Transcripts For CSPAN2 Capital News Today 20110409

the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i would read a statement that was issued by speaker boehner and myself just a few minutes ago. this is the statement: we've agreed to a historic amount of cuts for the remainder of this fiscal year as well as a short-term bridge that will give us time to avoid a shortdown. we will cut $78.5 billion and we've reached an agreement on the policy riders. in the mean time, we'll pass a short-term resolution to keep the government running through thursday. that short-term bridge will cut the first $2 billion of the total savings. mr. president, i first of all want to express my appreciation to the speaker and his office. it's been a grueling process. we didn't do it at this late hour for drama. we did it because it has been hard to arrive at this point. i want to express my appreciation to my counterpart, senator mcconnell. we've talked during this process on a number of occasions. we have, as we say here, on many occasions it's turned out to be we have a really terrific relationship. we do our best to protect each caucus. we have our battles here, but he's really a pleasure to work with and i admire and appreciate his work for the people of kentucky and the country. mr. president, this has been a long process. it has not been an easy process. both sides have had to make tough choices, but tough choices is what this job's all about. i think it's important to note, mr. president, as -- as we said in this statement, this is historic what we've done. $78.5 billion below the 2011 budget that we have been working off of. we worked on many riders. it's -- what we've done has been difficult, but important for the country. we all agree that there are many cuts that have to take place in the future. we understand that. we must get this country's fiscal house in order. but if the american people have to make tough choices and they're doing it every day, so should their leaders. that's our responsibility, all 100 of us, and 435 members much the house. the speaker and i p reached an agreement -- and i reached an agreement that i read. we agreed to historic level of cuts for the remainder of this fiscal year and also a bridge to avoid a shutdown while we get agreements to both houses and the president. i repeat, rewill cut $78.00 -- we will cut $78.5 billion. we -- and in the mean time we will pass a short-term resolution to keep the government running through this friday. that short-term bridge will cut the first $2 billion of the total savings that we already talked to the $78.5 billion. so, mr. president, i, with the permission of the republican leader, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to calendar number 28, that a reid-mcconnell substitute amendment, a seven-day continuing resolution which is the at desk be agreed to, bill as amended be read a third time and the senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill as amended, that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, all of the above concurring with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: let me thank my friend, the majority leader and speaker boehner for their outstanding work during this difficult negotiation. you know, mr. president, we had an opportunity tonight to decide whether we wanted to repeat history or make history. had we chosen to repeat history, we would have are allowed a government shutdown. instead we decided to make history by implementing in the middle of this fiscal year as the majority leader's indicated substantial reductions in spending. now, these reductions, mr. president, are in the billions. once we get through this process by the end of this week, we will move on to a much larger discussion about how we saved trillions. by enacting hopeful on a bipartisan basis a budget that genuinely begins to get on top of this problem, and the problem, as we all know, is $14 trillion in debt and over $53 trillion in unfunded liabilities. the president's asked us to raise the debt ceiling and senate republicans and house republicans, and i hope many democrats as well, are going to say, mr. president, in order to raise the debt ceiling, we need to do something significant about the debt. my definition of "significant," mr. president, is, the markets strew as significant, the american -- view it as significant, the american people view it as significant, and foreign countries view it as significant. so for tonight, again, i congratulate the majority leader and the speaker. this is an important first step but just the beginning of what we need to do to get our house, our fiscal house in order. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid reid: the republican lr is right. we have a lot of work to do. the one thing i want to mention is how much i appreciate the support of the american people, of course. they knew that we needed to get this done. but also the business community of our country. i had a conversation earlier today with tom donahue, the president of the chamber of commerce. it was so important to his organization that we complete this. the business round-table and organizations all over america understand how important this is. but i want to just mention one more person. i know the night is late. always an unsung hero but really hero among heroes and that's the chairman of the appropriations committee, dan inouye is here behind me tonight. he has been with his staff, tireless staff, working so hard. i applaud his person, charlie hoy, who has a fantastic knowledge of what goes on in this country as it relates to money. he came to the senate in 1983, been here all these years working in the appropriations committee. i'm not going to go through this -- all the staff but it is important to mention that my chief of staff, dave crone, has worked so very, very hard. and i want to mention one other person. i never met him until we started this -- what we have been through, and that's -- i hope i don't get him in trouble -- but that's john boehner's chief of staff, barry jackson. he is a real professional. it's been very difficult to work through all this stuff, but i admire his professionalism. and, of course, the white house staff has been indispensable. i would hope we could have the consent agreement approved at this time. the presiding officer: is there objection to the majority leader's request? without objection, so ordered. is there further debate on the bill, as amended? if not, all those in favor of the bill as amended say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill as amended is passed. mr. durbin: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: ask consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. mr. durbin: i ask consent that the quorum call be be suspended. mr. durbin: i ask that on tuesday at 11:00 that the senate proceed to calendar number 45 and calendar number 46, that there be one hour for debate equally divided in the usual forum, calendar number 45 be confirmed and the senate proceed to vote without intervening action on calendar number 46, and the lotion be considered made, with no intervening action or debate no further motions be in order to the nominations, any statements related to the nomination be printed in the record, that the senate be -- the president be notified of the senate's action and the senate resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. i understand that there's a bill at the desk. the clerk: a bill to provide an extension for time for filing individual income tax returns in the case of a federal government shutdown. mr. durbin: i ask for a second reading and in order to place the bill on the calendar i object know own request. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. the bill will be read the second time on the next legislative day. mr. durbin: at the risk of confusion, i think we have solved this problem, but we are proceeding with this precautionariy effort. i ask unanimous consent that the senate majority whip be authorized to signed duly enrolled bills or joint resolutionings on friday april 8 and saturday april 9. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. on tuesday, april 12, following the prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved until later in the day. the senate proceed to a period of morning business until 11:00 a.m. with senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or designees with the majority controlling the first half and the republicans controlling the second half. at 11:00 a.m. the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 45 vincent vinceiitt, and the nomination of john cranstat to be the u.s. district judge for the nrl district of california. finally i ask that the senate recess from 12:30 until 2:15 to allow for the weekly caucus meetings. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: senators should expect a roll call vote at 12:00 noon for nomination on the cranstat nomination. if there is no further business to come before the senate i ask that it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until >> secretary of state clinton discussed the report's findings and expressed concerns about human rights in several countries including china, russia, and venezuela. following her remarks, we hear from assistant secretary of state, michael posner. this is just under an hour. >> good morning, everyone. i'm here today to present the 35th annual report to congress in the state of human rights around the world. the struggle for human rights begins by telling the truth over and over again, and this report represents a year of sustained truth telling by one of the largest organizations documenting human rights conditions in the world, united states state department. i want to thank assistant secretary mike pose near, and our hundreds of colleagues and embassies around the world for working so hard to make this report an honest compendium of global human rights issues. i also want to thank the many people around the world who monitor and fight for human rights in their own societies, and from whose information and recommendations we greatly benefit. in recent months, we've been inspired by the determination of the activists in the middle east and north africa and other societies who demanded peaceful democratic change and respect for their universal human rights. united states will stand with those who seek to advance the causes of democracy and human rights wherever they may live, and we will stand with those who exercise their fundamental treatments of expression and assembly in a peaceful way whether in print or the intercht. this report usually generates interest among journalists, lawmakers, nongovernmental organizations, and, of course, other governments, and i hope it will, again, this year. as part of our mission to update state craft for the 21st century, today i'm also pleased to announce the launch of our new website, humanrights.gov. this site will offer one-stop shopping for information about global human rights from across the united states government. it will pull together reports, statements, and current updates from around the world. it will be searchable, and it will be safe. you won't need to register to use it. we hope this will make it easier for citizens, scholars, ngo's, and international organizations to find the information they need to hold governments accountable. here apt the state department, human rights is priority 365 days 5 year. -- a year. it is part of the mission of our ambassadors. it is on my agenda or anyone else's who meets with foreign leaders, and it is a core element of the obama administration's foreign policy because it actually is in line with our values, our interests, and our security. history has shown that governments that respect their people's rights do tend, over time, to be more stable, more peaceful, and ultimately more prosperous. we were particularly disturbed by three growing trends in 2010. the first is a widespread crackdown on civil society activists. for countries to progress towards government, they need free and vibrant civil societies to help government understand and meet the needs of their people. we've seen the governments using the courts to intimidate and prosecute civil society activists. they imposed new restrictions on the independent media, internet, political parties, and ngo's. in russia, we've seen crackdowns on civil society groups turning violent with numerous attacks on murders and activists. in china, there's negative trends that are worsening