Tell us your thoughts on facebook or twitter. We will get to your thoughts in a minute so start dialing in. But i want to show you a New York Times Interactive Chart they put together last week. The array of conflicts of interest facing the Trump Administration. The Trump International hotel in washington, d. C. The children run the which releases the Old Post Office building from the General Services administration. The head of which will be up and it by the advice from the Transition Team which Donald Trumps team are on and donald trump himself. Then you go down deutsche bank. Only millions of dollars to deutsche bank, negotiating a with the Justice Department which will be run by an attorney general chosen by the advice of the Transition Team which is children sit on. The Internal Revenue service says there are returns under audit by the Internal Revenue service. That is an executive agency that as of january 20, it will be overseen by donald trump. So those are some of the potential conflict of interest. The washington times, the first page has a story that the potential complex of interest are the exiting the trump Transition Team. Donald trumps team has said that his sons are not involved in an inauguration theme event that appeared to promise access in exchange for charitable donation. But even his allies say that donald trump needs to get a handle on conflict of interest. Fully divorcing from his vast real estate empire will be difficult said Newt Gingrich but he said the trump team needs to quickly figure out what steps they can take. From the former speaker. The longer they wait, the greater the rotation will be, and the more concerned people will be. So will you be concerned . Glenn . There will be no problems. He is a smart man. Host ok, but what about his children . Caller he has good kids. Host ok, so you have no concerns whatsoever. Caller note. Host should he give up ownership of his business . Caller no. Host he should still be able to run it . Caller if you wants to. Host sandra, what do you think . Caller id never seen anything more corrupt than this. Putting his children in charge of policies and decisionmaking. Only muslim countries do this. How come the supporters are allowing this . It is almost as though we are allowing a child molester to run amok. Suns and thek the daughters need to goodwill he does engage. I did not vote for him. I respect that he did win. So his sons and daughters need to back off. Eric trump issued a statement yesterday about the inauguration themed fundraiser that had his name attached to it as well as his sister and brother. The New York Times this morning with a frontpage story. Trump hasthat eric decided to stop directly hisciting donations to charity because he now recognizes that the status as a president elect sun means that donors could use him to gain access to his father. Unfortunate as it is, i understand the quagmire offering a chance to have coffee with his sister. Criticism intensified over the weekend after an invitation was drafted following a hunting trip trump, after a donation of 500,000. The trump Transition Team say it was just a draft. And they no longer have their names attached to that. Little bit more from New York Times but first, some thoughts from trenton in florida. Will, what do you think . , i thinkirst of all that the communist democrats need to get out of america. Obama stole everything. Clinton was a crook. Host what evidence do you have of that . Caller read the history. Every person in America Needs to read history because communist wants to take the country back to the third world. Host dale in West Virginia . Also supporting donald trump . What do you think . I am more concerned having a deficit potential conflict of interest. There is money that is owed to several different countries. They could use that money that policiesem to extort in their favor. Host because of his businesses . No, just the deficit of the United States. The potential conflict of interest . Host lets go to jeff in california. Caller good morning. Before i go into my concerns ,bout the Trump Administration i would like to Say Something about the foreign debt. Trump should attempt to do something where we would be able to buy our own debt. Have a tax incentive. I do have serious concerns. Campaign, heole avoided answering questions and im afraid that everything he does, it it all is shady. Timesthe washington today, donald trump leaving aters and analysts guessing the extent of his business as a potential conflict of interest. Duke voters donald trump promise to hold a conference but canceled it. His team said they needed more time to figure out the matters. His Transition Team is offering options of how to handle his holdings including something that politico termed a half blind trust. The complaints from trump opponents grew this week after the center for Public Integrity reported that the opening day hockingon was inauguration time meetings with donald trump jr. And eric trump who will take the reins of the trump organization, in exchange for donations. The trump family says they havent approved that. And now eric trump says his name will no longer be attached to that. What it is an organization that is involved in. The New York Times reports that the option for coffee with ivanka trump was terminated on using her as a way to get a message to her father on issues like immigration and election fraud. In addition, eric trump and donald trump jr. Say they no longer will but as bait in the hunting trip. Money that the Eric Trump Foundation one employee. I have raised over the past opening 2015, donald trump has made 20 million. 5 million is outstanding. But it could be raised by direct donations over golf course. A little bit about eric trumps foundation. But now they are no longer fundraisingith this and allowing access to them for donations. James in ohio. You support mr. Trump. Caller good morning. Yes, i am for trump. I have tried democrats and republicans. I am 71 years old. And i dont think we go anywhere with either one of them. Trump might be the only way out of the mess. We havent tried him. Tried ent host i understand that but the question is, do you have concerns about potential conflicts of interest . What do you think donald trump say or do so there are no issues. Caller as far as the kids being in there with him, i think it is great. Had his kids and nobody complained. These kids are good kids. They are smart. Their father taught them everything they know. He wants the best for all of us. Host listen to the Washington Post editorial this morning. No backdoor influence had letters. When bush was running for president , he was appalled to read in the newspaper that a lawyer had been hired by a defense contractor. That she wrote a letter to his son george, admonishing him to be your of newfound friends who will ask for things and reminding them to avoid any sign of impropriety. The family of president elect donald trump would be wise to absorb the letter and spirit of mr. Bushs message. Do you agree . Caller no. I dont agree with obama. Im glad hillary did not get in there. My only option to me is trump. Jeff, st. Louis, missouri. Caller i did not vote for mr. Trump. Familyay that the bush i dont know about Michelle Obama but they did things with charity. They do things with charities and they bring in money. They are digging for bad things. Thats all. Tag in rhode island. Good morning. Caller one thing im concerned that the president elect has properties and golf courses all over the world, what happens when the terrorists start clubs ands hotels and stuff. Does that mean that the military will become his own private Security Force . That is what i am concerned with. Host we go to marry in new jersey. You supported mr. Trump . You are on the air. My concern is not about their holdings and what the sun will do. My concern is that we are not giving the president elect a chance. This is the president. Dont judge him before you know anything else that will be going on. That are you concerned with the questions like this that remain when there is no statement from the president elect yet on this that it even stressed . And those people who didnt support donald trump, maybe they want to give him a chance but curl, thehe questions more the trustee roads . Caller that would be a concern of mine if i thought all of those calls were legitimate. Are callingeople this just to cause problems. We dont know whats going to happen. He is a businessman. Kennedy had his brother in office and his nephew. Why are we so down on this one person right now . We have had enough problems. Host let me show you this. The National Labor Relations Board president elect and his hotel right now. We dont know what he is going to do. Ears there is a dispute brought before the labor board issued byers would be the Transition Team which Donald Trumps children are on. Caller i still say we need to wait and see. Issues and plans and laws in effect that he will have to abide by. This is terrible. We have people being hurt and bombings around the world, and we areia during zeroing in on this because some youll didnt get the candidate they wanted. You to turnd remind down the cv because we are getting feedback from that. There is also this story in the Washington Post about corey lewandowski. Remains one of the closest,. He launched a political consultant firm, openly advertising plans. Vocation just a block from the white house. He said that he would always be Donald Trumps biggest supporter. He is been joined at the firm by Barry Bennett who is the former Campaign Manager to ben carson. In separate interviews, he said he is no plan to register with federal lobbyists. He expects clients to include a combination of corporations, coalitions and trade associations. There are plans now to represent foreign governments. Postis in the washington this morning. Michaela in orlando, florida, good morning to you. Do you have concerns this morning . I have a couple of concerns. Not necessarily as much with his business holding. More with the electorate. It is scary. Im a history teacher and attended a trump rally. I wanted them to see what was going on. I wanted to know about certain policies, whether it is the abandonment of the wall idea his supporters are just willing us to openly except that change and not question his actions . That is something i worried about. Host david in new york. David, good morning to you. Caller good morning. I am seriously concerned. Think therei dont has been a real disclosure of what his Holdings Really are. And how stretched out he is through the world. And i was involved in construction. He squished the contractors like a bug when he was building casinos. I dont north that reflects his character. It is very concerning as far as i am concerned. Host so what do you want to hear from him . Thatcan he say to you says, you will not have questions about my business and my wealth when it comes to being president of the United States. Caller i would like to see him lay his cards on the table. This is how i plan to isolate from this. And the previous caller brought what ifd point about, he has a golf course or a hotel in another country and it gets attacked. Attack seem to be happening every week. Become hiss. Army own private Security Firm . Disclosure needs to resolve so he can stand alone. And not have to worry about these kinds of personal attacks on integrity and stuff like that. I just feel it is a dangerous thing we are heading towards. Host that was david in new york. David didg up but mention the attacks that have been happening and there is an update online from a german newspaper. They have lost track of a man by german police. He is the main suspect in a berlin attack. They had been monitoring them for months but he still managed to avoid detectives. That is the latest out of berlin. Thenews for you about transition to the white house. , this isumps picks the front page of the wall street journal. Donald trumps new appointments shake up trade. The wall street journal says that they have announced the creation of a trade council. Named an ardent skeptic of trade with china. Icahn to tapped carl serve as special advisor on overhauling federal administration, causing concerns over trumps claim to we now know clues about how he will try to flush out with his distinct agenda. Ower taxes and regulation that is in the wall street journal this morning. The wall street journal editorial also this morning has something to say about Donald Trumps pick. That the cnbcying analyst would be a good pick for donald trump. For him to choose. Let me read a little bit of that. This is what the wall street thenal writes so far, president elect has chosen economic and Financial Advisors with blank policy slates were known for their antitrade views. Another protectionist was put in the center lane. A free trader and it will be useful to have at least one inside the white house. They dislike him because they fear his progrowth policies will succeed too well. And this morning, new set of North Carolina for those of you who are following the debate over the bathroom law, hb two. This is what happened yesterday. The North Carolina senate voted down a repeal of the bathroom bill. From the Charlotte Observer the house didnt vote. They were in a special session that the Current Governor called. That is a repeal of that bill so they have more on that debate. Who supportedmes donald trump. So what do you think . About potential conflicts of interest . Voted him inwe there, we all knew that he owned hotels and golf courses and everything he owned. We all knew that. , from what i understand, he doesnt have to step down from his business. We ought to respect the fact that he is doing that. Bill, far as the bathroom i think that also should be shot down. Host im not going to go down that road. Lets stick to our topic this morning. We go to texas with camille, what do you think . I think he is a habitual liar. Say o nothing he could he couldnt say anything to reassure you . Caller he could not say anything. He lies. So there is nothing that he could say to make me trust him. Host we go to new york. Dean, you are on