Until diane found a something affordable and what i thought was at least fairly reasonable, i didnt camp on the couch for a couple of weeks. I did camp on the couch for a couple of weeks. Now i am in a little apartment across town, so to speak, and the rent is still high, but manageable. Bill do you get home to louisiana and your district every weekend . Rep. Abraham almost every weekend. There may be two or three times at most where i stayed at in washington over the weekend. I prefer to go home of the week and it has i get to see the people i represent. The week that we get off during each month to go back in the district is a favorite week of the month for me. Bill what is it about washington where people who are not washington insiders that they should know about how it runs . Rep. Abraham in todays day and age, there is still a lot of bipartisan support. We passed 80 80 5 of bills coming down from leadership. This 80 85 of bills coming down from leadership. We could not it without help from our democratic colleagues. There are certainly some ideology and some issues that we will never agree on. Again, let us go back to the founders. That is what they wanted. We wanted to debate. If we did everything all the time, there would be no need for us to be up here. We have to represent our people and that will cause divisiveness sometimes, but more often than not, we get along better than most people think we do appear. Bill do you find more or less bipartisan than you imagined . Rep. Abraham a little more. I knew there are be some there would be some, but i have been surprised refreshingly that there has been a little more than nine dissipated. Then i anticipated. That is a good thing. We are able to do business with the nation and good business. Bill you talk about your habits and the three committees you are serving on and the amount of reading you have to do. Before we started our conversation on camera, we were talking about an epa hearing. Do you find you get enough time to get your questions answered in those hearings . Rep. Abraham no, i will say that quickly. We get five minutes, of course, to answer, ask, say a statement, what ever we want to do. I wish there were times that i had 30 minutes. Of course, when you have 10 or 15 people on a committee, that is not doable. You simply just cannot. Bill you are often being yanked out of those hearings for some sort of vote on the house floor. How many times have you found yourself going to the house floor and not knowing what the vote is about four Steve Scalise has to fill you in on where youre headed . Rep. Abraham every morning, i my staff brings me a list of what we will vote on that day. We have actually discussed that in prior week to what is coming up. As far as knowing what we are voting on, i read every day. If there are amendments that may have an undertow that i need to seek leaderships opinion on, i can go to scalise or mccarthy. There always on the floor and i can go to those people. I look at the louisiana delegation. We have very good congressman who have been here a while and they know the issues. I will talk to them from time to time and say, hey, fill me in on what we need to do here. Bill what are some of the items that have been working on in the early part of the 1 14 . Rep. Abraham for louisiana, it has been issues with fema. The epas water rule goes back to my foresters and how the epa is affecting their livelihood. They expect me to push back, express their interest, and be a representative. And that is what we do. Bill those issues concerning fema is that a fallout from katrina . Rep. Abraham they want to do a fiveyear plan instead of a 100 year plan. We do that in louisiana because we are low level line state. Of to 40 of louisiana would suddenly be in a floodplain. We cannot let that happen. That goes to insurance rates and being able to build structures. These are things we have to the on guard against because these things come up sometimes. It is try to slip under the radar so to speak. Our job is to watch the gate and close the gate when it needs to be closed. Bill you mentioned your flying experience with the reserves and the Mississippi National guard. You are a highlight. What do you like about piloting an airplane . Rep. Abraham theres nothing i do not like about piloting an airplane. It is a feeling that those who do fly understand. If im not working here or down in the district, im usually up in the clouds and flying. I do fly for the Civil Air Patrol auxiliary. I get to use my skills and a good way. I just enjoy it as a passion. Bill as a military and civil aviator, what are some of your policy concerns about Civil Aviation . Does the issue of drones concern you, for example . Rep. Abraham lets go back to my agricultural district, we have crop dusters flying right now as we are speaking every day. And they are flying head height over the crop. Should they hit a drone, which could be possible, it would bring them down and probably kill them. We do not want that to happen. The faa has issued some rules for drones right now that are being talked about, debated, but we have to have airspace issues with the drones. The drones are here to stay. They offer some wonderfully good potential. For mapping, agricultural sites, irrigation sites. I think the potential is unlimited, but we have also got people who are flying these aircraft in this airspace and there is this talk that i hear of reagan and dca that if a drone popped up on one of those big jets coming in bringing passengers and, and hit a windshield, trust me, it could do some major damage. The faa has its task cut out. We had people we saw just recently who stop fires from being quenched, because drones were in the way of delivering water to the area. It is got to be worked out and worked out pretty soon because they are becoming very popular. Bill there are all kinds of caucuses in the