been killed by gunmen in northern. men on motorbikes attacked a village in the municipality north of the capital while. hundreds of people rescued from the mediterranean of arrived in the italian port city of low in sicily 363 people were rescued by the spanish open. during 5 different operations over the past week. had initially denied permission for the boat. in the united states the kansas city chiefs of won their 1st super bowl in 50 years tens of thousands of fans celebrated the win the chiefs soaring 3 touchdowns in a final quarter comeback for a 3123 over. headlines on al-jazeera up front with. the race for the white house.

through. coverage of. just. all wrong in the united states on the path to war on today's up front a special debate between a former iranian diplomat and the retired u.s. general. i met the our son also on the show u.n. investigator and this calabar is accused the crown prince of saudi arabia of hacking into the cell phone of washington post owner jeff bezos last kalamata anyone can stand up to m.p.'s but 1st after iranian general hossam silliman he was assassinated in iraq on the order of u.s. president donald trump the islamic republic of iran and the united states almost

went to war and we're not out of the woods yet tensions between the 2 countries are the new high so who's to blame for all of this and is there a way out that's our debate. today on a front we're hosting something you don't often see on television a debate between 2 people who for decades served at the forefront of iranian and the u.s. national security policy making he would meet today i'll say it hussein was the former head of the foreign affairs committee of iran's national security council and a close ally of iranian president hassan rouhani and retired u.s. brigadier general mark kimmitt who served in the pentagon and the state department on the us president george w. bush and was chief military spokesman for coalition forces in iraq after the invasion gentlemen thank you both for joining me on outfront let me start with you say the same so i mean. it's a question that's been on a lot of people's minds since the new year the united states donald trump ordered the assassination the killing of top iranian general qassam silly money in baghdad

iraq. described him as an imminent threat as justification for the attack what was your reaction when you heard the news about i personally was shocked because when president from came to office he practically a started economic or political or security war but i could not imagine who would who all penned the chapter of believe should confrontation and the face of military strike when he attacked. me it was practically the beginning of a military confrontation between iran and the us because iran also responded by attacking american bases in iraq they think an issue i was really shocked because i was in tehran. and i personally attended the funeral of universally money and i

personally was really really shocked 7000000 people they came to streets of tehran ok mark kimmitt was it justified for the u.s. president to order the killing of the syrian in general who a lot of americans from both of ministrations democrat a republican have had their eye on for a while well 1st of all i think we need to clarify some of the terms it was not a necessity it was a death on the battlefield a military combatant if we go back to the record of what general sort of money has either done personally or been responsible for on the issue of americans alone he was responsible for providing explosively formed penetrator id's into iraq. $600.00 plus americans killed thousands wounded we've seen what's happened to syria under his tutelage with the quds force responsible for tens of thousands particularly civilians so i think in terms of the military combatant that was conducting military operations against an enemy that was a battlefield consequence of

a battlefield decision on its part and it was a battlefield it was a battlefield death so when vicky deval former general counsel of the senate select committee on intelligence former assistant general counsel the cia she says that it was a homicide under federal law because the president's call just kill people who they don't like or who about people because president imminent threat but you're not using the argument of justification for killing you know i think that the president has wide power on the issue article 2 of the constitution gives him that responsibility he also has a responsibility for the safety and protection of american people against threats to the homeland and there with the rules of engagement currently operating inside of iraq that all of our soldiers were operating under which would have given a foreign military enemy in uniform a legitimate battlefield target legitimate battlefield target status and so i think it is generally and there is a common understanding internationally the use was. an act of war

against iran and this was completely elite good presidents from has this big need to do would have needed god as a terrorist organization in response iran has designated. the us all to me as a terrorist organization right they both have tens of thousands of members. if this is illegitimate that the many times they keep it it will need to guard members in the middle east. then for nice would give legitimacy to unions they kill a man it can seem just because it was an assessment because then you're a know if they would say yes killing to terrorists then then. is what you put the ball well in fact i think that's already happened when the iranian military supported the quds force supported. iraqi proxies and killed an american contractor a k 2 that's really what led to all of this and i think it's important to recognize