the air. Caller hello. My main concern about donald trump is not so much his holdings as i think that clinton has something on him. It is very common in this world for people both on our side politicians making them jump through hoops. Supporting mr. Trump, go ahead. Caller i wanted to point out that donald trump had robert ruben and all the Goldman Sachs people with citigroup. Banks, thethe big investment banks. Not just Goldman Sachs. Is is that het had all these people that went on to open up hedge funds and run major banks and were very heavily involved in the financial billing. Also, i was unaware. I dont think that donald trump has solicited tens of millions of dollars from foreign government. Left and some of the rightwing, what they want is they want him to be penniless. They want him to sell everything and say here i am. No. Donald trump, keep your money and your business. Towhatever you need to do distance yourself from it as much as you can. I dont think that for air act trump and the foundation that they have, from what i can understand they raise money for cancer research. So the fact that the media are reporting are totally wrong. And he also had fundraisers for saint jude. Outalso, i want to point that people have Charity Events all over the country. Theyre are people who go to Charity Events and donate 5,000, 10,000, 20,000 dollars. It is for charity. Unlike the Clinton Foundation that only give 10 of the money to anything and profited. Host let me ask you this question. Point, what is your reaction to the New York Times this auction that eric trumps name was included with included a coffee with his sister . Several of the highest bidders that theyn interviews enter the competition in hopes of using her as a way to get a message to her father on issues such as immigration and election fraud. Access in exchange to money. I disagree with the New York Times, no big surprise. But what youre saying is that this is eric trump, not donald trump. And this is ivanka trumppence not donald trump. It is the donors who are reporting this. I remember back in the George H W Bush administration when they tried to show a picture with noriega in the same room as george bush and implied that somehow they were in cahoots when in fact, that was not true. So the media, they play games. And i hope that the Trump Supporters realize that the aretwing and leftwing definitely going to be after him. And it is a fight. And i hope you stay on board with donald trump. Lets see. Whenever he does something i disagree with, i will call into cspan. But it is like whenever Elizabeth Warren accused the frankicans of gutting. When in fact, with a Democratic Senate and a republican house, they agreed to it because want it or down that road. I want to stick to the topic i am asking you about. Npr had this story about stocks. Donald trump insists he can do all the business deals he wants while serving in the white house. But a 2012 law barring Insider Trading could make doing so a lot more complicated. The stock act bars members of conduct from buying and selling securities based on inside information. The u. S. Government of ethics says the law also covers executive branch employees including the president and Vice President. This should also apply to the trump family of businesses. If he owns businesses and uses Insider Information as president then he is in violation of the act. And this from the New York Times this morning. The Donald Trump Organization agrees to labor deals with two of the major hotels. The agreement resolves labor disputes that could oppose a conflict of interest and comes on the heels of similar moves in recent weeks. In november, donald trump paid 25 million to get rid of a number of allegations including at his former university. Now, he is excluded himself from the management of a hotel in brazil. Taken together, the move suggests that donald trump is sensitive to the perception that his business dealings could cast a shadow over his presidency even as he has yet to figure out how to give a comprehensive resolution. Kathleen, lets get your voice in here. Mr. Ew york, you voted for trump . Are you there . Go ahead. Caller happy to talk to you. Thank you for being there. I voted republican for the first time in many years. And i am for mr. Trump. I think that the news is making a lot of stories out of nothing. I am sure donald trump has wonderful advisors. The best of lawyers and his family is wonderful. And they have been working for saint judes which i have donated to for many years, it is a wonderful cause. And i think that instead of putting the children down, hard i have children and they are hardworking and i praise them and i thank them and i am proud of them. Donald trump is proud of his children. And he speaks wonderful. And i think we need a change in america to the positive people. The happy people. The strong people. Not the negative. I see so many hateful democrats. And that makes you voted different way when you see the hate that the democrats are putting out. Bernie sanders and Hillary Clinton, all of them. They are all negative and hateful. We will take a look at the common cause website. Stop Donald Trumps confident of interest. He must put his assets in a blind trust. Putting his children in charge isnt enough. Carlene, from pennsylvania, go ahead. Caller i called in because i am very upset about this. I think that every other president has divested all their business interests. And although there isnt a law against it, there should be. And its probably because im sure the Founding Fathers, none of them had interests all over the world. And donald trump, ive read that he has had 3500 lawsuits about his businesses. Get into thatt to when he is president of the United States . And even the children running his businesses. Hes still going to know what is going on. And want to let you know that politico is reporting that donald has picked Kellyanne Conway to serve as counselor to the president. She turned on the job as white house spokesperson. She has now been picked to serve as counselor to the president. The Washington Post reports as shopping forshe is homes and schools here in washington, d. C. We go to salt lake city, utah. Caller good morning, how are you doing . I have a couple of comments. Aret of all, some people talking about taking a chance. Ont we do not take a chance the president. We take a chance in a casino. Somebody, they are responsible for our future. We cant take a chance. Donald trump, he doesnt show up. His tax returns, we cant judge them better there. Now because he doesnt have the tax returns, the irs takes care of the taxes and they will audit somebody. They will cover the whole saying. For example, if you have an audit in 2002 or 2012, you cannot continue until 2016. There is no such a thing. Most important thing is this. , he does have conflicts. His name is in the business. When he is claiming that he is a businessman, my question is this. Do you think that renting houses and businesses, is it business . Something and manufacture something . If you export it, then it is business. So we have to clean up. Having a hotel isnt just a business. I cant even find a name for that. Business is when you manufacture anything. Host i understand your point. Other news for you this morning. Coming from the west coast. The former white house aide and l. A. Times employees joins the the list to succeed sarah in the house. Staffer, i dont how to pronounce her name, she is enter the race to replace the congressman. A former employee of the los angeles times. She has her upbringing and her experience in washington makes are wellsuited to represent the 34th congressional district. That is from the l. A. Times this morning. And there is also this. Andce china critic professor will head the new trade council for donald trump. Talking about his choice of Peter Navarro as the head of the National Trade counsel inside the white house. It is unclear what kind of power this council will have. Signaling that he wants to follow through on the tough campaign rhetoric, in which you for manufacturing woes. And this newspaper here in washington, left, right, prep for battle royale. Pick forions is the attorney general. Both conservative and liberal groups are gearing up for a battle over the attorney general nominee and some activist say this could be so explosive it could overshadow a fight over the pic for the supreme court. Nearly 150 outside groups on the they have delivered a stern no compromise method. Make jeffplans to sessions pass comments about race the defining element in his confirmation battle. From thethere is this front page of the New York Times. And the Washington Post as well. Signing up for the health care law. Million register for the plan. That is outpacing the 2016 numbers. And then also, the potential new nationalhe democratic convention. The congressman from minnesota, keith ellison, shedding the past. Writing under the name he penned columns while at law school in which he defended against accusations of being a racist. He also had a separate opinion of americans. Ent additionally, he faced criticism for the role he played in the member of a black lawsuits association. And he invited black nationalist speakers to the university of minnesota. Campusew opposition from groups representing jewish women and gay and lesbian students. Decade, theyhan a looked beyond this controversial past and he was rewarded with a seat in congress. He now speaks to lead the party. E go to winston, salem back to the discussion now about the potential conflict of interest for donald trump at his family. What do you think . Caller absolutely. Toweroblem with the trump and the secret service being ,aid to now secure that tower it is costing taxpayers millions of dollars every week. Thathe president to say they wont take the president salary, while he is making that in half a day from the taxpayers that are paying from the secret service to guard that tower. So thats the first thing. You callershing, if back mentioned the negativity of Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton and we cant let her get away with that. The whole Trump Campaign was based around the negativity and splitting the country to focus on the immigration problem. They never focus on the people who are taking their money overseas into tax havens. Not paying their fair share. Nobody wants to talk about that on the right and that is why i cant get behind it. Host anthony in minnesota. Your thoughts. Caller i believe it is absolutely essential that the president disclose his taxes. The conflicts are outrageous. If you look at what is going on now, they are saying something about draining the swamp but the swamp is overflowing with millionaires and billionaires. Know if trumpto or any of the people he is putting into office, we are ready know the secretary of state is an oilman. Wouldnt you like to know laws . Y what the president is in charge of the tax code, wouldnt you like to know what he is taking advantage of . A billionst almost dollars or whatever the amount was, that is a good business. Of glad that this happened because i dont think the Founding Fathers set it up for millionaires and billionaires to be the ones to run the country. And we have to start thinking about the poor people. The poor people youd need to unite and get a Party Together for us. Because nobody with the billions of dollars will look out for us. Host that is anthony in minnesota. The wall street journal this morning has a story about paul ryan. It is reported that he succeeded he raised nearly 90 million including more than 52 million through his own network of political committees. As well as money raised working with other political groups. Almost 41 million to the Republican Campaign compared with 60. 4 million compared with john boehner. He appeared at more than 100 events in 25 states. Members of the Freedom Caucus republicans often tangled with gop leaders but they have benefited from the fundraising. He directly contributed to more than a quarter of the caucus members and his donations totaled about 100,000 from 2000 152016. And also this. A senator lamar alexander, a republican, and a democratic write that to save the planet, go nuclear. The two senators advocating for Nuclear Power in the country to address climate change. In two decades, the United States could lose about half of the reactors because by 2038, 50 reactors will be at least 60 years old and they will have to close, representing nearly half of the Nuclear Generating capability in the United States. Without them, italy much harder to reduce the Carbon Emissions that contribute to climate change. Bipartisan effort by these two senators to address this. And usa today, the front page, the general of the air force says that a shortfall in the Armed Service is critical. That theyre told critically short of personnel and needs to expand by more than 30,000 active Duty Service Members to meet security obligations. Last voice here on the Trump Administration potential conflicts of interest. Michael, you voted for donald trump. Go ahead. Caller good morning. Thank you for cspan. Problemsee any real with Donald Trumps business affiliations, as far as a convict of interest. Every politician that gets elected takes money from all kinds of groups. In some cases, millions coming in from super pacs and whatnot. So there is a perceived obligation to cater to the whims of the folks who give them the money. So that is a conflict of interest right there. Police donald trump, through the course of his election, he didnt have the need to get the money from these organizations and corporations. Less chainsly got on him than most politicians do when they get elected. So im happy to see him in office. Host but do you think he should divest . Do you think when he holds a News Conference that he is canceled, should he divest his business . Handed over to his children . As the i think its far operation of the business, he would be wise to do so. He is holding the office of the presidency. That is a pretty big job. And it will consume all of this time. And he should divest. As the conflict, he will always have an interest