These things take time because we work with indigenous forces. We are using Iraqi Security forces to conduct the ground operations. As you pointed out, we have also said that you cannot do this with just power alone, and has to be a complement of fires and maneuver forces on the ground. Our approach is to generate those forces by training and equipping Iraqi Security forces. We are as we have halted isils advance into iraq we started the business of training and equipping new Iraqi Security forces so that they will have the ability to train and take back their borders and secure their sovereign spaces. Roger wicker is there any prospect of saudi forces being there in numbers that will be significant . Uae, jordanian forces, to have a police force and not much else. General austin they all have some capability. Not all of them have volunteered to come forward and put boots on the ground in iraq. Iraq needs to want to be able to take that on and take those forces in, but this point, as you look at what saudi is dealing with in yemen, it is currently focused on that. To answer your question, there is capability with the countries in the region, but none no countries have come forward to volunteer to put boots on the ground in iraq. Roger wicker thank you. Good luck to you. I appreciate your determination and resolve. I hope you are successful as you believe you will be. General austin we will be successful, sir. Joe donnelly can you talk about the psychological component of your preservation of the force and Family Program . General votel we are looking at a variety of things. We are looking at peertopeer programs to provide access to family members to reach out and talk to their friends and their peers about that. I think this is a comportment i think this is an important component. We to make sure our chapters of all trade in the ability to identify those behaviors that we take our related to stress which can lead to suicide. Third, i think one of the most important things we are doing is trying to send a clear message across the entire force that it is absolutely normal and expected to ask for help when you need it. And you can do that without concern of stigma or any concern about your standing within the command. We are putting we are working double time to put effort on that particular theme and message. The real census of our program is to empower people by communicating early and often by trying to enable them, to give them easy access to programs and resources so they can get help. Joe donnelly will you work with us to help us take the lessons you have learned and work with the other parts of our military . General votel absolutely. Joe donnelly thank you. It appears that efforts in tikrit are stalled at the moment. One of the areas i am looking at is how do we empower cities sunnis . The concern would be why do you want to team up with the Shiite Militia when isis is also sunni . They may be like the back cousin that shows up at the event, but they are still your cousin. How do we empower the moderate sunnis . Do see this as a key to success in iraq . General austin i believe that getting the sunni population involved is really, really important in terms of being successful going forward. You are right. The previous operation in tikrit did stall because i think the wrong approach was taken. Many forces that were being employed were not controlled or supervised by the ministry of defense or the government of iraq. That has recently changed. As of the last several days. Yesterday, we started supporting this effort, we think that this effort will begin to move forward with the employment of the special Operations Forces in the help of our enablers. I think it is absolutely key that the government has to be accommodating to both the sunni and the kurd population. We have to increasingly get the sunnis involved. Joe donnelly can you help make that happen . A lot of the folks surrounding him or so from the previous administration. You had extraordinary experience with all the service you have done with our country. Can you help to identify the key sunni moderate leaders to make them part of this . Is that what is going to you look at you say we think we are going to get it right this time how do you think this turns out . General austin to answer both of your questions, we continue to encourage the leadership in iraq to be more accommodating to the sunni population. And do some things that are demonstrable. That increases their confidence in the leadership and the government. And you may know that we are helping the Iraqi Security forces in the government of iraq reach out to the tribal elements and bring in some of those elements to train and equip them and get them involved in the fight. Those that we have trained and equipped, have performed remarkably well. Joe donnelly thank you. Deb fischer is this part of a strategy that accepts moderate risk . Are we less able to knit those problems in the bod nip those problems in the bud general votel i think all commanders constantly balance risk. I think that is what i am principally paid to do. As a move forward and continue to deal with changing conflict situations, i think it gets down to prioritization. For us, what we will attempt to do is offset the risk that is associated with increased operations by ensuring that we prioritize operations that we will have the biggest impact to support the broadest national objectives. Deb fischer is libya a place where we will accept risk . General votel from my perspective, we are looking at the things we can do to address threats in libya. Deb fischer rodriguez, in your opening statement, you say libyan risk is going. If left unchecked i believe they have the highest potential among security challenges on the continent to increase risk to u. S. And european Strategic Interests in the next two years and beyond. You also described libya as a merging of a safe haven where terrorists like al qaeda and the labonte affiliated groups can train and rebuild with impunity lavevantaffiliated groups can train and rebuild with impunity. You think our approach to libya is not adequate . Are we accepting too much risk . General rodriguez thank you senator. To make sure everybody is clear on what we are doing in libya, there is a significant effort in libya to prevent that from spilling over. When you look at what is happening in tunisia in niger and chat and egypt, we are working with partners as much as we can to strengthen their capacity to limit the spillover of that effort. We are also working with our European Partners to increase their effort there and we are supporting at this point in time the u. N. Effort to come to a diplomatic solution and anything past that will require a policy decision. Deb fischer how would you rate the success of the efforts you described, the spillover, the work with European Partners . General rodriguez the work with our partners has gone well with the exception of one or two sensational tactics you read about in tunisia. Their capacities have continued to grow and they can handle that threat every day, as does niger and chad. The work of the european efforts and the u. N. Has on have as much progress as anybody wants. Deb fischer general votel if i can return to that idea of moderate risk. Over the long term, do you think that if we see risk continue to increase and the smaller problems continue to accumulate, how do we prioritize that . If they are viewed as smaller problems at the time, but if they continue to escalate and become greater risks to this country not just the region they are how are you going to prioritize . How are you going to address it . Do you have the resources you need . General votel thank you. I think i have the resources i need to support commanders. What i think we will do for the future as i mentioned in my opening comments i think sof plays a role in the gray zone. Before we get to open conflict. The important piece i bring to the geographic commanders is our ability to come in and help shape and develop partnerships to help build cassidy and support relationships in all of those areas so that we can strengthen partners before big problems go into before small problems go into big problems. I think that is the direction in which we should be focusing. Deb fischer General Rodriguez do you have a response ec . General rodriguez that is done by policymakers. The addition to the risk is what our partners can handle and what they are doing them selves. We prioritize it based on the role of Government Agency efforts who can help most in different places. I could that is what is done every day in the defense department. Deb fischer thank you gentlemen and thank you for your service. Claire mccaskill sechrist ration, we have to be honest about the challenges we have. Well have a lot of time in terms of rhetoric we are now going further down the road of using boko as a slush fund. If not fiscal accountability, it is not good for restoring face to the American People. And not retreat to rhetoric and gimmickry that is not really true. We are not going to build as my colleague said we are not going to build a px with oko funds. Do you believe that the army can buy back strength with these funds . General austin i do not, senator. Claire mccaskill can the navy address the shortfalls in shipping . General austin no, maam. Claire mccaskill i think we got to be and i know we dont come to this is clean hands with democrats, because we dont come a we have engaged with gimmickry also i know the chairman wants to face this headon and i know it is a challenge in a political environment. But i did want to bring it up but we have obviously not met the challenge with the government as it is