Today to mark the tragic events from 12 years ago. We will bring you coverage on our network and cspan. Org. Lets begin with the president s speech in your reaction. Send us a tweet by going to http twitter. Com cspanwj or post your comments on facebook. You can also email us. The front page of the newspapers this morning, courtesy of the new cm, the Chicago Tribune and their headline about the president speech, Obama Presses case, syria vote will wait. We will hear from the Orange County register in california, i believe we should act, that is what makes america different. From boston globe, the president says he will pursue the diplomatic yield. Is from detroit free press, u. S. Must keep the pressure on. Give up chemical weapons, but not lifting threat of military strike. Outhe countries try to work some sort of diplomatic solution, we are joined on the phone by Diplomatic Correspondent for bloomberg news, joining us from new york. Lets begin with what has been happening since the president speech. Any effort made . Guest the speech took place last night, having been president obama clear that the u. S. Is going to try to pursue test the diplomatic trend. It has been overnight. Were going to see everything to configure this morning. I think the first thing president obama is going to do is lay out what exactly he achieved when secretary kerry was speaking with his russian after part on thursday, and now we are expected to see if they were able to reach an agreement on how they want to proceed with the diplomatic path. Once that is decided, [indiscernible] United Nations Security Council for a followup. Host what does the United States wanted some sort of diplomatic solution or agreement and what does syria want, russia want question mark who are the players here . America is going to want to negotiate with the russians how they will be able to ensure that the transfer of chemical weapons to International Control , which terms the syrians have agreed to, will be done in a credible and verifiable way. There needs to be a discussion on the timeline of how quickly they can get this done and how safely this can be done. It will be top priority. Ist i am interested to know before president obamas speech yesterday, the french, they put a draft resolution they had in the meeting of u. K. , u. S. , and french envoys met and discussed a possible resolution. It primarily indents the syrian assadsnt bashar al regime for culpability in the august 21 alleged chemical weapons attack. This will become major point for western country demanding the responsibility on the assad regime being held accountable, but that will be the one big hurdle the russians and the syrians will not agree to. Document agree to a that pinpoints the assad regime is responsible for a massive use of chemical weapons attack that killed over 400 people, that it will be the start where president Bashar Alassad may have to end up before the International Criminal court for having violated International Norms and using weapons of mass destruction. Russia being allies, they dont want to see this happen. They want to see the regime continue. It will not hold for them. I think that will be the to do things. For obamas patty talked about yesterday, if this aroundheyre talking having to identify the assad you in you in document and discussing behind boost closed doors with the russian government that secretary kerry [indiscernible] host why do you think that is important . Knows the entire world the United Nations has been paralyzed because of the russian veto and it came down to the point of identifying assad as culpable for using chemical weapons. This whole issue of whether the u. S. Will launch a military strike or not has dragged on for weeks. Aoi where obama has backtracked from what , theid about two weeks ago u. S. Needs to continue on with us military strike and skip the u. N. If theres a need to do so, now he sang his back to the diplomatic approach. To want tor obama see this happen, i think realistically speaking, sidestepping the issue of culpability and being realistic in talking to the russians about a way forward on the timeline and tactical issues, and perhaps i could lead to diplomatic progress. Thatcould avoid the issue is carried on for the past weeks and months. Host to wrap this up, what role does the United Nations play in this, if anything at all . Right now there will be a bilateral discussion between the u. S. And russia. Once there are further nuts and bolts that are worked out, then they will bring back the Security Council for full implementation. Discussionis still a between the capitals between secretary kerry and foreign lavrov andaugh rob in any outcome will us know how foru. N. Can get involved whether to kick into gear or not. Host thank you for your time this morning. From president obamas speech last night, a little bit more, the president in his own words talking about this diplomatic path and what comes next. Atrocities, commit they depend upon the world to look the other way until those horrifying pictures fade from memory. At these things happened. The facts cannot be denied. Now is, what the United States of america and the International Community is prepared to do about it. Because what happened to those people, to those children, is not only a violation of International Law, it is also a danger to our security. Let me explain why. If we fail to act, the assad regime will see no reason to stop using chemical weapons. As the ban against these weapons erodes, other tyrants will have no reason to think twice about acquiring poison gas and using it. Over time, our troops will face the prospect of Chemical Warfare on the battlefield. It could be easier for terrorist organizations to obtain these weapons. If the fighting goes beyond syrias borders, it could threaten our allies. A failure to stand against the use of chemical weapons would weaken prohibitions against other weapons of mass destruction and embolden iran, which must decide by ignoring International Law or take a more president ath. Host obama last night addressing the nation, talking about what is next when it comes to syria. We want to get your reaction. We begin with john, democratic caller. Believei just cannot what i heard. I mean, this is unbelievable. If ianding there as mean, as if our government is so lily white and pure when he allowed george bush to do that brutal method he did in iraq and id away from it as if mean, hes talking about children on the floor when our government under george bush killed thousands and then 5000, 6000 americans came back from in 19,000 limbless and he has the nerve to talk about this . And the fact the American People dont know what took place in iraq emma but he is going to stand with lies and hypocrisy as if we are really that stupid and going to play the same games come the same pitches, the same rhetoric that bush used to go into iraq to kill Saddam Hussein and then destroyed the nation . He is talking about looking for a diplomatic solution as if those people over there are really that stupid that they dont see the lies and hypocrisy and dont nobody trust this nation. I know i dont. Host did you go for the president into thousand eight and 2012 . Guest i voted onetime, but not the second time. I wasnt stupid the second time. After he let bush walk away and sing how bush just upped all over the constitution and were supposed to be a nation of laws and he let that man walk away like that . Host walter, baltimore. Caller i did vote for him both times and would vote for him again, but the point is not whether or not we are criminals as the United States, but as the president suggested, that we must be vigilant and act when no one else does. I think that his leadership, not from behind, but to the defense of your previous color, i agree with him that historically there , but theman acts bombing of hiroshima, or necessary, to end a war, but the diplomatic approach that the president has taken as of last night, i agreed 100 with and i just want the public to realize that we cannot beat the world, but what we can do, as the president also said, cspan, is, Start Building our own country. How about that part . Host d support keeping the pressure on wisteria by drafting some sort of resolution in the congress or through the United Nations that says if they do not follow through on what theyre saying they will do with her chemical weapons, that a military strike will happen . Caller yes, maam. He also stated he is going to have carriers in our battleships maintain their position over there. That is necessary. This is not a bluff. The idea that some of the people will call in and say he is bluffing and week, they are crazy. The strength comes from peace, not war. War is the final action, but, yes, maam, i do believe in his approach. Host so from the beginning he supported the president on military strike. Caller i didnt say a support the military strike. Him, butng i support his approach the military strike as the previous caller was saying, did not come from him. It came from the right wing of those Chicken Hawks who have never gone to war before, the defense contractors who always see profit in anything we do militarily. I said i support barack obama, and in particular, his decision to go back to the United Nations, go back to the world, yes, maam, i think that nato and the United Nations as well as the arab league should get over there and into that conflict, not us. Host gary, republican caller. What are your thoughts . Caller good morning. Obama laid outnt for doing whatever he decides to do with al qaeda because we would be empowering the al qaeda in syria if we dont do anything. And the second thing i would like to say is about benghazi. I read in the Washington Post, there were 60 cia people working there and that seems to me like that would have been petraeus case. I dont know where he was, whether he was just getting his brass polish or what, but it seems like you dropped the ball there. The next thing i would like to say, one of the reasons president obama was able i learned this from a black man get bin ladin is because black better than white people. We went hunting rabbits. Every time he start of a rabbit, it ran faster further away before he could get a shot. Host on our Facebook Page some comments from our Facebook Page. He delayed it because he knew he would not get the votes. We are not as dumb as he thinks we are. Democratic caller, go ahead. Caller i would like to say i think the president is a genius. He is going to get what he needs from the syrians without firing a shot. I hear a lot of people always theng about america being policeman of the world. Who wouldnt want to live without a modern city without a policeman . Someone has to do the job. I hear people say, the sunnis and shiites have been fighting for thousands of years. People fought in europe for thousands of years. Went to several world wars so many wars in europe that we went there to help them, so i dont see why we cant help the people in the mideast also. That is my comment. Host from the president last night when he talked about what a limited strike would mean, he reiterated it would not include boots on the ground. I will not put american boots on the ground in syria. I will not pursue an openended action like iraq or afghanistan. I will not pursue a Prolonged Air Campaign Like libya or kosovo. This would be a targeted strike to achieve a clear objective, deterring the use of chemical weapons and degrading assads capabilities. Even a limited strike will send a message to assad that no other nation can deliver. I dont think we should remove another dictator with force. We learned from iraq that doing forakes us responsible all that comes next. But he can make any other dictator think twice before using chemical weapons. In reaction to that speech, senators john mccain and republican of arizona and Lindsey Graham, south carolina, put out a joint statement saying we also regret he did not lay out a clear path to test the seriousness of the russian and syrian proposal to transfer the assad regimes chemical weapons to international custody. The papers reporting this morning that senator mccain and Lindsey Graham and other senators working on some sort of a partisan Senate Resolution to address this latest diplomatic effort to come to some sort of peaceful solution. If you missed the president s speech, if you want to look up the intelligence documents that the president and other Security Officials have referenced, go to syria. Site cspan. Org it is all there on this page on our website cspan. Org syria. Arkansas, independent caller. Caller this is a very important topic. I would like to comment first about your new york caller a few moments ago about the policeman of the world. , we dontkansas expect the city of new york to provide for and pay for all by itself policeman for the entire country. Saying we had to be the policeman because doughnuts is is somewhat of a sideshow. Called all of my congresspeople when this first came up and told them, absolutely do not vote for unilateral attack on syria. It is not in our interest. I would not vote, nor will i vote for any senator or congressperson who does that. Continuingsort of resolution or resolution, to back up the socalled disarmament, the resolution should state that if the union Security Council and nato and the United Nation and the arab nations all support a military strike to enforce this, then america will be agreeable to that. However, we will not do it alone. That is my comment. Host a senior staff writer for the hill newspaper is joining us on the phone to talk a little bit about congress delaying this vote. Where does it stand . Is there still an effort to keep debating this in congress, particularly on the senate floor or is it completely on ice . Iced. It is completely on the president visited with the Senate Democratic caucus theerday as well as republican conference. He asked numbers on both sides of the aisle not to do anything that would undermine the threat of military force against syria. He asked for no vote on any resolution because the flipping was whipping with showing this had a good chance of losing in the senate if they came to a vote this week as was initially expected. It was headed for certain defeat in the house. So what president obama said is, you can go ahead and negotiate ofdiscuss the possibility her resolution that can be voted on sometime in the future, but put everything on hold for now and lawmakers were happy to abide by that. Here he read canceled a vote he harry reid canceled a vote he had expected this week. Host there were efforts behind the scenes, senators john mccain, Lindsey Graham, some democrats, senate democrats, working together to draft another bipartisan resolution once it became public there were these diplomatic maneuvering happening. Are they still talking and negotiating . Guest they are. Mccain hosted a meeting in his Office Yesterday afternoon with several democrats and republicans. And what this alternative resolution would do