think colin powell is someone obviously the republicans should have in their party. he's a man of enormous distinction and achievement and strong feelings. i'm much more conservative republican than he is. but i'm, i guess what they call a big tent republican. you might say with regard to wilmington, wilmington before michael jordan became the most famous export from wilmington, the most famous one was my former colleague and much-missed friend david brinkley. host: also the city the government chose to test the digital transition. you wrote a very strong column about the president's speech in cairo. would you tell people what your concerns are with what you said? guest: the concern is that all presidents, but particularly this one, tend to think their personality is an irresistible force and there are a lot of immovable objects out there that won't find it irresistible. the president really occasionally echos a claim heard in this country in the 1930's, if we could just talk, just get to know one another, we could split the differences between us and harmony would b

a few years ago you wrote an article about what you essentially thought of colin powell, and you took him apart, and was so good to see that. it was everything he had done wrong and i would like you to comment on that, please. >> i don't frankly remember the particular column. i remember having a distinct difference on the subject of israel and the middle east. colin powell is just now engaged in a robust argument about the future of the republican party and i think colin powell is some room the republicans should have in their party as a matter of enormous distinction in the achievement and a strong feelings. i am much more conservative republican than he is but i am i guess what they call a big ten republican. i might say with regard to wilmington, wilmington before michael jordan became the most famous export from wilmington, the most famous one was my former colleague and missed friend david. >> host: also the place for the reason the government chose to test the vigil transition. speaking of colin powell's policy in the middle east you wrote a strong column about the speech in ca

and colin powell is someone that the republicans should have in their party. an enormous distinction and achievement and strong feelings. i am a much more conservative republican than he is. but i am what they call a big-tent republican. and wil'mton where my favorite is from. host: where the government contested distention. you wrote a strong column about the president's speech in cairo, would you tell them of your concerns of what he said? guest: the concern, all presidents but particularly this one, tend to think their personality is an irresistable force, and there are a lot of immovable things out there that won't find it irresistible. the president had a theme in the 40's, if we would just talk and harmony would break out. this is the old belief that the natural continue is harmony, i tend to be more like hobbs, people getting along is difficult. in the 30's, when we got to know the empire of japan, we had an irrepressible conflict on our hands. i thought his view was "a," optimistic, and for the palestinians to slaves, and to slave master's of absurd. h

colin powell speaks well for the republican party. i'd like to see him get a broader role in the future. newt gingrich has a lot of good ideas, but too much baggage. bobby jindal is a good up-and- coming voice. i think sarah palin is a light and she needs to go back to alaska. host: front page of "but chicago tribune." "harsh sentence for the two journalists in north korea" is making the front page. we are turning our attention to the situation there at the bottom of the next intel rep. john is on the phone from atlanta. who speaks for your party? caller: it is hard to tell who speaks for our party right now. i believe that we need to go more moderate. with john mccain or colin powell or the main senators. i think the republican party has been hijacked by more radicals like dick cheney and rush limbaugh. i think we need to be more inclusive of the minority. host: thank you for the call. in the next hour, we turn our attention to two foreign policy issues. shibley telhami will join us to talk about the elections in lebanon and what is

guest: well, colin powell says he is republican. so if he says he is republican, you can save you are and people can challenge that or not. he says he is a republican. john mccain says he is republican. tim pawlenty, the republican governor of minnesota says he is a republican. be that as it may you have the debate going on right now for the dousoul of the republican party. it will continue even after someone emerges as the leader of the republican party. the party is in about the same state as in 1964 after lyndon johnson won a landslide victory over barry goldwater. people said we will never see the republican party again. four years later the people elected richard nixon. you will see these various points of view about what a republican is in for the party is going. eventually republicans will select their leader. if they will be successful as a party bringing in support you will see them coalesced around the leader. but at this time, and it is too soon now, obviously, there is no identifiable leader of the party. as for the roun

