host: michael o'brien, author of perspective on the warof iraq and the rise of sizes. if you want to join in, democrats (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. a special line for iraq war veterans, (202) 748-8003. toward the end of the book you write, i did not write this book because i hate my country. i lovepeople. unfortunately it is still going on. who do you blame more here? the military or the political leaders in this country? course everybody has a hand in it, but in our country it all starts at the top with the president. really itk at iraq -- started with getting out of kuwait in 1991. 12 years, and then we go in in 2003. and i need to-- say this before i forget to say it -- my book is about ,ccountability, or i should say the complete lack of accountability. and we went in in 2003 -- for your viewers, i have a west point graduate. i know a little bit about the military. 2003,e went into iraq in why did we go? that is the political thing. why did we go. executed,way it was with rumsfeld and the military, tommy franks. if you

within the rest of iraq, absolutely. the protests are one example of that, that the ambassador mentioned. this is very much a vibrant society, and political system that is even pushing back against entrenched politicians of the same sectarian affiliation. so actually we need to give the iraqis some credit they trying to form something new even at the grass root. by this response, i think in that respect, i think has been very positive. that is the way forward to embrace the protesters rather than clamp down and that will push for things in a more positive direction. >> so you would see the protests as a positive sign and not as a warning sign of iraq unraveling. >> i think structurally iraq has had those issues for a number of years, ryan. the fact that there is organized opposition that is peaceful and constructive and there is mow coherence is -- more coherent is part of building up iraq's democracy. i don't necessarily see it as something dangerous. now, the response, i think, is part of what builds up something more p

iraq certainly was a pig part of -- you don't need to look back very far in iraq to see that argument is false. it was actually the basis of early u.s. occupation policy in iraq under general casey from 2004 to 2006, general casey -- and others arguing that the biggest cause of conflict within iraq is this reaction against the american presence, and so let try to pull our troops back. there's a conscious effort, pull american troops into bases where they're abe away from the population on the premise on we do that the iraqis will calm down ones we by that they started attacking the iraqi government and the iraqi government kept failing. so finally general petraeus comes in 2007 and we realize that the actually the answer to these problems are americans because the iraqis can't do it. we see americans come in, and senator obama in 2007 was saying, americans -- we send more troops, just going to stir up the hornet's nest. that turns out not be the case. so, if certainly proved false in iraq and there was a sense of, we pull out in 2011, things will be better in iraq. we then saul the ri

gravity as i mentioned of the fight in iraq actually is not on the frontlines. as important as fighting on the frontlines the as in pushing back isis data from audie and out of mosul and so forth, the future of iraq is going to be determined by politics in baghdad. and doesn't mention where the unique opportunity right now to support the prime minister of baghdad who is the year into the job pursuing very aggressive reforms. he's done away with the vice presidencies, the deputy prime ministers, eight ministries, and is now asking for examination of the activities of the chief justice, somebody who was actually a solid, reasonable chief justice during the surge and abuse after that, but an increasingly became used, i think it's inaccurate description i prime mr. alley to come to go after the senior sunni arab politicians and to support other activities that ultimate alienated the sunni population and undid what we achieved during the surge. .. i would like to know how that verification is in place. thank you, mr. chairman. general comment thank you for your survey

within the rest of iraq, absolutely. the protests are one example of that, that the ambassador mentioned. this is very much a vibrant society, and political system that is even pushing back against entrenched politicians of the same sectarian affiliation. so actually we need to give the iraqis some credit they trying to form something new even at the grass root. by this response, i think in that respect, i think has been very positive. that is the way forward to embrace the protesters rather than clamp down and that will push for things in a more positive direction. >> so you would see the protests as a positive sign and not as a warning sign of iraq unraveling. >> i think structurally iraq has had those issues for a number of years, ryan. the fact that there is organized opposition that is peaceful and constructive and there is mow coherence is -- more coherent is part of building up iraq's democracy. i don't necessarily see it as something dangerous. now, the response, i think, is part of what builds up something more p

we're gone out of there. in iraq, there had to be somebody making decisions this is the person we're going to put in, knowing he had to be a hardline shiite. knowing he would divide up the shunnie forces there and causing basically the instability that we have. was that not considered, or is it just impossible to find a moderate that can work with the different sectors involved? >> first of all, there's been a lot of discussion of this, and a lot looking back. ambassador jeffrey at the time has written about this -- >> that's the caution we have with assad right now. we want to say who do you replace him with? what do you do, since we've had failures in both of those? >> again, you play the card -- you can influence that sometimes, there may have been a moment to do that. i actually ended up being in afghanistan during the penultimate months of that. but i was there for the initial piece. we should remember that, you know, i've been tough on prime minister maliki here. but prime minister maliki, during the surge and

