military involvement in iraq and syria in response to isil's seizure of the an bar capital of ramadi. the president's announcement last month of an additional 450 u.s. troops to be deployed to iraq to train and assist iraqi security forces begins to address the critical needs to bring local sunni tribes into the fight against isil. we will be interested in hearing from our witnesses what additional steps they would recommend for expanding the presence of sunni fighters in the iraqi security forces and to ensure that kurdish peshmerga receive expeditiously the weapons they need to counter isil in the fight. in many respects the current challenge in iraq result from two intersecting forces. the rise of isil and the deterioration of the iraqi security forces and complimentary governmental capacities. many of the factors and personalities forming isil can be traced to the invasion and occupation of iraq. planning for that war failed to account for deep seated sectarian divisions between sunni and shia within the region which gave rise to grievances that fueled the rise of isil. in additio

it emerged as a powerful force in syria and iraq. if you don't understand that it speaks for sunni power, you won't understand how you can defeat i.s.i.s. recently iran weighed in on the side of yemen, triggering a proxy war. the move sparked concern among the u.s. and allies. officials in iran see the country using its influence to solve some of the turmoil in the middle east. >> the islamic resolution has a lot of influence in many parts of the islamic world. there are a lot of different areas where iran can play a prominent role in sorting out different conflicts, resolving understanding issues. particularly in dealing with peace and security in the region. iran has always showed that it is a major player. and i think that that is a reality that more or less is understood today. >> let's bring back steven cook. today's hearings in congress, i was surprised. it seemed some of the members of congress read the deal and were talking about technical matters, there's a not very technical matter, that is that the united states, prshry dep

iraq. that is one in which there is a central government in baghdad, an integral state of iraq. there is substantial opportunity for self-determination around the country among sunnis, among shiias, and among kurds. it seems to me that's a wise way of approaching what multisectarianism means. i think government in baghdad that allows the different parties there degree of self-determination to maintain security within their own territory and to govern themselves, sharing things like the oil wealth of the country and so forth, that is what he says he is for. and that's the way he described it when he was here in washington to all of that. and that is, in my judgment, certainly better than the alternative which is sectarian disintegration. which could still occur in iraq, but i think we all looking into that abyss know what resides there. it's further violence for the citizens of iraq and further opportunity for groups like isil that don't -- aren't preoccupied with the long-term welfare of the territories they occupy. they want to use them for further violence. that is prime minist

iraq. that is one in which there is a central government in baghdad, an integral state of iraq. there is substantial opportunity for self-determination around the country among sunnis, among shiias, and among kurds. it seems to me that's a wise way of approaching what multisectarianism means. i think government in baghdad that allows the different parties there degree of self-determination to maintain security within their own territory and to govern themselves, sharing things like the oil wealth of the country and so forth, that is what he says he is for. and that's the way he described it when he was here in washington to all of that. and that is, in my judgment, certainly better than the alternative which is sectarian disintegration. which could still occur in iraq, but i think we all looking into that abyss know what resides there. it's further violence for the citizens of iraq and further opportunity for groups like isil that don't -- aren't preoccupied with the long-term welfare of the territories they occupy. they want to use them for further violence. that is prime minist

you can't be fighting in syria and be called al qaeda in iraq. so they rebrandded themselves as isis. three things happened in syria that made them really, really strong. the first was they got their hands on a whole bunch of new recruits both syrian sunnis who joined them as well as all these forefighters who were flowing into syria to fight in the civil war, joined isis. they also got their hands or money. the way you get money in the terrorism business is to be successful. that's howow get donations get financing, by being successful. conducting an attack, taking territory. so they got themselves a lot of money. and they also got themselves a lot of weapons because the war overrunning a syrian government weapons stockpile so they got very sophisticated weapons. so they went from their weakest point at the end of 2011 to an incredibly strong position by late 2013, early 2014. they take a lot of territory in syria and go back into crosswalk do this blitzkrieg across iraq, which would not have been possible without what you said happened which is

the krg, regional government in iraq and kurds in the north of sir 82. president barzani, we met him on sunday in irbil i guess two sundays ago. he said this, this is very important. especially for anybody that says the u.s. doesn't have a strategy. he said thank you to the united states of america. if the president had not started a bombing campaign on august 8th near irbil we might not be here today. >> that bombing campaign likely helped save the existence of the krg, which has been a good partner and they lead with that. they don't lead with we're not getting weapons they deny lead with we're not working with backed baghdad. they save our region, save our way of life. that's important for us to acknowledge. >> that wasn't by accident. that's a strategy. we helped save an important allie by acting the president acting when he did. there are challenges too. the iraqi unification challenge was very patent as we met with prime minister abati. and there is mixed reviews positive on the intent mixed on the follow-through. in the sunni area, in particular,

