leave the role it drifts here culls mcgurk the architect of dangerous and short sighted policies in iraq and syria he's probably referencing the group's work with the george w. bush administration he was an early advocate for the surge in iraq in two thousand and seven now in an e-mail to his colleagues mcgurk said trump's decision to pull troops out of syria came as a shock and left our coalition partners confused and our fighting partners bewildered i worked this week to help manage some of the fallout but i ultimately concluded that i could not carry out these new instructions and maintain my integrity. now let us know what you think about this latest high profile departure from the trump national security team you can get in touch with us as always on twitter using the hash tag it's a news group thank you for that andrew and the impact of president trumps decision is being felt on the ground in syria al jazeera is in a harder has this report from the techie syrian border. turkish military reinforcements are being sent deep into syria to the front lines north of the city of mumba

against isis has quit over president donald trump's sudden decision to pull troops from syria brett mcgurk departure follows the resignation of defense secretary james mattis who had opposed withdrawing from syria and cutting the u.s. presence in afghanistan a partial shutdown of the federal us federal government has began after politicians failed to end their dark deadlock over spending trump refused to back down on funding for his border war forcing the congress to adjourn without a budget deal. the head of the u.n. team tasked with monitoring a cease fire in the city of data has arrived in yemen on friday the security council vote to send observers to oversee the truce between the rebels and the saudi and iraq backed yemeni government. at least ten people have been killed in sudan in protests against the rising cost of food and fuel schools and universities are closed in the least five states cities of bata and get out of the state to right now under emergency rule inflation is at seventy percent among the highest in the world. at the head of the sudan opposition party and maddy says th

we go to brett mcgurk an official in the bush and obama administration, where he focused on iraq and afghanistan policy. he's now a fellow at the council on foreign relations. and michael desch, a professor of political science at the university of notre dame, author of "civilian role of the military: the changing security environment." brett mcgurk, it was done swiftly and decisively by the president with support from both democrats and republicans but does the removal of stanley mcchrystal also create an occasion for opening a political debate over the prosecution of the war in afghanistan? >> its had that potential this morning at 9:00 or 10:00. following up from the other panel which had it very well analyzed, i think the president put a real mark. he took ownership again of this policy. he said the policy's not changing. and by putting dave petraeus in chand, that sends a resounding message throughout the military chain command, throughout the civilian ranks, the afghan partners and to the pakistanies. again, the president today, really an extraordinary day. but, again, it's wha

quit over president trump's decision to pull troops out of syria in his resignation letter brett mcgurk says eisel is on the run in syria but not yet defeated as the president claims is the latest person to leave his post for his defense secretary jim mattis who quit on thursday over differences in foreign policy. turkey says it has put on hold a planned cross border offensive against kurdish held territory in northeast syria and says it's awaiting the outcome of a meeting in january on the us his decision to pull troops out of the country the us federal government has partially shut down after the senate failed to approve payment but don't trump's controversial wall along the mexican border democrats who are strongly opposed to the plan say they'll never pay for it means around eight hundred thousand federal employees will have to continue working without pay or be placed on unpaid leave we're going to have a shutdown there's nothing we could do about that because we need the democrats to give us their votes call it a democrat shutdown call it whatever you want but we need their help t

president donald trump's administration the top american diplomat dealing with brett mcgurk has quit a trump surprise pullout of troops from syria he follows us defense secretary james mattis who is also resigning over the decision our state department correspondent roslyn jordan has more. u.s. president doll trump made two major foreign policy decisions this week he said he's pulling seven thousand u.s. troops out of afghanistan and trump is pulling out all two thousand u.s. service personnel from northeast syria a decision he's been defending on twitter. on syria we were originally going to be there for three months and that was seven years ago we never left when i became president isis was going wild now isis is largely defeated and other local countries including turkey should be able to easily take care of whatever remains we are coming home defense secretary jim mattis quit in protest on thursday on saturday it was revealed that a top u.s. diplomat in charge of coordinating the fight against eisold is also quit the military mission is enduring defeat of isis we have obviously l

