send our air to attack terrorist targets in lebanon. in reaction, they started heavy shelling of our settlements. on the 16th of may, 1982. we had talked about it dozens of times. we faced a very dangerous situation and the government decided on the fifth to move into lebanon to destroy the plo terrorist infrastructure, and that's what we did. those tragic events that took place later, neither myself nor any other israeli was involved in these atrocities.

not a soldier, not an officer, not a politician. found a commission fault in me not anticipating that the event could have happened. they found that in hindsight. but none of us participated in it. >> tom friedman writes a paragraph here. it goes right to this whole issue. he says, "sharon knew how strong israel was and believed wrongly that this military strength could in an almost mechanical fashion solve conflicts, deeply rooted political problems, the

tiny israel could drive the plo out of lebanon, neutralize syria and lebanese muslims, and force the palestinians living in the west bank and gaza strip to accept israeli rule. sharon did not know when to stop. he did not understand the limits of power in a fragmented, unpredictable place such as lebanon." >> i cannot find even one thing that is correct. about the 1967 war, that israel attacked in jerusalem or attack the jordanians as a preemptive strike -- all of us know that

king hussein instructed his forces to attack jerusalem. we never thought about crowning the man as president of lebanon. we went to lebanon to destroy the plo, the terrorists headed by arafat. it was a question of life and death for us. a new lebanon. it's not only that i learned about lebanon, i read about it and met with lebanese. i thought, maybe i'm misjudging. i went to lebanon secretly. north of beirut, i spent 36

hours meeting with lebanon leaders and meeting the lebanese forces and going to the mountains to see their forces, their stronghold there. i wanted to see them in their homes, how they speak, they behave to be more sure of that. we made all the preparations. we had officers. talking to the president, i tried to convince him to give a certain number of weapons to the shiites, and have more cooperation with them. i believe it was not the goal of our war --

>> there is your wife. >> my wife and myself visit to beirut to meet with pierre gamayel. i was not anymore the minister of defense. >> this is a picture -- >> that is my visit to beirut right before the war. i believe it was not the goal of our work, but result of the war. the situation in lebanon could have been entirely different. it would have been more understanding. who was on the americans' side? the american representatives misled the president. i don't think they really gave the right description about the situation in lebanon. or the right understanding.

we knew lebanon. it was a major mistake to try to solve other issues through lebanon or to use lebanon to solve other problems, to get syria on the american side or to solve the palestinian problem. that attempt to make the political plo. it was a mistake. the lebanese problem was so complicated. i believe that as a result of the war -- not a goal of the war -- a result of the war. the situation could have been entirely different now. i used to speak about the 3 -- jerusalem, cairo, beirut as integral parts of the world. it could have been different. in the present time, when we see that the western democracies left that community, those who

interfered should feel responsibility now. save this a small christian community. we have done our part since 1975. >> we are running out of time. we have not even started talking about what we could talk about. are the americans getting leery of the way that israel is handling the intifada? have you found people in this country that are mad at you? >> not all the people understand that it's a war. it's a war in which different methods are used. in the last days, an israeli soldier was killed.

on the road to jerusalem. an israeli worker was killed by an arab who worked with him, and buried. before he killed him, he cut his lips and took out his eyes and skinned him. he did not feel he had done anything wrong because he killed a jew. i think people do not understand that we are facing a war. they do not know. i saw today in the "new york times" a story of the brutality of arabs killing other arabs. they are killing them because they will not cooperate or not accept the plo as the sole representative of them. they kill them, they murder them. they bury them alive. terrible things that

people here would not understand. we cannot judge those murderers by our moral values. it's a different thing. >> are you getting hurt in this country by the intifada relationship, the murders and all the things that have gone on back and forth? >> damage was caused to israel. therefore i believe israel had to bring to an end the damage from the intifada as quickly as possible. it was damage to the image of israel and israel should act in a more fast way to bring it to an end. i don't see any possible way to move forward unless we will be able to overcome it. it will be peace in the middle east when it is quieter.

it should be quiet to discuss anything. >> we are over the limit, and here's the book. "warrior," with david chanoff. thank you very much for your time. >> world members expressed their condolences for the passing of ariel sharon. as part of this statement, president obama said -- the state rural for the former

prime minister will be held on monday. -- funeral for the former prime minister will be held on monday. >> good view into the room at white house events and briefings and conferences and gavel to gavel coverage. service ofblic private industry. we are c-span. created by cable tv 34 years ago. in hd.s like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. >> next, former vermont governor howard dean about the u.s. political system, the budget, and the presidential elections. he is also a former democratic national chair. and presidential candidate to stop he spoke with students at the washington center for about one hour.

>> good evening. you are already getting applies. i do not know how much i need to say. let me just give a warm welcome and thanks to governor howard dean for joining us today for our discussions and exploring bipartisan solutions seminar. we are looking at three topics in the seminar, as you know, budget, financing the american dream, immigration, energy policy. perhaps the most fundamental issue is the one we are about to discuss right now, financing the american dream. unless we have the resources, how can we possibly enact policy change? we are fortunate to have an expert with us here on this issue. governor dean is a well-known, respected figure in american politics, former chair of the democratic congressional committee which he implemented the 50 state policy. which was credited with helping

the democrats make historic gains in the 2006 and 2008 election. he was a six term governor of vermont where he was known as a conservative democrat which ties in directly to what we discussed today and former presidential candidate in 2004. before he entered politics, he was a practicing physician. he currently is a contributor on national television regularly, the founder of democracy for america, and serves on the board of the national democratic institute. he is also a senior presidential fellow for the city of the american presidency at hofstra. it's my great leisure to -- great pleasure to introduce governor dean. [applause] >> thank you. the idea being introduced as an

expert in washington is something you really want to be careful love when people talk about experts, don't believe a word of what they said. not that i would ever challenge that. i work at hofstra as a study for the residency. -- for the presidency. we call her the general first because she taught at west point and secondly because everything runs like clockwork with everything she does and i appreciate it. i'm going to try not to talk more than half an hour at the most but i do want to talk about politics in general first. i want to give you a 30,000 foot over there you -- overview of what's going on. this is not difficult. the problem is the will to compromise. that's where the difficult art -- part is. what i want to talk to you about is a generational divide that's