in the first part of 2011. as we have said repeatedly, the united states welcomes the rise of a strong and prosperous china, and we look forward to our upcoming strategic and economic dialogue with beijing and continued cooperation to address common global challenges, however, we remain deeply concerned about reports that since february, dozens of people including public interest lawyers, writers, artists, intellectuals, and activists have been arbitrarily detained and arrested. among them most recently was the prominent artist who was taken into custody just this past sunday. such detention is contrary to the rule of law, and we urge china to release all of those who have been detained for exercising their internationally recognized right to free expression and to respect the fundamental freedoms and human rights of all of its citizens of china. the otherwise spread crackdown and civil society activists, we saw a second trend in 2010. countries violating the fundamental freedoms of expression, assembly, and association by curtailing internet freedom. more than 40 governments now restrict the internet through various means. some censored websites for political reasons, and in a number of countries, democracy and human right activists and independent bloggers found their e-mails hacked or their computers infected with spyware that reported back on their every key stroke. digital activists have been tortured so they would reveal their passwords and implicate their colleagues. in burma and cuba, government policies preempted online dissent by keeping most ordinary people from activists -- accessing the internet at all. the third disturbing trend of trend was the repression of minorities including racial and ethnic and religious minorities along with lesbian, guys, bisexual, and transgender people. in pakistan, for example, blasemies are a crime punished by death. the law has been enforced against muslims who do not share the beliefs of other muslims, and also against non-muslims who worship differently, and in the first two months of 2011, two government officials in pakistan who sought to reform the law, governor tazir and minister bachi were targeted and assassinated. also in iraq, egypt, and nigeria, violent attacks by extremists killed dozens of people who have been peacefully practicing their religions, christians and muslims alike. in iraq, the government executed more than 300 people in 2010. many of them were ethnic minorities and many may, four men were hanged in prison. they had been arrested in 2006 for advocating that iran should respect human rights. they were reported to have confessed to terrorism under torture, and because i believe, and our government believes that gay rights are human rights, we remain extremely concerned about state sanctioned home phobia. in uganda, hom osexuality is illegal, people are harassed, discriminated against, threatened, and intimidated, but the news is, of course, not all bad. we have seen improvements in a number of countries, and we've also seen the uprisings of the past months in the middle east and in north africa where people are demanding their universal human rights. in columbia, the government began consulting with human rights defenders supporting efforts to stop violence. it has passed a law to restore land and repay the victims of the very long civil conflicts that occurred in colombia. gin -- new beginny held air and free elections and a flourishing civil society at the same time as it faces up to challenges in preventing abuses by its security forces and acting against religious intolerance. societies flourish when they address human rights problems instead of suppressing them. freedom from fear makes economies grow as citizens invest, innovate, and participate. children grow up with the precious belief that they matter too, that they should be able to live in dignity and shape their own destinies. people everywhere deserve no less, and we hope that this report will comfort the activists, will shine a spotlight on the abuses, and convince those in government that there are other and better ways, and we want to see progress. we started doing this report 35 years ago because we believe that progress is possible, and certainly if you were to do a chart from 35 years ago to today, you would see a lot of progress in a lot of places, but at the same time, we must remain vigilant, and this report is one of the tools that reuse to be -- we use to be that way. thank you, all, and now assistant secretary mike posner. >> thank you, madam secretary. i want to just start by a few words of acknowledgement like secretary clinton said. this is a mammoth undertaking. the report covers 194 countries in the world. it's over 2 million words long in excess of 7,000 pages. it's the reflection of tens of thousands of hours of work by hundreds of people both here in the department and by foreign service officers throughout the world, and i want to say a special thanks to human rights and labor and bureaucracy who worked so hard for many months to make the report as excellent as it is, and in particular, the overall editor and chief architect of it steve, and he's really driven the process for the last five years. i want to say something about the purpose of the report. originally in the 1970s, two members of congress, don frasier and tom harkin introduced the aid and the report came out of that, the desire to inform congress of what's happening in the world vis-a-vis foreign assistance, and now it's much more. it's the most exhaustive report of human rights done by anyone anywhere in the world, and it is based on a notion of fidelity to the truth. this is not a policymaking document. it's a document to give us a clear and honest picture of what's going on, and a basis for a range of decisions by this government and others in terms of how to address human right challenges we face in the world. we are committed as secretary hillary clinton said to lead by example on these issues, and the legal adviser here and one of my deputies were in geneva to complete a six month process of submitting the united states to a process of the review at the human rightings counsel where for the first time we presented a comprehensive evaluation of u.s. of u.s. progress and issues relating to the universal declare ration of human rights. we did that after extensive consultation with the civil society, came back last month, and provided a range of ways in which were addressing our -- we're addressing our own domestic situation. i wanted to just say a couple words, and then i'll take your questions about the trends that secretary clinton mentioned. the restrictions against ngo's. in the last several years, we've seen more than 90 countries impose new restrictions on nongovernmental organizations. these laws often are burdensome restrictions on registration or the right to receive foreign funding. this week, for example, we're in a diplomatic negotiation with the government of cambodia which is now considering adopting a new law to this effect which would make it a much more difficult for cam -- cambodia human right organizations to operate. in july, hillary clinton gave a speech on this. we've set up a fund called the endangered ngo fund, and we've now got a number of other governments, the dutch, poles, and others to join us in the collective effort to address this problem. the second subject is internet freedom, and certainly if there are lessons from the so-called arab spring, it's both that the internet and these new technologies provide an extraordinary opportunity for activists to communicate with each other, to mobilize, to organize, but also that there are risks attached to these new technologies. our internet policy is based on an open, neutral platform for communication whether it's by human rights activists in commercial interests for innovation or whatever, but we also recognize we have to do more dipmatically in funding and support for groups involved in human rights using the internet and also to work with ngo's directly and with companies. we're doing all of that through an internet freedom initiative that the secretary announced in a speech in february, and i'm very proud of it. i think it's one of the important things we're doing. finally, the third aspect of this report, the third trend that we talked about, the discrimination against vulnerable groups -- what we're seeing in many places in the world, pakistan she mentioned, in china, tibet, and places around africa where the ltgb communities are under threat, in places in europe or the middle east where anti-semitism still flourishes, we're seeing these issues of discrimination that divide often lead to con -- conflict, and what we need to do and are doing is addressing these issues again by public diplomacy and privately, and also we're trying to focus particularly on education and on the media which plays such an important part either in fueling these conflicts or trying to address them in constructive ways. let me stop there, and i'm happy to take your questions, please. >> yes, sir, good morning. in the earlier section you cover iran, iraq, syria, bahrain, and libya, butno mention of the human rights situation in territories, so do you believe that -- >> i'm sorry, no mention of? >> no mention of the human right situations in the occupied pakistan controlled territories. do you adhere to good or have good human right practices towards the palestinians and conversely, does the palestinian authority maintain proper and good human right practices to all its citizens? >> we, in fact, i guess you're looking at the introduction. we have a section both on israel and a separate section on the territories, and in the section on the territories, we comment both on human rights problems violations by the palestinian authority, but hammas, and the government of israel. yes, we are mindful it. there's a range of challenges on issues on all of those fronts and continue to be very active on addressing those issues. yeah? >> correct my if i'm wrong, but i thought the united states was include the in last year's report. why was it excluded this time? >> the report on trafficking on persons included a u.s. section. we've never done it here. >> okay. >> instead we focused at least for this year on the universal periodic review. we'll submit in the next couple months reports under a couple of treaties, the covenant on civil rights coming first, and then the report on the conventions against all forms of torture. >> the second separate topic, on a number of cases and sections on countries seeing uprisings this year and the inability to change their government. can you talk about how the conditions you saw last year led to what we're seeing this year? >> sure. you know, one of the -- one of the countries i devoted probably more attention to than any is egypt. i was there twice in 2010, in january and october, and commented on publicly there on a range of concerns we had about systemic human rights problems including the state of emergency, including problems with state security police, including detention policy and the like. all of those things are documented in detail in this report in 2010, and obviously, those were some of the things important pieces of why people took to the square in january, and this led to change. >> thank you. i know the report says you can't generalize a lot of the countries swept up with this middle east and north africa and they are different, but is there any type of overall trend as you look at this now that you can say, or, you know, general improvement base of the revolutions and bearing in mind again, it's a 2010 report, but you did have some new information. >> yeah, you know, i would say first of all, i'm a chronic optimist. i've been in the human rights world for 30-some years, and i always believe that i look for what's possible, and what i see that's possible and what is a trend in the middle east is that you have individual citizens who have operated and lived in very close societies who are demanding change. they are demanding change in a couple of ways. they're seeking more of a stake and a role in the governments of their country. they want to be more involved in the political side, and they are also seeking greater economic opportunity. they want to live in dignity. they want to be treated fairly. those are human rights aspirations, and although the particulars in the countries are very different and the outcomes may be very different, what's interesting is how much was started in tiew knee sha -- tunisia that spread across the region, and in all odds, people said we want our voices to be heard. that's an optimistic trend, and, again, we'll wait and see how it turns out, but something we are encouraging, yes. >> now, sir, this report is coming out for the last 28 years. millions of people now in china, including many of the minorities are seeking and want to come out, but each time they are repressed because many are websites are closed and china is the most closed on the globe. what message do you have for those people who want to come out like the rest of the world in the middle east and libya? they want to come out, and they want human rights and basic rights are concerned. >> one of the things that's very interesting to me and important is the extent to which people around the world pay attention to what we say and in particular in these reports. we get, i think, the state department gets more traffic to these reports today and in the coming weeks than almost anything we've produced, but that reflects people are hungry for the truth about their own societies and about what's going on in the world. that's why this report is so important. chinese government is secretary clinton said earlier this week, rested a re-- arrested a renown artist, and yesterday in commenting on that case, they said, oh, this is not a human rights case, nothing to do with human rights. no, it does. this is an individual, a peaceful discenter who was critical of the government. he's a prominent artist, and it is well known not only in china, but around the world. we've called for his immediate release. we will continue to do it, continue to raise cases like the human rights lawyer who's been missing for a year now, missing since last april, and like the nobel prize winner whose an 11-year sentence, and people in china know it, they hear it, they find it out, and reenforces their own call for freedom, so we're not going to be shy about these things. assistant secretary campbell was in china yesterday and had meetings with the foreign minister and other senior officials and raisedded the cases. we'll continue to do that because we consider this an important part of our diplomacy. >> thank you. in thailand, millions of hindus are under attack and human rights are a concern, and now so many demonstrations have gone on and thousands of thousands of people in thailand on the streets, and here there was a function. what they are asking the secretary to take action on human rights or the minorities especially in thailand, and nobody's paying any attention. >> well, we are paying attention. the report reflects that, and it's also again another example of a situation. there are many, many in the world where there are divisions based on ethnicity, religion, race, whatever. again, these are things that fuel differences, fuel conflict. it's the responsibility of governments everywhere to find out how to mitigate the differences and how to create a human rights standard allowing people to be different, but to coexist. >> can you e liberate on rush that -- elaborate on russia? some argued it's being conducted on human rights and democracy, and also the u.s. imposed visa bans on the senior human rights violaters. is the same measure considered for russia? >> thank you. we are very mindful and very concerned about an increasingly negative human rights environment in russia. one of my deputies was out there last week, in fact. part of what we're seeing is a crackdown on dissenters, the so-called strategy 31 protesters who every 31st of the month go out and demonstrate in st. petersberg and other places, and march 31, there were demonstrations in seven cities, and there was a crackdown in particular in st. petersberg. we continue to follow the cases, raise concerns with the government as tom did last week. we're also concerned about some of the more public cases like who died in prison and continuing to ask for an investigation and the other who was monitoring what was happening and killed because of her advocacy. there's a range of concerns there, and we'll continue to raise them. you had an election last december, and the crackdown arrested, you know, dozens of people including five of his opposition candidates. there's a very grim scene there now where it's very, very difficult for people to operate which is why we've enacted these sanctions. we are very resolute working with our european allies on this, the human right situation there is of grave concern to us. >> [inaudible] >> what? we have not discussed that. >> hi, you've missed a slew of human rights problems in bahrain. how influenced are you by the national fifth fleet and the national security concerns? >> i was in bahrain with the secretary in december. again, one of my deputies who was out there in january, we are very mindful of what has really been a deteriorating situation over months in terms of the climate for the dialogue the crown prince asked for. they are very concerned about the continued arrest and detention of peaceful critics including some leaders of the political opposition, the fact that some senior newspaper executives have been dismissed in the like. those things i think make it harder for the dialogue to begin. we're also mindful that on the other side it's imperative that those who have been demonstrating not resort to violence themselves, but we're at a point now where as close as we may have come, you know, six weeks or two months ago to having that dialogue started, we really need people on all sides of this to begin thinking about what are the confidence building measures that will bring people back into a dialogue? there are a range of very real issues that need to be addressed. they are not going to be addressed only by security measures, and that message has been communicated by people here and in other parts of our government. we are eager to work with our allies in bahrain, the government, but we're also very mindful that the situation there, the human rights situation there, is dangerous. sure. >> do you get the sense they are accepting your message? you need them more than they need you. >> well, i wouldn't characterize is that way or say there's necessarily a unified response in the government. i think there is a recognition certainly by some senior people in the government that where we are right now is not conducive to addressing the challenges, and it's important that there be a resumption or creation of an environment where there can be a dialogue to address the fundamental issues that people who took to the streets are asking about. there are a set of issues that need to be discussed. they have to be discussed at a table where people are willing to come and really talk about differences and how to resolve them. we're not there, but we're certainly encouraging all sides to try to get there. please? >> two quick questions. >> sure. >> one, given the important role that the internet played in the revolutions in northern africa and the middle east, are you worried that governments will crackdown even harder or internet access? secondly, if i may separately, there have been reports of clashes near the iraqi-iranian border at the camp which i'm sure you're familiar with. what have you learned about this, and what can you tell us? >> on the internet question, we're spending a lot of time trying to stay ahead of the curve here in trying to keep track of what governments are doing. governments that seek control and that are nervous about dissent are increasingly looking for ways to control the internet. .. internet in these societies aren't sufficiently mindful either of what the possibilities are technically to protect themselves or with the risks are. so we are doing a huge amount of training. we trained 5,000 people from every region of the world on what is the new opportunities and risks with the internet. i'm excited about this. i think it is not the most innovative things we're doing and other governments are coming to us saying how are you doing this we want to be involved as part of the internet initiative. on -- i'm sorry, the second question was about -- >> the attacks and iraq. >> this morning we got report of further attacks at the camp. secretary gates was in iraq today and expressed concern about the violence. at this stage i know the embassy has been in contact with iraqi officials, but i don't have more details of exactly what happened or why, but i can assure you it's something we are very mindful of and six rebates on the scene was very quick to raise concerns about the loss of lives. >> how do you view the human rights record in lebanon and syria at this time as the report mentioned last year, 2010? >> each -- let me take each of those. libya obviously we have for the last 35 years reported on a pattern of human rights abuses by the ghadaffi governor anbar a large part of what led people to take to the streets and create the beginning of what has now become a very violent and very dangerous situation. how we continue to be obviously involved both on the military side through the no-fly and so forth also diplomatically, and i think our greatest hope is as the senior officials have started to bailout we are going to see other defections through some combination of the nato operation and the various diplomatic initiatives including by the arab league we're going to see some resolution of this. it is not going to be easy but we are obviously a very mindful of the human rights consequences of this and the humanitarian consequences. there are very real risks to a large number of people in these areas where the fighting is coming on. in syria, again, we have had decades of human rights violations and a very restrictive political environments and very difficult security police which is cracked down on the descent for many years. we have reports again this morning of some violence in syria. we are tracking it very closely. the ambassador there is raising these issues with authorities, but again, people in the country have said we want something different, and that's part of what we are facing there. the third country you mentioned is yemen and they are probably inside the region outside of libya where no country we have greater anxiety over the violence including violence perpetuated by the government forces, that violence is not subsiding and i can't tell you i have an answer for it but we are certainly tracking and monitoring what is going on on an hourly basis. >> [inaudible] in regards to the human rights in mexico and how do you think of war on drugs is maybe deteriorated with human rights? >> i visited mexico twice last year for bilateral discussions with the mexican government. a lot of the focus was on a exactly that question. we met with senior military officials. one of the challenges mexico faces in fighting drugs and violence has been the relative weakness of local police and therefore the army has come into play and the policing role in the urban neighborhoods. i think it's fair to say the army isn't thrilled to be in that role. and one of the challenges is for mexico over the medium and long-term how to build up the stronger national police that have particular expertise in how to fight the very violent and drug criminals and to allow the army to go back to doing what it was trained to do. we have raised issues about some of the excesses by the military. one of the things they said to us is that local courts aren't very effective in prosecuting people and so there is a real set of challenges there and our embassy is very involved in these things. the other thing i would mention that concerns me quite a bit is that a number of the human rights activists and monitors have themselves been targeted and that is a distressing signal. it's really important of the vibrant local human-rights community. those people need to be able to continue to speak out forcefully even if it's critical of the government along with the national commission on human rights which was a very good job. but we are watching that very closely. >> is the military more open and transparent and regards to information about the people and do you believe the military's that include in this type of relation is trial in civil court? >> part of our dialogue -- i was part of these into counterpart and the dod has also gone i think to three or four of the meetings is exactly on this issues. we are encouraging greater transparency looking at the particular cases where a violation has been alleged. obviously you want to break the notion of a cycle of impunity and make