mcgurk, who was appointed by president obama and retained by mr. trump, warned earlier this month that it would be "reckless" to bring u.s. troopsi home from his departure comes just a day after defense secretary james hettis also quit over policy differences with administration. in a series of tweets today, president trump defended the decision to leave syria, saying "now isis is largely defeated and other local countries, including turkey, should be able to easily take care of whatever remains." finaial markets were rattled this week by the shutdown and news of defense secretary james mattis' resignatn. see what that means for the u.s. economy at pbs.org/newshour. for our year-end broadcasts, thought we'd let you hear from the team of producers who bring you our newshour weekend stories each weeto gain some insight into our production and journalistic process, and maybe even hear few war stories ong the way. newshour weekend's hnii srsan recently sat down with the team of chris booker, laura fong, and mori rothman.an >> sreenivall right, chris, l

oversight of the fight against isis, special presidential envoy brett mcgurk. and, how cubans are grappling with the changing tides of u.s. travel, now that president trump is trying to weaken their government. >> within two weeks of the announcement that president trump gave in miami, we've lost over $250,000 in bookings. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: north korea had tough talk today for the united states, following the weekend adoption of new sanctions by the united nations. the new measures target north korea's already-limited export market, and seek to further isolate th

then, we will get a behind the scenes look at the iran prisoner swap from brett mcgurk, the lead american negotiator. and, the first in our series on understanding autism-- a history of how it was discovered, and why we may have higher rates today. >> i spoke to older parents who had been told by their psychiatrists to quietly remove the pictures of their children from the family album and never speak of them again. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railway. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the u.s. supreme court has set the stage for a major, election-year decision on immigration policy. the justices announced today they'll consider whether president obama overstepped his authority when he allowed millions of people to avoid deportation. we'll explore this in full, right after the news summary. there's word that

brett mcgurk, special presidential envoy, you're off the saudi arabia later today. where president obama will be. thank you very much for joiningf us. >>ni judy, thank you so much. great to be here. >> sreenivasan: now, for more on today's empire state primaryat we're joined by tamara keith of n.p.r. who is in new york city tonight, and in albany is karen dewitt, capitol bureau chief for new york state public radio. first, am the a, let me start with you. what are you looking for tonight? >> i'm looking for a margins of victory. donald trump is in search of a clean sweep of delegates. the only way he can get there is if he can get more than 50% of the vote. and on the democratic side, hillary clinton is widely expected to win here. bernie sanders' campaign is sending around an e-mail talking about how in 2008 she beat president obama by 17%, which seems to be setting up a question of what the margin would be this time. sanders is expected to do better than that. he's expected to keep it relatively close. the question is just how close. >> sreenivasan: karen, how abo

key members of his administration resigning last year his defense secretary james mattis and brett mcgurk eisel special envoy what this shows president. all of his predecessors were whether republican or democratic is only concerned about himself we have a moral responsibility to the kurds because without them we would not have destroyed the caliphate in a statement on monday the pentagon made clear to turkey the united states does not back turkish operations in northern syria believing it will have a destabilizing effect on the region president trump campaigned in 2016 promising to withdraw the united states from foreign wars now with the 2020 u.s. election just a little more than a year away it appears potential voters not his senior advisers are the ones trying cares about pleasing most can really help at al-jazeera the white house so let's take a look at how others have responded to trump's decision nikki haley who served as strom's 1st u.s. ambassador to the u.n. said we must always have the back so if we expect them to have our back the kurds were instrumental in our successful figh

