Does bend toward justice and i believe that it does, it takes all heart and all hands to keep its path straight and true. My friends, i stand before you today having been blessed beyond compare. But to those who much is given much is required. And so i make these pledges to you here today. Mr. President , i place to you to lead this department of justice with integrity, honor and total dedication of the cause of justice. To the people of the nation, i pledge your protection , your liberties, and your legal rights will be my sacred charge. To the Law Enforcement committee, i pledge this department will be your partner as we work to bring about our highest mission the protection of the people of this great nation. And to all of my colleagues in this department of justice i pledge to always remember the place of justice is a hollowed place and continually strive to be worthy of the trust you have placed in me as we Work Together to uphold the constitution, to protect the american people, and to serve the cause of justice. And to my family, my wonderful family, i pledge to strive to continue to live up to the examples you have set. I make these pledges to and before you all upon the oath i have taken and the honor i hold dear. To everyone here in this room, thank you again for the trust that you have imposed in me, for your faith, and confidence in me, and thank you for sharing this wonderful day with me. Thank you, all. [cheering] [applause] [no audio] [applause] [drums] [bagpipes] [applause] [inaudible] [laughter] [applause] [indiscernible] [applause] [indiscernible] [bagpipes] [cheering] [applause] [bagpipes] [applause] [no audio] thank you all for coming today for todays ceremony. Please come back to the department of justice and join us. [applause] this week on newsmakers, louisiana senator bill cassidy it was also a medical doctor talks about the Health Care Law or republican plans to replace it, and other health care issues. He talked about energy, climate change, and politics. Newsmakers on cspan. Summer sitting kind of front left of the chamber if you will. When brooks comes into the chamber, he comes to the center doors. Sits down and is almost looking directly at sumner. The problem is that some there is not looking at him. His head is about and literally signing copies of the crime against kansas speech. Brooks gets up, lost on the center i with his cane, approaches some there. Again, totally oblivious. Had vowed signing this copy of the speech. Brooks reaches him, with mccain over his head and says mr. Sumner, i read your speech twice. It is a libel to my state and my relative. Sumner looks up and looks is blurred or his glasses because he is so close and brooks strikes among top of the head with a cane. His head explodes in blood almost instantly. Author Stephen Puleo by the caning of congress and sumner by Preston Brooks that drove the country closer to civil war. Tonight on cspans q and a. On friday the American Conservative Union hosted a Panel Discussion on the Ongoing Nuclear negotiation between the p5 plus one coalition and iran. While the white house has prioritized the negotiations, skeptics remain worried about the ability to monitor Irans Nuclear activities. Among the panelists was the type thats retired Lieutenant General michael flynn. This is two hours. [indiscernible] we are going to get started here. I think we need a life mic. We need a live mic here. So this is yours here. Im going to put it right here. Is that on . There we go. Could i get everyones attention up here . I know lunch has you very excited. I always get excited about lunch, i know that. Thank you very much. Thank you all so much for being here. Its great to have this packed house for a really important event today. For those of you who dont know me my name is matt schlapp and , im the chairman of the American Conservative Union and a little over a year ago i was elected chairman of this the nations original conservative organization. We were created to unite conservatives to attain greater political and policy victories and we need them now more than ever. It has been a great honor to work with their our team to help restore our financial health, and reimagined this year cpac. I hope many of you are this ear cpac and to make it clear that the American Conservative Union will stand for a conservative philosophy across the policy spectrum. We will advocate for strong families, the right to life and a the culture buttressed by our sacred traditions. We will fight the growth and incompetence of our outofcontrol centralized government and on behalf of the constitutional principles that empower the individual and curtail government. And as we clearly state today the American Conservative Union and the American Conservative Union foundation will stand up for america, for her security and for a Foreign Policy that recalls the guidance of president Ronald Reagan who urged us to strive for peace through strength. It gives me great pleasure to be able to tell you that we have unveiled our new policy center which many of you may have read about today in town hall. The policy center for statesmanship and diplomacy in this event today is that centers an inaugural event. We believe that the content that this year cpac was too valuable to leave at a conference and we need to talk about it all throughout the year. Thats the spirit that we need here today. That is why we are coming back to you with more policy centers in the weeks and months to come on a full range of considered conservative issues. Our intent with these policy centers is to better inform activists, elected officials, and their staff many of whom are here with us today and other key decisionmakers. I dont know if you feel like i feel. I dont suffer for lack of opinions, especially my family with five daughters. I dont suffer with a the lack of opinions or information. We are deluge with opinions and information but what we do lack is conduits to get timely information that is digestible that we can understand so we can make a positive difference. And we do suffer from a perception that conservatives are simply people who complain, who yell stop but generally stand at the corner with their arms crossed. I have been this guy, and their minds closed. And actually with the topic today that mike might the exactly the right stance. We also know that we love our country and we know that our philosophy will help us develop policies that can bring us peace and prosperity and improve the state of the world. We are confident and we are optimistic that we can still make a difference. So why why have we started with statesmanship and diplomacy . Because there is a very unusual dynamic occurring in this country in our politics. Usually pocketbook issues affect the elections. We all hear about the analysis. As peoples economic stance that determines who they will vote for and i think much because of president obama something is going to change in this next election where i think issues of security will dominate this election. Security