in it. Regardless of whether or not he is running it. Host so then he would have no ownership or income coming from it, he could handle the Business Operations but still not divest. Caller correct. I mean, he could give the perception that he is leading the company but the reality is that he is always going to be invested because it is his company. He built it and made it what it is today. Leaves the office of the presidency, he will always be back in it so it is an interest. Company and of the the sake of the country, getting away from the operation of the business, it will be a distraction. So he does have to get away from it. Host that was michael who voted for donald trump in connecticut. We will take a short break and then we will continue talking with you this morning. We will next be joined by liz reporting on how drugmakers and industry back to nonprofit give a federal response to the Opioid Crisis. And later, it a look at books with the author of twilight warriors and how the Security Apparatus has adapted to fight post9 11 terrorism. Next week, washington journal will devote an entire program each day to the key issues facing the Trump Administration and congress. Beginning monday, we take a look at National Security and defense issues including challenges facing Donald Trumps National Security team and a closer look at the career of james mattis. Tuesday, it is trade and job issues with how congress and the Trump Administration could change trade laws in an effort to create or save laws. Energyhe issue will be and environmental policy. We will talk about how climate issues might be impacted by the new congress and the Trump Administration. Thursday, we talk about immigration and how donald trump might change immigration policy. Friday, december 30th, we take a look at the future of the Affordable Care act and how the Republican Congress will repeal and replace it and the key players to watch in the month ahead. The sure to watch washington journal beginning monday at 7 00 a. M. Eastern. Military force is one of the things that i think that the military that the American Public gets impatient about because they really believe they have the trump card. This military that could defeat anyone. But it isnt true. It is an extort very military. But it can only win in certain situations. And it can only destroy things. It can build a new order. Sunday night, a journalist and professor talks about his career and the challenges facing the u. S. War on terrorism in his latest book. Do ist we dont want to respond in such a way that will produce more of these militants. More of the militant organizations. They want us to overreact. They want us to occupy muslim countries. So they can build their recruitment. They want us to torture people. A want us to do things that will allow them to make their case against us. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern. Washington journal continues. Our table this morning, a reporter for the center for Public Integrity or he is here to talk about a series on the Opioid Crisis. Lets begin by talking about the persistent Drug Companies launching a multistate tragedy strategy . We looked at the power they had at the level and the response to lawmakers, realizing we had a problem with opioids in the country. To be a willdone to defend their products over the last few years. There were a number of things done at the state level and federal level. Talking about how pain as undertreated and we need these drugs. Users are in desperate straits limit should do more to access to them. And we found they had a vast political power and contributions and lobbying and they used that to their advantage. Host how much money are we talking about . That they spent on the state level . Level, wethe state saw several Million Dollars and we dont know exactly how much it versus other interests. But in total in 10 years we saw politicalon in contributions and lobbying at the state level. And not all of that was necessarily for opioids. But a lot of it was available for drugmakers when they needed to cash in on the political relationship. You note in one of your stories that this is where the 200 times than those advocating for stricter policies spend and more than eight times with the gun lobby spent during that same time. Guest yes. We looked at data from state and federal governments and we added up with the nra and gun manufacturer spent. And what pharmaceutical companies have spent outnumbered them. There are a number of groups that are groups that have been started by parents of children who have overdosed. That kind of thing. Who are fighting for stricter limits on opioids. Widespreadopposed to pharmaceutical group. And they only amassed 4 million over the same amount of time. And the result . Guest at the federal level, drugmakers have been able to push their point effectively for many years. Fda regulators two years ago were fighting a sadistic that when hundred Million People are living which came from a report that drugmakers did. This hase state level, been pushed back or delayed. We also see the city a new drug. A deterrent formulation. Those are incredibly profitable for pharmaceutical companies. And that is something that will help the Opioid Crisis even though they have not yet been driven to produce Drug Overdoses or deaths. And those have seen an increase in the number of bills and attention they are getting. Host lets talk about that. They are called tamperresistant. You cant crush them. Explain. Why are advocates saying this would help reduce the Opioid Epidemic . Are two mindsets about what is going on with the opioids in america right now. A lot of doctors who are concerned about overprescribing see people going into the hospital for the first time and having a broken ankle and coming home with an open your prescription. It may last 30 days and they only needed seven days and then they are hooked on the drug. They see that as a main culprit in the Opioid Crisis today. It now has many people addicted. Their response to that is to say that we have an addiction crisis. Whereas if you talk to drug lobbyists, their real emphasis is on a drug abuse crisis. These drugs are good and they are working how they showed and they are not getting overprescribed. People are snorting them and injecting them and that is the problem. Are created to be harder to crash and dissolve. And that is supposed to stop some of the abuse. But these are still the same active ingredients. The sametill get result. Host what does that mean for profits for the Drug Companies . Guest these drugs are patent protected. They are very lucrative. Last year, opioid spent 10 billion in the country. A version was 2 billion of that. 5 ofhough they were only the drugs prescribed so they are big money makers for the Drug Companies. In some cases, it seems like that would be a really good idea. We are mandating state versus us go to these drugs versus other solutions to this crisis. Host how are Drug Companies responded to your series . Guest we have actually gotten responses from them. Dont fight that we limits on drugs, even if it means less prescribing, but we havent received a lot of pushback after the publication. Waking upugmakers are and realizing that this is a big problem in america. This is how we are dividing lines. The mountain pacific region, 202 7488001. Part, 202 tral 7488000. If you yourself have experienced this opioid addiction epidemic or a Family Member or you are a doctor with experience with this, 202 7488002. Lets go to stephanie from pennsylvania up first. Good morning. Your question or comment about this . Caller about the incentives. Incentives fore the doctors who are prescribing them. Where ad on cspan Congressional Committee increase the percentage that a doctor gets per prescription when they write a prescription. It was 2 and they upped it to 4 . Is it still 4 or has it been upped since that time . Guest i am not sure what you mean on percentages. These drugs are heavily marketed toward doctors. There are a number of stories over the last 20 years how the maker of oxycontin would reach out to doctors and pay them and give them free dinners and that kind of thing, promoting their drug as saying it is very underused and people are suffering needlessly. Result, there was a flood of prescribing that. Host what do the doctor say about using this drug to treat pain and their prescription, the prescriptions and they write . Well, there are a number of ways to deal with pain for patients. There are certainly alternatives forms like acupuncture, physical therapy, that kind of thing and things like added feel and aspirin advil and aspirin that come with bleeding risks. Opieyards are looked at yards are looking at another one that is needed. Thatioids that are look and are needed. Studies are showing that pages get on opioids and leading to higher doses because their pain thereivity increases and are not so good options for longterm treatment of people with chronic pain. Mean, how quickly can somebody get addicted to a prescription . Questionat is a good and people are trying to figure it out. The big debate on what is dependency versus addiction. , doctors who are very knowledgeable about this , even ife seven days that, you can get dependent on a prescription. Host maryland, joe, what is your story . Your experience with this issue . Caller i called on the wrong line by accident. Me one minute of your time. I promise i can help a little bit with this. In 1990, i was diagnosed with crohns disease. I laid on the table for three wouldnd they said they cut you open and they do not give you pain medications. He cuts me and said, lesson, you had across disease. Does you have crohns disease. We will get with a dietitian and all of that stuff. I was only 24. ,hen i got out of the hospital i was like a new man and i had to get over the surgery and i was on pain medication. And then they hooked me up with a really good doctor that was all about whatever you call it. That doctor said, you know, i just cannot stop going to the bathroom all of the time and pains. He said i will give you this medicine and we will try steroids, and that lamodol. It was the main one. Nobody gave you paperwork saying , sidedicine was, you know effects and all of that. It made me like a new man. I went to work every day and did everything. That window where i could keep time and i would not have to go to the bathroom. It made me select a normal person again. Ive and run and run and been operated on nine times since then. I am 51 years old. Nine times between then and i needed a more it more of that lamodol. I try to stay off of the prednisone because you heard of the Football Players and stuff. All of a sudden, 10 years ago maybe, they started giving you the paperwork. I looked at it and my doctor have theey, we will star back and you off of some of this drug. Now, they need your idea and everything. Years,told me in that 20 i am wide open on the lomotil, a painkiller and nobody knew. And every nine operations, i took opioids and i got off of them. The lomotil, i need to do more and more. Now i take 4 three times a day. One three times a day. It is impossible to have any host that is joes story. What are you thinking about . It seems likest joe has experienced what a lot of patients have. They have had to have increasingly higher doses which is more and more dangerous as you approach levels that shut down your breathing and cause overdoses. A lot of of doctors are doing what joes doctor is doing and notifying patients of the risks and having them do random drug screenings and testing samples to make the sure they are taking prescribed doses as prescribed. And a number of measures to make sure patients are not selling drugs. Host are there laws on the books that require doctors to do that or restrict how much they can prescribe . Guest it is different from state to state. Massachusetts passed a law that asks doctors for firsttime prescriptions to limit that to a number of days. That was flocked by pain advocates fought by pain advocates. Guidelinestes have and not laws. Host we are talking about the order crisis, epidemic, some say, in this country. The rise and use of prescription kill. 200 million prescriptions in 2015 according to the recording reported by our guests in the series and they have done looking at the issue. And a. S a physician you are on the air. Caller good morning. What you think about this host what you think about this . Aller i am in a physician im a Critical Care physician. And i think this problem was largely created by the federal government. Youreason i say that is remember back in the early 1990s, there was a big move for by the federal government, some of the people decrying right now the Opioid Epidemic passed legislation so that we were coastal election we were under treating pain patients and people in pain had pain and we cannot understand it. We had to give them relief for their pain, all of the time, 24 7. , there weres government mandate seminars from our state agencies that we had to prescribed stuff. For example, i remember a patient in the 1990s who came to me that a questionable disability. I asked him to sign a contract he would only receive drugs for me and that he would not go to other people to get drugs. He was getting several hundred opioid medications from other physicians. I got a call from disability to termination of services at our state and the federal Government Official accusing me of abusing this person. Fortunately, their relationship with him and did. And now, i see the opposite side of the coin. It is like one of these cause celebre among progressives. At first it was pure everybodys pain and now not prescribe the things. Host can i have you hang on the line and listen to this from senator manchin, democrat from West Virginia . I want to hear what your reaction to the latest from a lawmaker out here in washington. He was on cnn with jake tapper. I have been saying this for a long time. An unbelievable job. He is not let up and he gives me information that is so accurate and factual. We have been saying it is a business model. That cannot tell me you can send a 9 million peels to West