gordon: in deference to our allies, we'll let the ally have the last word. i would ask everybody to join me in thanking our panel today. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. isit ncicap.org] >> deputy defense secretary patrick slan has will step in -- shanahan will step in replacing current secretary james mattis. mr. shanahan, 56 years old, previously worked at boeing focusing on missile defense, commercial aerospace and supply chain programs. he has a degree in mechanical engineering from the massachusetts institute of technology and is from aberdeen, washington. >> saturday at 8:00 p.m. eastern, conversations with three retiring members of congress. republicans peter roskam, john coffman. mr. >> we go on our devices and want things convictly. jefferson wrote this. he said the ground of liberty is to be gained by inches. we must be content what we can get from time to time and eternally press forward for what

gordon: in deference to our allies, we'll let the ally have the last word.i would ask everybody to join me in thanking our panel today. which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ >> c-span's "washington live every day with news and policy issues that impact you are coming up this morning, we wall discuss the yahoo!'s scottth gamm. >> government funding rate out at midnight as we enter date wanted a government shutdown. continue on a bill that will pass both chambers of congress and get the approval of the president. watch live coverage of the house and the senate on c-span2. and the house and senate are both scheduled to come in saturday to work on a government funding bill. senate leadership announced that they would not take a vote until there was an agreement between them, the president, and house of representatives. watch the house live on c-span and the senate on c-span2.

, we'll let the ally have the last word. i always ask everybody to join me in thanking our panel today. >> thank you. >>> tonight, american history tv features programs on immigration, starting with the united states immigration commission, also known as the dillingham commission. it was formed by congress in 1907 at a time when a large influx of immigrants was seen by many as a national crisis. historian katherine benton. >> cohen reviews her book "inventing the immigration problem." american history tv begins at 8:00 p.m. >>> coming up this weekend on book tv, saturday at noon eastern, coverage of the second annual well read black girl festival in brooklyn, new york, with a keynote address by author and poet patricia smith. >> i didn't know much about the steamy, problematic down south my parents had come from. i knew the south was steamy because they never stopped complaining about chicago's cold tea. i knew it was problematic because television told me so. on our flickering floor model, people who looked like me were cor

, we let the ally have the last word.join me in thanking the panel. [applause] [ inaudible conversations] >> homeland security secretary kiersten nielsen heads to capitol hill for an oversight hearing with the house judiciary committee. she will talk about homeland security operations and likely face questions about immigration enforcement after the recent death of a 7-year-old guatemalan girl detained by the us border patrol. the hearing gets underway at 10:15 easton on c-span3. you can watch on c-span.org or listen on the c-span radio apps. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979 c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television company. today we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington dc and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >> after passing a short-term government funding bill wednesday, i'll ask a senator lisa murkowski asked for a public landfill package

without our canadian and european allies and our allies in the middle east, talking about israel, how are we supposed to be able to have the benefit of a great economy if in the end all we're doing, all we're doing is essentially looking inward instead of protecting our interests abroad. >> based on who you talk to among our closest allies, justin trudeau of canada, angela merkel, the german chancellor, theresa may, french president macron, how do they view this president? >> i read the papers like you do and all they do is wring their hands. they keep hoping in the end they can humor him, keep him under control. i mean, president macron of france tried to embrace him and invite him to a bastill day military parade that seems to impress the president. he's had poor relations with canada. prime minister trudeau, how can the american people accept the fact that we have the president of the united states that insults our canadian allies. i was in canada several weeks ago, the canadians were beside themselves about how trump is treating them. that's unacceptable. americans should resent t

we need to work with allies and work other leaders among the allies and lead some allies to reassert diplomatic pressure on russia and to clearly show broad support ending their rash and dangerous behavior. this is not the time for mincing of terms. it's time for very clear language amongst us and our allies. we need to refute in no uncertain terms the russian narrative on crimea. we need to aggressively answer and refute the disinformation campaign and that i call war below the lines in both cyberspace and infospace. we don't need to lie to our people or need to do some form if we simply, aggressively hold the truce we know about these situations and if we brought our allies along with us to aggressively unmask and tell the truth that is enough for a start. we need to take the next steps to make ukraine and was wonderfully suggested, some of our allies around ukraine more military old bible. it's not my word but i like it. good friend of mine said we need to make ukraine the kind of porcupine that russia can't swallow. we need to sharpen the tools and capabilities of the ukrainians

