Members, shall we say were not fond of israelis. Consequently was constrained and the need to keep the war going on long enough the israelis would want to to retaliate for being had by Saddam Hussein. At the same time, the desire among many within the middle east for an arab solution must turn if he went further towards baghdad and took over back dad by forests, that this would create greater amity among arab members to be that in some ways as the reestablishment of western colonialism. But theres a very important distinction, a revelation she was in the archives and theres always the questions when the decision comes out about whether or not American Forces should continue on to baghdad in 1991. This was not a discussion within the white house for a very important reason. The ultimate goal beyond the liberation of kuwait was removal of Saddam Hussein from power. There was a 100 certainty on highlevel officials that this would happen anyway. Saddam hussein had embarrassed. His own army
Place. Several years ago, the secretary of defense made it known before he announced that he was going to lead the administration that he was going back to the state of washington. He was someone i follow closely. He was nominated to be the cia director in 1991, and as an obama supporter, i was shocked to find out that he was going to be kept on as the secretary of defense. What he told people, i found, and it was a major reasoning for why i wanted to write this book, what he said is that we are moving towards a smaller military. One that will do fewer things than be able to go fewer places, which he thought was a terrible thing and he added that he didnt want to be a part of that kind of a system that is going to retrench. My feeling has always been that we need a smaller military that will do fewer things and go to fewer places. So that is the kind of book that i wanted to write. I thought that i should do it even though others have mined a lot of this. Im sure a lot of you are famil
Militaristic to the legislative with a panel that includes a Pulitzer Prizewinning historian annette gordonreed and james mike pearson. Its about one hour and 20 minutes. Over the new years weekend 9100 people visited the abuilding for the proclamation. Some were sitting by for hours for the time to read the words forever free and to see Abraham Lincolns signature. Although it didnt end slavery in america it fundamentally changed the character of the war. Overnight the union became a war for human liberation. For the nearly 4 million it was a symbol of hope. That hope of freedom was finally realized in the amendment to the constitution which abolished slavery in the u. S. Jurisdiction these landmark documents of the freedom reside here at the National Archives but they are filled with documents that tell the story of the emancipation of the individual level. The letter from a black soldier to the enslaved wife assures her theres a present National Difficulties are great yet i look forw
Prevent. And irwran that will stop at nothing to in secret develop a nuclear weapon. Many military analysts say a strike on iran, even a very good one delays that option. Leave one additional thought. Wharf whatever you thought of libyan intervention. It set off a whole bunch events it africa. That was predictable. Let me give you view of iran to operation in libya. This is what happens when you give up your wmd program. So my last question for you on this evening, after this remarkable career of 39 years in the military, listening in on all these bad actors and conversations for all your years in intelligence, the National Security agency, being at the cia and seeing everything from the trains blown up in madrid to the towers come down when you were at nsa in new york, are you an optimist or a pessimist when it comes to human nature . I am, in another venue, described reading the president s daily preefs and all the stuff that is not ready for prime time every morning, six or seven da
Youre watching book tv on cspan. Now, tom allen, former sixterm democratic congressmann front mississippi, recounsels his inability to understand his republican colleagues and vice versa and contends congress will remain lock logjammed until the try to understand each oomph this is just over an hour. [applause] thank you very much for those kind words, and thank you all for being here tonight. This is a wonderful crowd, and im very pleased to see so many of you here. I have to say its a special pleasure for me to be at the Jimmy Carter Library because my late father was one of those very early in the carter president ial campaign who went to hear this governor, former governor from georgia, was very impressed, wrote some sort of check, and became a big fan of jimmy carter throughout his career. And i wish my father could see me now because i know he would be excited. But it is so i thank you for that. I also want to say that this is an opportunity to discuss the things we have been thr