Virginia and someone has been targeted. You have the fda continues to pull more products on the market. They are allow more products and not taking anything off. You have the dea not doing their job and all. Overstatingically how many products are going to the market and was dispensing it. Nobody is overseeing the doctors and making sure they are competent and educated well enough to understand the perils of this overprescribing. Level, nothe state just our state of West Virginia, while most of the states were pharmaceutical board should be looked at the rogue pharmacies to stop i do not care role pharmacies. I do not care who they are. Down. E to shut them host david, go ahead. Caller it is going to make it worse. I predict that when i am gone and bear it, there will be a move to treat people in pain dm there will be a move to treat people in pain again. I think the Truck Companies meet amy Drug Companies meet a need, this is kind of like an earthquake released 20 years ago. Youre now seeing the aftershocks and the tsunami. The next are will be under treatment of pain. The issue is the objective treatment of pain. And thee other forces market that are causing doctors to behave this way. The pressure to see 60 or 70 patients a day to make your overhead. I just went through a license were normal were always required renewal were always required to have 30 hours of Online Training and the dangers of prescribing opioids which i learned in medical school. We all know they are dangerous. It is very difficult to be objective about the use of opioids. Pain is not objective symptom. Host right them eitherve give them because you are somehow hurting people by not giving them or courting them because they are being hurt by over prescription. Host do you believe they are effective . Caller if they are used , yeah, if theyre used properly. Host what percentage of your patients do you believe use them properly . Themr my patients use properly because i do not give narcotics for migraines. Ltimate ok host ok. Caller i do not give narcotics generally for low back pain because here is my feeling. I think about 1 10 of the population as a propensity to medication,dent on and otherpioid drugs things. You do not know who they are when is a walk into your office. If youre not objective about their pain and about the condition that produced it and the use of the medication, you are taking a risk that a person is going to become a demand of opioids. It does not this is across all social classes. I mean, it has taken care quietly in this day because without strong alcohol laws in utah. Giving them behind the curtain to permanent people and less prominent people, they drift from doctor to doctor. Host i have to leave it there. Liz essley whyte, listening to him, what do you think about the reporting you have done . size what he is saying with a lot of the reporting we have done. Throughout the 1990s, we saw a loss call retractable pain. Laws called retractable pain acts. They said pain was undertreated and if your doctor will do not prescribing opioid to a patient, you do to refer them to another doctor who will. In 26 in tennessee in 2014, it was a possible cause of huge increase in number of drug addicted babies being born and babies who are born with the drawing from opioids that their mothers have been on. Having highpitched screams and it is really sad. Decided, lets repeal this retractable pain act. One of the groups that came out americanfunded, the Cancer Society network came out with lobbyists to oppose repeal. They viewed it as necessary to evend Cancer Patients use though the repeal of the law one not have affected them. They even until recently advertise on the website if you were a corporate donor you got one on one sit down with the policy team and a chance to talk about legislative synergy. Host go ahead. Caller my life has been ruined over this. Toave been in pain from 1995 2002. I couldnt control my pain with minimal peels pill pills. Sometime pills. Sometimes i need none and sometimes 2 and sometimes 100. In physical leg therapy after knee replacement. My pain went from aspirin to a bottle of oxycontin and still being in pain. Here is the deal. I spent 15 minutes in the office with a doctor. They do not have a clue. If i am addicted to drugs, they send you for 90 days to recover. I needed to be in a situation where they can see my pain and figure out how to treat it i have gone in public where i pass out and have seizures. I have been arrested because ive had seizures and went crazy over the pain. Then i went to jail and i blacked out and they sent me to a hospital and got my pain under control and i was normal for two or three days. I cannot spend 15 minutes with a doctor and get it under control when i made 15 days for somebody can actually see what i go through. It is unbelievable. Lost a my savings and kids. I am bed ridden. I can take almost no drugs. , iried to walk to the store pass out and have seizures. I basically cannot get out of bed. It is ridiculous because i am getting drugs when i do not need it. And when i need it, i need 10 times what the patch gives me. Bed, but to get out of if i sit around for a couple of days, host sorry there. Robert. Go ahead, robert. Caller unfortunately, a couple of weeks ago, down in our neighborhood, a person overdosed and died in a car that was really upsetting to the people in the neighborhood. If the industry has lobbied against Marijuana Legalization . I know it has his own tradeoffs and problems. Concerned that it will be used as alternatives or to supplement where people can use less opioids and other painkillers . If you could answer that. Host sure, robert. Guest there are certainly people who are saying that the drug industry is coming out against Marijuana Legalization or planning to. There are others who are saying they plan to take over the marijuana industry. I have seen i have not seen significant evidence of either one yet. I think except for the ballot ,easures in the last election it was certainly a turning point because now a number of people are seeing that states can have access to legal marijuana. Host john in north miami beach, florida. Good morning to you. Are you there . You are on the air. Caller sorry. Used to smoke opium there was a lady who i knew who brought it back, i do not know how much she got it. We smoked opium for like six months. A nurse over there. We had a lot of fun. We got smashed every night. In the morning, we went to our respective jobs. Nothing happened and did the same thing over and over. And we said,n out try to get some more. She said, i cannot get it. Ok, that is fine. There were no to draw since the dutch withdrawing withdrawal symptoms. All of a sudden, out of the clear blue, i went to a doctor and he said he now hide. I explained i had taken opioids or opium, whenever you want to call it, i am not an expert on it. He said, you have hypertension. What we are going to do is give a resulta blocker and benzomean been so called valiant. It was a poison to me. I cannot go more than an hour without it. And then he said, we will change it to ativan. When i did my research, it was a bit so dapper main benzo also. And then a nongeneric. I was addicted to that. Had withdrawal symptoms i had sweats. I read that benzos are harder to win w from then hair heroin. I got all the stuff but it took me months. I went down for my 30 milligrams toay, it was actually close 100. I started breaking the pills until finally one morning i woke up and felt good, felt good for a week, no relapses. That was 30 years ago. Benzo really got me hooked. Do anything toot me. I will like to hear your comments on this. Host Liz Essley Whyte not know of anybody who smokes opium these days. People start with a painkillers and graduate to heroin. I will say that benzos and opioids today are a lethal, toxic combination. A number of states have addressed both together because they are so dangerous in causing overdoses. Host congress recently acted on this. What did it they do and did the Drug Companies have influence over the legislation . Congressis summer, passed a bill to get more medication treatment in an a Drug Overdose reversal into the hands of state agencies and more responders. They do not provide a lot of funding and they recently added it in. One of the things they managed to do in the course was to the rebateseak from that pharmaceutical companies normally have to pay to the federal government for medicaid for abuse to true drugs. That was worth 75 million. It was a 75 Million Dollar break for drugmakers for these types of drugs which are supposed to be harder to abuse and some people say it is the solution to others saying host lori in texas. Good morning. Caller good morning. Liz essley whyte is awfully young. In the 1980s, they started this and people were committing suicide because of they cannot handle their pain medication. What started this all this time is sunday group to sanjay gu pta and he is with the democrats and his son died of an opioid overdose. His happened is he called best friend and said he was going to go out with his girlfriend and they would take this oxycontin and they would drink. His best friend was a doctor instead do not do that. Oh, we are careful. Well, the guy did it twice and he told his best friend and he died. Doctor gupta had a meeting with the clintons and wanted to put a stop to all of this. On paine the then, i am medication, i need to be on pain medication. When it they had more when they had none all on it, i took myself off. Now that ive needed, my doctors are scared to even prescribe anything to me. My husband, he has taken himself off of everything. And here you have to go to a specialist and i talking about like 300 for specialist that does not check your blood, does not check your weight, your blood pressure, just gives you your prescriptions and might check your urine and out the door you go. Are Liz Essley Whyte, there folks cracking down on the doctors themselves . Why are doctors are telling prescriptions . Doctors arenk responding to the increasing level of overdoses and impact the Opioid Crisis is having. More and more doctors are realizing these drugs come with inherent risks, and are being more cautious about starting people on opioids which may papal say that should many people say it shouldve been done. Host caroline, good morning. Doctorsa lot of these put people on these drugs because once you have taken them, you have to clue me in every month, theyre guaranteed a doctors visit pay. Ive had to sister lost on both sides of two sisterinlaws on both sides to die from the drugs doctors have given them. They walked around like something is. Opium and marijuana are both plants. But opium is habitforming. I have fibromyalgia and they put wasn and told me it nothing to be concerned about. I had to work myself off of them. There is toohink much money being made on opium and thats a reason why they are trying to get rid of marijuana in some states to legalize it there is money to be made. Host we will talk about that. Liz essley whyte, you mentioned it. How much are Drug Companies making forprofits . Billions. Last year, billions in sales. A lot of the blockbuster drugs like oxycontin have racked up tens of billions of dollars over years and are now expanding. The l. A. Times have a stories expanding overseas and getting doctors to prescribe them, just not in the u. S. The u. S. Is the largest market and they are reaching out and going abroad. Host what about stay attorney general holding the Drug Companies accountable . Guest states attorney generals have issued a number of lawsuits against them. In 2000 back in 2007 and they played guilty to misstating the risk of abuse and addiction for their drug and paid 600 million in fines. There been other lawsuits as well. Since then, drugmakers like pfizer have ramped up contributions to state attorney associations. We have seen out of that a number of attorney generals get on board with this. There is heavy lobbying going on. Host New Hampshire where the Opioid Crisis was part of the president ial campaign. John, good morning. Thank you for taking my call. There is a serious problem up here. Do inlot of that has to my own opinion is when the economy crashed and totally jobs leftd all of the of the state, people would just go into distrust mode. Rather than suicide, they , theylly thanks to god turned to opioids. To opioids. Ed it was a way of dealing with the crisis. On a second the note, i have seizures, bad seizures. Seizures to a point where ive broken my back. It is so violent. I have had a shoulder replacement, brain bleeds. I am on opioids for continued was basis. I do it as prescribed by the doctor, wellcontrolled and i go to a pain clinic. They count to my pills and do a urine test. I take them as prescribed and i do not abuse them. Reason, there was a restriction on medication. My quality of life would be miserable. I would not being to function. Host john, your personal comments reflect a poll taken by Pfizer Foundation reported on , it says a large number of americans experience serious pain and the vast majority although whoever used , they workkillers and it improves their quality of life. That is john story. And louisiana. Good morning, greg. Maam, good morning. I want to make a comment on this. I go to a Pain Management dr. And i have Rheumatoid Arthritis and fibromyalgia. Is thet i feel like federal government has put so many restrictions on it and it the v. A. In force of the laws and they have a proper place in this and they handle what they are supposed to do and do what they are supposed to do. They have made it so strict on doctors that now in louisiana, i do not know everywhere, but people have to go to a Pain Management doctor. You cannot find a doctor, hardly any doctors like internal medicine, family practices, things like that they even painribe pain medicines on management type situations like they used to. What i feel like is, i understand that the v. A. Hasnt their place and they do good havestopping do their place and they do good work in stopping people from going doctor to doctor. I agree with that. And thee it so hard main thing i want to make is i