currently configured. I want to specifically ask you general austin, but something troubling to me. I have been told that there has been a determination that Operation Freedom Sentinel is a new Contingency Operation. You see it as a new Contingency Operation . General austin its a continuation of our efforts senator. In terms of the types of things we are doing, we continue to train and advise and assist the Afghan Security forces. In terms of how we account for the funding that we are allocating to that, that is a different issue. Claire mccaskill the reason i ask is i am told that there is an effort on the way of naming a new lead Inspector General and afghanistan as opposed to the Inspector General on afghanistan and if that determination is made, i just want to make sure everybody understands that is going to pose additional burdens and terms of contracting, oversight, i know there is continuity but i dont understand the value right now of changing Inspector Generals. At this point, the projects are ongoing that the specter general in afghanistan is aware of and is working on i dont get it. If there is really a sincere attempt to replace them, by labeling this as a new contingency, somebody is going to half to have explained to do i think it to me and i hope others on this committee as to why that would be a good idea. Are you aware of an effort to do that at this point . General austin im not aware of the effort, but certainly, i will find out, i will look into it. Claire mccaskill that would be terrific. As you know, we work closely with the Inspector General in afghanistan, i think the body of work they have done is incredibly helpful to our nations the lee terry as we look at how we honestly confront sequestration. One of the ways as being better stewards of the resources that we have allocated to these efforts. General rodriguez, i understand that most of the Service Members deployed to africa as part of the Ebola Response operation have begun returning home. Is there any effort to keep track of the number of contractors around this effort and how many of them have been pulled and how many remain in ebola as we continually try to stay on top of contractor costs . General rodriguez there is a strict accounting that has been done. We were very cognizant of the challenges with contractor oversight and also paying too much money for contracts. We have a strict accounting. Claire mccaskill we would love it if you would share it with our office. Also, general austin, if you could share with us how many contractors have been left in iraq as a result of our efforts against isil. We have gotten to the point will be were just counting contractors in afghanistan and now we are county contractors in iraq, we would appreciate an update on that number also. General austin i will take that for the record. Claire mccaskill thank you so much. Thank you mr. Chairman. General austin the forces that are clearing tikrit are special Operation Forces and police. As of this morning, when i took my commanders, the shia lucia and the pmf have pulled back. I am sure they are still in the area, and there are probably forces on the east side of the river and, as you know, the city of tikrit is on the west side of the river. To my understanding he was not in tikrit or in that area. Mr cotton general austin we caused the Iraqi Security forces to develop the new birth that can effectively accomplish the mission of clearing the town. Our fires are supportive of that effort. So we are focused on that. We always do everything that we can to ensure that there is not excessive collateral damage. At focus is on the isf forces be are supporting. Would you consider all lateral damage to include in the vicinity of an airstrike . General austin i would consider that unintended consequences. Freedom of movement in iraq . General austin i believe he does, senator. Six month ago, president obama cited yemen as a success is ample as a counterterrorism example. You think yemen is a success . General votel it certainly put us in a different posture right now. It is much more challenging today than it was when we had people on the ground. General austin, do consider it a Success Story . General austin jim is a very troubled country today with the challenges it is facing in the activity of the houdis, i think the country is in turmoil. General austin, approximately 10 months ago, the president released five taliban commanders in exchange for by history to command, i believe the agreement expires in two months, is that correct . General rodriguez i believe that to be correct. In qatar when that expires . General austin i dont know senator will do have freedom inside and out of qatar . General austin i think we would have to consult the carter government. Qatar government and also our government would discharge with monitoring the movement of these elements, i cannot answer that senator. I cannot take that for the i can take that for the record and do research on that. I would like to get answer for the record. Think you, general austin. Given the situation in yemen, if their actions by militants there to block the mendez straight, i assume that American Forces would immediately act to reopen that straight . General austin we would work in conjunction with our gcc partners to make sure that those straits remain open. It is one of our core interests to make sure that we have flea flow of con General Rodriguez we would work with the host nations of africa and europe to support those efforts. Make you, gentlemen. Thank you, gentlemen. Senator mccain for the record, i would like a response to the question. Do you consider yemen a Success Story . Yes or no . General rodriguez it is not a Success Story. Thank you. When the president made the statement, he was talking about antiterrorism statements. General votel i believe the described. He was not talking about yemen itself, he was talking but the success of counterterrorism against a q ap. Naturally, the deterioration of the situation in yemen has come is that, i follow up question is how much is that copyright . Are we able to maintain that effort against a q ap or is that aqap or is that pending the Dust Settling in yemen . General votel will work in conjunction with general austins headquarters and our other partners in the area to look at how we regain Situational Awareness to understand what is happening on the ground looking at how we can continue to address the threats that emanate from yemen. Thank you. I want to associate itself with senator mccaskills comment about sequestration. It obviously doesnt go to the base budget, it is on paid for it is just absolutely the wrong way to approach this problem. I hope that congress can find a more realistic and responsible solution to sequestration. Also, general austin, again without being because you talk to send it only about this, it seems to me that it is critically important that we use the leverage we have, which apparently was used in the tikrit battle to make sure that this isnt a Shiite Militia led offensive because, if this becomes another version of a war of shiites against sunnis, we have lost. This has to be inclusive, and i hope they do relationship with the president of the Iraqi Government emphasizes that because it is essential a successful outcome in iraq. Regardless of the short term strategic advantage in tikrit or mosul. Would you agree with that . General austin i would. I take every opportunity to emphasize those exact points to the leadership in iraq when i engage them. It sounds like this airstrike the last couple of days in tik rit were conditional that can a consideration it is that correct . General austin the operation had to be in control of the government of iraq. There had to be a force once the city is cleared to maintain stability in that city, that force needs to be in Iraqi Security force and so those things, those conditions were met early on. In terms of the planning and the synchronization, and so we were able to provide some support agnus king icu can argue that a lot of the proms in iraq or because of the maliki governments lets turn to afghanistan. We heard a strong, passionate speech from president donnie this week president connie president ghani i assume we are still in calendar status in afghanistan, even of the president is another state 2015, we are still talking about komul only at the end of 2016. You believe that is going to be sufficient in order to support the afghans with whom we have made such progress. I would just hate to see us pull out in terms of air support authorities for air support, and train and train and direct services. Give me your thoughts on that. General austin i certainly agree that the new leadership and afghanistan causes all of us to be encouraged and optimistic, i think from what i have seen both president ghani reaching out to the international community, in terms of reaching out to the folks in the region as well, it is all encouraging. The relationships with the security forces, their support the security forces, their statements of common goals with the United States, i think are all very encouraging. I think this gives us the opportunity new opportunities that we did not have before. We really have to thinkwe have to think about what we want our relationship to be with afghanistan going forward. Hope you will counsel the white house to think seriously about what i would consider a modest investment to maintain the tremendous gains. I hope you will urge that they need only those troops. I think that is going to be crucial. Carry that message, will you sir . Thank you for being here today and to your staff. Thank you for your many years of combined service to the United States. I