that c- span.org. having visited the gulf region for the fourth time since april, oil spill from the oval office. he makes his decision tomorrow. >> good evening. as we speak, our nation faces a multitude of challenges. at home, our top priority is to recover and rebuil

the key country for looking at this would be a vietnam. vietnam may not be able to implement it today all of the commitment that the uned states has come to expect over free trade agreements, but i would very much like to see us get some short-term benefits, particularly improved access to that market for our exporters, fort greene goods, for the value added kind of products of would like to see us get in to vinam. so my question to you is, what would you think about the idea of the trans-pacific partnership, trying to come up with a more pragmatic pathway that would get as these short-term benefits, improved access to the vietam market to, but to in effect to the vietnamese say when you improve workers' rights, when you protect intellectual property we can use this as a pathway to a broader agreement, what would amount to a free-trade agreement. what do you think of this idea? what are your thoughts? i don't want to see china with an economic model that is hostile to our workers and intellectual property and our principles to get a bigger

you know, i was too young to go into the vietnam war but i did pay attention to it. i would have given anything during the vietnam war for one general to tell the truth about anything. even if it was just trashing people in a bar one little bit of truth would have been nice. what i find disturbing is that mcchrystal and obama agree about the war completely and that is that the war will go on forever and kill a lot of people and cost a lot of money and can't possibly be won. they both seem to agree on that 100%. that's what we're doing. it's a bad thing. of course the president can fire him. of course the president can put anybody he wants and put anybody in the supreme court. he's the president. i don't agree with him but i don't have a vote in this. >> larry: james, how long does this war -- this war is longer than vietnam now. >> you know, if you asked me about what is west virginia going to do and how long is this war going to go on, that's way beyond my pay grade. i agree with almost everything that you just said, penn. look, the tragedy is in afghanistan is we'r

not korea, vietnam, not afghanistan. we made this country free. people like bill gates and others have made this money in this country. they said everything over to china. these are the kind of people that we should try to get together and make them do something for this country. i am at a point where if they ever take attention away from me, i have no alternative. i think you for listening to me. i am very disgusted with the way that things are. i did not vote for obama. i think the people should back him so he can try to get this country straightened out. he is not the one who put us into the war. it was george bush that put us afghanistan. now he gets the blame. host: thhnk you. guest: the good thing is that his pension promises is an obligation of the federal government. the united states treasury and all taxpayers collectively, and no one has suggested that pensions be taken away from military personnel. my father is a military veteran as well. he gets a pension from the federal government. no one suggests there is a risk to this pension prom

of bravo company through vietnam. find the entire weekend schedule at book tv.org, and join us on twitter. more than 30,000 already have. >> it is campaign 2010 your way, with the c-span video library. we make it easy to follow the primary season, from the campaign trail to the debates, to victory and concession speeches. all free online anytime. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we have about 40, 45 minutes left in this morning's program and it is open phones friday. what ever public policy topic you would like to discuss, we will put the numbers up on the screen and a second. they are divided by political affiliation. we talked about a lot of things this morning. we will also talk about stimulus spending with the columbus dispatch this morning. allow 30 days between your calls. public policy issues, whenever you would like to talk about, we will give the opening phones a twirl. but first, president obama is on his way to columbus, ohio, today. and the chief political writer for "the columbus dispatch" is joe

some of these people have been fishermen back in the vietnam . they moved to the u.s., and this is what they know. to do. and if they can't go back, it's going to be really hard for them to adjust and go to a different industry. >> reporter: 54-year-old hue nguyen has been a fisherman for 19 years. he told us he's been trying unsuccessfully to get a job working for b.p. on the cleanup, but so far, nothing. celine le interpreted for him. >> ( translated ): i wait at home at night. >> reporter: what do you do now that you don't have money? >> ( translated ): i just wait for them to call so i can go out there and clean up and earn some money. i don't know what to do. >> reporter: nguyen says he's sad and frustrated. he hasn't been able to send money to his family back in vietnam for nearly three months. >> ( translated ): sometimes i think at night, and it's really hard for me to sleep. i don't have a job. i don't have money. >> reporter: linda dinh's husband is also a fisherman. he heechbt been able to get work from b.p., either, and she says she i