in our communities, in our homes, and of course the security of our nation as americans watched in horror the brutality of a let radicalized islamic terrorists this white house seems to base our entire future on our simple rose garden strategy. We would not be here today if it wasnt for two dynamic groups of people and i want to quickly say thank you to all the acu staff who have worked tirelessly both to put on cpac and after cpac and planning for today and all the centers and great policy advocacy work we are doing so i want to say thank you to the staff and i also want to give special recognition to one of our acu Board Members john eddie who flew here, im not going to say where you came from, but to resizing colorado and god and who very early this morning into his Business Partner whose vision ideas and support that may not only the center possible but the entire plan for acu and its Foundation Going forward. Now my next task is to do something thats easy. Speaking of energetic people and energetic leaders, im proud to introduce kt mcfarland who is a to be one of our Foundation Fellows and we are honored to have her on her team. Its rare in politics to find someone who is smart, famous and dynamic but is also sincere and caring and let me stress, hardworking. There is no one in the country who helped us more to put on this fabulous cpac we just and helped dan and ian in the team more than kt. It wasnt all about her comment was about making the country understand the huge problem of obamas Foreign Policy. She has earned our enduring respect and she is the absolute perfect person to lead our discussion here today. Kt, please come to the podium. [applause] mcfarland thank you all very much. The topic we want to talk about today is iran and theres really no issue on the american agenda, foreignpolicy agenda that is more important than iran and the Nuclear Negotiations happening supposedly to result in a Nuclear Agreement with iran by the end of the month so in other words in two weeks time. We have assembled the greatest group of experts that we could find. Its not so much numbers has quality. We have two of the great iran experts from the United States today who have spoken out on this issue and spent years studying this issue but the person that i particularly am please who has been able to join us is general michael flynn. The guy at the end. [applause] general flynn is a Lieutenant General in the air force. He stepped down as head of the Defense Intelligence agency last year. Everyone is familiar with the cia. No one has heard of dia but the Defense Intelligence agency provides intelligence and analysis to the military. Not it not only identifies military threats we face down in the future but it recommends but we need to do about them. General flynn is probably one of the two or three most wellrespected senior military and foreignpolicy National Security analysts in the country. For decades he did not speak to the public this like being a Living Legend in an spell intelligence circles. He was known for being accurate, effective, and blunt. He was really considered one of the great National Security analysts certainly of his generation. He has now emerged from the shadows and he has become one of the countries leading spokesperson spokesman on National Security and savings in a way that everybody understands. Not just the experts, but the men and women of the street. He has sounded the alarm about eminent and longterm threats facing the nation. He is likely at fort yes button, that when he speaks, everyone listens. He is blind and he doesnt mince words. I also went to interest the other two iran experts we have joining us. Dr. Michael rubin. He is the resident scholar [applause] he is the resident scholar at the American Enterprise institute. He is also a lecturer at the Naval Postgraduate School and a frequent commentator on various new shows including fox news, which is the best. He is the iran desk officer at the pentagon during the bush administration. That means used to work for general flynn and one way or another maybe. He has a phd from yale and iranian history. He was imposed revolutionary iran. Hes the author of the book dancing with the devil the danger of rogue regimes. Night is ago he had his second child. Nine days ago his wife at their second child. [applause] and my friend, clara lopez. The Vice President of research a senior fellow at the London Center for policy research. She was a career cia operations officer. You know zero dark 30. Think there lopez. Her postcia career has focused on the threats posed by radical islam. Sharia law isis, and of course iran. She is the author of the acclaimed paper the rise of the iran lobby. Before i get to general flynn and the other speakers, i wanted to get a little bit of housekeeping. First, turn off your cell phones and understand the general flynn is a very busy schedule so he will have to leave promptly at 12 25. We are going to ask him to make a presentation. I will that interview him and he will throw things over to questions. He will leave and then we will do the same with clara lopez and michael rubin. They will each make an Opening Statement and i will engage in conversation. Then we will fill it up and it questions and were out promptly at 1 25. To talk about the iran deal, do a little bit of history to set the stage. It used to be one of our greatest friends. The shock of iraq was one of americas closest allies in the region. In 1979 there was an iranian revolution bringing to power the iranian mullahs and a different kind of regime. It has historically for the last 35 years been the most active sponsor of terrorism around the world. It has pursued a Weapons Program which includes a nuclear Weapons Program. And what is worrisome is what it has in the last decade. It has continued a nuclear Weapons Program, statesponsored terrorism, encouraging proxy regimes throughout the region. It now gives a certain amount of credibility to its frequent chance of death to america chant of death to america. When it first said that, there were american hostages in tehran. When president reagan they were released but the relationship between the u. S. And iran has been tenuous at best and probably outright hostility over the last 35 years. One of the concerns that all of us have is that the agreement that the administration is negotiating with iran, we are not sure what is in it. If it is verifiable. If it is enforceable. The three experts today will talk about all aspects of that. I will then interject my brilliant thoughts throughout. I think the key question for all of this is the ministration claims that if this deal or war. Is that a legitimate question . Is that a strawman option gecko is there another option . Is a verifiable . President reagan said trust, but makes you the ability to verify trust. Is this an agreement that is enforceable . If they cheat or are defective, it didnt agreement that we have the ability to clawback the sanctions and punish them or have leverage over the afterwards . Finally, what are the up to . Why does iran with his agreement and what will they do with it . We have seen in the postrevolutionary iran, they havent aggressive and try to expand their reach throughout the region. We know they have given aid and comfort to forces that have fought against america. Why do they want the symbol of the new and they get . All of that is a very rich topic. I bless everyone who speaks to try to summarize their thoughts and try to fly high and not be down in the lead. Weeds. We would like to have this be a more general an open conversation. Im going to turn this podium over to a man who is just really awesome and a terrific spokesman for americas National Securitys interest. Now that he can actually talk publicly. [applause] general flynn ok. I dont really have any prepared comments. I want to say couple of things here that i believe. I will tell you why believe them. Number one, where my head is at on a given day is basically basically one that is based on the history of this country and friendly World History. When i look into the future and i see do we where we want to be as a country, i see it through the eyes of my grandchildren and i have several grandchildren. My mother lived until she was just over 90 years of age. She just recently died a few months back. The most courageous person ive ever known. An extra ordinary woman. We grew up in an Irish Catholic family. My father was a very tough guy. He was in a world war ii career vet retired from the army as a sergeant. He worked hard around the house and Lifelong Learning was part of our system within our homes. When i look at my youngest grandchildren, my granddaughter who is three if she is able to live to the age of my mom, her greatgrandmother, my granddaughter will be a life in the next century. Think about that. Not only to the think about one in ministration to the next. Most of the other people dont know what theyre going to saturday night. We have to have people who are very serious about the future of our country because anybody that is even that a little bit of basic World History knows that country countries go sideways and then they go away. Countries that are in the dustbin of history. Back to be we have to pay close attention to those. Some of those are a very tactical. The right answer people all change the federal. People have to get out and vote. They have to punch a dot in a piece of paper. People do not know the position of the person they are voting for. They vote blindly. For the most part, you are a switched on audience, but most of america is not. Most of america does not Pay Attention until they say, ok, i will go ahead and try this voting thing. My mom was very heavily involved in local politics. I used to get picked up by a school bus and he would have me hustling out of the school bus knocking on the doors. And i would escort the nice ladies to the bus and we would take them to the voting booth. We would get them back on the bus and they would take them home. That still exist in this country. It does not exist in this crowd. I am being very general. A side of our political domain or dimension. It needs to. People need to get involved at the local level and take responsibility. I remember doing that as a child. It affected me. It was like, wow, this is what is important about america. Really, really important. Get involved. Get involved in the future of this country. Where do i want her to be. What kind of life do i want her to have when she hopefully is alive going into the next century, which is very very possible. The words i wrote down, i am going to throw them out and get to questions. Clarity. This nation needs clarity right now instead of confusion. We are confused. We are confused from a National Security perspective, Foreign Policy perspective. Whatever the issues are, we need clarity and we need it now and the clarity has to start at the top of our government, and we need it now. People are confused. Mentioning the iranian deal, you cannot be so secretive these days. I want my leadership to be confident in themselves. I am confident and what i do. I do not want them to demonstrate weakness. I want us to be the strongest. I have very selfish selfinterest when it comes to the United States of america. I want us to be confident. I do not want us to show weakness, even though we might be weak in some cases. There are ways to feign that. We have to be confident in everything we do, every action we take. The third word is coherence. Coherence instead of discord. What an enormous opportunity we have had to bring a sense of coherence and a nation instead of this discord that we see. Its unbelievable. We need coherence. We need coherence in this country, coherence internationally. People need to know who stands for them. Are they part of that team of teams within the International Community . Contributing nations of the world. If you do not contribute, you do not get a seat at the table. Iran. They do not contribute. Why are they sitting at a table with the United States of america . Why. Character. Character is really, really important. What type of character or characteristics do we want the United States to be known for . Reliability, trustworthiness . A good friend, a good partner when we need to be . Respected . Instead of some of it is we have lost what our consciousness is of what america was told on. Lots of sacrifice. Lots of sacrifice over many, many generations of americans. 240 years. We actually have not been around that long. World war ii, we came into our own. We really did. 70 years, this is the anniversary, right . We have to be really, really conscious of that and i think eric or matters in all of the people that we have. I mean, i can stand for mistakes people make. Human error is ok. We are all human. I have made an honest mistakes. But mistakes that were done in trying something, not done to intentionally. So, we all make mistakes. We can overcome some of those. Not all of them. There are moral and ethical in a legal things that happened. In part, they are just trying to make sure, what do we want as americans Going Forward . A really important time wherein . We are in a time of our history as far out as i can see and i try to see what are the major trends happening over the next 25 to 50 years, certainly by the middle of this decade . And if we do not come to grips with that now, we will be a different country. We will begin to turn into a different country. Look for those indicators. Look for those warning signs. Look for those things that tell us what is changing, why is it changing, do we like the change, can we shape the change. In one of the most important things in this country is developed. Get out there and vote. Make it count. Make it count for each and every one of you. I want to make sure we get to questions kt, so ill stop there. These people are unbelievable experts, so thank you. [applause] i believe the general has given us a very broad area we can talk about, but im going to drill down. Can you all hear me . I assume we