as you can imagine, we tried to leave the central command alone, they were busy. we will gather through the night operational details and be back tomorrow morning to provide those to you. last year, you changed force protection levels for syrian troops -- u.s. troops in syria. there were 2000 u.s. troops in syria. have you changed force level? gen. dunford: the commander always takes prudent measures, especially in the environment they were in tonight. they did make adjustments. to be to be complete -- clear on the deconfliction line, you told them you would operate in the airspace but not the targets. gen. dunford: that is correct, we used the normal channels to deconflict the airspace we're using. we did not court make targets or any planning with the russians. reporter: what was their response? --that was passed from the through the air operations center in qatar, but that information is passed routinely every day and every night. they may not have found anything unusual about that aris -- airse deconfliction. reporter: can you talk about any targets you initia

central command. those operations are complete. reporter: general dunford and secretary mattis, could you talk concerns youur expressed earlier in the week ?bout russian escalation general dunford, were you able to talk to your russian counterparts? what are your concerns about escalation. are you committed to ask your british counterpart question? i would like to know the sense of your government about whether the situation with of the skripals and russian involvement in that. involvementsian played a role in your decision to enter this coalition this evening. gen. dunford: let me address the last point first. our attaches were kind enough to join us tonight. they will not get out in front of their president and prime minister respectively. national messages will be provided from their capital -- capitols soon. these targetsfy to mitigate the risk of russian forces being involved? we used normal beacon flexion ictionls -- deconfl channels. we did not pre-notify the russians on these strikes. secretary, a couple days you said you w

the nature of the operation was have completed the targets assigned to the central command. those operations are complete. >> general dunford, could you talk about your concern that you expressed earlier in the week about russian escalation. general dunford, were you able to talk to your russian counterpart? what are your concerns about escalation? are you permitted to ask your british counterpart? i would like to know the sense of your government about whether the situation with the skripals and russian involvement in that. how that russian involvement played a role in your decision to enter this coalition this evening. >> let me address the last point first. our attaches were kind enough to join us this evening. they will not get out front of their president. the national messages will be provided from their capitals . with regard to russian concerns, we specifically identified these targets to mitigate the risk of russian forces being involved. confliction normal de channels. those were active this week to work through the air space issues and so forth. we did not do any

again, we will gather overnight, as you can imagine we try to leave united states central command alone tonight. they were quite busy. we will, through the night gather operational detail and be back in the morning to give that to you. reporter: last time, last year you changed the protection levels for the syrian troops. there are 2000 u.s. troops in syria. have you changed force protection levels based on responses from russia? gen. dunford: as you can imagine, the commander always takes prudent measures, especially in the environment they were in tonight. they did make adjustments. reporter: just to be clear on the deconfliction line coming -- deconstruction line. you told them you would be operating in airspace, but you didn't tell the russians what the targets were? gen. dunford: that is absolutely correct. we used normal deconfliction channels to deconflict the airspace we were using. we did not coordinate targets or any planning with the russians. >> what was their response, sir? gen. dunford: that information was dispatched from qatar. that kind of information is passed routinel

nature of the operation, we have completed the targets that were assigned to the united states central commandplete. could you talk a little bit about your concerns that you have expressed earlier in the week about russian escalation, were you able to talk to your russian counterpart,... unintelligible. i would like to know, the situation in the uk with v skripals, and how that introduced —— influenced your decision. our sachets were kind enough to join us this evening, they will not get out in front of their presidents and prime ministers. in regard to the russian concerns, we identified these targets to mitigate the risk of russian forces being involved, and we used our normal deacon flexion channels, those were active this week to work through the airspace issues and so forth. we did not do any co—ordination with the russians on the strikes, nor did we pre— notify them. russians on the strikes, nor did we pre- notify them. a couple of days ago, you said you were assessing the intelligence on the chemical weapon attack, at this point do you know what the chemical was used in that attack, was

