Caller specifically i should have addressed the 58 million a year that we pay for foreign aid. That 50 billion would pay out each year secured or Fire Protection so that our citizens there, people who key figure with them host you agree, jim . Is is a drop in the bucket when we are talking about this . Guest you know, it is billions and billions of dollars. The budget is very small. Moreover, i am not an expert in this area, but i am of the view that the amount of money that is being spent trying to position the United States have influence in the world and bring about the values that we have in this country, i am not really a big fan of saying that foreign aid needs to go. Host unfortunately it is time to go, but thank you so much James Capretta for joining us. Since 1901, the joint Congressional CommitteeCongressional Committee on a macro ceremonies has been responsible for the planning execution of the inauguration of the president of the u. S. Capitol. We are glad you are all here, this is the platform were the inauguration will take place. It is on schedule, it is on budget. Our job, senator alexander and myself were in charge of this part of the inauguration. It is the president ial inaugural committee. It is also known as pic. Let me review some numbers and specifics. The first inaugural on the west front was Ronald Reagans ceremony in 1981. The person in charge of building the platform is steve ayers, the architect of the capital. The platform will be about 10,000 square feet. The same size as the platform in 2005, which was the largest platform ever built. As you know, on this there will be 1600 people were comes to this platform. It has to be very strong. The former president , joins you, governors, and the diplomatic corps. One of which comes from brooklyn, one comes from near chattanooga. It is a bipartisan concept inaugural. The platform is made whole with specification so everyone can see pretty well. The design began more than a year ago. Construction began in september. Thank you, jack. George washington was supposed to have said that the most important inauguration was not the first one but the second want to see if we could reaffirm or transfer powers. Whether we are republicans or democrats come we are looking forward to this. Can we have mr. Kerry did Say Something . Thank you, senator. I am grateful to be here on behalf of the president ial inaugural committee. The partnership we have formed has been terrific and is integral to making sure that the events that we do here and throughout the capital this weekend is functioning in this great moment in our democracy. We are thrilled to have such great partners. They are waiting to help us execute with what the president and Vice President want to see. We are grateful to have such strong partners. Okay, maam . If you could let us know, this is paid for with housing and senate money, it will cost about 1,200,000 total, which is less than last year. We are coming in under budget, even though it will hold as many peeps best people. [inaudible question] when you make of the president s decision to accept unlimited. We are not going to get into that here. It is a nice and happy day, and you can ask me that another time. The private ceremony on sunday, we are concerned about whether or not we will see you know, it is similar to what happens at other times. This is the some kind of time that the president has had to take an oath. Sometimes a president has had to take the oath on sunday and ceremony on monday. It will be exactly in keeping with history. There will be a brief event. I will tell you that by private we mean that the white house is working on details. The constitution requires it to be on the 20th, that is a sunday. It is a sunday this year. It comes out on a monday. Which is actually Martin Luther king day. Which has a very great appropriateness for this inauguration. The White House Press corps and press officer working on what that will be. [inaudible] the white house is working with the press corps on all of that right now. Thank you very much, everybody. It is nice to see you. Hopefully we will see by the inauguration. Thank you. [inaudible conversations] tonight on cspan2, a discussion about the ongoing civil war in syria. That hearing a military conflict. Then a panel on Housing Assistance to lowincome renters. On tomorrow mornings washington journal, a look at whether medicare and Social Security should be part of negotiations on fiscal cliff. We will talk with john larson on how House Democrats take on the issue and stephen ola and Christina Martin and david john of the heritage foundation, on the longterm solvency of Social Security. Washington journal is live every morning on cspan at 7 00 a. M. Eastern. The white house was very controversial as most americans were. It was designed for appellate, but americans were having a pellets. It was not particularly aweinspiring. A european diplomat told the congress that it was neither large or are of the aweinspiring nature. To. New york times critic Kitty Goldberg gathered photographs in history on sunday evening at 730 eastern and pacific on cspan3 American History tv. President obama this evening said the u. S. Now recognizes the main Syrian Opposition group as the legitimate representative of its countrys people. Turkish journalism has reported that the new america foundation. Two men have returned from the country into the to the west can do more to help the syrian people. [inaudible conversations] welcome, everyone. Welcome to cspan on the audience. I am very excited about todays events. We have two people with us that have recently come from syria that are able to give us an insight on the perspective of something that is hard to come by. In the context of the syria. To my far right is mohammed ghanem, he has a bachelors degree in english literature, as well as graduate degree in translation from damascus university. He went on to earn a degree in conflict transformation from the center of justice and peace at