Transcripts For CSPAN Washington This Week 20140809

Thanks for being with us and the panel members. We have a team that is really connection and communication in africa and we have with us and i will quickly go over the more detailed versions. We have jay ireland who was appointed in 2011. Since his appointment, jay has overseen the growth of over 1800 employees and revenues of over 2. 4 billion, with businesses across aviation, power generation, oil and gas, health care and transportation transportation. Jay is also at the number of the board of directors of the Cancer Research foundation and a trustee of st. Lawrence university. Jay, thanks a lot for being with us. Then, we have robert collymoore, ceo of safari unlimited, the leading Communications Company in africa in pioneer of the worlds most developed mobile payment system. Bob has more than 30 years of commercial experience working in the Telecom Sector and is passionate about how businesses can be capitalized in communities in more countries. The United Nation takes the United Nations Global Compact board. Then, we have the general manager of africa initiatives from microsoft and the general manager for microsoft africa initiatives. He has 30 years of experience in icp across four continents, having first read microsoft in 1992 and technical manager in south africa. Since that time he is at many positions of the country, including chief operating officer for microsoft saudi arabia as well as director of Strategic Initiatives for the middle east and north africa based in istanbul, my home city. And fernando was once a race car driver. And finally, we have 79, the founder of a diversified tofu, group with diverse mint in africa, europe, north america, latin america and asiapacific. The cochair of the African Union World Economic Forum Platform are investing in African Agriculture known as proafrica recently took over the chairmanship of the alliance for green revolution in africa from kofi anon. He and his wife financed the foundation which provides scholarships for over 42,000 african orphans. This is a great panel and again thank you very much for being with us. Just a few words. Our African Growth Initiative of proteins is now almost five years old. We really focus on bringing africas on bringing africas first to washington and at the same time partnering with the network of african think tanks and universities throughout africa. For us, this event attached to president obama hosting the african summit is extremely exciting that were trying our best to make it as successful as possible. The Communications Team is of course crucial for africa. I was head of ntp for a while, but before that i was at the world bank from long years ago. And i remember traveling from aubuchon to paris basically. You still have to go sometime through. You still have to sometimes go through paris, london or more off in dubai. But africa is huge continent together to communicate, to interact, having the physical infrastructure, which is so important, but also the softer infrastructure, mobile Communication Network where it has been such a huge Breakthrough Technology is i think a huge opportunity and i think many of us hope that africa will be at the prodding. You are to see it happening in banking and health care and other areas. And finally, human networks. At the end of the day, maybe the most important of all network of entrepreneurs, academics, ngos of a Civil Society and particularly business now looking at africa is real investment. Philanthropy is great and i think we want to encourage it as much as possible. But when business sees row profit opportunities in the opportunity to develop africa will be good for its bottom line in integrating them fully into the business and valueadded chain, that is where we will see africas takeoff becoming sustainable and really laughing. So with that, we will go in the order of sitting here and we will start with the day. Gray, thank you for having me. It is great to be here this week. I actually started last week we had a trade mission with an Energy Ministers to houston for oil and gas. The whole affect of getting more people understanding africa and more importantly getting a lot of the African Leaders and heads of state and Business Leaders here is the key thing, which is obviously in a conference. I said earlier as we met, and the other room, its nice to have a metal bender for all these i. T. Guys and telephone guys. We are an infrastructure company. Ge, ive been in nairobi for the last three and a half years. We want to put a real focus, so we put Senior Leaders in a number of different regions. And what ive seen in africa, the growth obviously we all know about the demographic population, the growing middle class, et cetera, et cetera. The real thing thats real thing thats got to have been mistaken as demographics and get any real value out of them and to do that the infrastructure has to be improved. Rose, rails, power, electric, but also the communication as well, which i think has leapfrogged here in the u. S. My daughter who is, and visited a part of the safari in kenya said they had better service. And she did at her apartment in manhattan. So bob, you and giving you that commercial. But overall, the innovation aspect in africa is totally undervalued and misunderstood by many people. When i come back to the u. S. And talk, we have tremendous innovation that is occurring. As someone said earlier today and another meeting i was at, a Typical Development you go through a sequential manner and theres no real reason in africa we cant go from one, two to six and leap over three, four, five. And i think we have done not. A lot of it is capable because communication, infrastructure and the ability now of technology to move bigger and bigger pieces of data across them. We are working on a number of solutions in the health care site or in africa to really drive the capability of the rural areas if you go back into the urban areas, but we do have trained technicians that can read xrays or ultrasound better. So we are having that ability to change the realize that people that are away from lets say the banner of the Trained Medical people. The other big area is energy. The electricity is the big one. We all know about the electricity deficit in africa is absolutely imperative to correct that. We are happy to help do they not. We have a whole plethora of products across a number of different power capabilities. But most importantly to give access. We can generate all the power or deliver generation to the grid, but you need access for the consumers. Again, when you look at technologies out there, not just the standpoint of picking the grid and doing some things that are powered by the hour cometh things like that, rental capability, people again through the telecom lines, but also the ability to bring solar power and micro grids, which the pivot mechanisms are the key and a lot of that is through mobile telephony. All of those are absolutely critical. One of the key things i found it even with all of that in as you said earlier about traveling around, the most important thing that has to happen is going to be more and more investment. Theres a lot of dollars to want to invest in africa from all over. East, west of develop worlds developing and that is going to happen because people perceive that the risk matches the reward on investment days and the only way people are understand the true Risk Perception of africa for the risk reality is to be there. You have to be local. You know, he was trying to do my job sitting in london were sitting in the u. S. And flying in every now and then, i have a very hard time to really connect people that you need for the business standpoint, not just a government, but other Business Leaders and to understand what the issues were. I think the more people to come to africa from the standpoint of investing, they realize yes theres a lot of challenges. We all know what they are, but they are not insurmountable. An easy place to do business. It is easier in some respects than people think, harder in others quite frankly. We have been able to grow our business from unnamed a billion orders to about four this year the last three years. Weve been able to grow pretty dramatically and its all because we have a focus on the ground and we continue to hire local people and that makes the communication and the theme of the conference really have the communication, not just using that technology, but the old meaning understanding of what has to be done. Thanks, bob and jay. A b1 point for all the panelists, this quite a few studies on catch up in leapfrogging. One question that is very people are asking on the data you feed technologies are spreading very, very fast. So when they appear somewhere in the world, japan or the u. S. Or germany two months later, they are in other parts of the world. That is not necessarily true for their diffusion. Any remark from that would also be very welcome. They are the mentioned twice one of the great examples of leapfrogging in one of the greatest leaders of that. I have to make sure [laughter] you know, one of the things with much of the narrative today in this week is about this thing called africa. We think about the continental science rather than the 55 countries that make up the country. You know, those people speak in 2000, three dozen languages. Different cultures, different religions and different political makeup. And regional integration unless we can get a grip and it. You know, from dubai is about 1400. To have the same is approaching 4000. It takes a lot longer to compile into hong kong. Still another one that actually relates much more to our industry come on washington to nairobi. And so, when you think about this thing called africa, it theres 55 things called africa. Typically we talk about unemployment rates across the continent. And in nigeria records about 13 . The fact is nigeria has 170 Million People. Thats a lot of people without a purpose in life. So you know, jerry in the ge team have been doing a lot of stuff around energy. When i look at investing in africa, we do tend to look a bit more collaboratively. In kenya are discovered oil. The problem with the sisters absolutely need for energy because 80 of the population are currently having access. You cant industrialize the country unless you have power. It doesnt create jobs. Its capitalintensive. The problem is the jobs created, no quality jobs. So that doesnt been addressed the issue of youth unemployment, which across the continent and all the countries it is a problem. Also the rule of art or culture because arboriculture agendas about 20 contributions of gdp at higher or lower in some places. And its about 15 of experts coming out of african countries. The probably how does the average farmer is operating on. 21. 