is it would authorize military strikes against syria if the International Diplomatic process doesnt work. So if syria does not agree to turn over its chemical weapons stockpiled to international monitors, and if the u. N. Does not go ahead with a resolution blaming the assad regime for gassing his own people, then obama would have the authority to launch military strikes. But it is not clear his most recent iteration would draw a lot more support than what previously seemed headed toward failure. The diplomatic process is forward, but it was still give the President Authority to wage the strikes, and that is what people were seeking last week when there was no diplomatic process to talk about. Host Alexander Bolton, what do you think happens next . What do these lawmakers that were reluctant to support a military strike, what are they looking for here . Guest what theyre looking for is clear and compelling argument from the president that attacking syria is in the Nations National security interest, and the president tried to make that argument yesterday when he spoke to the nation. He argued if there is no punishment meted out to assad, then other dictators will unmask you go weapons and that these weapons will ultimately could be used against u. S. Forces. So that was his National Security guard advisement. I dont know if it will prove all that compelling to lawmakers. I think when they were talking about the need to see a National Security threat, i think youre thinking of something bigger and broader. Changes allhink it the developments over the last couple of days in terms of Building Support for a strike resolution. Now, maybe as this drags on and maybe as people in congress see just how unwilling syria is to do anything on the diplomatic front, maybe they will be more inclined to support strikes. One of the chief to give its against voting for the war resolution is president obama had not exhausted all diplomatic options. Ther renewing efforts at u. N. , working with russia and france, the president will be in a better position to argue that he has indeed exhausted diplomatic options. That may pick him up a few votes. It is certainly not likely to push this to passage, use of force resolution passage in the house where the support im sorry, where the opposition is strongest. Host we had already seen the stories before they delayed the vote at this whole syria debate was going to push back the other congressionalthe agenda the budget, immigration, those sorts of discussions. Does that mean that everything now is in a Holding Pattern until they work this syria stuff out or do they start debating other items . Guest i think next week you will see harry reid moved to the Energy Efficiency bill. I think the syria talk is really on hold while the diplomatic process plays out. I dont think congress is going to be frozen until the russians and the french come up with something. Here he read has indicated he to the energyon efficiency bill i mentioned and they also have to deal with the potential government shutdown. They have to pass a stopgap spending measure. And because of the jewish holidays this month and because commerce was late coming back from the august recess, there just isnt a lot of time to get these things done before the fiscal year ends. I think we will see harry reid moved quickly ahead with the schedule. The House Republican leaders are ready planning a vote on the stopgap spending measure to keep the government in operation. I think the syria debate in congress has died down for now. Host all right, thank you, Alexander Bolton. Here is an email from one of our viewers richard in new york, republican caller. What are your thoughts . Caller my goodness. I think it would be about time if we did go in and bring that dictator over there and bring them to justice. Host you support military action, richard . Caller i certainly do. Wholeheartedly. Do it, do it, do it. It it done and over with and get jihadists. Hose a thug is a thug. How are you going to get away from that . Host what compelled you to agree with the president that a military strike is necessary . What was the proof or the evidence for you . Caller i think with him catching up on what bush really did, what he decided back during iran and iraq. It is got to be obvious. I mean, those people are not professionals. They dont have any skills. You know, come on. Thug and a thug is a they belong in the gutter. Host this from the associated rise about diplomatic conversations we are getting your thoughts this morning on what the president had to say last now he addressed the country about military action in syria. He also asked for a delay in congress on a vote while they work out negotiations on some sort of diplomatic resolution. In other news this morning, here is the Washington Times, a headline in all of the papers this morning, in his they violated rules on spying on americans. For three years the National Security agency violated rules set down by federal judges covering how the agency was allowed to use mass collected data of every telephone call made in the United States according to the more than 1800 pages of declassified documents the Obama Administration released yesterday. That in the papers this morning. As Alexander Bolton was talking about, commerce must deal with budget issues now that they are back from their august recess. The Washington Post says fight the budget bill, reporting House Republican leaders unveiled a plan tuesday to keep the government september 30, but they were scribbling to build support within their own ranks after conservatives savaged the proposal for failing to define the president obamas health initiative. The plan, as presented to the partys rankandfile in a closeddoor meeting tuesday morning, calls for the government to be funded at current levels through december 15, continuing a sharp budget cuts known as sequester. By the way, heritage action, which is now being run by former senator jim demint, republican and tea party advocate, came out yesterday against this plan from the House Republican leaders. Gop in New York Times, eyes hard line against health care law. And then also this morning, courtesy of the front page of the denver post, democrats ousted. It says Colorado State Senate President john morse gave his concession speech tuesday night. He lost in the recall election was in a district 11. The Senate President loses his seat and epic apples blurred by his support for tougher gun laws. That from the denver post this morning. And on another paper, remembering 9 11 from 12 years. Go reflections on a day of heartache. We have our cameras in new york at the 9 11 memorial there and we will be covering the observations of when the towers were struck, the World Trade Center towers were struck. There will be a moment of silence beginning at 8 46, been a time when the first tower was struck. We will pause for that moment here on washington journal. Events. Show you those go to cspan. Org if you want to continue watching the events in foryork and cspan3 coverage of Memorial Services at the pentagon, which began at 9 30 a. M. Eastern time. Mark in philadelphia, democratic caller. What do you think about the president s speech last night and this debate over syria . Caller my reaction is, im still not convinced. I still think we dont need to go in there. I want to say one thing, i watch russia today, which is a russian tv station. Way they showhe the jihadists, the socalled rebels, the maniac lunatic am al qaeda people, how they are christians attacking and see how theyre basically massacring christians, just like in iraq. I saw assads interview with charlie rose. I tell you what, he seems like a reasonable person. He is not some lunatic maniac like Saddam Hussein was. As far as one of your callers, we drop the a bomb a knock a sake in her russian to win the war. Regimee think the assad is saying theyre doing what they have to do to win this war . I dont think there is host all right, mark. Republican caller, youre next, ron. Caller thank you for taking my call. Should the United States leave well alone and not get. Nvolved with syria if they want to use chemical weapons, i feel sorry for the families who lost lives and Everything Else, but if the United States gets involved, then we are going to war. He can say all he wants, the president of the United States, no boots on the ground, but i guarantee you if we drop one bomb over there, then we will be going to war. Host have you seen the video that president obama referenced last night in his speech . At the end he said, i encourage all americans to watch the video the Senate Intelligence committee has released the video. It is graphic, so i warn you, but people pointing to that as compelling evidence that the United States needs to act. Caller i have seen the video. I feel sorry for what happened over there. But that is over there. That is not here. We have issues, we have more problems here in the United States. Fix the problems here. Dont go into another war. We dont need another debt on our kids and grandkids. Ix the problems here but dont go over there and start another war. Also note, one caller brought it up, today also marks the oneyear anniversary of the attack on a u. S. Consulate in benghazis libya. The papers this morning have some stories about that. Here is the Washington Post writing in the paper about the attacks one year ago, and also in the times a timeline of what has happened since the attack on the consulate in libya. Fox this morning, this on newss website, reporting early this morning, Security Officials say a powerful explosion has caused serious damage to Libyas Foreign Ministry building in the heart of the city benghazi. The blast also damaged the building next door. Several weresaid injured by the blast that blew out the windows in nearby buildings. The blast came exactly one year after Al Qaedalinked militants stormed u. S. Consulate in benghazi, killing u. S. Ambassador and three other americans. In both wednesdays bombing in lasters attack, took place on the anniversary of september 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. There is a story this morning from the miami herald that broke last night that from the miami herald this morning. Back to your calls. Washington, democratic caller. Caller hi. I would like to give a little with reagan. N bush number one promised hungers he would go ahead he would negotiate, but they wanted them to give him the power to go to war. When they voted for him to be able to go to war, within 48 hours, he was bombing the iraqis and it was the highway to death. We killed thousands with napalm while he troops were retreating. Obama is going to do the exact same thing. If Congress Gives him the ok to go to war, if negotiations didnt work him a i can guarantee you within 48 hours or maybe even less, we are going to be dropping bombs. The Carlyle Group wants it done. Host so International Papers for you this morning. R of times that written by the editor in chief of the arab times. In the latest on the diplomatic effort, assad submits to u. S. Threat. Obama continues to push for force authorization as putin to miss military action be taken off the table. Also the jerusalem post, syria says it agrees to give up chemical weapons, washington pauses plans for military strike. It says the syrian deal more bad than good for israel. That is on the front page of jerusalem post. Were getting close to marking at the beginning of the financial collapse in this country. A lot in the papers this morning about that and recently in the papers, alan blinder has a piece, five years later, financial lesson still not learned. He is writing this morning at the wall street journal. And also, crisis plus five is what they have to say, a big piece that talks about the dodd frank legislation and what has not been implemented, including the vocal rule. If youre interested in that, turn to the wall street journal this morning. In new york, the mayoral race, blasio wins the most those, but it will take a week to determine whether or not he had clear the 40 threshold to avoid a runoff. And that deputy mayor to Rudy Giuliani won the republican primary. He will carry his toughminded approach to Public Safety and city spending and to the general election on november 5. We go back to greg him a louisiana, independent caller. Caller good morning. I agree with president obamas decision to go through congress to try to get approval for the airstrikes against syria. Sometimes it is a Necessary Evil to give force where force is given. Me like we have enjoy the liberty of freedom for so long, that a lot of americans have blinders on that we really cant see what is really going on. It is kind of irritating to me obamae before president decided to have any kind of action done, everybody was saying, he should do something, he should do something. Now that he is doing something, the same people are saying he shouldnt do something. You know . It has been the same way for the whole time this man has been president. If i might say, it seems to me by the way, i am a veteran. It seems to me the congress, especially republicans, they should be impeached for real because they took a vote they would turn this country against all enemies, foreign and domestic. The way the republicans are treating this president , they are violating that oath. Host a lot of the papers today about how this diplomatic maneuvering all came together when it happened. The Washington Times saying the administration tried to take credit for what is going on with talks with russia. Lots of stories about how this all came to fruition. The New York Times has a story about what is happening in congress behind closed doors on this syria solution. A little bit from the piece this ning says contacted Lindsey Graham to try to put together new negotiating group when the diplomatic solution can to light. The approach quickly gained support in both parties. So a lot of skepticism still on capitol hill and it is mentioned in the papers as well. Mark udall from new mexico who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who was a no vote when the Committee Approved a resolution authorizing military action, he writes in todays usa today, the opposing view of the paper jason, toledo, ohio, republican caller. Our quick before we turn attention to two numbers of congress. By the way, that was tom udall, democrat from new mexico. Not aboutfeel this is democrats or republicans, but it is our duty as americans and human beings to defend what is going on in syria. If we dont, we open the door for everybody else to use chemical weapons. For instance, our own domestic use when women and children are massacred at the hands of a gunman, we are ready are quick to execute them and punish them to the fullest extent of the law, but when someone does it in another country, when you attack women and children, unprovoked andmassacre innocent people you dont retaliate, you are giving everybody else the ammunition to do the same thing without repercussion. Talking will continue about syria with two members of congress. Up next, freshman republican mark meadows from North Carolina will join us and then later we will ask veteran lawmaker syriaat of arizona about as well as the washington journal continues on as wednesday, september 11, 2013. 