excellent work that's been done and the excellent conversation we had last night. with that, what i'd like to do is to invite prime minister mark rutte of the netherlands to review some of the specific progress that we've made since our last summit. mark. prime minister rutte: mr. president, dear barack, esteemed colleagues, and ladies and gentlemen, barack, your initiative in 2010 to convene the first nuclear summit has bolstered our defenses against the nightmare of a nuclear attack. the vicious terrorist acts in brussels last week only underscore the importance of the nss process. and it's fitting that we are completing this cycle of four summits under your leadership. in 2014, it was my privilege to welcome the nss to the hague.

and it's encouraging that we have continued to make progress since then. first, the amount of nuclear material in circulation continues to decline. more and more excess nuclear material is being stored and handled in a sustainable manner, like the recent shipment of excess plutonium and highly enriched uranium from japan to the united states. and the use of low-enriched uranium for the production of medical isotopes and other purposes is on the rise. second, the material that is out there is being made more secure as more countries turn the iaea's recommendations into national legislation. since the hague summit, 37 have committed to doing so -- most recently, jordan and china. and indeed, third, international cooperation and commitment

continue to grow. and the imminent entry into force of the amended convention on the physical protection of nuclear material is a great achievement. and this important milestone reinforces our efforts at this summit today. i'm also delighted that earlier summits have provided a legacy into other respects. firstly, the scenario-based policy discussion we introduce in the hague was valuable experience. today, we are using this tool again. and i look forward to an informal, concrete, interactive discussion, and i have no doubt it will be just as successful as in the hague. secondly, there is the gift basket. it's great to see how initiatives launched by one or more countries can bring us closer to a breakthrough. in the past few months alone, new gift baskets have been added on complex issues like

cybersecurity and insider threats. let's keep up the momentum even after this final nss. dear colleagues, this summit is not the end of our quest to make the world safe from nuclear terrorism. the five organizations to which we pass the torch today can count on our continued support and commitment. should the need arise, i know that everybody here will be ready to return to our roundtable. thank you. ring froml be hea president obama as he wraps up the nuclear security summit. north korea fired a missile off its coast just hours after the u.s., japan, and south korea had

preventn cooperation to pyongyang from acquiring nuclear weapons. we will be hearing from the president shortly as he wraps up the nuclear security summit.

>> just waiting here for remarks from president obama in downtown washington, d.c.. also live tonight from toronto, a debate and a look at the global refugee crisis and how developed nations should do with it, debating tonight in favor of an open-arms policy. the u.k.ear from independence party leader and from a canadian commentator. then also later tonight cannot the republican party of milwaukee hosting a dinner for candidates vying for the gop

nomination. we will bring that to you later tonight on c-span.

president obama: good evening, everybody. i want to thank the people of washington, d.c., for hosting us, especially putting up with more than 50 motorcades. i promise i will not hold another one of these summit in another six years. i want to thank everybody who participated in our meetings,

and more than 50 leaders from every region of the world and key international organizations. as in our previous summits, we did not just come here to talk, but to act. i know the very technical nature of nuclear security does not always make for flashy headlines, but over the past six years, we have made significant, meaningful progress in securing the world's nuclear materials so it never falls into the hands of terrorists. i want to take a few moments to step back and lay out exactly what we have accomplished. together, we have removed the world's most deadly materials from nuclear facilities around the world. announcement, we have secured all the highly enriched uranium and plutonium from more than 50 facilities in 30 countries, more than 3.8 tons, is more than enough to create 150 nuclear weapons.

