effort but we have a campaign that's global and i hope i've demonstrated the overall breadth of the campaign. since we've been doing this a ko couple of years, we've lost five americans in this campaign. five of our military personnel have been kills in this campaign. and i also, it's important to keep in mind because i saw with my own eyes the casualty collection points just outside mosul of the iraqis fighting. we are advising them to fight and retake their territory. similar to our syrian partners. their casualties are very high. an operation in syria, for example, which was really important to protect was. monbag is where the foreign fighters were flowing through and planni inning external operations. they had over 1,000 casualties in that operation. similar in mosul. the iraqi security forces we are training, advising and enabling are fighting heroically and t e taking casualties and continuing to advance. we're proud to work with them and grateful.

it's a reminder of the different mode of operation we have here. enabling, advising, local partners to take back the ground they've lost and i think it is significant that all the ground we've taken as a coalition working with locals, everything we've taken back from isil, that's over 60% in iraq, none of it isil has been able to retake. and that's because before we do any of this, we have a tremendous effort, sometimes months long, sometimes shorter, to prepare the ground politically, economically, to get the stabilization resources in place to help make sure people can return to their homes and make sure the defeat of isil is a lasting one. it is significant that to date isil has not retaken any of the ground it's lost in operations we've enabled. we'll make sure it continues that way. as quite a different approach, i will say, in closing then, the russians. the russians have had one counter-isil mission. they claim to be fighting isil.

one counter-isil mission and that was palmyra. and they made a big deal out of that. had a big concert and invited members of the media to see it. isil has retaken palmyra. isil has not retaken a speck of ground that we've taken from them. i think it is fairly significant that the one operation the russians touted as a counter-isil operation, isil has now retaken. we're not pleased about that. we want to wipe isil entirely off this map. the point of the map that i've explained before. everything in color on this map, used to be controlled by isil. so in the summer of 2014, everything there was part of the caliphate. everything in green has been retaken and everything in dark green is just what has been retaken in the last month. the dark red splotches in the southwest are areas that isil has gained over the last two years. very small areas and areas we primarily do not operate. and i'll just say finally on the situation, of course, in aleppo,

this was discussed briefly in the meeting this morning. there's a very active effort going on to try to resolve this. the security council, of course, will be convening later today. we said what we think about the tactics. the russians, the regime are using tactics that arelet toly different than anything we do against isil in mosul. we are cognizant of every single innocent life in mosul. we're fighting an enemy using human shields and acting with tremendous precision. and if you see what the russians are doing with the regime in aleppo, it could not be any different. so the contrast, i think, are quite stark. with that, i will leave it there. i think overall, the campaign here against isil has momentum. we're always looking for ways to accelerate it and always talk about that. we'll not stop until we destroy this enemy. >> thank you, brett. mark, you want to start? >> sure. can you say how you hand over an

operation as complex as this to a new administration? and have you yet briefed any trump transition personnel? >> a great question. we were just talking about this. so just in my own experience, i was here in the -- senior director for iraq and afghanistan in the bush administration. it was the first transition in wartime in 40 years. and we worked very hard with president bush and the incoming president-elect president obama to have a seamless transition given the importance of a transition in wartime. this is similar. a transition in wartime. it's complex. and the direction very clearly from president obama is to make sure we're doing all we can to ensure it can be a seamless transition. there will be a lot of continuity on the military side. so we're doing all we possibly can to support that effort. i'll leave it there. >> have you conferred with trump officials? >> i think there's constant transition meetings going on. particularly in the state department. those meetings are ongoing now.

