jon, we re putting a lot of money into this, it s an investment. and i think especially with paul brinkley and the task force folks over there at the stability operations have looked at this hard. last year the economy in afghanistan, gnp of about a billion dollars. we re talking about huge resources here that can help bring economic reform and stability to the entire country. and this is not a panacea. there s going to be corruption but, jon, one of the things we do in our center, we talk about looking at how to translate conflict to competition. this, really, for the first time in a long time gives people a path to look at how to accomplish that very fact, to reduce this conflict of competitive environment where people are benefiting economically. and the taliban, frankly, can benefit too. they ve got to come back to the table. jon: kind of interesting, there aren t very many places in the world that have large deposits of lithium as in lithium ion
trying to influence this for utilization of good and not evil? you have the laundry list of failed states who have not done well in dealing with this. with afghanistan we re already there. we have a large physical presence, as everybody knows. that may be the key factor here. the pentagon has been looking at this for a while. despite the fact the report came out today. they looked at this extensively last year. and you have to look from the perspective of under secretary paul brinkley. he did very good at reimplementing business processes there. he understood you can t do the same thing. cookie cutter in iraq and afghanistan. this is something he boldly looked at and picked up and said this is a possibility. he said it in the article. he was quoted saying we don t know how it s going to work. but we have to do something to find a way to help the afghan government sustain itself. more importantly, the people of
alabama and florida since the disaster began 56 days ago. after getting a full update on the situation he ll deliver the first address to the nation from the oval office tomorrow night during prime time, then on wednesday the president plans to lay down the law in his first face to face meeting with top executives from bp. trace gallagher is in venice with the latest on the attempts to stop the oil leak. first though to senior white house correspondent major garrett, live in thee dor, alabama. a theodore, alabama. a lot happening, you ve got bp plans to collect oil, congress wants $20 billion set aside and the president is about to land in gulfport, mississippi. catch us up if you would. let me take those in order. for those watching me, i m in theodore, alabama, the staging area for the coast guard and other agencies to try and keep the oil off the shores in alabama. it s a containment boom. the president will be here, after he lands in gulfport, mississippi, he ll meet
starts getting closer to shore? there are a range of issues having to do with communication. couldn t all this have started seven weeks ago? the president meeting with them this week at the white house. the president demands the oil giant create a multi-billion dollar fund to handle any potential disaster claims. no exact dollar amount from the white house, but the senate is asking for at least $20 billion in escrow. meanwhile, bp stock continues to crater. down another 10% today. there s no question that this is a growing economic disaster from obvious tar covered coastlines to beaches still untouched by oil but unpopulated by people because of the spill driving away tourists. commercial fishing expected to take a $204 million hit. that would be $90,000 per business. recreational fishing and sightseeing, $8.5 million. and florida, which has deliberately stayed out of the offshore drilling game to focus on tourism and beaches, well, crude has reached the panhandle. an econo
focuses on results for all of the iraqi people. he has been our partner and through the strategic framework agreement that he signed, we trust that this partnership will flourish and produce results for the people of iraq and people everywhere who believe that iraq s future is unlimited. so please, ladies and gentlemen, join me in welcoming prime minister maliki. . the process of cooperation between iraq and the united states of america with promoting the interests of these countries. about three years ago, my first visit to the united states of america, everybody here in washington and the other places talked about the violence which happened daily in most of the iraqi cities. the situation was very dark and painful. that a lot of people have suspicions that iraq will remain a unified country. however, today, this black page was turned over. all the north, south, west, east now iraqis and visitors can freely move and work in the provinces after they have been combed for et