that is material that will never fall into the hands of terrorists. countries and taiwan, as diverse as argentina and chile, libya, turkey, serbia, and vietnam, can now rid themselves of highly enriched rhenium and plutonium. i want to point out that successfully moving all of ukraine's highly enriched uranium for years ago meant that the difficult situation in ukraine over the past two years was not made more dangerous by the presence of these materials. as of today, south america, entire continent, is completely free of these dangerous materials. when poland complete its removal this year, central europe will be free of them as well. its worknesia complete this year, so well all of southeast asia. in other words, as terrorists and criminal gangs and arms merchants around for deadly ingredients for a nuclear

device, vast regions of the world are now off limits, and that is a remarkable achievement. we have made important progress in the united states as well, and in addition to the steps i announced, we have improved nuclear security and training. we've consolidated nuclear materials at fewer facilities, eliminate hundred 30 tons of our surplus highly enriched uranium, enough for 5500 nuclear weapons. working with russia we are on track to illuminate enough russian highly enriched uranium or about 20,000 nuclear weapons, which we are converting to electricity here in the united states. more specifically, as result of these summits, every single one of the more than 50 nations represented here at taking concrete steps to enhance security at your nuclear facilities and storage sites, and includes improved physical security, stronger regulations, abiding by international

guidelines, reader transparency, and that includes international peer-reviewed. 15 new centers have been created around the world to prevent nuclear security technology to share best practices. today we agree to keep strengthening our defenses against cyber attacks. we bolstered international efforts to disrupt nuclear smuggling, and the initiative has grown to more than 100 nations, including exercises to improve our ability to interdict shipments. the united states and are countries have installed equipment at more than 300 international border crossings, airports, and ports, and we are developing new mobile detection systems as well. as i noted this morning, we are strengthened treaties and international partnerships that are the foundation for so many of our efforts. we have made significant -- ands in every one

everyone involved in this room, especially those who have worked on this for years, to take right in our achievements. as i said earlier, our work is by no means finished. there's still a great deal of nuclear material around the world needs to be secured. global stocks of plutonium are growing, nuclear arsenals are spending in some countries, with more small tactical nuclear weapons, which could be at greater risk of theft, and as a consequence, one of the central goals of this summit was, how do we build on the work that has been done so we have an international architecture that evenontinue the efforts though this is the last formal leaders summit? even as this is the last of those leader-level summits, today we agreed to maintain a strong architecture, including through the united nations, the international atomic energy

agency, and interpol to carry on work and provide the support that is needed to continue this mission. we are creating a new nuclear security contact group, senior-level experts from more than 30 of our countries, who will meet regularly to preserve the network of corporation, to institutionalize this work, and keep driving this progress for years to come. at our session on isil, there was agreement that defeating terrorist groups like isil requires more information sharing. everybody understands the urgency in the wake of what has turkey, in brussels and pakistan, and so many other countries around the world. as a consequence, our director of national intelligence, jim clapper, is continuing to engage with leaders from an number of our european partners on deepening cooperation, and today i invited all the nations represent it at the summit to join a broader discussion among our intelligence and security

services how we can improve permission jerry within and among our nation's prevent all matter of -- manner of terse attacks, especially those that might involve weapons of mass destruction. in closing, i want to say that preventing nuclear terrorism is one part of a broader agenda that i outlined of years ago in ague, sopping a world of nuclear weapons. and in recent days there has onn no shortage of analysis whether we have achieved our vision, and i am the first of knowledge the great deal of work that remains, on negotiating for the reduction with russian to dealing with north korea's nuclear program. as i indicated, realizing our vision will not happen quickly, perhaps will not happen in my lifetime. but we have begun. united states and russian nuclear arsenals are on track to be the lowest that they have

been in six decades. i have reduced the number of nuclear weapons in our nuclear security strategy. in a historic deal, we have prevented the spread of nuclear weapons to iran. civil nuclear cooperation is being encouraged. we will keep pushing forward wherever we can, as i hope future administrations do, to bring us closer to the day when these nuclear dangers no longer hang over the heads of our children and grandchildren. with that, let me take a few questions, and i will start with roberta from reuters. >> thank you. i want to ask about iran, and three weeks ago the supreme leader complained his country has not been getting actual business deals since the nuclear agreement. and non-u.s. comedies are saying it is hard or impossible to do much business with iran without

