that off, let me say because of the strong leader of president trump and the strong support of our allies in france and the united kingdom, last night, the united states of america conducted a successful military strike on critical chemical weapons infrastructure in syria that has significantly degraded and crippled the ability of syria to conduct chemical weapons attacks and a chemical weapons program against innocent civilians. this was the morally right act to take, and i spoke to the president this morning, and we couldn't be more proud of our american forces and our allies who conducted this attack with such professionalism and brought about an extraordinary success. the president has also made it clear that the united states of america is prepared to sustain this effort, to reestablish the deterrent framework that exists in order that the syrian regime and its patrons know that there will be a price to pay if chemical weapons are used again against innocent men, women and children. i have been heartened by the support that has been expressed here at the summit of the americas and fr

and our allies and this of life are prepared to continue this effort -- and our allies in the civilized world are prepared to continue this effort to ensure chemical weapons are not used against civilians in syria. we believe we significantly degraded their program. believe we significantly degraded their ability to butuce chemical weapons, this was also about reestablishing what we call a deterrent framework, of working with our allies as president trump reached out to the united almost dailyrance, telephone calls, negotiations between our national security teams, to arrive at the targets, to arrive at the strategy. when the president made the decision to go it was all in an effort to do everything in our to destroyjust aspects of the chemical weapons program but also to send a message to syria and to their patrons in russia and in iran that there is a price to pay if they ever use chemical weapons again. reporter: when you talk about a deterrent framework, other than additional military strikes, what does that look like? the united states tried to cut a deal where bashar al-assad was

and its allies have faced criticism for not waiting for the i.p.c. japanese investigation before taking action. is live for us from on the tacky syria border the inspectors are supposed to be starting that was in duma one of the expectations from this trip where the expectation is from the syrians and the russians would divide to do in the first instance to try and establish whether an attack took place or not this is the mandate of this you fact finding mission where these members will go into duma they will stop by there and it's using chlorine and other the nerve agent as has been alleged by rebels was used by the syrian government of course. will not stop who used it if they find out there was the use but the bigger question remains whether the fact finding mission will be able to do its job we've been hearing from a number of opposition sources saying that there's been a lot of pressure that has been mounting on the locals in dumas you have to remember that the syrian government after this alleged chemical attack was able to break down the old d

and its allies. hello and welcome to america's news headquarters, i'm kelly wright. >> i'm eboni williams in for julie banderas. vice president mike pence to speak and we will bring them to you when they begin. this as un ambassador nikki haley says the u.s. remains locked and load today strike if the syrian regime uses poisonous gas again, the coordinated effort serving as a punishment for suspected chemical attack against civilians last week. pentagon touting the operation's success and refuting claims about russian and syrian governments that they missed several missiles. >> i used three words to describe, precise, overwhelming and effective. all weapons hit their targets at very close to the designated time on target of about 4:00 a.m. in syria, which, of course, is 9:00 o'clock here in the east coast, we have no indication that russian air defies systems were deployed. weft confident that all of missiles reached targets. kelly: fox team news team coverage john roberts live at the white house, bu

as i spoke to the president this morning, we couldn't be more proud of our american forces and our allies who conducted this attack with such professionalism and -- and brought about an extraordinary success. the president has also made it clear that the united states of america is prepared to sustain this effort to -- to reestablish the deterrent framework that exists in order that the syrian regime and its patrons know that there will be a price to pay if chemical weapons are used again against innocent men, women and children. i've been heartened by the support that's been expressed here at the summit of the americans and the leaders around the world. many, many world leaders here at this summit in lima have expressed support to me privately, many have publicly for the joint action last night and expressed appreciation for president trump's strong leadership in the efforts of our armed forces. so we -- we stand against as the civilized world has for more than a century, we stand against the use of chemical weapons, against innocent civilians and america with a strong support of the uni