12 years ago the 2001 terrorist attack happened in new york and washington today, they are observing the anniversary with moments of silence when the twin towers were struck with the family starting to gather in that area and observers as well. We will bring you coverage on our networks and cspan. Org. First, we will be right back with two members of congress and this debate on syria. It was different than earlier president ial helms because it wasnt ever a commercial venture. It did not try to be self sufficient. What edith wanted from sagamore hill was basically to offset the expense of living there. , grains theye hay could feed their horses and reduce the cost of having horses. Garden asave a lovely that produced everything from corn to strawberries. They had an arbor that had eight different kinds of grapes, strawberry and blueberry fields, but the idea was to both feed the family and staff that live on site, but also to reduce the cost of maintaining a property like this. Watch our program on Edith Roosevelt on cspan. Org firstladies were see it on saturday at 7 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. We continue our series live next monday as we look at first lady helen taft. I member so will the day that it happened because my father was a minister and so we had gone up to the church. Was the choirmaster, so we had gone up to the church to get ready for the service. All of the sudden, there was this loud thud. Off. Ew a bomb had gone you just do that in birmingham in those days. While, mrs. Tle Florence Rice came in. She was my fathers cousin by marriage. She said, 16th Street Church had been bombed. A little while later, we knew the names of the little girls who had been killed. Denise went there, who is one of those little girls, had been a family friend, kindergarten friend. There is a victor in the book of my father giving her graduation diplomacy from kindergarten. It was a very sad and in many ways terrifying day for our community. From birmingham, alabama, 50th Anniversary Commemoration of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing live sunday at 11 00 a. M. Eastern and throughout the day on American History tv on cspan3. Washington journal continues. Host on this wednesday, september 11, 20 13, we are marking 12 years ago when terrorists attacked this country on september 11, 2001. You can see on your screen a memorial in new york city were families and observers are starting to gather. There will be moments of silence and speeches and names read today in new york, and are also be moments of silence here in washington with the president at the white house, the pentagon, and in pennsylvania as well. Look for coverage on cspan. Org. Now let me turn our attention back to syria. From North Carolina, freshman lawmaker, joins us. The speech from the president last night, what stuck out to u that go guest i thought it was a good speech. I think he finished very strong. Regardless of where so many are of us are in terms of our decision on syria and what we think is best and with the people back home are saying, i think we are united in one thing and that is that we want to make sure that we do what is right for our allies and that we are a strong supporter that people can look at the United States of america and no you mean what we say. I think that is critical. I think the different strategies are perhaps what is catching the headlines right now. You say the United States means what it says, does that mean you could support some sort of military strike in syria . Guest obviously, right now, im looking at a no vote on this particular thing, just because of National Security interest is what is imperative to me. I was meeting with folks while going to the White House Briefing today on the subject, and it really gets wen, for me, to make sure have a National Security interest but also our allies know they can depend on us. That being israel. We have to be unflinchingly in support of israel. Host what will you be asking at the White House Briefing and who will be briefing you . Guest i think a number of folks will be there. My understanding is the Vice President will be in the situation room as well. As we start to look at this, for me, it is really the scope of what we have. Has below, i ran, how will that play into this in terms of what we are going to do . So much of what we have tried to do right now is that we will have a very limited scope, truly, in trying to sell it to the American People. My concern is are there going to be unintended consequences of a military strike that perhaps we are not prepared or wont be addressing . Host this is the wall street journal editorial on tuesday of this week they said the president hasnt made a case for intervention yet, but they do go on to say or make their own case writing guest without a doubt those are not in the u. S. Interest. The problem is, when you intervene, you have to have some kind of an outcome that you look at. At least what has been put forth today, it will not starkly impact any of those things. It says some 500,000 refugees in jordan is probably close to 750,000. We have another 750,000 to 800,000 in turkey, more in lebanon. What we see are the jihadists and extreme elements coming into syria to exacerbate the fight there. Even though the article talks about carrying it beyond that, it is really more than about a civil war with people that, quite frankly, it has been a terrible story for well over two years. We are at 100,000 people that have died and now because of and 1400weapons people, you know, we have been call to action, so to speak, even though chemical weapons have been used, according to john kerry, 11 times previously. Host what confidence do you have there is a diplomatic solution and reach . Guest there has to be a threat of military intervention. Obviously, the president has made a case for that. I am hopeful that we can do it. I am not very trusting in that situation. Any really get down to it, the your previouse of callers were talking about the un Security Council. Well, they could have a cardiac did on a could have already acted on the un Security Council, and here we are today, having to hopefully get russia to come in and intervene. I am hopeful they can do it. Host when you say there has to be the threat of military intervention, your self, why dont you back that up with a yes vote to strengthen that method message . Guest so much of what we have right now is the end outcome. What is the National Security interest in what are we going to do . And in terms of trying to sell it to the American People is so isited in scope that it really not a military objective. It becomes more of a political objective. When you take the decisions out of the hands of so many in our military that no strategically what to do, it is a dangerous position that i think we are going down. Host let me get our viewers involved. Ron, democratic caller. Caller i have a question. Why is it that when obama asks to do a limited strike on syria, all of a sudden he becomes the issue of political . As to not give him the right to go over and at least give him the right to at least do something to show them people that chemical weapons is not something they should be doing. I just dont understand why republicans and some of them democrats are playing with peoples lives that have nothing to do with this guy wanting to kill his own people. I just dont understand that. Guest thank you for your question. Truly, i dont see this as a political battle as much as it is one we want to hear from the voice of the American People, people like you that truly are calling in my office. Some over 3000 people have called my office. This is something that both democrats and republicans have really struggled with. Securityeir National Interest and two, how do we make sure we stand with our allies and make sure they know they can count on us . The third part is, how do you support our president in a critical time were he is having to make some difficult decisions . I applaud him. I was one of the ones that sent a letter that asked him to bring this before congress. I want to truly say thank you for him listening to the people and bringing it to congress. I think we have had a better debate and hopefully, a lot more information that has come out because of it. I appreciate your call. Host joe, kentucky, republican caller. Caller good morning. My question is pretty much the last caller hit it on the head. Assadt understand why gassed his own people. What did he gain from it . Nobody is answering that question. Joe him and when you look at the desperate times right now in syria, i think using this gas, as i understand, on some of his own people, and i do believe he is the one responsible. I know there are a number of reports out there that would say otherwise. I do believe he was the one responsible. Really, it gets into warfare when youre trying to make sure you are fighting for position in your life. Hes using a weapon that, quite frankly, has not been only frowned upon but has been truly outlawed from an international standpoint. On his owneally people, but they were in an opposition area. It was an area that truly he did not have control over. So it was not he was not trying to gas his own people for the sake of killing his own people, but trying to gain control. Right question. Host barbara emails these questions or comments guest we certainly want a diplomatic well, we certainly wa diplomatic solution. Anytime you can keep the men and women out of harms way, were should be our last approach. At the same time, when you are running up against diplomatic roadblocks, it becomes very troubling. You have to make sure you stand strong and that is what we are attempting to do in congress and the president is as well. Host the Washington Post editorial says stumbling toward a solution, that disarmament should be on the table alongside the threat of military action. Joe writes in why is america alone asked to with these issues issues . Guest it has fallen on us because we are a world leader. When we look at human rights, we have been a leader. We are a compassionate people. When it gets down to that compassion, it is about trying to do what is morally right. That is the decision we have. We see these videos that are see disturbing yet we family members that might be asked to go and there are two elements. That is why russia has to step up. If they want to be a world power, a need to show it right now. And theout the videos struggle with members of congress and americans thinking about this issue in syria, listen to what the president had to say last night. This is how he ended his each. [video clip] right, ifriends on the am asking you to reconcile your commitment to americas military might with a failure to act when a cause is so just. To my friends on the left, im asking you to reconcile your life of freedom for all people with those images of children writing in pain and going still on hospital room force. Sometimes resolutions and statements of condemnation are simply not enough. Indeed, i would be asking every member of congress and those of you watching at home tonight to view the videos of the attack and then ask what kind of world we live in the United States of america sees a dictator brazenly violate International Law with poison gas and we choose to look the other way . Guest i am not one that is classified as being on the left, but his appeal to those on the left is what touched me as well as we see those videos. They are heartbreaking. As a dad, you cannot look at se and see your children and not see your children as a victim. At the same time, you have to balance that. Where is our role . If we we get involved have men and women that would go into harms way . Ground,o boots on the but if we have a plane that goes down, we would send people into rescue them. That is what we do as americans. It might not be a military campaign, but we have to be prepared. Host the Senate Intelligence committee released the videos that people may or may not have seen. We have shown a little on cspan and we can show more. They are graphic and difficult to watch. What do you think about the release of those videos . Guest it is about making the case to the American People. Again, we are a compassionate people. When you see that, it could change Public Opinion. In auld probably be better classified situation. When you put it across the airwaves, is hard it is hard. That is one of the problems with war. When you get it on your television, in your living room on a daily basis, i think that is one of the reasons why there is an overwhelming the to go to war. To war. Host this tweet obama offered no proof on who used the chemical weapons with many contrary reports saying rebels use them, including a u. N. Inspector. Inspector was. Not tasked to do that. When they come back, they will not say who was responsible for this. They will say chemical weapons were used. That report would be difficult there. I do not believe they have the ability to look at that. I would not agree with that statement. Again, not sharing anything that ive seen in classified briefings, i do believe this regime was responsible for that and have a high degree of confidence that is the case. Host james. California. Independent. Caller good morning. Guest good morning. Caller i have been listening to lot of washington journal lately to hear the background on this story in particular and i find it difficult to get any sense of the real history when i hear media and political figures talk about it. A reade to read, and quite a bit, to understand the history. This is part of a strategy that wesley clark talked about in 2007 when he was brought in to an impromptu meeting with the general on the joint chiefs and he said general clark, we have plans to invade seven countries over the next several years and rattled off a list of them and iraq, syria, lebanon, and the last is air and. This is a neocon plan mostly from the outside. It has been reported almost everywhere. This is 1 billion of u. S. Money. Agents saudi and qatar with a plan to flood syria with al qaeda. Host ok. Mark meadows . Guest i do not see it as a systemic plan. I think our inaction in syria has led us to this point. It is troubling when we start to see that. That is we have to make sure our Foreign Policy is one where our allies and our enemies can count on what we say and what we mean. Iran and their potential for Nuclear Capabilities is not something we can accept. That is a double red line for me. Involvement in the region has been significant, probably more so than iran. That is something that does not get reported. We need to make sure we stand strong with regard to those elements. This is not just syria. It is hezbollah. It is a ran. Iran. Our policy toward it is our policy toward north korea. T what would need to would make you say yes, we need to do military strikes . Guest a National Security threat, and their reports talking about that, and the allies and our region if that threat he comes significant. Tha a my concerns is limited strike has the potential to make it worse for turkey, israel, all of those. That is something that i have been weighing heavily, making sure that anything that goes beyond a civil war is something we cannot stand. Host congressman mark meadows, republican in North Carolina, said some of Foreign Affairs committee and is a freshman lawmaker representing the 11th district. This potentially could be your first war vote. How does that factor into your Decision Making . Atst anytime we look putting men and women in harms way, it can not be a political decision. I heard a compelling story about grandparents who had lost a grandson in afghanistan, and he changed me forever, the way i would look at this. It makes you have to evaluate what is the best approach, what is the most good, and when you make those decisions it is truly things that keep me awake at night. Host rob. Memphis, tennessee. Caller the independent before me hit on what i wanted to talk about. He talked about the country of qatar. Russia has a monopoly on natural gas. Qatar has the second largest supplier in the world. They have an agreement with saudi arabia, lebanon and turkey to run a pipeline and they would have to go through syria. Qatar has put 3. 