we tried to leave the united states central command alone here tonight. they were quite busy. we'll through the night gather the operational detail. >> last year you changed the protection levels the for the syrian troops or u.s. troops in syria. have you changed protection levels based off of responses from russia? >> the commander always takes prudent measures, especially in an environment they were in tonight. so they did make adjustments. >> you didn't tell the russians what the targets were? >> that is absolutely correct. we did not coordinate targets or any planning with the russians. that kind of information, just to put it in perspective, is passed routinely every day and night. they may not have found anything unusual about that. >> can you talk a little bit about any iran targets that you initially considered and why you may have not gone to them? and could your colleagues explain exactly the sort of contribution that you've made to tonight's operation? >> yeah, again, our allied officers are here out of respect for the fact that they were part of the mission from pl

as you could imagine, we try to leave the united states central command alone because they are quite busy. we'll through the night gather the operational detail and be back tomorrow morning to provide that to you. >> last year you changed the force protection levels for the syrian troops and u.s. troops that were in syria. there are 2000 u.s. troops in syria. have you changed course protection levels based on potential responses from russia. >> as you could imagine, the commander always takes prudent measures in an environment they are in tonight. so they did make adjustments. >> and just to be clear on c con -- the deconfliction -- you didn't tell the russians what the targets were -- >> that is absolutely correct. we used a normal deconfliction channels to deconflict the air space that we were using. we did not coordinate targets or any plans with the russians. >> what was the response, sir. >> that information was passed at the operational length from the combined operational center in qatar so i wasn't on the line but that kind of information is passed routinely every day and eve

as you can imagine, we tried to leave united states central command alone tonight, they were quite busy. e through the night we'll gather the operational detail and provide that to you. >> last time last year you changed the force protection levels for the syrian troops -- the u.s. troops in syria. there are 2,000 u.s. troops in syria. have you changed levels based on responses from russia? >> as you can imagine, the commander always takes prudent measures especially in an environment they were in tonight, they did make adjustments. >> just to be clear on the deconfliction line. you told them you were going to operate a airspace but you didn't tell the russians what the targets were. >> that's correct. we used a normal deconfliction channel to deconflict the airspace we were using. we did not coordinate targets with the russians. >> what was their response. >> that was passed from the combined air base in cutter, so i wasn't on the line. that kind of information is passed routinely, every day and every night. they may not have found anything unusual about that airspace deconfliction. >>

battlefield they didn't know what to do with it so they came up with the idea through centcom which is central command decided to create burn pits to burn the trash that was being accumulated. over this is where the military during the war collected all their waste in one central location and sort of burying it they decided to burn it they burn everything that you can possibly think of why did it being burned. more. than. two million. why we would burn less human waste. trash. plastics medical. supplies. to name. anything that they wouldn't use anymore they were burned. at times they also had. body pipes. plastics chemicals paint batteries tires literally anything that could be disposed of was thrown in there. and it would dump diesel. days a few. and then lighting that. there was a blue smoke and the haze looked like the san francisco. the smell was extremely toxic very very putrid burn your eyes burn your throat burn your nose i mean it was just nasty dirty stinky. some days the. concoction of the smell of the burn ph and the sewage pit would literally make you would drop your knees and you'd vomit

the nature of the operation we've completed the targets that were assigned the united states central command those operations are complete. comfort and also secretary not us could you talk a little bit more about your concerns that you've expressed earlier in the week up now russian escalation dunford were you able to talk to your russian counterparts general karasu what are your concerns about escalation and permitted to ask your british counterpart a question i would like to know you the sense of your government about whether you the situation with the disco balls and the russian involvement in that how that motion in politics played a role in your decision to enter this coalition the safe harbor let me let me address the last point first to shay's was kind enough to join us this evening they're not going to get out in front of their president and prime minister respectively so that it will be the national messages will be provided from the capital city very soon but with regard to the russian concerns we specifically. identify these targets to mitigate the risk of russian forces being inv