and its allies? >> well, kelly, those two words, mission accomplished are a phrase the pentagon rarely uses in order -- in order not to tempt fate. in this case the pentagon and white house defined the mission narrowly to respond to assad's aparent use of chemical weapons. >> together we have sent a clear message to assad and his murderous lieutenants that they cannot perpetrate another chemical weapons attack for which they will be held accountable. >> we have attacked the heart of the syrian chemical weapons program. i'm not saying they won't be able to reconstitute it. i'm not saying that it is going to continue. this is dealt in a very serious blow -- this has dealt them a very serious blow. >> the three targets included a research center near damascus, a storage facility near homs, and chemical weapons bunker a few miles from the second site. u.s. officials made clear they don't want to get dragged into a civil war, and they took great pains not to strike any russian or iranian targets. >> with

this is a show about science at all our now allies scientists tonight true. it's everywhere but our. landfills overflowing is so smells so bad but some.

allies. this is the kind of action that needs to be done. he's worked very carefully on the north korea dossier, with our japanese allies, with our south korean allies. and, actually, in terms of the p president's rhetoric the president has been the one saying it's time for us to leave syria. he's rethought a bit now. he was originally for leaving afghanistan and decided we needed to leave a true presence. he's been very tough on our nato allies saying they need to step up and spend 2% of gdp on national security. so we're at a moment where i think the kind of person that mike pompeo is, someone who understands the president's agenda but knows how to work well with partners around the world will come in and help smooth some of the changes that really do need to take place in global affairs and to move things forward in a positive direction. >> james, good morning. >> caller: good morning. i think pompeo has got his nose so far up trump's you know what, mike pence is going to have to move over

and allies had preempted the official investigation into the gas attack. which will produce will see i'm going of course everyone understands that what happened the day before the official chemical weapons inspectors were supposed to travel to the place of the incident in order to confirm the presence or absence of evidence of the use of chemical weapons there. being at the. school. arriving in damascus on saturday ahead of a visit the site of the gas attack the team of weapons inspectors came one step closer to the tree. germany did not take part in the airstrikes but german officials are due to meet with representatives from france britain and the u.s. that meeting will take place in london on sunday to discuss what steps should be taken next german foreign minister says berlin will help lead a new temple mattick push to end the war in syria. five stormed the united nations must lead and carry the negotiation process. it's a problem but the un needs our active engagement to give a new impetus to the discussions from and. so we will work together with fra

. >> cia director he has built close working relations with our european allies and our allies in the sunni muslim world. very close ties to him in his word can be trusted. he has a sense of what america needs to do and how to do it. his young relatively, is dynamic and will be a transformative secretary of state. obviously things need to be taken seriously. >> at the end of the day are muslim allies can assure you that mike pompeo is not an islam a foe. he's worked closely with our golf allies. so the man who spoke out after 9/11 and said he wish more muslim leaders had spoken monetary issues. that would've been helpful. on gay rights issues he's a devout presbyterian. he does not believe in gay marriage but he has respected gay marriage as an institution at the cia. were numerous case passes cia employees working there. he treated them as any other. >> to know him personally? >> yes. >> and has he shared with you about the possibility of coming to this position. >> i have not spoken with him since he's been nominated. were fortunate that he's taken part in numerous workshops we've h

says allied missile strikes in syria were a success and threatens to act again if there are more chemical attacks. the u.n. security council rejects russia's resolution to condemn the strikes. hello again on this show with al-jazeera life from doha also coming up syria dominates the summit of the americas in peru with the u.s. vice president defending the military action plus. tens of thousands of south africans bid farewell to the mother of the nation. the u.s. says it's locked and loaded for another military strike if the syrian government uses chemical weapons again well that warning fall is the most significant western allied attack against president assad's government since the seven year war began the u.s. the u.k. and france launch more than one hundred missiles on sites they say were linked to syria's chemical weapons program it was in retaliation for last saturday suspected chemical attack on the town of duma well the smoke is still rising from those sites as reaction came in from leaders across the region turkey express its support for the strikes the syrian government and iran

