mcgurk: we are in syria. together with partners. that is the basis for our coalition and having partners. if we look at the situation in osco last week, the attempted prison break, our forces have lent assistance to retake the british prison from isis fighters, it is a reminder isis remains a serious threat. that is why we are there. that is the only reason we are there. we will defend our forces from all threats. we have made that very clear to iranians and others. i should stay one more thing before leaving syria. syria activity remain a real threat to israel. we support israel's freedom of action to defending themselves. there are a lot of signs that a lot of these are tired of the regime. we support the action and we will defend our people,. -- people, period. that is the only mission, the only objective. miller: saudi arabia, the president candidate had some very tough words. a special meaning of characterization in the middle east. has that happened and if in fact it has happened, how would you differentiate the bidens adminis

before i let you go, mattis is leaving and so is mcgurk.ou expect because this is such a reversal there on to be more high-level departures because of this syria policy? >> it may not be the syria policy you, but to the extent that this sort of recklessness and the tweets and everything going on with the white house right now is sort of this last week, as i would call it. the person i'm looking at right now is gina haskell, the cia director. we are starting to hear reports that the president's reaction to the khashoggi killing and undermining the cia's assessment that clearly the royal family and the saudi prince was a targeted assassination, i would look to members of the intelligence community getting some sort of support by what mattis and mcgurk are doing so what i'm looking out for in the next couple of weeks. >> good to have you, juliette kayyem. >> thank you. >>> we continue to following breaking news this hour. new video of that deadly tsunami in indonesia overnight. hundreds are dead. the latest developments is next. ever since dar

mcgurk: yeah. representative higgins: the one thing that's can assistant in michael weiss' book, and "the black flag" the one thing constant about isis is change. evolved its reach and organizational ability. the isis presence in libya, i think, is particularly disturbing. stronghold inl north africa. africa is -- there's a lot of to exploit. you've got 55 countries. many of which are very, very to --le from south sudan just there's a lot of countries. concern is that while we may be influencing a loss of territorial control in iraq and the isisat about expanding in to other countries and the continent of africa. is a great it question. as we analyze this and discuss it with intelligence servicing all of governments and the different capitols around the world, the common theme that i mean i've heard this from malaysia to brussels the gulf is that this notion so many youngwing dangerousthis movement. that's why we're focused on the overall shh ringing the territory. in the narrative, it was one of t

mcgurk: we are the security partner of choice across the region. when a country comes under missile attack, we are the first call and we are there. this has been something we inherited. i was not surprised by too many things walking through the door. but i was surprised by a few of the inroads that china made. we have had a very close dialogue with our friends across the region about certain activities of jeopardizing the american quality. number one trading partner, that is obviously something ongoing. when it comes to certain activities, technology, military cooperation, that is when there are very serious issues at stake. i would say over the last year, my fellow coordinator here at the nsc, are pretty interwoven. having a dialogue with countries in the middle east about what china's actual enrichments are. what this project really means. it might be under the guise of a commercial project that it is actually quite different. that is something we have had a very good dialogue and a bit of an awakening with some of our partners in the middle east

mcgurk? mr. mcgurk: i have been to turkey more than any other country. we cannot defeat isis without turkey and i consult with our colleagues there all the time. there are talks right now in the geneva about the political way ahead. and there is a military campaign at is the track in a complex situation and something we are coordinated with. and the post-raqqa phase, stabilization and we will be coordinating with turkey. we can't do this without turkey and we work with them every single day. we have some differences, but they are close allies. reporter: the turkish foreign inister was on the record -- mr. mcgurk: but i have great respect for the foreign minister and great colleague and look for that relationship to continue. reporter: one for you, mr. secretary and the latest north korean launch, it was more successful than anything they have done so far and went to a high altitude. my question to you. how has this missile launch impacted your thinking, your assessment about the north korean missile threat. and if i may, mr. chairman, a separate question

