this is iraq broken into isil held areas, and iraqi kurdistan and iraq. and a proxy category for the region, and southern iraq, sliding coming back since the disaster september 13th meeting as maliki was in the full thrust of governance. the disputed areas, isil held territories, much lower in their sliding rate, since september of 2013 through december of 2014 to jog your memory, august is when the prime minister took over june july is when mozilla went to isis. this is six months and still fighting is low in known and shia areas. let's look at confidence in the military. similar dynamic where the shiite majority areas in baghdad and southern iraq seeing significant improvement, some improvement in disputed areas but i still held and iraqi kurdistan pretty significant loss of confidence and the military. the total, national average, notice on this slide and i should have showed you the previous wide almost tells you nothing. there's not a fluctuation on this level of analysis but when you look locally you see a lot. confidence in national government, nat

at 13% of people in iraqi kurdistan approve. may 2014, even worse.int where barely a majority in baghdad and only a majority in the south approve. very promisingly, at least initially, in december of 2014, a huge resurgence of a chance for this new political leader to strike a new page. i would challenge us to think about how much should we stake as policymakers, on these very fleeting approvals and disapproval. my argument would be, we are a lot better off focusing on those issues. so much of our rpms as washington tends to be focused on this part. using the right metrics bread-and-butter issues, and iraq as the example. [applause] mr. hadley: thank you so much. i would now like to turn to our studio in cairo. would you tell us your own views about what public opinion is right now in the region? what our citizens in the region thinking about right now? how does the line up with what you just heard and what we have seen in terms of the polling data? are you with us? >> yes. it's hard for me to tell you what every citizen in the region thanks. i would

. >> in iraqi kurdistan unemployment and poverty are rising. more than a million iraqi refugees have flooded the autonomous area and that is causing tension. >> refugees from syria are better off than iraqi idps, they are lucky given more advantages. there is nothing to make their lives more difficult. everything is getting easier for them. >> with the kids in school, many parents in the area have plans to return to syria they believe the times will be better there. kim vanel. al jazeera turkey. >> four million syrian refugees are struggling to survive in turkey lebanon iraq egypt and is bejordan. >> in the case of syria it's imperative that international help is made available. >> most of the refugees from syria are currently living in just five countries neighboring syria and the international community has not provided resettlement places for those place or release settlement people any amount that need to be resettled according to the u.n. refugee agency, the u.n. isn't funding these neighbors to cope with this burden. the u.n. application

. >> am joined on the line by a french journalist based in iraqi kurdistan. thank you for joining us. the kurds, of course, have had a lot more success when it comes to battling isis militants -- more success compared to the iraqi army. they managed to kick them out of the city. what lessons can be learned to help the iraqis hoping to retake most? -- to retake mosul? >> they were actually going out and defending their own, but the thing is -- kurdish forces are not stronger than the iraqi army. >> they are not stronger, but they have managed to reclaim territory, something the iraqi army seems to be struggling to do. >> that's right, but the big difference is that the trouble is cities like mosul or tikrit, [inaudible] l2 isis in august last year british forces are battling them. at the moment, kurdish forces have achieved their goals, but their goals are less ambitious than those of the u.s. army. >> what about the international airstrikes? are they helping? >> without the additional airstrikes, they never would have been able to go out and take back the run

this is iraq, broken into isil held area, disputed areas, baghdad, iraqi kurdistan, and southern iraqe i am using based obviously on proxy or dummy categories for regions of the country. but baghdad predominantly shia, slightly predominantly shia and southern iraq overwhelmingly shia are the only two regions where we've seen thriving come back since that disastrous september 13 reading as maliki was in the full thrust of his approach of governance. iraqi kurdistan and the disputed area, isil held territories still much, much lower in their thriving rates since september 2013 through december 2014. to jog your memory, august is when prime minister took over. june-july is when mosul went to isis. this is six months after prime minister abed ii is in office. let's look at confidence in the military. again, a similar dynamic where the shia majority areas excuse me baghdad and southern iraq see a significant improvement. some improvement in the disputed areas. but again isil-held in iraqi kurdistan, still some pretty significant loss of confidence in the military. you'll notice that very l