3 billion behind the rebels to fight syria because they want to put saudi arabia in power that. To me, it is a battle between the United States and russia over the money from sending natural gas to europe. I want to know what you thought about that. Thank you. I have read those reports. The strategic interest for undeniable, not only from perhaps a natural gas, but from a military standpoint, the excess on the Mediterranean Sea that is undeniable. Strategically, for the United States, it really is not something that syria has a strategic importance for us as much. There are other areas in the region that were a lot more strategic, and quite frankly, when you look at egypt and the that probably has more of a strategic position for us in the night states. Without a doubt in the United States. Without a doubt, russia has a desire there. When we start to look at the influence, it is coming from iran, hezbollah, and russia. Those are the three main components. Host the wall street journal has a story this morning is well side. Hat really, the credibility of the u. N. Is on the line right here. When you start to see if the Member States are going to address International Norms this is truly a international norm. That credibility is being called into question. I do not look at a lot of u. N. Solutions as being the answer, but in terms of intervening for International Norms, the un Security Council is a critical place and obviously russia has the veto power in that. They will be a key component. They can keep a military strike from happening. I need to step up and do that. Host boring file clerk on twitter is e and the one that comes out looking like the hero in this case David Letterman or putin the one that comes out looking like the euro . Is the one who comes out looking like the hero . Guest he can. The balance. Is in if i had to measure and bet on whether russia actually steps up, i am not optimistic. The last optimistic in 24 hours, and i have been in the last 24 days. Host the previous caller mentioned global oil supply. Here is a headline in the wall street journal. Brad. Columbia, tennessee. Democratic caller. Caller good morning. Guest good morning. Caller thank you, representative meadows, for your support in this crisis. I believe this strategy is really it, absolutely brilliant, absolutely really and. I have brilliant. I have seen a number of president s deal with conflict in the middle east and otherwise. You have to have the carrot and the stick. You have to have force on the table to bring someone to a diplomatic solution. This is a strategy that i do not understand why republicans are not applauding. It is brilliant. The reason we are having so much difficulty right now is because we are dealing with Foreign Policy in the public airwaves. This is unprecedented. This is a new age where everyone knows what someone is doing two minutes after they say it. A president cannot conduct Foreign Policy over the airwaves of the United States of america. You cannot do it. I do not feel congress is making proper decisions in doing this. They are looking at phone calls from the tea party, every constituency, and we know that obama has a number of issues on the table that we have problems with obamacare and so on. Foreign policy should be in the president s hands and the president hands alone. Host lets take that point. Mark meadows. Guest he certainly has some power as the commanderinchief and i would not disagree from a constitutional standpoint. This might be perhaps a little bit different in that. I do want to stress this is not the republicans being obstructionist because if you 100 of the democrats, there are certainly enough republicans that would authorize a military strike. This is really going against across party lines. The decision is being mapped out on Television Hour by hour, minute by minute, but Foreign Policy is very different. To do is set forth a Foreign Policy that our enemies and allies can depend upon. This is what we mean. We mean it if this happens. We will strike. That needs to be definitive. We have set a deadline before. We have had 11 chemical strikes within syria dating back to august, 2012, yet nothing was done. If it is a change in Foreign Policy, it is not debated out as much. Host paul. Caller. Epublican caller thank you for taking my call. I wanted to make some comments concerning the evidence of the gas attack and whether the International Community and the videos are really the truth of what is happening. Most people have a computer that people can get on and find things out and you will find that the script they are using, like if you go back to george h w bush, and the incubator babies, people can find this stuff on the computer. It was all used from a Public Relations company. She was the kuwaiti ambassadors daughter. People are finding the truth. You can go find out about World Trade Center seven. The thing that amazes me is why the representatives cannot do the same thing. Host congressman . Guest in our office we are getting briefings on a daily basis and doing research and i have seen everything from the internet that has suggested one thing. I have probably had four or five emails this morning from people giving me additional information. I think a number of members of congress are truly trying to get her their hands around what is truth and what is a false narrative out there. I cant speak for myself and a i can of you, i and speak for myself and a member of you. I went to a briefing with secretary of state john kerry and chuck hagel, trying to get a grasp of what the reality is, and is the crtc some of those things come and as we start to see some of those things, you need to understand that you can get different headlines in the paper. All that we read needs to go through a filter to make sure what we see is actually the facts on the ground. Host from twitter how will a chemical weaponfree middle east affect the region. I do not see israel jumping up and down with joy yet. Guest chemical weapons need to not be used, not only in syria, but throughout, and we know probably, one of the largest stockpiles of chemical weapons in the world, but they are not the only country. When we start to look at this, can you imagine these chemical weapons in the hands of hezbollah, in lebanon, and coming across into israel . We need, as an International Community, to make sure these weapons of mass destruction are not available for use when they get in the hands of extremists, and that is hopefully what this diplomatic solution is about. Host many newspapers have stories about how difficult it is to dismantle arsenals as big as syrias chemical weapons. People think we can strike the chemical weapons and get rid of them. You can not do that. That is not even part of the military objective at this point. It would take people on the ground to make sure that they get rid of those. It might not necessarily be our boots on the ground. It could be other groups that would do that. It is not an easy task. As we start to look at that, any diplomatic solution would have to carry a followup on addressing that. Piece,usa today as this writing developed states has its ability to destroy chemical weapons. The agency is working in libya what they did in the be a concern as the model for syria. Guest he needs to be. The lessons of libya should also give us real caution. We take out a leader in libya and create a country that, quite frankly, today, we are looking at what happened one year ago in benghazi because of a void that was there. Even though we were talking about making progress, we had libya andwere leaving showing up in other places. Again, that becomes part of your overall plan. Neithern twitter side of the syrian fight is something we should support. They do not support our humanitarian values. Guest that becomes very difficult, and it is a great point. It is a very difficult decision on who you are supporting, what elements you are supporting. I have met with some of the Syrian Opposition, the ambassador for the Syrian Opposition this week, trying to figure out who is there. There are many extreme elements there. There are some looking to replace assad, and some in the assad regime that say it is better if it stays. All of those narratives are playing in and it is a complicated issue that makes it difficult to make a wise decision. Host sherry in arlington, virginia. Good morning. I am surprised on the lack of information on nerve gas. I am a journalist. When the show started earlier i took a quick second to Search Online the number of children that die a day domestically and globally and there are 19 children every minute dying daily globally, so when you break the numbers down, we get a closer, more realistic appreciation of what 400 people is in the scope of things. His is simple. It was a nerve agent discovered in world war ii brought back to britain. It was developedn brain, and spots to america and as it stands, the stockpiles america was supposed to have gotten rid of over a decade ago are still here. Where everybody is now talking an Information Age over the media, absolutely it is an Information Age, morning more correctly, it is a misInformation Age. Legislatorsed that are not having teams go out and do research on their own rather than relying on what has been passed around in briefings. Ive been around congress in a deck four a decade. The history of nerve gas started with the n agent, the v agent and tomorrow will be the z agent. It all starts with a patent. These things did not pop out of the forest one day. Legislated and approved these chemicals being developed. The x started as a fertilizer. Host who do you write for . G caller i am independent. I write on my own. Plus word pieces. Guest if you have some information, feel free to send it to my office. I read volumes of things from a variety of perspectives. Exception,e one regardless of the chemical weapons and who may have them or who may not have them, the United States is not using chemical weapons on its own people, so that is really what sets this apart, the potential use, not only on your own people, but allies of ours in the region. I think it is the potential of the regime and a leader that has such a disregard for that humanity that we are having to address right now. I would be more than happy to read some of the things i do not know if i want a 3000 word brief, but if you can do an executive summary i can research, i would be glad to do that. Host chuck. Herndon, virginia. Caller you do not have to wait on the reporter. Simply go online and find a plethora of information that underscores what she just said. He conveniently overlooked a previous caller who talked about a former fourstar general and president ial candidate general wesley clark going on record on multiple occasions talking about a highlevel briefing he received indicating that the u. S. Was going to take out seven countries in five years, and he conveniently blew that caller off and never responded. This is a former fourstar general. Host where did you read that information . Caller i can email you the link. It is a video of general clark on at least two different occasions saying he visited the that we and he was told are going to take out seven countries, and he mentioned the seven countries, and by the way we have taken out two of them, and iraq and libya. Somalia,one of them, lebanon he rattled them off. Host chuck, we will have the congressman respond. Guest i did not mean to pass over it. What i said is i am not aware of any systemic plan that would address that, and to take that promise, what we are saying is because i believe the previous caller talked about that being in 2007 to take that is to assume the same plan under president bush is now that,president obama and somehow, something wesley clark has mentioned transcends two elected president. I find that difficult. Is it easy to say we have these four countries we have to deal with and whether it is george the or president obama in white house, having to address it, those are there. You have a ran, north korea, syria, lebanon. You have a number of other host of countries you may have to them out, but taking in a systemic plan is not one that transcends both Political Parties and president s from two different parties over the years. Your do you agree with colleague buck mckeon when he writes in the wall street on syriayesterday a no is military cuts are not . Estored you would like to see that sequester done away with an exchange for an agreement to strike syria. Guest i think the chairman has been vocal in the need to restore funds. He is intimately involved in that on a regular basis. I think there are a number of us that would like to see more managed reductions sequestration, the way that it went, was not something many of us agreed was the best way to implement those changes. With regards to serious specifically, we have asked those questions, and any intervention would be taken out of the operating budget right now. Wouldnt put a further strain on our military . Would it put a further strain on our military . That is what he is addressing right now. They would operate at Different Levels of funding. Ive had discussions on that as recent as yesterday and yesterday. Host you would be a no vote if sequestration stays in place . Guest right now, on a syrian strike, what i have been told is we could strike in syria i am a no vote right now but regardless of the funding, or we are saying is the funding would be taken out of normal operations for the military and they said they could find a