told my wife a well back a back,ack, when while when they made us a restrict on this a few years ago, i told my wife what it is going to do is drive a lot of patients out on the streets to star buying illegal drugs. Host we will pick up on that point. Talk about the use of heroin. Guest a lotta people start of prescription painkillers and graduate to heroin. That is well known and well documented and study trend. Here when its cheaper heroin is cheaper. You can get it, a bag of heroin. Or 10 versus namebrand prescription that could be hundreds of dollars. Depending on the type of high, their users who prefer the prescriptions because they know what they are getting versus the street heroin. Lo a number of patients have not been able to stay on their regular dosages prescribed by a doctor and has started taking more and more praying pain prescriptions and that turned into a heroin addiction. Host go ahead. Caller good morning. I want to say that this is nothing more than discrimination from the federal government and an attack on people who are disabled and that need these prescriptions. It is like was going to be next . Will it be Heart Patients . Will they pull insulin from diabetics . These regulations they have, the only people they have heard is those of us who made their prescriptions and take it legally and go through the right channels. Not only go to a doctor but has to go to a specialist and jump through hoops doing pill counts. You have to go once a month. You do blood tests. You do urine test to get a prescription. The only people that this is going to hurt are those who use the drugs illegally. Host let me ask you this, is there a compromise on the table . Pendulum is the definitely on the pain is undertreated and we need to who needpioid patients these drugs. It has swung towards we need to do something to stop the overprescribing. I would say regulators and lawmakers are hoping to find a healthy medium. There are patients who do really well on these drugs and there are patients who are selling them to others and dying of overdoses independent and do not have active lifestyles anymore because of them. Host Liz Essley Whyte reporter for center for Public Integrity. To the website to read the reporting she and others did as well as the associated press. Thank you for being here. , we will discuss changes to the national Security Apparatus after 9 11 with James Kitfield, author of this book, twilight warriors. Later a discussion on the u. S. Military roles on fighting isis with Brigadier General Charles Cleveland. He will join us from afghanistan. This holiday weekend, some of our featured programs. Look at farewell speeches and tributes from outgoing members of congress and the white house. Started at 12 30 p. M. With barbara mikulski. Tributes and speeches for Vice President joe biden. At 8 00 p. M. , christmas at the white house. Join first lady Michelle Obama as she receives the white house and toward the white house and see this years decorations. Childrenprojects with of military families and the Tree Lighting ceremony on the National Mall stop at 8 40 p. M. , hear from Joe John Boehner on the Trump Presidency and his time in the congress. Attended the portrait unveiling of Outgoing Senate minority leader, harry reid. Speakers include Hillary Clinton, joe biden and charles schumer. At 12 30 p. M. , we care for retiree member of Congress Representative Charles Rangel of new york. From the shakespeare theater, we take you to the romeo and juliet wrongful death mock trial where samuel alito serves as presiding judge. At 6 30 p. M. , and look at the career of Vice President let mike pence. At cspan. Work in listen on the free cspan radio app. Sunday, in depth will feature a live discussion on the presidency of barack obama. Our Panel Includes april ryan and author of the presidency in the black and white. Princeton andersity professor journalist and associate editor of the Washington Post david. Watch it live from noon until 3 00 on book tv. Cspan work history unfolds daily. As a79, cspan was created Public Service by americas Cable Television company and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. Announcer washington journal continues. Now for ourg us author weeks James Kitfield, veteran reporter and author of this new look, twilight warriors. He is a senior fellow. Who are the twilight warriors . Ofst they are a group as wellilitary officers as special agents, fbi, dea who after 9 11 were thrown into this war and terror in a way they never been thrown together before. And basically developed over we associateel with the drone strikes or special forces raids. It was pretty fascinating by 2011, it was very clear the administration would focus on that aspect to keep us safe and pull out of the wars in iraq and afghanistan. It seemed like a lot of a good time to see what we learned. I profiled their experiences and the lessons they learned. Host why write a book about these folks . Guest it wasnt that, the seminal year was 2011. Everybody remembers that we killed Osama Bin Laden with one of these signature kind of raids , that was Intelligence Driven. We killed an american cleric who led al qaeda. Many people thought he was more dangerous than bin laden because he spoke in american vernacular and recruited and was savvy in using facebook. We killed those two leaders. Time the president decide to pull the troops. This model was going to be how the focus of how we were going to keep ourselves safe and it was shrouded in unbelievable secrecy that they would not admit for a long time we were behind some of these strikes. Everybody understood as a journalist we were behind them. Shrouded a lot of secrecy and it bothers me as a journalist. On thisgoing to depend model, we should understand the strengths and weaknesses. Host you write the phenomenon f globalization you movement . Ofd the twilight warriors is it behind the movement of tar want of twilight warriors . Guest it is. The fbi handle Domestic Intelligence and the cia handled national intelligence. There were huge disconnect between those agencies. Huge disconnect, huge cultural clashes between those organizations. And quite honestly, the 9 11 hijackers exploited those. The fbi knew that some shady characters were taking flying lessons but do not know her connect them to al qaeda because they do not have that intelligence. This rise of terrorism of nonstate actors being empowered is a phenomenon happening since at least the 1990s. Clearly, the islamic extremists focused very narrowly on strike and the west to achieve goals of driving us out of regions where they will like to establish and they became very good at exploiting those. Those disconnects and how they found ways to fill them and erase the scenes are a key part. Host how are they doing it . Guest the short answer, really this incubator for this new style of warfare was joint forces of command. , maximumreally maximum power and authority to act on their own. Establish these joint task force where you brought the fbi guy and special forces operating in organization. Under general Stanley Mcchrystal and to larger decree mike flynn, they reached out to everyone who was in the fight, intelligence, Drug Enforcement administration and put to them and the single room all finding these guys and going after them. Find,ated this model of fix, finish, explore and analyze. The last two parts point to the revolution because these operations are as much intelligence gathering as targeting. They focus on Intelligence Driven operations which was key because the you are fighting an enemy who could hide in plain sight and operated from the shadows. That changed everything. A new model of operation and focused on everybody talks about a hole in the government. We talk about that as the holy grow. They achieved that but with a very narrow mission of targeting terrorist. Turning point is 9 11 and you have Donald Rumsfeld as the secretary of defense. What impact does he have on this new way of fighting . In my Donald Rumsfeld, writing have been critical of him for number of things, including the iraq war. You have to see say getting credit that he sought special forces would be the key attribute. He understood he was not comfortable with having to rely on the cia and other intelligent agencies. He empowered in the agencies under his own purview including the National Security agency who does most of the communications. Pampering focus on a special forces giving them more authority to be the counterterrorist and strikeforce that was his legacy here. Host you write in the book that what are you getting that . Guest john f. Kennedy created special forces and before that the role he made a couple of hundred trained by the british air services. In a disk cold war where you were locked in this cold war struggle but a lot of proxy wars going on and the unum is the perfect example. He sought is need for special force. He saw this need for special forces and he allowed them to wear green berets. He was pretty present in the wars. Stormies and after desert where we revealed our conventional capabilities were unmatched and it was inevitable we would be matched by insurgents, assassins because of these are the week against the strong, always has been. Kennedy foresaw that. Here fores kitfield the next about 45 minutes to talk about this book, twilight spiesrs the soldiers, and special addresses revolutionizing the american way of war. How is the military responded to your book . Guest very well. I will get blurbs from dennis grime or. Note well because we do posit very much. These wars in iraq and afghanistan were very popular. The Obama Administration was in a hurry to get to for the initary people who fought these wars, they understand they went through a steep learning curve and they do not want to go through it again if there are called in for similar type of thing. You would you say, could say this approach you outlined in your book is succeeding, has succeeded . Guest if you asked virtually days,litary officer and a months, years after 9 11 if we would go more than a decade without another attack of that scale, almost all of them would say no. You would say they had notable successes. Quite notably, all of the key leaders we have identified in these fights end of dead sooner anwar from aler qaeda or Osama Bin Laden himself. 19 of his top 20 lieutenants with the exceptions, we have gotten them. You have to say it is pretty effective. It does not mean you have won at some of the generals point out to me. Killing terrorists leaders is not a war winning strategy. It is a management energy. A fundamental problem is that ideology radicalizing tens of thousands of people to attack and until that is dealt with, it is going to be an ongoing problem. The reason i call it twilight a is the place between victory and defeat, day and night. President obama started talking about a generational struggle. Host lets invite our callers to call in. Republicans, 202 7488001. Andcrats, 202 7488000,. Ndependents, 202 7488002 lets go to caitlin, a democrat. Good morning. Caller good morning. Project,pporter of the an organization that addresses global poverty and make it a policy. He is supported in addressing National Security. The worlds most Dangerous Company countries are among the poorest. Syria, iraq, afghanistan. To build these communities up in hopes it is less likely they will be overrun by terrorist organizations and we will see their return here to the United States. Im wondering about what your thoughts are. Guest an interesting point. What we learned about this itnomenon of radicalization, tends to happen in places there are not stable and do not have a strong government and do not have the law that will keep them under caps locally. Tabs locally. Look at afghanistan in the 1990s, the civil war. Them, including some of them emerge and al qaeda emerged. It looks like what is going on in syria today. If you have a muslim majority company poor that is subtly destabilized, subtly destabilized, these groups will vacuum of power. They seem to be in the most organized groups and that civil war or conflict ill link society area and saw it in somalia and nigeria will bow boko haram and in maili. Thatow the conditions create Fertile Grounds. Unfortunately, after the arab Spring Revolution in 2011, that wars everywhere swept across the middle east. The Fertile Ground for these groups grew dramatically after the average Spring Revolution. Arabs during the revolution. Host republican, good morning. Caller good morning. My name is special agent michael hughes. And the reason why i am calling this morning is to let you guys know that even though president is not anker bush office any longer, we are still on the job. I still does i just retired november 29. We uncovered a Remote Control device that can to be read via untilite without a driver a crowd of people whether. Ederal building or a facility no soul to giant propane tanks and also two giant propane tanks. 9 11, to do now the after george washer George Walker bush was almost assassinated by the ecuadorians. You know, he had nothing to do with this. E was a victim of circumstance by the goodness of his heart and he was the best president this country has ever seen. That and godto say bless you guys and got a bless america. I am in the hospital right now with three gunshot wounds to my chest but i will recover. Yards yet. The bone once i recover, i will be back out there. Guest thank you for your service and i hope you have a speed recovery. George w. Bush, he was a standout president , desert storm was one of the most lopsided victories and built a huge coalition. I have a lot of time for george bush and the team he built. A is aent generational struggle. They will need secret service for their lives because of their people that we are talking about , people move very freely and that the rest to those president s indoor. Glad people like michael protected them. Host your question or comment, paul . Caller willie you comment on the two big issues, iraq war in 9 11 . And the project for the new american century, the plans of the middle east. Ld you please we couldnt take up those either 9 11 or the iraq war, helped innctly, we the middle of the cold war because we were very opposed to the soviet invasion. We supported a lot of the groups and encouraged our friends, the saudis, to encourage these people to fight the soviets. They are the most committed. The whole impact of suicide bombing shows you how committed they are. And they to the top the soviets from afghanistan and watching the soviet union crumbled, bin laden inside was we could do the same for the west. Get the west out of the middle east and we want to replace kings. He became plotting very early in the 1990s to do the same thing to america that he did to the soviet union, crumbled the empire and forth out of the middle east. That was the impetus of 9 11. Direct war was a huge blunder based on intelligence that was that suggested that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and refused to give them up. He had no ties to al qaeda. 