our allies have certainly contributed. there are important peace negotiations the trump administration had launched. when the taliban wake up as they did this morning and saw that the president has decided to withdraw troops before he's even able to prove that the peace negotiations could bear fruit, how do you imagine their military commanders are going to react to that? host: the president was very critical of president obama when he telegraphed military operations but didn't the president just do the same thing? host: this president always says his predecessors have done everything wrong that he is now repeating. guest: this president always says his predecessors have done everything wrong that he is now repeating. host: russian president vladimir, in his year and news conference, you will hear his answer for a translator. -- his answer through a translator. >> yesterday president donald trump announced the withdrawal of american troops from syria. he also announced that, in his opinion, the united states defeated isis

time ourthe same allies including israel would feel less secure. president, as this debate has carried on with nobody talking about the largest state sponsor of terrorism i have found it troubling. lens through which we need to view security in the middle east is through iran. have thewe satisfaction and frustration with some allies we must remember the most significant and serious threat in the middle east continues to be iran. there has been a lot of focus on the horrible death of mr. khashoggi. any death is horrible. let me talk about some other deaths. n the middle east and iraq we had over 500 american military members killed and almost 2000 wounded by improvised explosive devices supplied to iraqi militia and's by the iranians. 2000 americans killed and wounded by the largest state sponsor of terrorism and yet nobody seems to talk about that. one death of a journalist is horrible. 2000 americans dead and wounded is really horrible. where was the outrage about those deaths? where was the editorials about those murders of american citizens. , t

and working with our allies. did we react appropriately to the invasion of crimea? did we, the west act appropriately to the support given? and we did not mention very much today did we react appropriately of all the lives lost twice to the russian federation to use military force to once again change internationally recognized borders? on mh 17 we knew within dozens of hours exactly what happened how long did it take us as the west to call us to task to rollout in a definitive way a couple of days over two years? after the pot stopped a boiling has anyone build nine - - been held to task we missed our opportunity i believe to take action when it would've had more appropriate response we took too long to put out a definitive statement because we were arguing amongst ourselves we still have about a clear alliance wide definitive remarks about what we saw and continue to see we seem to have accepted it and no one has held anyone accountable in the shootdown of the airline. so what has the response been so far? i wi

we need to work with allies, work with other lead -- leaders among the allies, lead some allies, to reinsert diplomatic pressure on russia. you clearly show broad support ending their rash and dangerous behavior. the time for mincing of terms. it is time for very clear language amongst us and our allies. we need to review in no uncertain terms the russian narrative on crimea and on the dumbas. we need to aggressively answer and refute the disinformation campaign and what i called war below the lines in both cyberspace and infospace. we do not need to lie to our people will or does inform if we simply, aggressively told the truth that we know about these situations. and if we brought our allies along with us to aggressively unmask, tell the truth, that is enough for a start. we need to take the next steps to make ukraine and was -- and as was wonderfully suggested, the allies around ukraine, more militarily viable. it is not my word but i like it. a good friend of mine said we need to make ukraine the kind of porcupine that russia cannot swallow. tools and sharpen the capabilities of the ukra

i want to talk in the context of our allies and working with our allies. did we, the west, react appropriately to the invasion of crimea? did we, the west, react appropriately to the invasion and the support of those given in the the boss? appropriately to the shootdown of mh 17? and all of the lives that were lost there. twice, the russian federation used miller tore it -- military internationally recognized borders. what was our response? knew within hours we knew within hours exactly what happened. and yet how long did it take us call this too task, and rollouts, in a definitive way, what happened? a couple of days over two years. pot had that the stopped boiling, and the definitive answers were rolled out, what happened? has anyone been brought accountable? in alled our opportunity three cases to take action when action would have had more appropriate response. longok too -- we took too to put out a definitive , because wen crimea were arguing amongst ourselves who the little green men were. we, i do not think, have put out clear, definitive remarks ab