that is exactly why nato allies in the security council and all nato allies have supported repeated callsinitiatives to have an independent investigation into the chemical attacks in syria, and the senator this —— and these initiatives have been blocked time and again by russia by using the veto in the security council. so actually before the strikes took place last night, the nato allies exhausted all other possible methods to address this issue through the un security council by diplomatic means. but since this was blocked by russia, there was no other alternative than to react like this la st alternative than to react like this last night. two quick questions. this is not the first time we have been here, a little more than one year ago president from ordered strikes because of the chemical attack. understanding your point that there must be an answer from the international community, what gives you any reason to believe that this restrained, limited strike will not have us back here again in six months when your time when there is another reason that the assad regime may have been exp

in tehran eric iran is syria's most important regional ally how's it reacting very . well we have the supreme leader ayatollah hominidae describing trump may as criminals and what they have done as a crime over the past week they've said that the allegations of the chemical weapons attack was part of a conspiracy a plot to create precisely the pretext that this kind of attack and they condemn them very strongly come in a also pointing out the hypocrisy of western actions when it supporting saudi aggression in yemen and elsewhere in the region. and also bringing up the chemical weapons attacks that iran itself suffered during the one nine hundred eighty s. that this is the same who in those days they say was supported by the west and so chemical weapons are a very emotive subject for iran and this puts the minute in an awkward position ok we've also been hearing from tehran that there will be regional consequences that will hurt more than the americans is this all about israel a common. show yeah iran is in a very strong position across the region and has proxy forces

>>'s attempt to make the changes to the deal and is their willingness on behalf of allies? mentioned macron, but isn't only france who signed onto it. i think they are interested in seeing if improvements can be made it want us to stay in the deal while everybody works on those improvements. that would be my advice. don't walk away from the deal now, but make it clear you are seeking improvements. we can do that together, and we can also offer iran some incentives for those improvements. on,ink it is worth working but i would not walk out of the deal. if the u.s. potentially goes into some form of negotiations with korea on that issue, are there perils to or ifking the iran deal, the changes are on the margins. does that send a bac signal. ? watching how we handle this, so that is part of the reason i think the better course is to stick with the agreement that we signed, even though i disagreed with the deal at the beginning. but sticking with that deal and continuing to work on improvements that can benefit not only the united states and our allies in the middle east, but

also ask some questions about our allies. weas pleased to hear that were joined by two of our allies -- the united kingdom and france . i was pleased that others spoke of to support that, but i question in my mind why they were not there to be part of the strikes. can you help me understand that and how they are in or out? >> we have had ongoing consultations certainly with european allies and with turkey for a long time on syria broadly. there were consultations in the lead up to the strikes, particularly with france and britain, and the french and british, for geopolitical and historical reasons and reasons of national interest chose to support us. there are certain constraints in legalrman system on constraints, political constraints on the ability to participate directly in a strike. i was in berlin in the lead up to the strike and i know there were a lot of consultations internally. the germans came out with the highest level of support they can provide. the italians were supportive. turkey was supportive, but i our just

may be unlikely allies but allies nevertheless in syria the so-called asked and trio turkey and iran and russia so turkey in this position to try to play a mediating role turkey of course we know that the regime change is no longer its priority that has since changed its priority in syria is to prevent the creation of a kurdish state which will affect its kurdish population in turkey but nevertheless it is cooperating in one way or the other with russia so it is it is in the middle it enjoys good relations with all parties but it continues to criticize the syrian government for its actions it criticized the syrian government for the chemical weapons or suspected chemical weapons attack it even criticized the syrian government for its operation in eastern hutto but those criticisms tend to be muted because turkey like i said has to play a difficult role trying a balancing act if you like between the united states russia turkey and iran of course. it all sort of hinges as well on current events of what's going on right now because you have the p.c. w. heading into duma we don't really