>> have you yet? >> i won't talk about individual meetings we're having. those meetings are ongoing sdoontly. >> i want to ask about two things. first libya and now you outlined a lot of the progress. estimates have been there were between 5,000 and 8,000 isil fighters there. obviously, they weren't all killed and so there's, i think, a kind of outstanding question about if those estimates were high or if not, if they've escaped in a way they could regroup and pose a problem later. and the other question is about oil revenues. you talk about that a lot last time i saw you. and i'm wondering if the rise in oil prices globally could help isil in a way that sort of counteracts some of the gains you outlined here, or if you feel they're cut off at this point from the global world? >> thanks. so two very good questions. in libya, it's hard to get a precise estimate of how many. we think most were probably

killed in cert in that campaign. they really hold up -- this is what they do. this is their defense strategy. they have these kind of rings of defense and then a little citadel in the middle where they try to hold up. in cert they did that for some months in a little final area of the city. our ambassador to libya is in discussions with prime minister sirage about the next steps in this campaign and what next steps the libyans might want. we want to make sure in our view that isil and extremist groups cannot have safe haven or sanctuary anywhere in libya. on the oil trade, we've significantly reduced their ability to generate any serious revenue from oil. it does continue, obviously but it's all self-generated. they cannot get any oil out of their little self-contained enti entity. there's definitely trade going on between different groups. this is a chaotic situation, particularly in syria. but their ability to replenish their resources is significantly degraded. whenever we find where they are

extracting oil, we eliminate that. >> some of the concerns seem that fighters were able to escape and you're discounting that. you think sort of our allies were able to sort of fully encapsulate -- >> we don't get into numbers but we think we eliminated quite the vast majority in cert. if they try to regroup, i'm sure we'll find a way to deal with that. >> mark. >> the relationship with the turks, it's been really strained on the diplomatic level. obviously the president -- the whole question of cooperation with the coup and the allegations and the request for the return of who they think is involved in the coup. has that been reflected in the cooperation on the counter-isil campaign? >> obviously it's a complex relationship. i was in ankara about four or five days ago. very good, very detailed meetings about the overall situation. and, you know, the turks have

done an awful lot over the last year. very close cooperation with us on the counter-isil fight. i felt very good coming out of those meetings about the way forward. general dunnford is in regular contact. the day before i was inaugura inaugurated, he was in interlick with his counterpart. so our communications with turkey is extremely close. they are doing an operation now just south of that green splotch here near albab. and we're looking for ways to help them defeat isil in that sensitive area. you have a number of different forces converging. a lot of what we do every day is try to make sure that we de-escalate any tension between non-isil affiliated forces that we have relationships with. so everybody is focusod the same enemy. this is extremely hard. and that's why i mentioned there's another model for doing this. you can send in the 82nd airborne to go in and do this stuff. we do not think that that would be a lasting, sustainable way to

do it. we think what is sustainable, particularly in something as complex as syria is advising, assisting, enabling. and i think the record of what we've been able to do -- we're trying to encourage our partners we're working with on the ground. you guys need to go that way when sometimes they want to go a different way. this is what the daily communication and constant discussions are with the turks in different actors on the ground. i was very encouraged my meetings. it's going to continue. >> the isil forces as much as they want to fight the kurds? >> right now, they are engaged in a hostile fight against isil and turkish soldiers have taken casualties. we have to extend our condolences for them. i did that when i was there. they are engaged in a fight against isil on the ground. definitely. >> michelle? >> about a week ago, there were reports in syria that isis leadership was meeting to try to pick a baghdadi successor. what do you know about that? do you think al baghdadi is

wounded or incapacitated in some way? even if he were taken out of the picture, how much of an effect would that have on their strength? >> it's a great question. >> i saw those reports which we can't confirm. any isil leadership, a pretty good secession plan because we're moving at a fast clip. bag dadi is unique. he rose to the grand mosque in mosul and declared a caliphate which i think i mentioned this, but i travel all over the world to countries in which there are young men and young women have been attracted to this movement. and when you say what is it that's attracted your young people to this movement, there's a number of different answers but a common denominator, this notion of a homeland and a caliphate. and baghdadi claims to have this phony, unique claim to being a caliph. this is a total fraud but he claims to have this unique lineage that makes him the