allies telling you? i'm sure you keep your relationships alive now about their own nervousness, with russia increasingly aggressive. >> i do. i've talked to a lot of those folks, both in the military defense and intelligence arenas and certainly malaysias and whatnot. listen, they're very concerned. they're going to put on the happy face as long as they can. but they express privately just in notion of we don't know when we'll get completely abandoned, thrown under the bus or fill in the blank. these relationships overseas take decades to develop. the reason that we have such strength with the polish government is because it's a counter balance to russia. the reason that we have such strong relationship with japan and south korea, it counters both china and north korean activities in the region. and so you can't -- you cannot and should not give your word and then just walk away from them. that's certainly what happened with the kurds in the most obvious way. we encouraged them, help train them. we helpe

hax of the allied strength. and most of the allied reserve strength. and then at the same time as the bolshevik revolution is happening, the germans apply the methods they had used so effectually against the russians against the italians at the battle of capparetto, october november 1917. and this is an image of german infantry corralling italian prisoners. imagine, the battle of capparetto using the infiltration tactics, storm troop tactics that the germans had unveiled against the russian, at the battle of regan in 1917, they took, they inflict 250,000 casualties. a quarter of a million casualties on the italians. and captured just as importantly 3,000 italian guns. meaning that all of the artillery production in gritten going forward is going to go toward replacing all of these surrendered italian guns. so it is going to slow down the allied war effort, on the western front, but it also exposes yet another flank. the british and french are going to have to send down combat divisions desperately needed against the germans on the western front to back

and friends faced to remain our allies and friends please join me in a round of applause. [applause] [inaudible conve

and the consequences of our choices affect our allies. as i'm listening to all of you talk and listening, bob, to what you said at the beginning about this administration at least actually seems to have made a choice on china policy that the united states was in this same spirit actually trying not to make for a very long time. if the u.s. government has made that choice, and let's say we don't actually go to our allies and tell them we made this choice, and you have to also, but we just make it and this is what we are doing now. you guys have to live with that. i guess i'm kind of interested in how they react to that situation. >> let me pull in the gentleman from the far end at the table just to make you navigate past the camera again. >> i'd like to comment as well. >> right. >> a a pretty quick question. southeast asia. this has been very heavily dominated by northeast asian perspective. figure from southeast asia i would argue is very different and that china has done very well in that region from its perspective, and that the deed f

kurdish allies inside syria. this becomes the critical question, the critical red line, perhaps, for jim mattis, because by the president's decision to withdraw u.s. troops from syria, leaves those kurdish fighters that the u.s. had pledged to support, it leaves them abandoned. it leaves them at risk. mattis is a military man of 40 years. you do not leave your friends on the battlefield, and that's the position president trump put him in. so, he met with president trump later in the day about 3:00 we're told at the white house, tried to convince the president one last time to change his mind about syria. the president did not, and it is at that point that mattis had no option in his mind but to resign. this is not a surprise if you know jim mattis. it perhaps surprising that it didn't happen before this, but he also tonight knows that the president is seriously considering a drawdown of u.s. troops in afghanistan, and that will leave afghan forces behind that the u.s. had pledged to support. so, that is part of t

and then the allies and partners. and that's what we are going to hear about today from the japanese perspective and the south korean perspective. will they go along, given the costs that are involved with this kind of tension between the united states and china? thank you. >> thank you, robert, for a great relouis dags of the problem. now -- elucidation of the problem. now it is up to michael and scott to tell us how our allies are going to help us navigate out of this. >> thanks to the center of national interests for the invitation. and maybe what i will do is briefly say a little bit about how i think president moon and the south korean government see the u.s./china discussion and then get into my discussion of perceptions in south korea of rising rivalry between the u.s. and china. and essentially, i think for president moon, he is relieved that there is a break in the tension. and he got an endorsement from president trump with regards to his push for diplomacy with kim jong-un kim jong-un. plus a hat tip from p

