died. china's singerman region has declared a wartime state after a small increase in cases 28 new infections have been reported since friday the capital city of rome she has suspended large gatherings of people mass screenings are being carried out china is facing international scrutiny over its treatment of ethnic minorities in jan brooding ethnic weaker and muslims protests by black lives matter demonstrators took place in the u.s. city of portland again overnight it's been 6 weeks without a break on friday the state of oregon sued federal law enforcement agencies accusing them of a more fully detaining demonstrators dozens of been arrested on certain floods of forced more than 1000000 people from their homes in northeast india red alerts remain in place across our state and rescue teams have dispatched hundreds of boats health officials say at least 72 people have been killed those the headlines do stay with us more news here after talked to al jazeera. as protests rage over

police brutality and corona virus grips the nation campaigning on the election trail has been forced to take a back seat will the presidential candidates ever hit the road and sell their brand of politics to americans before the votes follow the u.s. elections on an. all the oracle says. he's one of the most divisive figures in american politics today to some he's washington's most famous warmonger to others a fearless defender of u.s. interests john bolton's decades of conservative foreign policy have influenced the position and actions of the united states in conflicts worldwide. from iraq to iran syria and north korea to mention just a few. ever since 1st serving on the president ron reagan said ministration back in the 1980 s. bolton built a career as

a solid conservative republican politician. he was assistant secretary of state for international organization when president george h.w. bush was in the white house and when his son was all he was under secretary of state for arms control in the national security as well as ambassador to the un for president george w. bush. and most recently national security adviser to president donald trump but they working relationship ended in acrimony and accusations up to 17 months trump tweeted bolton services were no longer needed in the white house bolton insists he quit his recent book the room where it happened the white house memoir caused controversy as bolton portrays a president driven only by his desire for reelection. in this interview we go beyond this latest well covered controversy to explore what was the truth of his policy advice and positions and whether he has any regrets did he really encourage the trumpet ministration to take on the whole world at the same time as president trump stated or is he just misunderstood we find out as john bolton talks. 0.

i. still both and thank you very much for talking to al jazeera well thanks for having me glad to be with you so some call you a whole some see you as a patriot some say even your warmonger what term would you use to describe yourself well i don't much like bumper sticker terms to begin with i've always tried to formulate come on to the american way isn't it. not not in policy circles i've always tried to formulate policy with regards to safeguarding american interests around the world and and that's what i've done for a long time all right now would you concede that you made some serious errors of judgment while safeguarding american interests around the world while advocating for some of the wars in the past are associated with well you have to be more

specific i'm sure i've made my share of mistakes over the course of my professional career but let me examine all the specific then i mean in an interview november 20th 2002 you said quote we are confident saddam hussein has hidden weapons of mass destruction and production facilities in iraq that was wrong you can see that was a a massive error in judgment well that was a restoration of what we thought our intelligence showed in substantial part it was due to the declarations that saddam hussein himself made in the field of chemical and biological weapons in particular so i'm not asking you to go back and explain why you said what you said i think we're all very familiar with the history of the iraq war but my simple question is it was a massive error of judgment was it not no it wasn't if you want to listen instead of talking i'll try and explain it to you ok saddam hussein self made declarations

about his capabilities. in the area of chemical and biological weapons he stated in disclosures to the united nations weapons inspectors that he had large stockpiles of chemical weapons manufacturing facilities and the like the the mistake that the u.s. and everybody else made. was in believing what saddam himself said if you look at the analysis after the war of the rob silberman commission they pointed out that at the time of the the actual invasion of iraq in 2003 there was really no dissent from the proposition that saddam had these chemical and biological weapons capabilities in fact i remember hans blix who was the head of the commission former head of the international atomic energy agency sang to saddam well look you declared these weapons in the early 1990 s.

and now you say that you destroyed them all where's your verification record she said this isn't a jam i don't think anyone would have a different take perhaps recollection of what happened and how the world viewed some of the claims that u.s. officials are making to the u.n. security council that many well unconvinced that enough evidence was that suggested iraq i'll read to you i'd be glad when they don't i don't really believe that we're going to. but. whatever what i would do and what i was about mohammed i'm sure whatever whatever the reals and everybody who disagreed with saddam hussein's own assertions about his chemical weapons capability at the time of the invasion of iraq in 2003 i don't think you'll find any serious scholar knowledgeable in the area who wouldn't say that saddam's claims were correct there were