>> with our conversations with european allies, the states that have at least with the european alliess that there is a greater awareness of the extent of the iranian challenge and a greater political willingness in the uk and germany to take actions to address the shortcomings of jcpoa. >> on the second issue of yemen, the obama administration reduced the number of servicemen there helping the coalition due to the concerns that i stipulated earlier. the humanitarian crisis that this coalition and others have helped create. has the assessment change under the current administration? and if so, what is the justification for such change? >> administration is quite concerned with different aspects of the yemen crisis conference is humanitarian. this is an extraordinarily large humanitarian disaster. one of the greatest disasters in modern history. while the coalition campaign is not the exclusive cause or sustainer of the crisis, they themselves bear significant responsibility. the fact is we are associated with the saudi led campaign. we have engaged the highest levels of the government

and its allies against the syrian government the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. told the council washington believes syrian government forces have used chemical weapons at least fifty times during syria's seven year war gaza's help ministry says one palestinians been killed and at least seven hundred others have been injured during ongoing protests along the gaza israel border friday's protests are being dubbed flag burning day and a part of an ongoing call for a right of return for palestinians since the protests first began at the end of march more than thirty one palestinians of shot dead by israel forces. have been massed process of india over allegations the ruling b j p is trying to protect men accused of raping and murdering a child in jammu kashmir the body of a c. for ban no on eight year old girls belong to lose them nomadic tribe is found in january this week can do right wing groups for tested against the arrests of eight hindu man a report by the united nations children's agency says the armed group boko haram has abducted more than one thousand chil

and to send a very clear solidarity with allies and to send a very clear message solidarity with alliessident assad and a warning to him about using chemical weapons. and as a lwa ys using chemical weapons. and as always in these we are getting contradictory reports, we heard from the pentagon but the syrian air defences simply didn't work on time, that the russians were not operating, whereas from damascus they talked about the success of theirair they talked about the success of their air defence. it is interesting that you mention her there was a concern on the better side that those defences would work. i am not sure whether they did or not, what they are saying? the line from the pentagon is very clear. they believe the air defence systems, yes, they we re the air defence systems, yes, they were fired, but they did not down any of the missiles that were fired by this coalition of france, the us and britain. and one thing else to say about britain's contribution, there is a political difficulty for theresa may because she has an opposition that is questioning the legality of this mi

there is and with the help of the russian army ok now should the united states and its allies conduct any additional strikes how would russia respond to that well i think the most important fact brian is that russian air defense systems located in syrian territory have not been used to counter the missile strikes that is what is the russian minister of defense pointed out and this fact particular seems to be very important for moscow as well and difficulties between moscow and washington are still on the rhetoric level in moscow has very well listen to what the u.s. president tom passed to say had to say in his televised address mr trump accused russian president vladimir putin personally of failing to avoid to the syrian president assad to use to use chemical weapons and the kremlin see this as a personal insult to the russian president which russia count except their actions have a relatively large military base in the syrian city of me mean if the americans attack mean then a military conflict between the two former cold war enemy is us and russia can obviously no longer be avoided

is there a willingness on behalf allies? even mentioned the president of france, but there are also other countries that have signed on to it? >> i think they're interested in a improvements being made, but they want us to stay in the deal while everybody works on the improvements. that would be my advice as well, don't walk away from the deal now, but make it sure that you are seeking improvements. we can do that together, and can also offer iran some incentives for those improvements. worth working on, but again, i would not walk out of the deal while you are trying to affect those changes. though, thatst ask as the u.s. potentially goes into some form of negotiations issue,rth korea on that are there perils to nitpicking even though the changes might be in the margins? doesn't sound like a bad thing? >> yes, i think there is a risk there. if the u.s. makes a deal, the question is, will? they stick with the deal? everybody is watching how we handle this. that is part of the reason why i course is toter stick with the agree