3. An interesting statistic i discovered the other day that germany makes more coffee than the whole continent of africa. Even more alarming is the value of swedish sorry, swiss coffee exports is twice the value of german coffee exports. So again, you can probably challenge the numbers that they wont be that far off. Actually when you go into starbucks in nearby that coffee, that kilogram turns into Something Like 500. I have a friend who works out of uganda and entertains his Coffee Growers more than their trade days. He does the value addition. So he rose and packages and exports and supports 14,000 ugandan farmers. You know, that sounds like a big number. If you take andrews annual turnover is only about 2. 5 million. So thats where the investment needs to be given to africa. What are we doing about it as industry . I can give you the challenges facing farmers. They dont have web information. They dont have access to capital then you know for are worse now than they were maybe two decades ago. So you know, i give you a couple examples of things we are doing specifically, but also in africa. You know, the Information Service for farming and its meant in launches without any big advertising and reporting up to 50 improvements in the yield. Its not a big deal. Farm forces are called the mobile platform and keeps track of the residue, which helps that far when i manage the policy forbids come in a thymic the more attractive to the export market. They hope hell with life in africa and finally im fine, which enables market to enable the costeffectively than just take whatever price was given to him and he or she can decide what they want to do. I talk a little bit about agriculture. I havent talked about the impact we are making on health care. This has been a big focus for these guys. We havent talked about how using a mobile phone. Very high incidence of mortality in africa. The mobile phone is now so ubiquitous it is making an impact. We havent talked about what we do in education. Again, you give a mobile phone to a child and give them access to the world, that is such a huge leap to where it was yesterday, with the school where you sit on the floor. So you know, what i would say is africa has a lot of challenges for sure. The ease of doing business is not always as we would expect it to be. However, because innovation because we have such massive need for forces us to be innovative. Just one question. Mortar for more opportunities in your kind of went out of business . It is shocking. We talked about call rates from kenya to the u. S. Is 5 cents. That can achieve gonda is 28 cents. So these nontariff barriers are really being talked about. He kept about. You cannot move many easily from cantonese to kenya or uganda to rwanda. Those barriers are as big as ever. Fernando, usc now most all the world. What is your perspective of all this . So i think in trying to think about the discussion and i think youve all touched on a certain extent of what happened. What came to my mind was almost triggered last week here in washington weve been working with the white house on the Young Africa Leadership Initiative than i had the privilege of actually hosting an event for all 500 washington fellows. So this Massive Energy came into the room and transformed us. There should start to the two d. Expo. I spent about six hours. I didnt stop talking oneonone to individuals for six hours because of their desire for information, the question that the initiative they had was just completely overwhelming, but its also refreshing and i think it speaks to the point of the inclusion of africa, the 55 countries in africa are very, very unique because each one of these individuals. There was managerial from eritrea and you know, he was so different from the rest of africa because he lives in a very different world. Africa, whatf ask fo we see leapfrogging is in the technology world, in the digital world, call it what you will, i have an address. Microsoft. Com. Within that world, which by the way, has no boundary, i can present myself, i can acquire information, i can educate so thatr my children, in itself we think and we see as a potential for africa to leapfrog and for this trade to start to become something meaningful where the payment mechanisms are an inn or mislead port in part, but so is government policy. There needs to be a focus, which rather then i appreciate that there is a discussion around and society, and those are important, but there needs to be a dialogue with governments in africa that refers to the policy of the digital age and the policy of allowing africans across africa to connect with the world, to be globally competitive, to participate in global economy. Purely through that little device that they carry in their hands, with which they are so comfortable. A literate farmers are comparable with the mobile phone. They understand how to use it. That is where the leapfrogging we believe is going to come from. I think the last point is what we are also seeing is the massive innovation, i think to the point the problems that exist in africa are very, very much relevant to africa. My old boss, bill, made a comment not so long ago. We were having a discussion about something, and gates made the comment about polio, and we were talking and he said the cure for polio is not going to come from the western world because the western world does not need to invest resources figuring out the cure for polio because it is almost eradicated, yet polio kills hundreds of thousands of children in africa. Going tore to polio is come from africa because it is the one continent where that need is so absolutely overwhelming. The cure for malaria will come from africa because africa needs it. What we need for the development of africa and the connection of africa is going to be because africans address their own problems in their own unique way, but the solution is so relevant to what they need that it makes it a really feasible solution, so the 750 million young people in africa will participate in that market rather than perhaps a western or eastern or north European Market because there is a potential for that market. We take a view that says africa becoming a net producer of ofdge, f Technology Technology is where africa needs to go to break down the boundaries come of the physical challenges, but also to create that almost unbelievable inclusiveness that these 55 countries need to figure out. I will argue that from far away, but it is possible. The technology, the innovation exists, the capacity exists. It needs to come together i think faster than it has up until now. Thank you very much just remembering the broad numbers at the very beginning in many countries, there was a positive period, and then there was a very positive period in and 1990s. And now we have had the best years, 10, 12 years in modern history, i believe, so i would appreciate maybe later on in the debate, do you think this speed is what one should expect, or could it even accelerate a little bit more . What are the key factors . Thank you. 1991, go back to 1990, when the work was going on that would lead the Telecom Revolution in africa, if you had come for those of us who had worked in the industry and said to me, you know, what does it 70 of the african telephone,to get a how much will it cost . If you hadaid said look, we will take action to protect our people. Well continue to provide military assistance and advice to the iraq he government and Kurdish Forces as they battle terrorists. The terrorists cannot establish a permanent safe haven. We will work with the International Community to deal with the humanitarian crisis in iraq. Even as our attention is focused genocide, many have been driven from the homes including christians. I spoke with mr. Cameron of the u. K. Both leaders expressed their support for our actions and agreed to join us in providing humanitarian assistance to civilians who are suffering so much. We are proud to act alongside our closest friends and allies. Working tonations is respond to the needs of those fleeing from areas under threat. Security council has called on the International Community