house, is there an aviation caucus . Rep. Abraham there is an aviation caucus. Bill is there a veterinary caucus . Is that an unusual move for someone who is a veterinarian to be a physician as well . Rep. Abraham there are a few, not many. Im not sure the exact number, but there are some that move from the physician to a veterinary profession. I consider anyone remove it for a lateral move. For me, it was more difficult to get into that schooled in medical school. The competition was much higher when i was applying for that new school. Fortunate to get in and stay in secondary school is difficult, in Veterinary School is difficult, too. It is a very hard course. Medical school to me was a little easier. Bill and continuing to do farming work, that comes in handy. Rep. Abraham definitely pick i was on a tractor a few weeks ago and i could do anything on a farm that needs to be done as far as raising a crop, growing a crop, gary getting a crop, and harvesting a crop. Bill what is bush hogging . Rep. Abraham that is where you take a large bore a clear pastor. Bill going back to your wall and reading the constitution, this is a letter that you have on your wall from George Washington to the sultan of morocco. Where did you get that and why did you want to put it up . Rep. Abraham my wife found that at a rummage sale and she loves to go to them. She was able to pick that up somewhere in the district. I wanted it up here because it goes back again to our founders. Even back in that day, washington understood, as most of our founders did, the potential of this nation and how great it probably would be. Even at that point, washington was reaching across the pond, across the borders to other nations saying, hey, we are growing. Were going to be a force to be dealt with and we want you to be a friend and part of our growth. This is what this letter is about i think he even sent a copy of the constitution with that letter to the sultan of morocco. Again, it goes back to our history. That is what im afraid we are forgetting a lot in this country where we came from. We came from some good stock and we have to keep that stock in place. Bill what he think the best play you read it every quarter. How to get people to read those documents more quickly . Rep. Abraham in my district, i was there last weekend and talking to a large group of church people. I hated constitutions out and i handed constitutions out and declarations of independence out. When i go talk to any Educational Group or young students, theyre going to get a copy of the constitution and a copy of the declaration of independence. I tell stories about it so that it will at least entice them to open that first page. Once they start reading, when i go back and say, hey, did you actually read this . They say they did. The verbiage that was used in those days is not unlike any we see these days. The prose that they used, the wording that they used, its just phenomenal. People recognize and appreciate that. Once they start reading the constitution, or specially the declaration of independence, which is such a wonderful document, they are pretty well hooked. Bill commission ralph abraham, louisiana fifth district, thank you for being with us on cspan. Rep. Abraham thank you. President ial candidates heading to the iowa state fair. It will have live coverage of the des moines registers candidate soapbox. Tradition where president ial hopefuls each get 20 minutes to speak to voters. Former arkansas governor republican mike i could be will be live here on cspan. Thats 11 11 30 a. M. Jim webb is live at 2 00. Later, democrat martin omalley, former Maryland Governor speaks to the crowd at 5 00 p. M. Eastern. After each of the candidates speak, we will get your reaction to what they said. Thats all here on cspan. The general has to buy advice as he prepares to step down as our mission with staff friday. He says Islamic Forces are not making good progress. The u. S. Should consider embedding american troops with the iraqis. He spoke at the pentagon for about 45 minutes. Good afternoon. Gen. Odierno i would send my prayers out to those killed in afghanistan this week. A member of the special forces group. We have ours that soldiers around the world doing dangerous and important things every single day. That is a reminder of the sacrifice they made. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family. I want to thank the press for what i believe to be a positive relationship over the last 15 years for me as i have worked around the world and here in the pentagon, i really do appreciate the work you do. Ive reshoot the candor and dedication that you have, especially how you recover the army in many different parts of the world. I always found it important that the press raises issues, keeps us honest, helps us to work through tough issues that we have, and i truly appreciate the relationship we have had. Enjoyed the time i had with the press. Thank you very much for that. Ready to go out the door, couple of points i would like to make. In aneve this nation is important flexion point, specifically regarding national security. The security environment remains uncertain and dynamic. On we all know that based what is going on in Eastern Europe with russian aggression and Chinese Military increased investment in the military, increased aggression by china in the pacific. We continue to have a middle east that shrouded increasing instability. Faisal isil, the underlying conflict in the middle east. I believe these are longterm problems we will have to deal with for the for seeable future. We continue to have to work our mission in afghanistan to ensure that that government is able to survive and maintain itself for many years ahead. Important that we stay engaged in afghanistan. We have to be concerned with the growing movement of global terrorism, whether it be in north africa, central africa, and