and the levant in syria and against kurdish fighters in iraq. the strikes against isil were the latest in a campaign that began early on friday after a suicide-bombing at an allies rally in southern turkey. the campaign has expanded to target bases in northern iraq belonging to the kurdistan workers party or the pkk. it has put an end to the fragile cease-fire bringing fears of renewed violence. >> turkey is at war on two fronts. it's jets are now hitting targets across the border in iraq and syria. a day after beginning an air campaign against isil and syria turkish jets for the first time in years began hitting pkk or kurdistan workers party positions in iraq's mountains. they declared the already 2013 cease-fire with turkey dead. >> turkey has talked about a long-term fight. >> whenever we see the vanishing of the threat, of course we'll make a reassessment. the third wave of operations is a part of this. >> this is a major shift in policy. >> for turkey isil declared war when it was in a cultural center on monday. but many here believed turke

against kurdish fight necessary iraq. in the latest of a campaign that ban on friday. the campaign has expanded to iraq belonging to the curd stance workers party or the pkk. this puts an end to the fragile cease-fire. from southern turkey,. >> turkey is at war on two fronts. it's jets are now hitting targets across the border in iraq and syria. a day after beginning an air campaign against isil and syria turkish jets for the first time in years began hitting pkk or kurdistan workers party positions in iraq's mountains. the pkk immediately declared the already strained 2013 cease-fire with turkey dead. turkish officials are not phased and talk about a long-term fight. >> whenever we see a decrees or the vanishing of the threat then of course we'll make a reassessment. the third wave of operations are a part of this. >> this is a major shift in policy. >> for turkey isil declared war when it bombed a cultural center in the border town on monday. but many here believe turkey's decision to actively engage in the fight against t

in some places like in iraq, the u.s. is supporting a shia government, in places like in syria we are opposed to a minority shia government's domination over the sunni nation. a live and kicking conflict between two major sectarian denominations in that region for control and influence. >> would american policy in the region be better if it understood that dynamic more specifically? it is a little bit inconsistent. i mean that's one of the things that the iranians sort of complain about that americans tolerate one thing in one place sort of a shia-oriented minority government in syria but not in iraq. >> well, if we are to achieve our goals we have to understand why our conflicts are heapg, and what direction they might take. they might not be about us but because we have a dog in that fight and the outcome we ought to know why it's happening, why it is these countries are in civil war. for instance you can't understand i.s.i.s. in the middle east without understanding i.s.i.s. is a very stronglstrongly antishia antibei fo

and the levant in syria and against kurdish fighters in iraq. the air raids are the lightest that began early on friday after a suicide-bombing at a rally in southern turkey earlier in the week. it's put an end to the fragile cease-fire raising renewed fear of violence in turkey. 6 occura day after beginning a air campaign with isil and syria, turkish jets for the first time in years began hitting pkk party positions. the pkk immediately declared the already strained 2013 cease-fire with turkey dead. turkish officials are not phased and talk about a long-term fight. >> whenever we see a decrease or the vanishing of the threat, then of course we will make a reassessment. the third wave of operations are a part of this. >> this is a major shift in policy. >> for turkey isil declared war when it bombed a cultural center in the border town of suruc on monday. but many people here believe that turkey's decision to fight in the armed group has a lot to do with the battlefield in northern syria. the government here is concerned about isil threatening sy

the most about how events have unfolded in iraq, syria and the broader anti-isis effort? >> let me begin by looking back at what we said in july of last year. i think of steve and i had a pretty we saw that as an alarmist view warning about the danger that was ahead. the two biggest surprises to me in the years since then have been the resilience strange combination of resilience, brutality and creativity operational creativity, of the islamic state. they are agile. they concentrate force to achieve their objectives. they send as and the capture of ramadi five to eight suicide bombs one after the other and they terrify and intimidate their opponents. so they have been stronger tougher, smarter than i would have thought. i had hoped a year ago that like al qaeda and iraq zarqawi's group would burn so hot that they would burn themselves out. that hasn't happened yet. the second surprise in this year to be honest is the lack of effectiveness and clarity of u.s. policy, u.s.-led policy in response. i wrote a column around june 11, noting that this week to manifestoes about thi