at some point accessing the u.s. financial system to do u.s.-dollar-denominated transactions. are you considering allowing ish transactions, and if so, that not a betrayal of your assurances that most u.s. stations would stay in place? president obama: that is not the course we are. let me say broadly that so long as iran is carrying out its end of the bargain, we think it is important for the world community to carry out our end of the bargain. they had in fact, based on the presentations that were made by to the p5his morning plus one, had in fact followed the and fermentation -- part of thet

challenges that they face is that companies have not been doing business there for a long time, and they need to get comfortable with the prospects of this deal holding. one of the things that secretary lew and his counterpart within the p5 plus one and elsewhere are going to be doing is providing clarity to businesses about what transactions are in fact allow, and it is going to take time over the next several months for companies and their legal department to feel confident that impact there may not be risks of liability if they do business with iran. and so some of the concerns that iran has expressed we are going to work with them to address. it is not necessary that we take the approach of them going through dollar-denominated transactions. it is possible for them to work through european financial

institutions as well. but there is going to need to be continued clarification provided -- fouresses in order deal flows to begin. now, what i would say is also important is iran's own behavior in generating confidence that iran is a safe place to do business. firsteal like this, my priority, my first concern is making sure that we got there nuclear program stopped and material that they already had that would give them a very short breakout capacity, that that has shipped out. that has happened. and i always said i cannot promise that iran would take advantage of this opportunity in this window to reenter the international community. iran so far has followed the letter of the agreement.

but the spirit of the agreement involves iran also sending signals to the world community of businesses that it is not going to be engaging in a range of provocative action that might scare business off. when they launch ballistic slogans calling for the destruction of israel, that makes businesses nervous. there is some geopolitical risk that is heightened when they see that taking place. if iran continues to ship that getto hezbollah, businesses nervous. and so part of what i hope happens is that we have a responsibility to provide clarity about the rules that govern so that iran can in fact benefit the iranian people, can benefit from the improved economic situation. but iran has understand what

every you interrupt understands, ages businesses want to go where they dol safe, where not see massive controversy, where they can be confident that transactions are going to operate normally, and that is an adjustment that iran is going to have to make as well. and frankly, within iran, i suspect there are different views, in the same way to hardliners here in united who even after we have certified -- united states who even after we have certified this deal is working, even after our intelligence teams, israeli intelligence teams say this has been a game changer, are posted this deal on principle. there are hardliners inside iran who do not want to see iran opened itself up to the broader world community. and are doing things to potentially undermined the deal.

that seekse forces the benefits of the deal, not just in their own terms, but more broadly, we want to make time they are in the position to realize those benefits. david? >> thank you, mr. president. as you mentioned, you finished a working session with 50 world leaders about combating terrorism. i wanted to ask you about one of the strategies your administrations is using in that effort. in the past several weeks, your administration has killed well over 200 people in airstrikes in somalia, libya, and yemen, according to the department of defense. how can visa that all people killed close an imminent threat to the united states, and why is the united states now scores of people at a time rather than eliminating individuals in very targeted strikes? thank you. president obama: we have

rigid andd a fairly vigorous set of criteria for us evaluating the intelligence that isil, where itt might be operating. these involve a whole range of agencies consulting extensively, and are then checked, double checked, triple checked before genetic actions are taken. tic actions -- kine are taken. for the most part, actions are taken against high-value targets in the countries you described, outside the theater of iraq in syria. in some cases, what we are seeing our camps that after long

times of monitoring it becomes involved inre directing plots that could do the united states harm, for our supporting isil activities for al qaeda activities elsewhere in the world. ofif after a long period observation we are seeing that in fact explosive materials are being loaded on to trucks and individuals are engaging in training in small arms and there are some of those individuals who are identified as courier isil or al qaeda, that based on his evaluations a strike would be taken. but what we have been very cautious about is making sure that we are not taking strikes in situations where, for

example, we think there is the presence of women or children or if it is in a normally populated area. out thently, we laid criteria by which we are making these decisions. we declassified many elements of this. we are going to be putting forward and trying to institutionalize on a regular basis how we make these evaluations and these analyses. in terms of the broader debate that is taking place, david, i think there has been in the past thetimate criticism that architecture, the legal architecture around the use of jerome strikes or other kinetic strength was not as precise as it should have been, and there is no doubt that civilians were killed that should not have been.