mcgurk's defeat-isis coalition. tom, mcgurk was scheduled to retire in february. he's now moved that up. still no word who will replace general mattis as defense secretary, leaving the trump administration with two large holes in the global fight against terror. tom. >> lana, thank you. >>> we want to turn now to weather, the fresh round of storms threatening to slam of the nation just in time for the holiday. here, just off the coast of connecticut. several storm systems taking aim on the pacific northwest, bringing heavy rain and mountain snow. abc's rob marciano joins us now. there's a lot going on with the weather across the country. walk us through the next couple of days. >> as you mentioned, they're lined up in the pacific. another storm already coming into the pacific northwest tonight. i-5, very wet. i-84 as well. another one coming in on monday. but look at this jetstream, a little disturbance coming into the east. monday, christmas eve, around i-90 north might see enough snow there to create a bit of a coating christmas eve. then, the western storm gets

mcgurk: great question. they have to work with the iraqi state. that is a principle. we think most of these popular mobilization forces do operate under the control of the iraqi state, that about 15% or 20% do not, in those groups are a fundamental problem. another thing we want to do is make sure they stay out of sunni areas, where they can cause real problems. militias areia not there. this is one thing that gave the population the confidence to return. we have a principle when we support iraqi forces in the military campaign, we only support forces on the ground operating strictly under command and control. that means going through an iraqi chain of command were we are working with iraqi commanders. if there is a unit that is not operating under that structure -- senator cardin: are you confident they will be able to maintain the safety of the sunni civilians? mr. mcgurk: falluja, they just completed the liberation of the last neighborhood this weekend. we have 80,000 displaced people. there is one of the

brett mcgurk: it's a great question. and got real insight knowledge into their finances, an operation or special forces did, again, over into syria into a town shadadi, which is no and it n isil's hands was an obligation to isil's main financier.their main and our heroic special forces, incredible.are they pulled more information off that site than any raid in history. we learned more about how funding themselves throughout that operation than anything else we've done. they were generating about a year, about rs a $500 million from oil and gas nd about $500 million from antiquities trade, from extortion, from what they call revenues t extracting off the population. but based on that information rom that raid we were able to systematically develop all of that intelligence information in working across the u.s. government into the military progress to go after how they're getting oil out of the ground and how they're selling it. reduced their production by at least 30%. we've substantially reduced to generate revenue. the

without further do, brett mcgurk . brett: thank you. ok, thank you everybody for coming. what i want to do today, we

the special envoy briefing reporters on the anti eisel fight in syria under a summer 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's syria decision dangerous and deplored jim madison's 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 you know a lot of old decision to withdraw from syria and your principled stance on standing by your kurdish allies the next step in fighting i so now certainly as the trumpet ministration declares it won't be us forces and resources leading the charge rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington. brett mcgurk spain instrumental in shaping washington's policy in northern syria he was appointed as the u.s. envoy for the global coaliti

he didn't know brett mcgurk. how is it possible the president doesn't know the envoy representing the u.s. to the coalition for the last two years good >> that's easy because the president will the secretary of state and secretary of defense. >> pentagon sources tell fox news to expect more continuous resignations in response to president trump's decision to withdraw american troops from syria. >> julian turner, washington, thanks. fox news alert at least 220 people killed after a tsunami strikes indonesia without warning. waves smashed on the beaches last night ripping houses and hotels from their foundation in a matter of seconds. officials layman a volcanic eruption and undersea landslide for the disaster. jeff paul is live in los angeles with the latest. hi, jeff. >> hi, mike. as high as 65 as they crashed onto the island full of people celebrating the holiday weekend. the number dead likely to rise as many of the same unrest to cruise unable to get to all the devastated areas to search. >> i was sleeping. it

mcgurk saying isis is not defeated.e best case, worse case scenario for what happens when the u.s. leaves there? >> i can give you the worst case, the fight against isis will slow down. it's going to have to. we know that erdogan has designs on moving forces east of the euphrates to the iraqi border. he said he is going to do that. i don't know that the president has talked him out of that, maybe that's a part of the deal why we are going to leave. but if the turks move in anyway against northern syria, we're going to see what happened the last time they did this. the sdf, syrian democratic forces, mostly made up of the kurds, who the turks believe are a bunch of terrorists are going to stop fighting isis, they're the primary force on the ground against isis, they are effectism. they will stop fighting isis, they will redeploy to their home areas to defend what they believe their family and their territory. the fight against isis will take the back burner. we can continue artillery and air. we will not be able to move o