the new year just for the new year i think it's important to recognize that for months and months remarkably president trump had showed a tremendous amount of restraint reacting to not reacting to the attack on the tankers inside the gulf not reacting to the cake attack not reacting to the shoot down of the american room i've sat in baghdad many nights and heard rockets being fired into the green zone which were by iranian backed proxies so i think we've got to understand. and go back to if this is in fact evolving into a war which i don't believe that to be the case i think there needs to be some circumspect assessment of what has led to this and it wasn't only until an american was killed did president trump feel necessary feel it necessary to act you say you're no more you don't think it's devolving into open war and how and how what i want to do what i ask you both the nuance of the question for our staff let me ask

you do you agree with you how worried are you about open war people were talking about my general i'm seriously worried because there are some specific countries who have been pushing. for to be years and years and years to attack iraq which countries as you know saudi arabia you know israel i don't know you know you can say yes only that i think that there has been on the part of some american allies inside the region to go against the service of the instability in the region this war so instability or wars in the region saddam attacked iran the u.s. supported arab states supported saddam attacked kuwait iran was against. the u.s. attacked iraq the u.s. attacked afghanistan u.s. and saudi arabia attacked yemen and arab countries we need today attacked libya 7 wars in this region where all these regions at the very edge of total

collapse like a failed state i've got i've got to throw this in here though you mentioned wars in the region the biggest war in the region in recent years has been the syrian war which the iranian years of which iran has been heavily involved on the side doing most of the killing but you don't make a mistake the others frankly speak the others the u.s. europe so the arabia they were going true bring a girl regime in syria down i'm not buying we don't have time to reprosecute this are all i'm saying is the. iran has been heavily involved in a very bloody and brutal war in syria helping bashar al assad kill a lot of people including the law some silly money was involved and supported illegal that are meant to prevent regime change by. let me bring in let me bring in mark here how do you feel mark about the fact that the u.s. government killed general hossam silly money a man who for all the litany of things bad things you did which you mentioned at

the start of the show helped the u.s. defeat eisel in iraq how do you feel about the fact that i selectively celebrated the u.s. killing of qassam so the money well i think we've also got ignored to cause some sort of money had been extraordinarily helpful to us at the early days of our operations inside of afghanistan. but i would just simply ask the $600.00 plus families that have lost a father a son. a brother an uncle who died because of the military operations conducted by custom solem army i think that they were given a resounding it was better that he became a battlefield casualty and even if i still is helped by that i saw will not be helped by this i would tell you that right now that inside of iraq the the iraqi the iranian based iraqi proxies the p.m.s. the high should have done a brilliant job as the as the leading edge of the operation against that

will continue i was going to mention to say to some some 24000 documents from iran's ministry of intelligence and security which was revealed recently by a joint new york times intercept investigation how to rein in intelligence officials warring in private about the brutality of some of silly moneys militias in iraq saying that it could backfire in iran actually about a document over really don't know about that document. is correct or fake but the renin intelligence organizations the all said this is a fake document one but 2nd there is a fact mark i think you would accept that america iraq. frequently they said v. thought it rainy and support or support but a dog would have collapsed in the hands of isis at a bill would have collapsed would have collapsed. iraq military iraq prime minister foreign minister they all said vith out all support and yet you know it's

a silly money is dead in the days running up to sort of on his death the a rainy and cold salute was burned down and not just by iraq protesters rather was not given on iraq and no i mean the attacks really frankly speaking. to pull protests across the road you know there are those who will be conspiracy i'm very much very much suspicious that. you know most iraqis may be but it may be the only anderson we've seen i want to look at it is the reality is the possum's of the modern funeral in. in jobs in by the. people of iraq is attended. in for they can see that he was a he let's not be the 1st to admit we would have liked general costs and some of the money on our side he was a brilliant officer he was a brilliant tactician he had been helpful with us in afghanistan it was unfortunate

that he made the choice to turn his activities against the americans in the early 20052006 period we watched what he was able to do with popular mobilization forces i would be the 1st to sit at the table saying that when the war came out to form the popular mobilization forces i was happy i was in baghdad at that time it was thought that held back isis well once the fight was over it took on a completely different complection and unfortunately the money made the choice both in iraq and syria and lebanon and yemen and elsewhere in the region to be a destabilizing factor with this quds force and it's unfortunate that we couldn't work together the way we had in the past. a question. let's you see.