to provide a food and shelter. In my calls with allies around join them in can this humanitarian effort. We continue to call on iraqis to come together and form a an inclusive government that they need right now. Vice President Biden has been speaking to iraqi leaders and our team in baghdad is in close touch with the Iraqi Government. All communities are threatened why these barbaric terrorists. All needed to fight to defend their country. We are focused on the situation in the north. Sunni and shia in different parts of iraq have suffered mightily. Once an inclusive government is in place, it will be easier to mobilize iraqis against isil. Can ensure the stability of iraq. Butannot do that for them, we will be partners in an effort. One final thing as we go forward, we will coordinate with congress. We will show gratitude to our men and women in uniform who are conducting our operations there. They were ready as they always are. They performed with distinction as they always do. Them serving with , it honor and compassion makes us proud to be americans as we always will be. Let me take a couple of questions. For how long a. Of time to see these airstrikes continuing . Is your goal to contain isis . I wont give a timetable wherever u. S. Personnel is threatened, it is my obligation and responsibility to make sure that they are protected. We are not moving our embassy erie it we are not moving our consulate. Challenges, we are going to maintain vigilance and ensure that our people are safe. Goal is to not only make sure that americans are protected but also deal with this new military and situation. Caneel confident that we aevent isil from going up mountain and slaughtering the people who are there. The next step will be complicated logistically. Had we give safe passage to people down from the mountain and where can we relocate them so that they are safe. That is what we have to do internationally. I was pleased to get the coop ina of mr. Cameron addressing some of the immediate names and turns needs. Set ofs a broader questions that our experts are engaged in with the United Nations and our allies and partners. How we create a self court or so they can move. That may take time. There are estimates of how many people are up there. It is in the thousands. Moving them is not simple. Just to give people a sense of a important the most timetable that i am focused on is the government getting formed and finalized. Of the iraqie government, it is hard to get a. Nified effort by iraqis we can conduct airstrikes. There is not going to be an American Military solution to this problem. There is going to have to be an iraq he solution that we support. That cannot happen effectively until you have a legitimate government. We have a president. We have a speaker. We dont have a Prime Minister and a cabinet that is formed. A then they can start reaching out to all of the various groups and factions inside iraq. They can give confidence to a population in the sunni areas that isil is not the only game in town. Thatn take Security Forces are able and functional and they understand who they are reporting to them what they are fighting for and what the chain of command is. There should be a structure with better cooperation taking place in were going to be pushing very hard to encourage iraqis to get their government together. , it will bethat hard to have a community of effort to play defense and engage in some offense. We have fought long wars in afghanistan and iraq. How do you assure the American People that we are not getting dragged into another war in iraq . Have you underestimated the power of isis . Is there any thought of International Partners in terms of military action to prevent the spread of isis . One, we will not have combat troops in iraq again. Thate going to maintain because we should have learned andlesson from our long immensely costly incursion in iraq. Our military is so effective. We can keep a lid on problems if personnel and resources into it. Last if the people in these countries are able to arrive at the kinds of political accommodation and compromise that any Civilized Society requires. Uswould be a big mistake for andhink that we can go him tamp everything down again and restart without some fundamental shift in attitudes among the various iraq he factions. That is why it is so important to have a responsible government on the ground that we can help and partner with that has the capacity to get alliances in the region. Place, we end up being one of many countries that can Work Together to deal with a broader crisis. Questions . Our other thatnk there is no doubt their movement over the last several months has been more and the intelligence and expectations of policymakers both in and out of. Raq part of that is not a full appreciation to the degree to which the Security Forces when they are far away from baghdad do not have the incentive or the capacity to hold the ground against an aggressive adversary. Why theone more reason government formation is so important. There has to be an understanding of who it is the Security Forces are reporting to and what they are fighting for. There has to be some investment by sunnis in pushing back against isis. We are already seeing a degree to which those territories alienate populations because of the brutality with which they operate. In order to ensure that sunni populations reject outright these kinds of incursions, they have to feel like they are invested in a broader national government. Right now they dont feel that. Is what weve seen over the last several months weaknesses in the Iraqi Government. Is ae have also seen wakeup call for a lot of iraqis inside of baghdad. Were going to have to rethink how we do business if were going to hold the country together. Hopefully, that change in attitude supplemented by improved security can . E Iraqi Government you just described the complications for the Iraqi Government. Is it possible that what you have described would take years and not months . I dont think were going to solve this problem in weeks. I think this is going to take some time. ,n order to mount an offensive they are going to have to revamp and get resupplied and have a clear strategy. That is all going to be dependent on a government that the people and the military have confidence in. We can help of all of those efforts. Part of what we are able to do for them to space do the hard work that is necessary. The one thingt, that has changed is many of the sunnis in the region who have been generally suspicious or are of the Iraqi Government more likely to join in in the fight against isis. That can be extremely helpful. This is going to be a longterm project. Part of what we have seen is a asority population in iraq well as a majority population in felt the satisfied and attached and alienated from their respective governments. Territoryeen a right for extremists to operate in. Rebuilding governance in those stablend legitimacy for and moderate governing is going to take some time. There are some immediate concerns that we have to worry about. Le have to make sure that isi is not engaging in actions that could cripple a country permanently. There is key infrastructure inside iraq that we have to be concerned about. My team has been vigilant even they went into modal gatheringign fighters in syria and iraq that might launch attacks against western targets. There is a counterterrorism element. Andre already preparing working diligently for a long time now. A militarying to be element protecting our people. The longterm campaign of changing that environment so the millions of sunnis who live in these areas feel an well served by a national government. That is a longterm process. That is something that the United States cannot do. Only the iraq he people can. If we cant do it for them. The u. S. Military cannot do it for them. Back to the earlier question about military involvement. The nature of this problem is not one that the military can solve. We can assist. Our military can play an Important Role in bolstering partner asan iraqi toy make the right steps keep their country together. We cant do it for them. Last question. You anticipate asking congress for some additional funds . We are currently operating within Budget Constraints that we already have. Whatll have to evaluate happens over time. We have a lot of assets in the region. We anticipate when we make our budgets that there may be things that come up that requires us to engage. We are ok. T least, if and when we need additional dollars to make sure that american personnel and facilities are protected, we will make that request. Right now that is not our primary concern. You have any second thoughts about owing all Ground Troops out of iraq . Aboutt give you pause doing the same thing in afghanistan . What i find interesting is the degree to which this issue this wasing up as if my decision. Under the Previous Administration we had turned over the country to a sovereign and democratically elected Iraqi Government. In order for us to maintain theps in iraq, we needed invitation of the Iraqi Government and we need assurances that our personnel would be immune from prosecution if they were protecting themselves and got into a firefight with iraqis. They would not be hauled before an iraqi judicial system. The government based on its Political Considerations because they were tired of the u. S. Occupation they declined to provide us those assurances. On that basis we left. We