way to do that. Secretary chuck hagel said that in the hearing i was in. Host speaking of the budget, canine danger tweets will you go to raise the debt ceiling . Guest what we are looking at, from the debt ceiling point of view, those negotiations are taking place right now and it has to do with a path to balance over the next 10 years where we can see the balancing. For me, it is critical that we just do not continue to raise the debt ceiling without a real plan. On number of those negotiations are taking on those discussions. It is too early to tell. Certainly, we are having those discussions. Host on the continuing resolution, the bill to keep the government running, your leadership yesterday said we will tie a bow to defund tie a vote to defund obamacare to a vote for the continuing resolution. The you agree with the leadership . Guest most republicans are in agreement on one thing, that we want to find the best way to make sure that this law that is not ready for prime time does not get implemented started starting october 1 and going 21st ect january, 2014. We might differ on strategy, and majoritylution has the support. Host including yourself . Guest i think we need something with a little more teeth. This law is not ready for prime time. It is not flat fair the way we are about to implement it to give businesses a break, yet not families, that is not fair. Foundationeritage put out the statement in response to what House Speaker john boehner and eric cantor had to say. They call it a gimmick. There are a lot of people that want us to have a fight with leadership versus rankand file versus conservatives, versus this i think the fight is for the American People. Do we have a fight where the American People are overwhelmingly calling my office, saying their premiums are going up, people who have been cut back to parttime jobs. I have one employer who is not hired one permanent person in the last six months. In 29re hiring everyone hours, 27 hours, 26 hours at how can we take the unintended hours. It gets back to how we can take the unintended consequences and making sure that it is changed and it works. Host wisconsin. Republican caller. Bob. Caller thank you very much. I am confused about obamas speech. Ground,no boots on the however there is talk he would put advisers i am a vietnam era veteran. Look at looks what happened when we put boots on the ground in vietnam. It became a quagmire. We will be sucked in by the Muslim Brotherhood, the television and all of them to drain our sources. Syria can hit american soil. It will kill American People. Assad, did you, or did you not with real proof because i heard on foxs news a young man caught by rebel forces saw Muslim Brotherhood using Chemical Warfare. Who do we say are the good guys . How do you tell a bad muslim from a good muslim . One, thank you for your service to our country. You know firsthand what it is like to serve our country and we do not say thank you to our men and women that served enough. Thank you for your service. The second part of that is it is very problematic to see who we support, how we go about that making sure what we do does not have unintended consequences. When we see that, trying to make sure that we support those that is really why the debate has been difficult. ,here are many in the region muslim faith, moderate in their decisions and opinions. It is the extreme groups that we need to make sure we address, so when you start looking at a regime, it is very difficult for. S to see who we get behind we have history to show us that we need to be cautious in this decision. Host congress and mark meadows, thank you for talking to our viewers. Guest thank you for having me on. Host we will continue this conversation, talking with Raul Grijalva of arizona. And we will take a pause and focus on our weekly magazine series, with a special commemorative edition of the atlantic, marking the 50th anniversary of jfks assassination in november. Today marks the 12th anniversary of september 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Our cameras are outside of the white house this morning as crowds have gathered to observe. Therell be a moment of silence at 8 46 a. M. , when the first tower was hit on 9 11. The president , the Vice President , the first lady and dr. Jill biden will observe that moment of silence. Coverage will continue at the pentagon or there will be a Memorial Service and the president is participating in a Service Project to mark the 9 11 anniversary. With ourright back conversation on syria after this news update from cspan radio. There is an update on the situation in syria from the associated press, reporting that tends association tab begun on a that tends negotiations have begun. A french official said today. The plan for syria to relinquish chemical weapons initiated by russia appears to ease the crisis over looming western strikes over Bashar Alassads regime, but only would open up a new potential impasse as moscow rejected u. S. And french demands for a binding resolution with u. N. Resolution with binding consequences. South korea and north korea have agreed to joint operations. Iny shut down operations april. Vows to pusheated ahead with Nuclear Weapons and missile work. A car bomb has exploded near Libyas Foreign Ministry. It targeted a building that once housed the u. S. Consulate former dictator mohammed Moammar Gadhafi overthrew in 1969. Is tweeting that secretary of state john kerry has released an email in which he remembers the lost lives of christopher stevens, sean smith, glen doherty and tyrone woods. Those are some of the latest headlines on cspan radio. I can remember so well the day that it happened because my father was a minister and we had gone up to the church. My mrmasr. We had gone up to the church to get ready for service. All of a sn is and we knew that a bomb had gone off. He knew that in birmingham in those days. Within a little while, this is florence misses florence and saidrice came in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing been on had been bombed. Denise mcnair, one of those , was a family friend. There is a picture of my father giving her her graduation diploma from kindergarten. It was sad and terrifying. Isfrom birmingham, alabama, a 50th anniversary celebration of the commemoration of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. Ve throughout the day on American History tv on cspan three. We bring Public Affairs from washington directly to you, putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, readings and conferences, and nothing you gaveltogavel coverage of the u. S. House. We are cspan, created by the cable tv industry 34 years ago and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. Now, you can watch us in hd. Washington journal continues. Conversation about the situation in syria continues with congressman Raul Grijalva, democrat of arizona and cochair of the progressive caucus in the house. Your thoughts on the president s speech last night . Thought it was necessary and appropriate. I going back, by pulling back, he is looking for a negotiated settlement to the civil war. I think those options are open now. Many of us believe that relying solely on a military option was both, in terms of Foreign Affairs, a mistake, and in terms of the countrys will to do that, a huge mistake. Host the walls the wall street journal goes well journal disagrees guest the fact that the United States is involved, the fact that russia, the biggest enabler syria, old cyrus understand it is in the best interest for disarmament. From the initial conversations the president had about a limited strike and military action, we need to let diplomacy run its course. I think we have history to look at. Every preemption, every unilateral action in that region by our country has only deepened the quagmire that we have their. Assad that is opposed to military action. What he did was criminal. It was an atrocity and he needs to be punished. For us to continue as a nation to be the sole intervener militarily in that region is not the solution, and while people may differ on the options that is before us now, which initiated diplomacy by russia, it is a step i think the president is wise to pursue. Host we will pick up on that point that you just made, but first we want to go to the white house this morning where in washington and new york they are marking the 12th anniversary of the september 11, 2001 attacks. We are expecting the president momentarily along with the Vice President , the first lady and dr. Jill biden to emerge for that moment of silence. [no audio] tolls] host president obama, first Lady Michelle obama, Vice President joe biden, dr. Jill biden, and white house staff observing a moment of silence at 8 46 a. M. Marking the terrorist attack of september 11, 2001, when the first tower was hit in new york. That city is also observing that ativersary from 12 years ago the sight of the memorial with families and crowds gathering. They will be reading the names of the victims from the 2001 terrorist attacks. We will have coverage of that as well if you go to our website, cspan. Org, and well be covering the pentagon memorial that will take place this. Orning the president is expected to attend the memorial as well and this afternoon the president will take part in a Service Object to mark the anniversary. Grijalva,with raul commerce men of arizona, a sku or thought, 12 years later congressman of arizona, 12 years later, lets get your thoughts. That attack, in many ways, change this country fundamentally. It is changed the way americans look at the world. You can see it the security, the readiness this country goes through, the surveillance debate we continue to have. Through it all, the resilience and the persistence of the American People has also shown through. I was running, i think, for the first time, and there was a forum the day after, and nobody understood the implications. One of the first questions was should we go to war, and one of the first responses i had was against who . Do we need to punish those that did this . Absolutely. There is a nation state. Which one is this . I mentioned that, because it started the snowball with iraq, afghanistan, and this whole debate about syria that memory still lingers. That history is still with us. Much of the resistance the president received on this issue, and it was overwhelming opposition, was based on hit history. Yes, a little wariness and tired people looking for outcomes. When we done with this . It is a difficult answer to question but a legitimate question. Plot of theid you a present for asking congress to delay the vote on a military strike let the diplomacy maneuvering run its course. How long is that courts in your mind . How long is that course in your mind . Guest i do not know. There are benchmarks. If there is significant, verifiable progress going on in the disarming and the distraction of those weapons with oversight by the United Nations, i think you set benchmarks and you keep moving along. It is an opportunity that i think we can engage in a broader, unified front as opposed to a unilateral front. Host as it makes its way through negotiations and potentially through the United Nations and into some sort of resolution, if russia ultimately blocks whatever is put forth to the United Nations, then what . It is taking it a step too far now. They became willing partners in disarmament. For them to go back to being enablers of assad without that portion, it is not only the opinion of the world now. We have brought in the United Nations. I think had taken a step too far to back away. That is my sense of it. This is something that we were so close to engaging in another military action in the region that everybody wanted to step away from it. There is a selfinterest for russia, for china. That is part of diplomacy. There is a great selfinterest for the United States, and that is to uphold the convention against biological and chemical weapons, but also to be seen as a stabilizing force in the region rather than a military interventionist and our visitation procedures on the quest proceeds us on that question. Blocks theussia United Nations, is that enough for you as a progressive democrat to say you have exhausted the options and i would vote yes. Guest i could not cross that line. I think military intervention, for me, is not a last resort, it is a resort we should not take. Host it is not on the table. Guest it has not been on the table since the beginning, and it should not be on the table. I feel good that we are in this pause, for lack of a better word. It is our point of view that this can be done with forceful diplomacy. We would like to see an opportunity for that it can. By having the option of military action lingering out there, i think it takes away from the diplomacy. Host you are the cochair of the progressive caucus. You believe the majority of the progressive caucus agrees with actiont the military should not be on the table . Majoritythink the does, but like any caucus, we have differences, just like many of our colleagues. This is an issue on a political spectrum that has opposition from from Tea Party Republicans to a majority of us in the caucus, to centrists and moderates as well. I think there might be value issues attached, but Public Opinion, anybody that was home on this break and spent the last two weeks at home as this issue began to grow, and nothing else, responding to that Public Opinion is motivatamt of my col. I believe a resolution that was on the table up until yesterday would have failed in the house. Host do youresint ever has the house for military action . Yout the last question asked me, if Everything Else fails, then what, if we get to that scenario, it could be a different mixture. Rachele are talking to grijalva, cochair of the progressive caucus, serving six terms in the house of representatives. If you have a question or comment in new mexico. T independent caller. Caller i. Hi i worked in the middle east and im familiar with nuclear, biological and Chemical Warfare. I think a lot of the films that we saw did you present the nerve agent gas that they say caused the problem, the deaths of the children. My work in the middle east has taught me something. We can not think of the area. We cannot think of it in terms of the way we think of it, but in terms of the way people in the middle east think of the situation, and right now, and i will be honest with you, two things come to mind. , what they say in the middle east, the enemy of my enemy is my friend or my ally. Unfortunately, in the situation the present secretary of state misrepresented the two andr forces are al qaeda they have come over from iran and iraqi into syria. Those are the controlling factors of the rebels. So, basically, using their own way of thinking, the enemy of our enemy is our enemy. Either way we go, spending americanwealth or lives, we will end up with the same situation we have in libya. Host david. I will leave it there. Congressman . Guest in terms of what