other parts of the world. Always, we have an unstable, unpredictable provocative north korea that we have to be concerned with. As i quickly summarized, there are a lot of issues out there, i didnt name them all. Those are the major ones. The problem we have today is we have a dynamic environment where we have increasing requirements requirements are military while we continue to have decreasing resources. This is of great concern to me personally as we continue to move forward. About is we are sacrificing a longterm viability of our military to meet current environmental requirements. I worry about decreasing readiness over time, i worry about reduced modernization in our force and the impact that might have two to five years from now. Many of the problems i listed are going to be persistent problems. They are not ones that will be solved overnight. There are a couple of things that we are doing in the army, and i would say in the last 18 months, we have an aggressive and publishing documents that are helping us move to the future. We published an army vision which is trying to give us a strategic advantage in the complex world of we live in. To identify what are the unique roles the army will play, there are each key characteristics that i see in the army in the future. It must be an army that is incredibly agile, we must be expert. What i mean is leaders of great character, competence, and commitment. We must be innovative, we must be interoperable with our allies as well as other services and joint force. We must be expeditionary, we must be scalable in order to meet probably simultaneous requirements around the world across several different continents. We publish a Army Operating concept the really looks to the future of what we need to look at in 2025 and beyond. Challenges we will continue to look at. This will help us to synchronize and integrate our efforts as we decide what we want to do in modernization, what we need to do in developing future leaders, and what we think is going to be required of them. To also look in new areas. We significantly increase our investment in cyber, both in the force and are modernization technologies, we are developing new readiness models. They will help us to deploy forces when needed on time, and we must increase our efficiency and the ability to deploy quickly. We increased and develop a new total force policy that uses the entire force in a way that we can sustain over the long time. These are just a few of the things that are working now, and with that, i will open it up for questions. General, first of all thank you for doing this and i think we all appreciate the amount of time you have spent both here at and that smaller gatherings. We hope you encourage your successor to do the same. I wanted to ask you there are two women that appear they may be completing the ranger course. We have been told they have gone through the hardest part. Im wondering if you can take a step back and look at that as you view your career and how things are changed . And whether or not you think they should inform the armys decision on whether or not to open the infantry to women, and what your personal views are on this as you leave, because your name may not be on the recommendations to the secretary. Would say as we continue to move forward as a military, the most important thing i was talking about Talent Management in order to best. You have to pick the best people that will conform to the establishment of the standards we have established in army. Meet themen can standard, they should be able to go. I think thats how we want operators move forward. If you can meet the standards weve established, you should be able to perform in that mos. I think that is where we are headed. We have not made any final decisions on infantry or army and, by think those are coming very shortly. We have really collected some significant analysis, we done incredible studies over the last two years. Weve integrated women in tall formations and again, it is about can they meet the standard or not. Lean towardsan, we the fact that it would be good if we allowed them to serve. I dont know how it is going to come out, you never know. There are several days left yet in ranger school. But the feedback ive gotten with these women is how are. Dibly prepared they the effort they put forward has been significant. They have impressed all that they have come in contact with. They are clearly motivated and frankly, thats what we want out of our soldiers. I think this has been a great effort. We will probably run in other course in november that will be integrated. That is where we are headed right now. And then we will make a decision after that on whether we make it permanently open to women. Given the fact that you have tours in iraq as anybody, can you reflect a little bit on your perspective and your solutions that you see out there. Do you think a nofly zone would make any sense . And do you think it is time to put u. S. Troops, soldiers on the ground with iraqi forces even potentially with syrian rebel put u. S. Troops on the ground into an bed with them and help them further train on the feasible . It even gen. Odierno as i look at a rock iraq and ive said this before it is frustrating to look at what has happened inside of iraq. I believe that a couple of years ago in 2010 or 11, we had it in a place it was heading in the right direction. Violence was down, the economy was growing, the politics were ok. We turned it over to them it. The by the agreement that weve made back in 2008, that they would take full control of this in 2011 we would leave. As it is turned out, they were prepared to handle that. I think it is more politically than it was anything else. The political factions just simply werent able to Work Together. And based on that, people became frustrated, and when people become frustrated, they tend to