are in the white house situation room. Im a National Security advisor. The, im going to ask you about the agreement with iran. First of all, do we want to deal with iran . General flynn the agreement is based on what i think are a number of false assumptions about iran. Number one we can change their behavior. If someone comes up and punches you in the nose, youve got to do something. Why would you make a deal with someone who is crying out death to america . Why would you deal with the number one state sponsor of terrorism . Why do we deal with a country that has all of this negative baggage before we change this behavior . Again, he gets back to, are you contributing to the greater good of humanity or not . And iran is not. Kt ok, you do not negotiate with your friends. You negotiate with your enemies. What would need to happen to have an agreement with iran . Regime change, a different attitude . Or would you be willing to do a deal with iran as long as we had complete confidence and verification . General flynn we are going to have a deal. There is going to be a deal, whether we like it or not. Im going in with that position. We have to figure out what are the implications. That is the bigger issue. I think that we are moving into an era where we are picking a side and i am not sure why we are picking a side, and the behavior and the attitude of friends and allies in the region has changed dramatically. Changed dramatically. Black of trust, total uncertainty lacked of trucks lack of trust, total uncertainty. We are dealing with a country that has violated sanctions. It ron is in a stronger economics race space than they were even a couple years ago. The president has said four or five times, i would rather have a bad deal the no deal. Why . Why would you do that was to mark and you do deal with your friends. We are in the business with nato right now trained to get nato to up on their security and the elevate provide. You do deal with your friends sometimes. In this case we are dealing with not only an enemy, but country that has not demonstrated one iota of good behavior. Kt if there is no deal with iran, what happens . General flynn i think iran is going to continue down the path they were already on. Their development of nuclear capabilities, and eventually a Nuclear Weapon. I think that people think, well we will go to war and if you were in israel, you might feel a little very, very uncertain. And so, we always have to check with the israelis to feel to check and see how they feel on a given day goes we do not want them to do something irrational. For those of you who have been to israel, i have been there a number of times, in the environment they are in today. We have to answer the question what are the implications of a new layer nuclear, of a region going nuclear. Not Nuclear Weapons. We should be seeking Nuclear Energy development. Call the bluff. Call the bluff of iran. Call the bluff of russia. Call the bluff of china. China has been helping them violate the sanctions in iran. Russia right now is cutting deals with egypt jordan, and saudi arabia a Nuclear Energy development. So what are the implications of a Nuclear Middle east . I think that has to be the big question we are to answer. I think there are some who are trying to address that today. So, i am assuming kt so deal or no deal, they get nukes . General flynn nukes are down the road. Go back to 1994 in c the deal we cut with north korea and where they are today. South africa is another place where from an intel perspective we kind of missed the boat. Kt what do you think happens in a nuclear iran . What does iran do and what do the other countries in the region do . If they open themselves up to true inspections and they have said what they are not going to do. They should not have a choice at this. We are dealing with a country that is a pariah country and they are at the table with the United States of america. We should let them know what the expectations are. International law, International Norms and behaviors. If you are willing to accept that, then you consider the table. We did not do that. So, what i would say is, we need to you sort of call the bluff high allowing others in the region there is already been other Nuclear Energy deals kt Nuclear Weapons. Kt general flynn we have one going on with the russians and the saudis. We have to keep it at that level. Kt other countries are basically saying we are going to violate sanctions no matter what. The administration has said, we cannot have the sanctions for much longer, so the leverage over iran is going to dissipated. If there is not going to be leverage left in if you think there will be Nuclear Weapons in the region, is there any way to get out of this mess . What do we do next . General flynn so, two things. One negative is you have sort of a rise of proxy wars, which were seeing right now between there is this shiasunni communities. This rise of proxy wars and proxy wars indicate others are supporting them, others being iran, russia, potentially china, other countries, venezuela. The positive we have to be thinking about it all does come around to energy. Wasting the least important . Or 100plus years, the world has relied on oil coming out of the middle east am a whether you like it or not. Have you ever seen a chinese Aircraft Carrier inside the persian gulf . No you havent. They get somewhere between 50 and 60 of their hydrocarbon basically oil, out of the middle east. We have been guaranteeing that by putting one or two Aircraft Carrier task forces in the persian gulf for near 30 years. We are guaranteeing their energy in china. The price of a barrel of oil means a lot. New technologies are creating new opportunities. Of this country is capable of it being Energy Independent and we are capable of making the contributing world dependent on the United States of america for energy. The Economic System in the middle east has to change. It has to move away from oil. It has to. Their ideas about how to do that and they are in play right now and we are seeing some of this occur in the middle east for those who are paying close attention to their media and some other media inside our country writing about this new Energy Ecosystem that, frankly is built on Nuclear Energy. Its built on Nuclear Energy. In it requires a lot of thoughtful people to get involved in it, but it is important because oil is not the future any longer in the middle east. Kt you gave some pretty significant testimony before the House Committee and you talked about where you see the region going. Not only iran getting Nuclear Weapons, but the rise of isis and you have made reference to looking at that whole region and saying we may be looking at a generational conflict. The question i would ask is, why is it there . What is in it come here . General flynn it will come here. It is here. Pay attention to what the cia to rector says routinely. Pay close attention to that. The middle east there is a new middle east struggling to be born, and we have to understand