would like to thank you for mentioning not only active duty forces but the reserve and National Guard components. Your operators and analysts is all one team and one fight. Something else you brought up is stress and suicide with activeduty members and our veterans who got off active duty. Its important we consider not only that they are physically fit for the fight but mentally fit as well. Thank you for bringing that forward. A number of us are working on initiatives. I would like to address my question to the generals. Last week was the 12th anniversary of our entrance into iraq. We had 4000 american servicemen and women who lost their lives in iraq, and we had another 40,000 that have been injured in that war. I want to thank you for your service. I know you have engaged at one point or another in the war in iraq. Many of you will come home with not only invisible injuries but physical injuries that will impact your life for many years. Before we entered into iraq, the iraqi kurds were already engaged in preparing the battlefield before we ever got there. They have been an important part of our effort in iraq. I would like your thoughts and really what their role has been from 2003 forward, if you would address that. Thank you, senator. I was with the elements in iraq whereas i didnt initially make it up to kurdistan, i can tell you what the kurds were doing in the north was very instrumental to our forces and facilitated our work there. With our efforts in the current fight against isil, they have done a terrific job. I talked to the president and his staff on numerous occasions about what they were doing and what the requirements were and what they needed to do more. As you look at what they did in the north in terms of inflicting damage on isil, i think their efforts have shaved this fight in a positive direction. They continue to do more on a daily basis. They are a big part of this fight. They have punched above their weight class and will continue to do so. General hotel votel . Whats a key part has been the relationship with them. They were a key partner and help us address a variety of efforts. I believe a lot of it was the initial success we were able to achieve. We were able to get going very quickly in some areas. To me that highlights the importance of that longterm relationship. Do you believe our resources would be best utilized if we were directly arming Kurdish Forces . General votel that i believe is a policy question. I think they would make good use of any resources provided to them. They have an exceptional force and are allied to our American Forces in the region. Thank you for your service and to the staff for being here today. Thank you, mr. Chair. Thank you for your strong testimony this morning. I want to begin with yemen. I was intrigued with the account about the saudi and other action in yemen and in particularly a number of partners that had been part of this. There is press report egypt is involved and perhaps more surprisingly pakistan and sudan. Nine nation springing into action to deal with this threat. Im gratified by that. I want to see a region that will stand up and try to deal with its own problems rather than telling us quietly they think its a problem and not doing anything. I was struck by the fact those nations have not come together and acted against isil. They are involved but not acting. It would not be so engaged in the fight against isil. General austin i am very encouraged by what we have seen lately with a number of nations. I think the gcc countries are naturally predisposed. They are really driving the participation. I would remind you, i know you are well aware of this, but the night we flew into syria for the first time we had five sunni led arab nations fly information with us, which is really unprecedented. We continue to see them offer support in terms of Material Support. They have offered to train and equip forces. Throughout, they have remained with us in terms of flying strikes against syria. They have continued to participate as they begin to focus on the yemen problem. We will probably see less of an effort in syria. You indicated you thought isil was our most trusting challenge but i ran was our greatest longterm challenge. All of these nations believe iran is the more pressing challenge, and they dont think of isil as the same kind of pressing challenge they view when they look at iran. General austin i can attest to the fact that they do see eye soul isil as a pressing challenge. The geography associated with this is a direct threat to their homeland. Each of you work in the military but with partners. The intel agencies. There have been questions about the effects of sequester on the military. To the extent it affects your allied nations and special forces that is also an aspect we need to take seriously if we try to avoid challenges to national security. I agree. I definitely agree. The attack in tunisia was particularly troubling. A small country but kind of a bright spot in terms of how they have come out of the arab spring with the constitution, with islamic parties participating in democracy, even stepping back from power. What is your observation about the newly elected government reaction to the terrorist attack at the museum . What is your assessment of how we can help them succeed . I think their response has been very effective. I think the military institutions are strong. They went through that transition, and we continue to work to build some capacities with our interagency partners. Those elements were involved in that effort, and we continue to share intelligence with them and we will continue to build up their capacities to ensure they continue moving in a positive trajectory. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and gentlemen, thank you for your service. I want to let you know 10 years ago as a marine corps major i had the privilege of serving with general austin, and i can tell you he is one of the finest officers i have ever served with. I am heartened he is in this important position. He is not generally very nice to marines, so i am glad to hear that. I see he has one on his staff, so keeping in full tradition of respect with the marine corps, i appreciate that. I want to ask you a question relating to some clarification. One of the things i think is very important in congress and the military and the administration is to speak with language that gives our citizens a sense of what is really happening. One thing you hear a lot about now, the administration talks a lot about winding down combat operations. We have ended combat operations in afghanistan. That has been stated several times. The president of afghanistan mention that in a joint session to congress yesterday. You also mentioned we have a robust ct effort. Are we speaking on both sides of our mouth . Isnt it the very definition of combat operations . Dont we still have combat operations going on in afghanistan . Counterterrorism with regard to counterterrorism it is a part of it. Arent american soldiers when they are conducting combat operations in afghanistan isnt that the definition of combat operations . They are going in with weapons and killing bad guys, correct . We are not doing that today. There are no ct operations . There are but they involve not only enabling our partners who are helping us the conduct of discrete action we are taking like strikes specifically against threats and how we address the overall ideology and narrative aspect of this. Our operations are not members of the u. S. Military in action against military forces. General votel we are not putting people in unilateral u. S. Operations against forces on the ground in afghanistan. We are supporting our afghan partners. We are doing other operations relating to those networks. I think that clarification is important because it seems to me if we have special forces operators in afghanistan in direct combat we said that the American People know. If you are saying that is not the case, that there is no combat going on, there is no direct actions against al qaeda operatives or anything else like that . Whats im not saying there is no combat going on. Im saying there is no unilateral u. S. Combat going on. We are working through our partners. When we do operations on the ground. Quest to have them on the ground in syria or iraq calling in missions. General votel we have j tax operating at command and control. They are not accompanying forces doing operations. You mentioned the government approach with regard to eye soul. I appreciate the fact you are focused on the military aspects of that, but what are the other instruments of power we are bringing into bear with regard to eye soul . I havent really seen the administration to isil . I havent really seen the administration address that area i know its not your realm, but it would be hard to know what other instruments of power we are integrating to the fight with regard to defeating isis. There are a couple of important things that have to be done to defeat this enemy. The kinetic pieces one issue piece is one issue, but you have to do some things to cut off the ability to resource itself. Starting the floor of foreign fighters both of those issues have to be worked by our government and they have to be worked in conjunction with other countries not only in the region but internationally. Also, there is a need to counter the narrative so i think we have to do more there. I know there are some initial steps that have been taken to begin to do that, but there is a lot of work yet to be done. