that is what gave rise to isis. we want you around, but it must visible ways and we want you to help us. anyone in our state department can take that simple formula -- that is what they ask, to build simple capacities within the countries to take care of civil problems within their own quarters. a great question. we have 10 minutes to take a few more questions. they will still be available afterwards. mary callahan. how to start this question, but i don't know how to complete it. iraq is a country. is iraq a country? our vocabulary is about countries. are we fighting a country? are we fighting a warlord? how do we build a country out of something that wasn't a country before? that is always confusing, these areas where long ago, your ancestors drew lines -- but they don't feel that. you have to go way beyond putting buildings back up again, but figure out who lives together. that is way beyond what is going on now. utterback: united states will engage with a legitimate government. that is as far as we are going to g

m-1 abram tank taking a big isis billboard in the middle of the screen right the fight to isis. abram take and former soviet t-72 tank side by side fight agnew enemy. it's a cold war ultimate reality. -- fighting a new enemy. it's a cold war ultimate reality. i have just missed the money shot of the whole trip. i learned ale valuable lesson. find a helmet camera that has continuous playback. because i saw with my eyes the suicide bomb attacking us, didn't have a camera on it. now it's on. you can can see the smoke rising. you can see a wounded guy running to the rear. the iraqis are shooting at the isis drone, which is overhead. to deny isis the propaganda victory of filming it and avoid bomb. a 40 millimeter car this is the frontline. we're here in east mosul. the car bomb. whipping around the corner. left to front. >> that was my boy. > like five minutes. saw it come around the corner. nd that made it. we got behind a humvee. and spin out of the way of the debris. then isis sent a drone overhead -- the drone was probably there in the first place. following the vehicles. and ta

this is the isis salute. one raised finger was raised by it was aneir salute, abbreviation for their declaration of faith. and the little kids were taught this and they had to be taught to hold up two fingers and is spread out. his little sister knew how to do it. he was emulating her. hand drawn flags. as the good guys got close, they broke into their school paper and a colored an iraqi flag to come out to show the troops liberating their blog for the first time in over two years that they were proud of their country and of their military. go ahead. everywhere, fathers and children came out, take a picture of my child with me. this is a celebration, a victory television probably not seen since the liberation of europe. but they love their families, we all share that and they love their kids and they were grateful their kids were able to go back to school. will have as much as a normal life as they are able to have. snipers, emergency response division, the elite unit of the andrior, 800 meters away snipers i

isis west africa is the group that is of more concern to us. the they have ties to isis core. they have some funding from isis core. they have indicated in the past their desire to go outside the region, to conduct activities, attacks, if you will, on u.s. interests in the area. they certainly are more of a concern to us at this particular time. >> are we aploog adequate resources to deal with the issue? mr. waldhauser: the strategy is with the basin region where we apply our assistance to the countries around there. cameroon, chad, niger and nigeria. we have made progress with nigeria in the last year or so with regards to our ability to share intelligence with them, to assist them if planning and also to assist in training. mr. peters: you mentioned in your written testimony that the multinational task force in that area doesn't seem to be as interested in dealing with the situation. they believe it's a nigeria-sent rick problem. i gagget you are don't agree -- i gagget you are don't agree -- i gather you don't agree. mr. waldhauser: they do want to operate, the countries th

this focus on the isis mission. rep.gallagher: in iraq, do you think we are actively competing with them? i thinking of the biggest am phenomenon. some may be part of the iss, but others are terrorists. gen. votel: certainly addressing the pmf is something the prime minister will have to do. one of the best things we can do on the ground is be in a good and valued partner to the iraqi security forces. the assistance united states and coalition to demonstrates this , and those security force leaders that i talked to on a regular basis deeply value that. they appreciate it, and they look forward to maintaining that in the future. rep. gallagher: i yield back the rest of my time. thank you. >> thank you. mr. swazi. swazi: i want to thank you for your service and the great work of everyone in your command. my particular concern is about afghanistan that i discussed with you. the reconstruction report says that were not making progress. the population centers we lost a little bit of ground from the last report. i supported th