and kurds areni given a stake in the success of iraq and not its failure. with the backing of iraqi citizens, iraq's senior shia cleric and one shia party has embarked on reforms resisted by the leaders of the major iranian supported militias and the former prime minister. the reality then is that the challenges in iraq are natalie -- are neither purely political or military, they are both. what's required is an integrated civil military plan in which diplomatic and military lines of effort are coordinated to reinforce each other. all the elements of that effort are required though it is the iraqis who must provide the ground forces and achieve reconciliation if the results are to be sustainable. we do not yet have the proper civil military architecture in place to support this though we do appear to be moving closer to it. the operational headquarters for the military campaign against isis and iraq is based in kuwait. the u.s. ambassador in baghdad. always have a day-to-day military counterpart. i would recommend facilitating this will stop -- this. i'm ver

that's a key part of an equation that unites iraq. not necessarily by iraq. for a body to move forward with a series of reforms on different fronts, scrapping the presidential roles, the prime minister roles, to do that and leave the key component of the reform process to the end i think is part of what builds some form of confidence crisis between iraq's community. that's one area we can actually move forward with. jon: aaron, do you see sort of sunni leadership that is fighting against isis or isis is fighting against as it looks to the future? aaron: i haven't seen similar to what we started to see in 2005 or 2006 in terms of tribal awakening. part of this is, though, the result of the islamic state learning from the lessons of what occurred in the mid to late 2000's in that when they started to go back in and restart their military campaign, in 2012, 2013, is they started to reach out to smaller chance within tribes to try and corrupt them, whether it was with money or weapons or something like that and therefore divide ranged conquering these tribes -- di

host: michael o'brien, author of perspective on the warof iraq and the rise of sizes. you want to join in, democrats (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. a special line for iraq war veterans, (202) 748-8003. toward the end of the book you write, i did not write this book because i hate my country. i love my country. however i hate what my country's leadership has done in iraq and what it has done to the iraqi people. unfortunately it is still going on. who do you blame more here? the military or the political leaders in this country? course everybody has a hand in it, but in our country it all starts at the top with the president. really itk at iraq -- started with getting out of kuwait in 1991. 12 years, and then we go in in 2003. and i need to-- say this before i forget to say it -- my book is about ,ccountability, or i should say the complete lack of accountability. and we went in in 2003 -- for your viewers, i have a west point graduate. i know a little bit about the military. 2003,e went into iraq in why did we go? that is the

of isil the assad regime and multiple other elements millions have been displaced or fled outside of iraq and syria. the plane has added to the sensitive urgency to restoring restoring -- in a region. while the coalition pushes isil out of some territories including gains by the peshmerga in the north and iraqi security forces and the removal of isil along sections of the border with turkey the self-described islamic state continues to hold key cities including iraq a dan balz on iraq. there executed forces counter is to take back has struggled and brashear remains contested. the same time iranian backed shia militias have stalled their operations near fallujah and despite it's -- isil is consolidating its control of the population in the areas that holds in syria and iraq. the recent agreement between a state and turkey expanding access to land and use of turkish airbases seeking an isil free zone on the syrian border is an important step forward how are the provocative deployment by additional military forces under the guise of assisting and encountering isil efforts appears to be an ef

getting out of those countries, though, is not just dangerous, it's expensive. in iraqnds of people are falling pray to both you go travel agents who charged large sums of money for fake vehicles as. imran cannes report kahn report. >> reporter: all across baghdad see signs like these, they offer visa services, but more than that they offer hope and a chance to lead the violence of iraq. some of these agency offer legitimate services but there are others that operate illegally. they lure desperate people and did he fraud them of thousands of dollars. this is one of them. he didn't want to reveal his identity because he's afraid. >> translator: i was desperate to leave iraq so i found a smuggler who was swedish-iraqi. i spoke with him and he told me there will be a commercial fair taking place soon in sweden and that he would be able to arrange an invitation from a swedish company who would response soar me. all i had to do was to go to turkey and pick up the visa from the swedish embassy there. they asked me for $15,000 in expenses and fees. i left the mon we a third pa