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, chairman. I want to thank the witnesses for being here. I wanted to ask general austin a questions about yemen. Senator kaine pointed out in addition to the saudis there were nine other countries participating in this to assist in yemen. We have been assisting in negotiations intensely for the last year. What has he ran what has iran been doing in yemen . Is it not true it is prompting the saudis and others to engage in this . Certainly iran has been enabling the activity as they have done what they have done. I would go further to say irans desire is to hedge in this region. Mrs. Fischer meaning regional domination . General austin right. As it expands its influence it does so through the shia operations in those countries. That wont allow iran to dominate any region in the country, but what it does do is starts to increase sectarian tension and thereby serves as a destabilizing effort. Mrs. Fischer let me be clear. When we are talking support, we are talking about money and arms, arent we . We arent just talking about we support you because you are shia. We are talking about actual support on the ground . General austin yes, we are talking about Material Support as well, but i think that is provided through shia. Mrs. Fischer they give them money and arms, which has undermined our interest and cooperation we had to try to deal with al qaeda. Isnt that right . Yes, i think that is true. Mrs. Fischer the other thing i want to ask about is by rain. By rain bahrain. What is iran doing with regards to that government . They are trying to destabilize that government, which in my view would threaten our interest there . General austin correct. We see the same reach through the region, which increases sectarian tension and serves as a destabilizing affect. Mrs. Fischer obviously its a different country from yemen but similar playbook in a different country. Is it not . General austin its a similar approach. Mrs. Fischer but obviously they are different countries. I think we need to be clear about what i rans activities have been. One of the things you pointed out is iran routinely engages through the threat network. Iran is engaging through support , which threatens the sovereignty and security of israel. This has been going on in addition to undermining our interest in yemen. Correct . General austin thats correct. Mrs. Fischer this is obviously as we look at the attempts of regional domination by iran, this is a deep concern. This is further example of how the region could be destabilized further. Is that true . General austin there are longterm effects in terms of this behavior destabilizing the region and having effect in other parts of the globe as well. Mrs. Fischer and it further fuels a sunni shia fight in the region. Would you agree . I would. Mrs. Fischer i just wanted to comment as well on senator cottons question to you about the status of the taliban five. I know you are going to get back to him about it. I find it shocking the fact you are the commander and the state department has not already coordinated with you. You are the commander. These countries where the taliban five is from and could return and present great danger into afghanistan. It would seem you would be i hope most closely consulted on this. I am dumbfounded they are not consulting you now and there does not appear to be a plan. I look forward to the followup. To the state department and everyone else out here, it seems to me the commander of centcom needs to be brought in this in terms of the five potential commanders that could get back on the ground in afghanistan and threaten our troops. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and thank you to all of you today. Thank you to all you do to protect us. They might end up in some of the hands of the extremists we are trying to fight against. I believe the Service Members under your command in the process of extraditing this are the most skilled at what they do. That is what gives this program the best chance of success. The loss of u. S. Provided equipment last year and in yemen this year are stark lessons the fluid and volatile nature of the middle east can compromise our best laid plans. I am concerned that for this program to have the best chance of success, the United States will need to become more militarily involved in this conflict than Many Americans may realize. Secretary carter stated we will have some obligation to support them. This is part of the strategy that should be fully and openly debated in this body so the American People might have a say in how the military forces are used. Since this was conceptualized it was better understood how they might have a larger and better equipped enemy. Why was the decision made before determining whether the United States would provide further protection or support for the groups once they were trained and return to syria . General austin it was made because we will need an element on the ground to complement the work we are doing with our fires to begin to counter eiffel in syria. Isil in syria. My best military advice is as we introduce forces we have trained and equipped, we should provide support. We should provide logistics. We should provide intel support as well. I think that gives the best opportunity for success. Senator lee do you think assad forces in syria will attempt to attack some of the opposition members we have trained and equipped . If so, what level of military involvement should we expect from American Forces . General austin i think there is a likelihood that could happen. They are focused on eiffel. That is the first task at hand. If they are attacked, we should protect them. That is not what we are focused on now. Ask them to focus on it initially. Do you think the success of the groups we are supporting, do you think that will require a new structure in damascus . General austin i think eventually forces will need to plugin some type of structure for sure. Again, thats not what the military typically does. This is a whole government approach. Senator lee thank you. Senator mccain i would like to comment. We send them back to syria. If they are attacked, we are not going to protect them . General austin my recommendation would be we protect them. We have to protect them once we have trained them and put them on the ground. Senator mccain are we going to have a provision to protect them . We dont have that. Senator mccain we are going to train them to go back into syria, and we dont have a policy as to whether or not we protect them or not . General austin that decision has not been general austin general austin i am very hopeful we will be able to tell them that. Senator mccain i hope as well but that does not stop bombing. When do the saudis notify you that we would begin attacks in yemen . General austin i had a discussion of the day of the attacks so it was not much before you started the attacks. Senator mccain isnt that pointed commentary on our relationship with saudi arabia and the 13 countries and their correlation. Literally the day of the attacks they told the United States of america they are going to launch a Major Campaign . That is really a fantastic indicator, the deterioration of the trust and confidence that these countries have in a. Dutch and. In us. Some people believe it is better to be an enemy of the United States than a friend. This is quite remarkable. Finally, i do not know how you recruit young people to fight and tell them they are going to go back into a country and we do not have a policy yet whether we will protect them or not, that is immoral. It is not only unworkable, it is immoral. If we train them and equip them to go and fight, we have not yet got a policy on whether we protect them or not. I would say that would also be something of a disincentive for recruitment. So i hope for the sake of these young peoples lives that we are training now that we at least have a policy decision as to whether we are going to protect them or not. And of course the best way to do that is with a nofly zone which was recommended years ago with no result from this president. Senator gillibrand what do you believe the strategy is for the new campaign and what is the ultimate goal in yemen . General austin i do not know the specifics of their goals and objectives. They are interested in at one protecting the homeland, they have a border with yemen, and also they have received requests from the president of yemen to help with military assistance. Senator gillibrand what advice have you given or would you give the president about what our role should be . General austin current position is that we will help the saudis with the intelligence and lodges sticks and planning support logistics and planning support. They are great partners and i think they are very appreciative only hope we will provide them. Senator gillibrand what is your assessment of their likelihood of success . General austin in yemen . Senator gillibrand yes. General austin i do not know the specific goals and objectives and i would need to know that to assess the likelihood of success. Senator gillibrand i hope you get the information sooner than later because more than 500 million of u. S. Military assessment to your amendment has fallen into the wrong hands and we need more accountability. How does Something Like that to yemen has fallen into the wrong hands and we need more accountability . How does Something Like that happened and how can we prevent it in the future . General austin the 500 million as i understand it is the investment over an eight year. By three at bay period to allow the forces to build capacity. This not only includes materials but also training. Training can be costly. When we are there we have the ability to monitor how this equipment is being used but of course the embassy