. -- we will be operating around belts around baghdad. we had to get people in the cities and eliminate sanctuaries in the belts around baghdad. it is the same thing except the iraqis would take responsibility for the security in the cities. we will work to get to sentience around the city. it is -- we will work to get safe havens cleared around the city. if you are here in baghdad you would know there is a significant change inside of the cities. there are thousands of soldiers that have pulled out of baghdad. there has not been any soldiers in the cities in southern iraq. there has that been any soldiers in the cities of fallujah for months now. we have been executing this very well. again, here in iraq you would see it for yourself, there is a significant change. >> if you are going to be transparent mike can you tell us how many trainers are in the cities? -- if you're going to be transparent why can you not tell us how many trainers are in the cities? >> it varies day to day. >> you must have a ball park. >> how many times do you wan

troops officially pulled out of baghdad and other cities. one headline says that the troops celebrate our poll that. on a front-page story with an interview of former vice president cheney, it expresses some of his fears what the u.s. pullout. good morning on this tuesday morning. here's a live it view of the capitol. u.s. soldiers killed in baghdad. the army says that the deaths are combat-related. the house and senate are in recess. the u.s. supreme court has concluded its business. tomorrow the president will hold a town hall meeting on health care issues. for the next 30 minutes we will have just your phone calls in reaction to the withdrawal of u.s. troops from iraqi cities. we showed you some of the scenes from youtube from iraq and also want to show you some headlines. here is an interview from dick cheney conducted for the washington times radio. his concern that the pending below could reverse the military progress made by american and iraqi forces in the 2007 surge. he is quoted as saying that he hopes the iraqis can deal with it.

but what did it look and feel like in baghdad? what was your sense of the trajectory of that time, and talk about the analysis you and h.r. and others put together and gave general petraeus that led to the change in strategy that we call the surge. we will talk in a minute about how durable the process is bought take us back in time and explain how the strategy was put together. >> i don't want to overstate my role here and i was just one of a group. and i think that some of the key leaders are here in the room. but let me give you some numbers. the worst months of the war for civilian casualties were september to december of 2006. in those periods about 100 to 125 iraqi civilians are being killed in baghdad city alone every night night after night after night. several thousand per week in the worst months of the war. what had happened was that we had moved into the society, we had done an about of damage to iraqi society the first year of the war. the enemy exploited that and turned what was basically resistance against occupatio

troops beginning from the metropolitan areas including mosul and baghdad. john is on the phone from north carolina, good morning. your reaction on this june 30th. >> caller: yeah, i think it's a good day for the iraqis. the invaders are pulling out of the cities, and if cheney and all neo-cons, let them put the uniforms on and go over there. thank you. >> host: john, thanks for the call. jack is joining us from minnesota. good morning. >> caller: hello? >> host: go ahead, caller. >> caller: yeah. my thoughts are it's about time. by the way, please don't cut me off -- >> we leave this washington journal segment to take you to the white house for today's briefing. >> did you see the video on the white house web site? [laughter] oh, i wish you could see the look on our face. wow. good throw though. >> [inaudible] >> i think, i think the new media guys did some editing. >> you want a delay? >> i should be after that. [laughter] yes, ma'am. go ahead. >> we want to start with honduras. has the u.s. been in contact with honduran military leaders to insist on the p

that is, baghdad and mosul. i was up in mosul a few weeks ago, and to be sure it's a city that has a lot of tension in it, to be sure, there are various groups, whether it's the kurdish population there, the sune e, or -- and i want to emphasize this as well, christian groups that have concerns about what life will be like in the future. again, i think the way forward is through political dialogue. i met with members of the provincial council. i met with the kurdish delegation that is continuing to boy cot the provincial council. i met with others. and we just have to keep doing that. i think whether this is irreversible will depend on the people themselves. i have no doubt that iraq is a better place for the fact that there's less violence and i think that's an insight most iraqis have every day. >> does the u.s. have any contingency plan in case the violence esclates after witsdrall? >> again, i don't want to discuss contingency plans. i'm not in charge with respect to security. what i am involved in is to mak