>> part of me says we have to tell iran you get the hell out of iraq. try to help the rest of this -- let us try to help iraq and the region stabilize what it is that we need to do. but you have to back off. >> not the u.s. is standing still. as part of the administration's involving strategy, the military is training 25,000 iraqis to face off against isis. but the question remains, will the u.s. ever put troops on the ground in the fight? >> so is it your sense that we're better off encouraging other arab nation to do the fighting and we just back them up, to not get drawn in, or you have to engage at some point? >> you to engage at some point. but -- and one of the things that i have stated as an idea is this proposal for an arab-nato like structure. and i was actually surprised but pleasantly surprised that president el sisi a few weeks back talked about the formation of an arab coalition kind of like that. >> and that's why we went to egypt, to talk to this dynamic new leader. when we come back we present an exclusive interview with the man who's be

>>> tackling islamic state of iraq and the levant and ending the war in syria have dominated the first day of the united nations general assembly in new york. world leaders have taken turns to offer their solutions but there are clear divisions in approach between russia and the u.s. in the past half hour russian president vladimir putin has sat down for dinner with u.s. president barack obama and u.n. secretary-general, ban ki-moon. a new approach for targeting i.s.i.l, cannot include syrian president bashar al-assad. >> we think it is an enormous mistake to refuse to cooperate with the syrian government and its armed forces fighting terrorism face to face. no one but bashar al-assad's armed forces are truly fighting islamic state of iraq and the levant and other terrorist organizations in syria. >> but while military power is necessary it is not sufficient to resolve the situation in syria. lasting stability can only take hold when the people of syria forge an agreement to live together peacefully. the united states is prepared to work with any nation, including russia and iran, to r

that's a key part of the equation that unites iraq. to move forward with a series of reforms on different fronts, scrapping the rules, the prime to do that and leave a key component of the partm process i think is of the crisis of confidence in iraq communities. that is one part we can actually move forward with. >> do you see a sort of nascent sunni leadership fighting against isis or isis fighting against as it looks to the future in the country? >> i have not seen anything similar to what we started to see in 2005 or 2006 in terms of the tribal awakening. the of this is a result of islamists state learning from the lessons of what occurred in the mid to late to thousands in that when they started to go back in and start military campaigns in 2012-2013, they started to reach out to smaller clans within tribes to co-op whether it was with money, weapons. divide and conquer these tribes has been effective in many respects. on the other hand, if there has been a group of people who have tried to go against them, they massacre them. andav

they fled mosul in august 2014 when islamic state of iraq and the levant captured the city. offed them three choices con is vert to islam, pay a tax or die. in fear, they fled. this is ramon, he lives here with his wife and four-year-old daughter matilda. he recalls what happenedded to him in august 2014. >> translator: it was a horrific experience when isil came in. in a few hours this swept through 15 villages. we fled with just the clothes on our back. since then, we have nothing. this government won't protect us. we want to eve iraq. >> reporter: this is one of the best equipped and well-run displacement camps in baghdad. it was set up with funds from the government and is now run by volunteers from the community funded by churches across the city. she is one such volunteer. she says iraqi minorities are under threat. >> translator: it's like we don't have any rights. we are iraqi, but we don't get to participate in iraq society. after the fall of mosul, look at us. we live as refugees in our own country. >> reporter: despite the good state of this camp, a lot of people

more than that they offer hope and a chance to leave the violence of iraq. some of these agencies offer legitimate services. there are others who operate illegally. they fraud desperate people and defraud them of thousands of dollars. this man is one of them. he does not want to reveal his face because he is afraid. >> i spoke, and they told me that there would an commercial fare taking place in sweden, and that he would be able to arrange invitation from a swedish company who would sponsor me. all i had to do was to go to turkey and pick up the visa from the embassy there. they asked me for $1,500 and i was stuck in turkey with no money and no visa. i asked about the smuggler, he said that if i said anything he would kill my family. i had no choice but to let him keep the money. >> the shorts are saying that they're investigating the visa fraud. but so far no one has been brought to court. administration of migration and displacement a has seen a number of people seeking to get out of iraq. >> realistically, iraqis are leaving. we're aiming to educate them a

this sort of divorce you talk about is something really to be avoided in iraq and you have a different view about syria where you seem to suggest in your testimony it wouldn't be the end of the world if syria as we have known it does split up into three or four -- >> because they have had this horrific situation. syria has gone through considerable -- you can call it cleansing. this would not have been the solution from syria four years ago. but we are where we are with syria and you see enormous displacement of different sets. >> but we can avoid that in iraq and we should make every effort? >> no guarantee we can at all. this is going to be a very close run affair but we should try to avoid it i think. there will be greater power and different political bargain between baghdad and sunni area provinces. and they don't agree. so you even have a situation among the various sunni leaders who all come through here or see you somewhere out in the region. so that's going to be difficult as well. there is nothing'scy about this situation right now. but i don't think we should just say okay,