9 11,se few years after we were threat sensitive. The Bush Administration decided they cannot put all with or wanted to deal with the problem of Saddam Hussein. We knew how it ended. There were no stockpile of weapons. The Intelligence Community has tried to rebound and not make that kind of mistake again. It was a huge blunder it was stirred up a wasps next and we are being stung today. Gets ofesident obama the legacy. What does he do when he is approached with a new way of fighting . Guest two things. He wanted to get our troops out of afghanistan and iraq. He thought afghanistan was at the good war and he had to commit and decided he did not have an appetite and put a deadline early on in afghanistan. Really wanted to get out of iraq. What he did was he empowered, i think he did more drone strikes in pakistan in his first years than the Bush Administration had done and eight. Really ramped up this style of operation i talked about in this book, going after terrorists and went after, reinvigorated a look for bin laden. Operation was empowered by president obama. He was very aggressive in this. He is try to institutionalize so when he leaves office, it will be part of the toolkit. If i was to be critical of him, he pulled out of iraq too soon. That was the problem of thinking al qaeda was a discrete organization, once you killed the leader and top leaders, you decimated it. Once they were decimated, franchises were springing up from pakistan all the way to north africa. Those groups share intelligence and learn from each other and share foot soldiers. It is a terrorist pension pantheum. Some are focused locally but many once they get powerful tends to pick up on bin ladens strategy of striking the west of getting the west and the middle east and letting them develop. Host isis . Guest very much hence isis. Said it wast once Junior Varsity but it was al qaeda 3. 0. You had been allotteds insight to strident bin ladens insight. Then you had al qaeda 2. 0 which was in iraq under of the car we who use brutal tactics to for a civil war to drive americans out. Almost did it. Almost won. That was a near thing. I covered that war was a if it was not for petronius emma kristol, and if it was not mcchrystal, itd would been a close thing. , if you understand al qaeda in iraq which became isis, they establish all the logistics infrastructures are bringing syrian jihadist to fight american troops. There were first of answer real broke out and syria broke out. These are learning organizations and they learned from al qaeda and the importance of social media, recruiting, radicalization. They learned the terrorist advantage of really brutal attacks. They of taken brutality to a whole new level. They also understood how this idea of a homeland for muslims would resonate with the global muslim. That is part and parcel of the. Arrative of the jihadist we need a homeland and that is keeping guns from being a stronger as we were two centuries ago with the Ottoman Empire spread over europe and the middle east. You have al qaeda 3. 0. Learning, savvy, evolving organization. Only the strong survive, they keep Getting Better and better. They keep evolving. That is isis. They are a very dangerous, savvy organization. Many a fatal flaw in their plan us establishing, it gave i suspect that we both take that territory back and it will become less powerful. They will start launching germanylike we saw in and brussels and paris. You cannot allow these groups sanctuariesries and or they can plot meticulously. That leads to disaster. To its credit of the sanctuaries or they can plot meticulously. Obama administration, they understood when isis took over that land and had to go back in and fight it. Host and the war on terror, James Kitfield book twilight warriors, highlighting National Security and foreign affairs. We will go to patricia and marthas vineyard, a democrat. Caller yes, thank you. This is a conversation this is an excellent conversation. I think that department of homeland should create a hotline so that people can call and offer help to Homeland Security. Othersmr. Kitfield and have novel and wonderful ideas coming in. The other thing i would like to suggest if we stop talking about it being a generational struggle of islamic terrorism because we never know how long it is going to last. Why given that talking point . 9 11 happened in an instant in the world changed. Agreement will change the world in an instant. Thirdly, i would like to suggest that cnn do a onehour documentary about the aftermath of a see something, Say Something person. The authorities will contact , and whether they are describing their identity, to shift what happened, that people can be empowered to do that more because that is critical. I remember hearing interview on reporteda couple something and ended up missing their train. It was discouraging to people to see something and Say Something. Ok, patricia. Guest thank you for those comments. See something, Say Something is something that the department of Homeland Security has adopted. It is a good idea. Maybe someone misses a train or but you may save scores of your citizens. The department of Homeland Security hotline sounds like a good idea to me. He is very attuned to this thread and will be attuned to the challenge of securing the southern border. His big concern that he has expressed to me is this confluence between drug , mexican drug cartels, and terrorists. Their intersections of that that worry him greatly. On a generational struggle, the problem was the narrative came from the white house after bin laden was killed. Al qaeda was decimated and we could go home and these wars were over. That created an expectation and a narrative that allowed isis to rise when we were doing very little about it because we had been told, and a lobby administrations, adjust themselves coming out of the white house. There was a conflict there. They felt it was very premature to say they decimated this threat. In fact, the number of islamic extremist terrorist groups has doubled between 2004 and 2014. When i say i appreciate when i appreciate when president obama says this is a generational struggle. The is people to maintain these capabilities. Through an generational struggle before called the cold war and we won it. Gulf money from saudi arabia and qatar going into pakistan and going to radicalized preachers radicalizing the next generation of jihadists. As long as that is happening, this struggle will come pendant the struggle will continue. Caller good morning. Efforts have to do with their complex in syria and iraq. Complex situation in syria and iraq. Source oftell us the what service and somewhat base and what ordinance is involved with airstrikes. Some of them may be drones. That is one thing. The second thing is, and this is related, what degree are carriers contributing to the airstrikes . Guest great question. I was just in iraq within the last couple of months and did a battlefield tour. One of the essence of this new style of warfare is the technological revolution. It also has to do with precision strike from the air. Where something is on the ground, we can destroy it. That is different from 20 years ago in the persian gulf. Now, everything is guided. The drone is much more revolutionary as a surveillance platform. F3 can combine the whole cycle under one platform. It can find the target and fix the target and destroy the target. Then it could do bomb assessments. The real revolution is the network of the combines the real revolution is a network that combines all of those things. Then spambots locally drones being launched locally. Basis all over africa we have drone bases all over africa. Went to identify the target, it does not matter if its an air of a aircraft flying out carrier battle group, or the drone or special forces aircraft is the in Northern Iraq closest to the target. The network can pick and piecemeal all of these things together because we had developed communications and you canh highways that instantly from all of the world everyone is looking at the same video screen trying to figure out what can get to that point the fastest. It is revolutionary technology. And it is Pretty Amazing when you see it. People who describe the network it can turn its focus so quickly from one part of the world to another because we have so many assets in the air, and people and so people on so many video screens analyzing the video that this network can turn a hard stare on the earth in a few minutes. Florida, ed, an active in the military . Caller longtime retired. But i have kept in touch with a lot of friends and a lot of their sons. I would ask mr. Kitfield who on literacy. I understand it is a tremendous obstacle to training and intel. Along with that, i have read several editorials about administrations failure to grant visas to the interpreters that work with our people, both currently, an afghan and they put themselves in tremendous risk and their families are being targeted by al qaeda and isis. And we let in 100,000 strangers from these countries, but the administration fails to grant the visas to these patriots. Thank you. Host all right. Guest great points, ed. On the illiteracy issue, it is a huge challenge if you are trying if youre trying to train up an indigenous force. We want them to defend their own countries. Much bigger challenge in afghanistan with the Literacy Rate is 90 plus. Iraq is a very educated population. It was a dictatorship and one that had an education system. Iraq is more educated than afghanistan. Yes some of the same problems in somalia where we are trying to train up a local Security Force. Challenge a great when you have a lot of illiteracy to train up an indigenous force. So, you have to deal with that and accept probably less than ideal capabilities, but better than nothing. On the issue on interpreters, i agree, we have had a moral failure of not seeing these people have put their lives on the line. They have saved lives. I have seen it. They are the best friends that are Service Members and leaders have in country because they are conduit and understanding the environment they are fighting in. We have not done enough to make sure these people have the right to come to america because they are in danger. Host we will go to columbus ohio. Caller hi. Am i on . Host yes you are. Caller mr. Kitfield, why is it ok for the United States to kill arabs, but it is not ok for eric to kill americans . Secondly, the United States can solve this problem by stop making enemies. Stop killing arabs. Stop supplying weapons to countries to kill arabs like israel. What are your answers to these questions . Guest chicken and the egg, you know. Americannt is that any after 9 11 had a responsibility to go after that organization. They had declared war on us. We were slow to declare war back on them. They attacked our embassies in africa and killed many africans. Almost sunk a ship in yemen. Constantlylotting against the y2k millennial plots that we averted. Stop,ea if you just they will stop. I do not buy into that. Report all of our troops in iraq in 2011. Did our problems go away . No, they started launching attacks in the west just like al qaeda did. They did the paris attacks in brussels attacks. A worldant to live in where you do not respond, i dont think that will prevail. I take the point that these wars generate a constant every time you fire a sought fire a shot in the middle east, there will be repercussions. The best answer is to leave these places where they are stable enough to their own local governments and officials can keep terrorist groups who want to attack the west from rising up. That has got to be the go that we the goal that we aim for. They will not let us go. Host what about the situation in syria . What was said was it was a stable country, but now you have isis coming into the country as well . Guest syria is a five alarm nightmare fire in the middle of the middle east with all of the sectarian fissures a better region converging. War and ae a civil , that isjority country a combustible mixture. Islamic groups will rise up, to a flame. You can argue president obama had just pulled out of iraq and wanted to get out of afghanistan and had the experience of intervening in libya with that country going into chaos. He was basically just done. His own advisers said we should have been much more aggressive early on supporting the rebels. Just letting that thing burn would have serious effects. We have seen that. The rise of a hyper violent terrorist group like isis, that haveopulations destabilized with our closest friends like jordan and turkey taking over one million, we are going to be dealing with the after effects of syria for all of my life. We have created a narrative where the west left a sod where the west left assad to murder people. We will be doing with the effects of syria for a very, very long time. That is why i call this a generational struggle. Host lets go to robert in georgia. Caller high, thank you. This call is balanced. How have things gotten out of balanced . 