offer to leave additional troops. When you hear people say the regret not leaving more troops, that presupposes that i wouldve overridden a sovereign government that we had turned the keys over to. You are democratic and sovereign except if i decide that is good 10,000 or 25,000 marines in your country. You have a choice. Tot wouldve run contrary the argument we were making about turning over the country back to iraqis. Not just by mede but the Previous Administration. The reason that we did not have more forces in iraq was because they did not want u. S. Troops there. Passically they could not the kinds of laws it would be required to protect our troops. If the government behaved the way it did over the last five or six years where it failed to pass legislation that would have reincorporated sunnis and given them a sense of ownership, if it had targeted certain sunni some ofand alienated the sunni tribes that we had brought back in during the awakening that helped us turn the country2006, would not be Holding Together either. We would just have a bunch of troops on the ground. Had, wemany troops we would now have to be reinforcing. I would have to be protecting them and we would have a much bigger job. We would end up having to go up again in terms of the number of Ground Troops to make sure that those forces were not vulnerable. That analysis is bogus. It is wrong. It gets frick only paddled around here by people often held around here. Leaving. The lesson for afghanistan is at the fact that we have got force that will be capable of training and supporting Afghan Security efforts. If actions int is a country after a long. A wayil war do not find to come up with a political takemodation, if they positions and their attitude is i want 100 of what i want and the other side gets nothing, then the center does not hold. The good news is in part thanks to the excellent work of john kerry and others, we are now seeing two candidates in the recent residential election start coming together in agreement to move forward on the audit and certify a winner in the election. These are the kind of accommodations that would be required to keep the moccasin moving. That is the real lesson for afghanistan. Work, want this thing to whether it is different ethnicities or religions or regions, they have to accommodate each other. Otherwise we get back into old patterns of violence. It doesnt matter how many u. S. Troops are there if that happens. You wind up having a mess. Thanks a lot, guys. The president is scheduled to join his family for a vacation in Marthas Vineyard today. His vacation has an interruption scheduled to return to washington dc. We will have that up on the video library. More now on iraq. We talked about airstrikes during washington journal. We are joined by diane newson baume. How would you characterize these . Guest the first is i mobile artillery unit. A jet fighter. Then the used a predator drone to that a mortar position. They had a seven car convoy. That was the third hit the we know of so far. Are they have said is they drawing a line in the sand around or below and saying they cannot advance any further onto the capital, the kurdish capital. I think what they are trying to do is see if they can hold the line. To see if they can prevent them from getting any closer to the capital. At ofe have seen today the region is the Islamic State is not advancing but consolidating the gains they have made in the kurdish region. They took over mostly. People thought they would march on baghdad and they did not. They launched a surprise attack. Why draw the line there . There . S line guest the kurds are more effective fighters. Is considered to be more stable. They are more effective. They have Significant Oil reserves there. The argument for doing this kind of one of the sand is because there is a big United States present there. We have a consulate there. We have military there. Said we have has to protect the americans that are there. They dont want another benghazi. They want to make sure that there would not be a real threat to the american personnel over there. The situation could have been prevented if the United States had signed a status of forces agreement that wouldve allowed the u. S. To keep troops in iraq past that hot date. I want to show his response. The argument that those individuals are making is that the situation might be different if there was still tens of thousands of combat troops in iraq. The consequence of that sort of now americanght servicemen and woman would be on l infront lines fighting isi cities and towns all across iraq. The president does not believe that that would be in the National Security interests of the United States. It would not be in the best interest of the United States military. There is a fundamental disagreement about that. I would submit that the vast majority of the American Public would be on the side of the president that the situation in is resolved by the iraq he people and an inclusive Iraqi Government. To representility and protect the interests of every citizen in iraq. The United States can be in position to offer support. The president does not believe it would be in the interests of the United States for tens of thousands of american combat troops to be on the Ground Fighting them right now. That is an honest disagreement the exists between president and his critics on capitol hill. Those are some the disagreements that have come up. Guest there is a military. Omponent basically this is a political fight. The problem is we have a Prime Minister in iraq come under real malady, who doesnt represent the sunni minority in the country. The reason why the military wont fight is because they dont have faith in their government in baghdad. Thats the essential argument here, that until you have a government in baghdad that the military is willing to fight for, then the Islamic State will sick band expanded takeover. The president is saying we are not going to take any more here until we have a change of leadership in baghdad. That is another reason you are ,eeing this push in kurdistan because there is a difference between kurdistan and i got. Baghdad. Seen as more favorable to the americans without necessarily taking the pressure off a Prime Minister in baghdad. Host why is the u. S. Doing this alone . Guest there are efforts to try and get some allies to help with humanitarian effort here. One of the things we havent spoken about is the second component of this, which is to this religious minority that is trapped in the mountains in northern iraq. The second component has been two humanitarian drops to get food and water to this religious minority. There are thousands of them that are trapped without food and water. Women and children have been dying of thirst in those mountains. The part of this they have been trying to get help from is to try and get other airdrops in. So far, theyve been talking to other neighbors of iraq to see if they will help. There hasnt been a lot of outreach to see if we can get french warplanes to get bombing. Host visit mom is one of the reporters on todays lead story in the the wall street journal. He joins us now to answer your questions on this and what is not happening the last two days. Its good to james interim, North Carolina for independents. Caller good morning. With the disagree movie is making now. And for two reasons, one, there is no such thing as a humanitarian bully campaign. There is no difference between to thes. I. S. Is doing kurds and what israel is doing in the gaza strip. To the palestinians. Can you imagine what would be doing if the palestinians has slaughtered 2000 jews in the past few weeks . Every country in the world would be coming down on the palestinians. Yet nobody is doing anything about israels reign of terror on the palestinians. Host lipstick to iraq. How much ash lets stick to iraq. How much will it take to sell this to the American Public . ,e Washington Post talking about actions in iraq. A june poll found that fewer half fewer than half of americans supported airstrikes. Supported deploying Ground Troops. Guest the president have to sell himself. This is been a president that has been reluctant to have airstrikes. The Islamic State to go proposal took over mosul a few months ago. We have people assessing the situation. This group hasnt even made formal recommendations about how to handle this. The thought had been a would wait until the was a change of leadership in baghdad. That hasnt happened. President who is been reluctant to carry out this air campaign. He wants to keep it limited. He doesnt want to get back into a ground war in iraq. He says there are going to be troops on the ground. Thats where it starts. Hes not interested in doing this and try to keep it limited. When you start there, and he has a ways to go to sell it to the American Public about what the American Interest are here. Even if you stop i still i. S. I. L. Will there be another group . This the president said will be solved by military solution alone. There has to be a political solution. This is incredible couple dated because i. S. I. S. Stretches from iraq into syria. They have essentially a capital in syria. Where they are carrying out very hard line governments. You have a lot of problems. It stretches across borders. Its an even more public it a problem for the world has that doesnt really have a real military solution that the u. S. King involved in. It is very messy. Host gordon is waiting for republicans. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thanks for cspan and your service. Weaponsering if some should be dropped to those poor folks on the mountaintop in northwestern iraq . So they might be able to defend themselves. I will take my comments off the air. Host as we noted already, some 72 bundles of supplies and three different drops from a c17 and 31 30s have made drops on the mound. Were talking about where that humanitarian crisis was taking place. Guest what you have there is civilians. Dropping weapons to them is really going to help. They probably wouldnt know how to use them. They are refugees. They have just the clothes on their back. What they would like to do is, because they are surrounded these mountains by the Islamic State, is to try and create a humanitarian corridor to get them out. The idea would be to break the siege. This is maybe we might see in the next part of this air campaign. The u. S. Military would do airstrikes to basically break the siege of the Islamic State on the mountain, and allow the refugees to get out. That is the part of the campaign that we may see unfold over the next few days. Host where do they go . Do they go to the kurdish region of iraq . Guest the United Nations is there, and they would probably go to some sort of refugee camp in the area. It is unclear where the safe areas are right now. Destruction has been left in the wake of our meddling. This region isnt conducive to democracy. Ins go to jesse, waiting arkansas on our line for democrats. Caller good morning. Im about the iraq war going on. We should never went there. Now the president is in there. You have to do something. Ground, hows on the many of them are willing to done up . But they can be like dick cheney and run to the hills . Or are they going to go out there and fight the war . I was in vietnam, i know what it was like. They dont need no boots on the ground. [indiscernible] they can do a lot of damage that guys group. They can kill a lot of people without boots on the ground. I think all these people coming around with their expertise about what is going on, aint none of them going to do anything. And sendnact the draft half of the republicans on their door on vacation right now, like john boehner, he couldve done something before this happened. But no, hes not going to do nothing. Host the caller bring up whether this can be accomplished with boots on the ground were airstrikes alone. What are officials the pentagon saying about this . Guest the president has said no boots on the ground. He doesnt want to get back into a war that he launched his presidency on ending. Is, are the iraqi forces, are the Kurdish Forces of the ground capable of turning this around . The Kurdish Forces are seen as the Stronger Fighting force in the country. I think people were surprised that they have had such a difficult time fighting the Islamic State. People were surprised that they turned their sights on the kurds. That is one component. The Iraqi Military itself really folded in mosul. That was another surprise. The pentagon has been over there trying to figure out how you shore them up. I think another component that we might see is expedited military aid, to get the Iraqi Military more weapons. We have been sending them thousands of hellfire missiles. But they dont really have a lot of aircraft use them. They do need some more weaponry. But in need more training, and any more leadership. That is not something you can really turn around in 30 to 60 days. Theres a lot of questions about whether theyre capable of turning around, but the strategy is to focus on that, and certainly not on putting American Forces back in an area in a combat role on the ground. Host joan is an akron, ohio. On our line for independents. Caller good morning. I would just like to make a couple of statements. I need a couple of answers. If our government has been over , and you cant train them people with all the , andns we left over there you talk to a three month, we were over there 10 years. They should know how to run these weapons, and they should know how to defend themselves. You are over there for doubled that. You committed doubled. Iraqi is not a rat. Original babylon. God said it would be a place of dogs and cats. On the question of u. S. Training efforts with the agreement that was left over there, how can the u. S. Be confident the next time the situation stabilizes that it will remain that way . Guest that is an open question. That is the debate that has gone on in washington over the years. Iraq had left trainers in after 2011 when we pulled over when out, would we be in a better situation today than we were and we are now . If you have several thousand advisors you are only able to do so much. It really does come back to the Iraqi Governments ability to build up its own military, with help from outside. And to provide them with a government. These are sort of the two big pieces. Thee is a limited amount of United States can do in both of those capacities. It does come down to the Iraqi Government itself to be able to take this on. We have seen it come a in washington dc, an reluctance to provide them with weapons. Because of the lack of faith in their president. When he came to washington, recently, and was appealing for more support, he went up to washington and had lawmakers on both sides saying we are not willing to give you more support until you create a more inclusive government. We havent seen that happen. We have a reluctance here in washington to give iraq the military support it needs until you have an inclusive government. Host what are the main reasons that the white house has put out this action in iraq, this unit during crisis that we have seen . Also a human during place in syria for the past several years a humanitarian crisis in syria for the past several years. Why is the white house saying this unitarian crisis requires military intervention . Used thee president word genocide. You have a very small religious sect here, the Islamic State has basically stated they are going to eradicate them. They are forcing people to convert to islam, executing those who dont. Out have run this minority of their homes into these mountains. There was a real concern that this was the beginning of an act of genocide. And for the president , that was the redline. As the distinct and make switching what is happening now in northern iraq, and what is happening in syria. Host were taking your calls for the next 10 minutes, and we will revisit the subject at the end of the program today on the washington journal. If you dont get in in the next 10 minutes, and we will have another halfhour. Kurt is in georgia for the line we have for iraqi war veterans. Caller good morning. 2005,over in iraq in 2006, with a 172 Mountain Infantry Division National guard. Which is wrote in rhode island. We did convoy escort, which is the most dangerous job in iraq. The roads, that is where the roadside bombs are, are losing limbs and legs and arms. Would you direct hit in things giving in 2005. We had a direct hit in thanksgiving 2005. It was american armaments. It was the round to shoot artillery. The problem was, we were actually going up against syrian fighters. That is what we found out. I dont understand why we dont just go in and level damascus. Understands about damascus. He talked about damascus. That is where the heart of the Jihadist Movement is really at right now. Butuld tell you a lot more, i just want to tell my comrades that i love them. Kirk, calling out of georgia this morning, with concerns about the cause of this coming from other places, not just the territory and efforts ist i. S. I. S. Or i. S. I. L. Taking iraq. Guest this is accommodated situation that even experts have a hard time understanding because theres so many players involved. In terms of the callers question, damascus is where president assad is. These fighters are trying to uproot him. President assad is in his own battles with these extreme is fighters. The Islamic State is believed to get support from citizens of saudi arabia and qatar. They have significant training. They are opposed to the fighters that are backed by iran. It is a very public in that situation with a lot of players, including america involved in backing different players. Peoplebacking different in different places. And it is not as easy as going in and attacking president assad. In this situation, what is happening on the other side in iraq, that probably wouldnt really address the issue. It would probably help them, in fact. Host samuel is our line for independents. Caller good morning. I dont think the u. S. Should be getting involved with airstrikes and israel. We have enough unitarian problems to worry about at home. Host i was samuel, and compton, california. Janet is in west virginia, on the line for republicans. Caller good morning. I just want to say, i have never in my life seen such a mess since obama has been in there. God help us, those people are savages. They are not fighters, that i. S. I. S. , killing all those people and children. And they dont say anything about that. Obama doesnt. Tohink he is wanting them win. I can understand this. Thats all i have to say. Im just floored by all this going on. And they let go all of the good colonels. And advisors when he came in. He doesnt have good advisors in there now. Thank you. Are the key players and advisors for the president as he made this decision this week for airstrikes in iraq . Guest obvious the