our mission of course has been focused on isis. and so we still have isis that we are addressing. that's where our particular focus is. i would tell you that while we don't have a specific task to do something against iran in this particular area, our strong relationships with the syrian democratic forces, with our -- certainly our strong relationships with the iraqi security forces, do put us in a position where we can, through our strong relationships, can have influence, can encourage them to conduct operations and do things that are in the interests of their countries as opposed to other parties in the area. r. sullivan: can i ask a final question, my time is running out. we know now that during the 2004-2005-2006 time frame, that he iranians were supplying iraqi shi'a militias some of the most sophisticated, deadly i.e.d.'s on the battlefield that ended up killing and maiming thousands of american troops. so these are, in my view, the blood of american soldiers and marines and sailors, airmen, the iranians had that on their hands, right? that's a fact. they of course denied i

so even after isis is gone, what is the legal justification to be there after isis is no longer there. >> the fact is isis is still there and that's what we're dealing with now. >> after isis is defeated what is the legal justification for u.s. service members to be deployed in syria. >> well, the principal thing will be to ensure that isis does not reemerge even though they have been eliminated from controlling terrain does not mean that isis is not present in this area. with regard to your question on the legal authority of this, again, i would site that, you know, the principle legal authority was self-defense of iraq and unwillingness and inability of syrian regime to provide -- to address this particular threat that posed a threat to not just the country of syria and iraq but really to a much broader group of countries around the world. >> my understanding is that the administration has used the 2001 authorization for the use of military force whose justification is premised on the attacks of 9/11 and stopping those who attacked this country from being able to do so again and the

to avoid coalition airstrikes, isis fighters went underground.of elaborate tunnels in which they could safely move, hyde, and wait —— islamic state. iraqi soldiers called them rats. major salam sets fire to the tunnel‘s entrance. what they're doing now is taking tyres, burning them, and putting them into holes inside the tunnel to literally try and smoke any islamic state fighters left inside. frontlines taken during the day can be easily lost at night, when is fighters split back across them to launch a surprise attack. —— slip back. is are attacking through the tunnels. aley has just been shot. medics are doing everything they can. he doesn't make it. so it has been a pretty rough night. is launched a surprise attack. the response was pretty chaotic. we joined them as they went in humvees and went towards the lines to fight isis, where they killed 30 is fighters, they said. but 17 men were killed and there was a big incident of friendly fire. talking to the quys of friendly fire. talking to the guys here has a real element of sadness and anger

we see their -- they have ties to isis core. they have some funding from isis. they have indicated in the past their desire to go outside the region to conduct activities, attacks on u.s. interests in the area, if you will, they are certainly more of our concern to us at this particular time. >> are we applying adequate resources to deal the with issue? >> their strategy for isis west africa is with the lake chad basin region where we apply our assistance to the countries around there like cameroon, chad, and nigeria. we made capacity in our ability to share intelligence, assist in planning and training. >> you mentioned in your written testimony that the multinational task force in that area in the basin doesn't seem to be as interested in dealing with the situation, believe it's a nigeria-centric problem. i gather you don't agree. what can you do to convince them otherwise. based on the testimony today, sounds they want to operate across a broader region? >> well, they do. the countries that support the multinational joint task force, but in foes camost cases,

isis west africa has ties the isis core and funding from isis core and had indicated in the past they can go outside the region to conduct activities with u.s. interests and certainly are more of a time.n to us at this >> are we applying adequate resources? >> strategy for isis west africa through the lake chad basin region applying our assistance around cameroon and chad and niger but with the ability to share intelligence to assist them in planning and training. >> in your written testimony the multinational task force in that area doesn't seem to be as interested in dealing with the tuition? so what can we do to convince them otherwise? do they do want to operate those countries that support the multinational joint task force but in most cases they have significant other challenges whether nigeria itself in the coastal area or the central area or like a country like chad who has about their border with libya and niger has issues throughout the countries that you have large military forces to do all these things is difficult so sometimes if it appears over a period of one trendline