i have been going to iraqi kurdistan since 1984. i have never in my life met an iraqi group that said he would prefer to be an iraqi to having his own independence state. >> i have a rebuttal for this. >> more important, 1991, kurdistan has been separate. >> an anything point. number one, the people you talk to are not necessarily representative of the population, but a public opinion falls from inside kurdistan, showing that there was a majority of kurds who want to separating. >> this is 2005, 98% voted for independence in a referendum held at the same time in every polling place, and virtually every person that voted voted in this informal referendum. it was a representative sample. >> i need to wrap. we have run out of time, it's been a pleasure. peter galbraith, feisal istrabadi, and raed jarrar, thank you. the "third rail" is next. >> as a nation we take the side of pedophiles. >> the lasting psychological >> he was electro-shocked and tortured. >> decades of corruption abuse, and torture, by chicago police... >> you think peop

most syrians refugees are illegally allowed to work but in iraqi kurdistan unemployment is rising, more than a million have flooded the be autonomous region autonomous region. >> they were given more facilities and wert chance he. asylum letters residency permits and there's nothing to make their life more difficult everything is getting easier for them. >> reporter: with the kids in school many parents have no plans to return to syria. believing life is or at least will be better here. kim vanel, al jazeera northern iraq. >> be amnesty international had described the situation as grossly inadequate. report by the human rights group say 4 million refugees are be struggling to survive in turkey, jordan lebanon iraq and egypt. almost 2,000 have decide so far this year. and hundreds more have decide in southeast asia answer andeman sea. ae-mainly rohingyan muslims. global issues and research, amnesty international she said in the case of syria it's imperative that international help is made available. >> most of the refugees from are syria are currently living in just five countries neighb

i met with prime minister, iraqi kurdistan regional president and just last week with the speaker. they all fully understand the need to empower more localized multi-sectarian multi- sectarian iraqi security forces and address persistent organization and leadership failures. because a sovereign multi- sectarian in iraq is more likely to ensure lasting defeat of isis the united states must continue working with. efforts must reinforce inclusivity and multi- sectarianism, not fuel a reversal which would make a lasting defeat harder. the situation in syria is even more complex because of a lack of illegitimate government partner in many competing forces. regardless we will continue to strike with the long reach of airstrikes and operators in the continue working with syria's neighbors to impede the flow of foreign fighters into and out of syria and iraq. the train and equip mission has been challenging but the requirement also means we must persist. in conclusion in conclusion i believe that success in this campaign can and must be assured. it will take time and require consistent effo

the occurred peshmerga have held the line between their territory and iraqi kurdistan and mosul.ronts they haven't been able to expand which is a positive. what the united states have done is build trenches around the outside of the city. they built bunkers and bar yell calls. they are encouraging all men to grow beards so if there is a ground assault that will confuse people who is a member of isil and who isn't. they are using propaganda to turn people against any ground assault that might come in, so there are a number of things going on. any frontal assault on mosul won't happen in the next few months. they are too busy, iraqi security forces, the u.s. led coalition and shia, because isil holds the two border crossings into syria allowing them into anbar province, has ramadi, that's where the fight is taking place, not in mosul although they have held that area for over a year. >> 2 million people are believed living in mosul under the rule of isil and the humanitarian situation there is said to be bleak. the chief humanitarian official from u.n. i.v.ed iraq and said millions

as the ambassador said, a million and a half iraqis fled to the kurdistan region. most are sunni. the iraqi government, the sfral government is not providing -- central government is not providing money to take care of them. it's not meeting constitutionaling obligations or following agreement even though the kurds is doing its part, why, because it doesn't consider kurdistan to be part of iraq, not kurds, arabs. one can blame maliki, the previous prime minister - he wasn't inclusive. he may have had a point. the sunni basically never accepted the fact that after 2003, the shi'ite majority, through democratic elections run... >> he didn't choose sectarianism. >> the people that chose the result first, was the sunni, you had the fighting against the american troops. when the americans were too hard, you had out of the sunni territories, attacks on shi'ite civilians, bus stations in the south, killing tens of thousands of people, and the sunni leaders, establishment, tribal chiefs, they didn't do anything about this in 2006, 2006, until al qaeda, the predecessor to i.s.i.l. began to