caliph. when we eliminate baghdadi it will make a significant difference. it's also significant that he tried to be a new type of terrorist leader giving public speeches, going to the grand mosque and giving this sermon in the summer of 2014, and he is now in deep, deep hiding. and we have nod heard from him until he issued this audiotape a couple months ago. it was a very defensive messages. for all the fighters in mosul, stay and fight to the death. many did not take that message well because where is baghdadi? he is somewhere in hiding. and we also know he hides with slaves and all sorts of terrible things. this guy is one of the most despicable we've ever seen. so we're doing all we can to eliminate him. all of his deputies, nearly all of his deputies have been eliminated, and it's a matters of time before we find him. it will make a significant difference on isil as an organization, as a movement, but

it will not eliminate this kind of global jihadi terrorist threat obviously. >> ron? >> ginven all the progress, doe isis still have the ability to plot and orchestrate attacks against the united states and our allies from the territory that they have remaining? and will president obama leave office with that ability apparently still intact? on aleppo, there are reports that there are scores of civilians being massacred by the advancing syrian army. also reports of a cease-fire. did those issues come up, and is there any response to that from the president? >> in terms of plotting, this is what they want to do. isil wants to attack us. and they want to attack our partners. and they're very sophisticated. the paris attacks, the brussels attacks. those were in raqqah. they run through these other towns i mentioned and deploy

their operatives. we significantly degraded their ability to do that, but they do have operatives in a number of places in which they are planning external attacks. this is something that is the primary focus of ours to eliminate that external operations network. so the head of it was muhammad anani. that's why targeting him was so significant. most of this is also being done in raqqah. we demonstrated these three -- the three i mentioned today, that were eliminated just a few days ago were part of this very sophisticated terrorist plotting network. so every single opportunity we get, we are degrading this network but it still xichts this is still a threat. they are trying to recruit. not plan sophisticated attacks. they're trying to do that but also recruit deranged individuals from around the world to act in their name. and that is something that is very hard to stop, which is why the information sharing and everything we're doing kind of

behind the scenes as a coalition is critical. i can't speak to what's happening in aleppo right now. i'll just say this is a horrific situation. i think it demonstrates once again the tactics that the russians are using in report of their regime or something that is truly beyond the pale. cannot be any different than the types of tactics we utilize and i've also seen these reports of the cease-fire in a potntial agreement but i can't confirm any of that because this is all fairly late breaking but i understand the security council will be convening later today to discuss it. >> follow up on your trip to ankara. what did you hear from the turks that made you so -- vis-a-vis, what they planned with regards to [ inaudible ]? >> i'll just say this. turkey -- turkey is at war against isil. there's no question about that.

they are fighting on the ground and taking casualties. they see very clearly. and so we're working through various ways in which we can help them. we do have disagreements, of course, in terms of somethi thi going to in syria which we have candid discussions about. when it comes to raqqah, we want to get isil out of raqqah as soon as possible. this -- but this will be a sequence campaign. we're in the isolation, the strangulation phase now. and then we have to identify the forces to move in and seize and hold the city. there are a few options for that. one of the options is working closely with turkey. we're having a detailed discussion with them about this. but the most significant thing was their threat perception of isil is a significant threat to turkey, which it is. turkey suffered more casualties in isil attacks than almost any

of our other coalition. we had a pretty good shared way forward. not to say there isn't some tension, obviously. >> are u.s. forces embedding with the -- >> there was a photograph of some -- so mobilization forces are known as being primarily shia militia forces, many of which operate outside the command and control of the iraqi government which is a significant problem, not only to us but to the iraqi government. but under the umbrella of the popular mobilization forces there are local forces from these areas to hold the ground after operations conclude. many of these are locals from minowa province. sunnis, christians. it's a diverse province. in anbar province, about 15,000 local anbari tribal fighters