of u.s. completely from iraq and set the table for the catastrophe that we are seeing. this is, as i see, i have not attended a hearing that is so grossly distorted as the view of a terrible and tragic situation as i've seen from the witnesses. and by the way, senator graham and i predicted every single thing that is happening now. and i predict unless we do something different it will remain, as general dempsey said, stalemated. which means tragedy. senator reed. senator reed: well, thank you very much, mr. chairman. both madam secretary and general austin, about a year ago or more there was real concern that essentially baghdad could fall to isil. that they were virtually unstoppable. at this point, your assessment of the security, at least for baghdad, has that been improved? general austin: sir, it has been greatly improved. senator reed: and going forward now, one of the fundamental issues is, and i think it's related to the comments both ou and general dempsey made, who is -- who will have the advantage going forward in terms of the use of time, isil or iraqi force

we're also getting rid of honor posts that -- and reducing the -- iraq's dependence on oil income, and we -- and during this -- we're trying to get benefit from the reduction of the oil. we are trying to unify all of the government and community around it, and our government is seeking forming local fighters and -- who are fighting together against terrorism, and because isis is threatening the whole area, we are working on reinforcing our connection or relationship including saudi arabia -- iran and saudi arabia and all of the regions of the area generally. we're also making reforms in the area on the diplomatic front, and we are acquiring -- we are winning. during the last year we have freed [ inaudible ] and beiji, and tikrit and dur and a lot of other regions, and in freeing tikr tikrit, we involved the security forces of iraq and the tribal forces and the community forces also. tens of thousands of iraqi people are now back in tikrit, about 80% who flee -- who had fleed before they came back after a lot of assistance, who are -- who provided aid to iraqi -- through directly or ind

of iraq here in the homeland. >> back to opm. one extra issue this afternoon has been encryption. not only by the terrorist browns but the lack of encryption at opm that allowed the hackers in, and the nation's spy cheech says he doesn't have a handle how much data was taken and what was taken, and admiral rogers told the committee if china continues its current strategy where they insist they have access to the computers of businesses, whether they're government or whether they're private sector, roger said he cannot envision a long-term relationship with china on that basis. >> anything from capitol hill on is? >> reporter: the chairman of the house homeland security committee who gets regular briefings said the number of affected americans right now the estimated 21.5 million will go higher because the damage

clear objective other than turkey stopping the flow of isis into iraq. there have been very public threats by some of the militias against serving leaders, including the prime minister. so this is a moment of real consequence, a moment of considerable drama in baghdad. i think we have missed how significant it is to see this number of iraqi citizens in the streets expressing their outrage at what is going on in baghdad. a prime minister who is moving to take action in response to that. but very powerful elements that are going to oppose him. thank you again for your service to the country. sen. mccain: visited sure that the major influential force in baghdad is iranian? gen. petraeus: it is possible. iraq has never wanted to be the 51st state of iran. support like a crutch when it is required. the problem is, when that support its tentacles into parties and so forth, it is very hard to get it back out. you general thank for your service to this country but also for being here today so that you can provide us with some very important insights. iraqpproach

as commander of iraq and then afghanistan during the height of combat during those countries i wroteore letters of condolence to parents of american sons and daughters than any of my contemporaries. i do not make recommendations of any military action lightly. but inaction can also carry profound risks and costs for our national security. we see that clearly today in syria. and russia's recent military escalation in syria is a further reminder that when the u.s. does not take the initiative, others will fill the vacuum. often in ways that are harmful to our interests. russia's actions to bolster assad increase the imperative support for the moderate opposition in syrian civilians. we should not allow russia to push us into coalition with assad which appears to be president putin's intention. while we should not rush to oust assad without an understanding of what will follow him, assad cannot be part of the solution in syria. he is, after all, the individual seen by sunnis across the region as responsible for the deaths of some 250,000 syrians, the displacement of well over a third of

talked about the current state of iraq and its future. and other members of the panel looked at the country's political structure and the threat posed by isis. the center for strategic and international studies is the host of this event. >>> good afternoon. i'm chairman vice president of the geosecurity and program here at csis. welcome. when i was talking to the ambassador a few weeks ago i said it's before labor day. i don't know if we can get an audience, but we'll try, and i'm glad you're all here. i am delighted to welcome the ambassador of the republic of iraq and his excellence has worked as iraq's ambassador to the united states since july 2013 and prior to that he was iraq's ambassador to japan. he has extensive experience in diplomacy, business, organization, management, information technology. he spent many years in the uk as a technology consultant. he has a bachelor of science in math and computer science from manchester metropolitan university and an mba in technology management and a post-graduate degree in computing for co