Company Secretary of offense, martin defense secretary of , martin dempsey, we heard yesterday there was a meeting where general dempsey was laying out the concerns here with this minority, and the potential attack on erbil. Host that was as recently as wednesday . Guest that was wednesday. General dempsey has been reluctant to get involved. He is the competition. They may have been a real turning point for the administration, when your top general is saying things are dire. We need to get involved. We need to step in now to prevent genocide, and tube attacked americans. And to protect americans. Host who else was in the white house when this decision was made . Guest you have the secretary of state, you have his chief of staff, all the key National Security council members. They have been involved in the decisionmaking. Out are trying to figure the strategy. I think the missing thing is that this isnt the beginning of the strategy amid sayingtration has been this is a very narrowly defined effort to protect americans in erbil and try and deal with the refugees. The ministration has been clear, this is not the beginning of the war against the Islamic State. Whether it morphs into that is the concern people are raising in washington around the country since the beginning is being dragged back into the war in iraq. Host fred on twitter has a question about terms we have been using. What is the difference between i. S. I. S. And i. S. I. L. . Guest its a different translation of the same group. I. S. I. S. Is the Islamic State in his rocket iraq and syria. Its just a different way of describing the same area. They actually renamed themselves the Islamic State, and declared they established a new country in this region they control. Every time you hear i. S. I. S. , i. S. I. L. , Islamic State its all the same group. Host monte says why should our allies do anything, they always pushes us to the front lines and wash us watch us pay the price. Ron, good morning. Caller good morning. I would like to ask your guest about the gulf state involvement and turkey in this isis situation. Wasial funding for i. S. I. S. Coming from the gulf states. Is that in reaction to the threat of iran, as far as the sunnis in the gulf versus the shiites in iran . Secondly, as far as turkey goes, in 2012, turkey push forward in a very aggressive move a 150,000 man force on the border with syria, with the thought of moving in on the i. S. I. S. Terrorist camps. Two weeks later, ambassador stephens was killed in libya, after talking with the turkish ambassador there at the gates. Ith the Benghazi Embassy what is turkey available to do now, concerning the terrorist camps in syria and that are i. S. I. S. Oriented, and are they willing . Is a largeron political problem here. Iran is a key player. Certainly, saudi arabia is very concerned about iranian influence in the area. Knowe to say, i dont where turkey stands at this point. Whether they are willing to engage directly in syria. My sense is that they are fighting now a defensive war. But certainly dont want to go over the border and get involved in the mess in syria. They are trying to protect their country and. They have a significant reviewed you problem there. And refugee problem there. They have a kurdish minority where they have tensions and problems there as well. It would be difficult to imagine them getting involved. Host marianne, calling from North Carolina on the line for independents. The morning. Caller good morning. I havent heard anyone talking about the fact that the iraqis have elected a new governments, they are in the process right now. Agree that the president is doing what he needed to do. What concerns me is, i dont know why the heck it wasnt done when a new this group of terrorists when they knew this group of terrorists was first coming into the country. Eliminated the process that we have here. Thirdly. Now, all of a sudden the president is jumping in. I havent heard anything about the hundreds and thousands of christians that have been to headed beheaded and so forth. I almost agree with the woman from west virginia. Its like, what a mess. Ive never seen such a mess and my whole lifetime. Host we did take those questions, including those questions about the new government in baghdad. The review section of the wall , had aournal frontpage story on baghdad last line of defense as islamic insurgents close in, iraqis are desperately trying to rebuild their army. Is right man for the battle the question that is asked in that story. I will you take some of her questions. Guest youre talking about the new government. A are in the process of trying to create a new government, but they have not yet chosen a new Prime Minister. Even when they choose a new Prime Minister, he has to build a cabinet, which could take at least 30 days. When they try to create governments before, it has taken months. Just because they are in the process of doing it, they have already missed many deadlines to get there. It could take months for them to establish a new government. Secondly, we have to remove her that the Islamic State was warned was born in iraq. Ans was a group that started active invasion again power in syria, but they arent iraqi group. Theyve established more of a foothold in the last year or so, but they are from direct. There are they are from direct. There were a lot of places we couldve gotten involved, but didnt. Hes getting involved because of the threats to religious minorities. Persons have been pushed out with this other minority population. That is why you were seeing the president get involved the structure. Is one of nissenbaum the reporters on todays lead story in the wall street journal. We really appreciate your time this point. Guest any time. From the white house, president obama made a statement on the situation in iraq. Good morning. Over the past two days, american pilots and crews have served with courage and skill in the skies over iraq. American forces have conducted targeted air strikes against terrorist forces outside to prevent of erbil them from advancing on the city, and to protect american diplomats and military personnel. So far, the strikes have successfully destroyed arms and equipment that i. S. I. S. Terrorist couldve used against erbil. Meanwhile, Kurdish Forces continued to defend the city. The United States and the Iraqi Government have stepped up our military assistance to Kurdish Forces as they wage their fight. Second, our unitarian effort continues to help the men, women, and children stranded on amount. American forces have so far conducted to successful airdrops come in delivering thousands of meals and gallons of water to these desperate men, women, and children. American aircraft are position to strike i. S. I. L. Forces around the mountain, to help break the siege and rescue those who are trapped there. Even as we deal with these immediate situations, we will continue to pursue a broader strategy in iraq. And we will protect our american citizens in iraq. Whether they are diplomats, civilians, or military. These terrorists threaten our facilities, or our personnel, we will take action to protect our people. We will continue to provide military assistance, and advice, to be Iraqi Government and Kurdish Forces as they battle these terrorists. So that the terrorists cannot establish a permanent state haven. Withll continue to work the International Community to deal with the growing humanitarian crisis in iraq. Even as our attention is focused on preventing an act of genocide, and helping the men, women, and children on the mountain, countless iraqis have been driven or fled from their homes, including many christians. This morning, i spoke with Prime Minister cameron of United Kingdom and president rule all of france. I am pleased that both leaders expressed strong support for our actions, and have agreed to join us in providing humanitarian assistance to iraqi civilians who are suffering so much. America is proud attacked alongside our closest friends and allies. More broadly, the United Nations and iraq is working urgently to help respond to the needs of iraqis fleeing from areas in the threats. Is un Security Council doing a reading it cant provide food, water, and shelter. In my calls with allies around the world, we can join them in this humanitarian effort. Finally, we continue to call on iraqis to come together and form a an inclusive government that they need right now. Vice President Biden has been speaking to iraqi leaders and our team in baghdad is in close touch with the Iraqi Government. All iraqi communities are ultimately threatened by these barbaric terrorists. All needed to fight to defend their country. Just as we are focused on the situation in the north. Sunni and shia in different parts of iraq have suffered mightily at the hands of i. S. I. L. Once an inclusive government is in place, it will be easier to mobilize iraqis against i. S. I. L. Ultimately only iraqis can , ensure the stability of iraq. The United States cannot do it for them but we will be partners , in that effort. One final thing as we go forward, we will coordinate with congress, and coordinate closely with our allies and partners. As americans, we will show gratitude to our men and women in uniform who are conducting our operations there. When called, they were ready as they always are. When given their mission, they performed with distinction as they always do. When we see them serving with such honor and compassion, it makes us