happened to the 1500 folks, the 400, 500 children, i do not doubt the ry ority of secretary ker the president at all. I do not minimize it. I have not done a lot of second guessing. It is a fact. That fact drove the decision to have military action. That same fact has consequences to it. Like i said, understanding that that occurred, the violation of international treating treaty, is more reason why you have the to international court. I am glad there is International Pressure building on that because it is an atrocity. With regards to the opposition, for lack of a better word, to the syrian free army, it is a ourd bag, and i think involvement in supporting the opposition of assad has to be a , so well done support basis that we do not end up in a situation that the very people that we supported, as we have done in other parts of the middle east and afghanistan in we end up fighting them after we have armed and trained them. Lesson another historic that we need to be particularly conscious of as we assist the opposition. Host matt smith tweets in we need a much there are line in the sand. Any government that massacre civilians will be subject to u. N. , not u. S. Intervention. Daniel. Caller i was wondering, do we have an extensive plan to get out of to go in and get out of syria . A military strike, where does it end . Congressman, had he asked those questions . Caucusthe aggressive sent about four pages of questions to the white house. The outcome, the exit strategy, how long, what is the intensity of this . Everything from cost, both politically and diplomatically, to fiscal costs. We asked all of those questions precisely to know what the endgame is. I think there is a unified criticism of the discussion the administration has had on this issue. Yes, there needs to be a punitive there point is there needs to be a punitive attack on syria and the Assad Government so they will stop utilizing these, call and biological weapons. That, what is the endgame . What is the endgame for the United States, our military, and quite frankly, for the stability of that region . And there is no answer. On twitter, a viewer wants to know with worldwide discussion will assad be deterred from further use of chemical weapons . Guest i think senator manchin said something yesterday, all eyes are on him and his government, it teeters in power right now. Think if there is a deterrent to a side to use these in the , that russiasad recognizes it as an enabler and this is an indefensible position assad has taken. Now a more unified front against the area and those weapons, i think that is a very effective deterrent. Host how many briefings are you attended question of guest one. Host what have you learned . , like i said, the veracity of what happened i do not question. I think that is what i took away from it. Oft happens next kinds questions, and what other options kind of questions that many of us have, the point was to promote an option which was a military strike, limited. Some of us had other options that we wanted fully explored. Host will you attend more briefings . Are their plans . Guest if we go into this if they are offered, absolutely. On that routested have the responsibility to be informed and active on the process. Host we will hear from a republican. Chuck from cincinnati. Facing anare unprecedented debt ceiling we have never seen before. Looking at the Syrian Rebels that we will be effectively supporting to overthrow assad. A lot of these rebels are al qaeda or Al Qaeda Affiliated and we are arming and supporting them. Almost a double edged blade. We dont have a clear enemy in this conflict. Why do we have to play the world police . Why is it our duty to spend american money and lives to play world police in a conflict that has nothing to do with us, that has nothing to do with any of our interests at home . Would generally agree with you on the premise of the point you are making. As the leader of the world of nations am i think we have an appropriate role to play on issues of genocide, issues of starvation, human rights violations. If we can be a compass, morally ight some of r the wrongs, i think our diplomatic and humanitarian intervention and those issues have to be a constant. If we have learned anything from oursyrian issue is that partnering with the United Nations in a more fundamental way, i think, is the route for the future. With you on one point. I think we have some domestic issues in front of us. We have the debt ceiling vote coming up. We have the continuing resolution on the budget. Attempt we have another at the grand bargain. Sequestration hits again. On march 10, additional cuts will go into place. That ise domestic a huge domestic issue. And some in something that should not be forgotten, a huge domestic issue, is what progress is going to happen with regards to the immigration reform. Those two domestic issues continued to be a priority. And this break him of this pause, perhaps, will allow this break, this pause, will allow congress to refocus on those issues on top of us. Host on those domestic issues, the Washington Times right to this this morning. Guest i really dont believe that. I dont believe that the rejection that would have occurred by the house of representatives of the syrian resolution to unilaterally bomb and have that attack would destroy the ability to move forward. Contention at the house of representatives is with immigration and the budget the point of contention is with the Republican Leadership in the house on both of those issues. And the roadblock and the barrier to move forward on those issues rest there, with the majority of the majority idea and the rest not bringing something to the floor that congress can work its will. I really believe something rational is brought to the floor on immigration floor will pass, but it has become to the floor. So no amount of anything the president can do, to some extent, is going to change that dynamic which is house two could gooiding issues. Foolnow, they are going to around and use a gimmick to pretend we are not funding obamacare in this next round. We still have the sequestration numbers, which are going to cause the vast majority of democrats to vote against it again. Those are real issues that i think bipartisan efforts and some conclusion to work it out in the middle have to happen soon. Until that leadership realizes there is a will that needs to be worked out on the floor of the house, thats what the stopgap is. Host chad in nashville, tennessee, republican caller. Withre on the air congressman grijalva. Caller the congressman and the rest of the chamberlain wing saying it is always off the table to use military force. This is why america is losing face in the world. This is why we are not going to be able to stop terrorism. Errorism is going on right now look at benghazi, look at ft. Hood although the cola workplace violence. We know it was terrorism. We have an administration who basically agrees with this representative. And then he gets on here and wants to blame republicans for anything everything. We can actually confront our enemy and do something about it, and as long as we have people like this come a we are not going to get it done. That awell, i believe retaliation or a military action on the part of this government is not a conclusion that i would never support. But the prevailing rationale for it is not present here, and if my friend would remember history, we have seen this movie before. President bush unilaterally am a unilaterally, iraq, weapons of mass destruction, all proved to not be real. There we are 12 years later trying to extract ourselves from a situation that we didnt belong being in. Always doubt, for me to secondguess and to what verification two want verification of a military action. It is not cowardice but it is prudent and smart. Host don, indiana, republican caller. Ill echo hello, congressman. Iq for your perspective caller hello, congress men. Thank you for your perspective. I have a question about u. S. Efforts of unitarian aid for the. Ems of the use of sarin gas readily neutralized with an antidote. I can imagine the military has huge stockpiles. I have yet to hear anyone offer anyoneutions to defend against the use of sarin gas in syria, and i would like your comment on that, as well as an understanding as to why this matter has not really seemed to be of importance from a humanitarian same point. It seems to me rather than supplying the rebels with our would make more sense as a frontline defee to supply them with an antidote to the sarin gas. Thank you. Point. Ent t rve good responses to why not and what the ongoing efforts are. That is a valid question and something that, thanks to you, i am going to spend some time finding out about that situation. 2umanitarian support Million People living in jordan, in campus, lest the toll of the civil war and what it has taken on families and children across the region. There is a humanitarian agenda we have not talked enough about. Obviously the caller s point is well taken. Any conflict, any area where we are seeing the kind of military action back and forth, there are casualties. And the casualties are 2 million refugees, and the people being affected by the attacks and i think it requires a lot more attention. I appreciate the call. Heard fromyou representatives of jordan, israel, turkey, those countries in the middle east that are impacted . Have you heard directly from their representatives . Guest not directly from their representatives. Obviously from constituents that have their point of view. I heard from the Syrian Community that felt very strongly that the attack needed to occur for the protection of people. Jewishamerican folks who felt that the attack was necessary because it would provide some protection and deterrent to iran. We heard all of that. We also heard very strongly the point of view that we shouldnt. Its a difficult question because constituents do call us, but straight representatives from those governments or organization, no. Host where are you calling from . Caller arkansas. Host ok, go ahead. About it is,ink all those children and women and the men that have been affected by the gas, how come we are not over there . We are talking about it. We are not over there doing something about it. I understand our leader, our president , putting a hold on it. I mean, weave a do have military that can go out there. We do have everything set up. We do have the antidote. We do have it all. Why not go out there and help the children and the women. That is what the army is all about winning hearts and minds and women and children and all the public. Why are we not helping them question mark the simple fact is, they are being why are we not helping them . The simple fact is, they are being affected. Why are not why arent we going over to help them . Guest there is a moral issue, humanitarian issue. My only response to the caller is now that the United Nations and the International Community is positioning itself to intervene in diplomatic ways, that part of that policy is to provide direct assistance to victims and humanitarian support. I hope now that becomes the vehicle. I think it is difficult for the United States to put boots on the ground and involve itself in the middle of a civil war and think that we are going to easily be able to extract ourselves. Even the president said the strike was about an aerial strike, missile strike, but not boots on the ground. I think that would be a huge mistake for us to physically have our men and women in uniform be part of a combat operation or a relief operation in syria. Host a viewer on twitter has this no. T no, i heard that outside of briefings. I heard the role of iran and the support they are providing. Assad, and his status and survival also emboldens what iran is doing and not doing. I said at the beginning of this discussion is it is the regional context we are dealing with. I still believe that. But in terms of whose proxy war it is at this point, that is not something i can answer and i dont want to guess at. Host tallahassee, florida. Independent caller. Caller good morning. I dontmy problem is, think we have any business going in at all. I am a mother. Honestly, if they are going to kill my child with some kind of me. That is going to upset but me as an american and a mother and a taxpayer, i dont want to go in there and indiscriminately kill all the women and children because we are the bad guys. We paid for it, and we did it. We cant kill people to save people. It really doesnt make a lot of sense. We are going to be the ones who get blamed. We get blamed for everything all the time anyway, when all we are trying to do is help. Being responsible for killing all of the children we are trying to save, to me is nonsensical and it does not make any sense. It didnt take very long before that congress and everybody is being blamed. Ked obama, putspan him in his place, and shows what a leader does. I voted for him. A leader, he is not. He did draw the red line and now he cant do anything about it because he doesnt want to take responsibility. Guest i think the administration called it bad sequencing, how this thing developed. What ever you want to call it, i think the fact remains that i admire the fact you know, because in our business, you make a decision, it it is not going well, and people have the tendency to double down on the bad decision. I think the president is stepping back from the brink. Bringing the votes in congress, i think it shows leadership. Shows he has been engaged i can imagine the conflict personally when you are going through Something Like this. I think this pause and the step goodthe brink is a development for all of us, and we should take advantage of it. I also think that any time that your only option is military intervention or a strike, that you take all the other options off the table. The veteran who called and said i served and talked about hearts and minds, that is off the table. Now all we have is military intervention. Host one more call. Eric from california. Independent caller. Guest i want to know if the sadgressman believes if as were to use chemical weapons, do you think the president has the right to use force without the approval of congress . At this point of time, do you think maybe the elimination of assad, i dont know if that is the primary thing. Getting rid of the weapons is an important thing in the context of getting rid of iran and having them get rid of their nukes. Guest the second part of your question, a negotiated settlement to end some of the strife in syria. Also, assad cooperating with the United Nations in the destruction and identification of all the chemical and biological weapons. That has become the priority issue. That is a point well taken. I also dont think that we can underestimate the fact that we as a country are seen as leaders. But i think also we as a country, we are the harbingers is going to happen next. Right now saying we are willing to participate in a diplomatic effort to end this, i think