is no longer there and it does not have an office of Security Corporation that would typically do these things. So we do not have the ability correctly. If we have the ability to go back in and partner with a new government or a government i think that will be one of our focus areas. Senator gillibrand given that they are still in control, how do you believe we should deal with al qaeda in the iridium finance your given the state of yemen . General austin the the the arabian insula given the mmc love pennesula given the state of yemen . General austin we will use our capabilities to continue to monitor what is going on with the extremist network. We do have resources of the region that we can use to apply to come through this network once we have developed the appropriate intelligence. Senator gillibrand what is the presence of isil in the region and will it be affected by the state of yemen today . General austin if i could get you to if i could ask a question, get you to ask the question again, i missed a piece of it. Senator gillibrand how you see the threat of isil in that region . \ general austin region . General austin i think the threat of isil in the region is the greatest. Senator gillibrand in yemen . General austin i think the intelligence agencies are working their way through that. Determining the veracity of whether or not this is a hardcore isil element or someone claiming to be isil. Aqap are dominant and whether they can coexist has yet to be seen. Senator mccain i think the witnesses. Similar pattern senator cotten there is breaking news that they have begun a ground incursion. Did they give you advance notice of that . General austin no. Senator mccain quite a commentary. This hearing is adjourned. Coming up, president obama is in birmingham, alabama talk about efforts to target abusive payday lenders. Then a discussion of the charges against Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. Later, microsoft founder bill gates and actor director ben affleck testified about the need for foreign aid. On the next washington journal, legal reporter Jeremy Jacobs previews Supreme Court rulings on whether the epa should have considered client costs. And then ian tuttle with the future of fraternities. Then a roundtable discussion. As always, we will take your calls and you could join the conversation on facebook and twitter as well. Washington journal, live at 8 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Friday, the Bipartisan Policy Center hosted a discussion on voting in the United States. Members of the president ial commission on Election Administration discussed the report on data sharing and other issues. See it lies medical camp eastern on cspan two see it live 9 00 eastern on cspan two. Courts this sunday on q a, erik larson on his book dead weight. Erik it gets complicated when the question arises, what happened to the lusitania . Why was it allowed to enter without escort, without the kind of detailed warning that could have been provided to captain William Thomas turner but was not. This has led to interesting speculation as to whether the ship was set up for attack by churchill for someone in the admiralty. And it is interesting. I found no smoking memo, and believe me, i would have a smoking memo if it existed. There was nothing from churchill saying lets let the lusitania go into the irish sea, nothing like that exists. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern and pacific, on q a. Thursday, president obama outlined new steps by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to target payday lenders. He spoke in birmingham alabama and praise the house for passing legislation which permanently blocks medicare physician cuts. This is 30 minutes. [applause] president obama hello, lawson state. [applause] yeah. Its good to be here. Thank you so much. I love you back. I do. [applause] thank you. Everybody have a seat. Have a seat. Im going to talk for a second. Everybody please give ali a big round of applause, please. [applause] president obama i felt a little bad because she said, a man who needs no introduction, so i start walking out. [laughter] president obama as it turned out, she had a little introduction. But it is wonderful to be here. Let me just say, first of all, thank you to dr. Ward. [applause] president obama who is not only your president , we named him a white house champion of change for the great work hes done here at lawson state. [applause] president obama we got two outstanding Public Servants here as well. Congresswoman terri sewell is here. [applause] president obama hwere is terri . Where is terri . Shes way over there. And your mayor, william bell. Who is in the house. [applause] president obama so im here in birmingham to just acknowledge that i didnt have u. A. B. Making it out of the first round. [laughter] president obama my bracket is so busted. But u. A. B. , you know, thats a great accomplishment, i want to congratulate them. [applause] president obama its also great to be with students like those here at lawson state. A Community College. [applause] president obama im proud of all of you. Im proud of you making this investment in yourselves, what youre doing takes effort and persistence and it takes faith in the idea that no matter how you started, no matter where you come from, no matter what zip code you were born in, in america if you work hard you can get ahead. [applause] president obama i think it was yesterday i saw a story where someone said that a visit from the president is a potential game changer for the enabled. The neighborhood. [laughter] president obama i dont know if just one visit is a game changer, but its nice to be with you. The real Game Changers for any neighborhood, for any community, are the people there. The folks who day in and day out are doing the work and raising families and participating in the community and through their churches and faith institutions are trying to provide that optimism and that lift and the young people who are here, youre the Game Changers because what youre studying and your ability to then apply that learning, thats going to make a difference. The love we put into our families and our communities every day, and embracing the joys of citizenship and participation, thats what is a game changer. Thats what makes a difference. Now, i wont deny i can help a little bit. [laughter] president obama i can maybe make a little bit of difference. Today i want to talk about what we can do as a country to reward hard work and keep the economy going and make sure that new jobs and opportunities exist. The good news is, right now were on a 60month streak of private sector job creation. 60 months. Thats five years. Thats a long time. [applause] president obama we created 12 million new jobs. Nationwide the Unemployment Rate has fallen, when i came into office, that first year it was 10 . Now its 5. 5 . [applause] president obama there are more job openings than any time since 2001. Meanwhile, our High School Graduation rate is up. At an alltime high. More than 16 million americans have gained the security of health insurance. [applause] president obama were producing more energy than ever before. Oil and gas, but also wind power and solar power and meanwhile lower gas prices should save a typical family this year about 700. At the pump. [applause] president obama and the good news is, wages are even on the rise again. And thats going to help a lot of families. Its been a long, hard road, but thanks to the hard work of the American People, americas coming back. So the question now is, where do we go from here . Do we, do we accept an economy where just a few people do really, really well or are we going to keep building an economy that generates opportunity for everybody . Who is willing to work . And what i believe is, is that america does best when the middle class does best. And when ordinary folks who maybe were born into poverty are able to climb their way into the middle class. Thats good for everybody. The economy grows best not from the top down but from the bottom up. And from the middle out. [applause] president obama so, what weve been pushing is what i call middle class economics. The idea that the country does best when everybodys got a fair shot. And everybodys doing their fair share. Everybodys playing by the same rules. And we want not only everybody to share in americas success but contribute to it. Because we know that if you feel that field if you feel the team if you feel that the team if you field the team and only half the folks get to play, that team will be less successful. If everybody is playing a part that teams going to be more successful. So what does middle class economics mean in this new economy . It means that every american has to have the tools to get ahead. In a fastpaced, constantly changing global economy, that means that weve got to make sure that working families feel more secure. That their paychecks can go a little farther. That theyre getting things like paid leave and child care. Not as luxuries but because they help support families. That we treat those things as priorities for working moms and working dads. Its time to follow the example of states and cities and companies that are raising americas minimum wage. That will make a difference. [applause] it means preparing americans to earn good jobs and higher wages, which means every child getting a great education at the earliest age. Making college more affordable so young people can afford to go to College Without getting burdened with debt. [applause] it means working with businesses to provide apprenticeships and onthejob training. And other paths to the middle class. I want to bring