staying power over the years in iraq. they have a lot of skepticism. they are not seen as being absolutely key once again years later after that sunni awakening in anbar province during the initial years of the war. the sunnis are seen as key to getting the u.s. to get the iraqis to get anbar province back. if you can't get anbar back you can't get nor, you can't get to mosul. it's got to be really solved to get this campaign moving forward. >> if you're just joining us we're waiting for president obama at any moment to visit the pentagon and gift remarks and update if you will of the u.s. and coalition campaign against isis in iraq and to a lesser degree in syria. congresswoman, if you would, the slow progress in training the iraqi military i think there are a lot of americans watching who think we have been training that military for more than a decade what is the problem? >> well the problem is that at least if we're talking about iraq those folks don't trust their own government to support them. the optic of shia militia being so-called pluralist go

ramadi and other key territory in iraq and controlling every border post between iraq and syria. the lack of a coherent strategy has resulted in the spread of isil around the world. to libya, egypt, nigeria and even to afghanistan where i visited last weekend. there are troops are supporting our afghan partners in sustaining a stable and democratic future but even as isil and the taliban threaten this future the president remains committed to a drastic reduction of the us presence in the end of 2016, before the afghan government and security forces are fully capable of operating echktively -- effectively without our support. this would create a security vacuum and we have seen what fills similar kinds of vacuums in syria and iraq. given your experience in afghanistan, general dunford, we'll be interested to hear your authorities about the appropriate u.s. and coalition presence going forward. meanwhile, iran continues to threaten peace and stability across the middle east through the support of terrorist proxies, pursuit of nuclear weapons and developing the missiles needed to del

in iran, in virtually controls iraq today. it has been supporting the who's the rebels -- the houthi rebels in yemen. it has an ambitious agenda in the gulf, and this agreement will bring it out of the cold. i don't think people are surprised in the gulf, i don't think people are surprised in the kingdom. they realized what was going to happen, they understand that president obama sees this as a major achievement for him. they think he may be a little bit naÏve, but there is little they can do about it. the issue for the gulf to do is to try to strengthen military capabilities and bring the gulf countries closer together and maybe integrate yemen somehow so that it is better able to resist iran. laura: to what extent do you think the conflict in syria and iraq has played a role in bringing iran out of the diplomatic cold? the situation in the middle east has changed. the islamic state is now seen as the most dangerous enemy for western countries. we have seen that iranian militias are fighting the islamic state groups in iraq.

obviously isis is winning in iraq. not to be in favor of us, in some scholastic cancer you know full well as i do air controllers make the difference. 75% of the sorties flown return to base without firing a weapon and this line about they are the ones that have to do it themselves they can't do it themselves. been knows that. the iraqis cannot do it themselves. that is why they are losing and that is why they lost the second largest city. that is why isil continues to make gains in the only people fighting against them are the iranian-backed shiite militias so the iraqis have to do it but without american assistance including air power, including air controllers on the ground we will see the stalemate and for you to say we're doing what we need to do maybe you can tell me what we are doing that will win against isis. can you tell me that? >> what we are doing is providing an adviser team and support. >> that is succeeding and causing success. >> it stemmed tied for isis but it is not removing them from iraq. >> so you

and has been a constant critic of any nuclear deal. >> reporter: iran has also extended its reach in iraq it's training and advising shia fighters in the battle against i.s.i.l. and propping up a government with money, weapons and man power. the shia armed group hezbollah also sent fighters to the syrian front lines and they say if saudi arabia and the gulf cooperation council continue to take a hard line stance iran's influence could be contained somewhat. >> it would expand vastly in economic fields and technological fields and they are advanced technologically and social and cultural and tourism and education and things like that. and the back of that you will get a strong political new relationships. >> reporter: now that the u.s. and iran have reached a datont after years of being enemies iran's position is expected to shift in the middle east exactly how can't be predicted. al jazeera. >>> so as you have been hearing there a deal that is likely to have implications across the middle east emran-kaan is in iraqky capitol baghdad and how are they likely to view this agreement? >> i can