ally and the u.s. had to get out of the way not true the sea and that no one in the washington establishment knew this decision was coming not true they say key military officials were briefed. donald trump called for the withdrawal of u.s. troops from syria and april but was convinced to delay by military and security officials this time he wouldn't be dissuaded from fulfilling a campaign promise it's good for him there's no doubt about it i think he could have done it in a better way don't forget the anti isis coalition is composed of some sixty nations that even consult with their one key ally israel insisted it would step up operations in syria when america withdraws and will continue to act. in syria to prevent iran from two military entrance it's over against us and russian president vladimir putin welcomed the decision but still isn't convinced the americans will go. but the united states have been present in afghanistan for how long seventeen years which every year they say that they are withdr

the allies knew it. the thing is this great bulge of german occupied france and belgium narrows temptingly here verdun,e done -- above so the allies knew if they could attack there, they could make it inenable for them to remain france and belgium. the french had tried. they lost this ground in 1914. they tried in 1915. they tried in 1916 during the battle of verdun, and i had really heavy casualties trying to take it, so eventually, they give up, realizing the germans have carved this terrain and some really horrible defensive positions and the human cost is too high. they continue to push, but the germans have all kinds of strategic depth. they can give ground and just keep pulling back, but here, they cannot give ground. they have to hold in these positions. pershing was under tremendous from the commander of the french army, the allied general, to a amalgamated his army into their armies, to use american troops as replacements for british casualties, for french casualties, and pershing insists on hav

allies. have said from the beginning that the armed forces of the united states should not be the policeman of the world. we must use all toils of american power to provide for, defense including providing effective leadership to our alliances. nato's 29 democracies demonstrated the strength in their commitment to follow alongside us -- you deserved to have a defense secretary that shares your views. disagreeing with the president on a number of issues including syria. leo shane is writing about all of this for the military times. was this a surprise? guest: there has been rumors the defense secretary has been looking for an exit for several months. we have seen signs of strife between the white house and the pentagon. i don't think anybody expected it to happen on the eve of a shutdown. i don't think anybody expected it to be quite this acrimonious of an exit. that letter is clearly a rebuke both syriapolicies and afghanistan withdrawal, his treatment of allies. it seems to illustrate some o

try fda-approved alli®.u lose, alli® can help you lose two to three more by preventing about 25% of the fat you eat from being absorbed. for the only fda-approved otc weight loss aid, try alli®. >>> breaking news this morning out of the white house. president trump has been pressuring his treasury secretary, steven mnuchin over concerns about the markets, the dow having its worst week in a decade. the president also remains upset with fed chief jerome powell, whom mnuchin recommended for the post. the president blaming powell for the drop of the stock market, which is expected to open again in about an hour from now. christine romans joins us with more. there's questions about these calls that steve mnuchin made from mexico to heads of top banks to try to reassure them. could these two being connected? >> i think so. the president has tied his own fortunes to the fortunes of the stock market. how many times have we heard him say the dow is up 25%, the best market in the history of mankind. now you have the d

saudi arabia is our ally. but when your ally jumps into a pool of sharks, you aren't obligated to follow them. there is a line that saudi arabia crossed. i would argue long ago. and unfortunately it is now up to the united states congress to try to make clear what this relationship can be and has to be, going into the future. yemen is one of the symptoms and unfortunately it is the most disastrous of them. 85,000 kids under the age of 5 have died from starvation and disease. all the evidence points to the fact that many times the saudis are using our bombs to deliberately target either civilians or civilian infrastructure. but as senator graham mentioned from the blockaid of qatar to -- blockade of qatar to the kidnapping of the lebanese prime minister, saudi arabia's foreign policy went off the rails. some time ago. and we are still the senior partner in this relationship. sometimes it seems as if the united states is the junior partner. we are fat. and we can use our sanctions, we can use our military suppor

and friends faced to remain our allies and friends please join me in a round of applause. [applause] [inaudible conversations] for public viewing until wednesday morning 10:00 a.m. eastern. then the departure ceremony from the capital followed by the funeral service at 11:00 a.m. at washington national cathedral. the state funeral for president george h.w. bush. live coverage all this week.