9 11 was a terrible incident and practically unprecedented and something had to be done, but if you look at the number of hijackings that took place in the 1970s, you would be amazed. Of theivist at the end 18th century, the communist wars that we were all afraid of, it leads me to think that maybe bin laden was right. A horrible man, of course, but he decided that he that if he pulled out another anarchist type of move, it will cause United States, which had moved to a point of this intimacy practically unmatched to a point of descendency practically unmatched, would you propose to do to get back to balance . Open . Pandoras box been we had to learn this the hard way that we have gone too far, but to the American People think that . Guest that is a great question. Balance you cannot relive history. When we reacted and when after al qaeda in afghanistan, the whole world understood that. We had a huge coalition. He u. N. Understood that everyone got that. I think the invasion of iraq was becauseest gift we gave his group was scattered to the winds. But we fell under his trap and got into the knife fight. That is not the repercussions. That has lots of repercussions. We have some responsibility in qaeda becausef al they were created over the problems that we solved. Had to get back to balance . How do begin to balance . I would like to get back to balance, too. When things start to even out and we can start to extract ourselves from some of these places, but in the meantime, when you have these kinds of groups emerging from these kinds of conditions on the ground, we have learned time and time again that they will be coming after us. You cannot turn your head. We tried that with isis and look what happened . Attracted 35,000 foreign fighters from 50 countries around the world who were then sent back out to launch attacks like we have seen in brussels, in paris, in germany recently. I dont think you can turn your back on that. If those groups get that strong, you have to fight them. This war gets won when there is stability over these regions where these groups are popping up. Host following up on your marks on syria, this story in the paper and the New York Times, out of aleppo and into a leaders embrace. This is a young sevenyearold who has been tweeting from aleppo and has got a lot of followers on twitter. Her message of being left behind in aleppo. Her family was evacuated from the two. Was evacuated from there. There is a picture of the turkish president holding her in his arms. What are the objects of this . Guest turkey has been totally destabilized by not only two million refugees, but by the terrorism from the likes of isis, which has destabilized one of the greatest cities. Himself, he was the number one guy who said as sad must go. He basically lost the bet. He did not count on russia coming in and the iranians on behalf of assad. Now he is trying to walk this fine line. He was recently in moscow come his foreign minister was recently in moscow, talking about was recently in moscow and putin talking about the bombing of civilians and killing women and children has been absolutely a war crime. He is trying to keep faith with those people with that photo op. Host following the assassination of the Russian Ambassador in turkey. Guest that just shows you have hass conflict has left destabilized the whole region, but certainly destabilized turkey. Turkey has a military coup. They have multiple, multiple high casualty terrorist attacks all over the country, but especially in istanbul, which was the jewel of the region. Turkey has been transformed by this. Your back on these things is not a viable opportunity. That is the situation. Florida, what are your thoughts . , 2001, i watched on television as the planes hit the world trade center, and the thought that ran through my head was this it is really too bad that the soviet Unions Red Army withdrew from afghanistan in 1989 because had they stayed in afghanistan, they might have shot bin laden and the scum around him. If that had occurred, then just maybe the 9 11 attacks would not have occurred against our country. The other thought that ran through my head was, it is too bad that the descendents of stalin and the kremlin made that treasonous decision which led to the destruction of the soviet 1991 1992. It is too bad that they were still in power in the fight against the stalinist. Unioney won, the soviet may have been ruled on the basis of revolutionary interventionalists am. Revolutionary interventionalist. Thank you. Guest wow. That is a big bite to bite off. I talked to some of the cia guys involved only themselves against the soviet union. The soviet union was a pretty andy world after actor kept hundreds of millions used europeans under their bootheel and threatened us with National Nuclear weapons and launched proxy wars all over the place that led to putting missiles in cuba leading to the human missile crisis. If you could say that he would win the cold war and have to deal with this if you could say that you could win the cold war the cold war was dangerous and expensive. Now, members of nato and the European Union were freed. I am not sure i wouldve taken that bet. To the dissolution of the soviet union, there are risks i am willing to take to get that done and that happened during hostd. Host brian in michigan. You are on the air. Up the coal. Rought coal was blown up was because of bad people, but the captain was in a hostile port. He was down in a state room. In his own words, he was doing paperwork. How are you going to guard against that when you have a hostile land and you know it . Allowu go in and you actually 17 of your fellow sailors to get killed . Then you go around the country for a year and you are talking about security . Host mr. Kitfield. Guest i dont think we would sail into a report like that. Group wasood this trying to attack us and it was preceded by the embassy bombings. Terrorists, who were suicide bombers, which is difficult to deal with because theyre willing to this rate themselves in the act of mass murder, they were smiling and waving. You cannot have shot them out of the water, but at the time, the decision a ballistic decision was made. Since 2000 andt 11 and they had been pretty hard lessons 2000 and 9 11, it may have been pretty hard lessons. Host what does twilight warriors in this new war of terror say . What can you tell us about the new Trump Administration and how they might fight these wars they suddenly picked . People ie of the profile is Lieutenant General mike flynn. He is now mr. Trumps National Security advisor in waiting. I have written about this recently, but the generals and trumps cabinet including mattis flynn and general that have multiple tours. They have all seen friends and family lost to this. They are very threatconscious. General flynn particularly says we need to be more aggressive going after isis. He and the Trump Administration will be more willing to reach an accommodation with russia to align our interests in going after isis. Not sure what we will have to give up to do that, and that concerns me and others. More aggressive going after isis and more aggressive with vetting people coming from the regions where there is conflict and terrorism. I think general kelly will be much more sensitive to security, which talk to me about last year. This confluence of Drug Trafficking organizations, that has a presence in latin america he will be more sensitive to that. Threatsensitive guys. They will be much more supportive of our allies. Iran, justthat because we Reach Nuclear Deal with them, it does not make them friends. They are behind the mask assughter going on the m slaughter going on in syria right now. Forcere a destabilizing and he is very sensitive to that. You will see a much more administratione that does not take the situation in the middle east as normal. I think they will be more aggressive. Host the book twilight warriors, with James Kitfield. Thank you for being with us. Guest thank you. Host we will end with getting an update from afghanistan. Brigadier will be general Charles Cleveland. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] this weekend on American History tv on cspan3, saturday afternoon just before 5 00 eastern, architectural historian barry lewis talks about the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, why manhattan needed the bridge, and how transportation in the city changed at the turn of the 20th century. When the Brooklyn Bridge was opened, it is not that the ferries out of business. They were running at capacity. By the mid1890s, the city of brooklyn had reached one Million People. At 8 00 on lectures and history that is the interesting thing about Country Music is that it is the music of poor, white people. People privileged to be white, and also people who were underprivileged. In terms of their class identity and economic opportunities. Professor siler on the emerging definition of white blackness in america and how it impacted Country Music. When saturday afternoon at 4 00. Then saturday afternoon at 4 00 a created evidence that threat against the society me be smooth. Society may be smooth. This is the task that faced lyndon johnson. The president 1966 documents the final month of the year of president lyndon b. Johnson, his meeting with mexicos president , awarding the medal of honor to a marine who fought in vietnam, celebrating the holidays with his family at his texas ranch. At 8 00 on the presidency, William Hazel grove, author of a wilson buffered acts for the president as he recovered from a massive stroke. For our complete schedule, go to www. Cspan. Org. Follow the transition of government on cspan as president elect donald trump selections cabinet and republicans and democrats prepare for the next congress. We will take you to advance as they happen without interruption you will take you to keep events as they happen without interruption. Follow us on www. Cspan. Org or listen to our free cspan radio app. Host washington journal continues. We are back and will wrap up todays washington journal by getting an update on the fight against isis in afghanistan. Joining us from that country to take your questions about this is Brigadier General Charles Cleveland with a deputy chief of staff for communications for the Resolute Support mission in afghanistan. General cleveland, lets begin on what is the mission in afghanistan . You very greta, and good morning. U. S. Forces in afghanistan have two missions the First Mission is a unilateral u. S. Counterterrorism mission specifically focused on al qaeda and islamic state. Franchisemost recent of isil. It is a component located in afghanistan and in pakistan. We do have the authority to conduct unilateral operations with defeating al qaeda as well as ifk. Aggressively pursue that omission. Last year, we conducted 350 operations against those terrorists, and specifically, we captured or killed over 200 al qaeda members. And we think the degraded the isk industry by 500 and reduce their overall presence in the country. The reason the focus this mission is to protect our homeland protect the homeland of our partners and allies here. The Second Mission is really, we are members of a larger nato mission refer to referred to as Resolute Support which is to train, advise and assist afghan Security Forces like the army and administrative defense. The reason we do that is the want the afghans to not only to be able to defend their own borders, but we want them to be able to address these terrorist threats as well. When we look at both of the missions, we think theyre very complementary. In the short term, u. S. Forces are applying great pressure on these organizations. In the longer term, we are working with our partners to train up the afghans so that they can conduct these missions themselves. Host general cleveland joining us via skype this morning. General, how Many American men and women are on the ground in afghanistan . Guest sure. We are in the middle of a transition. Than 9800d not more americans here, but by the first of january, we will be down to 8400, so we are in the transition right now. By the first of generic, we will be at or below a thousand 500. Host here is a story in the new it was written on december 2 and they write the Afghan Security crisis is stealing more opportunities and al qaeda. There is a concern that the original mission in the country, removing its use as a terror haven is at risk. Is that true . Guest friendly, that is overstated. If we look at the total numbers of al qaeda there is a component that is core al qaeda, which is the historic al qaeda, but there must be sent franchise is al qaeda in the indian subcontinent. There are probably around 300 or so and that is a rough estimate. We continue to keep very significant pressure on them. Most recently, as announced by the pentagon, we took strikes in one of the northeastern provinces of afghanistan, we leader andal qaeda his two closest associates. We think we are putting significant pressure on al qaeda and we will continue to do that. Standpoint, this time master, we believe there were 1500 and 3000 members of isk located in a province on the eastern border of afghanistan. At that point, he thought they had a presence in about 10 to 11 districts. Now, a year later since United States did receive the authority to go ahead and target isk as based on ourns partners, we think we significantly reduced that present. Think there are approximately 1000 members of isk in a province in the south. We think they are only in about two to three districts. The combination with the afghan efforts with ours has been very successful. Host general, why does the threat exist in the first place . With United States presence there since 9 11, why are these terrorist groups still attracted to afghanistan . What is going on here . What is the problem . Isst of course, afghanistan it is one of their historical locations in a very difficult place to operate in. There is a lot of space that is intentionally ungoverned and the ability to cross waters very quickly countries to all of that. As we look around the globe, there are 98 u. S. Designated terrorist organizations in the world. 