i look forward to hearing your views on the situation in iraq and syria and your thinking on the most effective role that the military can play in supporting efforts on a diplomatic front. regarding ran, while there remains no clear outcome in the p5+1 negotiations no matter what happens, the department of defense will play a key role, confronting common threats and working to deescalate or possibly resolve these threats. general dunford if confirmed you'll also bring invaluable experience to oversight in the department in afghanistan where you've led with distinction. while the afghan security forces have fought courageously, more needs to be done to build the afghan forces capabilities. the next chairman will play a critical role in the president's review later this year of the size and foot frint of u.s. forces in afghanistan for 2016 and beyond. another security challenge going forward will be deterring additional russian aggression towards ukraine. congress made its support of militaricy sis tans to ukraine including defensive weapons to help the ukrainian people defend thepss. w

in iraq something the u.s. did to enormous effect and power was the cycle of night raids where you know in the middle of the night in some place we'd identified, people would arrive. they would you know, be fire fights and maybe they capture people if they could, but basically they were collecting intelligence which would drive the next night's raids, the next night's, and then it just becomes -- you gather momentum because each raid feeds the information that you don't have. it's said the abu sayyaf ray, the only thing we've seen from our special operations forces in syria, to capture, turned out, the wife of the chief financial officer of isis was effective in terms of giving lots of leads. i don't see this problem being managed. i include the foreign fighter part and the internal fight part without better intelligence. i honestly don't see how you get that unless you had an increased operation tempo like what we've seen in other conflicts. >> thank you both for those great comments. we'll open it up now. plea

the levant in syria and against kurdish fighters in iraq. e strikes against isil were the latest in a campaign that began early friday after a suicide bombing at a rally in southern turkey earlier in the week. campaign has expanded to target basis in northern iraq belonging to the kurdistan worker's party or pkk who's syrian alleys are fighting against isil. it's put an end to the fragile cease-fire raising fears of renewed violence intie from southern turkey dana hodr reports. >> reporter: turksey at war on two fronts. jets are hitting target did across the border in iraq and syria. a day after beginning an air campaign against isil in syria, turkish jets for the first time in years began hitting pkk or kurdistan workers party positions in iraq's mountains. the pkk immediately declared the already strained 2013 cease-fire with turkey dead. turkish officials are not fazed and tong talk about a long-term fight. >> whenever we see a decrease in or the vanishing of the threat then, of course we will make a re-assessment. the third wave of operat

it's not sufficient to defeat al qaeda ine rack iraq and syria. it's doing well in areas it's remained strong and there isn't that strong challenge from isis today. at the same time we found just focusing on al qaeda leading into 2013, 2014 allowed for isis to grow back and resurge in iraq. what al qaeda tries to do is it sees itself as uniting the jihad. it looks for radical islamists to educate them to correct them and enable them to be more powerful than they would be at a local level and bring together the muslim world under a single unified banner of fighting for this. al qaeda does not see governance and state building at the immediate level as the priority. we can see this again in al qaeda documents where leaders are told do not call yourself a state. if you call yourself a state, the people will expect you to take away their garbage, to provide water, to provide food, to keep electricity running. what you should do instead is be effective in the areas where you can, provide security when it's not there. do provide water goods, services but

so what does the relaxation of sanctions mean for iran to exert influence, whether shia militia in iraq or houthis in yemen. those are legitimate questions. i'm convinced we're far better off at the end of the day with this agreement than without it. for all of the debate and controversy, there are two questions we have to keep coming back to. the first is that if we were to walk away from this agreement, could we get a better one. the second one is if we can't get a better one, are we better off with this deal or without it. >> rose: could i add one more? sure. >> rose: could we have gotten a better deal if we continued to negotiate? because some argue that time was on our side because the iranians knew that, down the road with a new president, who would likely be tougher than president obama i'm asking that. >> sure. i think president obama's been very tough and very realistic and pragmatic on this issue and i think if he had wanted to get a deal sooner, he could have done that. the reason this took so long and the negotiations were so pains taking is he was determined to get a solid

emma sky believes that was never in the cards. iraq's new set of patrons. his fellow shiites in tehran. and they made him an offer he couldn't refuse. >> that was part of iran's deal with maliki. we will give you a third term but the conditions are no american soldiers. that was what tehran demanded and no way we were going through the parliament. >> one thing is clear. it was only iraq's army that could have stopped isis. instead, iraqi soldiers threw down the weapons and ran. next on blind sight, what drives these? what makes them tick? you will go inside the mind of a radical. meet a man who was prepared to die for a fantasy. the idea of an islamic caliphate. >>> the 1980s and 90s in pakistan were crucial years for jihad. bin laden was there, it's where al qaeda and islamic terrorism as we know it today was born. foreign fighters were constantly flowing in. now incredibly foreign fighters are flowing in even faster to iraq and syria. an estimated 20,000 of them in total. what drives these people there. what makes them leave home to go