turn to violence because there is no other way to get their point across. Isilallowed a group like to exploit the fissures that were occurring inside iraq. The same thing happened in syria. When you have now are two countries are annexed which other the have the same kind of problems. Fairly gave them a significant piece of ground that enable them to build their capabilities. Off, i absolutely believe the region has to solve this problem. The u. S. Cannot solve this problem for the region. Theyve got to get involved and be a part of the solution. I truly believe that. I have said before, we could probably go in there with a certain amount of American Forces and defeat isil. The problem is we will be right back where we are today six months later. For me, its about changing the dynamics, the political dynamics, the economic dynamics. It has to be done by those in the region. It is important for us to andort that by training trying to develop capabilities and capacities. I believe that if we find it in the next several months that we are not making the progress that we have, we should absolutely consider embedding soldiers and see if that would make a difference. It doesnt mean that would be fighting, but we would be embedding them in moving with them, as an option we should present to the president when the time is right. In iraq andth syria . Gen. Odierno originally i was a rock i would say you rack. Iraq. I know generals dont normally comment on politics. But you are about to go. So when you hear donald trump say we should just moved in with our troops and take their oil, and bomb the iraqi oil centers, does anything like that even remotely have military utility . Gen. Odierno heres the issue i learned over the past 10 years. There are limits to military power. Outcome, but the problem weve had is do we achieve sustainable outcomes . Is weoblem we have had have had outcomes, but theyve only been shortterm outcomes because we havent looked at the political and economic side of this. It has to be all three the come together. If you dont do that, its not going to solve the problem. Thats why continue to look at. , if you asked me, if you said to me if we didnt right the direct threat, and theyre getting ready to have an attack on the United States that could be devastating, thats a different issue. Maybe we have to look at putting troops in the ground. But thats not where we are today. What we want to do is try and group that isrm potentially attempting to be a longterm influence in the clearlyast, that is promoting extremism, and frankly , suppressing the populations in the middle east. In order to resolve act, you need countries in the middle east and those surrounding the middle east to be involved in the solution. Do you agree with donald trump . Gen. Odierno right now i do. You know it was debated on who last iraq, kind of who lost china in the late 40s. The narrative goes Something Like the brilliant surge succeeded, obama abandon a rock the growth ofing iso isil. I dont get is black and white. The military operations we conducted provided as an opportunity to be successful. Us leaving at the end of 2011 was negotiated in 2008 by the bush and administration. I was always the plan. We promised them we would respect the sovereignty. Based on that, that was always the plan. You can argue whether we could have adjusted a little bit and could we had a better outcome. Not quite a involved in an argument. Its not black and white. Having military on the ground allowed us to be honest brokers between some of these groups. I think maybe, as we all look onk, leaving some soldiers the ground might it helped a little bit, might have prevented where we are now. Was a sustainable outcome, judged against that was the iraq invasion a mistake . Tony, like going back there. Its monday morning quarterbacking. Know is that Saddam Hussein was an incredibly ruthless person who was suppressing his population. I know there has always been this argument that we went in there and there were no Nuclear Weapons, heres what i will tell you. I talked to all of the iraqi generals. They will tell you there were Nuclear Weapons. They believe a word. Is, theym line absolutely believe there were Nuclear Weapons on the ground. To say we shouldnt have gone in there now because we know there wasnt any reason find any, i think thats a little bit of hindsight. And we dont know where we would be right now if Saddam Hussein was still in the power. He was moving towards terrorism, i believe if we can you do have problems, you dont know what he might have done in terms of being part of the problem of terrorism. I think its very difficult to say was it worthwhile. Made, we didwas it, deal with it. Make come out the best way we can. Given your experience in iraq can you talk earlier about the growing conflict between shia and sunni and the increased influence now of iran. Raq, even militarily. Do you see any possibility of reconciliation between the sunni and shia . Gen. Odierno it is becoming more difficult by the day. I think there might be some alternative solutions that might have to come sometime in the future. Iraq may not look like he did in the past. We have to deal with isil first. And that we have to decide what it will look like afterwards. You talk about the possibility of a partitioning. Gen. Odierno i think that is for the region and politicians to kind of figure out, diplomats to figure out how we want to work this. That is having that could happen. It might reveal the solution. But im not ready to say that you have. Now, they second time claim to have hacked into the u. S. Military Computer Systems and retrieved vital personal classified information. What do you know about that . You mentioned cyber defenses earlier. Are we inadequately protected against an attack, even by summary like isis . Gen. Odierno i dont want to downplay the incident. But this is