communism more than a quarter-century ago. that is life in the first nine months of this administration, president trump has taken decisive action to make the strongest military in the world stronger still. the threats we face today mean that, once again, america's security and our very future depend on the airman of minot being ready and being prepared. it is a great honor for me to serve as vice president, to a president who cares so deeply about that men and women of the armed forces of the united states, their families, and our veterans. i believe history will record president donald trump is the best friend that armed forces of the united states will ever have. just look at what we have accomplished already. our president has already signed the largest increase in defense spending in nearly 10 years. as we speak, we are working with the congress to pass the largest investment in our national

defense since the days of ronald reagan. under this commander-in-chief, the era of budget cuts to the american military are over. [applause] v.p. pence: you can also be assured our administration is committed to strengthening and modernizing america's nuclear deterrent. history attests peace is through american strength. there is no greater elements of american strength, no greater force for peace in the world than the united states' nuclear arsenal. this bedrock of freedom protects and assures our allies and it proves every day to the world the united states has both the will and the firepower to annihilate any existential threat to our people or homeland.

i can assure you that president trump is committed to ensure the united states maintains an effective nuclear deterrent that is capable of meeting the unpredictable threats of the 21st century and beyond. that is why earlier this year, the president directed the secretary of defense to conduct a comprehensive review of our ballistic missile defense and nuclear capabilities as part of the nuclear posture review and as a sign of his commitment to strengthen our deterrent secretary mattis visited this airbase a few short weeks ago. to see, as i did today, i'll nuclear forces and to meet the men and women who operate than and maintain them. the findings from the nuclear posture review will be released in the months ahead. and under president trump's leadership, we will make sure our nuclear deterrent is stronger than ever before. modern, robust, flexible, resilient, and ready to confront any and all enemies of peace with rapid, effective and overwhelming response.

and i will make you a promise. under president trump's leadership, we will rebuild our military. we are going to restore the arsenal of democracy and we will once again as a nation give our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coast guard the resources and the training you need and deserve to accomplish your mission and come home safe. that is my promise to every one of you and your families. [applause] v.p. pence: and with that renewed american strength, this president has made it clear america will stand with our allies and stand up to our enemies. in afghanistan as we speak, our commander-in-chief is committing armed forces to remain against the taliban and other terrorist groups in the region until we eliminate that threat once and for all. president trump a few short days on notice when he

announced our administration will no longer certify the disastrous iran nuclear deal and we will no longer tolerate tehran's support of global terrorism. ourks to the courage of armed forces, in syria and iraq, isis is on the run. three years ago, those barbarians celebrated in their self-declared capital of raqqa. they raised their black flags across the region as they began to perpetrate their unspeakable violence on innocent civilians. but thanks to the armed forces of the united states of america, those black flags do not fly in raqqa anymore. [applause] v.p. pence: just last week,

american and allied forces liberated raqqa, and you guys were part of the historic victory. the great men and women of minot took the fight to isis in the air and on the ground, and i came to say thanks to the team here at minot for a job well done. [applause] v.p. pence: the b-52s of the fifth wing responsible for 700 danger close strikes to support our coalition for freedom in the region. i know all of you know you could not have achieved those missions without the skill and hard work of your maintainers who kept the jets in the air day after day without interruption. so let me take a moment to thank all of you who just returned from that desert mission.

the crews and maintainers and the families and loved ones who quietly bore the burden at home. thank you to your bravery. across syria and iraq the caliphate is crumbling. we will not rest, we will not relent, until we hunt down and completely destroy isis at its source. we will finish the mission you have been so vital to advancing. [applause] v.p. pence: in just a few days, president trump will travel to another frontline of freedom. for so many of your fellow orces,s of the armed f you stand guard to protect our people, allies, and our way of life. the korean peninsula. in the face of ongoing threats and provocations by the regime in north korea, i can assure you the united states will continue to marshall economic and

pressure to demand north korea abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. while president trump has made clear great strength and patience, all options are on the table. our enemies should never doubt the capabilities of the armed forces of the united states of america. anyone who would threaten our nation should know that america always seeks peace, but if we're forced to defend ourselves or our allies we will do so with military power that is effective and overwhelming. and those gathered here at minot air force base will play a critical role again. now more than ever, your commander-in-chief is depending on you to be ready. stay sharp, mind your mission and your airmen, and be that credible deterrent that has ensured the security of the american people for generations.