i think that over the last several years we have worked very hard to avoid and prevent those kinds of tragedies from taking place. situations of war, we have to take responsibility when we are or acting appropriately, where we have just made mistakes, even with the best of intentions, and that is what we are going to continue to try to do. and what i can say with great operating is that our procedures are as rigorous as they have ever been and that there is a constant evaluation of precisely what we do. thank you, mr. president. you spent seven years now working on nonproliferation issues, and you said in your over any remarks that you hope

that future administrations do the same. this week one of the republican front runners to replace you said that perhaps north and south korea and japan -- perhaps south korea and japan should have nuclear weapons and would not rule out nuclear weapons in europe. what message does it send when a major party candidate is articulating such a reversal in u.s. foreign policy? and also, who did you vote for in the democratic primary? [laughter] first of all,a: it is a secret ballot, isn't it? no, i am not going to tell you now. mentioned --s you what do they tell us? they tell us the person who made the statement does not know much about foreign policy or nuclear policy or the korean peninsula or the world in general.

it came up on the sidelines. i have said before that people pay attention to american elections. what we do is really important to the rest of the world. and even in those countries that a carnival atmosphere in their own politics want sobriety and clarity when it comes to u.s. elections because they understand the president of the united states needs to know what is going on around the world and has to put in place the kinds of policies that lead not only to our butrity and prosperity, will have an impact on everybody else's security and prosperity.

with japan and the republic of korea is one of foundations, one of the our presence in the asia-pacific region. it is under -- it has underwritten the peace and prosperity of that region. boon toeen an enormous american commerce and american prevented and it has the possibilities of a nuclear escalation and conflict between countries that in the past and throughout history have been engaged in hugely destructive conflict and controversies. so you do not mess with that. it is an investment that rests

on the sacrifices that our men and women made back in world war ii, when they were fighting throughout the pacific. it is because of their thatfices and the wisdom american foreign-policy makers world two, werld have been able to avoid catastrophe in those regions. we do not want someone in the oval office who does not recognize how important that is. thank you, mr. president. yesterday, you met with turkey.t erdogan of do you consider him an authoritarian? turkey is aama: nato ally and an extraordinary

important partner in our fight against isil. it is a country with we have a long and strategic relationship, and the president is someone who i have dealt with since i came .nto office in a whole range of areas, we have had a productive partnership. what is also true, and i have expressed this to him directly, that there areet that iends within turkey have been troubled with. i am a strong believer in freedom of the press. i am a strong believer in freedom of religion. i am a strong believer in rule of law and democracy. there is no doubt that president erdogan has repeatedly been

elected through a democratic think theut i approach they have been taking toward the press is one that could lead turkey down a path that would be very troubling. we are going to continue to advise them -- and i have said -- remindnt erdogan him that he came into office and a promise of democracy, turkey has historically been a country in which deep islamic lived side-by-side with modernity and increasing that is the legacy which he should pursue, rather than a strategy which involves andession of information

shutting down democratic debate. toing said that, i want emphasize the degree to which their cooperation has been critical on a range of international and regional issues and will continue to be. as is true with a lot of our friends and partners, we work with them, we cooperate with , we are appreciative of their efforts, and there will be some differences. where there are differences, we will say so, and that is what i have tried to do here. i will take one last question. this young lady right there. >> thank you, president. where are youa: from, by the way? >> i am from azerbaijan.