the second or third time have claimed that. The first two times i will tell you whatever lists they god they got were not taken by any cyber attack. They were off the side. I have not seen the list myself. What i believe is this is no different than those other two times. Becauseke it seriously it is clear what they are trying to do. Its important for us to make understandsr force what theyre trying to do, even though i believe theyve not been successful in what they are claiming. Sir, do you think isis is winning right now and do you think the u. S. Betrayed the sunni tribes that rose up in mr province . Gen. Odierno so i think isil has been blunted somewhat. They have not made any progress since we started airstrikes. We have gain back some territory, mostly by the great work of the kurds and the some work by the Iraqi Security forces. I think right now we are kind of a stalemate. The kurds continue to make some progress, i think is important we continue to support them. The reason is that way is that we are continuing to retrain the Iraqi Security forces to build up the capabilities so they can conduct operations. We are getting ready to see one here in a few days. I think that is why, although it hasnt gone as well as we would like to two, its important to continue to train Syrian Forces and Syrian Rebels. Wantmilitary strategy, you to have your enemy have to respond to several different fronts. In my opinion, want to try and develop capabilities so that they have Iraqi Security forces from the south, kurds from the north, and Syrian Rebels helping in syria, i still think doesnt have to work out. ,e have a lot of work to do without we are working with Syrian Rebels, but i think we still have to really stay focused on that. Thank you, general. What is the future of afghanistan now because taliban and al qaeda still in afghanistan and pakistan are waiting and warning. And when the International Community leaves afghanistan, the future may not be bright or darker than 15 years ago. Aboutch are you worried china and pakistan. Pakistan is doing what china is telling them. Gen. Odierno i would say with the taliban, they claim a lot of things, first off. That there is violence inside of afghanistan, is less than what it was. The afghan Security Forces in my mind are doing a pretty good job of going after that. I think the pakistanis of done some good work against the taliban lately. With the death of one of their leaders, we have to watch the very carefully. Where are still on a path i think it can be successful. I think we have to continue to support the afghan Security Forces, we have to continue to support dialogue between afghanistan and pakistan. Right to do the lots of things. We have a close religion with pakistan. They deal with us too. I have a Good Relationship with the general. We talk regularly. He talks regularly to general campbell and afghanistan. China do they talk china . Probably. All we have to work with them to solve this difficult problem. Afghanistan, pakistan, the United States, and other countries have to Work Together to solve this problem. It is on our interest to do that. India in theask future that it might be helpful gen. Odierno we have to judge the environment. If we think its the right thing to do, we have that. You mentioned at the beginning that there was an increase in resources. What can other areas of government do to support the mission of the military . The whole four years i was chief of staff, we were deadlocked. About wedeadlock are worried about the debt, which we should be. In my opinion, we fill the military hostage because of the argument we are having over the rest of the government, how we solve the problem of spending in the government. The point im trying to make is it is coming to a point now where i think we should be careful. Because we are at the point of potentially degrading ourselves, where its going to be really difficult for us to meet our requirements. Whether we like it or not, were a world leader. We have to lead in many different places around the world. We have to have the capabilities to do that. I were you the years ahead that if we dont solve this problem, we wont have that capability to do that. A couple of questions. Deny that them or u. S. And turkey have agreed on a state own inside syria and in northwest syria . Gen. Odierno i have not been involved with that, so i cannot discuss that. How many iraqis including kurds and sunnis have been trained by the u. S. Forces on the ground . Gen. Odierno as of this morning when i was briefed, about 16,000 have been trained since the beginning of the year. According to focus and is [inaudible] like how close were these . Gen. Odierno i dont know how close we are, but weve had conversations about this to make sure it doesnt happen. Their cattle to reports from the campaign that a result of Coalition Air force strikes. Can you update me on that . Reports in syria as a result of Coalition Air force strikes. Gen. Odierno im not aware of that. I cant answer your question. Things, general. What is the top military threat to the u. S. . Some have said russia appeared wanted to know if you agree with that. Also if the iran deal goes through, do you think that it will spend more money on supporting terrorism in the region and other malign activities . Gen. Odierno i would say the russia, i believe russia is the most dangerous because of a couple of things. They are more mature than some other of our potential adversaries. Now i think they have some stated intents that concern me in terms of how the cold war ended. For me, i am concerned. Theyve shown some significant capabilities in ukraine to do operations that are fairly sophisticated. For me, i think should pay a lot of attention to that. On iran. First, i support anything that reduces the proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Support the part of it. But as