20 of those are in the afghanistan and pakistan region. That is why we believe this mission of counterterrorism and focusing on these organizations and keeping as much pressure as we can as possible is absolutely critical for our nation to make sure we are defending our homeland. Host lets get to our first call. Lee in maryland. Go ahead. Caller good morning and thank you for taking my call. I am a high school teacher. Many of my students are from afghanistan and iraq. Right now, i have three of my students sitting around with me. And theo thank cspan awesome Educational Opportunities i get. The question my students have and that i have, how is this war affecting civilians . How is it affecting teenagers . And how was it a fitting education in afghanistan . They are here if you want to ask many questions or anything like that. Host we will have a general respond. Guest thank you so much for the question in my greetings to your students. I was certainly welcome any questions from them. If you take a step back and you go back to pre9 11, a look at the very few numbers of afghan children who were in school and now you look for to the end of 2016, there is an increase. Overall, as you look at the progress that the afghans have made within their own country in a look at their commitment to education, you can see some startling success new compare and contrast taliban era 2001 with todays government in 2016. Destructive for these Young Children as they are trying to go to school. That continues to be one of the main engagements with the taliban is to remind them that number one, you are not going to win militarily. So all of this violent you are perpetrating is really doing unfortunately affecting these children and affecting these teachers. Sadly, we do see that everyday. Host would any of the students, just one, would like to respond to the generals comments . Caller yes. Would you like to respond . We have one student who would like left a question. Host ok. I would like to ask, how many are coming from afghanistan . How many refugees are coming from afghanistan . Guest thank you for the question, because it is very important. The second largest refugee population heading into your are afghans. That is one of the things we work very closely with the government of afghanistan to address, is how do we develop security and prevent the taliban from affecting these people so that people feel secure in their own land . That is not a military mission. That is not something we focus on, but we do believe it is our effort to help prepare the Security Services, set the conditions for the eventual economic opportunity. Host republican, democrat, independent. We do have a number for veterans. Joining us from panama city. Go ahead. Can you give us an update on the Afghan Air Force . I serve their last year i served there last year. It was costly to maintain the pipeline and the logistics. We heard during the last segment s not the interpreter getting into the u. S. Can you explain about that situation . Guest sure. First of all, thank you for your service and i know you know this region very well. Let me take the second question first regarding the special immigrant beezus. To be honest the special democratic visas. To be honest with you, i am not really qualified to answer that. There are probably others out there who can get a better sense. But general nicholson who was the commander of resolute ofport is a strong supporter the special immigrant visa program. To your first question on the air force, i can tell you that i think you would be quiet quite proud of the direction that the Afghan Air Force has gone over the last year or so plus. The first thing i would highlight to you is this time last year, the Afghan Air Force did not have any attack aircraft that were organic. Today, they have eight aircraft. By the end of 2018, they will have a total of 20. It is a larger program. Year,ing in april of this the Afghan Air Force began conducting their first combat operations, and now they are conducting those operations almost daily. They have been a bit of a game change on the battlefield. The second topic i would highlight are the small helicopters that have rockets or machine guns on them. Currently have 27 of those and they are using them all over the country. We absolutely do expect that they are going to get more. The point i think you are making is a great one, which is you just cannot have a pilot. And an airplane have a pilot and an airplane flying. You have to have people on the ground. Unique ability for your commanders to understand how to integrate fires. You need the ability for your commanders to understand how to integrate fires. They are able to train these afghans so they are able to control those fires as these aircraft, to the area. Aircraft, intose the area. Host we will go to charles, an independent. Caller thank you for your service. I just have a comment. I spent about 30 years in and out of that area starting in the 1970s as a naval officer and ofed up as a director chrysler corporation. The one thing that i learned from being in that region is no matter what we do over there, it always seems to turn out wrong. Reason is i of the that think we understand we try to input their image on that in the end are ready for it. Moneynd a lot of time and. I am not sure that we are doing the right thing over there. Is. Much of what the value i really would like to know what the value is if you can explain that to me . Guest absolutely and again, and she for your service and this question. We believe the value of being here is preventing these terrorists funding able to strike the United States again. Of course, 9 11 was conceived here and it was planned here and al qaeda was sheltered by the taliban. Submission number one for us is again, trying to protect our homeland by being able to aggressively target those who wish to do us harm. You make some great points about cultural cultural misunderstanding. I think what is critical right now is that if you look at the government of afghanistan led by the president , and he has his chief executive the peace of this is that number one, they want us here and are looking for u. S. And nato assistance. I should point out that the nato mission has 39 nations participating. A significant effort by nato. It is natos longestrunning mission and natos longest operation. Number one, the government wants us here, and number two about your point about trying to put thatmprint on the region, is the aspect of the traded advisory assist that we work with our afghan partners and collaborate together to help them build Security Services that also work within their country and that they have the lead for and making decisions about. I hope that helps. Host what are the challenges with the training and advising . Times articleyork guest there are a couple of challenges with it. It is important to remember that the Afghan Security services, both the army and the police, our only about seven years old. Natoorces that were then mission prior to our Current Mission did not start aggressively start the Security Services until the 2010 timeframe. Are stillty services very, very young, and on top of that, they are in the midst of a difficult fight. They are not only trying to improve from a tactical standpoint, but also from an institutional standpoint while they are also engaging this insurgency that continues. Challenge number one is being able to balance those efforts. , and youd challenge reference afghans are withdrawn from their positions and what happens at these lower levels is a degree of corruption. It is something we are constantly working with our afghan partners on. Ae president has made this number one priority and he has spoken about it publicly. Oftentimes, we are trying to work with our afghan partners so that the young soldier at that checkpoint is also receiving the food, ammunition, and the fuel that he should be. Host and what about pay . How much are they getting paid . Actually, the taliban is not able to pay tremendous amounts of money. And so, as you talk to recruits out here, you find that there is a constant recruiting pool where afghan do want to join were th do want to join. If you look at the taliban, they are wildly unpopular. Most polls will take that over 80 of the population want to do not want to see the return of the televangelist government and into their lives do not want to see the return of the taliban into their government and into their lives. They recognize the fight continues. It really comes down to us to train, advise, and assist so that afghans can defend their own land, but also address the terrorist that threaten all of us. Host we will go to maryland, a democrat. Question orh your comment, and please turn down your tv. Caller hello. Host yes. The general can hear you. Caller good morning, good morning. [indiscernible] you must remember one thing they have put them all over the region and in the whole world. [indiscernible] figure the whole root of this evil. They are the whole root of this evil. They are getting closer to pakistan. They are using the religion to play hide and seek game. How long are they going to fight this war in the hills . Host journal cleveland, go ahead. Guest well thank you. I will try to be a little more specific . Nato and the u. S. Are not fighting the taliban. When the Resolute Support mission must created at the beginning of 2015, the Afghan Security services and the Afghan Government to complete responsibility for their own security. Our role is to not to do the fighting for them, but to enable them and homebuilder capabilities and build their expertise. 2016 though was a pretty important year we think from a longerterm decision standpoint and it started off at the nato warsaw summit last july when nato decided to continue to see the mission as it isnt to 22017, and also agreed to continue funding the Afghan National army until 2020 for another four years. In the fall, there was a large Donor Conference that occurred in brussels essentially run by the e. U. , and donors committed to providing 15 million for the next four years also. So our view is that this really does provide us a great opportunity to continue to work with our afghan partners to string their capabilities and to continue to get them stronger over this period because the International Community does recognize that the afghans have made progress, but they still have a ways to go, and therefore, we need to remain engaged, and we do remain and we do need to remain focused on the terrorist threats from the area. Ost todd from illinois caller, you are on the air. Caller good morning. I was wondering whatever happened to the afghans that went awol on trading. I forgot where they were . Host general, do you know anything about that . Guest todd, i dont have their specific disposition right now, and there are probably others in the beltway who may be able to get you a better answer. But when you look at the number of afghans would have trained in ,he west, United States, europe frankly even the gulf states, it is a pretty large number, and those who have gone awol is a very small fraction of the afghan elements. That is everything from pilots to maintenance personnel, people going to u. S. Army military schools, two people learning how to fly helicopters, etc. It is a pretty large number and it is a very small fraction of gone awol, not only in the u. S. , but across the gulf. Host you are on the air with the general. Caller good afternoon, general. I dont know if it is morning or afternoon there. Guest i think it is evening. Caller i received a navy core metal and i noticed on your uniform that the flag is flipped. Back in the 1970s, our flag was not flipped. My son came home and said his arm is the flagpole and we are charging forward. We were trained to stand fast and think fast, dont talk fast. Dont always flip forward. I will take your comment on that, sir. Guest thank you first offer your service and i am sure you that experiences i cannot begin to fathom, and thank you for your sons service. I know it is a legacy thing and it is really important. To become fairly honest with you, i am really not wellprepared to discuss this. The son is right and it is intent behind the flag and we are always moving forward, but as you know from your own service and your sons service, our military today continues to be really the most welltrained and most well led military that perhaps the world has seen. So, we stand on your shoulders from people like you who have already been there and passed on your lessons to us, and we will hopefully do that. Host people try to get adam in from california, democrat. Caller thank you for having us in general, thank you for your service. I am calling in regards, i believe, how can i say . Issuesf transparency regarding the military and a lot of people dont understand our role. Like in afghanistan and other foreign countries, and how we can, i guess i am a little nervous, i apologize. Want to say how can the military help to be more transparent and why we do what we do yo . Guest sure, it is something we think about. The more we can communicate and have the opportunity to describe what americas military is doing and why the are doing it, we think that will begin to address what you are describing. Of course, i cannot speak for every location around the world, and i cannot speak for afghanistan, but first and foremost, it is to protect our homeland and aggressively target these terrorists that have the potential, and certainly the intent to threaten our homeland, and ultimately, that is why were here. Host general, what are your plans and the rest of the soldiers for the holidays . Guest thank you for asking and happy holidays to everyone as well. Our hope is to have a day of reduced activities. There will be a couple of sporting events and we are looking for to a great meal from our dining facility. Think most people are pretty much in the holiday spirit right now and we are looking forward to hopefully a good day to kind of reflect on what they are doing and why we are doing it in the direction we are going. Host happy holidays to you and everyone serving there, and thank you for spending time talking to our viewers this morning and explaining your responsibilities ahe
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