how can azerbaijan support in this nuclear security issue? azerbaijan,ama: like many countries that participated, has already taken a number of steps. each country has put forward a national action plan. some countries had stockpiles of highly enriched uranium that they agreed to get rid of. other countries had civilian nuclear facilities but not necessarily the best security practices, so they have adopted better security practices. there are countries that could potentially be transit points for the smuggling of nuclear materials, so they have worked with us on border controls and .etection because of azerbaijan's

location, it is a critical partner in this process. i should point out, by the way, theselthough the focus of summits has been on securing nuclear materials and making sure they do not all into the hands of terrorists, the informations, the sharing, the stitching together of domestic law enforcement, ,nternational law enforcement intelligence, military agencies, both within countries and this set oftries -- relationships internationally not just forl nuclear material, but it is useful in preventing terrorism generally. it is useful in identifying threats of chemical weapons or biological weapons.

one of the clear messages coming summit and our experiences over the last seven years is an increasing awareness that some of the most important threats we face are transnational threats, so we are slowly developing a web of relationships around the world that allow us to match and keep up with the transnational all too oftenthat are involved in terrorist activity, criminal activity, a wholeafficking -- range of issues that can ultimately do our citizens harm. ofing the strengthening these institutions i think will be one of the most important legacies of this entire process. since you have your hand up, i will call on you one last question.

>> thank you, mr. president. i wanted to ask a question about nuclear policy. the worldushed to rid of nuclear material and fissile material, the u.s. nuclear history has worked to improve miniaturization of warheads. while it has not developed new classes of warheads, it has technology, which has prompted some in china and russia to say that they need to keep up. theyou concerned technological advances in the united states have had the effect of undermining some of the progress you have made on the prevention side? that ist obama: i think a legitimate question, and i am concerned. here is the balance we have had -- we have a nuclear stockpile that we have to make sure is safe and reliable.

the treaty we entered into with russia, we have brought down significantly the number of weapons that are active, but we also have to make sure that they their to date, that command and control systems that might have been developed a are up to snuff, given all the technology that has , and wesince that time have to make sure that our deterrence continues to work. as we brought down the number of weapons that we have, i have wanted to make sure that what we do retain functions, that it is not subject to a iser intrusion, that there

sufficient confidence in the system that we do not create a stabilizing activity. -- we do not create the stabilizing activity -- we do not create destabilizing activity. completed the treaty, our team approach the russians in terms of looking at a next phase for arms reductions. because mr. putin came into power or returned to his office as president because of a vision he has been pursuing of emphasizing military might over development inside of russia and diversifying the economy, we have not seen the kind of progress i would have hoped for with russia.

the good news is that the possibilities of progress remain . we are abiding by the treaty. ,e are seeing implementation and although we are not likely to see further reductions during my presidency, my hope is that andave built the mechanisms systems of verification and so forth that will allow us to continue to reduce them in the future. we do have to guard against in new andrim ramping up and more effective systems that end up leading to a whole new escalation of the arms race. in our modernization plan, i have tried to strike the proper balance, making sure that the

triad and our systems work properly, that they are effective, but also to make sure we are leaving the door open to further reductions in the future. but one of the challenges we will have here is that it is very difficult to see huge reductions in our nuclear arsenal unless the united states and russia, as the two largest possessors of nuclear weapons, are prepared to lead the way. the other area where i think we would need to see progress is pakistan and india, that subcontinent, making sure that as they develop military doctrines, that they are not continually moving in the wrong direction. we have to take a look at the korean peninsula because north korea is in a whole different category.