again, you know, a strong allied resolution which is a nato allied mission that we hear so much about from is secretary mattis about the importance of the alliance and how many countries are involved, and while he does not say that in the letter exactly what he is talking about, it is fair to infer that he is talking about specifically these two plus other issues to come up with these two alliances that are called into jeopardy just this weekend, andrea. >> and while we are speaking about this and setting this up, the senator tim kaine is joining us from capitol hill. and senator, you are an expert on foreign policy, and your son is on active duty, and you are deeply immersed in all of these issue, and in military affairs. what is your reak shction to th loss of what this means to the loss of secretary mattis going forward? >> andrea, this is a tragedy. i have been in public life for about 25 year, and jim mattis is one of the finests public officials that i have ever worked with. he has been a source of stability in this country, and when the news broke yesterday that he would be lea

we can't do anything anywhere without allies. everything we do depends on coalitions and allies. who is going to be our ally when we abandon them in their moment of need, which is what we're doing with the kurds. why would anybody come and say, yeah, we'll take a bullet for you and then all of a sudden, you know, in the middle of the night you're on your own, man. >> well, obviously condemnation in the halls of congress. but praise from vladimir putin today at his press conference. >> what does that tell you? that's all you need to know. >> probably everything. but you of course sit on the senate intelligence committee. this week two reports commissioned by your committee were released authoritatively analyzing all the russian disinformation on social media and the ways they tried to support trump in 2016. my question to you is it is not explicitly in either of those documents any connection between the trump campaign and the russians. is that consistent with your knowledge on the committee, or will there be more to come? >> we haven't finalized any work on that question of wheth

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our allies. the betrayal of syrian christians. the betrayal of allies all across region.the betrayal, again, of all of our allies. all he's doing is helping vladimir putin. my god, here republican senators from yesterday saying the same. >> the decision to withdraw american presence in syria is a grave error, in my mind, that will have significant repercussions in the years and months to come. i don't know who advised this decision be made but it's a terrible mistake and unfortunately i think we're going to pay a price for it if it's not reversed. >> i've seen the president tweet. it unnerved me. in my view isis is not defeated in syria and iraq. i was there just a few months ago. if we do, in fact, withdraw, the biggest winners are iran, isis, assad. if you're tired of fighting radical islam i understand it but they are not tired of fighting you. it takes two to end the war. 2,200 troops is a footprint. it's a small insurance policy to defend a nation against threats and i want allies and what you've done if we withdraw, you're going to make it harder to find allies. >>

diplomat among our allies quit. kentucky republican rand paul supports the president's decision the new number three in the house republican leadership wyoming liz cheney opposes it. we'll talk with them both. delaware democratic senator we'll talk about what happenedo it'sll comingn "face the nation." good morning, welcome to "face the nation." congress has gone home for christmas but president trump has cancelled his trip to florida and will stay at the white house as almost 400,000 federal workers are now on furlough and another 400,000 are working without pay until at least thursday. when the senate returns. some national parks and tourist sites have been affected but other government services will continue including tsa screeners and postal service. we begin today with kentucky republican senator rand paul he sits on the homeland securiro waa lot autag2n dollar debt. with this in mind, do you intend to vote for any kind of spending bill that includes billions of dollars from u.s. taxpayers without any offset? >