down the cost of Community College down to zero. [applause] president obama two years of Community College should be as free and universal as high school is today. If weve got the best Trained Work Force in the world, then businesses will come to alabama, theyll come to birmingham, theyll come to america, and we will succeed. [applause] president obama middle class economics means building the most competitive economy anywhere. So we can keep churning out high wage jobs for the workers to fill. I want to put more people back to work. Rebuilding our roads and our bridges. Modern ports. Faster trains. Faster internet. We should invest in those things. They pay off. Many times over. I want to invest in basic research so that jobs and industry for the future take root here, because weve invented new products and new services and innovative. And we can pay for these investments without blowing up our deficits. We just need to reform our tax code so it helps middle class families get ahead instead of letting folks who already got a lot get ahead. [applause] president obama and i have to say, these ideas are not about ideology. The reason i propose these ideas is because we know they work. Now, let me talk about washington for a second. [laughter] president obama let me just talk about washington for a second. The good news is that today the house of representatives passed a bill. [applause] president obama no, no. You think im joking. Im not. [laughter] president obama it was a bipartisan bill designed to make sure that doctors in our medicare system get paid on time, that the Childrens Health Insurance Program continues to work. I called the speaker, john boehner, and the democratic leader, nancy pelosi, and i said, congratulations. This is how congress is supposed to work. They came together, they compromised. They had a good idea. They didnt get everything they wanted. They passed a bill. Now the senate hopefully will pass the bill and now ill get to sign it and the American People will be better off for it. And i thought, this is great. Lets do more of this. [applause] president obama lets make it happen. So i want to give john boehner and nancy pelosi credit. They did good work today. And they deserve credit, the house of representatives deserves credit for that. [applause] president obama so that was the good news. [laughter] president obama the bad news is the republicans in congress unveiled their budget and it represents the opposite of middle class economics. Because it would hand out new tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, let taxes go up for students and working families, because it would eliminate their tax credits on a variety of things, it would cut investments in education to the lowest level since the year 2000. It would double the number of americans without health insurance. And so, you look at it and say well, what are you trying to solve with this budget . They say the reason they wanted this budget is because weve got to do this to eliminate deficits and debt. Now keep in mind, the deficits came down by 2 3 since i became president. [applause] president obama its come down by 2 3. And the budget i put forward would continue to keep deficits low. But lets take them at their word. They said they wanted to reduce the deficit. Before the ink was even dry on the budget that they put forward, that was already full of tax cuts for folks at the top, they rolled out their next big economic plan, which was another huge tax cut for folks at the top. This one would cost 250 billion, it would apply only to the top. 1 of americans. In alabama this new tax cut theyre proposing i got to laugh, because it would average 2 million per person in tax cuts and it would apply to less than 50 people per year here in alabama. So, 50 people would get an average tax break of 2 million. Not 50,000 people. 50. Fiddy. [laughter] president obama now [laughter] president obama what would lead you, when youre saying youre concerned about the deficit, what would lead to you put in your budget and then propose right after your budget Something Like that . I mean, they look at the budget, they already have tax cuts for the wealthy, for millionaires and billionaires, and they say you know what we forgot to put in here, another deficitbusting tax cut for the top. 1 of americans, thats whats really going to move the country forward, is that what they were thinking . I guess. [laughter] president obama i dont think our top economic priorities should be helping a tiny number of americans who are already doing really, really well. And then asking everybody else to foot the bill. And keep in mind, one of the things about being president you meet people from all walks of life. You meet folks with very modest incomes, you meet the wealthiest people in the world. And let me just say, some of these folks at the very top, the top. 1 , are wonderful people. You know, Warren Buffetts a great friend of mine. Theyve done Amazing Things theyve invested. Theyve created businesses. They deserve great success. But they really dont need a tax cut. [laughter] president obama and if you talk to them, theyll tell you, i already got a couple planes, i already got a boat. I already got five or six houses. Im ok. [laughter] president obama and the idea that you would do it at the same time as youre eliminating tax credits for students or working families, that doesnt make sense. Our top priority should be helping everybody who works hard get ahead. It doesnt mean everybodys going to be equal. It doesnt mean that were going to punish people who started businesses and have taken risks. You know, they should be rewarded. But we want to make sure everybody has a chance to do ok. If theyre working hard. And that brings me to one of the main reasons that im here in birmingham today. One of the main ways to make sure paychecks go farther is to make sure working families dont get ripped off. [applause] president obama all right . And thats why weve taken action, to protect americans from Financial Advisers who dont necessarily have the interests of their clients at heart. Thats why weve taken steps to protect student borrowers from unaffordable debt. We want them to know before they owe. Its why five years ago we passed historic wall street reform, to end this era of too big to fail. Where banks on wall street, some of them would make reckless bets and then everybody else would have to clean up after them. And why weve been working to protect people so they understand mortgages and they dont buy homes they cant afford and end up in a situation not only hurting themselves, but hurting the financial system. And thats why as parts of this reform, we created an independent consumer watchdog with just one mission, and that is to look out for all of you. And its called the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Or cfpb. Now, these folks [applause] president obama the cfpb hasnt been around for a long time but because of the work theyve done, its not a big agency, but theyve already put over 5 billion back into the pockets of more than 15 million families. Because theyve taken on unfair lending practices and unscrupulous Mortgage Brokers and theyve gotten refunds for folks and are working with state and local officials to make sure that people are protected when it comes to their finances. Because if you work hard, you shouldnt be taken advantage of. [applause] president obama and today theyre taking new steps towards cracking down on some of the most abusive practices involving payday loans and title loans. [applause] president obama now, ali was talking about this in a very personal way. I want to just break this down for folks. Every year millions of americans take out these payday loans. Here in alabama there are four times as many payday lending stores as there are mcdonalds. [laughter] president obama think about that. Because there are a lot of mcdonalds. [laughter] president obama there are four times as many payday loan operations here in alabama as there are mcdonalds. And like what theyll say, the folks who run these things, in theory, what theyll say is, these loans help you deal with a onetime expense. So your car breaks down, you got to get to work, you go there cash a check real quick, or get a quick loan, and then thats the end of it. In reality most payday loans arent taken out for onetime expenses, theyre taken out to pay for previous loans. You borrow money to pay for the money you already borrowed. As ali will tell you, before you know, it you find yourselves trapped in a cycle of debt. At first it seems like easy money. But the average borrower ends up spending about 200 days out of the year in debt. You take out a 500 loan at the rates that theyre charging in these payday loans, some cases 450 interest, you wind up paying more than 1,000 in interest and fees on the 500 that you borrowed. We were hearing a story from some of the advocates who were working here in alabama, a story about a family, the grandmother died. Matriarch of the family. She passed away. They dont have quite enough to pay for the funeral. They go to a payday loan, borrow for the funeral, cant pay back the loan in time. The familys car gets taken away. And the two folks who are the bread winners in that family lose their jobs because they cant get to work. Right . So what started off as a shortterm emergency suddenly becomes a catastrophic financial situation for that family. And you dont need to be a mad math genius to know that its a pretty bad deal, if youre borrowing 500 and you have to pay back 1,000 in interest. So i just met with faith leaders and consumer advocates and civil rights leaders here in alabama who are coming together to change