how it will grow, how it will take shape. We need to be part of this rebirth of the middle east iraq, syria, kurdistan lab vant. Parts of North East Africa northwest africa. They are all changing. These are borderless societies in many cases and this goes back over 100 years ago when really the british drew some lines on a map. All of this is going to change. Its changing as we speak. It will not go back. Its not going to go back to the way it was. It will take shape. Iraqi it self could end up in four different things. Iraq and syria now. One of the things i have been a big proponent of is creating an arab natolike structure. Other arab leaders have said agree ill cc out of egypt the king in jordan, other folks. They have sessions, forums to discuss this, but they will not be able to do it, kt, unless the United States gets involved. We do not have to go in boots on the ground but they cannot organize the way we can help them organize. That is step one. Recognize we have to help them, do it, and move them in a direction where they are taking care of their security forces. And they have to. They have the money to do it. They have to know the United States is there. We provided in nor missed security for the middle east to protect everybody the last 35 years from iran. We have given up that . I dont know. That is what this leaderless gcc summit that is what they should have talked about. That is what they should have agreed to. Kt ok, i think we just started scratching the surface, but at this point i would like to throw it out to the audience. We do have to get the general out of here in 20 minutes. Would you call them people general flynn general flynn sure thing. Straight back. [indiscernible] kt wait until the mic gets to you. Did you say who you are . You know who he is. My name is ethan. I am from puerto rico. Throughout history we have seen when israel sees a threat to its security it tends to take matters into its own hands. We saw with the raid reactor 1981, the radon reactor in 2007. At what point do you think israel will feel it has to take matters into its own hands with the Nuclear Development program in iran . And if they do take matters into their own hands, what you see is the outcome . General flynn good question. Where are you from . I know you said puerto rico, but what do you do . I Study International affairs here at George Washington university. General flynn good for you. That is why i picked on you. You are a young kid. So, israel loses the confidence they have always had in the United States to take care of the issue you just described that is when they might act in what some would say is an irrational way. I use that word earlier. Because it could lead to second third, fourth, fifth order affects in the region. Effects in the region. I know they are very thoughtful. The leadership in israel are very thoughtful. Theyre very precise. We have to have a conversation with them at multiple levels. Across the human spectrum. I think the second part is it will only lead to escalation, but escalation is going to happen. Were going to see escalation in the conflict anyway. This is not about to end anytime soon. We will not wake up in the summer of 2016 and go, oh, we are back to normal. This is going to escalate. So, i am guessing you are a young 20yearold kid. This is partly your problem. Or going to be your problem. I of been dealing with this pretty much my whole life. There have been times when it has been relatively stable, and we have made a norm us strategic mistakes over the last couple of decades, certainly the last decade and a half. In norm us. But we cannot use that to beat each other over the head with that stick. We have to look at your future. What do we do about it . I would recommend to everybody if you have not read my testimony i gave to the committee, please read it. What do we do about it . Take a read to it. Yes, sir. Then i will come back up front. Thank you for your service. My question is, do you believe iran would use a Nuclear Weapon . Thank you. General flynn yeah, actually, i do. I do. Their behavior is so erratic and has been and demonstrated both verbal and actual behavior is so out of the norm and they are their belief system is something that very, very few people can truly understand. I have been dealing with it. I sat down and talked with them. They talked about the religious and cultural belief system. So actually, i do. I do. I can see that. And, you know, when a country is cornered, sometimes they do erratic things, and that is why we have to be very careful about kt mentioned regime change. I mean, a couple countries in the region right now have changed three times since 2011. Weve got to be paying very close attention to some of the stuff. Whether that is the right thing, i dont know. I know we have to be very colleges who we are dealing with, and actions matter, you know . Actions matter. Do as i do kind of deal. Yes, maam. Yes, maam, that beautiful flowered shirt there. You use the word clarity. The thing i am asking you have been very clear, but im really asking the panel. We in america are clear. We know clarity is there is a strategy in this administration and that strategy leads to tremendous danger is destruction. Why is it that more people like you our ministry should is not willing to call islam and terrorism islam and terrorism. Islamic terrorism islamic terrorism. Why are more people willing to tell us . General flynn i dont know. I would be guessing why. I just know what i have dealt with. And i go back to what i started my story about, my grandchildren. I believe that. I grew up in a family and in a country and i joined the army right . And i did ok. I spent my entire life doing this. I look forward and i see things. To me, we have to be really clear. And i dont think we have been to the American Public because some of it is, dont worry about it, they will vote for you anyway. Voting matters. What i do know did you say dorothy, what i do know is there is a lot of people like me that dont say it, but they believe it. And i dont know. I dont know why. For whatever reason. For whatever reason. I dont question their reasons but i just know there is a lot that you feel this way. I do wish more people would i am not on one side or the other. Honestly, i go for leadership. I want the best leaders leading this country period,. [applause] anyway. Let me get this gentleman and i will try to do really quick artists answers. Help prosecute a fellow named tom mcguinn in 2004. I was puzzled to learn in 2010 he had done a couple Million Dollars worth of trade with iran. I wonder who facilitated that . Under reagan we traded missiles with iran. I am puzzled by that in retrospect. The issue of oil since we have ended our obligations, we have backed our dollar with opec oil requiring opec oil to be sold in u. S. Dollars. Is there any reason that it would undermine the dollar . [indiscernible] protecting the dollar and oil is not inherently scarce . General flynn im probably not going to answer all of that