that is a very important leadership, and i think it opens up an opportunity for us on the diplomatic front that does not did not exist until yesterday. Grijalva,ressmen raul democrat of arizona, thank you very much. Members of congress and yourself will be watching marking the anniversary of the september 11 attacks. The pentagon ceremony is about to get underway, and president obama, we believe, has arrived. We will be walking for the ceremony any minute. It is expected to happen around 9 30 a. M. Eastern time. Our coverage on cspan3, if you are interested in watching that. And our coverage of the Memorial Service in new york on www. C span. Org. Hunter, thank you for your time. Guest appreciate it so much. Host our coverage of the situation in syria and the debate on capitol hill and in use on our networks and www. C span. Org. But for the next 40 minutes we will take a pause and turn our commemorative, special commemorative edition of the atlantic, which features jfk on the cover, marking the 50th anniversary of jfks assassination. That is the topic coming up next. But first, a news update from c span radio. Senator john mccain, speaking earlier on msnbc, says the cause of rebels fighting syrias president assad has been obscured and the rapidfire military and diplomatic events that followed the chemical weapons attack. Badly fori feel very my friends in the Free Syrian Army today. Not againstis negotiating to diffuse the chemical weapons issue, but he says there is nothing that will drive syrians more into the hands of extremists than to feel they have been abandoned by the west. Ontoor mccain then went say that president obama should have acted more forcefully against assad many months ago. Meanwhile, a United Nations Commission Says Syrian Government forces carried out at least eight massacres in the last year and a half while rebels have carried out one. The Commission Says both sides have committed heinous war crimes during the countrys civil war and the perpetrators on all sides, in their words, do not fear accountability. The Commission Also says it is probing nine more suspected mass killings since march. Ceremonies marking the 12th anniversary of the 9 11 attacks are underway at ground zero am of the pentagon, and the flight 93 National Memorial in western pennsylvania. After observing a moment of silence at the white house, Vice President joe biden, their wives and staff accompanied president obama to a a visit to the pentagon memorial. In new york, relatives of those killed are reading the names of the nearly 3000 people who died in those attacks. There will also be a congressional remembrance ceremony on capitol hill. Cspan radio will air it live at 11 00 a. M. Eastern time. And those are some of the headlines on cspan radio. Sagamore hill was different because it was not ever a commercial venture. They do not try to be self sufficient. When edith wanted from sagamore hill was basically to offset the expense of living there. Rye,did raise hay and grains they could feed their horses and reduce the cost of having courses here. They did have a Lovely Garden that produced everything from corn to strawberries. They had an arbor that had a different kinds of grapes. They had strawberries and blueberries feels. But the idea was to both feed the family and the staff that live on site but also to reduce the cost of maintaining a property like this. Watch our program on Edith Roosevelt on our website or see it saturday on cspan at seven 00 p. M. Eastern. And we continue our series live next monday as we look at first lady helen taft. Washington journal continues. In our last hour on wednesdays, we look at recent magazine articles, part of our spotlight on magazines. Today we are focused only focusing on a commemorative issue of the atlantic. Jfk is on the cover. Marking the approved the approaching 50th anniversary of jfks the. In studio, james bennet, editor inchief of the atlantic is joining us. Tell us what this is about and why you decided to put out this commemorative edition. Guest obviously we are approaching the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Jenna Kennedy john f. Kennedy. Kennedy, unlike so many president s of the 20th century, remains with us today. His legacy is so contested. Over of hama are still all the map. Historians do not rate him that high. They put him in the top 20 of president s but americans overall it rate him extremely high. He remains the most popular president of the 20th century, besides franklin roosevelt. The atlantic has been around for a long time, 100 and 50 years and we covered the Kennedy Administration and in the years since our writers have struggled down the years consistently with the question of what impact his administration had and what kennedy was like as a man. It felt like an opportunity for us to step back, commission some stories with the insights and revelations of the 50 years since he was killed and putting it together with some of the great leases by walter litman and other writers over the years and tried to produce a composite portrait of the man and his moment and his presidency. Host what would you say is new about what you put together, different from past conversations, past editions, publications, books on jfk . Guest i think there is a wonderful essay about kennedys struggles with the joint chiefs. I think it is the most clear eyed portrait of how he handled the cuban missile crisis. The atlantic has been on all sides praising the handling of the time and condemning in years and cents in the years since. But what it shows is kennedy was in a real battle with his own joint chiefs who were accusing him of appeasement and really trying to rush them into war in cuba. He successfully fought them off internally and eventually achieved a negotiated compromise. Is adapted from his new book. He writes this kennedys biggest worry about the military was not the personalities involved but rather the freedom of field commanders to launch Nuclear Weapons without explicit permission of them permission from the commanderinchief. 10 days after becoming president he learned from the National Security advisor that a subordinate commander faced with a substantial could start a Nuclear Holocaust in his own commission. As the defense secretary recall we became increasingly horrified over how little positive control the president really had over use of this great arsenal of Nuclear Weapons. Was shocked to discover that field commanders had a wide degree in latitude in deploying Nuclear Weapons. The joint chiefs believe very strongly that we could fight and win a nuclear war. These are still the relatively early years of the world and the u. S. And defense apparatus, to terms with the vast power of our own Nuclear Arsenal and how it really changed how war would be the conducted and diplomacy. Kennedy and then think again, this is one of the ways his administration had an enduring impact was the first president to really try to bring it under executive authority, full executive authority. Did he respond to the power . Guest by struggling to bring the power under civilian control. And lifting it up certainly from the level of field commanders. Again, in cuba, the joint chiefs thought a nuclear war should be a fivedayfter bombing campaign. If necessary, they would have resorted to a full invasion and they believe nukes would have been deployed. It was much more of a live option at the time. Host and this piece and the special addiction special edition of the magazine is adapted from his new book. There is the commemorative edition on your screen, marking the upcoming 50th anniversary of jfks assassination. That is the topic or all of you. James bennet, editorinchief of atlanta is with us. John from North Carolina. Democratic caller. Caller how many decades need to pass before journalists and employers feel it is safe to write about building 7, 105 feet of freefall on 9 11 and evidence moving preplanned explosions rock the building them. Host that is not our topic. We adjusted the phone calls from you and others that are part of the group that made an effort to call into this program. We are going to move on. Tony and austin, texas. Independent caller. Caller last year i called into i do every 11 him as year, and as soon as i told the wanting aat i was new investigation of 9 11, she hung up on me. I am not sure why we cannot be taken seriously. I think you should get an expert , someone from the alternative side, lets discuss this. Taken your we have phone calls. We appreciate you are exercising your right to call in and voice your opinion. And that is the format of this show. We have had members of congress who were on the program a when you and others have called in to answer those questions. That is not our topic right now. To move on and stick to the atlantic special commemorative edition, looking at jfk, the man and his leadership. Talk about thet, piece that talked about how historians do not give him such a great grade, but americans do. Can you talk about a little bit more about why it is . Brinkley wrestles is theis question, what explanation for president kennedys enduring grip on the national imagination. I think it is partly obviously the glamour, the memory of as Jackie Kennedy recalled the years of the white house. And he makes the point that kennedy, we remember him properly anyway as this tremendously charismatic figure who called americans to a higher purpose and injected a new element of morality into Public Affairs. In fact, he was a deeply reserved and highly pragmatic man. In many ways, extremely cold and calculating. Of himt impression indoors. And the point that he and bill clinton make is that for all the turbulence of those years, with his Administration Cut Short by assassination, it did end up serving as a springboard to a tremendous amount of change on civil rights, the conduct of Foreign Affairs, medicare. The great society, lbj, premised by things he said, that john kennedy called for. So a Pivotal Moment in our history. Techniquessly modern of campaigning, the political tactics john kennedy put in place. He was the youngest president ever to serve. ,e came into office at 43 replacing then the oldest serving u. S. President , dwight eisenhower. So i think for many americans, and not just debuted boomers, he is recalled as marking an important pivot point in American History. T he writes in the piece president kennedy spent less than three years in the white house and his first year was a disaster, as he himself acknowledged. Guest he basically cannot get anything done. He struggled all the way through. He got very little of his legislative agenda through, despite having huge democratic majorities in both houses. He obviously had this asterisk the disastrous day of pigs invasion. Something he intensely regret it. He felt like he had been essentially railroaded, i think, by the pentagon. He had his First Encounter with Nikita Khrushchev in which he came away looking callow and unprepared. So, the first year was a big learning experience from the president. Host you have in the special reporting from kennedys years and around those years as well. The headline from David Brinkley in february of 1965, originally entitled leading from strength lbj and action. For congress could be a headline for this administration and its relationship. Guest there are interesting echoes. Interestingme comparisons to be drawn, i think, between that administration and this one. David brinkley, of course, was a very famous broadcaster and obviously a wonderful writer. Deeply knowledgeable about congress and washington. And he argues in this piece that part of the reason kennedy failed with congress was he simply couldnt connect. He vaulted to the white house after only briefly serving in the senate. He remained in all of the old awe of the lions in both of the senate and felt maybe insecure dealing with them. And then brinkley makes an argument that there was simply a cultural disconnect, the too cool point. Congressman serving from elsewhere in america were not as impressed by this extremely of this decade it, sophisticated glamorous white house. Host what was his approach . Was it intellectual . Guest excessively intellectual. Wasnt shaking hands and andasnt going inside having any kind of meetings with these guys and talking to them the way they liked to be talked to. He was a remote president. Host silver spring, maryland. Republican caller. Caller how are you doing . A relationship between kennedy and his brother bobby, how much influence did he have not just in domestic issues but also when it comes to Foreign Policy . I am just curious to see your opinion on this. I am fascinated by the same question. I should say, i dont pretend to be a historian myself about the kennedys. I am an expert on our own work, so i can only answer the question within the within what we write. What our own coverage has shown is they were extremely close. And john kennedy relied hugely on bobby during his own administration. So, thats as far as i can take it. Sorry. Host talk a little bit more about the original reporting you have in this piece and how did andgo about culling this, your decision of what to put in . Atlanticthe archives, or from the era, i should say. Guest we were looking for pieces from great writers that advance a provocative point of view, but we were also looking very much to see how the tenor ,f the of our own coverage how would change. How are own approach to the administration chains contemporaneously. And those years the atlantic publish something called the report on washington which was a monthly summary of what would ater be called beltway inside which was an inside opinion of what the president is doing. Something that would not necessarily happen today with everything on twitter. And in those days a monthly magazine could update readers on with the beltway opinion was. What you see is a very familiar arc of coverage. Theserted out and anonymous pieces that were written by very eminent journalists here, completely of thisand in awe charismatic president and there is huge praise for assembling this great team of young advisers, this wonderful new breeze blowing in washington. Moves very quickly to kind of a jaded, cynical attitude about this guy. We have heard this before. The same act. There is a piece in july of 1963 saying, it opens with the observation that no words ever uttered by john f. Kennedy proved more embarrassing to him and fan his inaugural extrication that you should ask not what the country should do for you but what you should do for the country. Which, of course, those words as one of the most inspiring uttered by president. Host why was that embarrassing . Guest our view was that he had gotten so little done and he still failed to deliver on the , toise of that extrication provide means for americans to get more involved. The piece says he did push for the peace corps, but beyond that, he basically did nothing. As the atlantic went to press, our issue of december of 1963 which went to the printer and would have