murid partaw is a former afghan senior national representative to the us central command, and hejoins worse and worse, because almost every other day or so, every week, there is an attack which the islamic state is claiming responsibility for. yes, thank you very much for having me on the programme. as you rightly pointed out, the security situation not only in kabul, and major cities, but also across the country, u nfortu nately, but also across the country, unfortunately, is deteriorating. and the recent attacks that we see here, you know, in kabul and on the borders of the administration centre in western kabul, it is because of an alliance of daesh, isil, with the haqqani network, with a tenacious group which has been bombing targets for the last decade and a half. and how did that alliance come about? because you know, the haqqanis have been kind of doing their own thing for the last decade, and then the islamic state is a fairly new phenomenon. that's right. the haqqani network has the knowledge and sophistication, because they have been attacking urban areas in afghanistan for

just days after we had crossed the border into iraq in two thousand and two and the commander of central command general hoar was briefing the group and the group was chaired by vice president cheney condi rice was on george tenet was sitting in front of me i was no taker top people and during the course of the briefing general hoar said. things are going so well since we've crossed the border we can be in tehran by august and george tenet paused for a second leaned forward and turned off his microphone and turned to me the note taker and said did he say tehran or did he say baghdad and i said he said tehran and he said to me have they all gone mad and then he turned back around and turned his microphone back on and sat silently well that's typical we all have a political opinion when the policy is set the policy is the policy now were these text messages inappropriate yes they were in a lot of different ways and they should have been cheating on their spouses at the same time you know that just feeds this whole notion of a conspiracy but did it affect the investigation probably not. there are m

murid partaw is a former afghan senior national representative to the us central command.mingly deteriorating security situation in afghanistan. so the to the kabul but across the country is unfortunately deteriorating. —— the security situation in kabul. we have seen an attack on the administration centre in western kabul, it is because of daesh, are toxic and tenacious group which has been bombing and attacking targets in kabul for the which has been bombing and attacking targets in kabulfor the last decade and a half. and how did that alliance, about, because the hakanis have been kind of doing their own thing, and the islamic state is a fairly new phenomenon? that's right. the knowledge and sophistication because they have the attacking areas in afghanistan for the last 15 yea rs, areas in afghanistan for the last 15 years, so areas in afghanistan for the last 15 years, so daesh cannot operate effectively without the support of the hakanis. since you have a common enemy, the afghan government and the coalition forces in afghanistan, so recently there has been this alli

battlefield they didn't know what to do with it so they came up with the idea through centcom which is central command decided to create and burn pits to burn the trash that was being accumulated. over.

just before it collapsed the government has ordered an investigation of the governor of russia's central command over come out over a region has resigned over the mile fire that killed sixty people last week a man to lay have said that it was right conscious the only true decision russia's investigative committee says that fire exits of the mall of blocked and that serious violations have been discovered most of the victims were children those headlines the news continues here al-jazeera world next. al-jazeera. you read every your. well the word. was the only thing we. know. and i love woodward and of mexico i never got the story until this mystery man and then as you might find out any part of the lives of a very special i saw no one other than a senior john ability to feel this way that. not. that i remember them. as. suddenly shifts on the course while. with but to them so i'm not. just. mad as i'm so far. so flip that. oh a second path and michael are no closer than oh i can we can't help pile no his sick mother. and us. but apply love honor and sufficient answer to one hundred ten and that

now on thursday we heard an announcement from the pentagon that's the central command of the u.s. military saying that they had proof that the syrian government was responsible for a chemical attack in duma however the international community has quite a different opinion there have been quite a different lot of disagreement and the u.n. security council here in manhattan this is been the site of these disagreements about what exactly went on in response to the allegations there were emergency meetings of the u.n. security council meeting that were called and at these meetings russia got up and proposed a resolution that would have mandated that the o.p.c. w that's the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons the u.n. body that it actually visit the site where the alleged chemical attack took place russia's experts visited the site they did not find any traces of chemicals they did not find any eyewitnesses to an alleged attack they didn't find any bodies or any people getting treatment and they put forth this resolution saying that they wanted the o.p.c. w. to actuall