to deny a safe haven and build partner to tacitly in iraq and syria. both are led by the department of defense, which alongside coalition partners, is conducting air campaign advising and assisting iraq it forces on the ground, and training and equipping local forces in iraq and syria. before i go on, let me say that these first three political and military lines of effort have to be in sync. that is a challenge. it is one we are working through with our partners in the coalition on the ground and around our government. the fourth line of effort is enhancing intelligence collection, which is led by the national counterterrorism center. the fifth line of effort -- disrupting their finances. lines of effort six and sev en are to counter isil messaging and disrupt the flow of foreign fighters to and from isil, both of which are critical in today's connected and networked world. the eighth line of effort -- providing a humanitarian support to those affected by conflicts in iraq and syria. finally, the department of homeland security, the fbi, and the depart

in syria. they are working with iranians and sponsoring iraq and i.s.i.s. there's not much they are doing in theory. most of the time even the sortees conduct - jets go back to the basis. because they don't have effective spotters on the ground. they have not worked on beefing up the syrian force that can be of help with combatting i.s.i.s., they work with the kurds in some areas. there's a limit. >> from the beginning, the difficulty of standing up a force in syria, that wasn't going to morph into an extremist insurgency has been seen as difficulty. >> seven, eight months before president obama announced strikes on i.s.i.s. the syrian rebels civilians launched an armed rebellion, and dislodged i.s.i.s. for north western syria and northern syria. the regime started to rain barrel bombs on the rebels just as they were fighting i.s.i.s. and thought they had stalled the offensive. from there, they hopped across the border captured mosul, came back with hundreds of millions. what this administration needs to do they need to pursue an i.s.i.l. of the first strate

or kurdistan workers party positions in iraq's mountains. the p.k.k. mediately declared the already strained 2013 ceasefire with turk at dead. turkish officials are not fazed and talk about a long-term fight. >> translator: whenever we see a decrease in or the fan irving of the threat, then, of course, we will make a reassess think. the third wave of operations are a part of this. >> reporter: this is a major shift in policy. for turkey, isil declared war when it bombed a cull tar center in the border town on monday. but many here believe turkey's decision to actively engage in the fight against the armed group has a lot to do with the battlefield in northern syria. the government here is concerned about isil threatening syrian opposition groups in their strong hold in aleppo province. it is also worried about what it sees as the growing strength of syria's kurds. syria's a kurds or the w.p.g. that's link today the p.k.k. controls half the border with turkey. turkey says it would be a red line if kurds create a state in northern syria. officials even bl

it's about 50 degrees celsius and even more around this time in iraq so he managed to lure hundreds of people to the truck before detonating the explosives in that vehicle, and 120 people killed. 140 wounded. really devastating attack. it was claimed by isis. this is one of the deadliest, george if not the deadliest bombings to be claimed by the group since we saw isis expand in iraq take over all that territory last summer. now, in this area this is a mixed province in iraq the shia kurd and other sects lived in the province and what we're seeing here is what some say is the typical agenda of isis and other terror organizations we have seen in the past in iraq trying to stoke sectarian tensions by targeting for example, in this case a predominantly shia area. this is something that iraq has not seen in a while, these kind of attacks george that would be described as a spectacular, high profile kind of attack. what we have seen is isis grabbing the headlines, terrifying local population with the executions and beheadings and all these gruesome acts and mass killings that we have seen b

in on the subject at hand. that subject of course is the islamic state of iraq in greater syria. arly one year ago upstairs we brought together david, steve and ambassador to discuss the issues surrounding isis soon after the group rolled into mosul, iraq surprising those who were not watching the years long evolution of the former iraqi affiliate of al qaeda and its subsequent transition into an independent sbi callentity. isis has become one of the most critical threats facing iraq middle east and dozens of countries and beyond including the united states. isis has attracted at least 22,000 fighters from more than 100 countries, so half the world have fighters represented in iraq and syria. at some point over the last four years. this represents a tremendous blowback potential against members of the coalition and other countries as well. young men with battlefield experience, confidence, networks and tremendous motivation could return home -- to their home countries and initiate attacks. for certain their exploits on the battlefield transmitted in great detail by some of the 90,