a lot of in fact country. is that felt iraq did not have enough weapons of mass destruction evidence that's why they didn't back the invasion but again my my point is not so much and not back didn't authorize it didn't find weapons of mass destruction and as you know sadly killed a lot of americans and a lot of iraqis north of 1000000 human beings died and you have any regrets about that. well i think your your figures are grossly inaccurate in the fact that the security council didn't authorize it is relevant the united states like every other member of the united his own all the countries it was fair and right and inherent right of individual and collective self-defense which we exercised saddam hussein was a threat to international peace and security there's no doubt about it and one can argue this out for as long as you want and i'm happy to do it for the entire half hour we have because i remember a very important your stand you brought it up i didn't bring it up it's very

important what i wanted to have any regrets at all that the world i'm explaining my answer to thank you that the world is a better place with saddam not only out of power but executed after a trial by his fellow iraqis that didn't solve all the problems in the region that's for sure others have cropped up from iran and elsewhere but the fact is that there was not going to be international peace and security in the middle east until the belligerent saddam hussein regime left the same so no regrets the only regret i have is that in 2011 barack obama imprudently withdrew all american forces from iraq i think that well you regret not have one of the whole nation well let me finish my explanation here that led to the subsequent destabilization of the regime that in part contributed to the rise of of isis it was after all the iraqi regime

that invaded kuwait in 1990 and set off this entire chain of events that was an active and vocal aggression by saddam hussein even though he was expelled from kuwait with massive military losses in 1901 he had not learned his lesson sadly and he was supporting a terrorist. terror around the region and go how it will leave us to to draw their conclusions on that in 2015 in an op ed for the new york times you wrote to stop iran's bomb bomb iran do you still believe in bombing iran today. you know i didn't write that headline i know some people don't appreciate this but authors don't get to write the headlines for their op ed pieces i would never written a headline that way and i haven't written an op ed for the new york times since then since i think it's quite worded what i said my point and i did not quote mr.

the family i was going to because it's so you does your level coal for the bombing of iran if that's your position i don't know you you you quoted the headline and i'm explaining to you that the headline was written by the neuron i may have you have a cold you obama know that augers. i'm sure if you'll stop for a 2nd i'll get to explain what i did say in numerous speeches television and radio appearances and that is that at that time and subsequently the ayatollah his regime was doing everything they could to advance a nuclear weapons program and a ballistic missile program that threatened their neighbors in the region in europe and ultimately the united states and i believe that because of threat posed by nuclear weapons in the hands of a rogue state like iran that we needed to have a much tougher policy does that all of a fluid bombing iraq i'm sure you're going to let me finish and i just know you are that if we came to as

a way to answer your question with all due respect you know that. thank you that that the use of force could not be ruled out and that the ayatollah is needed understand that please also the question do you think it will do you advocate the bombing of iran today no i don't advocate the bombing of iran today and the reason for that and i'm sure you'll let me give a reason won't you yes please go ahead now thank you ok well thank you very much the reason is that somebody and i don't know who it is has caused a number of. detonations at the natanz nuclear facility at the parchin facility and at other the soul of these that the government of iran. self. has said have caused substantial damage to its nuclear program now i don't know who it is but i think they're doing a service to mankind and peace and security in the region the regime of the ayatollah has is a threat it's a threat to its neighbors and it's a threat global do you think iran should have been bombed back in 2015 when you

were giving those t.v. interviews you mentioned no end because that's not what i said at the time and the fact is over a long period of time around he lied to the international atomic energy agency lied to the international community lied about its nuclear and ballistic missile activities and by this pattern of deceit made substantial progress towards the a strategic objective of getting deliverable nuclear weapons i think that's unacceptable and i think that as a matter of basic self-defense people who fear what could happen when a regime that extreme gets the world's most destructive weapon that we're entitled to take steps to protect ourselves and to prevent it from happening so why do you think so so many among those people who seems then to have misunderstood you is the u.s. president himself who in a june 21st 2019 interview when asked if his advisors were pushing him into

military action against iran and said quote if it was up to him bolton would take home the whole world at the same time why do you think you're so misunderstood well i think the president has his own problems with cognitive ability that was one example of it and you know i can't i can't judge why other people don't read and take seriously what i say or listen to what i have to say i'd be happy for you to take any quotation that you can find from something i've written or something i've said and i'd be happy to discuss. thank you very much were we we've got lots of quotes of thank you for agreeing to look at them for us let's go right now 2 years after the u.s. withdrew from the iran nuclear deal embarks on the policy of maximum pressure on iran iran is now resumed uranium enrichment as i'm sure you know it's restarted centrifuge research and development and expanded its stockpile of nuclear fuel as