sent in the forces to fight isis.yria became a proxy fight like the good old dayings of the cold war. the enemy, the americans came for, isis is nearly vanquished. so is america's reputation as the only power that matters in the world. the u.s. deunderstand maed asad goes. putin bet big on the asad regime and won big. syria is only one front in putin's war. he keeps making audacious bets that the u.s. keeps folding. in 2014, redrawing borders set after world war ii. nobody stopped him. >> russia's decision has global condemnation. >> the ukraine said that he attacked their presidential election. they said that putin used spies, and fake news, in bulgaria, the netherlands, germany, france and the ik. using the same tactics, putin, wanted to under mine our political process, nobody stopped him. now, according to the british weapon. they used a poison on british soil. >> by placing these audacious, outrageous bets, he has, like it or not, made russia great again. next, my interview with barry mccaffrey. >> the attempted

isis belongs to this group. through movement went regionalization, and they going across the border and getting regionalized. outmain reason isis stood was not the intensity of his terrorist activity. it is compatible to other groups of this type. the reason it stood out is that they own not just syria but the middle east. they grew up into a category of its own. isis is a key much of product. overall, i would say it is three trends and transnational terrorism. second, i call it network fragmentation of global jihad. mostly in regions outside the muslim world, in the developed world's we see this fragmentation. intensifiedse, they targeted flows of jihadists within regions and across regions. these are interrelated but distinct. they may be rooted in different contexts, they develop in parallel, and they overlap. at the interface of all three you get daesh the way we knew it. a physical caliphate, reinforced by inflows of fighters and settlers from the middle east and beyond the middle east. and expanding its pr

in other words, isi. wanted to control the top of the taliban didn't want the isi as a negotiating agent. not to suggest this is going to be an easy process, but when you read how it unfolded, it did not represent device capacities or traditions of american diplomacy and the stakes were so high. i'm anxious for your questions. so i think i will just wind down. one thing that hasn't changed in the war is isi's role. in august of 2016, just as we were getting ready to turn the war over to the third administration to friday, there was an unmarked white helicopter that went down in will carr providence. it's an area steve levine and i will both remember. the main isi supply route into kabul because it's basically could drive a truck from pakistan to about, i don't know, 40 clicks from kabul without ever breaking cover and that is where the helicopters would also fly. so this helicopter crashed and had a russian pilot and some people from pakistan on board had a bunch of supplies. taliban surrounded it, hustle

our mission of course has been focused on isis, so we still have isis that we are interesting anaddressingandtha. i want to teli waited till yearo not have a specific task to do something against iran in this area, our strong relations with the forces and strong relationships with the iraqi forces put us in a position that we can through the stronger relationships have influence and encourage them to conduct operations and do things that are in the interest of companies as opposed to other parties in the area. >> time is running out. we know now that during the 2004, 2005 timeframe they were supplying the militia of some of the most sophisticated and deadly ied's on the battlefield but ended up maiming and killing thousands of troops. they have that on their hands that is a fact. if there is any threat posed by any proxies, do the troops have the full authority to respond to defend themselves and kill these threats given that they have a history of killing the troops is there a rule of engagement? in the groups that attempted we didn't use the full capabilities within our arsenal to protect o

giving the remanence of isis a rest bite. how dangerous is it you think if isis is allowed to regroup here? >> that's horribly dangerous. i don't even want to contemplate that future. that's not a world i want to live in. >> while president trump says time is running out for the u.s. mission in syria, the syrian regime backed by russian forces is taking more and more territory. american troops had a deadly run in with russian merge narcot narcoticrinarcoti and pointed west. >> there is a substantial amount on combat power sitting three miles there now. >> he said it's hard for him to tell whether those forces were russian troops, or syrian soldiers. either way, they were a source for concern. >> when you asked the russians why there is still combat power a couple miles from your base, what do they tell you? >> they liberate that train from isis, which is true. that threat is no longer there. there is no reason for that power to be staring at us that closely. >> the russian military sent thousands of troops and enormous amount

point whoever took him once but we all knew it was isis i mean. yeah. stuff was that was really tough. in the latter half of two thousand and fourteen absi was in charge of isis his media wing and that's when they started releasing all the beheading videos so she had and that is the state department has said that she was in charge of kidnappings for the islamic state so. it's unclear surely there were other people involved but she seems to have been. in a leadership position at every step from abduction to moving hostages from the prison in aleppo to iraq to later than medio in which was releasing the beheading videos to the in the remnants of the ancient regime what i like to call the ghosts of saddam are in effect running the show this is why isis is sophisticated at the level of guerrilla warfare why it is sophisticated at the level of conventional warfare but most especially why it's propaganda is profoundly clever and wicked you know the information warfare that isis brings to bear is one of their their greatest assets in this campaign and if