we did that in the combat in iraq. and it's only through the past few years we have been able to re-establish our presence in the pacific. we have some options. the other option least favorable is we go all in. we activate our reserves and we go and do what needs to be done. we have done that before too. you can do that for a short period of time but as you mentioned, that is not sustainable. >> what is a short period of time? in your best estimate, i don't want to hold you to it. but we are wrestling with big decisions about the middle east and iran's nuclear capability and there are some in the senate that i believe are tempted by the idea that we can go in and bomb iran and set off what could be a war much bigger than any contingency we have been trying to fight in the last decade in the middle east. how soon would we have to do emergency spending and is that in fact the most efficient way and best way to do it? >> senator, i -- it's a difficult question. i would have to get back to you as far as the details without

but in iraq, the same capability problems. is your analysis apply there also in terms of the long-term need to build up the iraqi security forces? >> it does. in some way the situation is the same. also some vast differences. i think one of the biggest challenges is when prime minister maliki was there he eliminated many of the capable quality leaders. so at the tactical level it's fair to say the afghan forces have solid leaders. we've seen them. we've developed them. they've gone to our schools. i think we have some work to do to rebuild the iraqi security forces frankly to get them back to perhaps where they were a few years ago. >> one other aspect -- there's many aspects. but one is this tension sectarian and geographic tensions in the country. but our policy and -- is that to support a unified government in baghdad and work with them so that they are able to integrate their ethnic communities. is that the unified government you think makes sense? >> that is approach that going to be very difficult to do. but at this point

it is trying to drive a sectarian war and the way it did in iraq. in many knees ---the involvement of the air campaign have created the conditions for saudi a arabian and around in proxy wars inside yemen, and it is being cast in sectarian trends and the region. here's a potential for isis to capitalize on it. i do not think that isis will find the same safe haven it has had in iraq and syria, but there is a potential. so rounding out, i want to underscore that in areas i have mentioned, we have forces fighting al qaeda, and they are not doing well, not wil nning. that is something we look to. this is something that we need to preprepared and fight for, a long-term more. thank you. [applause] >> thank you to all the panelists. i think that was an excellent discussion framing the terrorist threat we face and i am glad we have had this discussion because if you look at this on the face of it, you think al qaeda is competing with isis, is itt is good for u.s. policy. it is feeling them both to be more brutal and there, edition with each other. unfortuna

we did that in the combat in iraq. and it's only through the past few years we have been able to re-establish our presence in the pacific. we have some options. the other option is we go all in. we activate our reserves and we go and do what needs to be done. we have done that before too. you can do that for a short period of time but as you mentioned, that is not sustainable. >> what is a short period of time? in your best estimate i don't want to hold you to it. but we are wrestling with big decisions about the middle east and iran's nuclear capableility and there are some in the senate that i believe are tempted by the idea that we can go in and bomb iran and set off what could be a war much bigger than any contingency we have been trying to fight in the last decade in the middle east. how soon would we have to do emergency spending and is that in fact the most efficient way and best way to do it? >> senator, i -- it's a difficult question. i would have to get back to you as far as the details without knowing the exa

what is that we need to do in iraq now to address isis that we are not doing? >> senator my time is the data although i'm somewhat influence in my current job as far as marines and the joint force. we are doing what we need to do right now. we are training iraqis in ensuring equipment and ammunition supplies. we are working with them, advising them. the only thing we are not doing its accompanying them to the of my knowledge. at the end of the day whether we do or not, they are the ones that have to restore the territory and i believe based on what i've seen them do in the past and have the capability to do that. because we have to defeat isis. we have to get them to a point where they are insignificant and just some people on the internet saying a bunch of stuff but they don't have any capability or anything to back it up at right now that is not where they are. they have land terrain and they're masquerading as a country. >> as you look at where we are with iraq and our current force posture in afghanistan, but we have consistently heard from general dunford a