troops are left in the cities, specifically, how many in baghdad? >> again, i would ask that you direct that question to the pentagon. there are roughly 135,000 u.s. troops in the country. but as for their particular deployment, i'd direct that the to the pentagon. >> can i just make sure i got this straight. when you were asked about the syrian fighters coming into iraq, have you actually seen a diminishing of that number or is it not yet clear? >> i think it's too soon to gauge the numbers except to assure you that we track this issue very closely. and compared to say a year ago, there is a substantial -- there are fewer such people coming over. now, whether there are fewer coming over because they understand the consequence of unlawful crossing of the border is greater now than it might have been in the past, that's hard to say. but the specific question had to do with the recent discussions with syrian authorities and whether there is a change in the flow at this point and i think in that case it's a little too soon to say. >> that was since las

and i was in baghdad began two weeks ago. i was in ramani the same town where i wrote the story inside falluja. i asked even militia who get money from the americans. i said what you think about the american occupation. tell them to leave. we want to be free. and you understand what i mean. can you imagine iraq he takes in your streets here in new york, what would you do if there were iraq he takes? and the story of the iraq he population and of the iraq he resistance is so sad that when i was writing this book, i was crying like a child because these stories are so incredibly sad. and i was fighting. this book is translated in many languages. i was so happy that it's now translated into english because i wanted to send it to some american politicians. because i say those who started this war, they just don't know what a war is. they never go to the front line themselves. for example, i like obama. i like this man, but then i read that today or yesterday, he goes to a play, he goes to a military base. but this is not iraq. wh

the video we're showing is scenes from baghdad and other cities. this is part of the day of dilution -- jubilation as declared by the iraqi government. john is on the phone from north carolina. caller: good morning, it is a good day for the iraqis. the invaders are pulling out of their cities. it dick cheney, his daughter, and all the neocons want to keep the invasion's going forever let them put on the uniforms and go

[laughter] on the last shot it was a single shot that says this is for the green zone in baghdad. [laughter] talking about people hacking into the computer is totally different group on the anticipated, start participating in the final days we had so many people all loss and i stopped seeing so many people start shooting and was only coming from texas and i didn't know why and so i called jason, technician and said jason, do you know what is happening here because i don't see a script and jason look and said this is worse. he said an advanced hacker build a script and turned in every idle computer to an active so if a computer is in the house and nobody uses it to the computer itself would start shooting at me and i said okay what are we going to do? he said just give me ten minutes. jason took ten minutes and came back and all of a sudden it was silent and i said jason, what did you do and he said ivan the entire state of texas. [laughter] how often did participants attach religious significance to the project as a kind of sacrifice? >> the great question. it was very constant al

host: is their jubilation in the streets of baghdad and elsewhere? guest: you know, there were less the. there was a huge party apart. most of the young men came out to listen to the music and to dance. there were a lot of men for sadr city, young guys who did not have work, who had quit school. they felt strongly that the americans needed to be off their streets. those young males felt humiliation and feel like they suffered particularly. the believes i there are still many iraqis who are quite worried about what is coming next host: there is a story about chinese officials tried to buy contracts for iraqi oil. are you following that? guest: that is fascinating. i went from the military parade with the vehicles in national song directly to the oil auction and is a major process with all the majors there, chinese, british, american -- one consultant said this is the biggest oil event in history. i know it sounds exaggerated, but iraq has the second biggest oil reserves. the problem is, the terms the iraqi government were so low that [unintelligible]

i am with the ap. >> obviously, we lost four soldiers last night in baghdad. it is always tough when we lose soldiers here. actually, this attack did not happen in the city. it was outside of the city, but what i would say is that is one of the signatures we have to look at. if we have less movement, will they target specifically u.s. soldiers? we have not seen that yet but we worked very closely with iraqi security force pertinence in order to make sure and limit the risks. -- work closely with iraqi security forces in order to make sure and limit the risks. we will have to work with the government of iraq to insure we are able to adequately protect our soldiers and marines. we will do everything we can to protect them. >> how would you do that? would you pick up the phone and call and i iraqi counterpart and say look at what happened last night -- and call an iraqi counterpart? are we talking about something more formal than >> -- are we talking about something more formal? >> the brigade commanders will be working the problem locally. if we think it needs s