we sit here today do you think sanctions of worked. i think they've had a crushing effect on the iranian regime and in terms of what they were knowing him but i also know they are working on because might be a rainy one you want and i'm sure you're going to let me finish this and more or maybe i'll just continue you know and hope that you know i've been able to hear me if you if you will answer the question the last thing about it's an icon that i see i am answering the question what when you interrupt in the middle of a sentence i think that's hardly fair do you think that's fair i think it's fair if you're not if you're drifting off with you would you address whether you say you know what i call it an elaborately well you're a big believer in unilateral action on the stand there's income buyers or you just want to just ask the question and give the answer to that life i think the view is of much value out sir but answer the questions that might. work so well please answer the question did not do you think it's it's impacted and reigned in iran's nuclear program know its impact on the regime or its stability all popular or

economy i don't believe i don't believe the regime was honoring the nuclear agreement to begin with there are a number of violations that that i think you've been way out on the record of the i am vienna and we know in particular that the regime blocked i.a.e.a. access to a number of sites that they felt they should have access to and we know from the israeli raid which uncovered extraordinary records about iran nuclear weapons activity that the entire agreement was based on lies by the regime that it had never had a nuclear weapons program and that it would continue in that vein so you know i think it's a mistake to say we know with certainty what exactly ron was doing during the time that the nuclear weapons deal was in effect. because i think much of what they were

doing we didn't have visibility. do including possible cooperation with north korea which of course also has an illegitimate nuclear weapons program when the united states withdrew from the dio in may of 2018 many people say that u.s. sanctions will not be effective it won't have. it won't put pressure on iran in fact i think the popular support for the regime in tehran is at the lowest levels didn't since the revolution of 1979 and i think the ongoing destruction of this program that we're seeing now shows that the their efforts to continue to advance towards nuclear weapons have never been given up iran has never made a strategic decision to give up its nuclear weapons program so with all due respect i let you go and didn't interrupt you this time but you didn't answer the simple thank you and i asked you which was how did it curb the iran's nuclear program you

talk about everything else possibly what will leave that i don't we have other questions to cover i think we'll leave it for the audience and let me ask you about the war in syria do you think it was a mistake to perhaps apply back. a group like the white e.g. the syrian kurdish group which has substantial ties according to the testimony of the u.s. secretary of defense ashton carter he confirmed to the senate armed services committee that the y.p. g. has substantial ties to another kurdish group i'm sure you're familiar with the p k k which as he admitted is the u.s. considers a terrorist groups should the u.s. be arming one group linked to terrorists who bomb shopping malls in turkey to try and constrain isis. well if i had been involved at the beginning in developing the strategy to go after isis i would not have chosen the approach that

the obama administration did choose but when the trumpet ministration came into office it in here did that strategy when i when i joined the white house and hear that strategy as well and i think it was strongly held view in the correct view of many people that the kurds had lived up to their side of the bargain in syria that they were directing their activities against isis that this was not a situation where they were aiding the p.k. k. in turkey that was the understanding that was reached with them initially and it's an understanding that we felt strongly about but we also felt strongly that we should not abandon those kurdish forces syrian kurds who had helped us to go after the ice is territorial caliphate so with that who are present has aired we already have you already have an answer the question i mean do you think it was appropriate

is that should i understand your answer is yes it's answered really and if they start you can keep saying that and your viewers will make up their minds i've given you the answer if you want to ask the question again i'd be happy to show this or did you ever object to that policy when you came in he said the administration you what's an inherited that from the obama administration just curious to do have a back to man. the main objective of the policy was the destruction of the isis territorial caliphate and the neutralization of isis strength in eastern syria and western iraq i think that objective was desirable the vehicle that we were using one of the vehicles we were using was the wipe e.g. as i said before as i was answering your question a moment ago they had directed their activities against isis which is what they were originally asked to do and were not providing. the assistance we had given them to the p.k. k. in turkey. how do you see the gulf crisis in the split vats calls within the region