sure that there are prosecution or disciplines where excessive force. that's the debate i'm not going to go into more detail on that. >> thank you. i would like to go to turkey. [inaudible] to look to freedom of press issues. my question is the freedom of press in the talking report about eight, nine pages dhaka, and there are when the other events happening the for other issues. would you please comment on turkey to? thank you. >> again, the report represents accurately the mixed picture in turkey as it should go. as you suggest, in the early months of this year there have been the arrests of several well-known turkish and journalists in connection with what the trial and we expressed to the turkish government has will continue to do so and those events will be reflected in the 2011 report. >> journalist kristen only because of the anti-terrorist laws and the turkish authorities reject any kind of change for this kind of law guinn. >> antiterror wally has provisions that cause concern but also things we are pleased about, for a simple, it's resulted in the release of hundreds of young people from jail so this is a new with lw implemented and we are going to again, communicate with the government that we have to both tried to encourage the aspect of it to the reform and also be mindful of things that restrict basic human rights to be in the back. >> thank you. what in your words do you expect to happen with the release of this report -- not respecting the human rights? >> i guess i would say three things. one is that the report itself gives our diplomats and opportunity to go and fight to other governments and engage in conversation. we do it all year but here we are not putting out a sort of comprehensive list of things that are the subject of diplomatic bilateral discussion. point number one. second thing, it is for us as i said at the outset a baseline to begin to figure out what it is throughout the year that we need to on a bedle basis and multilateral basis. we haven't talked much about the multilateral side that we are increasingly involved in the human rights council and various other intergovernmental bodies. these reports are also the basis for those international organizations and we can use them to get the coke that effect. and the third case hamdi the kpps which may be the most important is that this -- the documents, this report gives people outside of government, there they are journalist or human rights activists or who others one an opportunity to basically take information that's been digested and analyzed by the u.s. government and use it in ways to help reinforce the human rights agenda. the fact is that week, for all of the work that goes into this report, the u.s. government is an important audience but there are many other audiences, and i think people are now the world increasingly find these reports as a very useful departure point for their own advocacy. what's interesting also is that clearly a lot of governments don't like this report, they don't like the criticism. we stand by the fact this is a report based on facts and when the government comes back and say you have a backdrop we have to stand ready to correct it but it's very rare that that happens which is again a credit to the team that works on that. we have worked very hard to get the facts and get them straight and it provides i think as i said a range of audiences the chance to figure out what to do based on these facts. >> no has the situation improved or gotten worse over time and what can the u.s. do to help the such recent considering the lack of diplomatic presence and information on the ground? >> the situation in north korea is a grim. it's a highly controlled and closed society where any notion of dissent, any notion of public debate and free press corps of free assembly is simply not tolerated. i don't know that i would say better or whirs or poor. there are some positive developments they are minor. we are really dealing with a government there that has tried to shut itself off from the world and in large measure succeeded. so it's one of the places when you read these reports it's one of the places i look at it and i don't -- we really haven't made much progress. please come in the back. islamic could you talk about the 40 countries that started restricting the use of media in the country and what secretary clinton mentioned earlier -- can you elaborate more on the list of countries? >> i don't have the list in front of me but it ranges from governments that are using wood law and regulations to restrict media or internet and countries through the various technical means either the firewall or no position on people's privacy and really in a systematic way in trying to limit free expression, free assembly, free association. again, our view is there not to be an open internet, and natural platform available to everybody in the world will, and there are many governments threatened by this. >> what can i see that includes china and north korea and the middle east countries? >> it includes all of them and then some. yes? >> afterward the elections to you see any changes in the human restitution in the country or is it just like north korea? >> we continue to be very concerned about worker the situation in burma were to become especially i would say the continued detention of more than the 2001 political prisoners to continue to call for their release, but also works with the harsh and unreasonable restrictions on the party were, so we have a long way to go. as you know, under the act when we are supposed to be appointing a special representative and i think that's about to happen also hasn't been formally announced, but that i think will be a signal of the kind of a renewed effort on our part to revisit the questions and figure out where to go from here. >> on india your report does mentioned with the common rights in 2002 but also has a reference y was [inaudible] what is the stance on the violation of human rights? >> i don't have anything i have to data on what's on the report. thank you. >> everything here would and would [inaudible] brings a lot of cases up that should be condemned, but every year the reporter is questioned by many countries because we were there is nothing about the united states violation and i could mention the example of [inaudible] will in the other point is the legitimacy of the united states were worth of because also most of the country's one political abuse someone with from the united states about this subject to a human-rights award. and i want to ask you what would you say about the point and i would like to ask about quote the situation of brazil with in this talk. >> on the first question, as i said at the outset, with one the absence of a u.s. chapter on the report in no way suggests that we are not willing to be scrutinized or to scrutinize ourselves. last year led an effort here will to undertake the first ever look at the united states through this universal periodic review will. we went to 16 cities, 18 sessions will walk, talk to probably 1,000 activists, we went to the muslim community in dearborn, michigan, we went to the border states to talk to mexican-americans, we talked about prisons, we talked here with the national security advocates about guantanamo and detention issues at blogger on and so forth and we produced a report which i think is as good as any government has done. we subjected ourselves in november. i was there, questions with a range of countries to come back and the answer them, so we are not in any way unwilling to hold ourselves accountable. i worked outside of government for a lot of years, and i was one of those very critical of guantanamo and of the torture policy inside the government. i continue to be one along with president obama who says we have to close guantanamo. we've ended the policy of the enhanced interrogations'. we are very mindful and secretary clinton said we are determined to lead by example. if somebody else would do this report, the united nations or some other agency and do it comprehensively and with the same commitment we would be in the light and it would free up a lot of time in my office for us to do other things, and this is a dahlia lithwick to -- valuable piece of work that otherwise wouldn't exist. it helps us do our work and helps our government intelligence decisions and until somebody else figures out how to do it, we are going to keep doing it. >> the report of think reflects a mixed picture of the central government and the newly elected president with a clear commitment to these issues the the the local level a range of issues that still need to be resolved. >> [inaudible] we were here last year and we are here today. a minister has lost his life and thousands of people. what are we going to do? we have been pumping billions of dollars, and so next year again we will have a report. do you have anything about walking the walk instead of just talking the talk? >> the issues you raised are of great concern. i was in pakistan in january. i met with the governor's family three weeks after he was assassinated and continue to be in contact with them. i met with the minister there and again here. secateurs clinton and i met them together several weeks before he was killed. the issues of intolerance in pakistan trouble us greatly in the trouble most pakistanis. i am particularly concerned about the precedent and the role he plays in that. again we can't force that change, but we are very mindful our ambassador is very sensitive to the real challenges we and the pakistani government face in trying to tap on the intolerance that now is so pervasive. >> [inaudible] >> i think that's enough for today. [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] none at a nato press conference on libya, admiral russell harding deputy commander of the libya operation said he would not apologize for airstrikes that accidentally hit the plebeian rebels on thursday. this 30 minute news conference at the command center in italy also includes questions from reporters at nato headquarters in brussels. >> the good morning. welcome to nato headquarters in brussels. under a pleased to introduce the commander of operation admiral james harding. naples has been enforcing the national security council resolution for a full week now. we continue with the great military as the regime continues and indiscriminately attack its own people. [inaudible] admiral harding will give more information on the aspect of the mission in a few moments. from the league of nations was the tomb [inaudible] this increase has contribution from qatar, and sweden. yesterday nato allies met with partners to discuss libya, the didier condition and further the broadening of the international contribution in support of the mission. all concerned continued commitment to the operations to protect the people. the north atlantic council met earlier this week with the chair person of the african union. the agreed the african union placed a key role in achieving a peaceful solution to the crisis and it will continue to maintain a close eye on the union as well as other relevant international and regional organizations. nato is and of the military mission but we know there can be no purely military solution to this. there is an unprecedented international unity and resolve for a political solution to the secretary-general will attend next week the week and qatar. nato will continue the broad international effort to discuss the way forward from libya. the general is also been constant discussions with its national leader splitting a key role in the ongoing efforts to support the people of libya. he has been briefing them on the nato's operations and has been clear that nato stands ready to assist in whatever capacity the unity deems appropriate. we will face challenges in the days and weeks ahead. the safety and legitimate aspirations of the libyan population are at stake and the need for the international community to act with unity and purpose is clear. for its part, nato is putting a had a robust and vigilant enforcement of the united nations security council resolution 1973. the civilian population of libya on nado's foremost concern. nado's message to the people of libya is clear. the mission is to protect you from those who use military force against unarmed civilians. we are steadfast in our resolve to prevent the dossier from using the heavy weaponry against you. i would now like to hand over to the admiral harding. >> thank you. this is the second at a briefing from naples