it was damaged by previous governments in iraq. if he can do that, i think he will gain their support but he will have to work really hard. >> in afghanistan you know we face significant challenges moving ahead. and the marines have been such an important part of securing entire areas of afghanistan of creating secure regions. as you look at that what do you see moving forward as some of the keys to success, to stability will and holding on there? >> senator i visited afghanistan a number of times but i never served there. so my experience base is limited. but again, i think it's -- goes back to the afghan government believing we are going to be there to support them. that the resources are going to be there and they have the confidence and their soldiers have the confidence there's going to be somebody there to back them up. there's similar problems. what we need to stay there and work with them. i believe my experience is that they -- if a foreign nation believes there is somebody that is behind them, they are likely to do the rig

politics in iraq is always a major question, and you know, in this report we come out saying it is important not to give up on the iraqi state, that we need to see, as you said about syria and iraq, that is able to maintain its integrity. that requires getting the sunnis in. and you talked about there are some sunni fighters that are actually being recruited and actually joining the fight to retake ramadi. but there is a sense and there are people in this town that would say, you know, we have seen this show before. what is your thought on this concept of functional federalism and on the real willingness for the hard political decisions to be made that could sustain this. this is one of the areas of the greatest skepticism when you step out of iraq and people just sort of look at the situation. >> well, i can understand skepticism. i think we need to give this a chance. prime minister abadi has been in office since the 7th or 8th of september. he came into office, at the moment that iraq that daesh was determined to destroy the territorial integrity of iraq. most of the iraqi territory was a

in syria, and every border crossing from iraq and syria. the spread of isis is around the world in libya, nigeria, and even to afghanistan where i visited last week. our troops are supporting afghan partners in making a stable future button -- but even with the threat the president is committed to drastic reduction by the end of 2016 before inthe afghanistan forces are able to operate without our support. this creates a security vacuum and we have seen what filled similar vacuums in iraq. we will be interesting to hear your thoughts on the proper coalition going forward. iran is continuing to support terrorist. in europe vladimer putin's russia continues the onslaught in crane and they execute this campaign to undermine ukraine's government and independence and the united states has refused ukraine the weapons it needs, and deserves for its defense. in the asian pacific, china is continuing a pattern of destabalizing behavior and the vast land features in the south china sea and the military build up designed to counter military strengths an

now they are targeting turkish pkk fighters in iraq. hello and welcome to al jazeera live from our headquarters in doha. also ahead tennessee's parliament approves a law to tackle terrorist crimes. also a clear win under murky circumstances. three months after a devastating earthquake, nepal is trying to rebuild its country. some survivors are feeling left out in the cold. >> turkey has expanded its offensive and launched attacks on pkk kurdish fighters in iraq. that's on top of new strikes on isil. >> reporter: these are local media reports that are saying that f-16 fighter jets have taken off from an air base there. it's the same base that the f-16s took off last night took off to bomb isil targets. now, eyewitnesses are telling local media that these planes, possibly as many as 20, some are heading towards the border with syria, some towards northern iraq. if that proves to be true, then it would appear as though turkey would be launching more attacks on isil and possibly pkk targets in northern iraq. as you mentioned in your lead-in,

turkey is targeting the pkk in northern iraq as well as iis in syria. which is essentially what it was that setting out to do. this paper highlights how turkey risks rubbing its allies up the wrong way by targeting those kurds. and why? the wall street journal tells us why an article entitled america's a marxist allies. it's because the kurds have emerged as washington's most effective battlefield partners against islamic state. even though the u.s. and its allies have for decades lifted the pkk as a terrorist group. the wall street journal this article tells the story of the 24-year-old kurdish woman who is now fighting the advances on self-governing kurdish communities, according to the wall street journal, fighters like her have presented an appealing face of the guerrillas. an image of women battling as equals with male colleagues against an appallingly misogynistic enemy. turkish bombardments are also threatening the u.s. alliance with that key partner, the kurds. stuart: the u.s. president has been busy in a different region of the continuing in a

>> republicans have criticized president obama for not leaving troops in iraq. me have said if american forces had stayed there would be no isis but they that was never in the cards. he had a new set of patron fellow shiites and the mullahs made him an offer he couldn't refuse. >> that was part of iran's deal with maliki we will give you a third term but the conditions are no american soldiers. that was what tehran had demanded. there was no way it had gone through the parliament. >> one thing is clear, it was only iraq's army that could have stopped isis. instead, iraqi soldiers threw down their weapons and ran. >> next on "blindsided," what drives these people? what makes them tick? we will go inside the mind of a radical. immediate a man who was prepared to die for a fantasy. the idea of an islamic caliphate. . ears for jihad. bin ladin was there, sawzawahiri was there. foreign fighters were constantly flowing from but now incredibly foreign fighters are flowing in even faster to iraq and syria. an estimated 20,000 of them in total. what drives these people th