that and i want to say that theres a bipartisan effort, youve got some very conservative folks here in alabama who recognize that theyre reading their bible theyre saying, well, that aint right. [laughter] president obama right . [applause] president obama i mean, theyre saying, the bibles not wild about somebody charging 1,000 worth of interest on a 500 loan. Because it feels like youre taking advantage of somebody. If youre lending to somebody , knowing they cant pay you back, and youre going to put them on the hook and just squeeze them harder and harder and harder and taking more and more money out of them, youre taking advantage of them. And so im very proud of the bipartisan effort here in alabama to try to change this. But i want everybody to know theyre not going to have to fight alone. Because at the federal level the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, the cfpb, announced today that its going to take important steps toward s protecting consumers from getting stuck in these cycles of debt. And the idea is [applause] the idea the idea is pretty commonsense. If you lend out money, you have to first make sure that the borrower can afford to pay it back. Dont lend somebody money if you know they cant pay it back. As americans, we dont mind seeing folks make a profit. And if somebody lends you money, then we expect you to charge interest on that loan. But if youre making that profit by trapping hardworking americans into a vicious cycle of debt, you got to find a new business model. You have to find a new way of doing business. [applause] president obama so this is just one more way that americas new consumer watchdog is making sure more of your paycheck stays in your pocket. And in the meantime, were also going to be working to educate folks on how to think about their money. You know, we are talking to dr. Obama so this is just one more way that americas new ward and through consumer advocates at the local level, in high schools, we need to be teaching young people the dangers of taking out too much consumer debt. [applause] president obama and this is one more way that wall street reform, what we passed five years ago, is protecting working families and taxpayers. And that strengthens the economy. And thats one more reason why it makes no sense that the republican budget would make it harder for the cfpb to do its job. And would allow wall street to go back to the kind of recklessness that led to the crisis in the first place and would allow, you know, these kinds of lenders who are not doing the right thing to keep at it. I have to be clear. If republicans in Congress Send me a bill that unravels the reforms weve put in place, if they send me a bill that unravels wall street reform, i will veto it. [applause] president obama entegris, and this, this is not about politics. Its about basic values of honesty and fair play. Its about the basic bargain that says, here in america, hard work should pay off. Responsibilities should be rewarded. One of the people who i met with was reverend Shannon Webster birminghams First Presbyterian church. Wheres pastor . Hes here somewhere. There he is in the back. Stand up. So everybody can see you. [applause] president obama so, pastor webster is one of the pastors leading the effort to protect consumers here in alabama. At a public hearing a few years ago, he explained why he decided to work on this issue. When our people are trapped in debt, he said, they cannot escape and were all hurt. Were all hurt. And thats a simple statement but it captures so much of what it means to be an american. We are a country of rugged individuals. We dont expect folks to give us a handout, we expect people to work hard, we expect that hard work to be rewarded. If youre out there and youre working hard and starting a business and do the right thing and looking after your family and not spending beyond your means, folks like that shouldnt be punished or expected to pay for everybody else. We expect everybody to be responsible. But were also our brothers keeper. Were also our sisters keeper. [applause] president obama we are also were also a country that was built on the idea that everybody gets a fair shot. And that we put laws in place to make sure that folks arent taken advantage of. When this country does not live up to its promise of fairness and opportunity for all people were all hurt. When we do live up to those promises, all of us are better off. [applause] president obama back in 2008 i came to birmingham as a candidate for this office and i said, there is nothing we cannot do if the American People decide its time. Seven years later i still believe there is nothing we cannot do if we decide it is time. [applause] president obama were all in this together, alabama. Weve been through some tough times together. But were coming back together. If we decide this is our time, then together were going to write the next great chapter in this countrys history. Were going to do it not just because i came to town. But because of the wonderful people in this town who are already making it happen. Thank you, alabama. God bless you. God bless the United States of america. [applause] thursday the house to vote house voted to permanently change the way that doctors are paid by medicare. Speaker john boehner lauded his colleagues and called for more cooperation in the future. Speaker boehner we thank my colleague from pennsylvania for yielding and let me say a big thank you to chairman upton and mr. Alpalone and their staff for the work that has gone into this product. I want to thank wendell with leader pelosis staff and of course charlotte on my team, all of have worked together to create all of whom have worked together to create this product today. Thanks to their work we expect to end the socalled doc fix once and for all. We have passed this problem 17 times over the last 11 years and i decided a year ago that i had had enough. In this place we will deliver for the American People the first real entitlement reform in nearly two decades. It is good news for american seniors who will benefit for a more stable and reliable system. It is good news for hardworking families who will benefit from a Stronger Medicare Program to care for elderly parents. It is good news for the taxpayers who, according to the cbo and other experts, will save money now and well into the future. And that means it is especially great news for kids and grandkids. It is about a problem much your than any deadline, it is about beginning the solving of our spending problem. It is about saving medicare which is at the heart of the problem. Normally we would be your to admit we would kick the can down the road one more time. But today we are going to save money, 20, 30, 40 years down the road. Not only that we are strengthening medicares ability to fight fraud and waste and abuse. As was mentioned earlier this extends the Childrens Health care program for gw years te two years. This is what we can accomplish when we are focused on finding common ground. But we cannot become complacent. We have more serious entitlement reform that is needed. The action not taking another two decades to use it and do it and frankly i do not think we have that much time. I am here to launch members to begin that process and that begins by voting yes on hr 2 hundred. Today. Outgoing fda commissioner Margaret Hamburg addresses her tenure at the agency. Friday, the bipartisan vortices policy center hosts a discussion. Members of the president ial commission on Election Administration discussed the report. See it live not 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan two 9 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan two. Here or featured programs this weekend on the cspan networks. On book tv, author peter says that Government Housing policies caused the unnatural crisis and that it could happen again. Housing crisis and it could happen again. And then saturday morning at 10 30 eastern on American History tv, a discussion on the last major speeches of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther king jr. Sunday afternoon at 4 00 on reel america, the meet the press interview with Martin Luther king jr. Find our schedule on cspan. Org and let us know what you think of the programs you are watching. Call us, email us, or send us a week join the cspan conversation. Like us on facebook send us a comtweet. , a discussion on the charges against Bowe Bergdahl. From washington journal, this is 30 minutes. T. Washington journal continues. Host we are back with james j carafano. I want to get your reaction that they are charging Bowe Bergdahl with desertion and his behavior. Guest the first thing, as with any case, the accused is innocent until proven guilty. He keeps his rank and pay, and is afforded every opportunity to defend himself. That is the weight is supposed to work. I was in the army for 25 years. There are few things i am prouder of than my interface and affiliation that i had with the military Justice System. I thought it was a tremendous system. I was involved with several military justice activities. I felt an enormous amount of pressure and obligation to get it right, obligation to the service, obligation as an individual. I cannot say it was fun. But it was rewarding and i felt i was given the resources to do that. If you believe in the term let justice take its course, then it will and that is the right thing. Host did the charges surprise you, and could the army have charged him with even more stiffer charges . Guest you hear people use the words treason and desertion interchangeably. Treason is, you have to actively engage with a known enemy in your supporting activities against the United