I think its completely crazy were doing substantive work on the 17th of december. I cant imagine were holding real conferences here right the week before christmas, but we are, but thats because theres so much to talk about, and im so glad to have you all come. Thank you, thank you all for being here. My name is john hamre, im the president at csis. I wanted to say special thanks to Julio Friedmann who is a friend. We have known each other for many years. Hes fortunately in town serving in government more directly. Hes a government guy, hes out at Lawrence Livermore labs but were so pleased he can be here leading at a crucial time when we need to be thinking through a lot of important issues. For a very strange reason, recently i have been doing some personal reading on the history of philosophy, and i was recently reading about Thomas Robert maltous, a british cleric who in the early 18th century who was a very provocative philosopher because he had very dark views about the future of
World is so poor, when just one week of military expenditure can bring all children to classrooms. I refuse to accept that all the laws and constitutions and police and judges, are unable to protect our children. I refuse to accept that the slavery can be stronger than freedom. I refuse to accept here. My only aim in life is that every child is free to be a child. Free to grow, free to eat, sleep, and see the light. Free to love and laugh and cry. Free to play and learn. Free to go to school. And tree to dream. I have the privilege of working with many courageous people, who have the same aim. We have never given up on any threat or attack, we will never. We have made progress in a couple of year, couple of decades. We have reduced the number of out of School Children by half. We have reduced the number of child laborers by a third. We have reduced child mortality, malnutrition, and we have prevented millions of child deaths. But let us make no mistake, the great challenges still remai
Obviously worked hard on welfare reform and adoption issues and trade issues, but at that time the Steering Committee was called committee on committees. You knew you were kind of in a government process. And it really is a campaign and its about the votes on that committee who determines who gets a seat on a Committee Like ways and means. So youre talking to every member on that committee and theres a particular member that i that really wasnt for me. And i just didnt know what to do and just sort out out of the blue i dialed president fords office in california. Had you met him . I wasnt sure he knew me. I certainly knew him. His secretary answered the phone and said, oh, congressman camp, hold, and he got on the phone and said, dave, how are you . Then he said, you know, i used to be a leader. Somebody owes me a favor and ill make a call, and he did, and that person came to me on the floor and said anybody who can get former president of the United States to call me im for. And so h
[ applause ] [ speak being foreigning Foreign Language ] [ speaking Foreign Language ] friends, Noble Committee inviting me to present a lecture. Respectfully, i am unable to do that, because i am presenting here, the sound of silence. The cry of innocence, and the face of invisibility. Those children who are left behind. Thats why, i have kept an empty chair as to remind us. As a reminder. I have come here only to share the voices and dreams of our children. Because they are all our children. I have looked into their frighteppfrigh frightened and exhausted eyes. I have held their injured bodies and have felt their broken spirits. 20 years ago, in the foot hills, a small, skinny child. He asked me, is the world so poor, instead of forcing me to take a gun. A child soldier that was kidnapped boy an extremist militia. As his first lesson, he was forced to kill his friends and family. He asked me, what is my fault . 12 years ago, a child murder from the streets of colombia, trafficked, an
Issues. Lets get right to it. Donna kelley. [inaudible question] it has been a firestorm over leon panettas book that came out a day ago. Everybodys talking about a democratic congressman who was a former cia director in the obama administration, a former secretary of defense, and he is laying this squarely at the feet of the administration for not getting in those negotiations with the iraqi Prime Minister so we had to leave. I will get to that question with you. How long could we stay if malik he was not willing to let us stay there . A good question. I was reluctant to enter iraq. My soninlaw as a navy seal. If you go to war you make sure you go to war to win. You get rules of engagement so our troops will win. In iraq, leaving, we left without a sofa agreement, a status of forces agreement. That should not be overlooked. That allows our soldiers, they get prosecuted if they are allegedly conducted something wrong under our judicial system. Without a status of forces agreement one o