time.s gone on for a very long%- that was the rationale during the vietnam war. we have gone over the cliff. to get more chances to compound the world felony. host: you compared the president's visit to lyndon johnson's 1966 visit to south vietnam. guest: it was chilling for me to go back in the archives and read about lyndon johnson and howl of be the soldiers were to hear the president saying that we are going to nail the coonskin cap to the wall and that sort of thing. that is not do us any good, because the reality is, they are different countries. the psychological mechanisms, the process along pennsylvania avenue in washington to try to justify the unjustifiable, the failure of congressional leadership to use the power of the purse to respond to public opinion, we have a poll this country is now saying in this war is not worth it, and yet the war goes on and continues to escalate. host: the situation in southern afghanistan, a look at how u.s. military officials are trying to save some of those troops picks it is a photograph of the battle line in afghanist

in vietnam. the vietnamese. host: but if you take that analogy, we buy german cars and japanese products and we were at war with them in world war ii. >> and they surrendered. germany has standards. so those are the things. china is a communist country. and they have no standards. so those are the things that you should look up what you should do. >> robert. thank you for the call. president hu jintao who is in town for the summit for the obama administration. a date is yet to be set between the two countries. the president extended the meeting and the two were together again this morning the world's largest and emerging economies at that session. >> next is bob joining us from winter park florida. good morning to you. independent line. caller: hello. host: you're on the air. we'll try one more time. good morning. caller: good morning to you, sir. this is the first time i got through to you. host: well, we are ggad to hear from you. caller: now as far as the congress is at war, i think the whole washington is at

mmlitary using dioxin can eminence during the vietnam war. according to a new report, 150,000 children are still filling the effects of the contamination. "washington journal" is live every morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. >> it is campaign 2010 your way3 we make it easy to follow the primary season from the campaign trail and the debate today -pvictory in concession speeche. all free online anytime. >> now hearing on afghanistan including president obama's 2011 goal of starting the withdrawal of u.s. troops from the country. the head of u.s. forces in afghanistan and iraq, the general david petreaus, testifies before the senate armed services committee. the general fainted about an hour into this hearing. he said it was due to dehydration. >> good morning today. today the committee receives testimony on the progress in afghanistan from under secretary of defense for policy secretary flourney, and general david petreaus. general petreaus, please extend the thanks of all of us to the men and women serving in afghanistan, for their

we put it together in reaction to the vietnam experience. without the anticipation that we would find ourselves in a similar situation. our assumption is regardless about how you feel about these wars, nobody talks about tt was a od idea. when people look back and say that was an investment of $1 trillion focus on 1% of the pele. how much progress were we able to buy. we are sll spending sums equal to the gdp of those countries. i don't think anybody is thinking about repeating that. what we want to do is lock in a guaranteed. we are notoing to find ouelves in that slope again. >> there are allies i feel commitment to. there is taiwan, south korea. nobody is talking abo significant numbers of ground troops. there is a technological aspect. i think it goes back about human rights. the focus ought to be on democrat in -- democratic societies intervening in a civil war does not work ery well because of the baggage america carries. it is counterproductive. any further questions? in the back. >> what happens [[naudible] [inaudible] >> let me maki

he represents the communist party of vietnam -- i represent the communist party of vietnam and i bring you greetings from the entire convention. [applause] please, extend our greetings to your whole party and to your general secretary you'll be hearing later from -- general secretary. you will be hearing later from laternguyen -- from comrade nguyen. the difference between now and five years ago and are convention in chicago -- a woman raised in the south bronx did not sit on the supreme court then. the president did not call for the evolution of new except in spirit millions -- acceptance. many had no health care or promises for health care in the near future. a mexican american woman, a daughter of poor immigrants, was not secretary of the labor department. [applause] the war in iraq was not winding down. nothing was said about winning in the thieves on wall street -- about bringing in the peace on wall street. -- reining in the thieves on wall street. torture was not prohibited then. the pendulum of power did not get leaned in favor of working people or people of color. and an afric