the person, brett mcgurk worked as a u.s.pecial envoy to the international coalition fighting isis. >> he was in iraq and had just finished briefing partners that the u.s. would stay in syria when he learned president trump had reversed course. his resignation on friday came just one day after u.s. defense secretary james mattis quit over the same thing. >> and this tweet from the u.s. president claiming not to know his own envoy. he belittled mcgurk as a obama holdover and quote grand stander who is going to leave the administration soon any way. >> joining me now is political analyst peter matthews a frequent guest of our program. peter, thanks for being with us. >> good to be with you, natalie. >> all right. it's the holidays. happy holidays to you. i don't know how much happy holidays is going around washington because this is the first time in 40 years the government will have been closed three times in one year. and now congress says, well, we'll take it up after christmas. what do you think of the impasse and who is to

in a tweet that he didn't know brett mcgurk. how is it possible that the president does not know the envoy that has been representing the u.s. for the coalition for the last two years? >> the president is dealing with the secretary of state and secretary of defense. despite what people think, the white house is in grand central station. >> reporter: people say to expect more and continuous resignations over the decision to withdraw troops from syria. jillian turner, fox news. >>> israel's prime minister says the decision to withdraw troops from syria will not affect israeli policy. benjamin netanyahu said that the u.s. withdrawal will not affect israel's efforts to counter iranian aggression in syria. israel was caught offguard by the abrupt move to withdrawal the roughly 2000 u.s. troops from syria in the coming weeks. israel routinely strikes iranian targets inside syria and is currently conducting an operation against the lebanese military group hezbollah which is a proxy of iran. >>> now to the deadly tsunami in indonesia. c

you cannot quit, i'm you. >> brett mcgurk was supposed to leave and the president said, mcgurk, who io not know. >> he is the leader of the anti-isis coalition. he has been knitting together the more than 70 countries that was united with the united states to fight isis. so, he is a president ial envoy. while the president may not actually know who he is, he claims, that underscores that perhaps the president was not involved in the details. if it's not someone that he knew and didn't care about. well, he seemed to care enough to tweet that it didn't matter to him. which only drew more attention to the story that this diplomat, who was hired by the bush administration, i should point out, was resigning in principal because of his syria policy. the second high level u.s. official to do so in the past week. >> all right, margaret, thank you. >> overseas a desperate search for survivors is under way in indonesia. a ever a massive sue gnocchi th -- after a massive tsunami killed 200 people, and 800 injured and dozens missing. the waves struck two of the more populated islands. we have the

. >> his name brett mcgurk.s a senior dip mat serving as the president's own representative to the international coalition battling isis, a big job. >> but here is the thing, on twitter, mr. trump claimed that he did not know his own envoy. then he belittled mcgurk as an obama holdover on his way out. more now. >> reporter: u.s. envoy in charge of the fight against isis has resigned. brett measuring gurk told secretary pompeo on friday night that he would be leaving his post on december 31st. mcgurk was expected to leave in february to take up a post at stanford university, but his decision to leave early came on the heels of president trump's sudden announcement that he would be withdrawing all troops from syria. now, mcgurk just days earlier was talking to reporters about the new u.s. policy to stay in syria, not only to defeat the remnants of isis but also to counter iran. in fact, mcgurk was in the region meeting with coalition partners to discuss this policy and was sitting with iraqi leaders talking about

withdraw troops from syria this time america's envoy to the global coalition against i saw brett mcgurk has quit in his resignation letter he said i saw we're on the run in syria but not yet defeated as the president has said mcgurk follows defense secretary jim mattis out the door he quit on thursday telling president trump he had a right to have a secretary of defense whose views were more aligned with his a trance decision this week to pull around two hundred two thousand soldiers out of syria has rattled the s.d.f. a kurdish led force american troops had been supporting they too say the war against isis has not ended before more on this let's cross live now to john hendren in washington so john yet another high profile departure for president. yet another self-inflicted wound another fratricidal blow to this administration at a time when it could hardly afford it less the government shutdown beginning at midnight on saturday just hours ago local time and now the president has his second major defection brett mcgurk was one of the few holdovers from the obama administration he'd been