. >> i am with a news network from iraqi kurdistan. i have two questions. mr.he first one about, you seem to agree in order to liberate the areas underd daesh, we would need to have the participation of the sunni forces. but i would like to know your assessment of prime minister abadi's reachout to the sunnis. hasn't it been slow, too slow so far? and whether the united states can do more to make sure there's a sunni force, you know, being formed. -- >>> good morning members of the press core. good to see you here on friday. we finally made it to friday. today we have thomas widely the chief of staff combined joint task force resolve who will brief us from southwest asia. he will make a few opening comments and then take your questions. we have about 30 minutes in total for this briefing and i will call8 questions. while you are able to see him, he cannot see you, so do everybody a favor and remember to state your name and outlet. also, because of technology there is a little bit of a delay, so words and videos are not synced up so it will be watching a kong fu

i met with prime minister abadi iraqi kurdistan president and just last week with speaker of iraq's parliament. they all fully under the need to empower more localized multi-sectarian iraqi security forces and address persistent organization and leadership failures. because of sovereign multi-sectarian iraq is more likely to ensure a lasting defeat of isil, the united states must continue working with and through the iraqi government in all our actions including our support for kurdish and sunni tribal forces. our efforts need to reinforce in includesivity and multi-sectarianism not fuel the sectarianism which would make lasting defeat of isil harder not easier. the situation in syria is even more complex because of the lack of a legitimate partner and many competing forces there. regardless, we will continue striking isil and syria with a long reach of our airstrikes and operators. we will continue working with syria's neighbors to impede the flow of foreign fighters into and out of syria and iraq. our training mission in syria has been challenging but the requirement for capable and motivate

. >> i am with a news network from iraqi kurdistan. i have two questions. you seem to agree that in order to liberate the areas under daesh we would need to have the par participation of the sunni forces. but i would like to know your assessment of prime minister abadi's reachout to the sunnis. hasn't it been slow, too slow so far? and whether the united states can do more to make sure there's a sunni force, you know being formed. and do you believe the united states should arm directly the sunni forces or go through baghdad? and the second question is there have been a lot of talk about creating zones like the kurdistan region which has been a model of stability for iraq. do you believe that sunnis want that? the sunnis initially when iraq was invaded, they were opposed to that. are they more in favor of that idea now because they believe that they're marginalized in the shia-led government in iraq. thank you. >> translator: the first question gives me a chance to speak about the accusation daesh wanted the shia, to blame shia and to say that the sunni has

i've met with prime minister abadi, iraqi kurdistan regional president barzani, and just last week iraq'sy all fully understand the need to empower more localized multisectarian iraqi security forces and address persistent organization and leadership failures. and because a sovereign multisectarian iraq is more likely to ensure a lasting defeat of isil the united states must continue working with and through the iraqi government in all our actions including our support for kurdish and sunni tribal forces. our efforts need to reinforce inclusivity and multisectarianism, not fuel a reversal to sectarianism which would make the lasting defeat of isil harder, not easier. the situation in syria is even more complex because of the lack of a legitimate government partner and many competing forces there. regardless, we will continue striking isil and syria with the long reach of our air strikes and operators. we will continue working with syria's neighbors to impede the flow of foreign fighters into and out of syria and iraq. our train and equip mission in syria has been challenging but the requi

. >> i am with a news network from iraqi kurdistan. i have two questions, mr. speaker. in order to liberate the areas we would need to have the participation of the sunni forces, and that is also for the long-term stability of those areas. i would like to know your assessment. has it been slow, too slow so far, and whether the united states can do more to make sure there is a sunni force being formed quicker than it has taken so far? and do you believe the united states should arm directly be sunni forces or should go through baghdad? and the second question is about the -- there has been a lot of talk about creating zones, like the kurdistan region, which has been basically a model of stability for iraq. do you believe the sunnis want to that? the sunnis initially, when iraq was invaded, they were opposed to that idea outright, but are they more in favor of that idea now because they believe that they are marginalized with a shia led government now? thank you. mr. al-jubouri: the first question gives me an opportunity to speak about the first question, to blame shia an

kurdistan. and the iraqi army are quite runners, not such good fighters. they don't need training they need the courage to stand up and fight. no amount of training will do that. what we are doing will have some tangible impact on the ground in this conflict. a lot of others believe it to. we have a lot of support. we do our work for free we get our funding for support. we have over 500 applicants most of them former military who signed up for the opportunity to go and work for us. >>> if you were captured who negotiates. do you expect the government to? >> no i have left instructions with my family that if i'm captured doing what i believe in not to have the government negotiator try to rescue me. it's my responsibility. if i die for a cause i believe in, i accept the consequences of that as a fighter, i stand with the men that i support and accept the risk that they accept. and don't want to be treated differently if captured. >> thank you so much for joining us from philadelphia >>> thank you for having me >>> desperation is setting in for millions of p