i said before, we can be naive. We must understand that iran is conducting operations in several different countries, with or be, syria, iraq, and we must beware of that and assume that some of the money they get if the stations are lifted will be used to continue some of this activity. If you would have to be very aware of that and watch it very, very closely. Major acquisition programs during your tenure have not been terribly successful. Youve been in budget deadlock almost the whole time. What are you saying to your successor, had you feel passing the modernization position of the army forward, and what are any priorities . Gen. Odierno for the first time, i would tell you because of the new Army Operating charge, we have a good understanding of what we need. Protection andut situational awareness. We are at developing local protective firepower for late, medium, heavy units. And continuing to increase our ability to situational awareness. To doe programs in place that, we have to continue to push those programs. I think those the ones for me that are the most important. To workhave to consider command and unmanned capability, autonomous capability. All of those things are going to be very important to us as we moved to the future. Wrong with the syria train and equip program . Should the u. S. Continue to fund the program or focus on other partners . Gen. Odierno i think the training would find. Its how you then deploy those forces. I think we will learn some lessons from that of figure out how we best can employee to ensure their survivability and viability in the region. I think thats the kind of thing we have to work on. They are working very hard to make sure we do that much better than we did this first time. What are some of the Lessons Learned . Gen. Odierno its about how you use them and where you use them, and can we provide some protection . The things we have to take a look at as we go forward. Owing back to the withdrawal from iraq, can he talk about why leaving troops in iraq could have made a difference . What could they have done to change the situation . Gen. Odierno one of the things that i believed happened is the Iraqi Security forces became lettersize. And what happened is leaders were taken out, leaders had to do not who was world to loyal to iraq, but not loyal to the leaders. You no longer had an army that had representation from many different parts of iraq, you had a mainly from certain parts of iraq. I think if we were there, we could have prevented things like that. Reassured could have some of our some of the other groups that they would continue to be able to participate, not only in the military, but in the government as well. Can that be applied to afghanistan . Gen. Odierno i believe it is. Everyone says why cant we do what we did in germany, korea, japan . Because we kept people there for long. Periods of time of. We are still there 70 years after. Its much smaller, and a different relationship. Thats how you establish longstanding institutions. Im not trying to compare germany and japan or korea to the middle east. Its a different environment. Announcing its exactly the same. Is having would say as there helps to establish an institution that is capable of being a more sustainable and lasting for much longer. Around ther way issue over whether or not there were Legal Protections . Gen. Odierno you would have had to have the Iraqi Parliament approved that. And that was the problem. I dont know if we could have convinced them to do that or not. I will say we have the same problem initially when we initially hammered out the agreements as well. I dont know the answer that question. And thats it. Could we convince them it was in their own best interest, and our best interest to have a stay longer . I cant tell you if we could do that or not. When you have stayed without was it the right decision . Gen. Odierno no. You put your soldiers and marines at risk for being arrested. Theres also to the international friendly, we were in violation of international law. We were there under a you and mandate that ended at the end of 2008 and then we have agreement with iraq that ended at the end of 2011. We would have been there illegally if we didnt have that agreement. The way you frame that you make it sound as if there was never any serious robust effort to convince the Iraqi Parliament. Gen. Odierno i hesitate to say that because i was not there during that time. I was told her was an effort to do that. I cant tell you if it was a robust effort, i dont want to comment because i sibley wasnt there to time it out. Give youthere, i would an honest answer, but i was not there at that time. On syria, how you see the syria . Of do you believe a political solution could find place without having the syrian president on it . Gen. Odierno i dont know. Would be aation think it would be different to have a serious look like syria and we did before. I think it is probably forever changed in some way. One of the things we have to work through is with our partners in the region, what will it look like . We have to think about that. I dont inc. Any of us have a solution right now for that. And whether that includes the current leadership that will still be in place or not, i dont know. I think that is some thing we have to think about as we go forward. When you say partner in the region, do mean iran as part of those partners . Gen. Odierno i dont know, we have deceived. The best solution would be if we get everyone to agree. I think you want anybody to be involved with that. Whether that comes up with a resolution or not, thats probably a good question. When you call the war against isis a stalemate and u. S. Intelligence agencies estimate that isis is the same strength, 20,000 to 30,000 fighters it was the beginning. Dont you get time to change the strategy . Gen. Odierno heres what i would say. They may be at