proud to be americans , as we always will be. Let me take a couple of questions. Of timeow long a period do you see these airstrikes continuing for . Is your goal to contain i. S. I. S. Or destroy it . I wont give a timetable because wherever u. S. Personnel is threatened, it is my obligation and responsibility to make sure that they are protected. Were not moving our embassy anytime soon, and we are not moving our consulate. Given the challenging security environment, we are going to maintain vigilance and ensure that our people are safe. Our initial goal is to not only make sure that americans are protected, but also deal with deal withsystem this unitarian situation. We feel confident that we can from going up a mountain and slaughtering the people who are there. The next step will be complicated logistically. How can we give safe passage to people down from the mountain and where can we relocate them so that they are safe. That is what we have to do internationally. I was very pleased to get the cooperation of promised her Prime Minister cameron in addressing some of the immediate needs. There is a broader set of questions that our experts are engaged in with the United Nations and our allies and partners. That is, how we create a state rridor, so they can move. That may take time. There are estimates of how many people are up there. It is in the thousands. Moving them is not simple. Just to give people a sense of a timetable, the most important timetable that i am focused on is the government getting formed and finalized. In the absence of an Iraqi Government, it is hard to get a unified effort by iraqis. We can conduct airstrikes. There is not going to be an American Military solution to this problem. There is going to have to be an iraqi solution that we support. That cannot happen effectively until you have a legitimate Iraqi Government. Right now, we have a president. We have a speaker. We dont have a Prime Minister and a cabinet that is formed. They can start reaching out to all of the various groups and factions inside iraq. They can give confidence to a population in the sunni areas that i. S. I. L. Is not the only game in town. Iraqiows us to take Security Forces that are able and functional and they understand who they are reporting to them what they are fighting for, and what the chain of command is. It provides a structure with better cooperation taking place in baghdad. Were going to be pushing very hard to encourage iraqis to get their government together. Until we do that, it will be hard to have a unity of effort to play defense and engage in some offense. We have fought long wars in afghanistan and iraq. With uncertain outcomes. How do you assure the American People that we are not getting dragged into another war in iraq . Have you underestimated the power of i. S. I. S. . Is there any thought of International Partners in terms of military action to prevent the spread of i. S. I. S. . Number one, we will not have combat troops in iraq again. We are going to maintain that , because we should have learned the lesson from our long and immensely costly incursion in iraq. Our military is so effective. We can keep a lid on problems if we put enough personnel and resources into it. It can only last if the people in these countries are able to arrive at the kinds of political accommodation and compromise that any Civilized Society requires. It would be a big mistake for us to think that we can go him and go in and tamp everything down again and restart without some fundamental shift in attitudes among the various iraq i factions. That is why it is so important to have a responsible government on the ground that we can help and partner with that has the capacity to get alliances in the region. Once that is in place, we end up being one of many countries that can Work Together to deal with a broader crisis. What were your other questions . Did we underestimate i. S. I. L. . I think there is no doubt that their movement over the last several months has been more rapid than the intelligence estimates and expectations of policymakers both in and out of iraq. Part of that is not a full presentation of the degree to which the Security Forces when they are far away from baghdad , do not have the incentive or the capacity to hold the ground against an aggressive adversary. That is one more reason why the Iraqi Government formation is so important. Building to be a real a rebuilding and an understanding of who it is the Security Forces are reporting to and what they are fighting for. There has to be some investment by sunnis in pushing back against i. S. I. L. We are already seeing a degree to which those territories control alienate populations because of the brutality with which they operate. In order to ensure that sunni populations reject outright these kinds of incursions, they have to feel like they are invested in a broader national government. Right now they dont feel that. The upshot is what weve seen over the last several months indicates the weaknesses in the Iraqi Government. But we have also seen is a wakeup call for a lot of iraqis inside of baghdad. Recognizing that were going to have to rethink how we do business if were going to hold the country together. Hopefully, that change in supplement it by improved security efforts that we can help with, that can make a difference. Expressed confidence that the Iraqi Government can produce safe haven. You just described the complications for the Iraqi Government. Is it possible that what you have described would take years and not months . I dont think were going to solve this problem in weeks. If that is what you mean. I think this is going to take some time. The iraqi Security Forces, in order to mount an offensive, and operate effectively with the sport of population in sunni areas, they are going to have to revamp and get resupplied and have a clear strategy. That is all going to be dependent on a government that the people and the military have confidence in. We can help of all of those efforts. Part of what we are able to do is preserve a space for them to do the hard work that is necessary. If they do that, the one thing that has changed is many of the sunni countries in the region who have been generally suspicious or wary of the Iraqi Government are more likely to join in in the fight against i. S. I. S. That can be extremely helpful. This is going to be a longterm project. Part of what we have seen is a minority population in iraq as as well as a majority sunni population in syria has felt the dissatisfied and detached and alienated from their respective governments. Pe territoryn ri for extremists to operate in. Rebuilding governance in those areas and legitimacy for stable and moderate governing is going to take some time. There are some immediate concerns that we have to worry about. We have to make sure that isil is not engaging in actions that could cripple a country permanently. There is key infrastructure inside iraq that we have to be concerned about. My team has been vigilant even before they went into modal , about foreign fighters gathering in syria and iraq that might launch attacks against western targets. There is a counterterrorism element. We are already preparing and working diligently for a long time now. There is going to be a military element protecting our people. The longterm campaign of changing that environment so that the millions of sunnis who live in these areas feel connected to an well served by a national government. That is a longterm process. That is something that the United States cannot do. Only the iraqi people can. But wehelp, and advise, cant do it for them. The u. S. Military cannot do it for them. This comes back to the earlier question about military involvement. The nature of this problem is not one that the military can solve. We can assist. Our military can play an Important Role in bolstering efforts of an Iraqi Partner as they make the right steps to keep their country together. We cant do it for them. Last question. Merrick i spent 800 billion in iraq. Do you anticipate asking progress for additional funds . We are currently operating within Budget Constraints that we already have. We will have to evaluate what happens over time. We have a lot of assets in the region. We anticipate when we make our preliminary budgets that there may be things that come up that requires us to engage. Right now at least, we are ok. If and when we need additional dollars to make sure that american personnel and facilities are protected, we will make that request. Right now, that is not our primary concern. You have any second thoughts about owing all Ground Troops pulling all Ground Troops out of iraq . Does it give you pause about doing the same thing in afghanistan . What i find interesting is the degree to which this issue keeps coming up as if this was my decision. Under the Previous Administration, we had turned over the country to a sovereign and democratically elected Iraqi Government. In order for us to maintain troops in iraq, we needed the invitation of the Iraqi Government, and we needed assurances that our personnel would be immune from prosecution if they were protecting themselves and got into a firefight with iraqis. They would not be hauled before an iraqi judicial system. The government based on its Political Considerations because they were tired of the u. S. Occupation, they declined to provide us those assurances. On that basis, we left. We had offered to leave additional troops. When