reagan finally stopped him and went like this, colin powell told me he stopped immediately because the president does this you stop talking. he said, hey colin. i put some acorns out in the garden last weekend looks like the squirrels are starting to pick them up. [laughter] >> and general powell said there and he turned to me and he said i immediately ran out of the room, picked up the phone, called my wife and said what have i gotten myself into? [laughter] >> what he figured out and what so many other people figured out about reagan was that, you know what, the screaming and yelling and the accusation, that was just a sidebar. in the end for reagan, he believed it was about giving his policies enacted in that respect he was not going to get engaged in sort of the nasty back and forth. i think that's one of the reasons the president obama right now is doing as well as he is because he has not found the center of american politics ideologically. he has found the center of american politics temperamentally. and that, if you want to win elections, if you want to win elections, that's a

secretary colin powell is from the caribbean, sicily tyson, we have heard w.e.b. du bois, james weldon johnson, malcolm x. harry bell fonty -- belefonte and sidney poitier. in my own district two people i might talk about here, antoinette kay elliss william and dr. claire nelson. the founder and president of the institute of caribbean studies is known for her leadership in making caribbean americans heard. and i'm proud to say that i have worked with her on a regular basis as many of us do and we admire her and the great work that she does. we just had the opportunity to be with her last week and we are extremely pleased at the outstanding work that the institute is doing. the second person i mentioned, dr. antoinette k. ellis williams is a leader in my congressional district, currently serves as president for the he section valley health care and serves on the -- essex valley health care and serves on the board of east general hospital. she's part of a nonprofit organization of doctors, nurses, and other professionals who give back to the community through their

colin powell was a republican, as far as i'm concerned. again, i have enormous regard for the vice president, but that mindset is what i think creating an environment not conducive to the openness and the candid and honest disagreement we can have within the party and still retain the unity. unity does not mean unanimity. there are certain core, bedrock principles around which we can unite. it does not mean that we are unanimously in lockstep on all of them. host: how do you think history will defeat the bush presidency? guest: president bush was handed a set of circumstances and like i think -- unlike i think any other part of it was dealt with. he was principal, it was decisive. i think much of it will depend on the outcome of our effort in afghanistan and iraq, particularly in iraq. and i think history will be dealing with him, as it did ronald reagan, much more fairly than current analysts. host: good morning. guest: the stupidity and insanity of this man that you are interviewing is off the wall. george bush, your talked-about republi

leading the list of those that agree with president obama in closing guantanamo, general colin powell, former chairman of joint chiefs of staff and former secretary of state under president george w. bush. republican senators john mccain of arizona, lindsey graham south carolina both publicly stated they favor the closing of guantanamo. former republican secretaries of state james baker, henry kissinger, and condoleezza rice. admiral michael mullen, chairman of joint chiefs of staff and general david petraeus. so for senator kafeel to come to the floor and suggest this notion of closing guantanamo isn't one shared by military and security leaders isn't accurate. the list i've given isn't complete. many others agree with the president's position. according to the experts, guantanamo has become a recruiting tool for al qaeda that's actually hurting america's security. in his remarks this afternoon senator carl challenged the notion singing and by quote an idea that's been floated by the president, senator durbin and others, and of quote, of closing guantanamo. senator kyl didn't mention

powell. your reaction to the response of that exchange. >> well, it was an amazing response and when i give lectures to journalism classes, i always say the greatest mistake that young reporters make is, they assume they know what somebody is going to answer when they ask them a question and a lot of times they won't ask the question because they say, i know what he is going to say. i don't need to ask that question. that is a reporters worst enemy, assumption. you never assumed. i would not in my wildest dreams have imagined that former vice president cheney would say that he would pick rush limbaugh over colin powell when it came to republicans, but that is what he said and that is where the news was. so, you know i always tell young reporters, there are no bad questions. there are just that answers. a lot of young reporters assume, they feel like well if i ask that question they will think i'm dumb because they think i should know the answer. reporters are there to ask the other person in

colin powell being told in 2004 -- a track what happens with bush? bush ran in 2007i want to take over the world, i don't want to go into countries . >> guest: i can do this very quickly and if i can get to the chapter really quickly i want to redo -- i can more or less remember but listen to this quote by george w. bush. this is what george w. bush said that in 2000. >> host: you keep looking at it and i will cover with these words. it seems to me i have found the years 2001 and 2009 intensely painful politically because as a conservative because i saw a great coalition and a great movement director job like a pane of glass and splintered by keeping those that did not have that coalition in the '60s and '70s and '80s. i saw how hard it was to bring together. it broke my heart to see it broken and it broke my heart to see that you're not allowed to say that it was breaking. it was a terrible lie. >> guest: this is george w. bush in 2000. we must be judicious in our use of the military. we will find only one is in the vital interest of the united stat