on the unified protector from violence in libya. good morning. since i last spoke on the weapon state company to continue to exercise control over the no-fly zone and enforce and here in naples we continue to see coastal approaches to libya to those who would violate the embargo authorized by the security council. we now have more than 20 ships and aircraft scrutinizing all traffic to ensure only authorized to get through. they will prevent the obstacle to the vital humanitarian aid and will assist humanitarian ships and reaching the destination. the total of 12 ships reach in the past few days and four of the ships were humanitarian and eight were involved in each activations. in the past 48 hours we have flown over 318 and have struck 23 targets across libya. this effort maintains the pressure on libyan government to withdraw its forces and cease its attacks on the communities across libya. on wednesday we engaged forces in central libya including the mission to protect civilians and civilian population areas. the presence of nato aircraft and strikes continue to pressurize those the would bring harm to innocent civilians. in the weeks since it took over the commission the operational tempo has been steadily increasing. we have now flown more than 1500 almost half of them strikes. and i would point out many of these last up to 600 hours and if you add it all up flying and upwards of 600 hours a day which i think is a very significant effort. since we started this effort, we have hit targets including the tanks, armored personnel carriers, rocket launchers, surface-to-air missiles and ammunition dumps and occasion including [inaudible] all these different targets past the coherent strategy which reaches across the country and is designed to protect the civilians by reducing the ability of the government to wage the ruthless war, its citizens. .. the situation in the area is still very fluid with tanks and other vehicles moving in different directions, making it very difficult to distinguish who may be operating them. in addition, until this time we have not seen the dnc operating tanks. it is important to stress that our mission is to protect civilians and we will continue to fight forces that could potentially cause harm to the table of libya. i would like to conclude by an allegation made against unifi protector earlier in the week on wednesday. it was stated that nato aircraft had struck an oilfield and i assure you this is absolutely false. there was no need to strike in that area. i repeat, no nato aircraft struck in that area. what we do know is that government forces have attacked in the area in an attempt to disrupt the flow of oil to tabruk. it is a direct result of their aggressive action. i'm now happy to take questions from both here and in brussels. thank you. >> we will start with two questions from -- and then we will go to naples and then we can come back here. please introduce yourself. >> admiral, two questions. first, is it true that the rebels need to apologize for the incident which occurred in brega because apparently the communications between the rebels and nato aren't very good somebody didn't know the chain of command of nato had from now on tanks and they were using them. second question, about adjdabiya, is it true that nato did not fly over the advancing troops but were rather exposed to strikes in the area and it is much more difficult as you know and as you say every day to strike troops when they are nearing boroughs, cities, suburbs where i think there is a difficulty in the high risk. so can you confirm? why don't you according to people on the ground strike people that are effectively much more --? >> can i take the second question first? i think your question was why are we not attacking forces that are a think you implied out in the open and easier to attack and forces which are directly in the built-up areas? i think what i just outlined there was the fact that we have in ranging far and wide and they said this in the answer to the question on wednesday, very simply. over the last 24 hours and last night we have ranged as far over his ammunition dumps directly connected and servicing forces attacking civilians to the south and southwest of tripoli, along the coasts through ras lanuf. we have attacked air defense sites, enforcing the no-fly zones of what i would say is we are indeed and it may not be apparent to dnc forces to whom we don't have to prove where we are, but we have been attacking targets that directly threaten civilians, civilian population areas or are links to those forces so we have done that in the last 24 hours and throughout the first week of our operation. in relation to your first question, i am not aware what general unicef said today or yesterday, but i'm not apologizing. the situation on the ground as i said, was extremely fluid and remains extremely fluid. up until yesterday we have no information that the dnc or the opposition forces were using tanks. the equipment moving up and down the road between brega and adjdabiya going forward and coming back and therefore was to protect civilians. tanks have been used in the past to directly target civilians and indeed the other day we had questions and we were examining the case in misrata where we have seen tanks were in the center with population areas and people round about them. thank you. >> thank you so much rear admiral. yesterday, general carter ham said the situation in libya had gone into kind of a stalemate. i think it was referring to both military and political. i don't know if the chain of command of nato shares this assessment, and if not, how are you dealing with this and how will your tactics change, and i don't know if i can ask a second question. do we still have all the u.s. attack aircraft in place or did the reduction already effectively take place? i think it was around 40 planes that they would retrieve from command of nato. thank you so much. >> can i address your second question first on u.s. forces? and then i think the first question may come back to you. on the answer but u.s. forces, as president obama said some days ago, the u.s. forces would start to take a step back, so with the u.s. forces being up here, a large number of aircraft flying roughly half the strike sorties the number of coalition aircraft has come up, and we are now content with a number of strike aircraft we have. today there are over 110 fast jet as i would call it, sorties flying missions over libya over the next 24 hour so that is over 110 sorties. so what the u.s. forces are providing is supporting assets to us and they focus, the principle number of sorties is now flown by the coalition. sorry, the nato nations and their partners. on the first question, i think he said, you are quoting general ham. i'm not exactly where 47 you are asking whether there is a political or military stalemate. i will leave one or two for the viewing a question but as to whether we have change what we are doing. no. we have an change been changed we are doing. we are looking at the forces across libya who are attacking the civilian population, threatening to attack them or are directly linked to that and that means looking at where they are getting their ammunition from and also looking at where they're getting their fuel from. i do want to take the first part of that question. >> absolutely. from what i've seen from general carter ham's testimony to the united services committee, in the senate yesterday, he made clear that his assessment was based on the changing tactics by the pro-gadhafi forces that they rear admiral was also referring to, the facts that we see all forces driving around in civilian vehicles, very hard to tell who is who and also the fact that pro-gadhafi forces are using human shields and are parking next to mosques and schools. so it is very hard to pinpoint any of this military hardware without causing civilian casualties. so, i think general ham made it clear that his assessment was not made on the basis that nato had taken command, it and we have always made clear that there is no pure military solution to this conflict. this is why it is so important to find a political solution and i would say there is no stalemate, just on the contrary. i think there is a clear drive from the international community to urgently find a political solution to this conflict, and the contact group will be meeting next wednesday. in doha. as i said the secretary-general has been invited, and will be there. the whole international community is united and committed to finding a solution as soon as possible. the only solution can be a cessation of violence has demanded by the u.n. security council resolution and an immediate transition to democracy as demanded by the people of libya. i think we will now go over to naples for the next set of questions. >> thank you. i am happy for the next question. >> good morning. i would like to know if it is possible to confirm how many proven casualties, civilian casualties there have been due to nato attacks that you can be sure and you can confirm? and, what is nato doing to improve communications and coordination with the rebel forces? thank you. >> your second question was to improve the committee patients with the rebel forces. i have to be frank and say it is not for us, trying to protect civilians of whatever persuasion to improve communications with those rebel forces. i can see what your point is of how do you avoid knocking out dnc tanks that we haven't previously seen in that respect but i think i'm securing that in saying it is not for us to improve the communications. what we have to do is we have to see very clearly where civilians or civilian population areas are being attacked and make sure we can are there take action or if we can take action is because we might cause collateral damage. so that is my answer to that question i think. we need to make sure we know where it is and we can protect the civilians. on your first question on civilian casualties, think the best answer to that is trying to be very precise, to ask nato to come back up with an answer to that and follow up with that because there is a danger that any answer i give now could be out of date by the time i gave it in that respect to what i would like to do is handed over back to nato or hand the question back to nato but to save that is something we will get back to on that. thank you. next question, please. while we are still waiting to see if there any more questions here, are there any more questions in brussels? i am sorry, i cannot hear. >> to hide behind her military equipment. can you develop that idea little bit more? do you mean to make that -- seeking out highly populated areas or places like mosques or hospitals to put their equipment in or has there have been a sense of gadhafi forces kidnapping or forcing people to congregate around the area and keeping people around there where they want to hide equipment? that is one thing and the other question, just to follow-up on my colleagues question regarding the military stalemate. i appreciate there is no sense of a political stalemate in libya right now. but there is a clear sense that in the military sense that there have been no advances for the past couple of days and i think that is what general ham was the referring to. would you agree there is a military impasse or a military balance right now in nato between gadhafi forces and the raul's? >> thank you. i'm not sure i got the whole of your question. i couldn't hear the opening, but i think u.s. the first question, do you mean that gadhafi forces are using urban areas are highly populated areas to put their vehicles in and are receiving any incidence of them taking civilians to congregations and in your second question was on the military stalemate is there an impasse and do i agree? if i could go to the first question, can tell you that as we look across libya and they look for where forces are and where they are moving, we have been watching some of the areas to the south, well to the south of right and adjdabiya and we have seen an example of forces that we have been tracking overnight and a couple of days and put large heavy vehicles and armored vehicles amongst civilian -- in other words in amongst civilian population areas and buildings and we can see that from our imagery in that respect. so yes we have seen that. as we attack the forces across the country we look to see where they go and of course that is a direct result of our action in the past to make sure that they can't move