aces came out of iraq. -- isis came out of iraq. i don't want the enemy to know. somebody wrote an article about me and one of my opponents said donald trump is totally unpredictable. it was meant to be a compliment. because i beat them on something. i love to win. [applause] donald trump: they said he is a totally unpredictable person. that is a great complement. you want to be unpredictable. you don't want to be telling him tonight, i go here and there. let them not know what you are going to do. don't you think so? [applause] donald trump: then come i get these lightweights like rubio who says trump foreign policy. i don't want to tell too much. -- who says trump doesn't talk about foreign policy. he misses most of the votes. he sits in the senate and listens to the stop all the time . i'm producing jobs all over the place and building a great company. i don't want to talk too much about what i'm going to do. the press comes out and says he wasn't specific. i went to an ivy league school. everything was good. you don't want to be too specific. you don't want the

and outright myths that are distorting americans' understanding of iraq. first, i want to make one important point. slowly but surely and steadily iraq is moving forward toward democracy. and toward one country. in fact, the only way we can defe defeat isis, isil, whatever you want to label it and build a democracy is to strengthen ties within our country and along the arrangements that in line with our constitution which all communities in iraq voted for. and other courses of action leads to division, distort and defeat, and that in the future -- and that is the future that daiish with this divide and conquer strategy wants for iraq. our neighbors and work community must never, ever accept division for iraq and should never, ever accept division of a three-state solution for iraq. recent event have demonstrated what outside claim iraq is not divided along ethnic or sectarian lines. this is the first myth i will refute this afternoon. make no mistake, my friends, for all this contents, for all the differences, iraqis want to succeed. this was apparent durin

this sort of divorce you talk about is something to be avoided in iraq. and u have a different view about syria where you seem to suggest it would not be the end of the world if syria as we have known it does split up into three or 4 -- gen. petraeus: because they have had this perfect situation. syria has gone through considerable sectarian cleansing. you have horrific sectarian displacement. we are where we are with syria and you see enormous displacement of different sects. sen. wicker: but we can avoid that in iraq and we should make every effort. gen. petraeus: no guarantee we can at all. this is going to be a very close-run affair. but we should try to avoid it, i think. there will be greater devolution of power. there's going to have to be a different political bargain, if you will, between baghdad and the sunni arab provinces during and by the way, one of the challenges on the sunni arab side is that the muslim ways do not agree with the quarries who do not vote -- who do not agree with the others. among the various sunni leaders who come through h

of them. those in iraq. but not all of them. because we don't have authority to attack those in syria, and i think the logic of extending our mandate to cover isil targets in syria would be very clearly a logic in support of the mandate we have in iraq for the collective defense of that country. >> i'm through. >> can i ask you for an assessment of how successful the current policy of attacking isil in iraq is, particularly, when mosul still seems to be under isil control? and we were given the impression some months ago, the liberation of mosul was fairly imminent. it doesn't look like that. >> well, the, on the question of mosul, general allen, who i have a lot of time for, has always been very cautious about the timing of the retaking of mosul. there have been people in the iraq ei government who have bee shall we say more bullish. and of course it's also true that the iraqis have had their attention deflected by challenges in anbar province. but general allen always said it would be next year that mosul could sensibly be tar

says it has discussed its shared interest with russia in defleeting the islamic state of iraq and theevant. >>> and the neo-nazis demanding that refugees leave greece as the country prepares for another election. ♪ >>> hello. hungary's foreign minister has accused croatia of encouraging ref refugees to cross borders illegally. croatia has announced that it will not allow refugees to proceed to slovenia and has closed seven of eight road crossings. more than 14,000 have entered croatia in the past 24 hours with tensions high and many exhausted. the prime minister said the refugees flooding in would be moved on, and that his country has reached its limit. lawrence lee reports. >> reporter: it's all relative and no doubt this miserable line of people waiting for someone to take them further looks absolutely desperate. but it's certainly better than being tear gassed by the hungarians and as the day wore on the buses came regularly, shipping them north towards the capitol. so the untrained eye the idea of this three year old thinking this could be anything but a nightmare seems impossible