reached newsstands when john f. Kennedy was killed some of the washington report said this administration has from the cryickly of what can be done to the lament of what cant be done, and there is this aura of pervasive gloom in washington. And it goes on to wonder how he will possibly recapture the dynamism of his First Campaign during his reelection. By the time kennedy was assassinated, the kind of inspirational message, the notion that he was charismatic and bringing something new to washington, had really worn thin. And there was criticism for failing to revive the economy. He had come in saying he would get the economy going, and that did not happen. And his overall legislative agenda, as we already discussed, had gone nowhere. Host bob, georgia, independent caller. Thank you for cspan and thank you for taking my call. The screener said it was ok to talk about the assassination am wondering it is hard to believe that oswald acted alone. Although he shot the president , he said he was a patsy. I believe he was a patsy. He had people helping him. A lot of people loved the president and a lot of people hated him. , youondering, mr. Bennet said he had a problem with the military. Take the whole fiasco, the bay of pigs, from that day on people have plans to kill him. Some even called him a traitor. Again, i did not portend to be an expert on all the different theories of the kennedy assassination. , we found in our just as and it is very short, surprising little nugget of Lyndon Johnson quoted in a piece we ran i believe and 9073 saying he never believed that oswald acted alone. A piece we r, i believe, in 1973. In his view, some kind of cuban connection, not necessarily for the bay of pigs but other attempts to destabilize the regime or even kill castro. Beyond that, we also published in this issue a wonderful short story by a man who is an expert on the assassination and has written voluminously on it for us and for others, in which he imagines aount cfactual and tells a story in which oswald ands his learn nerve does not she kennedy and what could have transpired. Host connecticut, democratic caller. You are on the air. Caller hello, how are you . Tom so i am a subscriber your magazine. I love your magazine. You were talking about the joint chiefs of staff and the trouble kennedy had. It was not just with kennedy unknown, but eisenhower had trouble and nixon had later. Eisenhower had trouble, when the u2 biplane, a lot of historians thought it was done purposely to spy plane, ahe u2 lot of historians but it was done to purposely undercut the meeting with khrushchev. And nixon, being spied on. The joint chiefs of staff especially after the world war ii era for 20 years or so really ran amok and no one trained them in. The only guy who did anything was truman when he cut down macarthur he was not with the joint chiefs at the time, but those guys really thought they were entitled to run their own show without any input from civilian authority. I just want to get that out there. Thank you. Guest thank you. I think that is just an excellent point. It is a thread running through American History. And certainly the modern history of the presidency, this tension between this kind of Permanent Defense infrastructure and civilian control of the white house. In a viewer tweets go on to question whether it was a bad idea or a good idea. Youre right about jfks civil rights problems, a report from washington in 1963 about what was going on. This is, again, one of the things he was criticized for in our pages and elsewhere. The first couple of years his administration was basically avoiding talking about civil rights at all, at a time the issue was beginning really to in the south particularly, and across the country. And he basically ducked. Again,une of 1963, and this is something bill clinton really seized on in his own assessment of kennedy when he gave this moving speech about the importance of advancing civil rights, something that lbj would obviously see is a porch he pick up and carry forward. Host passing the torch, that is the piece written by bill clinton. He assesses the civil rights accomplishments of the 35th. A viewer tweets in this do you think jfk would have gone is out of vietnam if he lived . Guest this is an endless question. I am sorry, i hate to do him a but i really dont feel qualified to i hate to do this, but i really dont feel qualified to answer the question. There is a piece that i think it is a is a very important piece i think in understanding how we got into vietnam. An argument about the bureaucratic imperatives that there,d our experience the unwillingness of people to issueup and oppose this a mission and the sidelining of experts at the time. It is possible that john kennedy you see it in the cuban missile crisis, as he gets stronger in the course of the presidency, more deeply skeptical abouthe ability of military force to advance diplomatic objectives. It seems conceivable he may have recognized the danger of deepening our involvement in vietnam, but it is impossible for me to say he would have gotten us out of there. It is quite interesting and this came up and we talked about this a lot in your last comparison to what is happening now in syria and how would john f. Kennedy have handled it. Segment,p in the last understood as being a proxy war. Taking kennedy out of it, how much the times have changed. Was a proxyry much struggle, with Nuclear Armageddon waiting in the wings. State of thelient soviet union, just as it is now a client state of russia. But the issue, as we struggle with the russians on the path arward, it is not seen as proxy standoff with the risk of a deployment of Nuclear Weapons. Host there is a piece from gary 1982 you put the headline, the kennedy called the crisis . Wisdom tended to rank the cuban missile crisis as the kennedy presidencys highest drama and grandest success. But this provocative recounting of the administrations policy toward castros cuba suggest kennedy brought the crisis on himself here on himself here guest the argument is quite persuasive. Castro had every reason to be scared and to want missiles in cuba for defensive purposes because the kennedys had made very clear their desire to see him brought down. Argument iss kennedy provoked the crisis in the first place. I think it is very important in a Historical Context of this. Host anyone seen a resemblance here between kennedy and mr. Obama . Sandwich,t massachusetts. Republican caller. Caller thank you for letting me come on. I remember when president kennedy was assassinated, and all the teachers and the students in a high school were crying. Amave a couple of questions a real brief. Thank you for entertaining them. , understand Douglas Macarthur the famous general of world war ii and the korean war, advised mr. Kennedy, president kennedy, not to get involved in vietnam. I wonder if you have comments. And what about the Lasting Legacy of nasa and the peace corps for president kennedy . I would take my answers off line. Cant sorry to say, i adjust the first question. I just simply dont know the fax. I cant address the first question. I simply dont know the facts. Ie peace corps and nasa think both were obviously incredibly important to explaining, i think, why people remember kennedy so fondly, for the most part. Obviously was an extraordinary example of a president summoning the country to a new National Mission and sense of purpose. People thought was not achievable when he enunciated it. We did make it to the moon by the end of the decade, as he envisioned. Brinkley writes in the introduction, in his views, this is one of the reasons kennedy and doors endures the , the feeling of american possibility during his administration that we dont live with at least not in the same way today. In the peace corps peace corps, also, summoning americans to a higher purpose. To my mind, a really interesting piece and hereby eleanor roosevelt, actually, about the which he is in making a very nonsentimental argument. It is not just about idealistic young people going out into the world. It is about containing the soviet union. She says, i spent time in russia and i see the way they train their young people. I spent time in places like morocco and i have seen the way the colonial powers are retreating. And these countries need experts, and the russians will be in a position to supply the experts to help them make the transition into a new era in full independence. If we dont have our people in there, we will lose the struggle in the long haul. Kind of a very hardheaded argument on why we needed a peace corps. Host james bennet, editorin chief of the atlantic. Talking about the special commemorative edition a just put out. Some of the pieces will be available online. , a it is a lengthy piece special edition with an introduction by former president bill clinton and several other pieces throughout the magazine. It is marking the upcoming 50th anniversary of jfks assassination. A chance to talk about the man of the legacy. , portland oregon. Democratic caller. Caller i would like first of all to thank the atlantic. For jfk in 1960 as a student for kennedy when he was running for president. Host what did you do . He came to our little town and we met him and shook his hand and he said, those who cant vote, can you help us by putting papers under windshield wipers, under peoples doors, will you hang , kennedyhe doorknobs for president . It was an incredible, incredible time. I spent the last 50 years, i think, both mourning kennedy and studying him. It was a privilege to meet him. I think he would have gotten as out of vietnam. Most of all, i really want to thank the atlantic. I think people are starting to forget him and i do not want that to happen. I think he was the best. I thank you so much. Host before you go, can i ask you you work for him on his campaign. He was elected to office. In the three years that he served in the white house, how did you feel about his lack of legislative accomplishments or his agenda those first three years . Caller i thought his agenda was wonderful. Heng us back to today couldnt get some things through. I think he was late to come to civil rights. Cant i am having trouble even explaining how i feel. Host but it sounds like your adoration, if i may use that word, never dwindled for him . Caller it never dwindled. I light a candle every year. I am very glad that more and more people think oswalt did not act alone. You. thank to me thank you very much for the call. Tremendously touching after 50 years she retains this adoration for that president. Host in putting this together, i think i read in the introduction or maybe in your editors note that you talked to a poet who put together a poet poland eulogizing the president. But heto republish won it used to omit one line. What was it . Guest he published a column in the atlantic immediately after the assassination called death of a man as quote and we contacted him to ask if we would republish it as part of the issue but he said we could on the condition that we delete the one line in which he described cradled by his queen in life. It almost regretted as he wrote it. I called him to talk about why it was, because i was interested in the question of how his own view of kennedy may have changed over the years. What he says he was a seminarian, by the way, when he wrote the poem. Which is quite a powerful poland. Poem he credited because it was so purple and a plate into the notion that trumpets were sounding played into the notion that trumpets were silent sounding rather than the tragic death of one man. Notink in his mind, he did use the word, that it was dehumanizing, whereas the rest of the poem was not that. Time, so many the as youated it dont want to understate the importance of a u. S. President but you treated it as an event of kind of biblical proportion and turned kennedy into kind of a godlike figure, which i think he came to think was unfair to history and unfair to kennedy. Host romney is next from kentucky ronnie is next from kentucky. Say i i just want to remember exactly when this happened to mr. Kennedy. I was in a school. I am 63 years old now, so i was probably around 12 or 13 or so. I remember the whole class, how heartbreaking we all were to hear the news. I just think it would have been so nice for him to have been able to have a full term as president. He is one of the greatest president s in my lifetime i was ever able to know. I just dont think the assassin acted alone, either. Thank you for honoring mr. Kennedy. Thank you. Guest thank you very much. Thank you for the call. Is funny, i do think another reason he remains kind of with us the way he does is there a questions about what he would have done had he lived and where his presidency would have gone. President s, he grew in office and he changed. He became more expernced and he got better. And questions, again, like what would he have done with vietnam, where would he have gone with civil rights . They will just be an mostly debated, i think. In this special edition, you have quite a deep section dedicated to what happened november 22, 1963, 12 30 p. M. Tell people what they will find. Guest we do not spend a huge amount of time in this issue debating the Warren Commission and its findings, because one peopleevote and many have whole books to that subject without reaching any kind of meaningful resolution. They will find in their the speculation and mentioned earlier by lbj that oswald, in his view, probably didnt act alone. And also this terrific short story which is just a very different way of approaching the assassination. Have, i think, a very powerful Photo Gallery that recalls the assassination in the immediate aftermath. And you can find a special edition on newsstands now . Guest it is on newsstands now, and it is also available electronically in the atlantic app. I hope people pick it up and enjoy it. Months to a couple of go before we mark the anniversary of the assassination, what is the take away from this magazine and from jfks legacy . I haveean, i think all ofo say, i feel like these versions of kennedy are to some extent true. We havent even discussed the kind of private cruelties of the infidelity, the fact he lived with pain and was heavily medicated during a lot of his presidency, all of which is reflected in this issue. But also to some degree he didscended all of that and manage to some of the nation to a higher sense of itself, a higher sense of purpose, both at and his in the world, administration really did, despite all the confusion and uncertainty and lurching from it ultimatelyis, significantly helped drive the country forward. Host james bennet is the editorinchief of the atlantic. Iq for sharing the stories part of the special, rented thank you for sharing the stories part of the special commemorative edition. Now we turn to the house of representatives, about to come in. They will be observing a moment of silence to mark the 12 anniversary of the septemb1,
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