-- brett mcgurk, thank you for joining us. >> ifill: for more, we turn now to zalmay khalilzad.was u.s. ambassador to iraq during the george w. bush administration. he now has his own consulting firm. and laith kubba is senior director for the middle east and north africa at the national endowment for democracy. what can you tell us about al-abadi. >> i know mr. al abadi. he was a member of parliament when i was in baghdad. he has very distinguished background. he was from baghdadi family, a very well-known family. he's a member of the party that mr. maliki alsoes with a member of. he spent a lot of time in the united kingdom, got a ph.d there. so he knows the west and maybe more open to alternative ideas. he's got a big and difficult task ahead, not only dealing with the challenge of mr. maliki, but also to bring iraqis, shi'a, sunni, kurds together, form a government. and it's very difficult and challenging time. >> ifill: laith kubba, what can he accomplish that nouri al-maliki could not or cannot? >> well, number one, he is less threatening now to all other political blocs.

brett mcgurk, special presidential envoy, you're off the saudi arabia later today. where president obama will be. thank you very much for joining us. >> judy, thank you so much. great to be here. >> sreenivasan: now, for more on today's empire state primary we're joined by tamara keith of the in albany is karen dewitt capital bureau chief for new new york state public read oh. welcome to you. if you are the results that we know at this point. the associated press predictse donald trump has a resounding trick tree 59% to kasich 19 and it's too soon to call the democratic race between hillary clinton and bernie sanders. so let me start with you first. what do you read from the exit polls. >> what we see it's very interesting. the gop says they're divided. these people were asked, do youu feel like the campaigns have divided you or energized you. on the gop side 57% said divided. on the democratic side 68% said energized. that's fascinating to me. 26% of the republicans said they would they are vote for trump. with hillary clinton, 85% of democrats said they would vote

troops from syria saying he hopes it doesn't happen until i sell is destroyed once and for all brett mcgurkthe former u.s. envoy to the anti eisel coalition says there's no chance of that warning the pullout will only give the armed group a new life let's cross over to. in washington for us with more reaction but first we'll speak to some vinge of it who joins us from ghazi inter palmer turkey syria border some very choice words by lindsey graham which will certainly prick the ear of many both in turkey saudi arabia and the u.s. . well it's you graham is one of those u.s. senators who does not known for mincing words he's called mohammed and selma and the saudi crown prince a wrecking ball in the past so this is not the first time these actually airing his views about how he feels about muhammad's online and how he thinks he is implicated and he's basing that on information that was provided by the u.s. cia earlier after the killing of. that of the orders for the killing did not come from a lower level operative they went straight to the top and it and the end indicted almost the saudi lead

diplomat to the coalition fighting isis, brett mcgurk, also said he is leaving the administration early in protest of the troop drawdown from syria. for more on this we're joined now by "wall street journal" ter jessica donati who i in washington, d.c. so, what do we know about this tweet this morning where president trump basically announced that secretary of defense james mattis will be leaving two months early. what do you know about this decision? this is just speculation, but i would say that the president is probably frustrated with number of leak, is that have come oh the resignations this week with general mattis then presidential envoy as well. >> thompson: brett k who you just mentioned we learned yesterday that he's also gointo be leaving early, he was u.s. special envoy in the fight against isis, wt does all of this mean for the leadership in our fight against isis >> ihis it sends a message that the president has not been will listen to his top advisors, both on the military side and diplomat particular side. this will i suppose give him more frdom to pick people who are wi

brett mcgurk is announcing that we're going to be staying for a long time is envoy for syria embassador james jeffries the set that we would be there and as long as that rand was president and the longest assaut most of our so there was a just then an enormous confusion about the policy. and trumpet and this in the case of the withdrawal from afghanistan and syria was simply operating on his instincts rather than any strategy now he he has been a long time critic of us sending forces abroad and you know he says the u.s. is being played for suckers and i think that that. this really reflects that. president trump said during his trip that he believes a lot of people are going to come around to his way of thinking on his decision with regard to syria is there is any evidence to indicate that more people are actually coming around to his way of thinking on that. well i think there is no objective evidence unless you want to do a very detailed analysis of twitter and so on and that's of course a very problematic issue there's a great deal of support for from his followers for for this the a