there yes try because the night isis was funded by usa and your ac it is using isis to legalize the kurdish separatism it's very important i see it and. we. are fighting the invent they were america wants them to and then they cooperate but we had by the new u.s. ambassador to london on the program i'm sure he would immediately deny that the united states government began and created. tramples stated and before beginning to be cute and since the beginning of to cry just into syria pewee helping support the directed by the united states the american chief of stop called this organization and. as its land force and according to their own us. bipartisan tracts lot of people and what you are saying z.b. describing in a civil war under article five that would allow the current to bomb washington. is this seriously the state of nato the nato alliance of today yet you turkish forces are fighting against their power control directly by the us city and you live one on one often stray and leaves portal reported after an operation with the headline not an off meet or and it does arrive i think

mabus had called it is certainly not helpful problem is while america's anti isis coalition butchers and cannibalizes itself the war against the jihad ists has stopped the kurds all left to do their own thing and the guys still there in theirs or incapable it seems of beating the little isis on cleef left there so washington is building an entire new army one key element of the strategy to defeat isis is to train equip sustain and enable elements of the vetted syrian opposition these forces are projected to total approximately sixty to sixty five thousand. sixty five thousand these spared army would be bigger than the canadian or straightly and militaries and don't forget there are already three warring armies in syria the pentagon is planning on equipping and providing this puppet force with everything but there are underwear tens of thousands of new rifles machine guns mortars millions of rounds of ammunition thousand vehicles don't forget this seemingly going to pay their salaries two to four hundred dollars a month it's all in the new counterterrorism fund request it says clearly

anymore and they're basically meant that the not taking territory back from isis is quickly as they had been in the past the kurds america's most reliable allies in syria have ups and left go on to make war with america's fellow anti isis coalition member and nato partner turkey not the friendliest coalition in the world but that's besides the point you know you've got the. distraction of what's going on up front right now it distracts from international effort to ensure the lasting defeat of isis what is going on in a free is taking away from the fight against isis it is a distraction as secretary mabus had called it is certainly not helpful problem is while america's anti isis coalition butchers and cannibalizes itself the war against the jihad ists has stopped the kurds all left to do their own thing and the guy is still there in theirs or incapable it seems of beating the little isis on cleef left there so washington is building an entire new army one key element of the d.o.d. strategy to defeat isis is to train equip sustain and enable elements of the vetted syrian opposition t

anymore and that basically meant that they're not taken territory back from isis is quickly as they had been in the past so a change of focus a change of priority and plan it seems our senior correspondent say what's happening what's going to mean for the american presence in syria the well the kurds the white b.g. america's most reliable partner in syria have upped and left they've abandoned the isis mission for now and they've gone off to make war with america's and see isis coalition member partner and nato partner turkey and this is you know this isn't the friendliest coalition in the world but that's besides the point you know you've got the. distraction of what's going on up front right now it distracts from international effort to ensure the lasting defeat of isis what is going on in a free and is taking away from the fight against isis it is a distraction as secretary mabus had called it is certainly not helpful. so while the u.s. anti isis coalition turns on each other bushies each other and cannibalizes each other the mission the operation against isis says stop the kurds

the battle against isis in syria and whether or not this will extend u.s. operations in the country. john mcadams executive director of the ron paul institute thinks that the u.s. alliance with the kurds is unlikely to survive well it's three months of the old saying it's better to be the enemy than the ally of the united states because if you're the enemy they may try to buy you but if you're the ally they certainly will sell you and that certainly seems like what they're doing with the kurds perhaps the kurds are understanding that they will be sold out they were sold out at rock as well and they will be sold out in the eastern part of syria where the u.s. is operating and they're coming to the aid of their allies dizzee us hope that the syrian government gets further drawn in to the fight with the kurds against the turks then the u.s. can swing back around and help it struck his ally in fighting the syrian government and the kurds as well maybe that's the move that would mean the big question mark is what will russia do in a situation like that talk abou