host: here is a picture of him with colin powell and was secretary rest. what was his relationship with them? guest: his relationships with them were both strain. particularly on policy questions. on personal terms he could be engaging and courteous. there were tremendous tensions between donald rumsfeld and colin powell on a broad range of possible new there was a lot of gamesmanship and the billing. he would needle powell at meetings. sometimes to pick on his pronunciation of the capital of afghanistan. powell who is no slouch in self we get back at him, his well-worn suits. he was critical for management of the national security council. host: did you talk to either for this book? guest: yes, to one of them. caller: good morning, gentlemen. of like to ask the author, part of the problem with his reputation comes from the fact that no matter how good of the secretary of defense to become if you want to be a true agent of change to go in with lighter forces, change the mentality, you sometimes take some of that in the end of your reputation is not what it

powell. not only is guantanamo a recruiting tool, there is evidence that the al qaeda is recruiting terrorists within guantanamo. the mckhra which i newspapers did an -- the mcclatchey newspaper says guantanamo often produces more terrorists by rounding up low-level foot soldiers and men with no allegiance to radical islam. this newspaper found that -- quote -- "guantanamo became a school for jihad and an american madras. rear admiral mark bugsby said i must make the assumption there is a fully functioning al qaeda cell at guantanamo. senator kyl continues to claim that no one was abused at guantanamo and there is no connection between the abuses at abu ghraib and guantanamo. i would commend for his reading the senate armed services committee bipartisan report which reached a different conclusion. senator levin, the democratic chairman of the committee. senator mccain, the ranking republican of the committee found -- and i quote -- "secretary of defense donald rumsfeld's authorization of aggr

colin powell said on the eve of invasion of iraq, remember the pottery rule, if you break it, you own it. and we owned it for years. host: what is the state today? guest: iraq, so far so good. there are unresolved questions, the kurds in the north are essentially an independent country, they have their own flag and passports and oil. and the question is will iraq tolerate this session there. and second, once the united states is gone will the bitterness that's prevailed for generations continue to subside? or will be a resurgence of it? i don't know. host: cape coral, this is bill, democratic line. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. mr. will, i understand you have a vast amount of knowledge of this world. personally i consider you one of the vanguards of the party of no. you have a lot of proposals for the administration all the time. but i have never heard you seek a solution. now just like the house yesterday and the senate came up with a health bill. four pages long. and they were shaking it in front the tv's. they came up with nothing they told us. they said only

. >> going back to the former secretary of state colin powell, we have made it clear that genocide happened in darfur. we can say this is clearly that the situation and are for it remains dire -- in darfur remains dire. we want to restore the humanitarian capacity. there is room in administration for a debate about the interpretation of the fact that go in that judgment. it does not change our policy now which is to focus on working as hard as we can to improve the situation and are for = = -- in darfur. >> can you say definitively yes or no? >> it is still taking place -- is it still taking place? >> all i can say is that we characterize the events going on in dar asfur genocide. -- in darfur as genocide. >> you had a foreign minister saying that this was not genocide. it is good that it is now being clearly stated. >> i did not find a response to be particularly credible. -- i do not find that response to be particularly credible. as the general pointed out yesterday, you have urgent and the multiple challenges going on in sudan at the same time. we recognize that in dealing with all of t

i am also happy that colin powell is a republican. [applause] >> a majority republican party will have lots of debates within the party. that is the nature of majorities. remember, reagan carried 49 states in 1984, and a lot of them were not hard-core conservatives. reagan won in 1980 by appealing to independent and unhappy democrats. there's not a single reagan speech where he doesn't say, "my fellow republicans and those independents and democrats who are looking for a better future." there were not enough republicans to win in 1980. there were not enough republicans to wind during that time. it was about 21% of believe. inclusion does not mean lack of principles.