we went through vietnam, korea, katrina. if you combine all of that debt for everything we invested in, we will take all of that and for the first 43 and double it in five years. what are we doing? are we building new bridges? that is too fast accumulation of debt. if you go to the next slide this is based upon g.d.p., gross domestic product. it is the percentage of your debt. if you look, and where you see the beginning of the red line, that is 2010. that is where we are. you see the trajectory. if you go back to world war two, that is the highest that it ever was. why were we borrowing? we were building tanks and ships and airplanes. we were fight to save the world. were we not? we knew once that ended you no longer needed that many ships or planes or that large of a military. so you noticed that it went down. what are we spending our debt on now? we are borrowing money, which i believe is to fund the continued wellfare state. there is no end in sight for that. that is why we have to have a serious discussion. the way that

i'm a vietnam veteran. i hope that he does the right thing. the people calling in have the right to express their opinions. this guy is a loose cannon. he needs to go. not today. george bush said he listened to the generals on the ground. the generals that know this man -- if yyu listened to pbs last night, on "news hour" they told you just tell this guy is. host: "the new york post" has this headline. oklahoma city, scott on the line for republicans, good morning. caller: yes, i have enjoyed your i have a constitutional perspective on this. any general that is involved in an undeclared war needs to be fired. they need to have never been fired. we had an opportunity -- dr. ron paul had a declaration of war issued as legislation. he was not for it, but he wanted to see how congress was, and nobody voted for it. he also issued a granting of petters of marking reprisal. these are the two constitutional solutions to an attack by foreign power. both those went down in flames. you expected them to. the next question to congress, why are you giving t

we put it together in reaction to the vietnam experience. without the anticipation that we would find ourselves in a similar situation. our assumption is regardless about how you feel about these wars, nobody talks about that was a good idea. when people look back and say that was an investment of $1 trillion focus on 1% of the people. how much progress were we able touy. we are still spendg sums equal to the gdp of the countries. i don't think anybody is thinking about repeating that. what we want to do is lock in a guaranteed. we are not going to find rselves in that slope ain. >> there are allies i feel commitment to. there is taiwan, south korea. nobody is talking about significant numbers of ground troops. there is a technological aspect. i think it goes back about human rights. the focus ought to be on democrats in -- democratic societies. intervening in a civil war does not wor ery well because of the baggage america carries. it is counterproductive. any further questions? in the back. >> what happens [[naudibl [inaudible] let me make

in vietnam, you had a large number of contractors working on construction projects in vietnam. and that obviously is less controversial in terms of what contractors do. you know, now we -- in the current wars we've had contractors doing interrogation, private security operations, weapons maintenance, according to report even, you know, maintaining drone operations, those sort of things, which are much more controversial. that's the big change that's happened over the years, the scope of activities the contractors have begun to carry out and because we have, you know, upwards of 200,0 contractors now in iraq and afghanistan, if you pulled those out of the operation or tried to federalize them all, it would be very difficult to do. >> and i wonder how easy it would be to be over there in these conflicts if there were 200,000 people in the united states in combat has opposed to 90,000 in one place with 110,000 contractors, sort of off the books. >> well, this is another -- i mean, i think this is another aspect of it, the political cost goes down to the -- to the degree that contr

after that, a vietnam veteran that took him 30 years to publish.ind the entire weekend schedule at booktv.com. join us on twitter. >> he was a volatile, emotional, very complicated young man. he was very adventurist. he was 25 and having adventure. >> take a new look at alexis de tocqueville. that is sunday on c-span. supreme court justice clarence thomas on the prospect of a new justice. >> to bring in a family member, it changes the family. it is different. it is different today than what it was when i first got here. i have to admit that you grew very fond of the court. you spend a long time here. >> the confirmation hearings for a landing can start june 28. -- the confirmation hearings for elena kagan the start june 28. these provide any insight about the court. they are available now in the hardcover and also as an e-book. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us is joan lowy. who are opening of u.s. airspace? guest: a permanent homeland security, department of defense, law enforcement agencies, the coast guard, customs and the bord