what can you tell us about brett mcgurk? >> we're talking about one of the u.s.st accomplished dip malomats and bt mcgurk has been working on issues related to iraq in the region for decades. he's been the envoy dealing with the 60-plus member coalition on isis for about five years now, and largely had been successful, but you know, you just remember in recent days the president had said that, you know, isis, the u.s. would stay and remain in syria to defeat those remnants of isis and also to counter iran, and brett mcgurk was talking to state department correspondents just a few days ago, and then went off to the region to brief partners about this policy assuring members of the coalition u.s. partners in iraq and syria, like the kurds, that the u.s. was going to stay. in fact, he was in iraq meeting with senior leaders when president trump tweeted that he was pulling out of syria. so according to sources familiar with his thinking, his colleagues, you know, brett mcgurk felt his credibility, his integrity was on the line. he could not defend this policy let alo

mcgurk? >> first, the leadership in command of these units have all been fired. we immediately were in conversations with iraqi leaders, security and political leaders in the wake of mosul and recommended a wholesale change in the command. new commanders have been appointed. those are commanders we know very well. they're also quite effective. iraqis, just in the past month in terms of fighting units, they've suffered almost 1,000 killed in action and they are holding the line and beginning to conduct some very rudimentry operations to clear some highways. i will not underestimate the extreme challenge here. what we saw in mosul was not indicative of a force as a whole. the units, many of them, are balanced. there's about an average -- i was just on the phone to our folks out there today. the composition of the force is about 55% shia, 23% sunni, by and large. within the units there is no fracturing within the units themselves. now there are very incompetent, incapable units with poor leaders

just days beforehand, mcgurk had stood at the state department podium to guarantee u.s. commitment to the fight saying, "while isis inhabited just 1% of the territory they once held, the group still maintains a dangerous level of influence and it would be reckless to withdraw now." >> i think it's fair to say americans will remain on the ground after the physical defeat of the caliphate until we have the pieces in place to ensure that that defeat is enduring. >> reporter: now, mcgurk had planned to leave the state department in february but he accelerated his departure in protest. he has been the glueled holding together the more than six-countries against isis. and this increases the level of concern that the president puts u.s. national security at risk. glig displi margaret, thank you. police arrested a british man and woman for flying a series of drones near a runway at the second busiest airport in england. the incident forced gatwick airport to close for nearly 36 hours on wednesday. passengers are still experiencing delays today. police are searching a house in cr

mcgurk? >> first, the leadership in command of these units have all been fired. we immediately were in conversations with iraqi leaders, security and political leaders in the wake of mosul and recommended a wholesale change in the command. new commanders have been appointed. those are commanders we know very well. they're also quite effective. iraqis, just in the past month in terms of fighting units, they've suffered almost 1,000 killed in action and they are holding the line and beginning to conduct some very rudimentry operations to clear some highways. i will not underestimate the extreme challenge here. what we saw in mosul was not indicative of a force as a whole. the units, many of them, are balanced. there's about an average -- i was just on the phone to our folks out there today. the composition of the force is about 55% shia, 23% sunni, by and large. within the units there is no fracturing within the units themselves. now there are very incompetent, incapable units with poor leaders

mcgurk is the special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter isis.cgurk's resignation follows defense secretary james mattis's stunning resignation on thursday, that resignation shocking washington and stunning u.s. allies. with me now is arwa damon, cnn's international correspondent. what are u.s. allies saying? >> they're reeling, as you can imagine, because up until that moment, where president trump tweeted that he was withdrawing all u.s. forces from syria, everyone thought that america's strategy, a strategy that they had just recently also had emphasized to them by brett mcgurk himself, was to stay the course in syria, until isis was completely eradicated to. train up adequately the local forces there. and to continue to add a buffer to iran's influence. and now, none of that is anything remotely close to what america's strategy or should i say trump strategy seems to be in syria. and then you also have to look at america's adversaries in the region. i mean who is welcoming this? the syrian regime, the iranians, and the russians. turkey's posi

if we have the brett mcgurk sound, i would like to play it now.kay, well, we don't have it, but this is exactly what they were concerned about, a premature withdrawal. so when you have all of this going on and the president makes a decision to go, can you at all take it out of that context? do we look at this, mac, and just say, okay, the president has made a decision as presidents have beforehand, there are troops who are serving abroad in harm's way, we're going to go there for the holidays and let them know that we appreciate them, or do you have to look at it in a political context, as well? >> i think you have to look at it in a broader context. politics is part of that. but chris, the most sacred responsibility of any president of the united states is commander in chief, to keep the american people safe and we entrust that responsibility to the brave men and women who dedicate their lives and their careers to doing just that. so this needs to be a consistency in the policy, and certainly, secretary mattis was highly respected, as was special