you hear people say the do you regret not leaving more troops, that presupposes that i wouldve overridden a sovereign government that we had turned the keys over to. You are democratic and sovereign , except if i decide that is good for you to keep 10,000 or 25,000 marines in your country. You dont have a choice. That wouldve run contrary to the argument we were making about turning over the country back to iraqis. An argument not made just by me, but the Previous Administration. The reason that we did not have more forces in iraq was because the majority of iraqis did not want u. S. Troops there. Politically, they could not pass the kinds of laws it would be required to protect our troops. If thesaid all that, Iraqi Government behaved the way it did over the last five or six years, where it failed to pass legislation that would have reincorporated sunnis and given them a sense of ownership, if it had targeted certain sunni leaders and jailed them. If it had alienated some of the sunni tribes that we had brought back in during the awakening that helped us turn the tide in 2006, if they had done all those things that we had troops there the country would not be holding , together either. We would just have a bunch of troops on the ground. They would be vulnerable. However many troops we had, we would now have to be reinforcing. I would have to be protecting them and we would have a much bigger job. We would end up having to go up again, in terms of the number of Ground Troops to make sure that those forces were not vulnerable. That entire analysis is bogus. It is wrong. Peddledfrequently around here. Oftentimes to defend policies they themselves made. With respect to afghanistan, we are leaving. The lesson for afghanistan is not the fact that we have got a force that will be capable of training and supporting Afghan Security efforts. The real lesson in afghanistan is that if factions in the riod of, after a long pei civil war do not find a way to come up with a political accommodation, if they take positions and their attitude is i want 100 of what i want and the other side gets nothing, then the center does not hold. The good news is in part thanks to the excellent work of john kerry and others, we are now seeing two candidates in the presidresidential ential election start coming together in agreement to move forward on the audit and certify a winner in the election. These are the kind of accommodations that would be required to keep a mock receive democracy moving. That is the real lesson for afghanistan. If you want this thing to work, whether it is different ethnicities or religions or regions, they have to accommodate each other. Otherwise we get back into old patterns of violence. It doesnt matter how many u. S. Troops are there if that happens. You end up having a mess. Thanks a lot, guys. Lawmakers sending out tweets after the president s statements on iraq. U. S. Defends the courage of their stars, it is choking off needed oil revenue. And wagner of missouri tweets about the religious group, saying after president obama a jv team, and encouraged to see hes finally taking steps to protect them from genocide. As his director of National Intelligence and department of justice leaders have warned. You can get tweets from members of congress, and see what others are saying. Twitter. Com cspan. The president and his family boarded air force one to start their vacation in Marthas Vineyard. The president will be returning to washington dc in a few days. He heads back to Marthas Vineyard to continue their vacation. [no audio] [no audio] president obama and the first family are headed to Marthas Vineyard. My discussion about the middle east. This is from tuesday, from the Palestine Center. Thank you all for coming out. Make you for the consistency of the Palestine Center in ring people together for discussions of issues and topics that are too often ignored in the city. The question of the role of international organizations, on the question of palestine, should be an easy one in a certain way. It was the United Nations that created the state of israel. The United Nations that divided historic palestine. The United Nations that said there should be a quote arab state. What is the big deal . The problem is none of those things have happened in the way they were supposed to happen. Mostly, things that should happen at the United Nations, the centrality of the United Nations in leading International Diplomacy on this issue, which is perhaps more than any other longstanding international problem, a problem that is recognized as an issue for and somehownited nations it is not allowed to be brought to the United Nations. We have a myriad of examples. I want to say just one thing first. When we first the talking about this event, it was before the current horror that is going on in gaza had begun. Already ineady, was horrific state shape, because of the occupation. The occupation which is denied. We pulled out in 2005. We pulled out all our soldiers, how can you say it is occupied . Israelis, rely International Law. Clearational law is very that occupation is defined on the basis of control, not on the basis of comedy soldiers happened to be in any given place at any given time. From the Vantage Point of control, gaza remains occupied. That meant that gazans are sealed in to a large outdoor prison. 120 Million People who are not allowed to leave. There is a wall. We hear a lot about the west bank wall, gaza is completely walled in on all the Israeli Border areas. That wall is patrolled by israeli soldiers. Wall, witha military s,nfights gun sight electric field, etc. This guys are controlled not by gazan aircraft, but by the israeli air force. The seas off the coast of gaza are patrolled not by gazans, or gazan fishermen, but by the israeli navy. Gaza remains occupied. The recent four weeks of the israeli assault on gaza has made the situation so incomparable different. Thing is that it means we have to talk about the difference between the role of the United Nations now, and the role of the United Nations warng the threeweek long that israel waged against gaza in 2008, 2009. Killed, 13azans were israelis, of whom seven were soldiers were killed in socalled friendly fire. In the role of the United Nations at that time was similar but different. Similar come in the sense that at that time, like now, the wind was not able to play the role of the charter gives it. The charter of the united the fundamental core of International Law says that the role of the United Nations is to end the scourge of war. Period. Not to end the scourge for when the victims are anybody but palestinians. Because, you know, we dont have to Pay Attention to palestinians. It doesnt say that. It says the work of the United Nations, the goal of the United Nations, is to end the scourge of war. But to do that, the United Nations has to be allowed in. They have to be allowed to play that role. They have to have the power to impose a ceasefire. When one or another warring side decides they dont need a ceasefire yet. That is the same. What was different in 2008, 2009 there were many differences. In both cases, gaza and the governing forces in gaza led by hamas were quite isolated. That was not the case, we should note in 2012, during the much inrter israeli assaults november 2012. It was in a very brief moment whengaza was not isolated, they were joined by the Foreign Ministers of half a dozen arab countries, by the Prime Minister of egypt, who came in to stand with the people of gaza under the israeli bond. We are not seeing that this time around. The government of egypt is essentially collaborating with israel in maintaining the siege of gaza. None of the arab governments are prepared to support the people of gaza. So gazans once again stand alone. Not entirely, and that certainly in the case of people. But when we talk about governments, and the United Nations, gaza and the people of the west bank and east jerusalem, the other parts of the occupied territory, as well a the refugees, as well as second, third, and fourth class citizens of israel that happened to be palestinian. Palestinians largely standalone. Why is that . At this time would palestine is recognized as a state. It even has borders, unlike israel. The borders are recognized by the United Nations as the borders of palestine. Israel is the only country in United Nations that has never declared its borders. We havent figured them out yet. Meaning, we are still expanding. We still want our borders to go further. Things are the same, despite the significant differences that we now have in role of theestines United Nations, its credibility and its credential at the United Nations. What still is not changed, palestine remains the longest running problem that belongs to the United Nations. Thes come at the same time, greatest failure of the United Nations. The longest lashed and honest lasting failure of the United Nations. The u. N. Is supposed to be responsible for palestinians until they have achieved their inalienable rights. Not until they achieve alienabl. You know, you can call anything a state. It does not make it viable. Does not make it just. Does not make it any of those things. Bits ofpoint to territory that are not contiguous if you can imagine swiss cheese, the israeli controlled parts are the cheese. The palestinian areas are the holes. Meaning they are the ones that are not contiguous. The israeli territories are contiguous. You can get from there to there. Rtl