i just have to say that i am very uncomfortable with the concept of aggressive war all war is aggressive. and i think it's unfortunate about term was used nuremberg but the important. term i think is war crimes and crimes against humanity and that case human i'd like to call attention to the other trials that were held after world war two in tokyo at the tokyo trials. after after the war and in that case general yamashita who was the commander of the japanese military forces in the philippines was accused and. condemned for war crimes and was executed even though it was clear that he did not know what he was soldiers were doing that there was never proved that he was aware of what they were doing or indeed that he ordered it so i think that we have to look about as a very different situation war crimes committed against civilians versus aggressive war all wars aggressive if you go back to jerusalem again i know that you and you do a wonderful job of hunting down nazis and i think that's an excellent thing to do because so many people have forgotten that since it was sixty five years ago

we're trapped this coils -- in the coils of war. we're in wars and wars and wars and wars. the technology is getting more and more sophisticated. and i was, that's why the book i wanted to do was called cultures of wars, because i wanted to sort this out. it doesn't mean it's all relative. obviously, it's not all relative. but there's a dynamic in the modern wars. and this threw me into it. and so i said, well, i'll do a little book on this after 9/11, and i had written about world war ii. i have written, and i had vowed never to deal with war again because, as you know, when we throw ourselves as researchers in this, it's in its own way, you know, it's nothing like what people experienced at the time. there's no comparison whatsoever. but it's exhausting. it's so exhausting. and i didn't want to go on. but i did. >> host: no, this is wonderful. you talk about recovering memory which is what history is in many ways, and you point out in your book that the terror bombings actually began prior to the u.s. entry into world war ii, that the japanese bombed chinese cities, germa

there's much to the idea that we do avoid war, a big war, a nuclear war after world war ii.t really is the triumph of good sense, good judgment, and maybe it has something to do with the effectiveness of these weapons of mass destruction that act as an deterrent. so there are positive things that come out of the war. including the occupations of germany and japan who are converted into democratic societies. so distant from what we had when they ended world war ii under nazism and japanese militarism. so there are successful developments. but, you know, i think what's most constructive, what's most useful is to talk about the short comings, not vindictively, but in terms of lessons that can be learned. judgments that can be made. a way of thinking about current and future events that these missteps might be instructive. indeed, those who serve in high office, it seems to me, should remember otto bismarck's famous comment, the great stakesman are those who hear the future hoof beats of the horse of history. to some extent, all of the great statesman did, the people that i writ

to try former nazi official on charges a war crime the process to after world war two the bloodiest war in human history remarkably there are those who deny the use of sars important role in defeating fascism in europe that's russia's authorities suggest that introducing criminal liability for those who deny us a sausage roll in the victory the russian public opinion research center asks citizens if they approve of the initiative according to the poll sixty percent of the respondents support they while another twenty five percent are against it with the passage of time today one might think more about the lessons taught by history . lawrence of anger do you know what most of it is name was brought up in earlier in the program and a lot of people will say that when we when people are brought to the international criminal court and other courts on an international level that it's really a western powers they they're the ones who put people on trial that they don't like we have the sudanese president they want to put him on trial a lot of people would say that ariel sharon should have

the vietnam war, the cold war, the gulf war, iraq and afghanistan.very significant to the vietnam women's memorial, for it honors all the women who served their country during the vietnam war. i stand here today representing the a non-para -- the vietnam era veterans, and most importantly a female vietnam era veteran. i was one of 265,000 women who served during the is no more. i stand here to honor all of the 1.8 million women who have served their country, and those that continue to serve. women comprise approximately 20% of today's military, active-duty and reserve, and will eventually join the roles of u.s. military veterans. -- it is different than when i joined the army. roles and responsibilities have opened up to embrace the capabilities of women who serve. the vietnam women's memorial is an example of the significance of monuments and memorials that we see today. it is there not only to honor and remember, but also to educate our future generations, and continue to be an inspiration to many women serving today. the vietnam memorial, which th