. >> a car bomb attack kills a hundred people during celebrations in iraq. hello and welcome to al jazeera. also ahead the u.s. and saudi arabia meet to discuss the new iran nuclear deal. germany's parliament gives the go-ahead for talks with greece on another bailout package. and more than a half billion muslims join festivities as they mark the event on saturday. more than a hundred people including children have been killed in a car bomb in iraq. about 30 kilometers northeast of baghdad happened at celebrated the start of eve. they overran large parts of the country. three days of mourning has been announced. we have the latest from baghdad. >> they have been expecting an attack like this. they didn't realize that this would be the kind of attack that would see as much people as we have seen killed and injured. to put it in context, we have to go to the years 2006, 2007, 2008, iraq was at the height of sectarian violence. whenever isil or al qaeda came under pressure, there is an operation against them, what they would do is mount attacks outside the area

. >> the islamic state in iraq and the levant has claimed responsibility for a bomb in iraq that has killed more than 100 people including children. the car bomb exploded just outside of the town 30 kilometers northeast of the capital baghdad. the market was full of people celebrating the end of the muslim month of ramadan. a hundred people were also wounded in the attack. isil issued a statement saying that the suicide-bomber was armed with explosives. imran khan spoke to us earlier about the attack. >> in 2008 when iraq was at the height of sectarian violence and al qaeda and iraq now isil. when isil would come under pressure which they are at the moment, what they would do is now mount attacks outside of the area that they were under pressure in to say we can still mount these kinds of attacks. now the operation against them in anbar province is using coalition airstrikes that bring a tremendous amount of pressure. and saying we still have the capability of attacking you. >> germany's lawmakers have give the go ahead for the eurozone to negotiate the third bail out for greece desp

it's jets are now hitting across the border in iraq and syria. after beginning a air campaign against isil and syria turkish jets for the first time in years began hitting pkk in iraq's mountains. the pkk immediately declared the already strained 2013 cease-fire with turkey dead. turkish officials are not phased and talk about a long-term fight. >> whenever we see a decrease or vanishing of the threat, then of course we'll make a reattempt. the third wave of operations are part of this. >> this is a major shift in policy. >> for turkey isil declared war when it bombed a cultural center in the border town on monday. but many here believe that turkey's decision to actively engage in the fight against the armed group has a lot to do with the battlefield in northern syria. the government here is concerned about isil threatening syrian opposition groups in their strongholds in aleppo province. it is also worried about what it sees as the growing strength of syrian's kurds. syrian's kurds or the pyg linked to the pkk now control half of the 800 kilomete

. >>> a scene of horror in iraq where a car bomb has killed 115 people. >>> the sudanese scholars are trying to figure out what attracts recruits to armed groups. and in a world full of distracting technology, could a book at bedtime turn over a new leaf for families? >> saudi arabia said that it's foiled plan attacks by the islamic state in iraq and the levant while announcing the arrests of 431 people. some are accused of already carrying out bombings, including one in may which killed 21 people in the eastern village. >> with raids and seizures of guns money saudi officials have arrested 431 people they say are tied to the armed group. >> within the past few weeks we've put an end to isil in saudi arabia. >> they say the subjects are from across the middle east and africa. stewart forces say that they have foiled six other attacks being planned against saudi target. >> isil is trying to create a rift in the kingdom. >> with the arrests saudi arabia hopes to quash the ability of the group to recruit nor fighters. >> they say that the arrests are good news but more needs to be done.

what i have said and this is part of what did i in iraq. special forces. in syria that we celebrated. it was a big victory for us. special forces that can go in and take out key figures. get their info. go out and take ten that that guy led to. ten they led to. so being involved in that decapitation process of isis in syria is important. when it comes to holding ground even arab forces cannot hold all the ground in syria. you think about jordan. jordan is the size of illinois without the city of chicago. 6 million people. so the idea that jordan can move their troops in for instance, and occupy syria, it is not realistic. you have to have a moderate rebel force and 60 just ain't going to cut it. >> the new buzz word from the administration seems to be patience. strategic patience. it will take time. we heard general dempsey today conceding in his words that being patient on isis could increase the risk from isis on the u.s. homeland. what is your reaction to that? that's a remarkable concession to a group that the president acknowledge is a direct threat t