nato allies have given theirfull support to the american—led strikes.hadn‘t solved all the problems related to chemical weapons in syria, but compared to the alternative, which was to do nothing, he said this was the best response. he was speaking to the bbc‘s adam fleming in brussels. we were briefed very thoroughly by the three allies, the united kingdom, france and the united states, and we appreciate all the information they shared with us and we have no reason to doubt the findings and the assessments of these three allies. at the same time we know that the chemical attack that happened on the 7th of april happened in the area, douma, where the assad regime operates, supported by russia and iran. we also know that previously there have been independent investigators, international investigations, which have clearly attributed the use of chemical weapons to the assad regime, so they have used chemical weapons before. and we know for instance that the world health organisation has reported that they have seen people with symptoms consistent with the

this time we're doing it with allies. what does that say about president trump's ability to bring the world together to bring together other countries, nations, what does that say? >> well, obviously that's definitely a step in the right direction, you know, the united kingdom and france being some -- two of our most important and oldest allies, having them with us adds credibility. france has had a long-standing role in syria. their support makes a difference. and it shows that president trump is not just a go it alone president, that he's willing to work with our allies when he should and that's a very good thing. >> and we should point out there are people who are not happy about what is happening in syria and we should not be over there and they are worried about the future. what would you say to them? >> i understand the instinct but i think we should point out the crisis in syria that is seven years old has led to half a million deaths. it's a slow-rolling genocide that's produced 10 million displaced persons and re

this time, our allies have struck harder. together we have sent a clear message to assad and his murderous lieutenants that they cannot perpetrate another chemical weapons attack. for which they will be held accountable. we remain committed in defeating isis in syria. the strike tonight separately demonstrates international resolve to prevent chemical weapons from being used on anyone under any circumstances in contradiction of international law. i want to emphasize that these strikes are directed at the syrian regime. in conducting these strikes, we have gone to great lengths to prevent civilian casualties. it is a time for all civilized nations to urgently unite in ending the syrian civil war by supporting the united nations. in accordance to the convention prohibiting the use of such weapons, we urge responsibility to condemn the assad regime and join us in our firm resolve to prevent chemical weapons from being used again. general dunford will provide military update. gen. dunford: i am joined by [indiscernible] and our b

a new redline for the us and its allies. >> thank you jennifer. kelly? >> we just heard jennifer talk about the vice president. he is calling the us lead airstrikes on syria morally correct. he is speaking to reporters telling them the president carefully considered the move before making it. and you heard right here live at the toothy in our of "america's news headquarters". >> anytime the commander-in-chief puts forces in harm's way we consider every potential response. >> carefully examine the responsibility of a response by syria or by its allies, russia and iran in its calculation and the president made the decision to target chemical weapons facilities having counted all the cost and potential of the decisions. >> john roberts is live in the white house with the very latest on the story. latest on the story. >> good afternoon. the president is at work here. he is working the phones talking with the uk prime minister, theresa may. as well as the french president, emmanuel macron. the white house readout of the phone calls came on my email about two

very much in the same tone as his allies and his subordinates. he's saying the united states with the support of its allies fired missiles at civil infrastructure of the syrian arab republic without the sanction of the united nations security council in violation of the u.n. charter norms and principles of international law. he called it an act of aggression against a sovereign state. it's quite a long statement. right at the end he says he'll be calling for an urgent meeting of the united nations security council because this was a military operation conducted without a mandate from that security council because russia vetoed a joint western allied proposal and, indeed, the allies voted a russian proposal which had no sanctions behind it with reference to getting inspectors in to -- independent inspectors to go and see the site of this chemical weapons attack. on the matter of the scale of this attack, it's fascinating the level of disinformation or inconsistency certainly between what we're hearing from, for example, the united kingdom that say

in tehran eric iran is syria's most important regional ally how's it reacting to the. well we have the supreme leader ayatollah come in a describing trump may and mccrone as criminals and what they have done as a crime over the past week they've said that the allegations of the chemical weapons attack was part of a conspiracy a plot to create precisely the pretext for this kind of attack and they condemned them very strongly coming a also pointing out the hypocrisy of western actions when it supporting saudi aggression in yemen and elsewhere in the region. and also bringing up the chemical weapons attacks that iran itself suffered during the one nine hundred eighty s. that this is the same who in those days they say was supported by the west and so chemical weapons are a very emotive subject for iran and this puts the minute in an awkward position ok we've also been hearing from tehran that there will be regional consequences that will hurt more then the americans is this all about israel. show yeah iran is in a very strong position across the region it has proxy force