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ally and the u.s.had to get out of the way not true the sea and that no one in the washington establishment knew this decision was coming not true the key military officials were briefed. donald trump called for the withdrawal of u.s. troops from syria and april but was convinced to delay by military and security officials this time he wouldn't be dissuaded from fulfilling a campaign promise it's good for him there's no doubt about it i think he could have done it in a better way don't forget the anti isis coalition is composed of some sixty nations that even consult with their one key ally israel insisted it would step up operations in syria when america withdraws and will continue. to act in syria to prevent iran from to military and french it's over against us and russian president vladimir putin welcomed the decision but still isn't convinced the americans will go to see only certain the united states have been present in afghanistan for how long seventeen years which every year they say that they

an americany of offensive, rather than an allied one. macarthurhs later, said -- he records the following. deservesnder in chief distinctions between the united states and the united kingdom and the relationship and response abilities for australia. australia was a part of the british empire and was related to britain. the united states was an ally whose goal was to in the world. it had -- when the war. it had no interest in australia at all. their purpose in building up forces was not so much from an interest in australia but rather its utilities. linkew of the strategic with japan, the military action would have been called irrespective of the american relationship. [laughter] got out in front about his intentions. this was a temporary coalition designed to achieve the interests of the united states. or, in particular, douglas macarthur. it was molded in the image of the supreme commander and had very few options. they had to surrender some sovereignty. and make macarthur -- senior advisor during 1942, the focus on communications with

and he has a lot of worried allies out there. was presented a plan by the congressional leadership whereby the government would be funded and they would spend the month of january all locked together fighting the democrats over the idea of getting more border security and a wall, and making it perhaps the center piece of his state of the union. he agreed to that plan, and then went back on the agreement. on mattis -- so, you've got allies worried on capitol hill. now mattis, allies worried around the world because you've got the secretary of defense leaving and a willingness of the president to go against what's in the best interest of our allies with the kurds and israelis on his decision on syria. so right now i am concerned for the president because he has a lot of allies out there and he's got a lot of political positions that are correct, that the impulse is correct. but i'm worried about the strategy to keep the allies together and to get some victories out of all the chaos that presently exists. >> i want to note for our v

or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances and showing respect to those allies. we must use all tools of american power to provide for the common defense. including providing effective leadership to our alliance. nato's 29 democracies demonstrated that strength in their commitment to fighting alongside us following the 9/11 attack on america. the defeat isis coalition of 74 nations is further proof. similarly i believe we must be resolute and unambiguous in our approach to those countries who strategic interests are increasingly in tension with ours. it is clear that china and russia for example want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model, gaining veto authority over other nations economic and diplomatic and security decisions to promote their own interest at the expense of their neighbors, america and our allies. my views on treating allies with respect and also being clear eyed about malign actors are strongly held and formed by over four decades of immersion in these issues because you have the right of secretary of defense whose views are

on mattis, so you've got allies that are worried on capitol hill, and now on mattis we have allies worriedrld because you've got the secretary of defense leaving and the willingness of the president to go against what's in the best interests of our allies with the kurds and the israelis on his decision on syria. so right now i am concerned for the president because he has a lot of allies out there and he's got a lot of political positions that are correct, that the impulse is correct, but i'm worried about the strategy to keep the allies together and to get some victories out of all the chaos that presently exists. >> i just want to note for our viewers that scott is the trump supporter on this panel. so just so you know. ana, the president's obsession with this wall. he is shutting down the government over it potentially even though there's no way that he's going to get the money for it. it's not politically possible. and anyway, it was mexico who was supposed to pay for the wall. and he had secretary mattis send troops to the border in a pre-election stunt. talk to me. >> look, i think w

we have allies expecting us to be there and tomorrow we're gone.re in the middle of a fist fight with your buddy and say bye, i'm gone. that's what we're doing to allies when you yank out without advance notice, diplomacy, giving military leaders time to seegsi socialize that decision, and you're endangering the future of allies. that's going to reverberate for generations, that's the cost. >> do you worry about those costs going forward with allies who can count on us and we can count on? >> how are we building a coalition in the future. we're looking at other areas as well. iranians present a challenge to the united states. are we able to convince gulf allies to commit to be with you and when the going gets tough or you've had enough, you leave but we're still here. it sets a bad precedent for this administration. i don't know what they're going to be able to do the next two years. i think down the road this is going to impact not only our allies overseas, but it is going to effect i think the republican base because most will say he gave up on s