willdunford: again, we gather overnight, as you can imagine we try to leave united states central command alone tonight. we will, through the night gather operational detail and we will be back in the morning. , last year you changed the protection levels for the syrian troops. there are 2000 u.s. troops in syria. have you changed protection levels based on responses from russia? sec. mattis: as you can imagine the commander always takes prudent measures. they did make adjustments. >> just to be clear on the d confliction line? you told them you would be operating in airspace but you didn't tell the russians what the targets were? gen. dunford: that is absolutely correct. we used a normal d confliction conflict thee airspace we were using. we did not coordinate with the russians. >> what was their response? gen. dunford: that information was dispatched from cutter. is passed routinely come every day and every night. they may not have found everything in usual. >> can you talk a little bit about any iran target you initially -- iran associated target you initially considered and why you ma

that is the reaction to this recent attack, the commander of us central command, us forces in the middleast making remarks in washington dc, that hard part is in front of us. long-term challenges and implications, we help lead, and make sure all us instruments, diplomatic, and financial and military to address the situation. heather: richard newton, thank you for joining us, we appreciate it. fox news alert, there will be more attacks, a chilling new warning from isys fighters who are already behind bars. >> freedom of speech. heather: facebook equivalent of the community and they are having a change of heart about diamond and silk. carly shimkus is here with the about-face from facebook. ♪ we will we will rock you ♪ we will we will rock you heather: thousands of dreamers have to pay full price for education is the result supreme court ruling daca recipients don't qualify for benefits like in-state tuition. more than 2000 dreamers are paying in-state rates at arizona community college and universities, their tuition expected to triple in the fall. a california democrat wants to kill free

when the central command commander said just the other day that isis is just about finished. that's been the main thrust of our attack. it started out we were going to get rid of assad. we're not getting rid of him. we're going after isis. especially after russia and iran started to get involved in syria, we had no interest in confronting iran and russia inside syria. our focus became isis and very, very close to destroying isis all together except for a small area in the east of syria, but this pocket of resistance against assad is near damascus. not surprised he did what he did. >> just for people who have not following this. explain for us all the sides. you have syria, the assad fighting a rebellion against himself that was part of the arab spring which he put down with extreme prejudice. you have isis which has a strong hold in syria or its main strong hold in syria. >> had been until we started dropping bombs on them. >> and then who's sides are iran and russia on? >> they're on their own sides. it's very interesting they have their own objectives inside syria that are

, then got a mission in the army to defend iran from invasion of the soviet union through the central command area and that was evolving. as a brigade operations officer, i got involved in some of the early what they call rapid joint deployment force for that area. i began to get involved in some of that as brigade operations officer. then hopping in on the army war plans division, looking at all of the plans from the commander in chief of central command, what these plans were. so not just -- it was extraordinary, fascinating, not just the central area but war in central europe. so i got one of the four officers in the war plans division to see all of the war plans, contingency plans. >> wow. >> it was a lot of work. >> did you work on any of them in particular that you recall? >> i became -- i worked on all of them, there were only three of us, but my expertise came on the european plans after awhile because then i shifted into what became nato war plans desk where we specifically worked with the reinforcement plans in that area. so that became my expertise after i first got there. >> all r

. >> the assessment of the central command is that the targeting efforts have improved in the steps that they've taken. we do not have a perfect understanding because we are not using all of our assets but we do get reporting from the ground on what is taking place inside of yemen. >> i would caution you to be reserved as to how effective you are in that if you don't have direct information about it. it's extraordinarily difficult and how aggressive they've been. the united states cannot do it alone and in the case of yemen we are trying to help our partners. i think that they are under more pressure today, but their ability to operate remains a significant point of concern for the united dates. >> thank you senator. >> thank you for your testimony. >> some people when they think about the strategy might question the idea of the strategy. if your son was shooting off his pistol in the backyard, would you give him more bullets or lesless, and we see the saudis acting in an indiscriminate manner that killed a lot of civilians and so our strategy to a. of a good samples you can argue it's m