last few weeks and we have actually been implementing this in many parts of baghdad for a long time. and they understand what their mission is. they understand what we expect them to do. and, we have worked this very closely with all of the leader of iraq, i've worked closely with this mfinister of defense and the interior and operational commanders in order to work this out and i feel comfortable with where we are at. >> see the entire briefing tonight at 8:00 eastern, on c-span. >> now a discussion on health care policy. the national institute for health care management, invited health care policy experts, and insurance company executives to talk about how the health care system is funded, this is just over three hours. [inaudible conversations] >> hi, we are going to go ahead and get started, right on time, i'ms nancy chalkly, the president and ceo of the foundation and i'm delighted to welcome you here and thank you for crowding in. we got a bump from a larger -- bumped from a larger hearing room and we are delighted to have c-span filming the event as well. we are at a very exci

the first trip took place in early december 08 with an itinerary that included agency briefings them baghdad anka bolles wallace reduce the construction of the baghdad police college in reconstruction -- for construction and repair of the bagram airbase in afghanistan. a-10 the investigative study in 2009 comprised of a 15 person group of commissioners and staff that broke into three teams. one team or deny iraq and the other two and afghanistan. they conducted more than 125 meetings, usaid, the military contractors working on a range of projects. the commission continues to develop a test for research and investigation to extend and deepen its knowledge and to cope with new change in issues. our plans include many more trips to theaters of operation, additional hearings and by the government agencies, non-governmental organizations, academics and member of the contrasting community and continued liaison with congress. ghaffari conclude we would like to see a few words about the commission staff. firstly, all of the commission staff are federal employees. some more detail from agencies and s

what the british people will understand is that after the capture of baghdad, the political management of the occupation was extremely incompetent, as we all recognize now in america and europe. what the british people want is an explanation, well before the general election 11 months from now, of how it came about that mr. blair was able to persuade this parliament to vote in favor of the war on facts which he knew would not stand up to proper examination. >> i disagree, but the point is to look at all these issues and that is what will happen. it will look at whether there were failures in the reconstruction as well as before that and it will report on these issues. what happened after the fall of baghdad will be as much a subject of the report as what happened before. i hope he will agree that all these issues, will all looked at by this inquiry and looked carefully indeed. >> in the history of this conflict, to political matters cry out for explanation more than any other. the first is why this house was never informed of the contents of the downing street minute which revealed kno

as well as before that and it is going to report on these issues and what happened after the fall of baghdad will be as much as subject of the report as what happened before so i hope he will agree that all these issues, are going to be looked at by this inquiry and lived happily in the. >> mr. speaker, in the history of this conflict to political matters cry out for explanation why than any other. the first consists of why this house was never informed of the contents of the downing street minutes which revealed knowledge six months before the conflict that the bush administration had decided on the inevitability of war when everett the concessions were made. the second requires explanation is why the attorney general's opinion on the legality of the war was never shown to the cabinet's before the decision to go to war was made. and either of those matters, neither of them a wide state security. neither of them require balances of lawyers. why can't they be ventilation and canvassed in public and without delay? >> my honorable friend as deeply held views on the issues he has just raised, no

baghdad -- i got american candies. it is true, i got american chocolates. we had nothing after the war. and i got american chocolate. i became a friend of this country. i would say, you won the hearts of the germans. by giving food and giving candies too grateful people. >> and there is a chance. and i would say, by the way, you will win the hearts, but you will never win the war in afghanistan. nobody has one of war in afghanistan in the long run. alexander the great, the mongols, the british, the russians. wind ship another hundred, 200, 500 -- y another 5,000 or 10,000? i believe he is not completed decided. and i hope and i would like to tell him please don't make this war a new iraq. this is what i am hoping. i am hoping when he spoke in berlin the day after everybody was enthusiastic. it was, in berlin, like a festival. everybody was happy. i called an american friend of mine. he owns a big, great american newspaper. we vote for him. we made it. of course. the germans weren't allowed to vote. impressive. when he was just right now for the 16th anniver

host: this picture is from baghdad as the rociraqis celebre with fireworks and music on the eve of the official pullout of u.s. troops. there are still 130,000 u.s. troops stationed in iraq until august of next year. we are opening our phone lines. we want to share a piece from "the new york times" this morning. let me just read a couple of excerpts from what "the new york times" this morning. host: the story this morning in time "the new york times." charleses on the phone from connecticut. caller: last friday, the house passed the nancy pelosi-harry reid national energy tax. in just wondering how come you have not had as a morning subject ever since then? i regard it as one of the most disastrous things that has ever happened in the country. host: we devoted friday morning with the expected passage with two members of the congress. it will come up again because the senate will take up the bill with a lot of debate. the president talked about it yesterday. we carried his announcement from the white house. has been an issue we have been focusing on. caller: i will be eagerly awaiting t