very interesting indeed i mean there's been no official statement from brett mcgurk who is the u.s. envoy for the global coalition against. isis about the about the trip from the families have a hand himself what we do understand from activist. both in in saying basically in a town north of iraq i think that this argument for god. has attending two meetings one with the. local council and second one with a reconstruction committee it could be an indication that the americans would like to tap into saudi arabia's deep pockets in the near future to rebuild iraq because as you know this is going to be an extremely delicate task facing the local committees on the ground particularly as the the s.d.f. on its own has absolutely no way no capabilities whatsoever to rebuild iraq there needs to be an international push so the saudis could be now deeply involved in this syrian crisis once again with trying to rebuild iraq or however i have to say that this could create some problems particular for good neighbor and country turkey there's no official statement from turkey itself turkey has con

seems to be a little annoyed with him after his resignation of course we had the resignation of brett mcgurk the head u.s. eisel fighter and the president apparently was just annoyed by all this wanted to get mad as out earlier had his replacement ready in the form of the sitting deputy defense secretary and elevated him earlier than expected so what do we know that about the man who will replace mattis well his views be more aligned with the president's. well he's a long time boeing company executive who oversaw a number of plane projects the president would not of course name anybody who was not committed to pursue his vision all of those people who had been thought to rein him in over the years seemed to be gone and he is increasingly taking his own advice in things like pulling out of syria it doesn't sound like he consulted madis at all it doesn't sound like he consulted mcgurk at all he's been pretty much his own chief of staff and so whether or not the new defense secretary is going to go along with him he doesn't seem to care he seemed perfectly happy simply to pick the next person i

so we know that once a physical space is defeated we can just pick up and leave this was brought mcgurk the special long boy briefing reporters on the anti eisel fight in syria under a similar eleventh mcgurk knew everyone in the region and he reportedly told colleagues this week the president's new policy on syria would make it impossible for him to continue in his post already both congressional democrats and republicans have called trump syria decision dangerous and deployed jim matta says departure from the pentagon now those who had been fighting alongside the americans are looking to these legislators to try to change the white house's mind dear senator lindsey graham south carolina kurds in syria appreciate your strong opposition on the wrongfulness of trumps unilateral decision to withdraw from syria and your principled stance on standing by your kurdish allies the next step in fighting eisold now uncertain as the trumpet ministration declares it won't be u.s. forces and resources leading the charge rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington. just days after the announcement of a u.s.

in a letter today to the president, mcgurk said it was in the nation's best interests-- and his own-- that he remove his name from consideration. in syria, fresh shelling ripped through the embattled city of homs. smoke billowed from buildings as syrian forces fired on rebel- held neighborhoods. that was despite u.n. appeals to allow evacuations of families, the elderly, and the wounded. a spokeswoman for the u.n. observer mission called again today for both sides to allow humanitarian measures. >> to change their positions and release these civilians without any preconditions. they must ensure their safety. they must protect and respect their human life. if and when the decision is taken by both parties to release the civilians, we are ready and will be there and monitor their evacuation. >> sreenivasan: the surge in violence forced the 300 u.n. observers to suspend their mission on saturday. meanwhile, president obama and russian president vladimir putin discussed syria today at the g- 20 summit in mexico. but there was no sign they narrowed their differences. the u.s. has pressed r

government for all of them actually from john kerry to brett mcgurk all the way down.rd for us to assess those efforts really. we weren't party to those discussions. and so we're just grateful that it was a positive outcome, eventually. woodruff: what do you know marty baron about jason rezaian's future? what are his plans professionally? >> that's for him to decide now, i'm not sure he has made any decisions along those lines. we didn't want to bombard him with a lot of questions after being released from prison after all this time. he is spending time with his wife, like any other couple trying the spend time with each other. i don't think he's prepared to make a lot of decisions at this stage. he will in due time but those will be his decision not ours. woodruff: i gather that the washington post does not have a reporter in iran, is that right, and either way what are the plans for the future? will you be having someone covering iran for post? >> well, obviously iran is a very important story, one that we want to cover in every way possible. but it's really prematur