central command recently called iran's arming of the yemeni rebels with ballistic missiles a, quote, growing threat which i think poses a significant danger, not just to saudis and emirates, but poses a risk to us. can you explain why we should accept dod's circular logic that once the administration at the political level inserts itself into a conflict, american service members are exposed to risks which then justifies continued u.s. participation in the conflict in it's a never-ending circle. >> senator, i think that even if the united states was not involved in helping our partners in yemen, even if we weren't involved in conducting efforts against aqap in yemen, iran's development of ballistic missile capabilities transferring of the ballistic missile capabilities would pose a threat to the united states. not just because it poses a threat to partners in the region. be that the saudi arabia or uae or israel, but because there are hundreds of thousands of americans who live in the middle east. i believe there are nearly 100,000 americans who live in saudi arabia. so the iranian-ba

i guaranteed you that the team, the central command in charge of this region, they are caucusing, putting together an option -- again, initially they're going to be in the hard power space, but over time, if we show resolve, if we show engagement, exactly as senator mccain tells us, we have a chance of moving this. >> admiral sadviritis, thank you. >>> i want to bring in our panel. welcome to you all. jeff, i want to start with you on this one. the president has tweeting about syria all throughout the morning. >> he leveled his most direction criticism yet, that they share responsibility for syria, and he also blamed the policies of president obama, as he sees it. here's the tweet that the president sent out early. if president obama had crossed his stated red line, the syrian disaster would have ended long ago. but here you have president trump criticizing president obama for his per severed sort of hands-on you approach, even though president trump you'll remember initially africaed for a similar strategy. president trump called for the quick withdrawal of u.s. troops from syria. that p

central command was here. netanyahu and mr. trump talked on the phone. defense minister is in the u.s. where he met the u.s. secretary of defense and the national security adviser. both of these governments are very much on the same page when it comes to iran. now we'll wait to see what netanyahu comes out with as he continues lobbying against the iran nuclear deal, not only to trump who is seen as his most open ear but also to the european leaders and to the other cigsignators of the deal

about the obvious kens that existed between the state department, the department of defense, the central command saying they were, in fact, increasing the number of troops in syria, and you also have to consider what has happened in russia this week with the banning of diplomats and the incident using chemical weapons to assassinate and it was known that russia did this to assassinate a foreign individual. so all of those things contribute to make this much more complex. i'm not so sure i agree with petr that this team to indicate the use of military force because there is confusion in the administration right now. you add to that, general mcmaster left yesterday and as peter said, ambassador bolton doesn't get into office tomorrow so you have a little bit of dither within the national security team driving this action. should there a meeting today. we will see if that happens. i'm not sure if it will, given the kinds of things that this administration has done to address this issue. i'm torn between whether or not there will be military, diplomatic, economic, or any other type of action to coun

central command was here. netanyahu and mr. trump talked on the phone. the defense minister is in the u.s. where he met the u.s. secretary of defense and the national security adviser. both of these governments are very much on the same page when it comes to iran. now we'll wait to see what netanyahu comes out with as he continues lobbying against the iran nuclear deal, not only to trump who is seen as his most open ear but also to the european leaders and to the other cigsignators of the deal well. >> he admits really high tensions against the israelis and iranians in syria right now. there were some missile strikes that went after some iranian targets in syria and iranians were killed in the process. a lot of folks focusing in on israel. what are they saying where you are? >> well, israel has its policy of ambi gg uambiguity. when it comes to syria, israel doesn't deny those. the military strike was against a syrian military target with iranian presence at the base, a conservatory for human rights. they have said in london of the 37 people killed, a ma