because of time. Very thoughtful, each one. The first thing you talked about was an incident where we, the United States, basically staged a coup in support of overthrowing the reigning government in the early 1950s, 1952, 1953. The dome and was the leader at that time, and we basically put the shot into power. It is a great book, if anyone wants to read a bookall the shahs men. Its a great book. They do still hold a grudge. They will always hold a grudge. At that exact thing time, we were involved in the korean war. So, a lot of things were going on in the u. S. At that time. Now the price of a barrel of oil and what i will talk about is take it up a notch to the dollar. The u. S. Dollar is still the currency of choice on the planet. The historic timeline is roughly 25 to 30 years. Prior to world war ii, the british sterling was the currency of choice. After world war ii, it was the u. S. Dollar. It remains the u. S. Dollar. It is strong. Thats a good thing. I could go prime and verse today just talking about the Economic Trends of buying and selling money around the world, which happens all the time. Moving currency. We do have to make sure Everybody Needs to understand we want the United States dollar to be be currency of choice forever. We want the english language to be the language of choice for ever. Forever is a long time. Those two things are challenged all the time. All the time, particularly the dollar. We can stop there. I dont have much time. Yes, maam . Right here. Please. High, i am penny starr with cns news. What is the role of the u. S. Military with what is happening in the middle east . You say that we need to take part in it, and there seem to be very ambivalent feelings about the military in this administration. What is the role of the military in the conflict in the middle east, if there is one . General flynn yeah, its interesting. The military we were always a wellorganized bureaucracy. We can organizer selves, we planned very well. We would do different things. Strategically, and i would just tell you that, personally the role should be a lowercase m. Not decisive. Not the decisive element. We absolutely have to go and support our friends. Theres a lot of killing and capturing that will happen, that still needs to happen, and i would just say i think her military is doing what they are asked to do. They are very much constrained. They are not capable. They are not allowed to use the tools they have, as effective as those tools are designed to be used for, if that makes sense to you. That is just a fact. I think we do have a role. We are late to the party. We think, maybe well get better next summer. Maybe we will kill another al qaeda leader or the head of crisis and they will go away. They are not. God, i dont know how many leaders of the radical Islamist Movement we have killed or captured and now some are being released. It is crazy. So there has to be religious transformation reformation in the islamic world. There must be a religious reformation. Lets go back. General flynn yeah, just as a time. You said iran does not contribute to the good of humanity and does not deserve to sit at the table. What you say to the fact that iran is openly fighting isis and even though the Iraqi Government asked the u. S. Iran to allow iran the u. S. To allow iran to sit what you say to the fact that we refuse for them to do so . General flynn ok, yesterday there were fbi agents in long island that went into do a search of an individuals home. The individual was there. This was yesterday. They found that an associate in new york had plans to do further damage in this country. I do not think this is just an iraqi syria problem. It is not. It is not. [indiscernible] general flynn huh . [indiscernible] general flynn ive got real big hearing problems. You said about iran, again, be very careful when you hear or see a headline in a major media outlet, go dig in and find out what they are doing. No find out if the iranian backed gore led by a guy who is a minister in the government, go see what their behavior is on the battlefield. Go see if it is internationally except it norms. Whether it is within the rule of law or the land of warfare. This is tit for tat out there. Do not think because they are fighting isis. There is a war between shia and sunni, and we have to decide how we are going to purchase a bait. Over a year ago i said, lets take a step back. I know i said that recently. Lets take a step back and try to resolve this. Why should your ron be involved iran be involved . Why should iran be so deeply involved in this . If we really want to erect to deal with it, let iraq deal with it. Let iraq deal with it. Get all of the players to back out, including the United States. That them try to burn the fire out themselves. It will be really, really ugly. It will be enormously brutal. When you see truckloads of women and children being dumped in the euphrates river, both sides that will change her mind. That will tell you what we are dealing with. This is not like 2006. This is like the last couple months. This is what it is about. The war side is usually really ugly. Its not a pretty thing. But its got to be dealt with. You have to pay very close attention to the details and the things that are going on. So you can make a good judgment. Anyway, thanks very much to everybody. I really appreciate your time. [applause] kt general flynn, before we let you go we want to get back to the topic, which is the iran deal here it if the president or whoever turns to you and says, general flynn, are you in favor of this iran deal, it if it is this deal or no deal, how would you vote . General flynn i am not in favor of it. I have given my two cents on it. I have offered solutions. I think that we are going to see a deal. I think were going to have one. At and so, now, we have to really think about the implications and what will we do with this deal in the future. That is kind of where i stand right now and im very serious. There are solutions. They are not something that is going to be solved in this administration. They will be solved over a portion of some of the young peoples generation in here and we will be dealing with this situation for a generation or more but that is what the president has to say. Michael flynn saying it is meaningless. The president has to say, here is the issue. Tell the American Public. Just tell us. Look at this conversation. You will see this play out in the republican primaries. It will be about Foreign Policy a National Security. They will talk about immigration and education, but its going to be this. Then when you get into the national debate, finally when the two parties choose essentially, you will have a lot more. The problems not going to go away just because the republican primary says it is. Anyway, thank you. Kt thank you very much. [applause] kt thank you very much, general flynn. From gods lips to no traffic for you on the way to baltimore. [laughter] good luck. Im going to reintroduce michael reuben, lived in iran, knows