the brave men and women of minot air force base may yet be called upon to be the instrument of american power. and if that day comes, we know you will be prepared. bully. >> bully! v.p. pence: you know, it is deeply humbling for me to stand before you today. before so many heroic americans. because, you see, while i am the son of a combat veteran, i'm a proud father of an aviator in the united states marine corps. my life not take me into the uniform of the united states. but i have seen you all in action. back in the spring of 2003, i traveled with the group of congressman to visit soldiers in operation iraq freedom. on our way back, i was inspired to visit the airmen station in at raf fairford in england.

i will never forget the sight of seeing the last b-52 lumbered down the runway and leap into the air on its way home to north dakota. i witnessed the power and professionalism of the airmen of minot firsthand. in america, we maintain peace through strength. and i saw that day just like i seen today -- you are america's strength. and know president trump and i understand your service comes with great sacrifice, with long deployments, and hardship. but i want to assure you today that you do not bear the burden alone. you have the gratitude of a commander in chief, our entire administration, and your representatives in washington, and leaders in the congress who are standing with you and stand by you. each and every one of you

also carries with you the gratitude and pride of every american. and as the airmen of minot air force base taste to the skies, let me say in one other way, i hope you also know that you never go alone. in one other way. the old book tells us that if yyou rise on the wings of the dawn, if you go up to the heavens, even there, his hand will guide you. his right hand will hold you fast. so as you take to the airs, as you take a stand for freedom, just know that you go on the wings of grace. and the grateful prayers of the american people who pray every day for god's protection as you serve and as you defend this nation and our freedom.

so to the men and women of minot air force base, on behalf of your commander-in-chief and a grateful nation, thank you for your service. thank you for your vigilance. may god bless you. god bless your families and your mission, and may god continue to bless the united states of america. [applause] announcer: you can hear more about u.s. military strategy tomorrow when defense secretary james mattis and secretary of state rex tillerson appear before the senate foreign relations committee to testify. that is live at 5:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. you can also watch online at www.c-span.org or listen on the free c-span radio app.

c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 19 79, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies and is brought you today by your cable or satellite provider. announcer: next come a conversation with former cia director and retired army general david the tray us on efforts to combat isis and other terrorist groups. this is part of a daylong conference on countering violent extremism. it is 40 minutes. >> hello, everybody. speaker.s our keynote before general petraeus comes on

stage is my pleasure to invite brigadier general retired, congressman from nebraska to the podium, officer from the air force come and highly decorated aviator, specialized in electronic warfare, intelligence, and public affairs during his long military career. he served four deployments in the middle east, most notably from 2007 to 2008. his military directions include the air force distinguished service medal, two bronze stars, and five service medals. congressman baker? [applause] working.lly the mic is it is an honor to be here at the hudson institute today.

truly an honor for me to recognize general betray us and ambassador ross. military career i got to work with both of them in different capacities. he has a good quote -- nothing ruins a good war story like an eyewitness. in this case i was an eyewitness to his leadership and everything we say about him was so true during my time in iraq. i just want to give you the story --. i got to iraq at the same time general petraeus showed up. our forces in iraq look at their worst. the mood was bleak and our casualties were the highest they had ever been. there was no optimism of where we were going. us, we brought in joe patre and he had a vision for how to fix this. it was my good fortune to see the progress we made under his leadership. when we showed up we had 120

fatalities a month. u.s. fatalities. the attacks against our forces and against the iraqi forces and installations and economy were at its highest. he brought in the surge strategy. not only a surge of u.s. forces but a surge of new ideas. he brought in 30,000 new troops. he put those forces into our populated areas. where we could protect them better. then he was able to get the sunni tribes to lead that fight against al qaeda. at the same time he had to come up with a strategy to fight the iranian-trained militias. he also had to help the iraqi leadership to headache government that had kurds -- i got to watch that firsthand. a year later, our fatalities were often less than a handful of americans.