displacement has seen a rise in numbers of people seeking to get out of iraq. >> translator: realisticallying we can't ban iraqis from leaving and aiming to educate them and warn them of dangers of the journey and many are ordered to go down illegal routes out of desperation and we are looking into it. >> reporter: no way to know how much it is worth or how many people are defrauded because no one is willing to go to the police and report such crimes and during al jazeera's investigation we uncovered alleged cases amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars. it would seem there are many like martin who are desperate enough to pay. that desperation is also mixed with frustration, a lot of the foreign embassys here do not offer visa services and the few that do have very long waiting lists and other embassys asked you for go to neighboring countries like jordan and lebanon and apply for visa there and that combined with the violence and misery of living in iraq mean the smugglers and fraud sters have a willing market they want to exploit and they take them for thousands of dollars, al jaze

of 2013. prior to that he was iraq's ambassador to japan. he has extensive experience in diplomacy business, information technology, he spent many years in the u.k. as a technology consultant. he has a bachelor of science in math and computer science from manchester metropolitan university. an mba in technology management, and a postgraduate degree in computing for commerce and industry. that's a fairly well speak and we'll have a distinguished panel who i will invite up afterwards we'll have a discussion among ourselves and then turn the discussion over to you. i give the ambassador. [applause] ambassador: good afternoon, everybody. thank you, jon, for your kind introduction. an also thank you for opportunity at such an important time to talk about my country and for us to have an honest and fruitful discussion about what's taking place in our region and iraq in particular. you also asked me to talk about where iraq is heading. i will discuss where our country is heading on a domestic political front, on military and security front, and also

they've lost hope in the ability of iraq's government to be able to protect minorities. lot of people here particularly want to get out of iraq and find relatives and live in freedom elsewhere. >> with isil an ever present threat daily demonstrations by ordinary iraqis demanding restorms, ramÓn wonders how much of a priority he and his family really are. imran khan. baghdad. >> still ahead on the program, how mainland china's closing economy is hitting hong kong's biggest shopping district. and we'll have the latest on a deadly sandstorm that is moving across the middle east. >> a reminder of the top stories here on al jazeera. the u.n. is calling on european states to shoulder the burden of relocating refugees. germany said that it is expecting more than 800,000 asylum seekers. at least 14 turkish police officers are dead after a pom attack on a mini bus in the eastern province. the turkish president has blamed the increased violence on the kurdistan workers party known as the pkk. >>> months of fight something taking its toll on the most vulnerable in yemen. at least 9

they have also lost hope in the ability of iraq's government to be able to protect minorities. t of people here, particularly wants to get out of iraq and find relative safety and freedom elsewhere. for its part, the government says that the protection of gyp or at thises remains a priority. but with isil an ever-present threat. almost daily demonstration buys ordinary iraqis demanding reforms ramon cupsers how much of a priority he and his family really are. imran cannes, al jazeera, bag deed. >>> at least 18 people have died in a major sand storm swing across parts of the middle east. syria, lebanon and jordan have been engulfed in the dusk cloud. causing breathing problems for hundreds of people. refugees from syria living in basic conditions in lebanon were badly affected. in syria itself. the storm meant that jets and held tops carried out fewer airstrikes. people from as far away as cyprus were advice today stay in doors. >>> guatemala's former president is to remain in jail until his trial in three months time. he is facing charges of bribery and fraud. meanwhile the nati

rise in numbers of people seeking to get out of iraq. >> translator: realistically speaking we can't ban iraqis from leaving, we are aiming to educate them and warning them the danger of the journey. we know this is a problem and we're looking into it. >> reporter: there are no accurate figures for how much money the visa fraud industry is worth or how many people have been defrauded because no one's willing to go to the police and report such crimes. during the course of al jazeera's investigation we uncovered several alleged cases amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars. it would seem there are many like masem hoem who are desperao pay. jordan lebanon apply for your visa there so that combined with the violence and the misery of living in iraq mean the smugglers and the fraudsters have a willing market they want to exploit and they take them for thousands of dollars. imran khan, al jazeera, baghdad. >> want to take you back to the main news auto of burkina faso where there are reports that the coup leader there says he will hand over power to our civilia n government. nicholas