the thinking of iran. After michael speaks, we will ask clare to give opening remarks. And then it is your turn. Ok . Michael . Michael thank you very much. It is an honor to be here. I just want to address briefly some of the problems inherent in the current deal as it draws to a conclusion. First of all, there has been no by end the Islamic Revolutionary guard corps. This is especially problematic as it comes to issues relating to the command, control, and custody of any Nuclear Program it is the Islamic Revolutionary guard corps that would have that custody. We are dealing with the Foreign Ministry in the Foreign Ministry has been unable in iran to show they can bring the Islamic Revolutionary guard corps into compliance. Number two, in the rainy and system iranian system the Supreme Leader decides on substance. He has not talked about this. In persian, in his office has suggested this is a change in tactics, not policy. He is very happy to get for iran more than 100 billion in sanctions relief and unfrozen assets. At that does not mean when it comes to the basic policy with regard to Nuclear Weaponry he has come along side. And when we look at this term its us down during that its astounding that the department does not recognize the religious connotation of this term. Ultimately we are projecting our own good will on to the iranian side. When it comes to Hassan Rouhani he has always been known in their system as mr. Fixit and he is quite a loyalist. His Campaign Commercials put forward as his legitimacy that he was the first one to bestow the honorific imam, with a reference to the hidden body the messianic figure in shia islam on ayatollah khomeini. In the years before we started our negotiations for a joint plan of action, their economy shrank 5. 4 . It is now back in the black, and arguably the goal has been all along to come to the table to engage in a process, but not to come for the same motivation we do. If i can make an analogy as the father of two young kids, it is and asking him please, please, please eat your spinach. It does not work. What about this idea that through money we can moderate . History repeats. Between 2000 and 2005, iran got a hard currency windfall as the price of oil increased and as the European Union and embraced this philosophy that through trade we can moderate. According to many estimates, 70 of that hard currency windfall went into irans ballistic and covert Nuclear Program at that time and by the way, this is during the time in which iran was engaged in a dialogue of civilizations and some negotiators said this was the strategy. Lull them into complacency and then we can import whatever we need for the goal. If the goal of the Obama Administration is to give iran 100 billion plus in sanctions relief and assume that money will trickle down, it frankly misunderstands the role of the Islamic Revolutionary guard corps in the economy. Basically it controls up to 40 of irans gdp. This is the group that would control imports, exports and so forth with iran. We are pumping money into the unit that most wants to kill us. When it comes to voluntary compliance, this is a phrase that Hassan Rouhani and the Foreign Ministers use in regard to the additional protocol. In 2005 when hassan honey was a Nuclear Negotiator, he said, Hassan Rouhani was a Nuclear Negotiator he explained himself , we did this so we could remove the suspension anytime we wanted as long as we are the ones who are voluntarily doing it, so that always raises red flags. At february 9 2005, at the time Hassan Romani was stepping down as the Supreme National council chief in iran Hassan Rouhani. He gave a speech and he was defending his negotiations at this point and he outlined basically and this has been translated by the open Source Center what he called a doctrine of surprise, in which he gave an overview of u. S. Iran ian history since 19 sunday night. He said at every critical point in time, we, the Islamic Republic have triumphed by lulling our adversaries into complacent the and delivering a knockout blow. This is the same man 10 years later. Has he changed . What evidence do we have to support that . Another Nuclear Negotiator in a New York Times oped suggesting in persian suggested north korea was a model to emulate rather than example to condemn. That also raises red flags in my mind. To a couple of points before i turned the floor over to kt and clare. We have gone to this before. Im and historian by i am and historian by training. We have a situation where a country did come in from the cold, when it came into a Nuclear Program. In order to certify it had come clean, the International Atomic agency the International AtomicEnergy Agency required that they come clean on 20 years of Previous Nuclear work so everything could be accounted for. We are at present letting iran off the hook on that very same thing and the International AtomicEnergy Agency said no go. I never would have thought they would be playing three dimensional chess what we are playing solitaire, but ultimately that is what has come of our strategy. I would to address two things the general said. Would iran use Nuclear Weapons . I am in the camp that does not believe they are suicidal. This is mike and turn. This is my concern. What if they are terminally ill . What if you have a situation like romania in 1989. But in this case, we talk about hardliners and reformers in the iranian political context, we do not have insight into the factional divisions in the revolutionary guard. What if someone sees that the regime is collapsing, that in 24 hours it will be gone . What is to stop the revolutionary guard from using a bomb . Would anyone retaliate against a country that has regime change . As we all know mutually assured destruction, we got pretty darn lucky. You cannot assume that is going to buy stability, especially with ideological regimes. In the last thing i want to say when it comes to the 1953 cou p, there is conventional wisdom and there is really. The shah was the head of iran. He was democratically elected if you agreed with them and if not you were liable to get lynched. At the same time at the same time, who were our coconspirators in the coup . We can litigate the cold war at some other point in time. If you look at the literature at the time our allies included the conservative clergy that make up the leadership of the Islamic Republic. If you want to be accurate we would be apologizing to our coconspirators and we have done it again and again and again. But when we come to the antipathy between the reigning government and the United States and i do not include the uranium people, but the guys with the guns control things unfortunately. When it comes to that we have very good relations up until the revolution. Ultimately if we are looking at 1953 as the breaking point, we are mistaken. With that, let me turn it over to kt and clare. [applause] kt and now, clare lopez for the center for security policy. Clare thanks, kt and thanks to the acu for sponsoring this important event. I