. >> larry: longer than vietnam. where does it go, do you think? what does happen? what happens? >> we have said what happens. we are pulling out in a year. what is the point of the people who are going to die between now and year later? that is the question. that is the john kerry question. how you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake. >> larry: was he right to fire mcchrystal? >> i think here is a guy that is trying his hardest to implement the policy that may not be as. i hate to see a guy taken down for gossip. i think the way to fight this is not the way they are doing it. i look at the terrace and the plots we have stopped in recent years. i think they are home grown. obama's policy is really not that different than bush's policy. he used to say we are fighting them over there and we will fight them over here. redneck it. obama is just the tenor of two deals. it is the same policy. he may enunciated better but it is the same thing. they are ready here. we do not have to fight them over there. the times square bomber, he was an account. >> larry: something else

when afghanistan started, people -pwould say, it is another vietnam, and i laughed at it. well the rules of engagement, the government, it is starting to look like another vietnam. and the last statement i would say, hillary clinton used to run an ad, who would you want to answer the phone at 3:00 a.m. in the morning? it is a good question. a lot of people should revisit it. host: thank you for making the call. the last is jeff calling from 29 palms, california. service member on the line for active duty military. go ahead, please. caller: i just wanted to call and comment on mcchrystal's resignation and petreaus's upcoming appointment. i know i heard some commissioned officer called in earlier -- i am personally in the marine corps and i just wanted to call and give the junior enlisted members opinions. i am also in the infantry, which is a big divide. we support mcchrystal and we are all pretty sad to see this happen. host: can you explain why? can you explain why you are said it is happening? caller: pretty upset because i was kindred spirit with general mcchrystal more

and vietnam veteran on the novel that took him 30 years to public. find the entire weekend schedule at booktv according to. --.org. and now president obama visiting columbus, ohio, to mark what the administration is calling this 10,000th road project funded by the economic stimulus plan. this is 15 minutes. >> good afternoon, everybody. well, it is great to be back in ohio. he said i've been in ohio so much he might charge me for it. it is wonderful to be back in ohio and it is wonderful to be back in the beautiful city of columbus. i just want to say thank you right off the top to mayor coleman for his outstanding leadership of this city. [applause] you've got one of the best mayors in the country. you also got one of the best governors in the country in ted strickland. and i want to acknowledge you already have one of the best senators in sheriff brown and you are going to have another one in lee fisher. so we appreciate the great work that they're doing. i'm going to mention some of the congressional delegations here because they've got a lot to d

and had won the case for this vietnam veteran. and had gone downstairs to file the paperwork.when he was killed. >> larry: why was he killed? >> ronnie lee was trying to escape. he was there on another charge. another murder charge. and he was trying to escape. >> larry: so michael was a bystander? >> yes. yes. >> larry: what -- what a tragedy and your forgiveness or understanding of this is amazing. are you opposed to capital punishment in general? >> yes. yes. i don't think one killing -- killing, for being killed, it just keeps it going. the cycle going. i think that we as a human race are -- all the brilliant minds we have on this planet, we could come up with maybe something better. >> larry: ronnie and his relatives say that after nearly 25 years in prison, he is a changed man. >> larry: thank you, donna. you have our best. >> thank you so much. >> larry: this week's cnn hero is a tour guide from cambodia. she uses her tip money to transform the lives of rural children. survivor of the oppressive and ruthless regime ponheary ly has made it her mission to educate cambodia

and had won the case for this vietnam veteran. and had gone downstairs to file the paperwork.lled. >> larry: why was he killed? >> ronnie lee was trying to escape. he was there on another charge. another murder charge. and he was trying to escape. >> larry: so michael was a bystander? >> yes. yes. >> larry: what -- what a tragedy and your forgiveness or understanding of this is amazing. are you opposed to capital punishment in general? >> yes. yes. i don't think one killing -- killing, for being killed, it just keeps it going. the cycle going. i think that we as a human race are -- all the brilliant minds we have on this planet, we could come up maybe with something better. >> ronnie and his relatives say that after nearly 25 years in prison, he is a changed man, that he's totally reformed. do you believe that? >> well, speaking to him, i don't know if he's totally reformed. how would you know, you know? >> larry: yeah. >> but i feel like he has definitely reformed. >> larry: are you going to pay attention to the news a few hours from now? what are you going to do? are you goi

this is a huge difference from of vietnam.he troops know that the american people, regardless of position and policy, support them. the differences on policy will be argued with our policy makers but we will support those troops and a long as they continue to be in iraq and sense that, i have no problem whatsoever with debate over this issue this time or any other time. who has not had a chance? >> what about the votes? >> the earlier the better. i hope we can get this done and i am confident we can get this done before recess. i have a high degree of confidence that we can get this done in committee the same day that we have a gray we all know general petraeus. he was in front of us again a week ago. we all know him. i don't think there will be anybody who says they will hold up the vote. you want continuity but number two, we know general petraeus. i can't believe there is anybody that will take the position that we have not had enough time. we know him so well and we know how essential there be continuity in terms of our co