the hell out of isis.ing out of syria very soon. let the other people take care of it now. very soon. very soon, we're coming out. we're going to have 100% of the caliphate, as they call it, sometimes referred to as land. we're taking it all back quickly, quickly. but we're going to be coming out of there real soon. >> now a senior administration official tells cnn some of the president's aides were surprised

mabus had called it is certainly not helpful problem is while america's anti isis coalition butchers and cannibalizes itself the war against the jihad ists has stopped the kurds all left to do their own thing and the guy is still there as or incapable it seems of beating the little isis on cleef left there so washington is building an entire new army one key element of the strategy to defeat isis is to train equip sustain and enable elements of the vetted syrian opposition these forces are projected to total approximately sixty to sixty five thousand. sixty five thousand these spared army would be bigger than the canadian or straightly and militaries and don't forget there are already three warring armies in syria the pentagon is planning on equipping and providing this puppet force with everything but there are underwear tens of thousands of new rifles machine guns mortars millions of rounds of ammunition thousand vehicles and don't forget this seemingly go in to pay their salaries two to four hundred dollars a month it's all in the new counterterrorism fund request it says clearly

for isis to go back on the offensive so regardless of whether it is upon the defeat of isis or later than that it will be some period of time before we've met the conditions inside syria for withdrawal or let's go to dmitri babich in moscow iran and russia do you think they will save an opportunity in this to increase their influence. well i don't know about the iran russia's. presence in syria is not the most able to influence it's a bollard preserve and stability you know not go in as you go government to be told pulled by foreign also forces and the bog to fight in the dentist's if you will notice your mind. you might have noticed that brush for example basically they sit there quiet to the turkish presence in the north of syria because we understand that during because the gentleman security interests there by russia did how the syrian government to defeat the groups like jason was robbed or jump on down the street simply because these groups are dangerous. and of course you know but for other countries also including russia but also to be sure you'd agree that the russians don't

anymore and they're basically mended they're not taking territory back from isis is quickly as they had been in the past the kurds america's most reliable allies in syria have ups and left go on to make war with america's fellow anti isis coalition member and nato partner turkey not the friendliest coalition in the world but that's besides the point you know you've got the. distraction of what's going on up front right now it distracts from international effort to ensure the lasting defeat of isis what is going on in a free is taking away from the fight against isis it has interests secretary mabus had called it is certainly not helpful problem is while america's anti isis coalition butchers and cannibalizes itself the war against the jihad has stopped the kurds all left to do their own thing and the guys still there in theirs or incapable it seems of beating the little isis on cleef left there so washington is building an entire new army one key element of the strategy to defeat isis is to train equip sustain and enable elements of the vetted syrian opposition these forces are proj

any more and that basically meant that the not taken territory barrett from isis is quickly as they had been in the past the kurds america's most reliable allies in syria have ups and left go on to make war with america's fellow anti isis coalition member and nato partner turkey not the friendliest coalition in the world but that's besides the point you know you've got the. distraction of what's going on right now from right now it distracts from international effort to ensure the lasting defeat of isis what is going on in of rain is taking away from the fight against isis it is a distraction as secretary mabus had called it is certainly not helpful problem is while america's anti isis coalition butchers and cannibalizes itself the war against the jihad has stopped the kurds all left to do their own thing and the guys still there in theirs or incapable it seems of beating the little isis on cleef left there so washington is building an entire new army one key element of the strategy to defeat isis is to train equip sustain and enable elements of the vetted syrian opposition these fo

a report reveals there is a new threat in the fight against isis. u commanders say as the terrorist group is on the brink of defeat, the white house shake-up is threatening to destroy the mission and tension with russia is also intensifying. the defense ministry released new video showing the successful test of a intercontinental ballistic missile that vladimir putin touted in a speech earlier this month. on the heels of another nbc news report that president trump is telling his aides not to tout tough policies on russia publicly but behind the scenes he is more critical of his russian counter part citing two officials who say president trump told putin during the phone call last week, if you want to have a arms race we can do that but i'll win. and white house correspondent kristin welker and reporter courtney cubin. let me start with you. what are we getting from the white house on this syria news? >> reporter: well, no reaction yet. but look, the president sending out mixed signals against the back drop of this reporting. david, president trump