the same strength, but i will tell you based on what ive seen, we have significantly reduce the leaders that were in there. Weve done that before. That makes a difference. Now you have second, third, fourth stringers coming in. The problem is they are still able to recruit, thats whats concerning to me. They are not as capable as they were a year ago, they are not as capable as they were 18 months ago. But they are still able to recruit and get people to come in and fight. Thats whats concerning. This is why this is not a solely military solution. There has to be a solutions. Theres an Information Campaign here that they are very successful, continuing to recruit people to come in there. Thats part of what we have to try and do with our partners is have a more moderate voice that doesnt make this look like it is a great cause. Thats part of a we have to work with. He mentioned ukraine. In thisous, concerns building about further advances by russian and russian backed forces, possibly building a lamberts to crimea. As you leave, talk about with of the strategy is working in iraq, you have any evidence this strategy for deterring russia is there . As you look at next ages, you talk about russias the primary threat, how concerned are you the russian will try the same strategy with nato allies bordering russia in estonia and latvia . Gen. Odierno russias constantly assessing the reaction of nato to any of their actions. I worry about miscalculation. They perceive maybe the nato might not be as concerned, and they make a mistake or miscalculate and do something that would violate the nato agreements. That is in the greeley concerns me. I would say that what we have to nato continue to refocus and our interoperability within the military with our nato partners to build capabilities. We are on our way to doing that. We have a long way to go. We have to continue to increase our ability to move quickly there. Byhink we can do that prepositioning equipment, we can do that by helping to increase interoperability , have anato forces understanding of what native capabilities are available. We have to keep working at that. Because a true deterrent is one where people worry that if they do conduct operations, there will be some level of response. And we have to continue to improve with that level of response might look like so we can deter any further action. You were saying moment ago that deterrent is not there at this point. Gen. Odierno we have a deterrent there, and we are doing a good job. We have to continue to increase risk goes upthe for anybody who might consider conducting operations. You talked about russia and the threat that opposes, but the army has not been preparing for conventional warfare. Is this army prepared for conventional confrontation with russia . Gen. Odierno we started and 14, in the last 18 months we have really started to train for what we call hybrid warfare, which is actually the warfare i consider russia is in fact conducting. 10 brigadeg about rotations of the Trading Center the short, we do about eight last year, that was significant focus on this. We have. We are in the process of increasing our capabilities to do this. Your point is a good one. We came off of 10 years of doing counterinsurgency operations, and what we had to do is very different. That goes back to my worry about dollars. What we need is the dollars in order for rest to continue to train and build capability. We have been doing that for a year and a half now. Comes back inon in 2016, that will have an impact on us. We have been there. We are not where we need to be. We have about 33 are brigades who can operate at that level. To have about 60 . Thats what we are working towards. The next couple of years, and why give a date on that. Exercises nato [indiscernible] we. Odierno the last time were doing this in europe, i remind everyone that our job was to protect western europe. One of the things we learned as the logistical challenges that we have, for example, Eastern Europe has a different gauge railroad that western europe does. So moving supplies is more difficult. We are great lessons like that. Our ability to sustain ourselves over time, our interoperability and the capabilities the nato now has, and how we have to better integrate those is another lesson. We are using our Readiness Center that we have to do that. We have a large exercise going on there right now with our partners to continue to work this problem. We will do two more. Other details about the Helicopter Crash that occurred in okinawa . Gen. Odierno we are still waiting to find out what happened. I dont know yet exactly what happened. I was briefed on it this morning, but the briefing was we had a Helicopter Crash, and were not quite sure what happened yet. We have investigators are taking a look at that. Is there was training taking place . Gen. Odierno gen. Odierno the training of special Operations Forces with several different nations. Were to japanese personnel on that . Not want to i do comment, i dont have the facts. They have been conflicting reports. I wanted to ask if there was a concern that would be have an impact on the greater strategy with the security relationship between u. S. And japan, especially given the opposition to gen. Odierno im not going to overreact to one incident. It is important that we work with our allies. Its important that we work with our japanese allies and we have to continue to do that. Im not going to project what the issue will be within japanese politics. I think it is important that as allies we were together. As i said my started this, there are risks in the work that we do every single day. Unfortunately, we understand that going in. We always they want to prevent any of those risks. But sometimes, unfortunately, we have accidents. A few weeks ago, general hodges told reporters about a plan currently, the united thees is held