has that opened the door for more iranian influence look i think that if if i could wave a magic wand over the g.c.c. members i would i would see the differences among them result. i think that the these differences are real it's not it's not something that some outsider is going to fix for them i think that if that if there were closer cooperation if there were a stronger front against the main threat to peace and security in the region which is the ayatollah as you care ron that everyone would be better off but but this is something i don't i don't believe that the united states can influence i think the the gulf arab states will come to their own resolution in their own good time i hope it's sooner rather than later oh i have a quote for you i hope you were misquoted on this occasion february 28th 2018 you wrote an opinion piece for the wall street journal in which you advocated

a 1st strike on north korea saying it's perfectly legitimate for the u.s. to respond to the current necessity posed by north korea's nuclear weapons by striking 1st so do you still believe the u.s. should strike 1st against north korea assuming that it was misquoted that look i wasn't misquoted i wrote the i wrote the article and it was a basically a justification for preemptive action if we decided to take it met many people argued there was no basis for it and this was a this was a this was the explanation why there was my own preferred outcome in respect to the north korean nuclear weapons program is the elimination of north korea by reunifying the korean peninsula sensually under the government of south korea i think that's the surest way to avoid the threat of north korea and also to do best by the korean people so that you advocate ever to the trump administration 1st

strike on north korea or ever in your very long illustrious korea. a military attack on north korea. well look i make the same point about north korea that i have about iran when you see a rogue regime like that threatening the united states and its neighbors we have to consider what's necessary to protect innocent civilians and i write in the book i quote the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff joseph dunford who said was unthinkable to him is to leave residents of the united states at risk of an attack from north korea i think if we acted. more decisively earlier we wouldn't be at the state we are now were both north korea and iran over these past years have grown much more dangerously close to having a deliverable nuclear weapons capability it's not just the threat to the united

states it's it's it's a threat to many others which is why the priority of preventing nuclear proliferation has always been very high on my agenda right that i once again say you are you using very vague and general terms that you've advocated more decisive action let me repeat the question which i feel has been ready oncet have you advocated the mayor as i should would be an example of that. no choice do you advocate them in did you have advocated military strike on north korea i said no before and i think the transcript or are you snape will demonstrate that what i was saying was looking at the broad range of policy options you can't rule it out if you're going to protect innocent civilians you can't rule it out do you believe in international law which you know upholds the very american and international values of of equal rights and justice and accountability for all. bumping it up old

something look i'm a po when it comes to leak theory i'm a positivist and i think that much of what passes under the description international law is is analysis dreamed up by walk professors with a different kind of agenda i think countries that undertake international obligations should meet their obligations we had this discussion a few moments ago you are perhaps recall that and i think that if there were more attention to holding countries accountable for their commitments in international agreements we'd all be a lot better off without academics firas ing about international law so who holds countries to account but as you said if some of the victims of the week not everyone has a superpower live on to citizens of the superpower who stand up for that i don't know who. to vote you know i believe in sovereignty and i believe in democratic sovereignty and i don't believe that that there's anybody else who can hold the us

accountable i think within. the life on this earth that our supreme authority is the constitution of the united states and that anything other than our higher than that so does not leave then the relationship between countries. down to the principle my says right that the strong through the bilateral agreements or ability to negotiate on the 2 agreements get that way. over others. no i don't think it means that at all you want you want to have a half hour discussion of international law i'm raring to go except i think we're going to cut me off here in about 30 seconds but i think you. will go on the surface of the thank you so much well let me then ask you about if you have any regrets this is not my feelings this is to quote the a.c.l.u. do you have any regrets about threatening the international court of justice judges and prosecutors with sanctions something the a.c.l.u.

said quote the national security adviser is trying to intimidate judges and prosecutors by treating them like drug traffickers i think i think the i.c.c. is illegitimate i believe that for many years and i've written about the great want to perhaps your quote news you know you well you didn't mind quoting the a.c.l.u. so when you referred to it in a tweet of june 16th 2020 saying please see the a.c.l.u. statement on my upcoming book release is the a.c.l.u. only worth quoting when it defends your book and not when it's defending the rights of what it says all victims of torture in afghanistan who require i don't i think. you know this is an interesting and we've had a half an hour than i promised and glad to do it i think. people who normally disagree with you when they do disagree with you can i think it proves how strong your own point is thank you very much john bolton that

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bronze foreign minister lands in baghdad and immediately denounces the killing of revolutionary guard general concepts of money as a criminal act. i'm committed elvis is on to their live from doha also coming up a new battle looming in libya government forces and those loyal to walt holy fall thought of a parent to fight for the city of serfs. thousands of people protested the democratic republic of congo demanding the dissolution of parliament.