120, down to two or three, and later there were zero. for many months at a time. a couple of anecdotes, one time prime minister maliki criticized the u.s. forces there and general petraeus said i want to go and build a briefing and we're going to show prime minister maliki the good things we're doing. colonel.ernel -- a he showed how we were helping build a hospital, and the dam. general petraeus went to maliki's house. sir, this is what you said. let's remind you about the things we're doing in iraq. we went through the hospital, the dam, the port down south. all the work we were doing their. -- there. what a great opportunity for me

to be at the prime minister's house with general petraeus. i will tell you another general one. petraeus made it clear we want to show the atrocities of al qaeda so people could see what was going on there. we found a torture house where people were brutally murdered. i want to get the story out at us a colonel, but my intermediate boss would not let me do it because it was too ugly. but we needed to show what was done. i did something that was probably not wise, i did it anyway. i put it out despite my jaw's -- my boss, who was a general. before he came down general petraeus sent a note saying great job. it's one of the best things i have seen done. so i got saved. thanks to him. we owe general petraeus a debt of gratitude for his many deployments in the middle east. not joining us for our discussion is ambassador ross. i got to see him in 2003 in 2004.

he started out as a soviet ecologist -- sovietologist. he is the foremost expert when it comes to israel he palestinian negotiations. he worked a deal with israel and jordan. he worked a lot with the syrians. there's no one who has the depth of middle east diplomacy then an ambassador ross. with no further do i would like to invite our two esteemed american patriots to take the stage. thank you. [applause] >> so, together again. that's right. i want to start by asking you a real general comment. one thing you noticed was the struggle we faced was radical islamists, and islam is a

religion, islamism is an ideology. one thing you notice is that this is going to be a long struggle. it is not quite disappear overnight. i would like you to offer your perspective on the nature of the challenge, how we ought to think about it and why it is simply not going to disappear quickly. gen. petraeus: thank you for the -- thank you for a very kind introduction. i was delighted to save your taken by praising your to star -star boss. we were not there to lose gracefully, as you recall. it was take no prisoners time, metaphorically speaking. thanks to the hudson institute for the invitation to be here. thanks in particular for arranging for me to have the privilege of being on stage with one of america's great diplomats and certainly that dean of those who have wrestled with the problems of the middle east, dennis ross.

i have enormous respect for the hudson institute. done a lot of events with them over the years and i'm very pleased to be able to be here for this one. i am a bit disappointed, i must say, that that the pink ladies were ushered out of the house earlier today. we had a very close relationship during the time i was privileged to command the surge. never was there an appearance on capitol hill that was not helped by their greeting to me. usually directly behind me with the cameras getting them in the frame. it would've been a sign of continued relevance if they were still in the room. i hold leon panetta personally accountable for having them expend all their energy on him and not saving some for me. this is a great question you ask, as usual, about the duration of the challenge that we face. which as you know -- we have

done this as little as two weeks ago and i love doing it together -- i would characterize that as a generational struggle. this is not the fight of a decade, much less a few years. and maybe if i could, i would like to offer five lessons up front that i think we should learn from the fight against islamist extremists, and to some degree against maligned iranian activity. five of them. the first is that extremist, islamic extremists, and iranian elements in some parts of the world will exploit ungoverned spaces. it is not a question of if, it is merely a question of when and how significant will that exploitation be. ve toecond is that we ha take action in such situations.

that is because las vegas rules unfortunately do not apply in these areas. what happens there does not stay there. they tend to spew violence, extremism, and in many cases a tsunami of refugees -- not just of neighboring countries and throughout the region, but all the way into the countries of our nato allies and partners as we saw most significantly with the case with the geopolitical chernobyl, a meltdown of the country that is syria and the consequences of that in europe being very significant, domestic populist pressures that manifest themselves in a variety of different ways in a variety of -- brexitelections being among those. this is not a problem that we can deal with the way washington sometimes deals with it will s toealsa with it, which it so

admire it until it does away. unfortunately it is not going away. the third is, in taking action the u.s. invariably has to leave. there may be cases such as the admirable case of a france leading the way in mali. very courageously and skillfully. but in most significant cases the u.s. will have to lead. the reason is quite simple -- we have the assets that have proven to be the most valuable of of all, as we engage in what might be termed advise, assist, and enabling operations. that is what we are doing. this is a big deal, as joe biden might have observed. this is such a big deal that it is arguably revolutionary. that we are able to defeat the islamic state in iraq and in syria without our young men and women having to be on the front lines more than select counterterrorism operations and as advisors. and it is because of the skill of our young men and women, and