States. That is a much higher bar than desertion, which is essentially leaving your post when you are in a combat position with the enemy. Some people will say, maybe it is not fair that we are its not fair that we are charging them with a military system. But this is the case where you cannot do that because there is no civilian equivalent to the charge of desertion. It is purely military crime. There is the mother option other than putting them through the military Justice System. Host there is also the charge of misbehaving with the enemy. It sounds like they are saying he was seeking out the taliban that he was communicating with them. Guest yeah, that is very, very different. Think back to the korean war. In the korean war, we had a lot of people taken prisoner of war and the North Koreans did not abide by the geneva conventions at all. We were in many ways disappointed with how Many Americans performed as prisoners of war in the korean war. And we came out with different guidelines and reforms because there are things you can do which are inappropriate for a military person to do, but they fall way short of acting with the enemy against the United States. You are always a soldier. It does not matter where you are. It is better if you are a prisoner of war in a war camp in another country or in fort hood, texas doing a drill. Your obligations as a soldier are the same. Host there is an investigation that has been done by general kenneth. Looking into the general kenneth dahl looking into the circumstances of his captivity that have not been released. But his lawyer said he was able to look at an executive summary of that and he said in that there was no evidence that he was trying to reach out to the taliban or that he was trying to permanently walk away, and no evidence that soldiers were killed looking for him. Guest those are all things which they will have a full opportunity to present in the judicial system. People need to understand this could be a very long and multifaceted process. This is really the equivalent of a grand jury. We think there is enough here to that somebody could be called to be accused of the crime. That goes to a convening officer who then has the obligation to decide which way to proceed forward. The matrix you go through is the same. It does not matter if it is a minor offense or a major crime. They have to ask act in the best interests of the nation the best interest of the service and the individual. What are the options under the legal system and what is the most appropriate . You could have a wide range of activities including and up to a major trial. Host will the public know what is happening in this trial . It will be public . Guest the public will the steps of the process, consistent with the militarys obligation to respect the rights and privacies of the accused. There is a fair amount of transparency in the sense that its not as if you take them off to a secret place and you never hear from him again. His lawyer could say anything he wants, really. He can keep people informed of the process. There are a lot of ways this could go. Bergdahl could enter a plea and you could have a plea agreement and that could be the end of it. Or you could have everything that goes through a series of steps that goes up to what looks at a regular trial and a jury and judges and the whole normal person eating. Host the lawyer has the whole moral proceeding. Host the lawyer has not indicated which way that process will go. Go ahead. Guest the first thing you would want to do as a lawyer is to see all of the evidence that will be used against her client and then you would want to assess that. And then you would want to talk to your client and then to the convening authority. There is a lot of information to sit through. And again, there are many options. The art the army will give him a lawyer. He can have a civilian a lawyer. He can hire a team of lawyers. My guess is that he will be very well represented. This is a highprofile case. They will be very scrupulous. It will be very professionally run. Host you think you can get a fair trial. Guest im very confident in military Justice System, particularly in situations like this. If you actually made a little matrix and you looked at the protections and the rights of an accused in the military Justice System and compare that to most civil Justice Systems in the world, it would rank really high. In many cases, higher than some civilian courts in the United States. Host caller hi, look. This with Sergeant Bowe bergdahl , we know that he left. Where were the other troops who were on guard duty . Didnt stop this man, did a question he was going, nothing. He was allowed to walk out on his own free will. Should he be charged with desertion . No. We are not going to kill this in man. I was in the service and i did not have any problems. It is uniform code of military justice and is it going to be fair i dont think so. Me saying that because military code of uniform code of military justice is supposed to protect officers more than people. Host i want to take that point up about the uniform code of justice. What is it . Guest it applies equally to officers and enlisted. In a matter of fact, if you go to fort leavenworth, there is a separate military prison where we put people who have been conflicted with most serious offenses and there is a separate wing for officers were kept separately, but they are treated exactly the same. The other thing, if you are actually convicted, one of the things is you could lose all drinking privileges. You could be a general in an army but if youre convicted of a serious crime, you go into the general population like any of the burials like anybody else. Host what is the uniform code of military justice . Guest a Legal Framework like the u. S. Code of laws. It is it exists with the sanction of congress, so it has the force of law. It is the system of justice that the military goes by. Well, why do we have a separate system . Because the military operates and then in a separate environment than a legal system. Legal systems are designed to operate work roles of law exist. Police around the corner, people can walk to a judge, you collect evidence. Military environments can be chaotic. The rights of the accused are the same, the requirement of the system to be fair is the same but it has to be able to operate in a military environment, so we created a separate system. It blurs the line between what is called nontraditional and judicial punishment. Nonjudicial punishment is maintaining good order in the military. Article 15, petty theft, line, not showing up for duty, not performing duty. Then you walk into more serious crimes and it goes to a judicial proceeding. The punishment and severity of the crime increases the amount of due process by the individual gets and it is proportional. Host article 32 . Guest the lowest level. In article 32, the commanders judge, jury, and executioner. In article 32, you go before the commander and say, this is what i think. The commander could bring in other witnesses or bring in evidence, and then he would he or she would make a decision and he or she would say this is her punishment. Things like forfeit to pay, host that is where Bowe Bergdahl is . Guest that is up to the convening authority to decide where we are going to go into what severity of punishment they are considering. It is really up to the convening authority now. That is the next step. Beyond that, you will have the proceedings. Host augusta, georgia, christina. Independent. Caller hi, the reason im calling is that my understanding here is that to me this is desertion. He should have taken a discernible discharge. A dishonorable discharge. It wouldve been a lot better than torture. What really gets me is, nobody is looking at what he did. What he suffered, they are looking at, but not what he did. It is everybody is political. It is ripping this country apart no matter what everybody discusses, it is always republican, democrat. Im an independent. I come from a democratic family. I was a democrat. I originally come from massachusetts and i became an independent to pick who is best. I dont understand why everything has got to be political. He did something wrong no, he should not be shot. That is ridiculous, but he should pay for what he did. Dont trump up charges, just what he did wrong. Dishonorable, couple years whatever. Somebody had to replace him and people put them in jeopardy as people looked for them. Nobody is looking at that. Make people responsible for their actions and stop getting so political about everything. Host ok, got your point. Guest that is the benefit of the military Justice System. It is a legal system. A political views of the president doesnt matter. As a matter of fact, the secretary of Defense Organization official tried to implement that, that would be a crime. It is supposed to be a legal process. Like all good legal processes it increases the sanctions between the act itself and what is called mitigation. Other factors that the convening authority might want to consider to say well, it is worse and we think or we understand, so there are things we should be more empathetic for. They will it considered, but separately. First, with the statutes and this is what constitute the crimes. The person you go through, does the evidence, and in this case it would be a very High Standard of evidence, did the person commits a crime, yes or no . Then when you got to a sentencing portion, you would say, are there mitigating factors we ought to consider that maybe this is worst . Or maybe there were issues in the unit or how he left or how he was
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.