Were in their height, the number of private security contractors outnumbered the us troops. How did that come to be . Again, i think we are like that one of the unintended consequences of relying on the all volunteer force and allowing the country to slide into a condition of permanent war. We ended up with too much work, too few warriors and so policymakers and the pentagon turned to the notion of defense contractors to try to fill the gap. At a very high cost. At a very high cost and i would argue with little evidence that they that they were worth the money. I know youre going to stay around and sign some books i want to thank you, colonel, professor,. You know, we barely scratched the surface of this book, so i really encourage you to pick up a copy and you will have a very indepth although somewhat pessimistic understanding of the wars of the middle east. Thanks again. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] this is book tv on cspan 2, television for serious readers. H
The Afghan Government can stand up and be the ones that take care of things in afghanistan. I just want to add something to love this. When i saw the book, mrs. Bush, i am honored as always to be around you and im thankful to the u. S. Afghan womens councils. They have done an incredible job. When i saw the book, it reminded me, took me back 14 years ago. I want to read something to you. The honorable mrs. Bush, i would like to thank you on behalf of afghan men and women for all the work you have supported and the care you have given the afghan women and children. You even went to pyongyang. I went to those days. I gave my first speech in chicago in 2004. 400 americans is as men and women have had to convince many leaders with my speech to believe in afghan women capacity and to fund for the project. After a long speech, i ended with the following sentence with a lot of hope. This is what the afghan woman says. Still after her pain she says i feel like the thunder, the dark days and th
Next a panel on pandemics featuring Karen Masterson and sonia shah who wrote pandemic tracking contagions, from cholera to ebola and beyond. Welcome, everyone, can you hear me . I am from the uva center for Global Health and i am delighted to be moderating this panel with two outstanding journalist and authors who are currently living in baltimore and came down to share their stories with us. We are going to be on a tight schedule which i am responsible for keeping. We will look forward to about 1520 minute presentation from each author and then ample time for questions. I would like to remind request that everyone silence their cellphone. I would also like to especially since i am so excited about this panel and all of the other events i would like to remind everyone that the virginia festival of the book is pleased to keep most events free. If you would like to help with that, please consider a donation. My third request is to please evaluate this session as the festival is always wo
For today and cspan 2 booktv so make it all proud just to give a brief sense of how we do things in the next 15 minutes. Im going to introduce just an art. Make sure thereve book will have a discussion. I think the title of this panel is rebuilding or evolution informally in my mind. It is detroit and austin that the beginning and end of all things. That appeals more to my grammatic sense. So jeff kerr is the author of austin texas history. The first was austin, texas then and now. The next was republic of austin. On the most recent one of the reason we are here this morning is seat of empire the embattled birth of austin, texas, which is a history of the founding of boston and the battle in the republic of texas over by this capital would need. Jeff also raised a regular history and he is practicing pediatric urologist at the same time. If we have and the emergence sees. The author will take care of them. Mark binelli is the author of vincennes msi, contributing editor to relate to an
You might want to save your applause because i have a lot to go through. Seated very close to jim is eugene boom, the dallas Deputy Sheriff for discovered the rifle on the sixth floor that day. Also over in that area we have phyllis hall, a nurse from the hospital who was in trauma room number one when president kennedy died and also rose who worked for the time when bureau in houston at the time of the assassination. Over behind rows we have a wonderful julie who was press aide to governor John Connally at the time of the assassination. One of the first reporters inside this building. Pierce was later our tour narrator for the audio tour which continues to guide guests through the sixth floor exhibit today. I think i get that section. I do want to go through this quickly. We have some eyewitnesses, a teaneck, our youngest photographer at the time of the assassination seated behind to my bill in detail, the closest civilian eyewitnesses to president kennedy at the time of the shooting.