the Eastern Mennonite University in harrisburg, virginia, and he has fought as assistant professor at princeton university. He is a longterm activists. He was active in the early days as a strategist for nonviolence. He is currently taking on the role of administrator consoles which we intend to focus on today. To my immediate right is ihan tanir. He is a washington dc correspondent for the times daily. And it is a nationwide turkish newspaper. He is also a nonresident fellow. He stayed in the suburbs of damascus, and in early august he was in turn three and has had the time to be with the syrian army or the rebel forces. Ihan tanir has written extensive articles. With that introduction, i would like to start off with a general question. We are going to run the session in a questionandanswer style. Im sure the people in the audience have many questions to ask for. I will start off with just a few and send it over to the audience. Starting with mohammed ghanem, the news that we are receiving in the United States is very much focused on the issue of chemical weapons and the emergence of Islamic Forces and the question of whether or not damascus is about to turn. I want to ask you, given your experience and what you have witnessed in northern syria, what is it that we are missing from this area . This is a narrative about citizens of syria and how they are coming together, trying to take a step towards governing themselves. This narrative of this emergence of a society that is missing. It would be helpful to remind our friends in the audience what we are talking about today is a country that was experiencing a crisis of huge proportions. According to the u. N. , many destroyed in syria. Many homes in syria are just gone. There are activists that i work with the talk about these elements in northern syria. [inaudible] throughout the country, gives us the access to compromise. Syrians are coming together, trying to fill the vacuum or gap rather than being created by a contracting element. I thought that was very interesting because syrians dont have experience. Governments govern themselves, they have govern themselves and the 1960s to be highly centralized. The state is maintaining control of everything in syria, in that aspect, we want to find out more about this narrative in syria. It was hosted in aleppo. Aleppo was the Perfect Choice because it is arguably the most populated city in syria, it is in northern syria. There is a local part of the city, the countryside as well. The countryside and the city make up the government [inaudible] of syria. All of the perl the 70 of the cities have been stripped away. The first enacted in the cities is i was hosted by veteran prerevolutionary [inaudible] , that is eerie and citizens going to get it to do what they can. The first thing we did it to her. Most of the shops were closed down. To be honest with you, by the way, i am using aleppo is a case in point. To be honest, i thought that i would need [inaudible] we were very le we were very lesson and surprised. The operation we encountered was a lot more sophisticated than i thought. They held elections. The chairman was a highly educated person with a phd, doctor [inaudible name]. They also started the committee on the local administration and the committee on finance making sure that every penny is accounted for. We are working on a number of projects to stabilize the city and help our transition. Can you say the two words about the relationship between the civilian counsel in the military and [inaudible] three weeks ago, they coalesce under the aleppo revolutionary concept and it was headed by the secretarygeneral and colonel. So all of those groups, so far, those groups will maintain their separate identities. They are all fighting under the banner of this council is headed up by the kernel. I would say that the relationship between the civilian counsel and military council is there are two of them. They are under two different styles. The fsa everyone depends on it to keep them from entering the city, and so forth. That is the cooperative aspect. It is longterm, it is going into the future. You have civilians and an emergence of a society that is trying to govern the services of the city as needed. This is one of the services that they are trying to provide, taking out the trash. Okay . But you also have people with guns and, you know, they are a source of power. So i also see them as competing and going into the future about who will have the upper hand in the system. Now, both the military and the civilians or severely underfunded. It is a competitive, longterm, and cooperative short term. [inaudible] how have you learned about the civilian relationship and the military relationship . I think anytime that you can talk about this it is a great chance. First time i was in damascus. If [inaudible] so how was it a year ago . That is when i asked him. For the revolution . Okay. With [inaudible] the internal organizations that they deal with so then, [inaudible] they are bonding with social situations, certainly it is equal to the forces and that each thing needs to be reiterated. It is kind of a important step [inaudible] the questions i have as you know very little experience on what would be the issues and other issues other things. Until the first night i arrived [inaudible] the first time that they they had an agreement on the members. There were three components one of them they called the revolutionary [inaudible] people who organize the protest. But i am also the second they called the features educators. The teachers. The issues from the beginning, they also have communication channels. There are three components [inaudible] [inaudible] they have other issues that they have tackled. It is very interesting because in aleppo, you have an elected consul and you had an appointed one before coming together and organizing themselves and leadership and implementing it according to a consensus. And i think that is an interesting sort of pattern that