the vietnam war, the cold war, the gulf war, iraq and afghanistan.s very significant to the vietnam women's memorial, for it honors all the women who served their country during the vietnam war. i stand here today representing the a non-para -- the vietnam era veterans, and most importantly a female vietnam era veteran. i was one of 265,000 women who served during the is no more. i stand here to honor all of the 1.8 million women who have served their country, and those that continue to serve. women comprise approximately 20% of today's military, active-duty and reserve, and will eventually join the roles of u.s. military veterans. -- it is different than when i joined the army. roles and responsibilities have opened up to embrace the capabilities of women who serve. the vietnam women's memorial is an example of the significance of monuments and memorials that we see today. it is there not only to honor and remember, but also to educate our future generations, and continue to be an inspiration to many women serving today. the vietnam memorial, which

we weren't in the civil war. [laughter] so everything we learn is from our study, and we are studying it in english, and there are other people out there probably in the audience who also have studied it and know their own opinions. so we are conscious of that. we want to get you involved in this discussion and make it real to you. there may be others who aren't as many with the civil war, but it's pretty easy to explain the big picture, the country broke apart over eight several political issues. and one side decided that it would secede any other side decided that if it allowed it to happen, it would destroy the harmony of the union. and on that basis, armies were raised in families were sometimes split up. in a great struggle ensued for four years. before it was over, modern america emerged with the industrialized north that became the leading power in the world shortly thereafter, the leading economic power. and so tonight we want to talk about that experience, and particularly as seen through the eyes and ea

-- war. they gave all of their tomorrows for our freedom. we should remember that freedom comes at a very high price, and we -- and will never be free. the greatest generation fought the most destructive war in history. approximately 60 million people all over this world lost their lives, mostly those who were overrun by the war. millions were murdered in concentration camps, death camps, and prisoner of war camps. the greatest generation overcame great odds. there was no certainty that we would win that war. they not only save this nation, but this generation literally save the world. as we reflect on their sacrifice, let us remember the unity that this monument represents, and the spirit of america that shone so brightly on the dark world in the days of world war two. this memorial will help us like the path for our children and our grandchildren who will be the leaders for the land of the free, and the home of the break. god bless all of all world war two veterans, all of our veterans, and

>> guest: yes, this war has been going on since 2001. longest war ever for this country. right now, it's in trouble. this report released by congress this week shows that it's not. and if you take in the back of the book i print the secret ordered that president obama issued to the military and his national security team. and he lists four criteria for evaluating progress. they are four risk factors as they are identified. the first is afghan governance in that war. now we are dealing with hamid karzai who is i point out in the book the intelligence shows a manic-depressive on and off meds. a couple of weeks ago, he's crying in public. one day he's with us, the next day he's going after the united states. he's an unreasonable partner. second risk factor, is the afghan security force. and how are we training enough to get to the point that we can turn it over to them? in these secret debates in the white house which i describe here, the military is pushing for a goal of training 400,000 afghan soldiers and police. they keep bringing this goal back to the president. he just

in the former yugoslavia as you know there has been a war in which. in bosnia kosovo and the tribunal over a number of years had collected facts in relation to ration those crimes and the trials which are in place before the judges are reflecting the information which has been collected by by my predecessors investigators and which has been resulted in in total hundred sixty one indictments where still seven trials on going with fourteen if you so the work is not not yet over i really want to stress in this regard that this tribunal is not served it's not going to court it's not it's about individuals about individual criminals principalities about persons who are charged with the worst crimes one can imagine genocide crimes against humanity and war crimes so it's really not at all about populations or countries it's really about individuals you mentioned your predecessors your predecessor ponty a real star of the national prosecution she wrote a book and in her book she accused the albanian rebels and cost of the. grave crime crimes against the ethni