cooperated head of the u.s. to win the war on terror or enough. to defeat the isis. when he headed iranian general with american generals and taliban was defeated what was the u.s. reaction the president to. iran is the axis of everything if you know aren't you supposed to cooperate this insane or do you walk out of iran as axis of evil would you continue. i don't think at that point i may not have continued but i wouldn't turn the tables to where i would start killing american soldiers as a result let me just take a step back or out of time i do want to ask you both this question point since i've got you bring to the table can we you're having a very reasonable conversation here today can we agree because right now there's a lot of people in your country who want to demonize his country a lot of people in your country who want to demonize his country and i just wonder

we often hear grievances being put forward in a vacuum so we hear if we hear the iranians talk about the cia also they're going to 53 support for the shah support for saddam against iran sanctions today which is a big complaint of the iranians about the very very. destabilizing sanctions are hurting a lot of iranians but then we hear from the americans about the hostage crisis in the taking of american hostages the support for hamas and hizbullah. attacks on american soldiers in iraq would you both recognize the killing of 241 marines at the marine bomb the marine offerings and then the raid in say the killing of 200 people on a civilian airliner in 98 it goes back in the us what you would both recognize that both sides have legitimate grievances against the other. i have explained in my book american give it be answers in full text iran and the us but you except america the legitimate grievances against iran is there all you and these have to respect i mean they say that's not what i asked as they look just about grievances

i don't know where there is legitimate or not because the us was supporting shar for 25 years. and corrupted the regime and that's your grievance i asked about the grievances not hostage crisis my issue american. always i have written i have said we need to have. a bold degree of the ok we need to respect and we need to find a solution now would you agree with that and that's exactly why i believe iran should accept the offer of the united states to sit down at a negotiating table and restart these discussions so that we can put these grievances on the table and come to a solution if you recognize that there is a legitimate grievance in the rain is when they talk about the cia coup when they talk about a civilian i kid you don't often hear that much about it in the u.s. discussion about iraq if countries didn't have grievances with each other they wouldn't need a state department they would need a diplomatic corps they were nobody you know the u.s.

iran relation is a particularly longstanding toxic one i'm just saying it seems to me one sided from both sides would be helpful to post i recognize that the others have legitimate grievances i have not ever said that i can understand the reigning towards the americans i don't necessarily agree with that but that's why we need to sit down i think there's a silence is worked ok well not know what we're going to leave it there thank you both for coming on up front to have this conversation appreciate your time thank you very much. since mohamed bin solid mom became crown prince of saudi arabia and effectively took charge of the saudi government there's been a ramping up of the country's military and influence operations abroad and escalation with regional rival iran and the targeting of saudi dissident even in exile and this calabar the un special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings has been investigating the assassination of saudi journalist jamal khashoggi an assassination allegedly ordered by m.p.'s himself she's also coauthored a new report suggesting the saudi crown prince how the cell phone of jeff bezos the

billionaire owner of the washington post so. is why haven't been solved are untouchable and his caliber joins me now from new york thanks for coming on up front thank you house or law you the n.b.a.'s the crown prince of saudi arabia is personally to blame for the hacking of jeff bezos the richest man in the world and why would he do that because the saudis say it's a silly and absurd accusation look at the statement that david kay and myself have released point to the medium to high probability chance that mr bezos phone was hacked tor whatsapp account belonging to the crown prince in for n sync cyber security term medium to high probability is actually very high and it is very rare if not almost impossible for any kind of forensic as cyber

security investigation to reach higher. probability because of the complexity of the spy whales and they are kept past city to to save destroy so david can myself where convinced turn of by the likelihood of the foreigner being been hacked tor that means to go forward and to go public as part of our mandate twitchy is to warm the international community when we are confronted with is very probable towards full allegations this is why we came forward what is your response to the claims by some technology experts who came out and said they were skeptical of the evidence that's been presented in terms of this case it's notoriously difficult is it not to accurately attribute the source of cyber attacks and this seems to be the case here too alec stamos facebook's former

chief information security officer has said there's no smoking gun here. please write we have not at least david can myself i've not pretended there is a smoking gun and f.t. i am going to be in the company that jeff bezos 1st employed to. have f t a is the company employed by jeff bezos and vetted by c f b i lead story corps that the investigation of mr business phone in spite of an ongoing f.b.i. investigation you've of course been investigating the brutal murder of the washington post journalist and saudi citizen jamal khashoggi do you believe the hacking of jeff bezos his phone is linked to the khashoggi killing. i believe the king of jail for business is linked to a target to campaign against dissidents and against anyone of strategy can terrorist for information communication and public relations i am not and i