mobilized to fight daesh. that's one reason why from the four to the five, all of that is gre green. we need the tribes to be mobilized. those are all sunnis from anbar being paid by the government to fight isil and we're supporting them. >> can you tell us more about the coalition partners? are they just as resolute about the u.s. in continuing further and the operation themselves, how -- what's the percentage of the operation being done by the u.s. and the current percentage by the coalition parties? besides turkey? >> so a very good question. i've been at this from the beginning of the inception of the coalition when we had about 15 countries. there's always a question of what will this grow into. in the last three weeks, we had all 68 ambassadors from all 68

members of the state department and also held what's called a small group of coalition countries, over 20 countries in berlin just a couple of weeks ago. what's extraordinary about this is the sense of international consensus about the need to basically destroy this enemy and the sense of burden sharing. the counterparts in london here in a few days. and the overall cohesion of the administration across all of these multiple lines of effort. the military gets a lot of the focus. it's counterfinanced, counterprop ganda, counter foreign fighters and everybody kind of working together. we have coordinating mechanisms throughout the coalition. there's a consensus behind this sefrts something we have to continue to build upon because it's something that's quite extraordinary. in terms of overall effort, i

mentioned there's been about over 17,000 air strikes now. i think if you add them up, about 4500 or so have been coalition air strikes. so definitely u.s. military forces are doing the bulk of the air strikes. there's a reason for that. we have the best military in the world but the number of coalition partners operating to support that effort is quite significant. we couldn't do this without flying out of incirlik air base. without them, we would not be able to defeat this enemy. >> two more. >> i want to follow up especially as it relates to the coalition and strikes. there's been some reporting, brett, that the u.s. needed to use the australians to conduct strike against some of the paris attackers and i wonder if you can help me unpack the complications as it relates to the chain of command that the united states might have in conducting air strikes and having to utilize coalition partners like australia and others.

and second, i wanted to ask you about saudi arabia. that story has come out today. i'm wondering if you can help unpack this idea that the u.s. is limiting military support from the saudis because ever what's been happening, vis-a-vis civilian casualties in yemen. >> i can take the yemen one. >> i'm just say about the -- i defer to my dod colleagues who work this every day. this has been the most precise air campaign in history. it will be sdded in the future and the most precise air campaign in history. and all of our air strikes go through a common structure in terms of validating the targets. and it is really moving at an incredible clip. i can't get into details of sometimes who does a strike and everything. and what i will say is what i me mentioned today and also mentioned by secretary carter today, eliminating these external plotters in the streets

of raqqah, painstakingly, tireless work by our intelligence apparatus all working as one team. and it doesn't always work that way, but it is working quite, quite well. i can't get into in terms of who does what. but it is the most precise air campaign in history. we're very proud of that, and that will continue. i'll say about saudi arabia. i was in saudi arabia a couple of weeks ago to meet with deputy crown prince. seen him a number of times, including also with muhammad ben nayaf. and saudi arabia also is in this fight. i mean, the isil is a fundamental threat to saudi arabia. if you read isil'spropaganda, what baghdadi writes. we're working closely with the saudis in a whole range of areas to help degrade isil, particularly in the counterideological fights. they're very much in this as well.

i'll let josh address the yemen question. >> gardner, i'll give you the last one. >> john brennan has suggested the campaign on the ground and the campaign against isil globally are going in two opposite directions. he said this summer we still have a ways to go before we're able to say wie've made some significant progress. the global violence point in opposite direction as the pressure mounts on isil. we judge it will intensify its global terror campaign to maintain its dominance of the global terrorism agenda. you are sort of saying the opposite. you're saying these two campaigns are going in exactly the same directions instead of opposite directions. and you're pointing to the three deaths of these external plotters as evidence of that. tell me why there's such a difference between what you're saying and what some other intelligence people in the administration are saying. why are you so convinced these two things are going together while others say it's sort of