we are trapped in the coils of war. we are in wars and wars and wars. the technology is getting more and more sophisticated. in the that is by wire the book i wanted to do was call a culture of wars because i wanted to start this out -- it doesn't mean it's all relative obviously it's not all relative but the models are in dynamic in the modern wars. and this through me into it. and so i said well, i will do a little book on this after 9/11, and i had written about world war ii and vowed to never deal with the war again, because as you know what we threw ourselves as researchers in have this, it's its own whey you know it's nothing like what people experienced and the timing is no comparison whatsoever. but it's exhausting. so exhausting. and i didn't want to go on. >> host: know, this is wonderful. you talk about -- we are covering memory which is what history is any way and you point out in your book that the bombings began prior to the u.s. entry into world war ii that the japanese bombed chinese cities, germans bombed and even visible was in world w

i mean, they know the war, they've written about only the civil war but other wars and other generals. so we can have a pretty broad based discussion here. and i thought i might ask just really going down the line if i could just ask each of our authors to give a quick sketch for the audience, tell us about your background a little bit, how you got into this and how you think the essence of the general is done of the you've written the book on. how should the audience envision this general? who was he? so maybe we can start with davis. could you. >> thank you for much of a general, and folks for being here. in this year of self disclosure was born in savannah, georgia, so i sort of grew up with the civil war, and i still have a few moments to kikwit general sherman. [laughter] but i was a journalist for 30 years and served some time here in washington in viet nam and around the world chasing conflicts, and i got to know the enlisted man as well as the officers and watching the decision making process of the commanders. eventually i got into writing books and i have written about 23 no

world war two took place. there are ever fewer surviving witnesses to the events of those days soviet veterans will never forget what happened sixty five years ago show us gun fire corpses. that's how the reichstag look by the end of april one thousand nine hundred forty one. pitch. cue german soldiers fought for every piece of footage and really tried to stand to the last minute against soviet troops. more than fifty thousand soldiers and officers. polish and german. russians for their own twenty four hours. lasted for two weeks to the left flank of the braves on the top of the lifestyle game a nine hundred forty five. became a symbol of victory of so few people over fascism. in one thousand nine hundred five of. was an anti-tank gun platoon commander she still keeps a map that he got before assaulting berlin at the cut the ribbon this is a map they gave out before the donkey at them when they were supposed to attack the outskirts of girl in that the don't look back and before that they gave me a map. in late

then the history of the civil war. live saturday november 20, a day-long symposium on the civil war from the national archives. and american history to be all weekend every weekend on c- span3. >> now a group of former major- league baseball players talk about their service to the country in world war ii. among them are yogi berra, jerry coleman. we are showing a portion of the seabed and then we will go live to the national veterans day ceremony at 11:00 eastern. >> i thank you for coming. i would like to thank the lerner family and a wonderful staff at the national ballpark for being our coast in this beautiful facility. it is a great pleasure to be here. following this building, which will be on the pentagon's general, there will be a reception in the president's club downstairs. and i would like now to introduce phil woods, the moderator for the panel. he is on numerous radio stations. take it away. >> thank you. first of all, welcome to everyone who showed up here this afternoon. it is a wonderful program we have

unit, we don't have a war or open shooting war with iran at this point.it's one of the components of this precarious national security picture that the president is dealing with, however can't i've talked to bob woodward about his new book, "obama's wars," our next call from him comes from orlando. jennifer on the independent line. good morning, jennifer. >> caller: good morning. i have a comment and a question. carl bernstein wrote an excellent biography of out -- >> guest: i agree. >> caller: i agree with bernstein in that hillary does have a problem with telling the truth. also it's no coincidence that all the blue dog democrats who oppose president obama's health policy were also hillary's supporters are present. you made it seem that you are the ones that first mentioned hillary wanted to play musical chairs with vice president biden and switch positions in 2012. i don't think you are correct that hillary clinton, through her stooges like sally quinn, and others, started floating this idea around over a year ago to run as vice president. do you belie

the war -- the wars and not just the wars but the world that went with the wars. the world i was trying to describe of the pentagon. the world of crony corporations that build those bases and make the weapons so on and so forth. i think they and the bush administration in particular help drive us. it was like they got in a car and said hey, this car works and drove us directly to the nearest cliff. you know, my own answer is a longer more historical one which is the cold war ended in 1990? and in this country -- it ended by our major enemy who to the last moment most people in washington saw as a major power basically disappearing. it disappeared from the face of the earth more or less overnight. it was extraordinary. we dealt with that here in washington particularly in the country. as a giant triumph. it was a victory, you know? and that was probably the crucial moment where real american monies could have been redirected somewhere else. i mean, there was no -- we were looking for so-called rogue states. the military and in washington they were looking for enemi