ambassador hill, what does this do to our allies? was described this morning that our allies are our sounding an alarm. earlier i spoke to a ceo before the resignation that said we need to make sure the president is a one-term president. if he is a two-term president our allies will start to really be concerned he is getting a foothold and change what and who america is on a global scale. is that happening now? >> go in there and do clean up and say don't worry. we got this under control. we are doing the things we have always done. we need more support from you and we'll push you on that. don't worry. the basic alliance will be in good shape. this sort of major contender for a role here is john bolton who is no friend to allies. one other point, the president has talked about getting out of korea. his departure will be huge. >> we had rex tillerson. we have mattis and now we zroent any of them. thangs you so much i appreciate you getting us through this. markets opened just four minutes ago. here we are slightly in the green after t

they have a high opinion of our kurdish allies. i was inferior just a few months ago and i can tell you right now the kurds have done a wonderful, fantastic job of being aligned with the united states and her military advisers on the ground said without equivocation of all the people we've partnered with, this has been our best, most reliable partner. i can tell you manage to do a lot of broken hearts and americans will say were going to stick with you as to the decision by the president. i don't know where it came from, but it needs to be reconsidered. ambassador jeffreys, our special envoy to syria, a good man and ambassador in iraq two days ago announced a commitment to stay until we got this right. i don't know how this decision was made. it literally came out of left field. it has rattled the world. you see north korea flexing their muscle now wedded to leave south korea before we do a deal. i can promise you if everything that happened in iraq is going to happen inferior unless we change course i can promise the president if

for the allies that we've been working with this terrible thing for the s.p.s. and it's just. it's hard to imagine that any president would wake up and make this kind of decision with this little communication with this little preparation i mean my understanding is we're. beginning to move out right now. yes. entirely. the withdrawal of u.s. troops is also called the allied nations involved in the anti i asked coalition offguard britain for its part said it continued to view i asked as a threat. well president moved to pull troops from syria blindsided advisors and allies to talk more about the fallout now i'd like to welcome journalist and syria analyst kristen helberg a christian so good to have you here i'd like to get your insight into this of course president tom just said as we heard in our report that so-called islamic state has been defeated can american troops now in all honesty say mission done mission accomplished well i says dramatically we can definitely there are being core not in this trend of land between iraq and syria it's two thousand fighters they are left

another glass half full issue i think, our allies, we are an ally-rich nation. our adversaries and potential adversaries are ally poor. not a lot of people wanted to join the north korean or the russian team or even the china team, to be honest. i believe a big reason for that is trust. yes, we are not a perfect country, but most of our allies intuitively trust we're not going to invade them. you know the whole issue there. is it true that china and russia have been for decades viewing one of their strategic goals is to splinter our alliances? >> no question in my mind to react i think that was the basis in our report, the importance of the alliance relationships, because china in particular is keen on fracturing those that we have in asia, and event to be able to influence events of their in a way that they cannot with our presence. >> how are we doing from your perspective, our goal is to deepen and expand our alliances. are we doing a good job on that? what more should we be doing? >> i think that our alliances are still pretty robust, but there are growing q

your ally come prove it since. you want to look good no school. you want to be use but all the love to. go see the doctor. when you fall in love they won't mind you don't have children for fear they'll be invisible to. the nose. when you die there's no. just. every ten minutes. someone this is. ten million people in the world this think they have no nationality and a total made up alone and. that everyone has the right. to everyone has the right to say. this is the w. news live from berlin nato urges moscow to comply with a key cold war arms treaty the alliance says a new russian cruise missile violates an agreement that has guaranteed european security for more than thirty years as nato foreign ministers discussed the issue in brussels fears grow of a new international arms race also coming up. the euro gets more muscle to tough out future crises that as finance ministers back sweeping reforms for the current state of find out what they have planned. and how climate change is affecting reindeer in norway and threatening the way the people of the