has announced it used a drone to kill three members of the islamic state of iraq and the levant. two of them were british nationals. it happened in raqqa. in syria. >> raed khan appeared calm and spoke calmly. >> this is a message to the brothers or stay behind. ask yourself what prevents you to coming to the land. >> in clear english he appeals for others to join him in syria. khan, a 21-year-old, along with another man, is now dead. killed in a drone strike in syria, carried out by the british military. >> today i can inform the house that in an act of self defense and after meticulous planning, raid khan was killed in precision air strike carried out on the 21st of august by an raf remotely controlled aircraft, while traveling in the area of raqqa in syria. in addition to khan who was the target of the strike who i.s.i.l. associates were also killed one of whom raol hamin was identified as a british national. >> fir acknowledged at least strike on syrian soil by the british. over the past year, britain has carried out 288 air strikes on iraq against i.s.i.l. fighters. it has al

the flow of iraq he shows that. the startup costs around the syria program have been significant, we have to break through that. in terms of what the overall number will be next year, we continue to assess that. this is an issue of acute urgency. it is important that at a minimum we go from 1600 to 10,000. their diverse views on the hill as a what a what the top line should be for a refugee program as a whole. and how many syrians we should take. this traditionally is done in a manner where we come to some consensus with folks on the hill. the conversation is just picking up and we welcome the proposals and consider it carefully. we need to make sure that all of us collectively who have had the experience of working with refugee families from any country that we the american people view themselves as messengers of the kind of country we have been over the time. too often, and the political season the loudest voices are ones that are very unwelcoming toward people coming from other countries, yet most americans have t

led coalition fighting the islamic state of iraq and levante and u.s.nt says if antiforces keep working together the group will be defeated. >> there are profound changes taking place in the middle east and north africa. there are problems that have built up over decades that are expressing themselves and manifesting themselves in organizations like i.s.i.l. even if we were to wipe out the entire codray of i.s.i.l. leadership we would still have some of these forces at work. but ultimately i am optimistic. in iraq and in syria i.s.i.l. is surrounded by communities, countries and a broad international coalition committed to its destruction. we've seen that i.s.i.l. can be defeated on the battlefield where there is sound organization and a government and military that is coordinating with this coalition and with our diplomatic efforts. and here at this summit we are seeing a new global movement to counter the violent extremism that i.s.i.l. needs to survive. >> let's go to kristen who is live for us at u.n. headquarters in new york and kristen who else di

of lesbos. they are mainly from syria, iraq and afghanistan. protesting refugees have been fighting with place, saying local authorities are not providing assistance and not processing them quickly enough to continue their journey. >> the head of the roman catholic church called on par requires and communities in europe to take in one family. he spoke after his customary address in the vatican, saying that two parishes will each take in a family of refugees in the coming days. >> in front of us is the tragedy of tens of thousands of retch gees fleeing from death, from war and hunger, and who are marching to its life's hope. we are asked to be closer to these abandoned people and give them concrete hope. i ask parishes, religious communities be a sang waters and monasteries to shelter a family of refugees. >> saudi-led coalition forces carried out more airstrikes in sanna. during that bombing, a unicef hospital for women and children was damaged. jeremy hopkins, the head of unicef in yemen said the widespread humanitarian crisis in the country ne

getting out of those countries isn't just dangerous, it's expensive. in iraq, thousands of people have fallen pro to bogus travel agents charging large sumles of money for fake visas. this report is from baghdad. >> across baghdad, you see signs like these. they offer visa services. more than that, they offer hope and a chance to leave the violence of iraq. some of these agencies offer legitimate services, but there are others that operate illegally. they defraud desperate people of thousands of dollars. this man doesn't want to reveal his identity. he's afraid. >> i was desperate to leave iraq, so found a smuggler who was swedish iraqi. i spoke with him. he told me there will be a commercial tear taking place soon in sweden and that he would be able to arrange an invitation from a swedish company, who would sponsor me. all i had to do was go to turkey and pick up the visa from the swedish embassy there. they asked me for $15,000 in expenses and fees. i left the money with a third party. the visa never came. i was stuck in turkey with no money and no visa. i c

this dynamic represents a paradigm shift that is representative of the new iraq. question whether life was better under saddam hussein, should think back to how this man would have responded to even suspicions of dissent. let me address the third issue. development on our democratic a lyrical front. political front. after three elections and the peaceful transition of power. with the support of protesters, the initial approval of parliament, and the backing of others. the primus to has a democratic and popular mandate -- the prime minister has a democratic and popular mandate. is streamlining itself, eliminating costly positions and divisive sectarian quarters. we are centralizing decision-making to the provisional level so that local communities can determine their losses as they are most needed. worsened by the --eaucratic we are investing in all our agricultural, industrial and housing sectors. last week, the capital approved a capital injection in the sectors worth $4.3 billion. i need to dispel another myth, that abolishing the sectarian quota systems will und

