Cspan is covering this event. I would like thats the reason im starting on time because we have a few more people coming in and a difficult afternoon at the present building and we will welcome them when they get here but i would like to ask for your cooperation in terms of turning your phones off to make sure that the ringing does not get broadcast to the whole cspan audience worldwide and to avoid as much as possible walking walking in front of the cameras. It does not look good for people in the middle of that conversation going back and forth. Also, id like to announce that for those of you who are new at the arab center usually our question and answers are done in writing so anytime you have a question feel free to write down your name and identify yourself and write your questions when you are ready, raise your hand that would collect them and pass them on to the chair of the panel and then your question will be read and addressed, if you wanted addressed to a specific family, pl
Bottom line. We have a very real choice. We will continue to implement programs already in place. We cannot forward with expanded programs we wanted to move forward on because the Supreme Court was not able to issue a ruling of this stage. And now we have got a choice about where we are going to be as a country, what we want to teach our kids, how we want to be represented in congress and the white house. ,harlie an important decision the Supreme Court also ruled on affirmative action, upholding a race Conscious Program used by the university of texas at austin. Joining me now from washington, adam liptak. He the Supreme Court correspondent for the new york times. But talk about immigration first. Adam it is a big blow to overhaul the Immigration Program , to spare as many as 5 Million People from deportation and allow them to work. The effect of this 44 tie was to leave in place a federal Appeals Court decision that blocks the program and effectively ends any chances of reviving the p
His credentials more, in 2004 derek harvey was the only Intelligence Officer in the government that understood the origins of the insurgency in iraq, how they were executing it, and how our strategy was doomed to failure. That advice was provided to the senior counsels of our government. But because there was an intelligence groupthink going on at the time, his advice was summarily rejected. How sad is that . That was late 2004 when we had the actual truth of what was happening, why it was happening, and why our strategy was failing. Sad stuff. That is a different subject. Iran in my judgment is an ideologically driven state subscribing to a radical islamist ideology with significant geopolitical objectives, which they have not wavered or retreated from since the formation of the Islamic State of iran in 1980. Specifically, their objectives are to seek regional domination, to reduce u. S. Influence, and drive the United States out of the region, to destroy the state of israel. For 35 y
Almost half of the country is in the hands of isis or other groups fighting the regime. The war has also become a proxy battlefield for regional actors. John kerry suggested what others have suggested. There has to be a political solution. He included negotiations with syria. I spoke to Bashar Alassad last week for 60 minutes. Here is the full conversation. Thank you for allowing us to come here. We asked for this interview because your country has been at war for four years. It is a humanitarian crisis. Perhaps the worst on the crisis. Planet. 10 million have left their homes. Life expectancy is down. 50 of your country is occupied by hostile forces. It has he come a battleground for outside forces. What is next . We have seen, since i last visited, they rise of isis. Hezbollah. The United States becoming increasingly concerned about isis so much so that the president and the secretary of state have said there is a need for a negotiated settlement. President assad the meaning of your
Come together to address a serious challenge. We all took an oath to protect the nation and its interests but to do so we must Work Together. I know everyone on this Committee Takes the isil threat seriously. Everyone at this table does as well. We encourage a serious debate. I ask you to pass the president s amf because it provides the authority and flex wage and recurrent campaign and because it will demonstrate to our men and women in uniform that all of us stand behind them. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Distinguished members of this committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. Let me add my personal thoughts and prayers to those at the loss of folks on that helicopter. A reminder to us that those who serve put themselves at risk in training and combat. We will work to which were those survivors their family members will be well cared for. The committee will join in. I appreciate the opportunity to be here today. I just returned yesterday from a trip to the middl