those of coalition countries, and this should be a coalition, and the coalition should include islamic countries. and i will explain that more in a moment. but the assets that we can bring to bear, particularly the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platforms, especially the predators and reapers, the unblinking eye of up there seven days a week, 24 hours a day, and the advantages that that provides to the forces that we are advising, assisting, and enabling is profound. you can take all of the similar capabilities of other countries around the world, and multiply it by five or six and you would probably not get to the numbers we can keep up there. i'm not talking about little drones. i am not talking about do-it-yourself, quad copters. i'm talking about the coin of the realm which are predators and reapers which have such extraordinary optics and intelligence gathering cap

abilities, and from which we can do that very few countries can do off of their platforms. beyond that we have the unique ability to do industrial strength intelligence were first done during the surge in iraq. we had to build a cloud in baghdad. we could not ship all the data back to the states for analysis because of the size of it. we built our own cloud. regret the applications engineers and scientists out from the united states out there. by the way, it is amazing how productive people can be when there is nothing to do but work 24 hours a day. there is nobody asking when they will come home for dinner, and they cannot drink. productivity was extraordinary. so we had that unique ability as well. and then of course the precision strike which many of our allies and partners can bring to bear, but we haven't industrial-strength numbers. those capabilities are

extraordinary. but it should be a coalition. i'm a huge believer in having as large a coalition as you can. i was the the commander of the largest coalition at that time. i was willing to spend whatever it would take in coalition activities, and it should include muslim countries. if you think about this endeavor right now, this challenge is more of a fight for the heart of the muslim world, so it is a class within a civilization more than it is a clash of civilizations, to harken back to sam huntington's book of that name. and many of our successes in this particular fight have come together with muslim partners and leaders and intelligence officers in muslim countries. the fourth is that in leading, we have to ensure that we embark on a comprehensive campaign. this has to be what the congressman was referring to

earlier, it is a civil military campaign. it is not just a counterterrorist endeavor. in fact, the paradox of this enemy is that you cannot counterterrorist the islamic state and al qaeda with just counterterror operations. drone strike delta raid your way out of this problem. it takes all of the above. we created a slide for congress called the anaconda slide just to show that while military force was necessary, absolutely necessary, because without the security foundation, nothing else is possible, it is not sufficient. it takes all the other elements that the congressman was referring to. he is correct to say the surge that mattered most is not the surge of forces, it was the surge of ideas, it was the change in strategy, the major elements of which were 180

degrees different than what we were doing before. instead of consolidating on big bases, you live with the population. instead of handing off to the iraqis at an increasing pace, we stopped it and took back control until we could reconstitute stop releasing detainees until you have a rehabilitation program, etc., etc. -- all very different. this has to be a comprehensive approach with a large coalition that includes muslim countries. this is a generational struggle. therefore, we must have a sustainable sustained commitment as our strategy. what is hugely important is that what was begun by the previous

administration -- give them credit for that -- did get us down this road on which this administration has built very effectively. have a strategy that is sustainable so that we can have the kind of sustained commitment that is necessary and endeavor that is generational in nature. host: you anytime you want to go around the country and discuss this, i will be your sidekick. i want to do this because you just laid out a conceptual approach to what we were

discussing. the big ideas right. >> nature abhors a vacuum. in the middle east, whenever there is a vacuum the worst possible forces fill it. >> not just the middle east. >> one of the principles that has to guide to american policy is to be very mindful to make sure vacuums don't emerge. which is why we need diplomats, frankly. it is why we need to fill the vacancies in the state department and so forth. >> that is part of your comprehensive approach as well.

it has to have an economic dimension, diplomatic dimension, ideological dimension. >> your military is going all in. we need all the rest of government to go in with us. he worked to make that a reality. >> what you raised is this is not a conflict between civilizations, it is one within civilizations and a culture. for us to succeed, part of it has to be for us to have muslim partners who will discredit the ideology. it has to come from muslims. far more effective.