going to rebuild this area is the united states going to stay with the kurds and help nation building mcgurk the head of the coalition has said no we will give aid to help people reestablish their lives in the beginning but we're leaving that's what he has said so this leaves a question mark hanging over this whole row shabaka area that's been carved out by the united states because clearly both erda one in turkey and assad in syria have said that they're not going to allow it to be a thomas the americans have said that they don't want. they believe that the the kurds should be able and that the whole region should be able to govern itself i think that america is going to get stuck in northern syria how much they will help to rebuild all it's not clear because they haven't rebuilt i mean yet they haven't put any funds in it you haven't heard trump talk about this in any way or the leaders of the american polish right so. this raises a very important question i'll come back to you in a minute then with a question which i initially asked you about this is interesting sami now that are we going

top anti-isis official, bret mcgurk, just last week.end, mcgurk accelerated his february departure to protest the president's decision. he argued the u.s. should stay in syria, and better coordinate with allies, to ensuresis' defeat. >> nobody is declaring a mission accomplished. defeating a physical caliphate is one phase of a much longer- term campaign. >> schifrin: but the president opposes that kind of stabilization campaignn syria and in afghanistan, where u.s. officials say president trump wants to cut the 14,000 troops in half. most u.s. troops help train afghan forces, and serve as a symbol to support the afghan government. others fight isis and the taliban, helping create leverage in nascent peace talks between the taliban and lead u.s. negotiator zalmay khalilzad. but president trump says theil u.s. wl not support long-term military relationships without something in return.bs "we are ntially subsidizing the militaries ofou many very richries all over the world, while at the same time these countries take total advantage of t.

is proceeding, and the larger fight against the extremists in iraq and syria, we we turn to brett mcgurk. he's the special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter isil. i spoke with him a short time ago from the state department. for joining us, in the past few weeks we've seen the images of forces slowly moving into the suburbs of mosul. how long is it going to take to retake the city? >> thanks for having me. i just got back from about a week in iraq, and we're the third weekend of this operation. this is really a multi-month operation to clear and hold and stabilize a city of this size. we've always expected i.s.i.l to defend the city. they have suicide bombers, they're quite literally a suicide movement. they've spent years digging tunnels and defenses. what you've seen in the last couple of weeks is the iraqi security forces and peshmerga numbering through the outer crust of the defense, and they broke through that about a week ago, and now we have a fairly rapid advance, particularly into the western area of the city, and the other axes are also catching up and it's

presidential envoy brett mcgurk spoke on meet the press. >> in northern syria, as we speak the kurds with arab, free syrian army fighters an some christian organized units, they are taking, they are really giving a beating to isis and they are very close to cutting off the main supply route that isis has into its capital of raqqah. so there is a lot going on chuck. i think watch the euphrates valley over the next six months from raqqah to ramadi to fallujah. we're gonna be focused there. >> sreenivasan: and now to american politics. during an appearance tomorrow at miami dade college, jeb bush is expected to formally announce his candidacy for the republican nomination for president. today, on twitter, he released his campaign logo, jeb 2016. during an interview broadcast today on cnn, jeb bush was asked to define himself. he answered this way: >> who is jeb bush? >> well, jeb is different than george; jeb is who he is. my life story's different. >> sreenivasan: from california tonight, a report that accidental gunshots by los angeles county sheriff's deputies have more than doubled