iraqi was there and he spoke to us. he said do not believe that. i am from kurdistan and iraqis use the weapons of mass destruction on my people and there were met -- weapons of mass destruction. it is time for congress republicans, democrats, and all alike to stop warring back and forth. finally we have a budget. we are working on the budget. i very strongly support tpp and tpa. i am middle-class. i do not make $175,000 a year as do our congressman. i want them to come together and start thinking about everyone, not just as the one gentleman talked about, their careers here it was get back to the point where we work for everyone and let's put united -- our yet it states back on a good foot. i need trade agreements for my business. i'm a middle-class, low income person. host: what is your business? caller: my business is beef. and i do know because i stay up to date on everything that happens. i understand some of the things you are saying, but it is time for a fair trade agreement and time for tpp andand tpa to move forward. host: youguest: you are correct. it is tim

this sector is controlled by the patriotic union of kurdistan one of two kurdish parties in northern iraq. the volunteers are not welcomed on iraqi front lines. the iraqi government does not want foreign boots on the ground. this does not concern these men. they say what they do are not concerned with politics. >> they say that isil is a danger to the world not just iraq. >> they have ruled out combat forces to defeat the group. the americans who are on the ground don't represent their government, but they say their preference is a message that troops are needed if this war is to be won. al jazeera southern kirkuk. >> a funeral has been held in jordan for iraq's former foreign minister tariq aziz. jordan agreed to take the body for burial following a request from aziz's family, many of whom live there. he was a top aid of saddam hussein and spent time in prison after hand and himself over to force in 2003. >> the "world health organization" said they're holding an emergency meeting on tuesday to discuss the middle east respiratory outbreak or mers. >> at this market in seoul they brought out the big guns in the fight against mers

come is there any discussion of the humanitarian crisis. 3 million iraqis are displaced millions of serious are displaced. and kurdistan region of overlooking after 1.8 million syrian and fellow iraqis. their education is going to pot. their health, health care is almost nonexistent. we in kurdistan and other places in iraq are very concerned about security, even in the camps. you don't want these camps to become places where new radicals can be formed. so this is another crisis that we are bring if you like for the future and a flight to your touched on as well. thank you. >> thank you for bring it up. there's no doubt the millions of refugees, we've into those camps, half of a row serious population is displaced. turkey is hosting 1.8 million refugees at a cost of $6 billion to the country. it is a true humanitarian disaster hundreds of thousands murdered and killed. it is tremendous. lack of education, income distribution housing incredible set of issues that are structural and important to the counterterrorism site as well. >> any comments date or steve? >> i just would say that with this as other aspects of this n

kurdistan. one of the two kurdish parties in northern iraq. the american volunteers are not welcome on other front lines much the iraqi government doesn't want foreign groups on the ground. this doesn't concern the men. for these volunteers, they say it's not a job, a duty. they say the islamic state of iraq and levant is a danger to the world, not just iraq. the u.s. has been bombing i.s.i.l. from the skies, and has ruled out deploying combat forces as part of a strategy to defeat the group. the americans who are on the ground don't represent the government, but say their presence is a message that troops are needed if the war is to be won. ja you can get the latest details on the website on all the stories, updated on a minute by minute basis. aljazeera.com. >> this week on "talk to al jazeera": international piano superstar lang lang. >> the art, you know, it's about, you know... the distance and in and out, big picture, precision. >> billions of people around the world have seen him perform. at the beijing olympics... the world cup in rio... even jaming at the grammys.

kurdistan. but they won't invade iraq. bill: there are zero iraqi soldiers being trained at the base in scene bar. the pentagon says there are 498 in training at other locations in iraq. we have 3,000 americans on the ground. we already outnumber the number of iraqis we are training to date. there are reports that up to 9,000 have been trained already. but those numbers will not do the job. you can make the case that it's the iraqi's job to do it. but if they cannot do it, then what? >> it's not just training. you need americans forces at the front lines. our air campaign against isis has been extremely minimal. if you don't have spotters on the ground, you don't know who you are hitting and you don't have enough targets. you will have to put some americans at risk. the president doesn't want to do that. it's a legacy project of his to quit the war in iraq and he's not going to reverse himself on that. >> i would just report back what i heard general michael hayden say. iraq is a state no longer functioning. we need to recognize that and embrace ent