we put it together in reaction to the vietnam experience. without the anticipation that we would find ourselves in a similar situation. our assumption is regardless about how you feel about these wars, nobody talks about that was a good idea. when people look back and say that was an investment of $1 trillion focus on 1% of the people. how much progress were we able to buy. we are still spending sums equal to the gdp of those countries. i don't think anybody is thinking about repeating that. what we want to do is lock in a guaranteed. we are not going to find ourselves in that slope again. >> there are allies i feel commitment to. there is taiwan, south korea. nobody is talking about significant numbers of ground troops. there is a technological aspect. i think it goes back about human rights. the focus ought to be on democrats in -- democratic societies. intervening in a civil war does not work ery well because of the baggage america carries. it is counterproductive. any further questions? in the back. >> what happens [[naudible] [inaudible

i am a 62 year-old disabled vietnam veteran. that makes me feel really bad to be an american. i fought for this country. and they are going to treat a black man like that? guest: this is part of the reason why the conservative base -- the right was not fond of president bush. some on the left have been disappointed by president obama. various issues, they have been disappointed. overall, many are saying, give him a break. he has done a lot for what was on his agenda. he has accomplished most of it. he has more to do. republicans believe the government spending has helped them tremendously. they will try to get one chamber back this fall. joe biden said a while back that it is the end of the road for that .icans will tout fel host: thanks for joining us. here is a news update. >> it is a cloth 30-year in washington, d.c. -- 8:30 in washington, d.c. are things that the obama administration could implement today that could get the zero and mr. back to work without a six month time limit. the head of libya's national oil corp. says he is happy for bp to continue to operate in his

i've had the privilege of serving with him ever since he came to the senate, and he's a decorated vietnam veteran from his ground breaking work on the iran-contra scandal to his leadership and global efforts to combat aids. senator kerry has distinguished himself as one of our nation's most respected voices on national security and international affairs and chairs the prestigious foreign relations committee. so senator kerry, chairman kerry, we're pleased to have you before our committee today. please go ahead, sir. >> thank you very much, chairman leahy, for those kind words of introduction. ranking member sessions and to all my colleagues on the important judiciary committee at this important moment. members of the committee, mr. chairman, 16 years ago, i had the privilege to introduce stephen breyer to this committee. and with the loss today of senator byrd, i'm particularly reminded of senator kennedy sitting beside me that day. as you all know, better than anybody, senator kennedy served on this committee for 46 years. and i know the pride he would feel seeing elena kagan nominated f

. >> larry: longer than vietnam now. >> yeah. >> larry: why does it go, do you think? what does happen? . >> we have already said what happens, we are pulling out in a year. so what is the point of the people who are going to die between now and a year later? that's, i think, yet. that's sort of the john kerry question, how do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake? >> larry: what -- was the president right to fire mcchrystal? >> as i said, you know, i think here's a guy who's trying his hardest to implement a policy that may not be his. i hate to see a guy taken down for gossip. you know, i think the way to fight this is not the way they are doing this. you know, i mean, i look at all these terrorists that we've -- these terrorist plots that we've stopped in recent years. they are kind of home-grown. you know, obama's policy is really not that different than bush's policy. bush used to say we are fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here. we go, okay, redneck idiot. but really, obama is just the tan other two of evils. it's the s

unlike vietnam, it was a draft army. so none of them sort of bemoaned their fate that they're in the korengal. they joined the army, they joined the infantry and there they are. for a lot of them that was the point, it was what they wanted to experience. the broader politics of the war, the broader strategy really wasn't relevant to them. what was relevant was what was happening right in front of them in that valley, that was what they talked about. had they talked about the politics it would have been in the book but they didn't. so the book really is an intimate inquiry into their experience. >> intimate and you become part of this story. i want to ask you about that. you're embedded with this unit. you experience a lot of the same things they go through, including being hit... you here in a truck when it's hit by an i.e.d. how do you negotiate your role as journalist, as writeer while at the same time almost being, i don't know, almost one of the guys. i don't want to put too much of a stress on. that how did you see