quickly and they threaten population areas. so we are saying that on our imagery. as to incidence of inviting people to congregate, i personally have seen what you have seen on the news media and the web sites all the way along. as to whether we are seeing it here, there've been reports of civilians in misrata and that nature and i think you are seeing is much on the news, the international media because this is being reported by journalists and tv crews in that respect. as to the stalemate, think it is up for anyone who wants to make a judgment in that respect. what i can say is that over the last 48 hours and probably longer, the situation between right and adjdabiya in the last 48 hours has been the fluid between bragg and adjdabiya. the forces moved up and down highways. i outlined yesterday with the tmc tanks. if someone wants to find -- to defined that as the stalemate that is fine. all i'm saying is yes it is fluid but fluid in a reasonably small area. thank you. is there another question? >> michael with bbc. rear admiral yi said he won't be apologizing for the strikes that hit rebel targets in you said is not for you to make evidence to improve communication with the rebel command to does that mean in a sense you are keeping and impartial distance where you attack rebels if you see them as threatening civilian targets? and if i may matt also ask in terms of the difficult as you are finding on the ground, human shields, the difficulty between distinguishing between rebels and gadhafi forces, do you see any way of resolving this without ground troops going in? thank you. >> i think i will go back to my routine. i will take the last question first. the mandate in the direction that we are operating here and general reshard is operating here is such that there is to be no occupation force stated in the u.n. scr. in other words we translate that is no boots on the ground. if there's to be a debate on that it is a debate the international community needs to have and i would expect that nato needs to have in that area. on your question about attacking civilian targets and i think what you were implying is, if the anti-gadhafi forces were threatening or attacking civilians, what that action fall under for us and attack as much as the pro-regime forces are attacking civilians at the moment and the answer has to be yes. the unscr and that made a -- nato mandate is clear, to protect civilians were threatened by violence or are being attacked and civilian population centers. please, let's be clear. i'm talking about civilians. does that answer your question? >> the japanese media. >> the european union recently decided to dispatch the military vessels in order to give humanitarian assistance. there might be a final decision in the coming days from the u.n. do you have any concern in terms of the coordination between nato population and the e.u. operations? thank you very much. >> your question is do we have any concerns? no. it has to be done properly. it has to be done correctly. there is an easy way of doing it, which is the government speaks to each other just as we are doing at the moment. the international humanitarian agencies are speaking to nato, telling us where they have vessels, telling us where they are going to leave from and where they wanted to go. that information goes straight, if we take the c block that information goes to straight component headquarters and headquarters here in naples and then straight up to the ships at sea. we know where they're coming from and we know where they're going. assisted in my statement we will take every action to do that. the other one i can give -- and i myself asked the c-17 being unloaded in doha some days ago. that are crafted gone into libya, taken out casualties and then gone back and as i recall one the next day. the aircraft goes to the air component commanders to make sure the aircraft that are flying, they know where they are in the fighters that are out there as well. if you take out all the way back, let's say to its potential for the e.u. to do something different, then all we have to do is to speak to each other but at the end of the day what we have to make sure of is the arms embargo is reached and we continue to protect the civilian population. thank you. >> in terms of the humanitarian mission, as you know, nato has completed its plans for a humanitarian mission and stands ready if requested to put that ocean in place. at the moment, we are making sure as the rear admiral said, that we are deconflate thing as the term goes here, making sure that there is no conflict, no confusion between our operations and the arms embargo and the humanitarian operations ongoing for the people of libya, and also in terms of our regular contact with the european union that is ongoing, that is clear and transparent. i can tell you that the inspector general will be feeding -- meeting the high representatives next monday and we have also invited baroness ashton to the nato foreign ministers meeting next week in berlin to discuss the situation in libya. >> any other questions? >> stephen from international tribune. just going back to the incident and brega, i'm a little bit confused about the reason that you don't want to apologize for this. is it because -- as i understood it you mistook these tanks for gadhafi tanks because you didn't know that the rebels were operating them. and if that is the case, it was a mistake and therefore why not apologize? the alternative is that perhaps you thought whoever was operating them, they were attacking civilian targets so they were a threat to them. and if it is the latter, then what are -- that puts the rebel activities in quite a different light. so which of those two two copies of? >> i'm sorry. let's be clear about the question. just repeat the specific question, please. i got your point about was it a mistake, you mistook and/or you did not know. >> if it was a mistake why not apologize and if it wasn't a mistake and what we conclude is those tanks were at actually targeting or a threat to civilian population in which case i would understand the reason that you would want to apologize for that. >> thank you. i think i would make two points. one, in the situation in libya, we have seen evidence, documentary evidence of tanks attacking civilians with people around them and you know what has gone on and his brother as i do. in that point tanks have been used even though we have seen the tactics change over the course of this week were the tanks have been held or the back we have seen the light tactical vehicles with big guns, machine guns, antiaircraft guns on the back of pickups used. we have seen groups of three or four of those trucks used to fit into the civilian population and then try and move forward creek lee as they can. the one thing about those trucks though is that they cannot -- they can direct their target to the civilian population. when you see tanks appearing on the highways up to brega and between brega and asked to be of those are the vehicles that cause the greatest harm to civilians and that is the first i would make. the second is up to that point, we have not seen the tmc operating tanks. and as i said early and i'm not apologizing for what i said, it is and was a very fluid situation on the road between brega and adjdabiya. in in other words there were vehicles going backwards and forwards but the key point was those units that we have previously seen in misrata in other areas protecting civilians were on that road. that is where i think we got to yesterday. >> rear admiral, thank you very much. i know you are very busy man. we let you go back to the mission, unless there any further questions from naples. >> ladies and gentlemen, any questions? i don't think there any more questions from here. thank you. >> thank you very much, indeed. and thank you very much to the journalist who joined us from naples. we will try to have for the future briefings are there admiral harding or general -- from -- joining us with operational details for the next briefings. our plan is to hold similar press conferences on tuesdays and fridays. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> as a host and i think as a trainer, you are not necessarily a republican or democrat. you are simply looking at the impact of what government is doing on the financial markets, whetherb it be the oil markets, or trading or wall street firms. >> sunday cnbc's guess my anchor melissa lee on on her career in influences and what she believes is her role in reporting business and financial news. watch the rest of the interview sunday night at 8:00 on c-span's q&a. speak canadian voters go to the polls on may 2 to elect a new parliament. canadian broadcaster cbc preview the election on its nightly news program, the national. this is a half-hour. >> smacked down in steel town. check out the turnout. good evening. i am peter mansbridge and this is the nationals. hamilton plays host to dueling campaign stops. why both the conservatives and the liberals need to win here. another powerful earthquake hits northeast japan, rattling buildings and nerves. plus, on the country's most watched political panel as anyone politicians or media, talk about your issue on this campaign. allen, andrew and shauntel on that. and, analyzing campaign photo ops. the imagery alone, better than anything i have seen and about the same price as well, "avatar." rex murphy calls this season. hamilton ontario was apparently the place to be this evening. stephen harper and michael ignacio held events there, both going after voters who overwhelmingly supported the ndp in the last election. pampering "harper's" message though was the question of who would be led into here it? senior correspondent terry molesky was there to see how it all went down. terry. >> peter does not just that ontario has the most seats, just tempting seats, the want to want to switch back and forth in elections. stephen harper needs to get a majority, michael ake io needs to stop and then tonight they are both in hamilton gunning for the mbp. hamilton's three seats are held by new democrats, so it is not friendly turf for harper and there must be some liberals here because two guys showed up in chicken suits, mocking "harper's" refusal to debate ignagni zero one-on-one. >> why are you here, sir? thank you very much. inside harper did not vary his basic pitch a pledge of lower taxes with plenty of coalition bashing. >> to keep our country moving forward, a strong, stable national majority. >> still harper's campaign shows turbulence. for once the party did not shut out all of the party faithful. complaints about that forced harper define the apologize to voters who had been kicked out on suspicion of disloyalty. >> if anybody is kept out of our events that are here to hear a message we have was the apologize to them. our interest is in having as many people here message as we can. >> but the apology came only after his apology was forced. mounties have been ejecting people for political non-security reasons. michael annette io is not dropping the matter. >> this is about the whole attitude of this party and this government towards the citizens of the country. it is not just a problem about one, you know, student at western ontario. >> nadia contrasted his own event in hamilton. >> i'm going to take questions. that is how democracy works. that is how it works. that is how it works. >> tomorrow still in ontario the contestants plan to release their full platform but they world the a few surprises. the budget is no secret and there were no new spending programs. but that will be the argument, that they're not spending the way those other guys do. peter. >> thank you very much. the chickens weren't the only ones crossing the road to get to the hamilton events. another crowd showed up. make sure the leaders don't overlook their votes. >> are you coming to the bali? >> it may be a lonely voice but it is getting louder. on university campuses across the country, an awakening of sorts of students coming to the latest surprise rally. >> there are a lot of us and if we wanted to make a change in a voter turnout we could. and i don't think the students students -- as is will. >> it all started on monday when ross university students showed up outside of the tory event. they weren't allowed inside but their message directed to all politicians into their fellow students. >> the message to young people is to get out there and vote. >> today's was organized on facebook in a couple of days. >> 285 said