no real moral case to go to war. in fact, which is the key to this whole war argument.it wasn't fact, it was fiction. it didn't bother him because he knew it was fiction because he had another reason to go to war. this is what gets people like me so passionate because it's murky as hell why we did go to war. my question to you. >> chris, this is false with a capital "f." he said the inspectors went in and found he was equally threatening. no, they didn't. i mean, does he not know? did he not read the report? did he not read the "washington post," "new york times" stories at the time? i wrote about this yesterday and i'm happy to put up a link on my twitter feed so people can see the evidence. what he's saying is 100% wrong. he's getting away with it, at least to the degree he is creating this spin story that saddam still posed something of a threat, even if we didn't find the wmds. he posed no threat and at the time, there was a debate. there were a lot of analysts who say there wasn't a wmd threat. the thing he leaves out in all of this is at the time, there were inspe

basically tired they are this is the longest running war and u.s. history surpassing vietnam and the two world wars americans are concerned with domestic issues just like there always are really to be honest but i think more so now because of the economic crisis there is fear of all taxes rising there is issues with the deficit so i think all of that is really going to translate into more resentment towards any extra money that would go to afghanistan and why did the republican even when now i think a really big part of it is that they were they address issues of concern to americans fears that obama's spending spree or some of these they say is driving the country economically in decline so i think that why would they if they want to win the presidential elections in two thousand and twelve why would they want to basically put to the table a prospect of prolonging the war even more and so i think yes that it publicans have traditionally support the issues regarding defense but to be honest with you even though they're not all are speaking the same

it was largely an instrument of the creation of the cold war i mean by that that the cold war to a large extent was the creation of the united states of america not as is usually so that the soviet union but now whatever view we take about the events of nine hundred forty five and afterwards there is absolutely no doubt surely that nato remains only an instrument for american foreign policy the very fact that president medvedev is going to the nato. summit in lisbon at the end of this week is itself a result of a reset in russian relations with russia announced by who by the president of the united states what subjects are they going to discuss there obviously afghanistan which is an american war transferred to nato and the missile shield and american policy transferred to nato so nato is simply an extension of american foreign and military policy and the reason why it's in a crisis is not i beg to differ with yeah go ahead jump in go ahead. yeah i'm going to say that. you know no martin first go ahead go ahead i'm going to say nato it was formed in one thousand nine hundred ninety europ

they faced it this is not a provocation but a war of the. day full of shit and we should use steverson issue to suppress the trace pieces they have no idea about the hardships to face. one it is this is it all too nice and for any army to life ever you say that is the most precious thing in the world. is of self-sacrifice and heroism of those who understand it fully you have to live a. real life stories from world war two. victory nineteen forty five dot dot com. it'll . it'll. but. it was. oh my god this is all see a quick check of the headlines. for you took a oh a self exiled to russia has trumped himself to an electric chair and launched a deadly internet ballot allowing people vote online if he lives or dies of their grandmother montes says his eccentric experiment is to show just how society uses its freedom. queen's moaning and they stop the message from new york city mad michael bloomberg who tells america's to stop complaining about others and look instead at the own mistakes and kill says that the ignorance of recently elected new

went on to fight in world war two the korean war the vietnam war the cold war and honor not hundreds of thousands of soldiers have given up their lives and sent to protect their country in one nine hundred fifty four during the cold war congress decided it was time to change the name of the holiday to veterans day they realize that the day doesn't accurately refer. like the peaceful attitude between the u.s. and its enemies so they decided that veterans day was sound more appropriate that americans should use this day to celebrate patriotic valor and commemorate those who have fought for the u.s. instead of peace and to this day that's how the u.s. was honored but can america really take the time to show veterans their appreciation if we keep sending them to war that leads us to our very next story. short better and stays a reminder of the soldiers who have already served but what about those who are just considering becoming a soldier the army is utilized many ways to draw on potential recruits but ours artie's lauren lyster explains the army could be leaving out the crucial harsh r