one can find with elements and one of the challenges facing these councils in terms of the longterm sustainability. Clearly, they are not operating according to any standards as to what is appropriate in considering unity. So, we asked the question of sustainability. The u. S. And syria meeting tomorrow in aleppo, the u. S. Is preparing, according to reports, to recognize a Transitional Government and out of this new Syrian Revolutionary coalition. If there is a Transitional Government that is recognized, what will the relationship be in regards to the council, will be more ad hoc . And are these local ones sustainable and how does it affect the sustainability of the councils going for . [inaudible] there are many challenges. First of all, it is bonding during this restoration process. There are 16 battalions that were able to unite at the same time. One of the first issues was trying to tackle this. [inaudible] the first challenge is that that the civilians have to be able to defend themselves. It sounds like we are discussing what is meaningful as we are trying to survive. I think this is a very good question. Whether or not the civilian efforts work depends on whether the civilians are empowered. In my trip to aleppo, you know, i also understand the military and other perspectives of us. One of the main challenges that the councils are facing is this empowerment component. For example, the Security Committee in aleppo, they did not want that they appointed a former brigadier secretary. And he had friends and he wanted to start a committee, and this is a concept that needs to be introduced to syria. Not a single one of them [inaudible] the problem was that the Brigadier General didnt even have resources there would be a due process. This much as much as possible, given the circumstances there. It would be a guarantee against human rights violation on the part of the opposition. They were working with judges and people with degrees in law. Also, the secretarygeneral. But again, again, the funding for that system was also an issue. The third thing that we are working on is they started out with a small medical council was elected on the medical board and that medical council alone, just making back to dc, one of the i grew up in syria, we were not even allowed to talk about government. That was offlimits. He wouldve gone into a big trouble if you talk about a state of emergency. People were not allowed to get together on a regular basis. All of a sudden, i see civilians, operating at such a sophisticated level. But the harsh reality was the intelligence. And i dont believe on the work and the component about the relationship with a Transitional Government. So the 14 seats from the 14 governors or provinces of syria, that are part of this National Coalition, that represent all Syrian Opposition, they are already a part of this group and the recognition is extended to them and the efforts. The only crucial part that we need to be taking care of so what it takes to empower the people organizing themselves his money or to buy uniforms . [inaudible] okay. So it is more important for empowerment in a country that is going through a fundamental revolution. So i have a proclivity to address this question. How are the civilians on the ground in syria able to have legitimacy . Are they successful at it. What are they trying on. Is it related to the [inaudible name], the respected elders, is it a person with or doesnt matter . Doesnt matter because of his Historical Authority in the community, and maybe there would be a tendency to promote an electoral process. So how would you relate to this question of legitimacy that stands on the ground and looking forward . I understand what how how everyone reacted. [inaudible] in the process of justifying the election, they have [inaudible] it is valuable as a fact that we can argue about what kind of growth there is, but these type of individuals, they are very capable of talking about things in regards to the election. [inaudible] on site here, they selected 24 people and most of them were obviously [inaudible] whoever is they have a plan right now and they recognize that they have a revolutionary coalition body. The people, i mean, they can they can recognize anyone that the revolution will influence this. Is it a military that has an influence on the ground right now . In the minds and eyes of the people, they are the ones that are doing the actual work on the ground. So yes, they are the ones with legitimate points. I spoke with people in aleppo as often as possible. And i thought that they all respected the work of everyone that i talked to. Respected the work of the council. And they saw the service and they wanted to leave the transition into syria. The legitimacy is the topic. There is a huge issue about fuel in syria. So, if you can provide insight on this on the other hand, your history, and once again the legitimacy. Dont be under the impression no one should be under the impression that these people were underground for so long that they are just trying to get off the ground. There is no reason to expand the services that we are providing. I would not say the elections were perfect. [inaudible] there was a woman who was able to she reported about the elections that happened. In the history, whether or not you can meet the need, what should be done what stage in the revolution have the revolutionaries or whatever you are full of these aspects of the citizens. But without funding, and im about to happen. Okay, lets open it up to the questions from the audience. We have one question doctor. The gentleman with the microphone . Three speak louder . Hopefully we will understand this. [inaudible question] i would like to know about the world that the syrians are playing currently . I have seen in both places, and in the village there were no women members of the council. For stated reasons, i believe in ceded sovereignty. The woman that i stated to have a purpose in damascus as well as in aleppo, i have s