allies will not gain any achievements from crimes in syria attacking syria as a crime u.s. president u.k. prime minister and the president of france are criminals that's what i am and they have said of course the french president it's his real first opportunity to say flex his muscle alongside his western allies. yes that's right because interesting those comments from the iranian leader because of course of course france under present my car has been trying to open up its relationship with iran and improve its relationship so of course that's a going to be interesting to see what the president has to say about those comments from iran we're not actually expecting to hear from him and or mack or today he is expected to speak on sunday evening here in france it was a pretty shared your interview to really marquee year in office since he became president so be interesting to see if he does touch on some of those points for the president though over the past few days he has made it very clear that he believes that the syrian regime carried out that chemical attack in do marty

allies but would like to leave. he also said he would have the military guard the southern border, and would have discussions with his advisers on the possibility. this is 30 minutes. gentlemen, the president of the united states accompanied by the president of lithuania, the president of laugh yet, and the president of the republic of estonia. andhe president of latvia, the president of the republic of estonia. president trump: thank you. today i am honored to host the president of estonia, the president of latvia, and the of lithuania. we just spent a long time together and it was very interesting. this summit proudly displays to the world america's deep and lasting friendship with the baltic nations. on behalf of the american people, thank you very much. anotheroing to have when hundred year, a very long and beautiful relationship. this is your 100 year of independence. 100th year of independence. congratulations. withnited states has stood the baltics through decades of brutal soviet occupation. the u.s. never c

we have five treaty allies. they are all incredibly important. japan is the foundation of our security in the western pacific. korea is the linchpin that holds together northeast asia. australia is the foundation pushing up from the bottom across all asia. incredibly important. you know we are assisting the philippines from the threat of isis. an advise and assist mission, that has been important. there is thailand as well in southeast asia. partners, i think the historic opportunity for the united states going forward is probably with india. relationshipbe a that i intend to work on with great energy. sen. ernst: wonderful. i appreciate you calling out all of those allies. they are important to us. you mentioned india. what more can we be doing with india? military sales? schooling? what additional response can we give? adm. davidson: i think it's important to get them to establish a foundation in a mill to mill relationship. long reliedtary has on the former soviet union and then russia to follow with technology and training. we have to break d

we are partners, allies. the reforms of nato which we are investing together and preparing a result likebe before but especially now because we see the united states leadership, we see the willingness of the united states to a different nato, a different quality of nato and it's probably open. we were joking a little about that we need leadership sometimes for decision making to make enough leverage and pressure for rivals to believe that we can make a decision. of -- we see kind this kind of leadership in president trump. without the leverage and pressure, there will be no additional spending in our defense, in nato, there will be no additional decisions for rotating military forces in our countries. there will be no willingness to look into the matter of defense which we need very much. all these point of views we trust that our partner and ally is investing seriously in the future of our defense not only our regions but nato territory defense and the peace and security as it was before. of course, business

allies and europe. snaud snaud [ no audio ] [ no audio ] >> are we ready to walk away from our allies and we are still talking about part of that agreement is china and russia and given what's going on with them right now so that we are virtually dividing the signatories of the jcpoa. so you say we will cake it up at that time, but this was a multi-lateral agreement that from what i'm getting everyone says iran has not violated and at the same time we're in about the process of negotiating an agreement with north korea about our po word and whether we stand by it or not. >> i can only reiterate the administration is focused on success here. we are focused on obtaining support from our critical allies to cure what we regard as significant failures both in the agreement and things that were not negotiated at the time of the agreement but now pose a real threat. as assistant secretary mitchell said, the dialogue with our european allies has been a positive one and we hope it is one that leads to a comprehe