this was a 10-year war. we are now facing another 10- year war.terans come home, because they are not being rejected or humiliated but welcomed as heroes, like that help reduce the suicide rate that we might see, or is the damage from more the damage from more? -- the damage from war? >> i think it is actually an extra problem. it is another layer to work through, because if i am a hero, why my feeling like this? statistically, we know already, for example the homeless rate among veterans of multiple stores are showing up 10 years sooner than for vietnam. the homeless rate is twice the general population. the unemployment rate is twice the general population except for african-american and hispanic veterans, where it is almost three times the general population. the suicide rate is already way higher. you have heard of suicide by motorcycle. there are all kinds of ways for young men and young women who are having is used to harm themselves that does not show up. with multiple deployments, there is more of our problem, not less. most of us had one

>> yes, the british were very active in the first world war and in the post-war period in the soviet union, and the soviet intelligence devised an operation known as the trust, and what insights could you give us about that? what was sis's involvement, and was there a post postmortem or damage assessment done of that? that's my question. >> it was in essence to lure the enemies in and persuade them that they were dealing with opposition groups within the soviet union in a classic type of sting operation, and it did for the ace of spies among other old ones you may have heard of. he was an able man, a man of many per sewn thats and disguys who was taken up and hire the originally by a chief man of the service who said this guy is a complete scale wag and has done everything and be everywhere, but i think he can be useful to us with a slightly different emphasis. he is useful and provides a lot of information, early information from the soviet union from south russia in the first instance, and we have some of the reports in the books, quotations from the examples of them and later from

by i don't think is a nuclear war that we're waging war against other countries we're trying to wage war against ourselves in that we're debasing our dollars through quantitative easing in fact want to pay to be easing is basically default sedition on the part of the u.s. government that we really can't pay or dads and so the federal reserve is going to have to create money out of thin air in order to finance u.s. government spending well you know a lot of people have seemed a little lost here you know there's been a lot of critique about but no one really seems to have a concrete answer for what a better idea is except for yourself you say that you know if we really want to get the economy back on track then we need to raise interest rates dramatically so why is that i have yet i have a much better idea it's called free market capitalism you know government intervention created this crisis the government kept interest rates much too low for too long the government insured and subsidized and guaranteed loans that never would have been made in a free market and in the process they dis

after four years of war, an armistice was signed. the war to end all wars was over. congress they did this day as a filler will holiday -- as a federal holiday 20 years after the war ended. as we all know, the war to end all wars and did not. introduced by president and veteran dwight d. eisenhower in 1954, veterans day eventually replaced armistice day as a day of remembrance in 1978. veterans day is a time to honor and not just heroes, but all of the men and women who served selfishly even before our nation began. when asked by his grandson if he was a hero in the war, major richard winters replied, "no." it is this hubble example that illustrates how important it is that we observe -- it is this humble example that illustrates how important it is that we observed the referenced -- observe veterans day. this month, remember the 14th exceptional shipmates that we honor for our new fast-response cutters. billy-ray flores only one year out of boot camp, save the lives of ship makes after eight collision when he opened the life jacket locker and stayed behind to help t

people know i mean i mean even the wars the afghan war for instance has disappeared more or less disappeared for years at a time from i think from the media public consciousness you know it's hard to say with the u.s. media you can always find something i mean there's something there and that is that is it's not that there's ever no coverage but you have to be a news jockey like me you have to be reading the inside pages of the papers the war in the pakistani border line and americans obviously know very little about that i mean we are proud of our drones and so we're caught always between calling it a covert war and actually. had actually bragging about it and americans are remarkably detached from the wars that being are being fought in their names and the various other military positions and so on and so forth on the globe it's one of the things that i focus on as is just the degree to which we are doing things that americans could know about basically don't we have to put some of that blame on the media who is essentially responsible. bringing some of that information to the u.s. and i h