i am also happy that colin powell is a republican. [applause] >> a majority republican party will have lots of debates within the party. that is the nature of majorities. remember, reagan carried 49 states in 1984, and a lot of them were not hard-core conservatives. reagan won in 1980 by appealing to independent and unhappy democrats. there's not a single reagan speech where he doesn't say, "my fellow republicans and those independents and democrats who are looking for a better future." there were not enough republicans to win in 1980. in fact, we were i believe 21% of the electorate by the end of 1979. now, inclusion does not mean lack of principles. like reagan, and calista and i did a movie some of you saw last night with "ronald reagan" like reagan i am for first principles. tonight i am going to apply first principles to three areas. one, strengthening our unique american civilization. two, strengthening our national and homeland security. three, building a productive america with the best jobs and the greatest prosperity in the

powell and national security speiser condoleezza rice. what was secretary rumsfeld relationship with those two? >> guest: his relations were strained with both. particularly, on policy questions. and personal terms, he could be very engaging, courteous and so on. he would-- but there were tremendous attend-- tensions between rumsfeld's pentagon and pol pot state department on a broad range of foreign-policy and national-security issues, and there was a lot of sort of gamesmanship, a lot of needling. rumsfeld beaston needle powell at national security council meetings. rumsfeld would pick on powell's pronunciation of the capital of afghanistan, telling him he was putting the accent on the wrong syllable. powell, no slouch himself to try to get back rumsfeld, a needling his well-worn suits and so on. as for rice, rumsfeld felt, he was very critically initially of from management of the security council. i talked to one of them. >> host: atwater, maryland, this is mason independent line. >> caller: good morning gentleman. i would like to ask

powell, attorney general, eric holder, assistant secretary of the exterior designee and supreme court nominee, sonia sotomayor. but there are many others. we may look back as far as the period to the 1900's', to the 1920's, which marked the initiation of mass labor migration from the caribbean to the united states and the formation of the first large caribbean communities here in this country. we should not forget world war i, when the recruitment of labor from the caribbean became empirtive, more than 100,000 caribbean laborers were recruited for agricultural and tedious jobs as par as -- part of war laborers. we should acknowledge the caribbean men and women who served our country and those who continue to serve this country overseas in its conflicts today. so i feel it's been an honor and a privilege as a caribbean american whose roots fly cuba, an tiga, st. kitts and the danish west indies, now the virnlen islands, to host this hour with the congressional black caucus is recognize and paid tribute to caribbean american heritage. with that, madam speaker, i yield back the balance o

but as colin powell put it very well, you can't eat plutonium. if he chooses simply to stand up to the other powers, simply to go for strength and not for prosperity, that's not a very good solution for him. and it's certainly not a good solution for his successor whenever that person takes power down the road. so kim jong-il needs to move. >> so if any of you can respond to this question. is there any danger at all that in -- just going back to the table and pursuing this other route which i think you have to do it 'cause i don't think you have many choices. what is the danger level with respect to the reward of that behavior argument? >> well, clearly what we want to do is reward good behavior. and you only do things where, as i suggested with one kind of series of steps, you only do things when they do things that you want them to and you structure the deals that way. the fact is we didn't always do that and that's a sad fact here. north korean behavior is inexcusable. what they're doing now, i don't have to tell you is harmful to them, harmfu

so that colin powell shows you the picture of mass destruction and must know that anybody with a computer is going to figure out it's silliness and a lie but we can lie. you're frippet 'ed. you're sheep and we will treat you as passive and unimportant so we're going lie to you. so absolutely right. never heard the history of hoe the minimum contacting standard kept. might have happened but never heard of it. >> host: michael consistence kinsley in time magazining wrote this sunny don't read this stuff. >> host: for strategic and psychological reasons the underground wanted the vietnam war to go on. they wanted the killing and dying to continue and spread along with an narkty, dope, and free sex. >> guest: not true. not true. nothing true about that. >> host: what do you read on a regular basis? >> guest: i read books a lot and i believe in the power of books to change our lives. i was thinking this morning when walking through the book fair that there's a wonderful book that everybody should read and re-read by ray brad bury, fahrenheit 451 because the -- you remember the book. it's about