obviously he has met continually with ambassador hills, obviously the meetings we made during the stop in baghdad i guess in late march/early april, without getting specific there continues to be progress with reconciliation with oil and hydrocarbons. that as we move their route a very important year of the elections and iraq again proving it will take the steps necessary to govern its country. >> [inaudible] they had a very clear message now will he come before the g20 or is there a new road map for u.s. relations? >> i have no news when a visit might happen. >> for many years including the last administration and the u.s. congress don't you believe that by having immigrants with the illegal status pleading billions of dollars from the economy and at the same time they have supported the president during the election. >> obviously if you are not a legal resident you could not have supported the president in the last election. that may have been more news that we wanted to make on a friday afternoon. [laughter] i think the president has long been a participant and a believer in comprehensive refo

after the house was completed, he possibly sold it before we moved in and fly with all of his money to baghdad where he again threw himself and all his money into gambling and women. he sold the house to the gardener who had done the landscape and who lives there to this day when my brother returned to iraq in 2003 he tried to buy the house back but the owner refused. >> it was a busy week, late spring, 2004 when i got a call from an iraqi friend now settled in chicago suburb who had lived through a long stint in a refugee camp with me. he wanted to come now for a visit. i was in the final weeks of teaching my glasses at the chicago school of the art institute and with several projects in the works i wasn't much in the mood for socializing, but he sounded consistent so i invited him to come by the next evening. my friend brought along his young son and another friend and we sat down to discuss politics especially recent news from iraq. i could tell the small talk was preludin he had something important to tell me after an uncomfortable pause, he said there is something i need to tell you. i fr

this morning i held a secure video conference with ambassador hill and some of his senior team in baghdad. he provided up to the minute dates on the political and economic situation in iraq, and we discussed a number of the challenges and opportunities that we are facing. as you remember, this withdrawal is occurring under the so-called sofa agreement, the status of forces agreement, and it is occurring in concert with the iraqis. there is another document that we will now be turning our attention to with even greater concern. that is the strategic framework agreement, which sets forth the way forward for the relationship between the united states and iraq. so there is a lot going on, and i wanted to come down and talk about some of what we are doing, and i would be happy to take some of your questions. >> do you believe that a military coup de-tat has taken place in honduras, or are you studying a formal legal determination that a coup has taken place, and that would trigger the aid appropriations cut-off that is required under u.s. law? >> well, we do think this has evolved into a coup.

troops and iraq -- from baghdad. we will have that press conference for you here on c- span at 8:00 eastern time. then, book tv. harry stein and his book "@ six and other liabilities." -- fought"ethics and other liabilities. quote we're live from mount vernon estate with historian and author john ferling. join our three-hour conversation, sunday. it is part of our 3 day holiday weekend on book tv. >> how c-span funded? >> publicly funded. >> donations, maybe. i have no idea. >> the government? >> seize ban gets its funding through the taxes. >> public funding? >> may be. i do not know. >> 30 years ago, america's cable companies created c-span. no government mandate, no government money. >> today is the deadline for most u.s. troops to begin withdrawing from cities in iraq. we will watch as much as we can of this morning's washington journal. we will have live coverage of al franken after. you have written a report that " general david petraeus that asks how this will end. are we at the point? guest: we are not. i wou

obama is building enormous new embassies and other facilities on the model of the city within a city in baghdad. these are like no embassies anywhere in the world. and they are signs of an intention to be there for a long time. right now in e[giraq, something interesting is happening. obama is pressing the iraqi government not to permit the referendum that's required by the status of forces agreement. agreem forced down the throats of the bush administration which had t war aims in the face of massive iraqi resistance. washington's current objection to the referendum was explained two days ago by a "new york times" correspondent alyssa rubin. obama fears that the iraqi population might reject the provision that delays u.s. troop withdrawal to 2012.&ñ'j they might insist an immediate departure of u.s. forces. iraqi analysts in london -- [applause]o; >> the head of iraqi foundation for democracy of development in london is quite prowestern, he explained this is an election year for iraq. no one wants to appear that he's appeasing the americans, antiism is popular now in iraq. as indeed it's been