obvious contention that there existed between the state department, the department of defense, the central command saying they were, in fact, increasing the number of troops in syria. >> fred, most people agree there is no military solution there. but it appears, as the general says, the world is getting farther from diplomatic solution there. >> reporter: yeah. i would absolutely agree with pretty much anything that general hert ling said there. i think this comes down to one main problem. you have companies in this region of the world who are willing to be involved in syria in the long term. those countries are turkey, iran, and russia. the u.s., over the course of the past year, was never really willing to fully get involved in the situation in syria and now you have president trump saying that america wants to pull out. that, of course, is something that diminishes america's credibility here on the ground. it makes it more difficult also for the united states to play a big part in diplomatic efforts. a summit happened a couple of days ago that was put on by the turks, russians, and iranians de

don't think you can talk to the secretary of defense, the chairman of the joint chiefs or the central command commander, who would think it is time to pack up. >> thank you. >>> will scott pruitt survive the week? it may not be the $50 apartment could do him in. what pruitt did that might really be something that, is the president. stay with us. if you've been diagnosed with cancer, searching for answers may feel overwhelming. so start your search with our teams of specialists at cancer treatment centers of america. the evolution of cancer care is here. learn more at cancercenter.com/experts he's playno, with us. he's trying to tell us something. let's see what forensics thinks. sorry i'm late. what did i miss? wanna get away? now you can with southwest fares as low as 49 dollars one-way. yes to low fares with nothing to hide. that's transfarency. and i'm mike tryon. and this is our sears hometown store. (toddler speaks) i used to run my own landscaping company. people have asked why i'd sell my business just to go work for sears. but i didn't. i own this place. and being an independent busin

it was a secret army with no central command.loose recruiting and training structure a democracy and contagion of anti- islamic to bearcat our allies the 9/11 attack seems irrational. a blind lashing out against western culture. they were not. they reflected a calculated strategy that has yielded the result the planners hoped for. the story quickly claimed responsibility for the attacks. they do not hate us for who we are as much as for where we were. the group had its roots in 1989 mostly young arab militants who flocked to afghanistan to join the holy war against the soviets. al qaeda initially aligned with the u.s. receive training. but once the soviets were driven out, osama bin laden and the arab who became the leader turned his attention to the superpower that still retained a dominant position in the muslim world. their aim was and remains to drive us in our profit-making and or religious colonizers from the middle east a slow death by thousand. al qaeda is a war of attrition in which they would provoke action that would a

the u.s.s.ad of central command recently nottted the pentagon is fully aware of what exactly saudi arabiadoing with u.s. bombs in yemen. he made the omission during a hearing of the senate armed services committee last month. your response? >> the use of these weapons. when it comes to issues of violations of international humanitarian law, when you have mass sibling casualties where we know u.s. bombs have been used because you can take up the remnants on the ground. i have been into a house that was a residential home were two children were killed and found the bomb remnants there, traced the serial numbers, and they were american-made. it is very easy now for people on the ground to do that. they know where these weapons are coming from. for the u.s. not to know what is the uses, -- end use makes the u.s. complicit. people should be deeply concernened about thatat. have saidhe saudis they will carry out t their own investigations into the strikes where thehere have been claimsmf violations of international humanitarian law, there have been no real independent inquiries now on to what i

military's central command. fred, you're in damascus.en we get someone reporting live from damascus. you've spent a lot of time in syria over the years. a quick withdrawal of these 2,000 u.s. troops from syria, what would it mean for the people, for the war over there? >> reporter: well, i think even that announcement that president trump made certainly undermines the united states' credibility here on the ground. you know, one of the things that president trump said, wolf, is he said he wants other countries to step up in syria for the u.s. to when abbe able to move out. certainly there are three countries saying they're quite happy to step up. that's turkey, iran, and first and foremost russia. those three countries held a summit today in turkey, where they were essentially talking about the future of syria and what they wanted future to be like. the united states simply was not at the table. the russians, i would say, certainly are by far the most powerful outside nation so far in syria. if you look at where i am right now, in damascu