>> so that is why the commodity initiative to counter in cyberspace. to chip away at the virtual caliphate. my worry is we will take away, we mean the forces we are supporting in a rock and syria -- iraq and syria with the coalition, will defeat the islamic state on the ground take , away the ground caliphate, one of the true distinguishing features of the islamic state over al qaeda, the other being their ability to operate in cyberspace, that new battlefield domain. obviously a concern is that we can put a stake through the heart of isis, maybe even through their leader at some point but we will not be able to . put a stake through the heart of the virtual caliphate. there needs to be much more done by internet providers and social media platforms. they have to do this with social intelligence because it is beyond the ability of human

beings to take the action that the frequency and amount necessary. this was done quite effectively in dealing with child pornography. some of that is illegal. maybe it is time for legislation to work with those who control those media platforms to take that kind of action. >> one of the things i would like to see, you look at the isis ideology. one of the claims is not just that they created a caliphate which is now being undone but also that their warriors are basically ones with a divine mandate. >> yes. >> one of the things we could be doing apropos of your point on social media, we have now had a significant number of isis fighters surrender. how can you both be someone with a divine mandate and surrendering with your hands up on the other. if you want to do a lot to discredit the ideology, nothing

more than showing that and also having some of them tell their stories. >> bringing the congressman back on active duty. he had a facility for doing this. we had a series of big ideas that guided our actions. you heard a few of them. they went to even further. we had a communications idea. be first with the truth. beat the bad guys to the headlines. the bad guys say that in shias city they had cnn speed-dialed on their cell phone. they are already dialing and saying we have just been responsible for new atrocity. we are beating them to the headlines and showing full-motion video to show demonstrably that it was they who shot at us, not as soon shot at them. but being able to show that.

the urgency of this, all the way back to when we did this a year or a year and a half ago. the imperative of accelerating the fight against the islamic state because the sooner you can show they are losers as opposed to winner is the sooner they will no longer be effective in cyberspace in that new domain and the sooner the virtual caliphate does not have the same at traction it used to have. we have taken away from there the big media center they had an raqqa. there have been big public accounts as to what they had there. very sophisticated operation so exactly right, showing this. not overdoing it. merely showing the facts. trying to be first with the facts, not these then. -- not with spin. sometimes being first with the facts means indulging with made a horrible mistake as happened on some days or we just had a really bad day.

one of the predecessors in the strategic communications world is i was allowed to return before he would've otherwise. we had a horrible day today in baghdad. 150 innocent iraqis were killed. in marketplaces. here are the facts as we best understand them. here's the lesson we learned, here's what we are going to do to mitigate that from happening again. you cannot put lipstick on a pig. it is still ugly. all you have done is erode your credibility. >> a nationalist? >> the counterbalance in a political spectrum to the shia militias largely funded,

equipped, and directed to a considerable degree. >> i want to get at this notion of radical islamists who are sunni and shia. they may fight each other but the fact is they have many similar instincts, attitudes, approaches. what binds them is no respect for borders. what binds them is a complete rejection of the other. a complete disregard for the other. an instinct towards dominance in intolerance. we can talk about isis, al qaeda, the muslim motherhood. we can talk about the islamic radical of iran. we can talk about hezbollah, many of the hamas forces. >> right. >> is so when you look at this array, they don't all represent the same kind of challenge.

when you look at this, does it call for a more calibrated strategy in your mind or do think one set of principles works for all? what do you think about that? >> i think one of the big ideas is to knowledge we never have the enough of what we would like to have. soldiers with enough money, enough bandwidth nowadays. so you have to, at the and of the day, prioritize and to some to have. degree no element is going to get everything they want as the absolute priority. that means of course the others are not going to get all that they want. you have got to assess in a very cold-i'd weigh what elements are posing the greatest threat to our homeland and the homeland of our allies and partners, which

pose the potential for another 9/11. you've got to do this in a very brutally realistic manner, noting that you do want to take action against some of the others. in the first year in the surge in iraq, we decided, i decided that we had to focus on the extremists of al qaeda and iraq and the associated movements. the so-called sunni insurgent groups who were threatening the very survival. what we needed to do was just what was necessary against the shia militias. ideally, we could even get them

