Since before 9 11. Situation where we are facing a grave, strategic threat. The president has said he will follow the same course in afghanistan he followed in iraq despite the fact wouldve seen what has happened. I do inc. It is very important to go back and look at what happened in iraq and why and remember what did the situation was before the United States and our allies liberated the country. And again, there is a sense it is almost like the pink gentlemen, wanted to shout people down and that is not what this country supposed to be about. Everybody has a right to speak. We have to go back to what the facts were. You can say to the president , withdrawing the forces or not, you can debate that. Now you have to look at the facts and they are because of the United States is not in there and we walked away and did so without regard, you now have the richest in the world which controls more territory and in a position to be a real threat to this nation. If you think about where we go from here, you cannot be responsible for the future if you do not understand the past. President bush is rarely seen, almost never heard unless talking about a bicycle. You are out for w have become very visible. You are out. You have a book, very visible. Liz has touched on it. President made the decision he would not criticize his successor. A precedent set by his father. I am not bound by those scriptures. [laughter] [applause] some people do not like that. I feel very strongly about what is going on just like i did when we made the decision to go into iraq in 2003. It was absolutely the right thing to do. What we are faced with today is anything that is if bigger than any challenge we faced before 9 11. Guys came1 and 19 here and killed 3000 americans and took down the World Trade Center and blew a hole in the pentagon. The problem in the aftermath was a there will be a followup attack and next time they will be the guys armed with something far deadlier than airline tickets. Let me stop you there. You made the statement about box cutters the other day. You said armed with something much worse, what do you fear next . E something i said back in april of 1991 before 9 11 and i was asked in the new york magazine, what i feared most and it was the idea of terrorists armed with weapons of mass destruction. Chemicals, biological. Now i look at the situation have a rapid spread of terrorism. A reportout and theres been a 58 percent increase of al qaeda type groups in a fouryear period. It ranges from west africa to mali through the middle east all around indonesia. The same study estimates it has been a doubling of the number of socalled jihadists, equivalent to al qaeda. We looked at what happened today with respect to isis taking over Eastern Syria and a big part of iraq, establishing and trying to, they are very well off financially. They are attracting thousands of followers from all over the world, flooded into syria to join in the jihad. From our perspective, as we look about the itself looks serious. Wait a minute. Let me finish. The other dimension i am worried about is mass destruction. If you look today, we are faced with a proliferation of capabilities and Nuclear Technology especially in that part of the world. Iraq, we mayinto sure saddam was not developed anymore. When we took him down five days surrendered his materials for some surrender his material. Then we took down the supplier. We had syria with a Nuclear Reactor all courtesy of the north koreans. Wouldve already have the testimony that the pakistanis sold technology to the north koreans. It is a cauldron out to their a potential developments. Add iran. If Iran Gets Nuclear weapons, you can bet there are others will get it. We are creating a situation partly because of our own determination of to get out of the area. Would have a hell of a lot of terrorists, including in pakistan. Airportattack on an that killed 30 people. A lot of terrorists attacks. Is it rebound very much will be an entity that controls territory and also one that has access were the ability to get hands on the deadliest weapons on the face of the earth. Our response appears to be dramatically dismantle our military and withdraw from the area. I feel very strongly about it. I do not like what i see happening and we are setting ourselves up for terrible problems down the road, worse than anything. Of that cauldron is president obamas fault . You cannot blame him for the entire problem. He is guilty think of is he never admitted there is a problem. He may have only recently said a few words. He loves to run around saying al qaeda is dead. Theas dramatically reduced military. We have a 40 brigades in the u. S. Army. We are cutting now in the last few days and delivery pink slips to officers and United States army. That is an absolute outrage. It is a reflection of a policy that is unwise. The world is not getting safer, is getting far more dangerous and we are rapidly withdrawing from that portion of the world. Is hisicy i think responsibility. Not to say there would not be developments from al qaeda and jihadists, there may well have been foci he has created a situation where our friends and the region are scared and they do not think they can trust us. Oftheres been a lot reporting about administration makers,cause of weapons theres a clear and present danger to u. S. Air travel. Do we need to have tougher restrictions of people who travel on u. S. Airplanes . We have pretty strong restrictions. You are not worried about planes . I fly on them all of the time. Yesterday, though one coming from wyoming, i had a good chat with the air marshal. He introduced himself. Thatless concerned about then the notion we can start with a sort of wish away the product problem. Barack obama can go out and say the war is over and he can bring home troops. The very first step of getting a policy in place to let us deal with the threat is to recognize there is a threat. Right now, a lot of people do not want to hear it. People are tired of war. Wantve people who do not to be bothered. It has been a long time since 9 11. Moreottom line is a realistically, take a look of youies like the rand study, cannot conclude anything but there is a growing threat. In