postcode phil donahue is a former tv talk show host, also acted as underwear funds. thank you for coming to c-span. tell us about your film, "body of war." >> guest: well, and that the subject of this film at walter reid. thomas young is a kansas city. kid i want to say about not to call them a kid. he was in iraq for two days and the bullet came through his timing and outcome in the back of the track on the main street, sadr city, fish in a barrel, no top to the track in the bullet exited g4, which anatomist that was between the shoulder blades. that he was paralyzed from the down. thomas can't cross. he sustains tract infections, nausea every morning, 20 some thing time of life in the tent. you know, what is the sacrifice? i saw this young man laying a bet at walter reid. and he was whacked out on morphine and his mother explained his injuries. i think people should see this and i nominated myself and that is the result. this is over almost five years of berkshire and it was an experience that all of us will never forget. we've never been this close to what is truly catastrophic injury that turns the whole family upside down on her point that we wanted to make a ferret thousands in this country just like this and we never saw the pain. we don't know about them. we argued that if you're going to send your young people to war, showed the pain. the president said you can't take pictures in the hall press corps said okay. there was no pushback. it makes it easier to conduct to, easier to call another one. people don't know the sacrifice people are making. we are going to have another war. >> host: phil donahue is one of the producers at the film festival to several standing ovations and acclaimed and won the best documentary from the national way review and was honored for best documentary from the producers caleb. so you are taking a casket great bang for the iraq war was starting. do you feel like you've been proven right because public opinion has changed so much? >> guest: you know, if i improve and read it out or have someone else saying that. we have over 4000 young men and women dead because of this massive blunder. and there was a writer on does not make any difference now and i don't think much of that for -- no good being has ever resulted from i told you so. so i'm keeping my mouth shut. i made no sacrifice at all of the people who thought this would make the sacrifice. postcodes get right to the phone. steve is a democratic caller in illinois. good morning. >> yes, good morning. first of all, the second superpower in the world, russia went into afghanistan and left with their tails between their legs. i believe in the 1980s and the united states as a whole should've taken a look at russia and see how many lives they lost in a useless war. these tribal countries have religious right stating that thousands of years. and many of the nation are killing our youths and destroying our youths. we have so many naval bases. we have so many air force bases and our whole world and around the world away or debating massive countries and destroying lives. >> you speak for me call her. i have nothing that could possibly be added to what you say. i admire your wisdom and it is another testament i think to c-span. this is the voice up from the people and we don't hear it often enough. >> host: yesterday the commander in afghanistan, general john allen testified before the services committee. let's listen to the relationship between the united states and the afghanistan, hamid karzai. >> what can you tell us about where we stand with regard to the president of afghanistan? >> senator, you have put your finger on the issue that there is frustration with these events in these events in many respects have struck a blow at the core of the relationship and president karzai has to be able to speak to the afghan people about putting our relationship in the context of a long-term relationship of afghanistan. so i understand his frustration and i understand that he was just one event, he would have a particular view on it. but we have several offensively. the, the brain of religious material to include the quran, the shootings and posh way and in the aggregate, those are significant events. but i believe he is committed to a relationship to the united states. he was very clear in a strategic in a teleconference in which i was then attendance with ambassador with the president. he was very clear in his commitment to a strategic partnership. but these incidents cannot be ignored. >> afghanistan commanding general john allen testified in capitol hill yesterday. phil donahue, what is our responsibility to the people of afghanistan? not taken that the leadership or even hamid karzai that the women who could be educated, the children, is there a risk of getting out and having things fall apart even worse? >> and we don't get out, will have more dead americans. it is america's choice. you can have any foreign policy you want. you could have been a country you want. you can have a country that puts people in cages for five, six years. no red cross seeker waterboarding, no abs. you can have this kind of country. we have so much to offer. this is a great country. instead of sharing, instead of reaching out, we are lashing out. and we are never, ever -- we've become the thing we hate. we are dropping bombs on crowded cities at night were old people and children are sleeping and we think we are going to get down the rest of our life. turning upside -- turn it reverse. imagine somebody coming in with an unmanned aerial vehicle. where is the valor here? you've got you got a man in a cape somewhere in suburban washington and nevada sits there with a joystick, looking at tv monitor. there they are. but we are killing children. and this is on obama's watch. we have to get rid of the droves. the drills will be banned. and sooner or later it will happen and i want my president to make the first call on it. poster riches in fairfax, virginia. republican caller. >> caller: thank you for taking my call. i've been thinking about this for a while. i spent 20 years in the marine corps and the business of sending the poor to worry when i was in the marine corps is a dead casualty officer and on four different occasions told them her child was dead with ever see them again. so i come from not background. so the problem i have is we have 1% for the poor and the lower middle class doing the dirty work for the country. and not only a republican. we have a presidential candidate, mr. romney who has five stars. one was not join the circus and i don't know whether that is because of