you need allies. you are your allies. >>chris: the president has a may 12 deadline for deciding whether to lift the sanctions on tehran, would it be a mistake for the president to pull out of the iran nuclear deal? >> - - for nuclear, what do you have? i don't see it. what is the what if scenario or your plan b. i don't have plan b for nuclear. that's a question that we will discuss. that's why i just want to say on nuclear, let's - - framework. second, i'm not satisfied with the situation with iran. i want to fight against that, to contain their influence in the region. my point is to say don't leave now. let's complete it - - [indiscernible] >>chris: president trump seems close to holding a summit meeting with north korea's kim jong-un, do you think his threats. fire and peer-reviewed's insults, little rocket man. however unconventional they may be, brought kim jong-un to the table? >> i don't know. i think we always have to be very careful about these kind of declarations. i think the pressure he put on the region, plu

and its allies?ller: i cannot add a whole lot to what the people who are against this have already said. they came up with excellent sources to bolster their unhappiness with the strike. i do not believe we took time enough to find out if it actually happened. ofis easy to show video aildren and people dying from gas attack because there have been many that happened. all of the evidence we had heard didar indicated that this not happen, because the people investigating it were not using protective gear. if it was sarin, they would have. i feel like trump has been led by the nose by neocons. i am a democrat who voted for a republican president for the first time in my life. i am a lefty. i voted for him because i thought he was going to help rebuild our country and pull us out of entitlements that we had no business -- entanglements we had no business being in. assad -- it was time to put the country back together and now we have fallen into the pit of being deceived. is listening to the wrong people.

let's listen in. >> -- allies iran and russia. did you take that into any consideration when you were planning targets? did you specifically target any of their assets? >> well, i can assure you that any time our commander in chief puts our armed forces in harm's way we consider every potential response by the enemy. every eventuality was explored over the past week and we continue to monitor the environment in the region very, very carefully. the united states is ready to respond. to defend our forces. and to be clear, the united states is also ready to take additional action in a sustained way to ensure that syria understands their will be a price to pay if they ever use chemical weapons again, but we -- we carefully examined the possibility of a response by syria or by its allies, russia and iran, in this calculation, and the president made the decision to target chemical weapons facilities, having counted all the cost and the potential of those decisions. >> so, mr. vice president -- >> mr. vice president, in the year between

right so this idea that the united states or its allies to engage in military actions for humanitarian purposes was a major part of the case of the iraq war obviously there are other arguments but the idea that saddam and gassed his own people that he was suppressing his own people that were coming to liberate the iraqis that was an important part of the arguments lots of people were making back in two thousand to two thousand and three and i don't think that turned out very well for the people reportedly trying to help the same is true when it came time for the intervention in libya we claim that we were going to help the libyan people by freeing them from gadhafi we killed gadhafi and then paid very little attention to what happened in libya in the aftermath which was even worse suffering worse chaos militia rule the return of the slave trade so i think the record of people who claim that the united states is going to drop bombs in order to bring happiness or protect people in the world is an extremely poor one that's generally the excuse it's used for geo political motives that are

has released these images purportedly showing the destruction of western allies say they're responding to the suspected poison gas attack by president assad's forces last week. these are not the actions of a man. they are crimes of a monster instead u.s. president trump denouncing assad and now praising the u.s. military for what he called a perfectly executed attack tweeting mission accomplished. because of awesome welcome to the program a u.n. security council meeting called by russia is now underway moscow is seeking a vote to condemn the united states and its allies for carrying out military strikes on syria russia is demanding that no further strikes will be launched but u.s. ambassador nikki haley told the meeting that the allies are quote locked and loaded just strike syria again if further chemical weapon attacks take place u.n. secretary general antonio terris has called for calm. and they are all members to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any case that could escalate smetters and worsening the suffering of the syrian people as i did yesterday i st