terms of trying to deal with that, we are the only ones that will lead the effort. Of secretary kerrys work . It depends on what he has done the last couple of days. Arab and israeli, did not theyr who you talk to, were all renew their hands after their instability to trust the United States of america. Folks traditionally relied on us and we had their back. When there was a public in israel for example. They no longer believe that. They are convinced that this president does not understand or chooses not to recognize the nature of the threat emerging out there. They all joined together, they are much closer. We no longer have the ability to influence events even among our friends because they do not trust us. Will do a rapid around here. Whose judgment do you respect more bill or hillary . [laughter] boy, well i did not vote for bill and i do not expect to vote for hillary either. Chris a liz, how would you answer . Answer . Z, how would you , itaken it in its totality would have to go with hillary. Over bill clinton . I am not sure there is a difference. All right, number two. Condi rice or general powell . More . Udgment do you trust interesting question, mike. I never thought in those terms. I have during the course of my career had good working relationships with both and in places where we fundamentally disagree. I am beyond that. Rick perry or rand paul . [laughter] i do not plan to endorse any candidates. Liz,liz you can answer you can answer. Has something to be desire with the security policy. I think when you look at without endorsing anybody, i think i have some big concerns about senator policy we can be safe war come home and build forces. I shouldve asked why you trust hillary more than bill. I said all areas of life. I will leave it there. Last one, mr. Vice president , obamas or kerry . Probably kerry. And, obviously, i disagree in major ways and campaigned hard against the john kerry. Umm, we are not close by any means. I think he has a worldview that is more consistent with what i think of as a Republican Democratic consensus. The United States has the two lead and maintained by both parties on till now. I really do not think obama has in his mind the same world view that most of our president s have had for the past 70 years. Biden . For fun, obama or joes got my airplane. [laughter] thati am going to pass on one. Julia dreyfus. President , byron york has been no opponent said with the worsening in iraq, the architects and advocates of the iraq policy and he said cheney is the highest Ranking Member of the group that bears responsibility. Is that fair . Role in id a major thought it was the right thing to do at the time and i still do. Your former friends have had a tough things to say. When i covered you, i remember there was one newspaper banned from air force 2. It was temporary. One person exciting you are back in the news. Saideadline was she asked if he was in moral or immoral or amoral. Aide to colin powell that was a joke. Immorality can be checked and balanced and amorality is a different i am going to answer. One of the things you learn as a historian is there is an easy way out and a tough away out when you are writing a book. What you want is testimony. You want to what people said about jens madsen at the time. What i quickly learned is you have to evaluate who that person was and what their interests for and why they had a side or against him. That is important for journalists, too, mike. To pick a quote from someone, whoever it might be, and suggest it is objective truth in it does not work very well. You have to consider that persons past history and total record and then you understand is it a really good one. If you were asking a question or making a comment that peter baker said i would Pay Attention but not general wilkerson. Colonel oh, my god. Up . R did you hold my book i did. I did. [laughter] [applause] peter baker who wrote days of fire and recently a frontpage. Tory of cheney is back peter is here and may have a question. We can hear you. Good to see you here. Questions. On the speaker of the house is talking about suing the president for any of you abusing executive authority. You are strong opponents of executive power. Are there things you think president obama has done that you were not done . Not in terms of choices but things you went beyond of what the presidency can do. Congratulations on your book. A lot of talk about impeachment. If you can talk about what James Madison would have thought about that and what he viewed as impeachments role. And good to see you, too. You spent a lot of time riding on the backseat of a car through wyoming. I wonder if you could tell us what the records you brought from your experience as a person out in front as a candidate. Well, obviously, i disagree with a lot of policies, procedurally. The effort to buy president obama to ignore major parts, for parts of thealter obamacare proposition is deferred and acting searching key parts. I think the bill was so bad i think it shouldve been repealed or amended. There shouldve been a substitute to deal with all the problems that has surfaced over the past year or two and it shows up by himself, certain parts and provisions on side, i think he has exceeded his constitutional authority. I totally agree. Also unwillingness to enforce some loss he does not believe in. Not just a one off thing. Theres a whole school of thought in our law school and president obama was a law professor. The constitution means whatever we think it should mean. Sndeed when president obama recent appointee has written about the power of the president ial shape the constitution by exactly these things. Not enforcing laws and changing laws. It will point out to us that the constitution requires the president to faithfully execute the laws bank. Not to repeal them. Irs and whatd the is becoming clearer every day, every time you see some new email. Lois lernerne from suggesting people should not use email to communicate back and forth in terms of what they are doing. There is very little question there is an attempt to subvert. And in the use of the irs to go after political enemies is a real threat to the constitution and a threat to our freedom. In