it poses the most immediate set of concerns for all of us, one that we are working internationally to focus on, and that's one of the reasons why we had the trilateral meeting with japan and korea. thank you very much, everybody. have a good weekend. in aesident obama field number of the nuclear summit. some of those questions dealing with north korea after it fired a short range missile into the waters off the eastern coast. the u.s., japan, south korea had just hours before agreed to keeping pyongyang from acquiring weapons. the missile launch is the latest in a string of such trials, possibly in retaliation for joint military exercises between south korea and the united states. life tonight from wisconsin,

c-span's wrote to the white house coverage from milwaukee where the republican party fisting candidates vying for the roadomination -- c-span's to the white house coverage. 8:30hat live tonight at eastern time, 7:30 central. and some news from the rt television network. amnesty international research shows around 100 syrians are expelled from turkey around every day, the news coming to the weeks after turkey and the eu agreed to a deal aimed at stemming the flow of migrants and refugees into the european union. about 7:00onight eastern, a look at the global refugee crisis and have developed nations should deal

with that from the semiannual munk debate in toronto. ahead of our live coverage of the debate, an update on the u.s.-led military campaign against isis, reporters questioned pentagon officials about syrian civilians and the failed efforts to train rebels. we will watch as much of this as we can head of the debate. >> steve, just want to make sure you can hear us and we can hear you. >> i can hear you loud and clear. >> welcome, good morning, and we will turn it over to you. again as always, and good morning to our press corps. it has been a while since i briefed you about targeting isil

leadership, but i want you to remain assured we remain active on this front. we have been dismantling their headquarters and disrupting their attacks on the battlefields in iraq and syria or abroad. their leadership is having an increasingly difficult time governing their so-called caliphate, and they are hunkered down with a degraded ability to shoot, moved, or communicate. and last month, three senior isil s were retired from service. they were important leaders that replace. struggle to in any organization, however, middle management is also important, and we have targeted them as well.

on january 28, the deputy formosa wasr killed. he was responsible for the brutal enforcement of isil security measures and for purging dissidents. on march 7, a coalition killed isil's chief of staff. two other members were also fortunately killed in this strike. now let's move onto the battlefield update. security, iraq is forces supported by the coalition kicked off a new offensive in the tigris river valley. it's called operation valley will -- valley wolf. it's taking place about 45 miles

south of mosul and will help set the conditions for the liberation. units from the 15th division liberating west, villages. to the west in the euphrates river valley, the operation continues. the seventh division seized a statement -- a cement factory. isf and tribal fighters are now clearing that town of ied's. tribal forces are key to maintaining long-term stability after the army moves out of the area. yesterday, the isf continued their attack. moving on to syria. forces aredemocratic improving their defenses and

preparing for future operations. in the last six weeks, they have gained more than 3200 square kilometers. line, sdflong the and isil have gained in lost towns, so the shoving match continues. to open with, so let's move to questions. i think i saw bob. .ob: good morning, colonel thanks. i just wonder what became of the operation against the islamic state loyal as in structure you talked so much about a couple of weeks ago. is that completed, and have you assessed the impact on their oil againsts and revenue --

the islamic state oil infrastructure. >> great question. waves named after tidal one, which was our effort to strike nazi oil in romania. i do have some statistics. we struck a total of 247 targets in operation tidal wave. i do not have an updated set of numbers for you. the last tidal wave to strike was conducted on march 11, which was a strike against a gas and oil separation plant, but looking at this, it looks like we have conducted strikes associated with that operation roughly every -- we have march

11, march 8, march 7, march 4, february 28. those operations continue apace. we do not have updated estimates on the amount of financial damage that was done. we are waiting for those. our last estimate was several months ago, and it was roughly 1/3 of their ability to produce income through oil had been destroyed. >> you mentioned march 11 was as far as you could tell the last strike in that campaign. that has been a few weeks ago. does that suggest that has been interrupted or ended? >> tidal wave to operations continued us tidal wave 2 operations continue -- tidal wave 2 operations continue.

i do not know what the case is in this particular instance, but as targets become available and they are matched with resources, there is a priority list, and those strikes are conducted. >> thank you. >> i want to go back to your opening statement. you mentioned you are always isil leaders target it are in iraq or syria or .broad after taking many leaders in the last few months, how close do you think you are from targeting -- fromders of baghdad targeting the isil leader. is? here do you think he can you share with us? >> for one thing, i hope al