yes ok so mcgurk was also there to ensure it's fortune met in two thousand and seven no idea where he was working on the status of forces agreement were good is is is good at getting in front of somebody and telling that person what they want to hear the problem is other people are listening if you simply talk to that network that you talk about it's long been time to leave his post was supposed to leave at the beginning the time and inspiration disposed to leave last summer he was now supposed to leave two weeks from now so now he's resigning to head to head of the syria issue citing the president snarkily troops out of syria is the reason and it's just it's just not the case as to that drawdown of u.s. forces from syria very specifically just that specific. kariya first for the next minute or so. ah there are potentially all that negative consequences to this because there have been for example a couple of low level terror incidents in europe in the last year the genesis of those have been traced right back to rocca which as you and i both know was a is eisel emotional hot land that

mcgurk, thank you for being here.ate you making the time. >> thanks, rachel. >> i'm a layman and civilian and observer of these things. it strikes me as a sober and practical decision for us to be blowing up our own base in syria rather than allow it to fall into other's hands. it also strikes me as a very, very bad sign as to what's happening there. >> look, i don't say this lightly and i worked two years in the trump administration, he doesn't know what he's doing or talking about. he made this decision on sunday night, and without any contingency plan for our troops on the ground. and to make it worse, he cut our force, the president did, by 50% earlier this year for no reason and we already had a very small force there. and when turkey came in, very predictably, the unraveling began immediately. and our forces now on the ground don't even have enough manpower to deal with an evacuation. you know, rachel, when you're in these areas, i've been to this facility, i used to go into syria every month, every two months.

mcgurk: great question. got real insight and knowledge into their finances because of an operation are special forces did over a year ago into deep into syria into a town no longer in isil's hands. theas an operation against deputy of the main leader and their main financier. our heroic special forces -- these guys are incredible -- they told more information off that site than any raid in their history. we learn more about how they are funding than anything else we have done. they were generating about $500 million from oil and gas and $500 million from antiquities, extractingrtion, revenue from the population. we were able to systematically develop all of that intelligence information and working across the u.s. government into the military targeting process to go after how they are getting oil off the ground and how they are selling it. we have reduced the production by at least 30%. we are produced their ability to generate revenue. the numbers are fuzzy, but it continues to go down. as we see it, we the

only a week ago, mr mcgurk raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview.e military commitment doesn't end there. that's absolutely right. and there's no timeline on it. no timelines. washington is preparing for a short christmas break, but goodwill is in short supply. and with a government shutdown and questions about presidential policy, this seems like a less—than—happy holiday for donald trump. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. let's get some of the day's other news. the main opposition party in sudan says 22 people have been killed in four days of protests over a rise in the cost of bread. the leader of the opposition condemned what they had been the armed repression of the demonstrations. the protests had been muted on saturday after the authorities closed universities and shut down mobile internet services. a car bomb has killed at least 12 people in the somali capital, mogadishu. the explosion happened less that 400 metres from the presidential palace. the militant islamist group al sha bab says it was behind the killings. hundreds of people in m

mcgurk joins james mattis who also resigned this week.he president said he gave him a second chance after obama fired him. joining us is a foreign correspondent for "the new york times." thank you for being here with me. let me start with you. this is significant for a couple of reasons. one, this was the top official in charge of fighting isis. >> it is. >> and number two, it could be an indication of things to come. talk about the significance of the departure. >> so brett mcgurk served three administrations two republican. he was kept on after obama left specifically because he was considered so valuable to the fight against isis. this is the person, a human being, who went all over iraq and syria and cobbled together this mosaic of a coalition that ended up fighting isis for us. keep in mind it's not american troops that are actually fighting isis, but it's the kurds, the iraqis. it's the local partners that are doing this. >> and to really get inside his decision, he's basically saying, i could no longer guarantee our allies that we