they were participating. >> a meeting place that up and then it was off to the rally. >> the idea of a vote mom or a surprise rally seems to be gaining momentum. there are at least six more of these in the works across the country in the next few days. >> within moments of arriving at the harper event, students try to get in line. they had not registered ahead of time but with the cameras roving tory organizers set the rules. >> come on and. >> we are getting out to listen and hear what they have to say. >> no one got close enough to hear much or to say much, but the students point was made, and later some students did get a chance to chat briefly with harper. than it was off to the liberal events, where once again they got in and got even closer. >> we want to know how you will realistically implemented. >> and even a chance to ask about tuition fees. in the end, it was more than make specter, and for tonight for what is still a movement in the making, that is enough. cbc news, hamilton. >> for the second day in a row, michael ake the us was thrown off track or the words of the liberal candidate for codec nevius says the comments by the former judge about victims of sexual assault were disgraceful. but he is keeping him on his team. rosemary barton is covering the liberals. >> for the second time in as many days he left his daily events to be briefed about the comments of one of his candidates. this time it was former judge john riley, now at liberal candidate in the upper to writing of wild rose. riley said he went into politics after 33 years on the bench because he was disgusted by the conservative mandatory minimum sentencing laws and on a talk radio show he said not all crimes require jail time. >> you shouldn't go to jail for sexual assault? >> there are sexual assaults and there are sexual assaults. >> riley went on to describe a some are different from others. >> these remarks are utterly, totally unacceptable. we find them in fact disgraceful. he said the comments personally discuss with him but he said contacts were important to. >> he has served the community with a long record of distinguished public service. he made one remark is going to regret for the rest of his life. he is offered in an research apology and i have eska to do. >> and 44 he was asked about the statement was issued on riley's a half by the party. i deeply regret any distress that may have cost and any misunderstanding about my own and my parties zero tolerance for sexual assault of any kind. >> as for ignatieff agenda there remain some unanswered questions. for instance he won't say whether he would undo conservative crime legislation because he said he doesn't know all they cost. he does say there needs to be a better balance of prevention and punishment. rosemary barton cbc news hamilton. >> there were a couple of promises made on the the trail to tell you about today. stephen harper and announced a plan that would change the popular tax-free savings account. >> the conservative -- will double the limit to the tax-free savings account from a thousand dollars to $10,000. [applause] 's been out there is a hitch. this change wouldn't come into effect until the budget is balanced and that is not projected to be until 2015. jack layton met community leaders and surrey b.c. to talk about tackling gangs and gang violence. layton said he spent $100 million a year on a series of crime prevention measures. >> i will make gang recruiting illegal. i will create new stand-alone standalone offenses for home invasions and carjackings, and i will enact a conference of correctional anti-gang strategy to ensure that persons don't just service crime schools to train gang involved. >> layton also pledged to hire 2500 new police officers for another $150 million a year. green party leader elizabeth may laid out her party's platform today. technology and she will never form a government. but she said she and her plans are there for another reason. marco mcdermott has more. [applause] >> the green party held its platform rally in a downtown urban setting, trying to move the tree hugger image and to show it has a practical focus on the environment. >> we of the platform that sets out the stepping stones. they are practical and sensible. there is a budget that shows how we can afford them for a better world. >> green platform includes a carbon tax make polluter say. some of that revenue would fund the national retrofit rogan for homes and schools. there's also along a long list of renewable energy programs. the parties trying to provide a range of voters so it is promising to eliminate the deficit in three years, set up a special fund for cities and provide income splitting for all families. >> i think everyone here knows we are not going to reform government tomorrow. our goal is to be that voice of conscience, that voice of reason, the voice for our future, for her children, for her grandchildren. >> but the green party may not be able to afford all of his ideas according to this economist who gives its marks for trying. >> probably a c+ might be the number, not because there are not some good ideas but i think simply it is not affordable and the actual numbers look way optimistic. >> the green party got almost 1 million votes in 2008, but it still didn't win a seat. elizabeth may is hoping the broader platform will help them break through and send at least one mp to the house of commons. marco mcdermott, cbc news i was. scully have asked that national leaders to appear on this program during the campaign. so far all is accepted except stephen harper. elizabeth may is first up an interview that discusses among other things, the possible impact of vote splitting. >> there is the green party helping conservatives win seats when they are dragging votes primarily, not exclusively, but primarily from the liberals. >> as you will recall it was stephen harper told the consortium in 2008 that if i was included in the debate he would not calm. so clearly the conservatives don't think that the greens are helping them out. >> what do you think? beato think we should be so it says simply concerned with vote splitting. the crisis and are. >> now you can see the may interview tomorrow night right here on the national. >> we two is almost in the can and what a serious discussion of the issues it has been. candidates dumped voters turf and tonight the first protesters in chicken suits appear. what an excellent way to get ready for next week's debate. shauntel is in montréal tonight, allen andrew are here in toronto. allen you start us off. was this in some ways kind of a typical week two of the campaign? >> typically, what this is referred to as the -- and rarely anything happens in the first two weeks in terms of at least voter preference shifting. there is lots of activity and lots of news but what we have haven't seen is in a big heated political debate, and we are not going to see any because we are not going to see any major politics announce in this election we are not going to see any major policies announced because there is no appetite on the part of a proposition for any new great gesture of national enterprise. so you are going to see the politics of incrementalism throughout, and that is basically what the population has asked for. >> shauntel,? >> i thought there was a more wasted week then second weeks usually are. usually second weeks aren't as intense as the first one in the campaign takes on a deeper tone but this one fizzled. while last week we were talking about stuff that people were getting engaged and, debate stuff, coalition versus stable government, i suspect this week is turned off more voters than engaged and yes it is true that there is not an appetite for big policies. but, the people i spoke to that went to rallies, many of them worked is quite good by the fact that they were being told about the other guy letting people in and that was the kind of rhetoric. they were wanting to hear more about policies. if you are going to have a platform on a sunday probably would be a good idea to promote it sometimes in the week. >> andrew should people be turned off because i heard the same thing the shauntel heard. people sent e-mails and these are not partisans. these are people who believe in the process and want to try to understand was going on and we are very disappointed that i got to say not just for the politicians but the media. >> i don't know how we know they public has no appetite for major policies until someone proposes some. we are talking about this being substance free when we have had before the election of legitimate perk from the liberal pipe warm. you would think there would be all kinds of substance to talk about. but it is incremental. they are taking baby steps. the liberals are moving to the left in very small amounts and the tory budget was this kind of essay of microcredit. i think there is substance there if you look deep enough. the tories have tax also don't kick in until four years and that liberals have a substantial looking policy and cap-and-trade buried in paged 46 and they don't want to seem to talk about it. wean a meteor certainly not helping because we are so obsessed with process and covering the campaign rather than election so we are possessed with holes in tactics and strategies in photo ops in gaffes and what wrong on the bus yesterday. we are circling out helping. we spent four days it seems like talking about a couple of people being turned around from a tory rally and that was worth a news item. is not worth four days of discussion. >> well there's also i think within the media a certain bias that the population is not interested in policy and therefore becomes a self-fulfilling kind of cycle. if you give a big policy speech to your politician and no one covers it because it is deemed to be there too complex or too boring, to interest the audience that it doesn't take long before you start getting big complicated policy speeches. we are in a vicious kind of cycle right now for the population's appetite to certain things as dictating and structuring our political behavior in the and the political classes pavers driving further cynicism among the population. >> go ahead, shauntel. >> i and impart blend of social media to tell you the truth because i think there was always a danger and it is happening now that the media encourages the politicians, the politicians who are covered all get the sense of engagement from the very instant gratification of twitter or facebook and etc.. and it is an illusion. it is a bubble versus what is happening on the ground, so while they think there is an engagement because as is happening really quickly they are talking amongst themselves and i think people are dropping off because of it rather than becoming more engaged because of the social media. >> i think there's an interesting point that shauntel is making, the immediacy of social media media and immediacy of the media, the acceleration of the debate, it greatly enlarges it least in our lives the significance of incredible trivial moment to moment events. i think that is what shauntel is saying and i certainly agree. >> whose hand is a plan to? >> you might well say that the tory with a ten-point lead that they have would have a vested interest in people not particularly getting too much into the record are into substantive questions that they might have difficulty answering out the cause of the tories but because they are different running party. i'm not saying it is all part of the tory plot but it is run entirely. >> but it is policy that is lost in this and we mentioned last week one of the things that was surprising about this particular campaign is driven by social media, is how this exponentially increases the prospect of gaffes. shauntel made the point of gas in it means these gaps are forgotten in the next and that is what we have seen this week. we are picking up all kinds of stuff that never would have made it to the national media in the past. much of it is local in nature. >> let's not let the opposite not the. they would be grabbing more attention if they were doing more substantive policy departures. it is policy that will make a difference in policy that some people are going to oppose. it is things that will actually be worthy of reporting frankly. sphere want to switch to the topic and move us towards next week because one assumes the base will it least meg at a very different kind of week next week then this week is banned at some level. now, usually to get criticized for always going back to the