to take a knee for a while. that happened to us. both serendipity and luck is what happens when serendipity meets opportunity. it was largely the result of the communication effort we had. the shia militia were responsible in the first probably four months of the surge in iraq for the assassinations, the deaths of three governors of shia provinces and southern iraq and three police chiefs of shia provinces. this is a very, very big deal. then they were the catalyst for violence during a religious holy time for shia islam. something that so outraged the prime minister that he personally strapped on a pistol and went with a column of 100 vehicles from baghdad. was personally arresting people

down there. they realized after he hung the death of the police to send governors around their neck, publicly, through again first with the two kinds of approaches, that they needed to lie low for a while. that was very, very helpful because it reduced quite significantly the violence they were instigating and it was just at a time when we were starting to drive the violence down against the sunni insurgents. that allowed us to focus for the entire first year very heavily on the sunni extremists and then we would turn to the shia extremist militia forces. we did a little bit early. some will remember there was an impulsive decision by the prime minister of iraq to clean up on a little bit faster timeline we had planned. we had to sprint to support that and into move a lot of re-affect -- move a lot of assets and we narrowly avoided what would've been a disastrous defeats including with him personally

and instead basically destroyed the shia militia and in the ensuing fighting there and in sadr city and other shia locations throughout southern iraq. having largely at that point defeated the sunni extremists as well. >> one of the interesting elements i might add to your principles is reflecting what you are also now saying. one critical element of this effort is how do you publicly frame what you are doing in a way that is compelling.

we are talking about this, and they are acting. >> iran is great about finding them.nd riding i'm referendum was also conducted in the disputed boundaries as well to force action. they were quick to do that as you saw. >> now they are pushing beyond the borders. >> my understanding is they are stopped. we will see.

>> anyone with wood around them -- [laughter] >> both to ensure they help in terms of the reconstruction necessary, even the security so a vacuum is not therefore the iranians but also to be part of the broader effort to counter with the militia is doing in the region. it is important to and what is in fact a distraction. i would like to see an end in the way that the country is not completely let off the hook. i made a suggestion and i want to get your reaction. i made it suggestion the u.s. should go when based on four conditions. that i believe would satisfy and no one could claim these are unreasonable conditions. the four conditions are that

first the country should fully u onement the mo countering terrorist financing which was concluded with them by secretary tillerson. second, that anyone who is designated by the united states to be on the terrorism list or to be seen as a facilitator, a supporter of terror, should either be arrested by the qataris if they are in qatar or expelled by them. third, any group in the region that we see as contributing to contributing to instability in the area should no longer being financed. , that the qatar areas would save up subsidies for al jazeera. one of the things al jazeera has done is create a platform that legitimizes the views of those

who embody the radical islamist ideologies. i have said it to you before. you watch oftentimes someone who represents those kind of extremist attitudes and they are put on with someone with mainstream attitudes and they are equal. they are treated as it quits on. -- they are treated as if they are the -- they are equivalent. which means you legitimize the point of view that should not be legitimize. these are the kinds of position that would meet our needs on one hand, should be excepted will to -- should be acceptable and qatar should be willing to accept that. i would like to get your reaction. >> this is why he is one of the most excepted diplomats of his time in particularly of that region. let me just note that, look, i had issues with the qatar's. as the commander, they provided $100 million for the -- just the

headquarters for central command forward. we added another 100 million in i.t. and other systems. so this is an extraordinary platform we had. on top of the command operations center we had out there that has been operating the air wars over those places, iraq, yemen, it is so vast you could run out of gas just taxiing around the thing on certain days. so it is really quite extraordinary. on the other hand -- and i went to then-prime minister and to my very, very good friend the minister and now special adviser, i am going to feel particularly an extraordinary good friend of the united states and i say you have done this on the one hand and then on the other you are allowing and even subsidizing a tv channel that is being used in part as a platform by extremist or very nefarious

political extremists, not the type in tunisia who is willing to look to the good of the country rather to their party and is quite exemplary and that regard. so we had those issues. i do think we have to be careful not to overdo it. we need to remember the reason the taliban is there because we asked them to be. richard holbrooke rightly said we have to have a place they can be so we can engage them. this is done in coordination with the united states. the reception for them come the security, everything else i think met our standards. the same with one or more of their mosque leaders who are there because the u.s. asked them to be. >> that is more the exception than the rule. >> >> yes.