troops from baghdad and other huge rural areas. we will have that in its entirety at 8:00 p.m. eastern. the winter of minnesota's said erase is expected to speak shortly. this is a live picture outside mr. franken's home in minneapolis. it comes after his republican challenger conceded the race just a short time ago. here is part of that statement. >> i just had a conversation with al franken, congratulating him on his victory. i told them that is the best job he will ever have, representing the people of minnesota. the supreme court of minnesota has spoken. i respect its decision, and i will abide by its results. it will move forward. i congratulate our newest united states senator, al franken. just a few words about my legal challenge. yes, i wanted to win. not just myself and my supporters, but so many have worked so hard and put some much into this effort. and for the values i have always fought for. i also thought was important to stand up for votes whose weren't counted like others were. voting is fundamental. it is the essence of democracy. i knew we needed to do everyth

this was days after the statute of sitcoaddam fell in baghdad. one week later, i was standing in an air strike area. i stood facing this man. he was in his 60s, may be older. his fingernails were really worn down. he had brown hands. he told me how two families were wiped out. his children and grandchildren were killed. his son was a doctor, his wife was a doctor. that was a difficult moment. but it was also a moment where i knew i had done the right thing. in coming to human-rights watch, i could help to tell the story of those people about what happened to them treated i could look to assess whether the geneva conventions were being followed by all parties of the conflict. that is what it comes down to, what we do at human rights watch. let me tell you a little bit about how that work happens. at human rights watch, we have about 270 people. we work in about 80 nations worldwide. we are split up into different ways. -- we're split up in two different ways. we have the regional divisions were people are experts on the areas where they work. one

mr. al-sarad is detained in baghdad. he is a husband of a constituent of mine. would the prime minister talk to the u.s. authorities to try to secure a release date for him. >> you've raised this case with me. i will look at what he says and i shall write to him. >> would the prime minister take the opportunity to condemn the appalling racist attacks on romanian families in belfast? >> yes, indeed. and i hope that the authorities are able to take all the action is necessary to protect them. >> can the prime minister confirm that the department of transport has been comparing dossiers on the opponents of the third runway at heathrow and has been handing over to the police and can he find out there's one on me and one from his right honorable friend? >> mr. speaker, i know nothing about this. any allegation he makes will, of course, be investigated. but this is not something that has been drawn to my attention. as far as the heathrow expansion is concerned, it is arm contentious issue but the house has voted on the matter. >> mr. speaker, my right honorable frien

iraq and iranian talks in baghdad in 2007, this was termed by some commentators the new yoga. we have seen increasing criticism of the recent outrage of obama. we see one editorial id editor-in-chief proclaiming that dialogue with iran, u.s. dialogue with iran was dead on arrival. tackling a similar op-ed in "the new york times." taken in sum, this opposition, this suggest that arab states reject an either or approach toward iran. the best course of action for many can be described as a sort of managed bases of confrontation and coexistence, no peace, no war. why, because this is how they benefited for so long and relegates domestic concerns to the back burner. and i think this raises my third point which is the opportunity cost in terms of u.s. policy interest in pursuing a competitive balancing paradigm against iran and pursuing a containment approach. there are a number of factors that may work against a radical shift in our policy toward iran, not least of which are the domestic politics inside the islamic republic. but a reversion to a pure containment paradigm carries a

extremists and minor violence in the first few years after the invasion of iraq, the government in baghdad is very sensitive to iranian policy. it could be that they are hoping that the policy of iran is going to stay moderate towards iraq, and that a more extremist policy isn't going to be followed. host: jonathan on the behind for republicans out of columbus, ohio. go ahead. caller: my point, mr. ambassador , why can't we just let them run their own problems? they can solve their problems, and how dare you now tell the iranians about democracy? why can't we let them solve their own problems? host: thanks for your call. guest: in those cases we supported democratic movements but you're right, it is for the iranian people to solve this. all my comments over the last two weeks, that's what i have said. but at the same time, it's right to compare what is happening in iran with the universal standard for the exercise of civil and mill rights, which the international community has agreed on, and violence or suppression of peaceful protests, arresting of politicians who claim that the elections