turner mulrooney 84 and 88 debates and that is sized example that is used and are friend was saying they're going to trot out the same old clips this week. but i have a different clip to show you. go back to the first televised debate in canada in 1968. a lot of things happening but it is interesting to see how that debate night shaped up. there were four parties in the fourth party was the credit tease rail co-ed. they did not let him into the and what he did this kind of like the last half half-hour of a two-hour debate. this was one of the moments in it. listen to see what they're talking about. the question coming from ron collister in 1968. we tacked on the opening of the debate because it is so classic burkowski the national debate, life and in color from the confederation hall in the west block of the parliament welding in ottawa. >> the past five elections have produced for minority governments. mr. douglas said he doesn't expect to win and you cannot win because you are not fielding enough candidates. in view of the record of political instability that seems to accompany minority government, are minor parties not a liability in our parliamentary system? >> i think i'm in a very government a responsible one, can certainly receive the support in the house of members who are there, not for the pleasure of playing politics but for the general good of the population. >> i think in fairness there to realize that the kind of parliaments we have had in the past have prevented the government from making as much progress as it would have liked to on many of these bills. all i can say is that if elected as a government party, we will govern as best we can. we are asking for strong mandate our ideas are there and the people will vote for them or not, but what the results will be liability or excesses lead and a relevant question as far as i'm concerned. >> they can really put you down those questions. shauntel, there are some similarities there. this whole discussion of minor parties and what role they play in holding up parliament. what do we learn from something like that? >> well, a stable government. and using, the same merit that stephen harper will be bringing to the debates and putting it to free people and the optics of these three verses one basically sends a the message to the conservatives hammering about stability and a stable government. but also there is a difference. they admitted they were not going to win. our dynamics now is they all want to be number two. jack layton wants you to believe he is going to overtake the liberals, then you have michael ignatieff so the dynamics are even less productive. >> someone would look at that and say what we learned and i look at that and say what are we forgotten? the fact of the matter at that point i minority governments were a real aberration. there today that minority governments are going to be the norm -- to the credit has disappeared and you had along period of stable government and 72 to the 74 period. but in addition you really have to ask whether these, you know, whether they remember how productive those parliaments were, in effect how much cooperation there was. both on an ad hoc basis but also on a more kind of -- bases and that is the system we are going to have we are going to have to start adopting in canada if we are going to have some stability and we are not going to have parliaments always run through the lens of potential elections. >> there is nothing wrong with minor parties of people choose to vote for their parties. that is a provision they shouldn't be made to feel as if they are letting down beside that they should have photo for. second auto think the problems we have are too many parties but we have a designed -- electoral system designed for two-party politics and it works well when you only have two parties that when you start getting three and four and five as we now have, the green party not been represented being represented in parliament yet, it rakes down and it produces not a stable majority government that people always boast of and supposedly producing, endless minard seminaries of of the particular time because it rewards regional parties. you can punch your -- compared two parties whose support is spread evenly across the country. >> interesting. would you like to comment on that? we only got a couple of minutes left. one may look towards next week in the debate, tell me what at least one of these leaders has to do in light of the kind of campaign we are doing and in light of the stakes that seemed to seem to be out there in terms of the various polls we have seen. what will you be looking for first? >> well it is mike ignatieff last best chance to showcase himself as the alternative prime minister and he is going to have a lot of competition and a lot of fighting to do to get that done. >> allen. >> the truth be told michael ignatieff probably needs a knockout to really change things. >> what is the knockout? the often when you see the donate notice happening. we have seen that many many times where people have said oh this kind of thing was a draw in two days later they are going well because the media plays clips over and over again that selectively starts reinforcing a particular narrative. at the very least i think ignatieff has got to surprise the electorate. you have to put on a requirements that a sickly puts a life the caricature that the negative advertising has paid. >> i wonder whether ignatieff is going for the knockout. earthing about his campaign so far seems to me they're just trying to hold the tories to a minority. it is not a particularly adventurous campaign. i think if we see him in the debates, trying to appeal to the center-right voters than he is still trying to win this thing but if he just pitches as he has been to ndp voters i think is trying to slow slip by the base and take the tories down after the election. >> shauntel, what about harper? what about harper next week? he just sort of has to glide through the two hours? >> that is about the only game that the front-runner and the -- anything beyond that makes especially hamlet too aggressive. use basing three verses one and that suits their position. there's nothing he needs to do do -- beyond turning himself into a punching bag. >> ps to be prime minister and he has been has been on the job and even if people don't like him they accept is the quality and the confidence to occupy that particular job. if you give me the other guys look like they are irresponsible or not ready for prime-time that would be a bonus but basically he just has to be the prime minister. >> we are out of time but we will be here in tuesday night and so will the insiders panel so we will get a good review of what happened on the debate on tuesday night. we will also be live and in color, just like that one we saw. thank you all. coming up next, the man himself. give us a hint of what you have for us and i. >> peter could call it pictures at an exhibition but it is actually seems from our current election. that is coming up on the national. >> this is election week we couldn't wait to have, the election good enough to put off for another minute. i suppose the question we ought to ask is do you think it is worth 300 million? from where i sit, it surely is. the imagery alone is better than anything i've seen and about the same price as well, cameron's "avatar." every sample is lugging around a sixpack of beer and a newfoundland liquor store. i think that is light if i read the case correct he and what a giddy chervil politico he is especially around the plate load of hot dogs. who would have would have thought that the council would have had such an earthy taste? beer, hot dogs, heavy on the catcher. we catch them loading up on boston cream. we should at least make him an honorary surf. i'm going with these two harper pictures of the most informative of the campaign so far. the first one. who knew that stephen harper had a little piece of an extremely extremely -- dale earnhardt trapped inside them. when people see stephen harper on the atv they are surely as with one voice, going to say now that is the guy we have got to keep indoors. in an office, full-time, way from anything with wheels or a carburetor. and this, i'm really not sure what to make of this picture. is he signaling with that collapse smile that he but he has been kidnapped? possibly by the greens? or is he sitting up to a little bit of security work at one of his own rallies? may i see your facebook i.d., young lady? and please, stop twittering. duceppe's attention here, a rough merlot or maybe he just found out the wine came from ontario. a slap in the face to québec, a bold for some show a slap in the face from the northside of the vineyard but a slap in the face for québec nonetheless. there is a very tranquil one of jack which speaks to his campaign style, his quiet manner or cokie appears to be questioning this bag of oranges or having a zen moment with the fruit. though i'm sure he really is just trying to figure out why his handlers have brought him to a food stall and what possible political point he is supposed to make of it. mr. layton, consider, you were not in it allen ball helmet on board an all-terrain vehicle. this is good for you. well, long after the issues that haven't been talked about have been forgotten, and long after the platforms no one reads have been smothered and tough, long after the pre-scripted debates have drifted to memory, these images will remain. the family scrapbook of the 2011 election, worth 300 million, "avatar", you betcha. for the national, i am rex murphy. >> this year studentcam competition ask students from across the country to consider washington d.c. through their lands. today's third prizewinner addressed an issue that better help them understand the role of the federal government. >> soon enough the official word arrives. >> i would like to share with you which ones they are. first at the top of the list is -- [applause] on august 24, 2010 the maryland state department of education was thrilled to hear the news that maryland was awarded a 250 million-dollar grant to fund education. this grant came from winning the second phase of the federal government's race to the top program and will be divided amongst maryland school district over the next few years. this is momentous event or an the maryland department of education but how did we manage to win the grand? let's step back and focus on the education the first place. >> education is important because it allows one to become literate, critically thinking, functional member of society and then one can't can can should be it to society in a positive way. >> i think the purpose of it is to bring out a potential and kids and a potential that makes them successful. >> it is a socialization thing. teaching kids how to socialize and be sociable and i think that is a very important aspect of education in itself. i think that is probably why it started. to get kids off the streets and get them into a control environment and at the same time hey let's teach them art work is being 2000 the federal government repealed their values regarding education when they announce race to the top an academic competition in order to determine which states demonstrated the initiative to receive funding for education. >> with a race to the top funds we were ward states that come together and adopt a common set of standards and assessments. >> the principles of race to the top are outlined in a detailed rubric to determine which state would win education grants. this rubric weighted heavily on the need for great teachers and leaders followed by a state success in implementing educational programs, assessments and general selection criteria or other category, a state facility in slow achieving schools and last but not least the rare decision of science, technology engineering and math attics or stem. >> it is a catch-22. of the state of maryland wants to give money for educational system, we have to unfortunately bow to the united states government's ideas and what they believe maryland students need to learn. this is my 38th year of teaching and i have seen teaching change, sometimes what happened 10 years ago and is dropped usually rolls around again. there are always new ideas in terms of how to teach. >> i applaud the federal government and the administration for launching out to a competitive american gene which is about competition, that nobody had figured out a way to

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