in baghdad today, brett mcgurk said all ways out of mosul for isis fighters are blocked. an iraqi general said today troops had retaken a third of west mosul, after taking east mosul in january in the offensive that began last october. as many as 600,000 civilians are believed to be trapped in the city. a jihadist group linked to al qaeda is claiming responsibility for yesterday's twin suicide bombings in the syrian capital of damascus. the syrian observatory for human rights said today the death toll has risen to at least 74 people. the majority were iraqi pilgrims visiting shiite shrines. the group said one explosion was a roadside bomb, the other a suicide attacker. two days after south korea's constitutional court removed her from office for a corruption scandal, former south korean president park geun-hye left the presidential mansion. hundreds of supporters cheered park when she arrived at her residence in another part of seoul today. protesting her innocence, park said in a written statement, quote, "i believe the truth will certainly come out." as a private citize

secretary of defee, jim mattis, and american commander in charge of the alliance with the kurds, bret mcgurk, both resigned. >> ( translated ): to beonest this decision surprised us, especially when the fighting against the terroras not finished. >> reporter: amjad othman is t spokesperson of the syrian democratic council, the political umbrella of the s.d.f. >> ( translated ): it was not only the kurds who were shocked this decision. the christians were surprised, too, and also other arabs in the area. they know the regime will take revenge on them, so all the people in this area were fearful. it was not only the kurds who were nervous. >> reporter: since his tweet, president trump has backtracked, saying 400 u.s. troops will stas ia, half of them supporting the kurds. mona yacoubian is an analyst at the congressionally-funded u.s. institute of pe thshington. >> well, i think iu.s. pulls out or even leaves just a small, residual folle, the kurds ind themselves, i think, in a very precarious position. and the... the semi-automous area that they've managed to carve out of northeastern syria,

coalition, brett mcgurk, said on twitter: egypt's antiquities ministry announced today the discovery of two ancient tombs in the southern city of luxor that date back 3,500 years. the tombs from the 18th dynasty were found in a cemetery for nobleman, and officials hope the discovery will help boost egypt's struggling tourism industry. among the artifacts found were painted funerary masks, clay vessels, a collection of statues and a mummy wrapped in linen who is believed to have been a top official. >> sreenivasan: and join pbs newshour weekend online and on air tomorrow in the fight to cure cancer, researchers test new ways to bring clinical trials to more patients. >> it's just about life exoangz, like, if this would get you an extra six months, an extra year, an extra two years. because there is no cure for what i have. all we can do is manage. >> sreenivasan: that's all for this edition of pbs newshour weekend. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching and have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weeken

out that the reason why jim mattis turned in his resignation letter on thursday and then why brett mcgurk the special presidential envoy for the global could go listen to defeat eisel heard in his resignation letter on friday was because they disagreed with the u.s. president's decision to pull u.s. forces out of syria and leave it to come trees in the region to deal with eisel and other security issues so it's a bit convoluted but really lauren that's the situation they don't like what's happening but certainly from his perspective u.s. forces leaving syria is a good thing for turkish ambitions in the region thank you very much. the french president has criticized donald trump's decision on syria speaking in chad also praised james mattis georgia to perform in one of these i deeply regret the decision taken in syria would like to pay tribute to general mattis and to the remarks which accompanied his decision over the past year and a half i and the french minister of armed forces know he was a reliable representative and constantly reminded us of the importance of what being allies means

unilateral choice now importantly to another person who resigned in the wake of that decision was bread mcgurk he was the u.s. envoy to the school oberle coalition obviously not present at that meeting today but members are very concerned about the depth of the u.s. commitment and concern to about the president's apparent insistence that the defeat of ice all has occurred or is very near when members of his intelligence community continue to insist that i saw remains a threat to the u.s. and to the rest of the world al jazeera as mike hanna speaking to us there from washington thank you mike well joshua landis is the director of the center for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma and he joins us live now on skype from norman oklahoma joshua just how realistic are president trumps comments. they're quite realistic the caliphate is that is on the verge of being destroyed the area that is still being held and contested is about the size of central park if this is not big it's in a desert it's being smashed there's lots of refugees pouring out and captured isis soldiers are being proc