but obviously baghdad will be one of those places where we will provide advisory and assistance to iraqi security forces within the city. ok? yes? anything else on iraq? yep. >> no. not. >> nancy? >> well the violence is at record lows and the united states is handing over the security situation to the iraqi forces and going into in advise and assist role why is there such a hesitance to declare this a victory? >> i'm sure, nancy you or your colleagues wrote about the attacks that took place south of kirkuk on saturday. i mean, that was an absolutely horrific attack in which dozens of people were killed. obviously there was still a threat that remains and it requires our vigilance to make sure it doesn't ma that is that size again into an exstentional threat to the got to the. we think we have beaten back al qaeda to the point where they are now conducting attacks that are basically propaganda campaigns in an attempt to make it look like they are driving us out of iraqi cities when nsket -- in fact the truth of the matter is the work of our brave men and women in uniform created such an

iran talks in baghdad in 2007 this was turned a new a lot of. we have seen increased criticism of the recent average of obama with the one editorial by the editor in chief proclaiming that dialogue with iran and u.s.-style law and who was down a rival echoing a similar op ed in "the new york times". taken in some of this opposition and ambivalence suggests arab states rejected either or approach toward iran. the best course of action for many can be described as a managed stasis of confrontation and toward systems, no peace or war this is what they benefit in an relegates domestic concerns to the back burner. i think this raises my third point which is the opportunity cost in terms of u.s. policy interest in pursuing competitive balance in paradigm against iran in containment approach. there are a number of factors that make a radical shift in our policy toward iran not least of which are domestic politics inside the republic by a reverse in to peer containment paradigm carries risks the policy interests namely the neglect of domestic reform and

i just want to talk about the case of the abraham jassim, the iraqi journalists being held in baghdad since september of last year without charge. i just wanted to know why is he still being held and also, are there any indications that he might be charged with anything? >> i am not up to date on what his exact status is so i either urge you to talk to mnf-i or come back to me afterwards and we can look into it for you. i can only assume he is being held because he is still regarded by the coalition as a threat to the stability of iraq, but let me-- let's look into that and tell you precisely the ground for which he is still being held. yeah, go ahead. >> thank you. regarding air force f-22's, senator daniel inouye sent a letter to the secretary gates about export virgin f-22. so how will the pentagon response to that idea? >> i don't know what the precise response will be in a letter form from secretary to senator inouye or if there will be a call. allah can tell you is, when this question has come up in the past and frankly, it came up in the secretaries polis side with the japanese

washington these past months about the impact the stimulus and it's almost like we're listening to baghdad bob again from iraq tell us about how the country is winning the war as the u.s. troops are rolling into his city. last january, two top administration economists argued if we enacted the stimulus which has added, you know -- will add almost a trillion dollars to our debt, that if we did that, we would keep the unemployment rate at or below 8% this year. this level has already been exceeded; correct? >> correct. >> isn't there from an economic view looking at the poster in watching the rising unemployment which trails the economy as we all know but looking at the president's projections of 8%, 8.1% versus the current 9.4%, is that statistically significant in unemployment? >> yes, that's a significant difference. and to reach an 8.1% average for the year we would need to see the unemployment rate drop to well below 8.1% for a good portion of the year to hit that market. it seems difficult. >> yeah, and indeed as we go in the year the more severe -- we'd almost have to be in the 7% or

vast areas including baghdad have seen security improved dramatically and, while some tensions linger between sunni and shi'ite moslems, major combat operations and on to a close. meanwhile the iraqi government says it's ready to provide security and some of the response belize have been that have been performed largely by americans since the 2003 invasion to topple saddam hussein. st. paul, minn., next up. on the democrats' line. caller: the name is lorena. i am very happy with obama being very cautious and i'm glad the democrats are in power at this point because, according to the republicans, the last lady said they did not talk about military, but they are talking about kind of the way we got into the iraq war and afghanistan. and i certainly don't want that to happen in iran. these people, i feel sorry for them, and i hope the support will be through the u.n. and the other countries in europe. we don't always have to be first. that is not our policy. we should be bright, that is the main thing. host: now washington, ky. republican collar. -- caller. caller: i do think the preside

they got their hands on some people and they dragged them behind cars and hung them from the bridge in baghdad. they got their hands on another guy and on television with everybody watching they cut his head off in front of anybody who wanted to watch it. so let's compare nine selected menu items, temperature-regulated -- temperature regulated to suit your lifestyle and your religion material of choice treated with great respect, which is our way of dealing with prisoners versus decapitation, dragging, setting on fire and hanging from a bridge. and let's decide, where is the outcry? well, there certainly can't be any comparison of treatment because we're doing our damagest not to see that happen again. and i'm proud to say that our combatants, our guys, are doing a great job on that. they're protecting americans on the battlefield. it's because the enemy has no qual s with what they're going to do -- qual ams with what they're going -- qualms with what they're going to do. do you really think the enemy is providing bibles to who they cap san antonio spur do you think one of the choices would b