their religion or because of their father or what, but we've got to get away from this business of letting the people who are looking for a job or trade or way out of something better for the life after they graduate high school to do all the dirty work for us. what we have these realities, tv shows, but why don't we have a reality tv show that shows what the are doing him a families are going through that they are there doing this bad stuff for us. so mr. donohue, keep doing what you're doing. c-span, maybe you could have if you could have military generals. military generals say they don't want a draft, but their part in parcel and that really needs to be addressed and you would see a lot less of young kids going off. this is the reality. this is the heart of. no office occurred to me. and we won of prices. to run a short short list for an oscar, thank you very much. we sold the popcorn. this is not a taker girl to the movie, movie. it is brass and it is up close. i had charlie dashiell at washington monthly. charlie peter is on the donahue show many years ago saying what should we do how she do. he looked daughter and said first of all, draft the rich. and the audience went -- it is what everybody thinks. but nobody says it. and on the seat is not current because we have no draft right now. but it's correct. wars are fought by people who are jobless. i heard a guy thing we'd go to vietnam because he loved america. we are to vietnam because he wanted to get out of town. these are the realities that we seem to be talking to ourselves in many ways. you know, democracy, democracy. , less than half of us though. one of them is wealthy people here in the states, very comfortable and air-conditioned homes, telling us how wonderful the troops are. and it is late it doesn't have any meeting. the troops come home and the va doesn't call them back. where he washed. >> host: twitter wonders if you think the mainstream media is avoiding discussing congressman ron paul's. to think it's kind attention? >> guest: the truth is that ron paul who i could not vote for this going to happen i'd love to take them to dinner, but i could not vote for them. i think he has a very distracting history, but he is the only candidate speaking out on this issue. we have people telling us why are we going to all of these? do you imagine that romney say not? they don't say because they believe to make the point is to be politically fatal, that you can't survive not supporting a war. this is another reason that war is so easy to get into. six minutes again, 60 years to get out, which is why it out on the trail is something for norman solomon running for congress for the north coast of california and am pleased to have this opportunity to say that i think norman solomon is not right on the issues. >> especially on the front of the american involvement in these wars. you have not taken the time -- or a tank to go and campaign for candidates in part because of your tv career. >> host: i had to be a version of the war. >> host: you haven't weighed in at this great the link as a candidate. >> guest: no, i was on nader's bus in 2000. and i got off of his bus in those four walls were really quite certain that we were going to elect another bush. marlo thomas.com by the way. i can't go home if i don't get these in libya, thank you very much. getting over 5 million hits a day. so i speak to her nafta region. so, i think ron paul is a fascinating study of our political reality right now. these people out there can't even talk about what is right in front of our eyes. so how long will this go on? i don't know. >> host: norman solomon is running for congress in california. one of 11 candidates seeking to seek the coastal district in california. a wide-open race triggered by democratic lynn woolsey's decision to retire this year and looking to replace congresswoman woolsey. tell us about what he supported specifically? >> will first of all, he is the son my mother wanted to have. he is very, very agitated about things. he brings to his freshman year congress more foreign policy experience than any rookie could possibly have. he is then to afghanistan. he has been to iraq more than one. and he is also taking no corporate tax money. imagine this. no corporate tax money. and that is tough. i mean, they have to worry about paying for alongside. and i admire him for this grassroots effort. he met many of the members of his team. he has scores of volunteers. i mean, if volunteers were the determining factor, he would elected immediately. so i'm just very, very taken by this grassroots campaign by a man who will never allow this country again to go to war without the can send to congress has mandated by because dictation. up until now, congress has said here, mr. president. here it is if you have to. and if he does and doesn't work it is able to say i thought he didn't. so it is a cya cover your self maneuver. congress has been spineless on this issue. they don't want the job of calling the more and it's their job. as robert burch says in this film, james madison, don't give one man the power to declare war. it is too much of a temptation. the framers were great. here we are having people claiming to be americans and turning their backs on the vision of the framers. it's a quaint idea and now that we're in this world of nukes, we really can't be bothered with the bill of rights. >> host: phil donahue is a groundbreaking talk show host for decades. he's an outspoken activist against the wars in iraq and afghanistan. see for my next color, doug, democrats find. st. charles, missouri. >> caller: good morning. a great pleasure to speak to both of you. i watch her program often. i have two questions. the first is mr. donahue, have you been to afghanistan or iraq? >> guest: no, i haven't. >> host: okay, i am a former marine. i did my floor for the quarter as they say. and i was watching when we went into afghanistan and tom perkins program mentioned this the other day that they sent out feelers to try to not have a war start. they are going to give up bin laden. they just needed some reason to do it. the bush administration refused to do that at the same way they make peace with iran. and i think that what i hear from the republican parties were marching towards another war with iran. and to me to post my mind. we've used that way too much and his multiple deployments are absolutely terrible. a nice ice cream at the television. we could have had bin laden in bora bora, but we were given next receptors to use after the previous administration. basically job the ball and that happened after cheney's