relationship would continue over the next couple of months and then came the resignation of brett mcgurk as the u.s. envoy overseeing the battle against isis and the man the president once affectionately called mad dog mattis was out the door john hendren al-jazeera washington but it's advice says the director of the center of a political military analysis at the hudson institute he says shanahan's lack of government experience may not be such a bad thing. what we have to had more turnover under president than previous presidents and normally i mean that has a disadvantage in that you it's a bit turmoil for the bureaucracy and it's uncomfortable for people who have to report to change their reporting procedures to different people over different time that's some advantage and you get new blood new energy new experience so i'm not necessarily sure it's a negative i mean the pentagon is a really tough place to manage and having somebody who who knows the issues the managerial issues at a high level is fine we've had secretaries before him well with that background it depends a lot it was a

envoy brett mcgurk a coalition against him was here in there and made sure that there was an agreement between the two sides. before the referendum took place so it is a many files that will continue now whether to talk about. proceeding to where to happen any time soon that. really will take a while for to choose sides to sit at the table but because i also feel slightly strong because there's an election coming up in iraq in two thousand and eighteen they are the second strongest roark in the iraqi parliament and they will continue to be as such until eventually one day they declare independence and prime minister but he needs them to actually win the next elections and he knows that he can count on them because the kurds dislike his rival his main rival former prime minister maliki very much so you will have this reality. again and at the same time you will have these strong statements coming out from both sides for quite a while still. live for us in erbil hoda thank you ok now let's bring in andrew symonds who is live on the turkey iraq border so tell us what's been happening ther

mr mcgurk at mit for my acting assistant secretary. and the other thing is. there is absolutely nothing that for people from expressing your opinion with regard to their future does not. an independent republic of kurdistan will be formed right on after that on the twenty sixth of september but. it's the will of the people to express their opinion and their will about what they want and then of course. it all depends how things go english usage. just like bridget is. so i don't see why. people are so much against it in major major hit like as if the whole middle east is going to blow up which is not true turkey's foreign minister says that there will be consequences if this referendum goes ahead on september twenty fifth what do you make of that. well there will be consequences probably to. them also because the canonical relation between. turkey is great and there has been very good relationship between the two states in cooperation on a lot of issues including the gateway. to the gulf so. we are really not afraid of splits and we hope it's just rhetoric tha

any ballot box will be seen as an act of aggression the international community also reacted brett mcgurk who is the u.s. special representative to the coalition said that this referendum would not be supported by the u.s. and the iraqis on the kurds needed to get together and concentrate on the fight against and that's also of u s. by the british foreign office. across the kurdish region flags have been waving and nationalism amongst this distinct ethnic group is the fever pitch ordinary kurds and their leaders see this referendum as then migrant a chance for self-determination and their own nation state something they've been striving for to name a century however some party same time is not now but they may back the popular movement that seems to be on track to hold the referendum despite the objections of iraq the united states and opposition across the region imran khan how does it appeal. let's get more now on the london tube bombing and speaking to darren poacher a retired n.y.p.d. lieutenant and criminal justice professor at pace university he joins us from new york daryn good to

is going on the still political machinations occurring here in erbil in the last few hours brett mcgurk the special representative to the the u.s. special representative to the anti eisel coalition has been speaking he's been speaking about the referendum for the kurdish independence which is due to take place on the twenty fifth of september he says that they don't want the referendum to go ahead and he's presented a plan from the u.k. the u.s. and the u.n. to present must suit was on it is only really one country in the world that wants to see this referendum go ahead it's israel everybody else would like to see this referendum be postponed they say it's bad for the region stability. twenty three people including twenty one boys have died in a fire at an islamic boarding school in malaysia students and teachers could be heard screaming for help as the fire blocked the only exit to the dormitory which had its windows covered in metal grilles. reports. it took more than an hour for firefighters to put out the flames that the eighty five school in kuala lumpur by then many people mainly