kurdistan one of the two kurdish parties in northern iraq. the american volunteers are not welcome on other front lines. the iraqi government does not want foreign boots on the ground. this does not concern these men. they say their decision to come here has nothing to do with politics or money. for theme volunteers it is not a job. it is a duty. they say isil islamic state in iraq and the levant is a danger to the world not just iraq. >> the americans who are on the ground don't represent their government but they say their presence is a message that troops are needed if this war is to be won. >> a funeral has been held in jordan for iraq's former foreign minister tariq aziz. jordan agreed to bury aziz at the confident his family. he was a top aid for saddam hussein. the ceremony followed reports on thursday that his remains had been snatched at baghdad airport. >>> an egyptian court has sentenced 23 men to 14 years in jail without role for the deaths of shia muslims in 2014. the four shia muslims included a cleric. she had been angered by a shia religious ceremony. eight of the accused people were acquitted. >>

iraqi army to stay together. >> i think iraq is finished as a state. i think you'll see -- you have kurdistan up north. you have a divide between sunnis and shias in iraq. you will never further absorb in the future the sunni population into iraq. i think the fight in yemen, far as it is off the map, is significant because people in the gulf will believe iran is behind it. not only will you get an exacerbation of the sunni-shia divide the suspicions about iran in the midst of america negotiating a nuclear deal are going to rise. >> the middle east richard haass said will get worse before it gets worse. >> i think it will on two fronts. first the divide between moderate sunnis and extremist sunnis will last for decades. a lot of the countries, iraq and syria, are going to become more conservative over time. the divide that goes back centuries is rising up everywhere. we saw it in iraq syria, yemen. saudi arabia. we've seen it in bahrain. now we see it in kuwait. it's a remarkable swath of territory. >> would it be overly optimistic to say this has turned in a middle eastern warfare in the middle east. t

iraqi future. we have recently had the honor of hosting prime minister abadi and the kurdistan region's president barzani. both have underscored the same call for looking now to the future for emphasizeing dialogue and reconciliation as critical for helping iraq move forward. usip teams are working with local iraqi partners now to anticipate that joint future. and to help alleviate the tensions arise frg the massive displacements and provent cycles of revenge in the liberating areas. we're supporting our partners to bridge relations between xhubts and police in places like baghdad, basra -- and we're supporting the iraqi minority communities to advance their rights working alongside for peace building and network to help address the aftermath including of terrible events like the spiker massacre. and in this work, we have seen the power of iraqi communities who are determined to build a better future. we've seen their commitment to come together to resolve differences and we continue to be inspired by local leaders and partners who are eager to lay this ground work for a more inclusive, shared peace. now

countries fighting isis, that the central iraqi government of the prime minister haider al abadi is there, but he didn't invite any representatives from kurdistanrds to come participate. as you know the peshmerga that you want the u.s. to arm directly they're fighters. they're fighting isis. but they're not even represented there. >> absolutely. i'm very concerned about that. but that has been the problem. one of the problems is our administration insists that all military assistance go through the baghdad government. the baghdad government is not getting that to the peshmerga, to the kurds. they're not getting it in anbar to the sunni sheiks or anti--isis. we have to do stop doing that through the baghdad government, have more observers and advisers on the grounds, on the ground, working with them so that instead of having iranians telling the baghdad i forces what to do we will have the americans having them act to ools actual take out isis' ability. >> some other issues coming up in the presidential campaign. much more with governor george pataki when we come back. your mom's got your back. your friends have your back. your dog's definitely

kurdistan. one of the two kurdish parties in northern iraq. the american volunteers are not welcome on other front lines. the iraqi government doesn't want foreign groups on the ground. this doesn't concern the men. they say their decision to come is nothing to do with politician or money. for these volunteers, they say it's not a job, it's a duty. they say the islamic state of iraq and levant is a danger to the world, not just iraq. the u.s. has been bombing i.s.i.l. from the skies, and has ruled out deploying combat forces as part of a strategy to defeat the group. the americans who are on the ground don't represent the government, but say their presence is a message that troops are needed if the war is to be won. >>> not all of the volunteers have served in the military. earlier in month deon broomfield a man from massachusetts was killed fighting along side the kurdish troops the first american to die fighting i.s.i.l. courtney kealy looks at foreigners fighting on the front lines. >> reporter: chanting martyrs don't die, supporters of the kurdish militia, the y.p.g., bid farewell to deon broomfield. the 30-ye