central command said just yesterday that there's about more than 90% of the presence has been eliminated there still is quite a presence in what they call the middle euphrates river valley, not far from the iraqi border. military officials we have spoken with over the past several weeks said, there's probably two to six months left in the mission to get rid of isis there. but that doesn't include all of the isis fighters, which it is unknown how many, have gone underground. >> thanks very much for the reporting. we'll stay on that until we have a little more clarity about what exactly the u.s. is going to do in syria. nbc news national security and military reporter. >>> big news in robert mueller's russia investigation. the special counsel has told president trump's attorney he remains under investigation, but that's not all. we have details about the report mueller is reportedly preparing about the president's actions while in office. you're watching "velshi & ruhle." dear foremothers, your society was led by a woman, who governed thousands... commanded armies... yielded to no one. whe

commander of central command should be actively engaged in the discussion.tis should be able to make recommendatnso the esidents to what his options are. at that time i do believe tha congress should be advised as to the president's intention, but he does have a time period in which he can respond and then if he does commit military forces we have time in which we can say time-out we are not going to -- >> that is how the -- >> people should google it on their own time if they care about this. i see it as an addication of your authority. even the idea that this crosses a red line. the question is whose red line? we don't get to decide when we use military force in a sovereign nation because we don't like what they are doing to their own people. the united nations has to make that determination and ask for a coalition to take action. that hasn't happened here yet. we know meetings are happening. it does seem like congress whether aumf which was allowed for the last serious -- isis wasn't even imagined at the time you drew that up in 2001 but you don't want to

central command, said -- "the hard part, i think, is in front of us." meanwhile, the associated press reports u.s. forces have been spotted setting up front-line positions outside the strategic northern town of manbij where u.s.-backed kurdish-led forces are facing off against turkish-backed syrian fighters. in oklahoma, schools remain closed for a fourth day as teachers across the state continue to strike for better pay and increased funding for education. on wednesday, teachers rallied inside the statehouse in oklahoma city. leaving! not we are not leaving! we're not leaving! >> the bill that is being heard in the senate is not enough to fully fund education and to make have had thets we past 10 years. so this is a great start, but educators will not leave this capital until education is fully funded again. amy: more than 100 oklahoma teachers set off on a 100-mile, seven-day march from tulsa, oklahoma, to the state capitol building, where they'll join tens of thousands more teachers. meanwhile, in related news, teachers' protests continued yesterday

central command had his own take on the fight against isis, and what comes after it: >> the hard part i think is in front of us and that is stabilizing these areas, tinsolidating our gains, g people back into their homes, addressing the long-term issues of reconstruction. u.s. military leaders, and defense secretary jim mattis, have said the u.s. should remain is syria until s wiped out. but president trump took theri pentagon by su last thursday, with this declaration: >> we will be coming out of syria like very soon. let the other people take care of it. >> yang: then came reports that the administration froze $200 million in recovery funds for areas liberated from isis. some 2,000 american service memberare currently on the ground in syria-- the bulk:op speciaations forces. last week, an american and a british soldier were killed by a roadside bomb. it happened in the northern city of manbij, near the turkish border, where a new front in t grinding syrian conflict has opened. with u.s. help, the largely kurdish syrian democratic forces recaptured manbij from isis in 2016. last mont

special central command said that isis still controls more territory then the president has seem to indicates eagerness to get out, seems to be bumping into his top people in the field. >> the general idea there is the mission is to defeat isis. we are near the defeat of isis when that happens, we should exit. there is this distinction, too. iraq was a country that we invaded, that we broke, and it was our problem to deal with. this is not the same situation in syria. this is a conflict that russia got a soft involved and to help an ally, assad. they broke it. i think trauma's as they should fix it, regional allies should focus on what they should do to deal with syria. not every problem in the middle east is our problem. while there is this broad bipartisan foreign policy consensus in this town that loves intervention in the middle east, trump has different instincts. he thinks that our focus should be elsewhere, particularly with the korean peninsula posting so many problems. maybe every time we get involved in these countries in the middle east, it doesn't always go so well and that we sh