but let me say in the final analysis, many republicans including the former secretary of state, colin powell, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, advisor to a number of republican presidents, said on news program almost a year ago now that he believed that guantanamo ought to be closed. he believed it should have been closed yesterday when he was speaking, that was a year ago. the president of the united states has indicated he thinks guantanamo ought to be closed. there is disagreement on that i understand that. but if it's going to be closed, a plan has to be affected for the purpose ever dealing with those who are at guantanamo. and the president is working on such a plan. the congress in both bodies made a determination until we have such plan we are not going to take action to facilitate that. that's what i think the conference agreement sets forth. and i think it sets forth the protections that can give the american people a confidence level. let me say something additional to the gentleman. i'm older than the gentleman. when i was a child approximately four or five years of

general colin powell is right, guantanamo needs to be closed. it is a recruiting tool for al qaeda. we know that these individuals can be brought to the united states and tried and safely imprisoned. we've never had an escape from a supermax facility. and we know that to turn these prisoners over to some other country runs the risk that they will be released. dangerous people who threaten the united states should be dealt with by our constitution and laws. the administration has made the right decision that this man be brought to trial in the united states, held accountable for any wrongdoing on his part that led to the deaths of so many hundreds of innocent people at our embassies in africa. mr. president, i ask that my next statement be placed in a separate part of the record. i ask consent. the presiding officer: so ordered. mr. durbin: mr. president, this morning we heard the republican leader come to the floor again -- this is not the first time -- to address the health care situation in america. i read his previous speech and i listened to his speech today. it is clear to me t

but as was stated before, when colin powell called the president of pakistan right after september 11 he offered a choice, you're either with us or against us, and president musharraf picked well. under that arrangement we did provide $12 billion to pakistan, but largely without strings attached. and the pakistani effort against the militants, especially in the frontier autonomous region was initially aggressive but then petered out. the united states was providing $16 million a month to the pakistani military, but after 2005 was receiving little benefit. under the new government that is unquestionably a democratic government i think we have a more stable partner to deal with in the war on terror, specifically in what the pentagon would call the al qaeda core. with this new government really representing the essence of the pakistani middle class we now take on their true aspirations in which the central issue for the long term is not a nuclear competition with india but how quickly pakistan is falling behind india's rising economic growth. in that view then a bunch of radicals ruining

and among those who also disagree with his viewpoint would be general colin powell, former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, former secretary of state under president bush. he believes that it should be closed. general petraeus, someone i know the senator from kentucky has praised on the floor of the united states senate. he believes guantanamo should be closed. they aren't alone. robert gates, secretary of defense under president bush and now under president obama, believes it should be closed. senator mccain on your side of the aisle has stated publicly that guantanamo should be closed. senator lindsey graham, on your side of the aisle, has stated publicly it should be closed. former secretaries of state have made the same statements. now, he is entitled to his point of view. i respect him for holding that point of view even if he doesn't have the support from the security and military leaders that i just mentioned. but to come to this floor and repeatedly say to the american people that we are in danger because we are trying terrorists in the coforts america -- in the courts of

piano, because no, since the sotomayor nomination has come up, since i interviewed dick cheney and colin powell and all of this, i have got blogs and liberal blogs on the left to arsay i am parroting the republican line and i have got republican or conservative blood on the right that say i am a liberal and i am taking the liberal point of view and it is really kind of funny sometimes to take these. you can say the same thing and see how people on one side perceive that in how people on the other side perceive it. you have to just kind of try to-- always learned. sometimes they are right. they might be right. i don't hold myself up by any means to be a perfect person but it is interesting how people sometimes the bias is not so much, i think, in what is being said as it is in the ear of the person that hears a. >> give the sale little lesson on civic responsibility, with all the choices out there. it also strikes me there are an awful lot of people that use a wide degree of choice is to gravitate to those sources that are going to say what they only believe and they are not going to spen