i think many of the nato allies have, in turn, made it a priority for their country as well. i applaud that. i'm thrilled with that. but the goal remains clear, or the goals remain clear. that's the expectation. it's the expectation not only for germany but for everyone who signed up for that agreement. so we're hopeful that at the summit every nato partner will deliver a credible plan to achieve that goal. that's what they signed up for. that's our expectation for july. ms. nauert: okay, next question goes to lesley wroughton from reuters. lesley. reporter: do i need a mic? ms. nauert: it's coming your way. reporter: thank you. mr. secretary, i want to ask , did a consensus emerge today on how to counter hybrid warfare emanating from russia and elsewhere, and what concrete steps did you agree will be necessary? and if i might just follow up on something on north korea. the white house just released a photo of you and kim jong-un meeting. a central question on north korea is if he poses -- if it poses a unique threat because kim is dangerously unstable. you've met him. do you

but the allies are not speaking with one voice.isten to how much more definitive the french president is. translation: we have proof that last week, now nearly ten days ago, that chemical weapons were used, at least chlorine, and that they were used by bashar al—assad ‘s regime. chlorine, and that they were used by bashar al-assad 's regime. us action a year ago amounted to little more than crater in a runway. it is still likely that this time multinational action will be more expensive and will come sooner rather than later. but, with chemical weapons is due to arrive in douma at the weekend, the window for a quick response would appear to be closing fast. the russians, though, still insist there is no justification for any action. translation: washington continues to make militaristic statements that risk causing a dangerous escalation. there are accusations not only against damascus, but also against the russian federation. donald trump tweeted this morning that a military strike may come soon, or maybe not so strike may come so

after the allies launched a barrage of missiles at several of bashar al assad this weekend.resident trump declared mission accomplished and they declared the right to do it again. they made clear they had no plans to topple assad as prime minister theresa may told parliament today. >> it was not about intervening in a civil war and about regime change. it was about a limited, targeted strike that sought to alleviate the suffering of the syrian people by degrading the chemical weapon capability and deterring their use. >> inside syria the war rages on with more than 400,000 people killed since 2011. 5 million syrians fled their country and another 6 million are internally displaced. what, if anything, has changed in syria, which has become the battleground for much bigger powers trying to control the middle east? leon panetta was america's defense secretary under president obama and joins me from california. secretary panetta, welcome to the program. >> nice to be with you. >> actually, i'm going to refer to your last administration position as director of the cia. in that, g

i realize sometimes those allies don't share all of our values, but if they are security allies -- if you look at our record over many years of creating democracies and reinforcing democratic impulses, i need only point to south korea and the fiery -- and the very vibrant democracy they are today. there was a move to keep us away from south korea because it was a dictatorship. we have to be willing to work with imperfect allies while never being reticent about what our values are and what we stand for. your support in the area would be helpful. difficulte some challenges ahead of you. let me just mention a few things to consider. senator reid mentioned a few things about america. there were a number of us who thought this was an important document that should have come to the senate as a tree. it did not come that way. a bipartisan majority of senators did not approve of the jcp away. jcpoa. it is the first time in history that an agreement of this magnitude was approved -- was approved by the congress by a bipartisan minority of senators and house members. important to cap yet the id

the new allies of the israelis and against iran and the guns has been there for taking out assad is a way putting the scale of the finger on the scale of the side that eli is really on which is the side of israel on the side of saudi arabia and hurting iran and humanitarianism is the pretext for doing that also other examples like creating a no fly zone and in northern iraq for the kurds in this case what we have is a country where there is a very serious military presence on the ground of a nuclear armed country called russia so that if we start doing the sort of thing that would be necessary to cripple assad's air force or to in any way harm assad we're going to be not only bombing russian syrian military installations but killing lots of russians as well so what you're talking about is a serious risk of an actual hot war between two countries that have very deep seeded animosities going back decades and thousands of missiles pointed at one another cities with nuclear tipped an r k a cold war systems ready to be triggered at any moment it's extraordinarily dangerous the kind of th