training equivalent of the Ukrainian National guard. As a plan to train military force in ukraine, at the time he said it had not been approved yet. Do you have an update for us on that . Gen. Odierno we do have a plan developed do that. We have not admitted decision. Deadlock wase holding the military hostage. If you have extra money to use, where with the money go . Gen. Odierno readiness and modernization. Its also about and the strength. But about keeping and strength no lower than 450,000 active. We want to keep that in strength, we have to invest in readiness and modernization. Im going to take one more question barbara. Regret. Will probably [laughter] go ahead. [laughter] and want to walk away without asking you about a decade of remarkable survivability of americas were wounded, and veterans. This is something we all know that you know awful lot about. As you finish up your service, what concerns you have that over the long haul, it is, its a longterm issue area does not going to go away. That americas war wounded of the last 14, 15 years really, over the decades ahead, well get the care they need and that there will be the money there for them to get the care they need . The other side of the equation from active duty. Aboutdierno i do worry that. Im encouraged by what i am seeing. As you mentioned, we are in the beginning of this. Soldiers, its not only about the soldiers about the caregivers as well. And the sacrifices their caregivers make in assuring that the soldiers are able to live a long, viable life and the sacrifice they have to make. We have to make sure we provide them with the resources necessary. There are a couple of things. I think first, as a military we have to be condos and of that into anything we can. Need a strong Veterans Affairs and continue to support them. We also left ease the restrictions that we have on using those organizations. Private organizations that are out there helping our soldiers. We are much better than we were five years ago this. We are able to have private enterprise to help with former department of the fairs best defense programs. Combine all of those resources to make sure we are taking care of these young men and women longterm. And we are getting better. Weve had some relaxation of those restrictions that we had. I think we have to continue to watch. I worry about longterm pts, its a longterm problem. And think we have to continue to invest in that. I think the centers that have been donated to us, not only walter reed, but satellite sites, i think i worry about our senior leaders, that we have we were talking yesterday my 2003, someone who was the captain is now a kernel or brigadier general. They have from we had six or seven deployments. About ournot to talk leaders. Who were probably surgeons are private spec then or now Sergeant First Class is, sergeant majors. Theyve had 6, 7, 8 deployments. They are doing well. We have to make sure we have programs in place to take care of them as well as they continue to lead. There are things like that we cannot forget. One of the most important things for me, we also cannot forget those families whose sons or daughters, husbands or wives, gave their lives over these last 10 or 12 years. We have to remain connected to them. As i go around, have meetings with our families all the time. They love staying connected to the army, to the units that their children or sons or daughters were husbands were in. For me, that is incredibly important that we do that. We should never forget the sacrifice that they made, and the sacrifice of their families that send their children continue to make. Because their dad or mom is no longer here. That is summed and i will live with for the rest of my life here in thinking about that. And the sacrifices that they made. Hardhe reason for me it is is not because listen, we all understand what we do this in the risks associated. Firsthand opportunity to stand sidebyside with these young men and women who, they really cared about what they were doing. They showed incredible selflessness and courage. For me, we should be so proud of them and their sacrifice. Its important that the blue river that. We do that by taking care of their families and children. Its very important that we remember that. Thank you, god bless you. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] votengress will debate and on the Iran Nuclear Agreement. Some critics say lifting sanctions against iran should not be part of the deal. Later today, conversation on the role of sanctions and the accord from the heritage foundation. Thats live at 10 00 a. M. Eastern. We have another discussion on the Iran Nuclear Agreement later in the day, this one focusing on the applications for the International Community. Live coverage on cspan2 at 2 00 p. M. Eastern. Up next, washington journal, live with your phone calls. Speakingial candidate at the iowa state fair, republican mike i can be is live at 11 30 p. M. Eastern. Former virginia senator jim webb, democrat, is at 2 00. Martin omalley, the former Maryland Governor, speaks to the crowd of 5 p. M. Eastern. And after each of the candidates speak, we will get your reaction to what they said, all here on cspan. N about 45 minutes ari berman discussions his new baook, give the ballot, and after that is Kirsten Powers how the left is speech, what she is calling liberal attempts to shut a variety of issues. Host good morning and its the 13th and st the headlines today front page f the wall street journal reporting that china is currency. To adjust the plunge has jolted confidence chinas growth. Usa today reporting on president obamas call to jimmy carter after he issued a statement after he cancer. D hes battling the final preparation underway for todays opening for the iowa state fair with more than 20 president ial candidates expected
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