mcgurk: accountability is fundamental.enator markey: accountability can be just saying don't do it again. mr. mcgurk: they have to have a process and a have to be punished when violations occur. senator murphy: i know we consider mr. mcgurk to be a global citizen, but he's a graduate of connecticut and is -- has overcome the rivalry. let me try to recover from that. thank you for being here, mr. mcgurk, and thank you for taking on what is frankly a nightmare of a job trying to manage this crisis and coalition and we are lucky to have you at the helm. in response to a question from senator corker earlier, you were talking about some of our coalition partners not being as involved as we would like, especially with the air campaign. i want to ask you a question relative to the reason members of the coalition are not participating at the level we would expect. when i was in abu dhabi at the and of last year, i went to get relief from the ministry of defense and i was there to oversee our counter isis campaign. knowing i was th

brett mcgurk told of his decision last night. mcgurk was set to leave his position early next year but will now depart at the end of this month after splitting with the president over syria just days after he defended the u.s. mission there. >> it would be reckless if we were to say, anyone who has looked at a conflict like this would agree with that. >> mcgurk's departure follows that of secretary james mattis who handed in his resignation on thursday. that's a day of the president's syria announcement. that announcement was reportedly sparked by a phone conversation between the president and his turkish counter part, according to "the washington post." joining me now, crihristopher hill, and michael alan, former special assistant to george w. bush and staff director for the house intelligence committee. and vivian salama, during the rise and fall of isis. ambassador hill, let's start with you on this. who is brett mcgurk and what are we lose something. >> well, you're losing a lot there. he's quite a dedicated public servant. h

eisel said he is resigning effective december thirty first mcgurk was one of the few holdovers from the obama administration back since two thousand and fifteen he was to have retired in february but apparently disagreed with the trumpet ministrations policy of pulling two thousand troops out of syria that was announced by the president in a tweet in the past few days and that also prompted defense secretary james mattis to resign so the president seems to be having some defections here and disagreement over his policy in syria the president apparently realized that this was something of a sticking point for many people so he put out a tweet defending that decision saying quote 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 the president said ending that tweet but if there is one thing that history has shown it is that i sold or before it

now it's careful to note that mcgurk was scheduled to leave in february. he was going in march to take up a position at stanford university, has a young child, was looking to have a life after government for a while. but really one of the best and brightest of the u.s. administration security team felt that he could no longer implement the president's policy on syria. i'm also told that the resignation of defense secretary mattis in large part because of the -- >> elise, i'm sorry, i've got to interrupt you. we're going to talk more on this departure of brett mcgurk, special envoy, his resignation, but let's go to capitol hill senate majority leader mitch mcconnell talking about this ongoing government shutdown and what they're working on to propose a bill. >> understanding that no further votes will occur until the president and senate democrats have reached an agreement to resolve this. let me say that again. we've pushed the pause button until the president from whom we will need a signature and senate does democrats from whom we will need votes reach a

mcgurk, but ms. slotkin, if you would like to weigh in, please do. one of the things that has not gotten a whole lot of attention but has -- you mentioned it in your testimony, and certainly we've seen it in other places where extremist islam has been in charge, that the plight of iraqi women and girls has borne the brunt of a lot of the violence as they've advanced through iraq. can you talk about what we can do and what is being done to help address this? >> first, senators, the fact that you're asking the question is number one. we have to put international focus and attention on this problem. in n mosul, the situation with isil goes from bad to worst. they've first gone after the christians, then kurds, and now they're going after women, particularly young women. this is a serious international problem. the governor the iraq, foreign minister of iraq, wrote a letter to the secretary general of the united nations asking for international assistance against this threat to their people. so it is something that we need the entire efforts of the entir

mcgurk? or miss slotkin? >> i'll attack a first sttake a. it's important to review the history that both brett and i worked on the original 2008 with iraq that did say by the end of 2011 that we would be out of iraq. so that timetable was set in 2008. there was quite a bit of discussion and debate about what should happen at that time. i really do think the point that brett made is critical. iraqi leaders could not get it through their parliament. we had iraqi leaders at that time saying i don't think it's necessary. we don't want you in. they're a sovereign country. we didn't have will on the other side. that's a critical factor. >> it's certainly a factor. the united states is a pretty substantial country on the globe and we have a lot of involvement there and our officials were meeting with their officials and there were relationships and, yes, they certainly have to degree with it. the effort that was made and the decision to pull all the troops out, it's mind boggling to think, looking b