kurdistan. one of the two kurdish parties in northern iraq. the american volunteers are not welcome on other front lines the iraqi government doesn't want foreign groups on the ground. this doesn't concern the men. they say their decision to come is nothing to do with politician or money. for these volunteers, they say it's not a job, a duty. they say the islamic state of iraq and levant is a danger to the world, not just iraq. the u.s. has been bombing i.s.i.l. from the skies, and has ruled out deploying combat forces as part of a strategy to defeat the group. the americans who are on the ground don't represent the government, but say their presence is a message that troops are needed if the war is to be won. >>> iran's president says he will not allow national secrets to fall into foreign hands through nuclear inspections. during a rarer news conference taking place now in tehran with local and foreign reporters, hassan rouhani is calling on the west to stick to its terms ahead of a june 30th deadline. >> translation: if the other side commits to a previous framework, then it can reach an agreement quickly. if you continue bargaining and barg

kurdistan. one of the two kurdish parties in northern iraq. the volunteers are not welcome on other front lines much the iraqi government doesn't want foreign groups on the ground. this doesn't concern the men. for these volunteers they say it's not a job, a duty. they say the islamic state of iraq and levant is a danger to the world, not just iraq. the u.s. has been bombing i.s.i.l. from the skies, and has ruled out deploying combat forces as part of a strategy to defeat the group. the americans on the ground don't represent the government, but say their presence is a message that troops are needed if the war is to be won >>> the body of tariq aziz arrived in jordan before his funeral. there were reports the remains of the former iraqi deputy prime minister and foreign minister had been snatched at baghdad airport. iraq's aviation authority says missing documents caused the delay. many members of azis's family live in jordan. saddam hussein's former right hand man who had a heart attack at the age of 79 was facing possible prosecution for his role in the brutal dictator's regime >>> allegations of human right abuses to be investigated. tamil fami

iraqi army. that's copout. ayman, it's a copout again because iraq is not iraq. kurds will fight for what they spleev kurdistan but the sunnis who basically made up the backbone of saddam hussein's army the entire military infrastructure will never fight for a centralized government that is run, in part by the iranians will they? >> i think it's a little more complex. i think on the surface that's a key factor. keep in mind for decades the iraqi national identity was dominated by saddam hussein, certainly the baathist corps made up of sunnis. in the wake of the 2003 invasion, that was up ended. now they are trying to bring them back together with a national identity. i think that's much harder than anyone would have predicted. you also have the iranians that have their interest. they are fighting for group interests and those will -- >> ayman, that's kind of what i said. so do you say it was more complicated than what i said just to make you look smart? i'm just curious? maybe you agree with me. >> no, i can never look smarter than you, joe. >> oh. >> more aman bye-bye. >> hold on a second. >> i guess what i w

iraqi army. they don't number in the hundreds of thousands. and they've been asking, and i've been to kurdistan're asking the u.s. to provide help. one reason the u.s. is not doing so is by providing weapons directly to the kurds, they also undermine the central government in baghdad. iraqi officials in the past told me they want all of the weapons and aid and money that goes to the kurds to come to baghdad and then be sent from there on wards to the kurdish areas for their soldiers. we've seen in the past when that happened it is sometimes got lost in the process due to all kinds of reasons. >> all right. thank you so much. good to see you. >>> now from washington we have josh green with us. >> and, josh you've got a new study that shows three quarters of florida voters haven't seen jeb's name on a ballot before. what are you looking at here? >> it's been 13 years since jeb bush's last race. so we want to go and find out how many of florida's 13 million voters had actually voted in his last election. so bloomberg politics teamed up with political scientists at the university of florida named d

negative impact on the iraqi ability to provide security for those who have sought refuge in iraqi kurdistan. the president's recent decision to is expedite arms to the kurds as a way to improve the counter-isis effort i believe speaks for itself. additionally last year secretary of state john kerry said to the house foreign affairs committee -- and i quote -- "you said the administration is responsible for sending all these weapons through baghdad. no we're not. you are. we're adhering to u.s. law passed by congress." secretary kerry continued -- and i quote again -- "we have to send it to the iraqi government because that's u.s. law. if you want to change it, fix it we invite you." close quote. well this amendment does just that and it does so in a bipartisan bicameral fashion. it builds upon a similar bill in the house led by foreign affairs committee chairman ed royce and ranking member elliot engel. this bill and my amendment are quite different than the house ndaa language. my amendment provides a three-year authorization to reduce delays and inefficiencies in arming peshmerga forces t