terms of your other questions, peter, it is really newspapers ande the, very cynical. It is really easy for people outside washington to watch the battles that go on here and you throw your hands up and say, my gosh, are they going to get anything done . One of the things i feel very blessed about the was having been able as a child seeing this process. Mobility nobility of this nation and living in a republic and a place where we can make a difference. In a situational, we have an obligation to speak up. Experience, not just hearing politics is such a dirty business and it certainly can be. It is to serve a much higher purpose of being a full citizen in our republic. And i feel very blessed i had that opportunity. Toas very proud and honored have a chance to show my kids some of the same things. And i am going to tell one story from the campaign trail. My mother tells me not to tell the story. We are with close enough friends today. Were at the wyoming state fair. Oh, no. Had all of the kids with us. We decide our youngest 2, they were seven and nineyearold little boys. We had a convertible and this candy there were going to throw as we went down the parade route. We said we needed to have a briefing with the kids on how it was going to work. We gather them around and said ok, who know some of the rules about it being in a parade is going candy . My older son raised his hand and said, do not throw the candy at anybodys head. Does anybody else have any rules they think is important to know . Ittlehat of my cousins l girls said do not throw it too hard at people. Does anybody else want to contribute any behavior for being in a parade and throwing candy . And my youngest son who was in my fathers namesake races hand. He said no far tend farting. That is a good one. A good life lesson. The truth is, i felt very honored to be in that and something i feel very strongly about in terms of a very important part of our process. Damage, thel relation with your sister that played out, you are against gay marriage. We invited mary to attend today and she responded, thank you for the email and invitation and sounds like a great event. I will not be in d. C. Would did a full rundown from my mom. I love mary very much and heather and the kids. Disagreen issue we about. I have nothing new to add. Tell me why you were right about the position, you are against gay marriage and why your father is wrong. I am not going to add to the issue. Go back to foxth news and talk about that a little bit. The notion fox news, of because of fox news criticize us, i keep thinking i tell you all the time fox is not always right. You need to understand that. Does it bother you that a political issue created such a rift in your family . I would like to go back to fox news, too. The underlying assumption of your question is if you ask the tough questions of a public figure, that must mean youre being critical. I think it is your job. It is amazing kelly megan kellys job. What a poor thing journalism would be if we do not ask hard questions. And anybody who happens to be. Last question on this very public split, do you regret that . Are you talking to me . Doesnt this worry you . I think the best thing about being a mom is having terrific children which i do and a grandchildren which i do. If i were those grandchildren or children, the last thing i want is my mother in a public Forum Commenting on personal issues in the family and that is it. [applause] what doice president , you think the chances that mitt romney will run . I was a big supporter of mitt. One of the first things i did after i had my heart transplant was we held a big fundraiser. I have not signed on with anybody with respect to 2016. I hope well have a wide field of candidates. I am going to restrain myself from saying anything that might be viewed as being supportive or opposing any candidate. We are not going to be support for against above very clinical. Let me add one other thought. You mentioned the reliance for a strong america. One of my concerns is that we have gotten to the point where within our own party, we have an isolation or strain developing. I wanted to make certain whenever i can and that is the purpose of the alliance that liz that National Security questions are front and center in the campaign. When it is time for policy and candidates actively involved, we get concerned that are legitimate and major differences with the obama administration. I want to do everything i can in the organization is set up to be a part of it to make certain the issues of National Security and the threats we are facing in the middle east today and so far are front and center with the dialogue Going Forward between now and this years election. That is part of what we are doing. Would rand paul be dangerous . I said i did not want to get into endorsing or criticizing. I did express the view i think isolationism is crazy. Anybody who went through 9 11 and things we can retreat and ,ill be safe is i am sorry out to lunch. We saw on that today, the worst attack on the United States since pearl harbor. When you lose 3000 people and the World Trade Center and a big it on the pentagon, and wouldve been the white house if not for the currents of passengers, that is an act of war on the United States. 19 men who were trained in afghanistan. With todaysay technology and capabilities and dangers and threats out there in the world, we can afford the notion we can stay home and not get involved overseas and not have a presence militarily. From a relationship standpoint with those key parts of the world just to redirect the conversation for a minute, as republican theory, the ounders such as jefferson and madison were deeply steeped in republican theory, how you make one succeed. To both of them and madison in particular, the idea of a threat to my was a liberty. It might be turned against the people. And so was the navy. The adams when he pushed idea of building six frigates so ugh the congress, he did in madisons to madisons opposition. He believed that republic was this wonderful and nice thing and didnt need need navies. Dnt as you quoted through the book he learned to learn. After the burning f washington, he understood that no n