it you have to be careful not to undermine the arguments or the points, if you will, by what we said are not accurate. i think the point you made is very reasonable. and i do think for what it is worth, you and i both i think maybe more than others, are the recipients of lots of communication from either side in this discussion in have been able to ferret out for ourselves i think what is fact and what is not so factual. and, look, i think they are quite intent to this point and living by that mou. i wish the u.s. would declassify. they have told me they believe it should be declassified. -- allowful that we that to take place and let everyone see it.

i think there's a reasonable probably all of the countries in that region not to subscribe to the same principles because as you know there are issues with some of the other countries are. not with countries supporting extremist groups. we dealt with this a lot when i was central command and cia. i think that is a great approach. i think it is both substantively more than adequate and it is reasonable. it meets the intent. addresses the legitimate concerns of the country. you are absolutely right. look, we've got to get past this. they need to come back together. we cannot have a splintering of the gcc. you cannot push one or the other of the countries in this direction or that direction. i hope this kind of thinking insperity spirit and so forth can be manifested in action.

>> i really think this was the american position presented to both sides and said, this is what addresses everybody's a legitimate concerns and something we really feel has to be dealt with. >> yes. >> and a few phone calls from the right person. >> with the understanding that these are the conditions we are actually not going to negotiate a set of things that is threatening to us. >> i have been told i have one minute. what happens in one minute is there is a trapdoor here and the two of us disappear. [laughter] >> let me conclude by saying i guess, when you -- i realize one minute means one minute for both of us and i have already taken up 30 seconds. >> we will be the exception. >> right. when you look at what is going

on, how concerned are you? >> i am quite concerned. again, because different limits are exploiting this for their own purposes. because it is causing them a bit of a break between the kurdish regional government partners, between the two. it could go farther. i am hopeful this is halted. i spoke with the president's envoy and the ambassador, two -- they are in a tough place because these are all of our friends. the kurds are our friends and the iraqis. these are our friends. we want inclusive governments to succeed in iraq. but there are elements engaging this as we mentioned earlier that are not fans of includes the covenants and want to

-ize iraq and syria. they want to use militias controlled by iran in the same way they have used hezbollah and lebanon said it does not just have a paramilitary aspect to it but it has a political aspect. in case of lebanon, literally has a veto-proof element in the parliament if they can keep that together. so that is my concern. >> yes. so the trapdoor is not opening up. i want to think -- thank david petraeus. >> thank you as well. [applause] >> on the sunday shows this

weekend, there was talk about the russia investigation being led by robert mueller after recent reports that an indictment is coming as early as monday. trey gowdy offered his opinion of the investigation. we also heard from chris christie on cnn. know who isall, we being charged. we do not know was being charged and what they are being charged for and we do not know the time period. the only conversation i have had with robert mueller is the importance of cutting out the leaks. it is kind of ironic the people in charged -- disclosing material is a violation of the law. i am disappointed that you and i

are having the conversation because somebody violated their secrecy. viewersmost of your have to be reminded that he was the fbi director and the u.s. attorney because he is a pretty apolitical guy. i see the reporting. coworkers andf they would not stop me from investigating them. republicanourage my friends to give the guy a chance to do his job. the personalities involved are much less important to me than the underlying facts. give the guy a chance to do his job. >> some of the president's

allies are asking him to step down. >> he has to be very careful about making sure the public believes he has no conflicts. has to continue to review that with his only goal staff. i have not seen anything that makes me think he must step down. he has to be careful. was -- with them when i it is incumbent upon him to hold himself to the highest possible standards so people in this country can absolute -- can have absolute confidence. trumps weekend, president

took to twitter to offer his assessment. the president said in one tweet -- journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. monday morning, ken stern discusses political polarization. american retirement association douglas fisher on 401(k)s and tax reform. be sure to watch washington journal live at 7:00 eastern on monday morning. join the discussion. with political science professor.

followed by the prime minister taking questions from the house of commons. ♪ >> this week, allison stanger, professor of political science, she talked about the reaction on the appearance of charles murray. what is the famous middle barry protest? ebury protest?