have not suggested that the care that the killing of general casualty can be traced to the hacking of business but it is part of. the context which places the crown prince and the center of the campaign against dissident a campaign which has been shown to have a direct impact on on the killing of jam and casualty and you know in my report regarding the killing of jamal khashoggi and suggested that m.p.'s may have ordered email have been cited in may have created the conditions in may have turned a blind eye and failed to respond what the current the recent allegations point to us is that they are bringing the crown prince closer to one of those scenarios which where it identified in my report to the kingdom of saudi arabia has had its own investigation into the death of khashoggi of course and sentenced 5 men to

death and 3 others to a combined 24 years in prison you've called it a mockery of justice why well because the people that have been sentenced to death and to prison are basically the heat men they are the laws and the high and the lowest level of the chain of command it i mean it's unbelievable that the individual that had been identified as having the media mom planned and all the lies the killing those individuals are walking free that includes. for instance our cat tanny that has been linked directly by the by his investigator to having inside to. the abduction which is a crime of. mr casualty so the mastermind not only been in and they quickly investigated and by this i mean the crown prince himself has

not been investigated but those that have been a little bit investigated are now allowed to walk free just on coming back to the hacking for a moment you did say that there was a strategic purpose for this crown prince to allegedly do this we know that the crown prince doesn't just what's up with jeff bezos he what's up with jared crucial senior advisor and son in law to the president the united states does that mean that jerad could be compromised to buy a saudi ak look the reason why david can i myself want to to release the statement was to send a warning to people who have been working closely with the crown prince and more generally with saudi arabia it's a warning that their foreign may have been compromised that certainly include the foreign of guile and gyrate questionnaire ok and what do you make of the west's reaction to all of this behavior by m.b.a.'s whether it's the war in yemen whether it's the killing of jamal khashoggi or the hacking of jeff bezos a handful of european countries stop selling saudi arabia some arms for

a short period the u.s. sanctions some saudi nationals they say were involved in the murder but the president the united states says he's a big fan of m.b.a.'s is it fair to say that western countries especially the u.s. led by the u.s. have basically let the crown prince mohammed bin solomon get away with everything well the governments of western countries have let him walk free for the time being i think it's fair to say that within those countries there is far more dispute as to how those countries truth engage with them b.s. i mean the american congress is on record for having requested the director of national intelligence a report on the rest. sponsibility is of the crown prince for the killing so i think the situation in those countries is a little bit more complex and could in my view turn around these being said you are perfectly correct so far the governments of the united states of

france of the u.k. have been unwilling to challenge the crown prince for his behaviors and by so doing they are sending the wrong message one final question and this column up on january 3rd the united states launched an airstrike that killed general qassam silly money the commander of the iranian couldn't force or the most powerful figures in iran president trump claims he posed an imminent threat to the us without citing a shred of evidence for that claim do you as the un special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings do you think shalit money was a legitimate military target or was this an extrajudicial killing a political assassination well look and the moment on the basis of the evidence provided by the united states and on the basis of my interpretation of international law will surgeon said the likelihood of these killing to be

unlawful is very high these being said i am certainly open to hearing more about the evidence of the imminent threat that general salim and every presented and in terms of international law there are ongoing debates right now as to whether under international humanitarian law mr solem annie was a legitimate target personally i have question that analysis but i do know that they are or their expert that i am gauging with my conclusion and are reaching a different conclusions so. my my view is that the killing at this point is unlawful but let's let's i think time will tell and give us from. no information and is kind of all thanks for joining me on that front thank you very much that's our show up from movie back next week. to get.

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life we look at the russian president's economic record over his last $2.00 decades and she's previous test of controlling the spread of the coronavirus counting the cost on al-jazeera. for turkish soldiers are killed in shelling by syrian government forces in rebel held it played. out over and i'm come all santa maria here in doha with the world news from al-jazeera the coronavirus is alarming investors chinese the stocks of all the 9 percent as the outright spreads killing more than 360 people. also fears of an escalation in violence in libya reports just an arms build up by forces loyal to the warlord coming from huff.