like squeezing a balloon, you know if you squeeze it here, they'll show up somewhere else. >> i don't think it's so much of a disagreement. all of our intelligence assessments, the way we discuss this and prosecute the campaign, i said this will be a multiyear effort. be very clear about that. the number of foreign fighters, the number of people indoctrinated into this ideology will nobt ovt be overcome for a number ever years. the notion of the caliphate led to this explosive growth of isil. that's why shrinking the caliphate is so important. but their desire to inspire attacks around the world as they lose their territory is something that we expect will probably increase. how do they want to stay rel sfla vant? they're trying to spark and

inspire attacks around the world. that's why they used to say -- muhammad adnani's last statement was very interesting. if you read all of his propaganda, it used to be about, come to the homeland. we're -- retain and expand the caliphate. most of their propaganda were these sun-drenched scenes of children and families and very optimistic message actually. his last message before his death was very different. actually said we might lose all of his territory but we'll still be around. in fact, if you can't come, because you can't because it's hard to get in here now. stay home, pick up a knife and attack someone down the street. it was a very different message. it's a message that does not appeal to a broad segment of a population. it appeals to really deranged individuals. but they are trying to remain relevant as they lose their homeland, what's they call their homeland, by trying to inspire these attacks. and that is something that will continue, and that is why one thing we've done in the coalition, we talk about even as we degrade their abillity to have territory in iraq and syria, we need to adapt as a coalition to increase our

ability to share information, our hubs of sharing information, to be able to stay ahead of the threat. that's something as a coalition we'll continue for some time. so the military focus coalition of taking back these cities, which we will do, will evolve into a coalition focused on the information sharing, the patterns of interaction among capitals, among intelligence communities, among law enforcement communities is something we have to continue to expand upon and grow. >> that's a much more -- that's were less optimistic, even frightening message for those of us in this part of the world because it is suggesting that your success there only increases the dangers here, no? >> no, because what they can do inside of iraq and syria are these big spectacular attacks. make no mistake. these are terrorists. it's an international terrorist organization that has the same ideology as osama bin laden and al qaeda. the only difference between isil and al qaeda is that isil said let's do a caliphate now whereas al qaeda said we'll do a

caliphate down the road. they inspire to do massive, spectacular attacks around the world. in order to do that, they need territory to plan and plot and resource. and so we're making sure that they are on their heels every single day. i'd never get up there and say this threat is something that's going to go away or something that we cannot remain absolutely vigilant on which is y as i mentioned, it's not just dod and state. it's our entire government working as part of this integrated campaign plan to stay ahead of it. it's different tools. it's military, law enforcement, intel and countermessaging. so we need to stay at it every single day and remain vigilant for a long time to come. >> thank you, brett. >> okay. >> appreciate your time. >> thank you. wednesday, afghanistan strategy in the trump administration including remarks from afghanistan's ambassador to the u.s. live coverage from the heritage foundation on c-span3, at

c-span.org and the c-span radio app. c-span's "washington journal" live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up wednesday morning, former indiana congressman, democrat tim roemer and former transportation secretary ray lahood will be on to discuss their efforts as members of a bipartisan non-profit group of former government officials who want to reduce the power of money in politics. then former florida democrat senator bob graham will be on to talk about the news of the day and a book he co-authored "america, the owner's manual" offering tools to make government more responsive. and michael warn of the weekly standard will join us to discuss republican efforts to appeal the affordable care act in 2017. be sure to watch c-span's "washington journal" beginning live at 7:00 eastern wednesday morning. join the discussion. at an american bar association conference, four

past administrators of the centers for medicare and medicaid talked about the challenges in implementing new federal health care laws, including obamacare. they also talked about how the incoming trump administration will effect federal health care policy. this s this is an hour and 15 minutes. >> good morning. why don't we go ahead and get started. i'm sure we'll have some folks trickling in. i'm sure the organizers would like us to try to stay on time. first, let me thank you for joining us this morning for the panel. what's in store for government health care. a discussion of the post-election future of med case, medicaid and obamacare with former cms leaders. let me give you a little bit of introduction and tell you how the program is going to work. first of all,