civil war and the very first of those burials was private from 67 pennsylvania infantry named william kristol wristband. she was from a poor family and he came to serve in the union army. unfortunately he ended up in the hospital in washington. he got a case of german measles, which killed many, many service members on both sides of the war. he developed peritonitis from his measles infection and he died in a washington hospital, was brought across the potomac river church of arlington as the first military burial. things were so desperate at that time in the civil war. there were so many people dying that there wasn't much time for ceremony or ritual at arlington. they would bring people over for burial day after day after day and they went into the ground, as william chrisman did with no flags flying, no music playing. all quite often without a chaplain and people for a sendoff. so basically they were just try to keep up with the carnage from the civil began. or in the war, things were so desperate that there wasn't any time for tombstones. they had headboards. they were made out of pine or

bill kristol of the weekly standard. and juan williams from national public radio. want to pick up on the president's remarks. he declared that this is a nation at war. he said it appears that this young nigerian abdulmullab joined al-qaeda, that he was trained, equipped and directed by them to attack the u.s. given all of that, brit, what do you make of the debate and what do you make of the decision to charge him as a criminal defendant and not as an enemy combatant? >> i don't think it was a decision made with the idea in mind that this is the best way to get information out of him. and tha tells you something about this administration's priorities. the president spoke there about doing whatever it takes and then he said con analysis ta analysis -- consistent with our values. it's permeated his campaign rhetoric and what he's done as president that what we most need to do to deal with the situation in the world is have a better reputation as a country of being a kinder, gentler land. this decision to try him in criminal court reflects that opinion. that view, tha

bill kristol of the "weekly standard." and juan williams also from national public radio.w you all all the different ways that president obama has referred to umar farouk abdulmutallab over the last two weeks. let's put them up on the screen. in his first statement in hawaii on december 28, it was isolad extremist. a day later it was known extremi extremist. back in washington, the president called him a suspected terrorist. and finally, it became known terrorist. brit, what do you make of the evolution and the president's language and what do you can think of where he ended up in terms of reforming the system? >> well, in addition to all the different descriptions, when he came out to make his last set of comments on this, he still couldn't pronounce the guy's name. you know, he sounds like one of the streams of anchors across the country who stumbled over it. but this is the president of the united states who has some type to think about it and was briefed about it. it was a little revealing. it seems to me that what we see here is a white house and presidency that reall