-baghdadi is watching this. like wefind him just found his mentor and killed him, just like we found the grand master of terrorism and killed him. we will find him, and he will taste justice. i don't know if that will look like a hellfire missile or a dark prison cell somewhere, but he will find justice someday. we know he is alive. we believe he is alive. we also believe that he moves in between syria and iraq. >> quick follow-up, even now, do you think he has the capability to move right now from syria to iraq or vice versa>>? >> yeah.

that opening statement, what i wrote down was you are dismantling isis headquarters on the battlefield, in iraq, syria, and abroad. other than that strike in libya, broad from here.d isis guy,

that is the reference. struck in iraq and syria, but we know that they syriattacks from iraq and , and some of that is directed at the battlefield. some of that attack planning we believe is externally directed, and so that's what we believe we are disrupting, to be clear. >> the russians and syrian forces have taken palmyra. take in theso adjoining town, first of all? it appears russians are bombing maybe in preparation. can you give us an update on what you are seeing with the russians? >> they do have palmyra.

they are still working on the military complex adjacent to it, which we do not believe they have fully seized. we have seen some strikes east, but those, frankly, are probably more defensive in nature to prevent a counterattack. difficult to know if they plan to advance any further east or not. also, of course, difficult to predict if they do advance if they will go east and a little bit north or east and a little bit south. we will have to wait and see. we will also have to wait and see if syrians have the to be able toph push any further. >> you talk about the liberation of most of. of mosul.eration

where does this year or early next. do you agree with that estimate? >> it is certainly something we would like to see. we are trying to stay out of the timeline business, primarily weause almost every time give a timeline estimate, it's wrong, so it is something we would like very much to see. we know they are developing and finalizing their plan. we have a saying in the army that says the enemy gets a vote. it's tough to predict exactly how battle is going to unfold, havee know that the iraqis the beginnings of a very trained and increasingly capable force. we know they are supported by devastating air power, and we know they have allocated already more than $1.6 billion worth of training equipment and funds. we believe all these things 'ombined along with the iraqis

increasing confidence and competence, we believe that whenever ito mosul, is, will be successful. >> thank you. just a follow-up to tom's question. do you welcome a russian-backed syrian offensive? >> any time daesh is hurt, we consider that a good ring -- or isil. i forgot one talking to. we consider that a good thing. but it is a tricky situation because what do you see in palmyra? the russian regime has pushed out isil. is certainly aat

movement from the frying pan into the fire for the people of palmyra. assad is a ruthless dictator who has gassed his own people with chemical weapons. he is responsible for a bloody civil war that has taken more than a quarter million syrian lives in the estimate of many humanitarian organizations. the situation for the people in yra probably is not going to improve that much. they went from being under the to being underil the boot heel of besar al-assad, and i'm not sure that's much of an improvement -- under the boot heel of bashar al-assad. it is a question that is very difficult to answer. syrianou want this

defense force, these arabs and kurds, to arrive before a potential arrival of syrian forces? >> we do. we believe moderate forces are appropriate to enter because they will bring with them goals that are in alignment with our goal, which is a peaceful and prosperous syria. there is no evidence that assad has any interest in anything other than the continuation of his poodle and ruthless dictatorship. >> is there a sense of urgency to get their first -- to get there first? >> nobody is going to get there .ny time soon, frankly

this is going to require a significant generation of combat power. so right now,teve warren: there is certainly no race on, but we will have to see what the future holds. >> finally, colonel -- announcer: we leave this and take you live to toronto for the semiannual munk debate, a look at the noble refugee crisis and how developed nations to deal with it. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] the ideology -- >> and then you have got to come back, you are sick enough. >> it is time to change. >> i don't know what the hell is said it, but you have got to say something. >> i believe the 21st century will belong to