so when colin powell shows you the pictures of mass destruction and must know that anybody with a computer's going to figure out that this is silliness and that it's a lie, but you know what? we can lie. you're frightened, you're sheep, we will treat you as passive and unimportant, and so we're going to lie to you. so that, you know, i think you're absolutely right. never heard the history about ho chi minh contacting senator kennedy. it might have happened but never heard of it. >> host: michael kingsley in time magazine last year wrote this, and i don't know if you have seen this -- >> guest: no, i don't read the stuff. >> host: for strategic and psychological reasons, the underground wanted the vietnam war to go on. they wanted the killing and dying to continue and spread along with anarchy, dope, and free sex. [laughter] >> guest: not true, not true. there's nothing true about that. >> host: what do you read on a regular basis? >> guest: i read books a lot, and i believe in the power of books to change our lives. i was thinking this morning when walking through the book fair, you know, t

our government decided to cover that the night before when colin powell tried to convince everybody to go to war with us. they just didn't want people looking at what war is all about, you know? and that scares other people. we didn't even notice, really. google that. it's a fascinating thing and we didn't even notice. europe should noticed it. >> the next question is, in your recent pbs program you interviewed mostly young educated people and they were pro-american. what about the old people? do they like americans? >> well, i was just there for 12 days and i don't know -- my only experience is anecdotal and everywhere i went these old ladies sitting in the village that you saw in the show, they were old and provincial as you probably could imagine and, you know, they just were laughing about the thing. i didn't feel they were angry with me or anything. i think thankfully around the world people know there's a difference between people in their government. one thing i was struck by is governments come and go but the people are still there. we have to clean up the mess of their governm

it is the sponsor of the colin powell academic lecture series which began in april of 2008. general powell is also an alumni of the college. indeed, it is hard to overstate the degree of which the foundation has enriched the experience of both students and staff at the college. its board of directors comprise of retired officers, business and community leaders, all of whom have a keen interest in improving the quality of the education provided to the college. i would like to commend the foundation's board and in particular its c.e.o., colonel robert hulen, u.s. army retired for the invabble work that he does to enhance the -- invaluable work that he does to enhance the college. he's a graduate and instructor of the college. i'd like to mention the five five star general commemorative coin act. this bill would authorize the u.s. treasury to mint five commemorative $1 and half dollar coins bearing these generals. these coins would honor the historic contributions these men have made in defense of justice and freedom they can collect. could i extend for 10 seconds? the speaker

past winners include colin powell, bill and melinda gates and oprah and sandra day o'connor. this year, four outstanding delawareans have won awards because of innovative programs and dedication to inspiring fellow citizens to service. elaine chester created a program through the delaware division of family services to help low-income children receive wrapped holiday gifts matching children in need with people interested in sending gift. under her leadership which is one of the largest corporate gift drives in delaware. it benefits hundreds of childrens annually including those terminally ill. since the expansion in nursing home the elderly receive gifts from employees, as well. leonard young, also wilmington, earned his jefferson award for tireless promotion of public health, education, and wellness initiatives encouraging others to get regular preventive health screening has led delawareans to incorporate healthy living into their routines educating youth about the dangers of substance abuse and preventing violent behavior in relationships, a leader in the community and his

and that is the relationship with what colin powell described as the most misunderstood country in the world. i'm talking, mr. speaker, about the fourth most populous country in the world, the largest muslim population in the world and, of course, by virtue of that, the largest muslim democcy in the world. that being indonesia. now, as we look at the changes that have taken place over the past 11 years in indonesia it is absolutely remarkable and extraordinarily impressive. the 32-year reign of harto came to an end in 1998, and since that time we have seen democracy take hold and build. we all know that democracy is a work in progress. we as americans know that our democracy continues to be a work in progress. and indonesia's is as well. the challenge of ensuring that the military comes under civilian rule is one with which they're still grappling. and if you think about this country, 17,000 -- 17,000 different islands and hundreds of languages and ethnicities and yet they have been able to cobble together what one called the convergences of muslim and democracy. so, mr. speaker, we ar

general colin powell is right, guantanamo needs to be closed. it is a recruiting tool for al qaeda. we know that these individuals can be brought to the united states and tried and safely imprisoned. we've never had an escape from a supermax facility. and we know that to turn these prisoners over to some other country runs the risk that they will be released. dangerous people who threaten the united states should be dealt with by our constitution and laws. the administration has made the right decision that this man be brought to trial in the united states, held accountable for any wrongdoing on his part that led to the deaths of so many hundreds of innocent people at