they fought in the rice paties of vietnam and stood in the towns of iraq. and they're leading in afghanistan to fight againstt the cowards in the desert, the taliban. i've been to iraq and afghanistan and let me tell you something, madam speaker, there is no better fighting machine in the world than the 101st. they were the first conventional unit to deploy in support of the american war on terrorism. the 101st easy company was portrayed in the series "banff brothers" and -- ban of brothers" and matthew gave his life with four other fellow soldiers that day. it was the bloodiest day of the war so far this year. madam speaker, this is a photograph of matthew. he and his fellow soldiers were killed when their humvee was hit by an improvised explosive device, that's called an i.e.d., that's the cowards way of the taliban of fighting our troops. but as shakespeare said, they shall be remembered, we few, we happy few, we banff brothers for he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother. matthew catlett, this young american hero, was only 23 years of a

have all these young people coming back, and they are very, very much at risk.Ñi the statistics from vietnamflected a high percentage of those with penetrating brain injuries developed epilepsy, you know, five, seven, ten years later. >> couric: the military is already treating soldiers with severe brain injuries in the field with anti-seizure medications, to try to prevent seizures during the early stages of recovery. at 29 sites across the country, another experimental treatment is under way, using a pulse of electricity in the brain to stop a seizure in its tracks. 26-year-old monica lovelace is part of a clinical trial going on at california pacific medical center in san francisco. monica was diagnosed with epilepsy when she was five years old after contracting meningitis. she and her husband ben have two young children, but her seizures make it hard for her to take care of them. why did you decide to get this experimental procedure? >> monica lovelace: absolutely, for my kids. absolutely. i won't... i wanted to be able to walk my kids to school. if i'm walking them... them to school and

part of it is the legacy of vietnam where the democratic party had the , you know, basically was tarred with the label of being the party of defeat. and then in recent years , an issue that's arisen is we've had fewer and fewer of our high-level political leaders with real military experience. and barack obama is not only a democrat but a democrat that's never served in uniform. so you can imagine the thoughts that were going through his head beyond just the question of whether mcchrystal had stepped too far over the line and whether change horses in midstream in afghanistan would be a problem for the strategy. but there's the larger perception in obama's case , and, you know, i think it's reinforced by the concern about his leadership in the gulf oil spill, that this could be a really tough decision and one fathere was a great burden on him to make the right way. >> suarez: and do you agree with brett mcgurk, this is also, maybe, an opportunity? >> i wish it were an opportunity but, again, what's happening is paradoxically, it wasn't really a debate about policy. you know, the presiden

senior military officer i've ever worked with, and i've known them all back to general westmoreland in vietnam. so i'm very pleased with where we're. now, let me just finish. >> ifill: certainly >> press then created a narrative out of an isolated incident, and the narrative was the one you just mentioned. and, honestly, it just isn't true. we work very closely together. twice already in the last four days, general petraeus, ambassador eikenberry, myself , and doug lou, the national security council senior director the four of us had secure phone conversations of the sort we hadn't had previously to work on implementation . and it's interesting, the very first issue that was raised and the very first call, which was on saturday, raised by david petraeus was electricity for kandahar as part of the kandahar operation. now, that's an issue we've been working on for a long time. >> ifill: and it's part of this overall counter-insurgency strategy? >> it's a central, central issue for the campaign in kandahar, to get electricity to the people as part of our overall counter-insurgency. but the point

from my support for the war in vietnam to my opposition to president george w. bush's war with iraq . i have served with so many fine senators in the congress , and i have loved every precious minute of it. >> ifill: robert byrd was 92 years old. >> brown: again, the major other developments of the day. the u.s. supreme court ruled the right to own a gun extends to states and localities nationwide. the decision will likely force scores of cities to revisit longstanding curbs on guns. senate confirmation hearings began for supreme court nominee elena kagan. she promised to be an impartial justice, if she's confirmed. the justice department announced ten people have been arrested and accused of acting as russian spies and the financial reform bill ran into new trouble. russ feingold said he won't support it. that means the measure is at least one vote short of the 60 needed to get past the filibuster. the newshour is always online. hari sreenivasan, in our newsroom, previews what's there. hari? >> sreenivasan: there's more on the life of senator byrd, including ph