want to talk about a couple things. One, michael laid such a Great Foundation about what this regime is about, the nature of the regime is where i want to start with this, and then i will talk a little bit about the components of a Nuclear Program specifically Irans Nuclear program and where we are with negotiations. I would like to start probably with the irani and constitution. This is one of the versions available online. You can get it on amazon. This is englishlanguage irani and constitution. It says the iranan regime iran ian regime is a jihadist regime, unified under islamic governance. That is what the constitution says. It also says the irgc, the Islamic Revolutionary guard corps that michael was talking about that has control of the wmd programs irans missile program, as well as a great deal of the irani and economy well the constitution says the irgc is an Ideological Army whose job is not just to defend irans borders, but to fight jihad until they can in still terror into the hearts of the enemy and then they quote directly from the koran verse 860, in the constitution in that particular verse says gather your power to the utmost of your strength to instill terror in the hearts of the enemy. When we wonder what about the motivation or the intent or the nature of this regime, i think we have to look no further but lets look at some of their behavior. That is what it is based on. That is the ideology. Lets look at the behavior. So, the place where i would like to start first of all this is the largest head of state organization. The oic members back in 1990 found something called the cairo declaration. That was essentially an abrogation or withdraw from the United Nations universal declaration on human rights. Did you know that . They always with true from it. All muslim countries always withdrew and said instead that the only human rights that muslim countries henceforth would observe would be those granted under sharia. Ok . What does sharia call human rights . Equitation, beheading crucifixion, execution of uws p. O. W. s flogging, stoning to death. That is what all muslim countries in the world have ascribed to. Again, getting to that nature of the regime, what is that regime about ideologically. The first victims of that horrific ideology and legal system, which is sharia and it is imposed are the uranium people themselves. At this time, 2015, we have reporting that they are executing another irani and every two hours. One irani and gets executed inside the country every two hours. They have executed well over 500 people since january at the beginning of this year. Women are secondclass citizens. They are legally unequal to men. The Morality Police roamed the streets of iran not looking for people not wearing the right apparel, right clothing. For 36 years the Iranian Regime has been at work with United States. I do not think there is any other way to put it. At six american president s have shied from confronting iran, from jimmy carter to be current occupant of 1600 pennsylvania avenue. That death to america they chant after friday prayers is a staple of this regime. They also say death to israel. The former president used to say that a World Without america was not only desirable. He held a conference on this, by the way. A World Without america was not only desirable, but achievable. That mean . In the context of the regime driving for Nuclear Weapons capacity. Over 36 years, iranians and their proxies, especially has block, have kidnapped, maimed tortured, killed americans. Theyre currently holding for american citizens hostage. I want to save your names. Pastored because he is christian. Robert levinson, former fbi agent taken in 2007. A former u. S. Marine arrested in 2011. And jason the white house Tehran Bureau chief, arrested in july 2014, about a year ago. The other part of the ideology, the nature of this regime is jew hatred. That is of course intrinsic to islam. But the genocidal threats of this regime against the jewish state of israel have been nonstop. There is no way that israel can look at this regime, listen to its daily threats of genocide its daily dehumanization of people, calling them bacteria and cockroaches and other dehumanization of jewish people, calling them bacteria and cockroaches and other insects. That is how they talk about them. Talk about cartoons . Youve seen the cartoons that appear on a daily basis in the arabic newspapers. Jew hatred. Just in march, three months ago, the commander of the forces said, and this is while our negotiations are going on with iran. The annihilation of israel is non negotiable. That is our number one ally and partner in the middle east standing between the barbarism of regimes and western civilization. Why are we talking to these people . State sponsorship of terror. Terror. Since the beginning of the regime you heard michael talking about this, the regime in chiron and i want to make im talking about the regime. They have sponsored a whole host of terrorists organizations. At latest count, well over 100 iraqi shiite terror militias. The ones who tour our troops apart. They are now kind of sort of our eye lies in iraq. The taliban. The regime is running guns and training for the taliban. They have been first quite some time. The alliance between this regime and al qaeda over two decades long. It has gone long. It has gone on since the beginning of the 1990s when the Iranian Regime and al qaeda formed an alliance. The attacks have been a result the attacks against us american citizens since that point in time have been unceasing. Beginning with the 1983 bombing in peru. Also the Embassy Bombing the same year. The kidnapping and murder of Richard Higgins and others. 1992 the bombing in argentina. Including some of the same figures currently Holding Senior regime administrative positions to the state. 1990 for the attack on the jewish cultural center. 1998 the east africa Embassy Bombing carried out by those trained by iran, by hezbollah. Al qaeda learned how to do big building suicide truck bombings from hezbollah. Thats who taught them how to do that. The u. S. Call in 2000 the attacks on 911 themselves. Southern district of new york, a ran co responsible with legally responsibility. Iran was coresponsible for co responsible for the acts of 911. It didnt get much flip listed he did it . That was all prelude to what were doing with and while we are so concerned with a ran going nuclear. If sweden tried this we would say, oh no another failure of the npt, its sweden. I dont lose sleep because britain has nukes or france has nukes. A regime like i just described to you, if they have a livable Nuclear Weapons, thats worrisome. Deliverable Nuclear Weapons thats worrisome. Alright, so what do you need to get a nuclear a Nuclear Weapon . You need three things, three components. Enriched uranium, and you need to know how to make a warhead out of that enriched uranium and you need a a Delivery System to send it to your target. As we know, from iaea reporting and the international science