oil summit in there at dividing up the country for their oil buddies. i just don't understand how we can trade lives for profit of corporations. and that is my point to you. i don't know how much you agree, but if you'd like to discuss any of it i'd be listening. >> guest: what was your rank? >> host: i'm sorry, disconnect it. >> guest: you have to respect this young man pointed. the czar boris. i've been corrected off in. their occupations. i don't know what you want to call them. they are not worse. these military actions in both iraq and iran are not fair to the american troops and america is waking up to that and now most of us are very anxious to bring them home. >> host: danny is an independent color in the wee cnn. good morning, danny. >> caller: good morning and good morning, mr. donahue. it's nice to speak to a man with common sense. i call them off into the station and i watch it often off in nac to very diverse attitudes towards everything. and being able to follow things have been an independent thinker, i see the truth and i see on one hand this media, the media that represent the money and interest in this country, the hard right wing suit basically let us into this. in fact, people who watch fox news said well, if you're not for us, you're against us. they've america, whatever. i'm a decorated combat veteran in vietnam whose ancestry goes back to the founding fathers on both sides of my family. when people tell me things like that, my point is pretty people get such ideas? the truth is it does not solve any more in this media in the very format you're on right now is one of them, which could do a great service to the american people. i seek in the truth instead of seeking ratings for these weekly morally bankrupt network. >> guest: well, i'm not sure what you meant about c-span. brian will tell you, i have been as early fantasy spin they can believe c-span when i first saw it. to actually see the house and senate. you remember high school you have the squares in the bill goes to the senate after the money comes from voting in goes into reconciliation? i mean, i shall sleep in civics class to watch this happen in life on both chambers. and then i got involved on all of those conventions, where they hang the banner on the wall? i am crazy about this stuff. this is the best reality show in town and i said that in the early 80s i may have program. to the gentleman's call, i don't know. we spent $2 billion a day on things that go boom. if you had in the va, nuclear program, added up. $2 billion a day. norman solomon taught me that and that is why i am campaigning with him. solomon for congress.com. i encourage you to visit the website. >> host: the caller who plays the course of c-span network has concerns about other cable news shows and such, what responsibility do you have as a trailblazer in the talkshow industry, creating a community on television or people can discuss things getting hotbed and issues out into the than, as it turned into which you envision? >> guest: i used to say they are all my illegitimate children i love them equally. but we really have gone -- you know, we did our body shows, too. we had a male stripper, but i had a lot of women outside. i said we are you going to put the microphone? you have to entertain the people. and this has to be understood a thing. the point of the well of our business is the size of the audience. if you don't get an audience, and to be parking cars next week and male strippers would get a larger audience than a guest of the donahue. bob dole was the guests. you don't see that anymore. and by the way, i had party made the point, this documentary fell off the marquee in six minutes. it's got a wheelchair. the daytime talk shows were not interested. i wanted to be onto pernell -- they don't want anything to do with wheelchair. >> host: in the documentary, till donahue talking about "body of war," thomas had a 25-year-old paralyzed from the bullets to his spine. he was a veteran of the war in iraq, to serve there for less than a week before he was shot. penny is our next call in mobile, alabama. democrats line. are you with us? last call. walter is our next call. new bedford, massachusetts on her independent line. hi there, walter. >> caller: hi there, how are you doing? was a famously showed years ago when i was younger and status. he assisted in her living room and watch the crazy show. we couldn't even believe half of the status and now look at what we have on television now. >> host: you turned out anyway, didn't you? >> caller: ioa start that war in the country is always taken for job. i remember growing up as a kid coming up, words were always romanticizes john wayne small process. it always seemed beautiful in her road. even george bush referred to it as something romantic and heroic one time when he was talking to some troops in iraq. but at the end of the day, i think americans need to recognize that it is loss of life, nature, promotion. everything that could go wrong could go wrong when you're dealing with war. boris that something like that movie is coming up, the bad guys go when. the good guys going to give the bad guys and then they go home. war is not like that. can you say go is go. whoever is left standing that is the winner. that is the true meaning of war. ate no heroes, a number of victory. if the guy who start the work, said a home a transkei beers and smoked a cigarette and do whatever. while just like he said the poor, young on the front lines fighting for what they think is real, what they think is true. in america think we need to start recognizing that and stop letting our politicians telling us what is important. we are at the point where anything is justified for loss of life. >> guest: to know, this is a very stressful phone call or a man wanted to know that the iraq war, the invasion of iraq followed a brilliant strategy of fear executed by the bush white house. it was the bush white house -- the white house iraq group that created the bumper sticker, a smoking gun will become a mushroom britain i believe by michael courson, who is now an op-ed for the "washington post". and the congress, by the way you see this in my film. we weave the congressional debate, giving bush permission to invade iraq. only 23 senators voted no and the house and senate posted. many members stepped in with read the talking points a gun smokes after it's been fired. the longer we wait, the worst he becomes, the more dangerous he becomes. john mccain said that. the longer we wait, the more dangerous -- you could feel the heartbeat of the nation begin to beat faster as th