i disagree with what brett mcgurk said earlier. i know the point that he was trying to make but isis is not al qaeda. they hate each other. they have been competing an actually fighting each other in the streets of syria over the past year or so. they're very different. and in fact although they are just as brutal as each other and have a similar jihadist ideology, this is a turf battle. and if isis comes out on top it could look a lot more dangerous than what we have become used to over the past few years. >> and in terms of recruitment, isis has this advantage that it has this fused battlefield in which fighters can fight. and al qaeda central which has largely been confined and bottled in in north waziristan didn't have that same recruiting ethoss. and it can't give that opportunity for young disenchanted men, for whatever reason, to come and fight. and that's -- >> not yet. >> not yet. >> not yet. and i think this is the possible salvation of al qaeda is what is about to happen in afghanistan. because if, in fact, we go ahead a

only a week ago, mr mcgurk raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview. end there. that's absolutely right. and there's no timeline on it. no timelines. washington is preparing for a short christmas break, but goodwill is in short supply. and with a government shutdown and questions about presidential policy, this seems like a less—than—happy holiday for donald trump. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. as we were hearing earlier, the top white house official in the fight against the islamic state group has quit over president trump's decision to pull us troops from syria. in brett mcgurk‘s resignation letter, leaked to the media, he said the militants were on the run but not yet defeated. it comes just a day after the us defence secretary, jim mattis, handed in his resignation, with the syria withdrawal thought to be a bone of contention there too. earlier i spoke with kamran bokhari, director of strategy and programmes at the centre for global policy based in washington, dc. i began by asking why brett mcgurk made the gesture of resignation when he was

our special envoy to the global coalition for isis here us, brett mcgurk. i know you heard from him a couple of weeks ago and he wanted to come in today to update you on where things hand. without further do, brett mcgurk. brett: thank you. ok, thank you everybody for coming. what i wanted to do today, you heard from the secretary, about a trip around the world. everything going on in the world in activity at the state department. what i thought i would do is drill in a little bit more about what he discussed, one of our key priorities here in the state department about the campaign , against isis. so, i want to focus on the overall campaign, it is a global campaign. but dive in a little bit to the so-called caliphate in iraq and syria. bring you into what we are doing every day and how it is working, interagency, throughout the government, and particularly with our diplomats here at the state department. some topline points, i think it is important, if you go back to when isis arrived on the international scene, back in 2014, we had 40,000 foreign fighters

brett mcgurk is the us special envoy to the global coalition fighting the so—called islamic state groupignation letter, he made clear his concern is that the presidentposmac claims that ifa being defeated were premature. 0nly a week ago, he raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview. the point is that military commitment doesn't end. that is absolutely right. there is no timeline on that. no timeline. washington is preparing for a short christmas break. goodwill is in short supply. with the government shut down, this seems a less than happy holiday for donald trump. chris butler, bbc news, washington. it was the biggest factor in his decision to go. earlier, i spoke to andrew tabler, from the washington institute for near east policy. i asked him about what effect that departure would have. mister mcgurk was quite controversial in the us system because he aligns the united states with the democratic forces, an offshoot of the pkk, which is the archenemy of turkey and is designated as a terrorist organisation. it was a bit like playing with fire, but it was a strateg

joining me from washington, brett mcgurk, u.s. deputy assistant secretary of state for iraq and iran. he served as adviser to the u.s. ambassador to iraq. i am pleased to have him on this program. welcome. and you tell me, there is a new york times report that said the united states may be prepared to send u.s. troops are rescue refugees? >> i haven't seen that report but what that is probably referring to is a commitment that the president has addressed the american people, that we are committed to breaking the siege of mount sinjar where thousands of innocent people, yazidis, are trapped on this mountain, surrounded by isil terrorists. we have been doing airstrikes on the north side of that mountain. those strikes have been very effective. they have allowed a lot of them to get off the mountain. we are now actively undergoing an assessment to determine how many people are left and what we can do. >> you are basically saying we will do everything we have to do to get these refugees to safety. >> charlie, the helicopter that crash

the special envoy briefing reporters on the anti eisel fight in syria under a summer 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's syria decision dangerous and deployed jim madison's 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 certain as the trumpet ministration declares it won't be u.s. forces and resources leading the charge rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington staying with washington the us government remains partially shut down after politicians failed to break an impasse on the budget spending the stando