as long as the war. soon after the ceasefire order silence fell over central berlin soviet troops took the city under control the soldiers knew that was the end of the war. at ten am there was complete silence be that that's the end of it. but a white sheet. scrambling. to get out into the open. a surrendering. evening of the second of may civilians were out in the streets of berlin. many. but the adults stayed at home the russians had. heard many stories about. what if they were treated in the same way the kids had pill faces they were wearing shorts some had small bowls on their hand when they were given some poor and they rushed home with. skipping something else or the part i found out that the people who were doing for the food what access from the local theater. hungry they stood with. the russians. they were afraid of us they thought russians were constant acts with a long mustache they were looking us all over thinking where the russians mustaches were your first hand they wanted to know we were

and in fact i would say it is on the verge of two wars, one is the war between hezbollah suppoers opponents inside lebanon, which is a country more polarized than at any time since i have been following it, and the second war is the much anticipated war between israel and hezbollah, which people expected this past summer and both hezbollah and israel seemed to be talking about like it is just a question of timing really and not of whether they will have another war. >> rose: why do you say that? >> hezbollah, there are a lot of reasons -- the central one from hezbollah's viewpoint is that hezbollah is an organization that has built its appeal, it built a million or more followers around a gospel of perpetual war, so it needs, it needs war, it needs the cleansing power of another war to retain or restore its legitimacy among its partisans, then secondly, both israel and lebanon, story, israel and hezbollah feel since 2006 war that they could do better, and it is sort of a disturbing set of structural factors that both sides think in a rematch they will emerge even stronger than they are now.

, august, september before the war, coming out against the war. he was absolutely rejecting the father's advise as represented by scowcroft. chris: i want to know if he follows your advice in the book with the three d's -- don rumsfeld, dad -- >> and dick cheney. his assistant to talk to me and i said answer the question, dick, don and dad. what really happened and what were the relationships? i'm going to read the book. it stounds like it's got the bush staccato style. he tells you what he's thinking. it's all about as karl rove used to say, outcome and results. no attack after 9/11. that's true. that's a big deal for bush. chris: sure. were you surprised by how emotional he was with matt lauer? >> he was like he hasn't heard this before, when matt was throwing at him the cost of the war and the policy implications. >> he look teary-eyed. chris: he was like, i never heard this thrown at me before. he is always emotional. >> and this is the biggest roll-out ever in terms of publicity. i think this is going to be a huge book because -- chris: i thi

in a very very important role after the word war world war in india with those crimes well of course the guys behind the bombers in nuremberg were the bad guys everybody knows about that but it was well before you as personally do you feel that it was today when we do remember it today was it about the good and the bad the good guys and the bad guys or was it about justice what was more important for you. i think it was about part justice it was about individual criminal responsibility showing that in fact a war is not conducted by counties but but by individuals to give really a face to the crimes which have been committed so i think it was about justice and you know the entire legal world knows all the evidence which has been presented in court we all know that it was very largely documented the crimes which have been committed so and you know there has been. different kind of sentences to have been acquittals too so i think this shows that that it was justice and that the principle of law played an important role speaking about the principles of law i've read that the principle of

every war's different, and vietnam was maybe the perfect war for the kalashnikov and the worst war for the early m-16. why? wet environment, short ranges because of dense vegetation. it didn't work. it was a complete mismatch, you know? it's ali and frazier, complete mismatch. but afghanistan is is a different war. it's a very air rid environment, the ranges tend to stretch out. the people fighting the americans know that the americans have -- not just the americans, but the nato forces have very good optics, very good communications, very good weapons, and they tend to shoot at them from pretty good distances. they don't like to get in close because experience has taught them the guys who get in close often get dead. so they tend to hang back. so a lot of the american soldiers now are in fights at pretty distant ranges, and the rounds that are used by the m-16 might not travel that far with enough munch in the -- punch in the eyes of the people shooting them. so there's a significant conversation that's been going on for about ten years about whether they should have a different cartr