world meant the skill of leverage building up went undetected for a long time and it wasn't just cds baghdad but you basically had a situation where, again i describe this in my book in the spring of 27 everyone could feel biden that something was going badly wrong in the credit world and in fact regulators were meeting to get together to say we know something is wrong, what should we do. is there a way we can get the sense of how bad things are and quite apart from the fact that he had groups like the germans insisting talking about hedge funds and nothing else which wasn't particularly helpful, one of the problems was it was hard to pinpoint the scale of leverage and skills of risks being taken in the system because there wasn't the data and people were all looking in the right places so for example the scales built up on the balance sheets on groups such as city and merrill lynch that had utterly disastrous implications towards the end of 27, that wasn't being debated but it wasn't on the agenda. there was little way for people to track that. and of the regulation issue with this is criti

this was days after the statue of saddam fell in baghdad. and in all honesty, a week later, i was standing in a crater in basra in an air strike in which we had targeted chemical ali because of his gassing of the kurds in 1988 and i stood facing this man. he was in his 60s, i guess, maybe older, with fingernails just really worn down and browned hands. and he told me how two families had been wiped out in that air strike. and his kids were killed and his grandchildren were killed, and he was a doctor. his son was a doctor. his wife was a doctor. and on and on. and that was a difficult moment, but it was also a moment for me where i knew i had done the right thing in coming to human rights watch i could help to tell the story for those people about what had happened to them and try to look and assess whether or not the geneva conventions were being followed by all parties to a conflict. and that's really what it comes down what we do at human rights watch in the emergencies division and so now let me tell you a little bit about h.r.w. and how

the three-star army commander was out from baghdad, he said he believe he is is witnessing the last turnover of marines in iraq. we agree with that. there will be a mid summer rotation we do several month rotations, i'll talk with you in a moment about that we think in spring of 2010, general tryon will close the door, turn out the lights and end marine corps presence in iraq. we think we're coming out under a victory pennant, that we've done what the country asked us to do, serve as a second land army, a long way from salt sea in iraq. but we're proud of what our folks working with the army, working with those great sailors who support us have done rotation after rotation in the country of iraq. you know, as was indicated in the introduction we didn't find weapons of mass destruction. but i would offer to you that we did do something that we, and again, every other serviceman and woman who have served in iraq, have done something there that is perhaps as important, maybe more so, and that is we have crushed the al qaeda in the nation of iraq. it wasn't long after we crossed the kuwaiti bord

war was at its height to the times were spending $2 million a year just for the security to keep its baghdad bureau opened and to be able to report the news. at one point during the war the times had 100 reporters in iraq. one blogger, one blogger is not going to be able to go to our bracken spend that kind of money, and nor can one blogger b of the kind of information coming at that bureau. >> whether papers are printed on paper or whether we are going to read them on the internet is almost beside the point. if it is going to be on the internet, as yet, no news organization has found out how you can develop a business model where you can make enough money off of display ads on the internet to support the kind of news organization that it takes to do what our mainstream papers are doing now, so that is the problem that i think. the problem, there are problems with the journalism at the main problem for newspapers today and also for television stations to a certain extent is not the journalism. it is funding the business model that can support these very expensive enterprises. we have to have

easterning baghdad. he was 31 years old. a native nebraskan, justin was born in moline and later moved with his family to kozad, graduating from high school in 1995. he earned a degree in criminal justice from the university of nebraska at carney. after working in carney for five years, justin joined the army in june 2007, beginning a career that satisfied his sense of adventure and work ethic. he had been serving with the 82nd airborne division in iraq since november of 2008. justin's family referred to him as the shepherd. he was always looking after the welfare of others. putting their well-being above his own. in this same fashion, justin selfishly gave his life while protecting the safety of others. justin is survived by his parents, joseph and janice and his two sisters and grandfather. i join them in mourning his death. justin made the ultimate sacrifice in service to his country. our nation owes him and his family an immeasurable debt of gratitude. may god's peace be with justin's family, friends, and all of those wh