you found an ally in syria.e saying we have another ally, bishir al assad, who used chemical weapons against his own people rrks now saying our ally will never be the americans. it will be vladimir putin who stood by us. we lost this one. >> phil mudd, always appreciate your perspective. >> thank you. >> happy holidays. >> thank you. you, too. >> according to the uk security minister quoted in the sunday times sunday, al qaeda, the same organization behind the 9/11 attacks is plotting to carry out new attacks on airports and airlines. the newspaper also quotes sources saying sketches of drones designed to deliver bombs were discovered in the u.s. and this revelation comes as british officials are still investigating who is responsible for flying drones over the gatwick airport. drones disrupted flights for two day this is past week, stranding tens of thousands of passengers. >>> as ian lee mentioned briefly in his piece, authorities in morocco have arrested 14 people in connection with the beheading of two touri

a military decision applauded by his enemies denounced by his allies and loud enough to distract from the worst december on wall street since the great depression u.s. president double trump has given the order for u.s. troops in syria to come home he claims mission accomplished but today he tweeted it's time for others to do the fighting. this is the day. we have won against isis to those who say we have defeated isis in syria that is a. we've beaten them yet syria's territorial integrity should be respected by everyone. and we know badly if the presence of u.s. troops in syria is not legitimate humans and now it's time for our troops to come back home i believe it is a catastrophic think we have not yet eradicated isis total darkness from the president and his national security team but the plan is there is no plan. also coming up tonight before he returned to earth the german astronaut alexander garrett recorded a message for his future grandchildren and apology for the kind of planet that we are set to leave behind. when. i feel that i have to apologize. it looks like my generatio

i think the president is right about having been a strategic ally. they could be in the future but i think you are wrong about what is going on here. the reason i'm supporting the approach next year is i'm never going to let this go until things change in saudi arabia. this is coming from the biggest supporter of the relationship in the past. myself and senator mccain have had the lonely job of defending the relationship in the past. but to me those days are over because what's going on in saudi arabia between the murder, the dismembering of yemen, the imprisonment of the lebanese prime minister and the most bizarre thing i've seen in 20 years, the embargo without any notice to us as a nation, enough is enough so to our friends in saudi arabia as you are never going to have the relationship with the united states senate unless things change and it's up to you to figure out what that change should be. the current construct is not working and there is a relationship between the countries and individuals. the individual crown prince is so toxic, so tain

our allies are aghast. our enemies are encouraged. we are an incoherent government acting more like a third world power. >> ben rhodes, the general keeps blowing my mind. i want you to respond to that, but i also want you to weigh in on -- explain -- help us understand, if people haven't worked in government, they don't understand that it's not just a leader to a leader but a defense secretary in america has dozens, probably hundreds in mattis' case of relationships around the world. and they really stabilize some bilateral and multilateral relationships. so during the trump presidency, i don't know that there's anyone who has likely provided more reassurance than secretary mattis to our allies. >> no, as general mccaffrey knows full well, these countries depend on us for their security in europe and asia. these partners on the ground like the syrian kurds depend on us for their survival. and what has been so strange to watch over the last several days is that we've essentially seen that the foreign policy of the united states is tota

and its allies. if we hope to detert new russian aggression whether new strategic direction such as the seizure of ukrainian ports on the sea of azov. i am worried that as rumors have it it is not very well- built and could collapse. the russians will blame ukrainian terrorists, so-called, who were so special supposedly aboard the ukrainian ships and use them as a pretext for establishing the long-awaited land bridge to crimea. the stakes are high and we need to pay attention. we and the europeans should develop a package of targeted sanctions to be imposed if russia doesn't return the ships and sailors before christmas day given the deadline. perhaps focusing on the russian shipping, russian banks that aren't covered by existing ukraine sanctions. i would argue that to show the russians we mean business we need to try yet again to persuade the germans to suspend or freeze the norge stream two project for a year or longer to leverage a return to free navigation in the black and sea of azov sees. and