is our best friend and ally so we created the context in which isis was created and isis has wreaked havoc and it was never a popular movement at all every genuine muslim knows damn well that isis is an affront to islam and even. on a yearly basis last year was it reported in the western media at all that there was about twenty million twenty million muslims who protested and demonstrated against isis and were making clear that isis has nothing to do with genuine islam we created that and again i said. that's not an accident the creation of isis is not an accident we know that al-qaeda is the cia database that was not an accident these are the frankenstein's that western intelligence agencies and mossad create in order to justify our policies in the region which are basically to destroy that entire region to balkanize that region so that ultimately israel can expand you know an american the american government is bought and paid for by israel and it couldn't be more obvious netanyahu has three visits to the us congress where the sickle friends traitors in the us congress sit there an

what led you to these girls in norway who ran off to join isis?well, first i got to know the father who wanted the story of his girls to be told. and his girls had fled to syria and he felt he failed as a father, failed as a husband, failed the family. but when the girls left, he felt total shock. what was this? afterwards he realized all the signs were there, the signs of radicalization. so, he also wanted to tell the story as a warning to other parents. >> so, let's just go back a little bit. you met the father who went to syria a couple of times to get the girls back. first and foremost, what was he doing in norway? he's from somalia, right? >> he was a soldier in somalia. he came to norway at the end of the war in the '90s. he got asylum and got his family over. he and his girls came and they were doing well. they integrated easily. they were a-students, they were doing well in sports, they were swimming, going to the beach. and then something happened when they became teenagers because the mother was not integrated and she was afraid to lose

in the fight against isis in syria and have enjoyed washington support they have now joined the find in africa the city which is located in northern syria has been one of the main flashpoints of tension in the country. a ground offensive against kurdish forces in january turkey considers militias base that as terrorists and says it started the campaign to protect its border samir khan reports but according to u.s. officials u.s. backed a ground operations against islamic revenants in eastern syria have been put on hold now that's because kurds who had spearheaded combat against extremists have shifted to a separate fight with turkish forces in a free for the kurdish region of free and in northern syria has become a new geo political pivot point in the conflict turkey launched an offensive in a frame in january to expel syrian kurdish forces which it sees as a terrorist group and as an extension of a kurdish insurgency at home while the parties in the region are trying to figure out what to do exactly the violence in the region continues. for weeks now defense secretary jim matheson o

let's talk about isis for a moment. our resolution would not impede the ability to fight isis inside of yemen. the resolution itself requires the removal of u.s. forces from hostilities in yemen except in a quote the united states armed forces engage in operations directed at al qaeda or other forces. that's a direct quote. it should put the rest of the notion that this would somehow jeopardize our ability to fight terrorist. the pentagon and the executive branch have insisted it has adequate authority under the authorization for military force under the 2001 au mf to fight against isis. if that the pentagon and elsewhere or any my colleagues now claimed this resolution is to exempt operations against isis the what we make of the previous confidence. have they suddenly lost faith in the document overnight? or the using this as a pretense to opposer resolution? i believe the 2001 au mf has been stretched too far. ours is completely agnostic. about whether counterterror operations against al qaeda and isis can proceed in

let's talk isis for a moment. our resolution would not impede the military's ability to fight terror groups like isis inside yemen because the resolution itself requires the removal of us forces from hostility in yemen except, except and i quote, the united states forces engaged in operations directed at al qaeda or associated forces. that is a direct quote from the text of the resolution itself. it should put the rest of it should put to rest this notion that this would jeopardize our ability to fight terrorists. the pentagon in the executive branch have long insisted that it has adequate authority under the authorization of military force enacted in 2001, adequate authority under the 2001 a ums to fight against isis. if they at the pentagon and the executive branch or any of my colleagues now claim that this resolution specifically needs to exempt operations against isis then what would it make of their previous confidence in the 2001 a ums. they suddenly lost faith in the document overnight? or are they merely