of nuance because it is important.important. never underestimate what if i can do in the region. marine barracks bombing 1983. declassified pentagon documents, iran-iraqar. thethe very end of it the other side, the iraqis were heavily financed by some arab gulf states and armed to the teeth by the west, that was the site on life support the iranian nation survive very well. has blocked, the most successful nonstate actor in the world,world, most lethal and this one is all because of iran. hamas, palestinian islamic jihad for probably the most important security threat to the israelis to this day. let me say it bluntly. lebanon will not have a president unless iran say so. has below has no meaningful future without the decision of iran. hassan's fate is a function of iranian design. israel's national security is a function, among others, iranian design. gulf security overall is a function of iranian design. iran has succeeded in entangling its main adversary in a vicious trading human. iran has a dominant influence: you like it or not. the only actors that can credibly threaten his kaythree. finally, they're can be no major wars without iran having a s

that did not mean we sat down with the leaders of iraq, al qaeda, iraq. there were a number of individuals we did in. there were 103 sons of iraq. by the way, there were shia arab sons of iraq as well. ones that wanted to shed their ties with the militia particularly after the militia were defeated. >> thank you, sir. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for being here today. the middle east is an area that is very complicated and there is a lot of in stability there to say the least. if you look at iran, isil, al qaeda and the military. >> i mean, there are all sources of in stability and problems that extend beyond the region. >> would you be able to rank? >> i don't think i can, no. on a given day we might be more with the plot by the islamic state, which might actually do enormous damage in europe to one of our allies or inspire something in the united states. on another day it might be the actions of iran and providing lethal munitions to hamas for indirect fire objects on israel. >> in the 10 years you served in the middle e

invasion of iraq in 2003. most of the 150 betz here are already occupied.ion's continuing conflict means the need for hospitals that can treat war injuries is immense and in syria alone more than one million people have been hurt since the conflict started in 2011 according to the u.n. this woman was injured at the start of the conflict in syria but couldn't get proper treatment until now and had two operations and one more in three weeks. >> translator: the mortar shell hit our home and the wall crumbled on me while i was sweeping the floor and two surgeries failed and i stayed without treatment for a year and a half before coming here. >> reporter: then there is this person from gaza whose legs were badly injured in an israeli air strike last year. >> translator: i didn't expect to stay alive, every one around me died in the attack and people perished and homes were levelled and i'm lucky to be alive. >> reporter: aims to prevent permanent damage to patients and allow to recover some functionality of their limbs, the project is here to stay. >> there are

general, what is your assessment of the most significant threat the conflict of syria and iraq posed to the security of u.s. citizens and our freedoms. in in other words, at the end of the day, what needs to be accomplished for the u.s. government to fulfill and perform its constitutional duty to protect the people of the united states and our interest? >> thank you. this is a transnational threat. if left on checked it will continue to expand and try to take up an occupied territory and govern. in doing so, it will try to erase international boundaries, it will try to do a number of things that will cause tremendous pain and suffering throughout the region. it will also export terror. it will export terror to other parts of the worlds and particularly to places like our homeland. we see the beginnings of this and this lone wolf activity. we also see, what we are concerned about individuals who go into iraq and syria and fight as a part of this effort and potential he returned back to our homeland and bring the skills back with him. it is a threat to us and i think the threat will con

of u.s. completely rom iraq and set the table for the catastrophe that we are seeing. again, i would this is, as i see, i have not attended a hearing that is so grossly distorted as the view of a terrible and tragic situation as i've seen from the witnesses. and by the way, senator graham and i predicted every single thing that is happening now. and i predict unless we do something different it will remain, as general dempsey said, stalemated. which means tragedy. senator reed. senator reed: well, thank you very much, mr. chairman. both madam secretary and general austin, about a year ago or more there was real concern that essentially baghdad could fall to isil. that they were virtually unstoppable. at this point, your assessment of the security, at least for baghdad, has that been mproved? general austin: sir, it has been greatly improved. senator reed: and going forward now, one of the fundamental issues is, and i think it's related to the comments both ou and general dempsey made, who is -- who will have the advantage going forward in terms of the use of time, isil

if he is the sun of iraq, he must join the party of the people. this is where a spontaneousio movement begins. it's where a struggle for power is played out >>> still ahead on al jazeera - we are with the exhausted refugees in the greek islands, where hope and excitement soon turns to despair. >> and a window to a lost civilization that is virtually empty. we look at jordan's tourism industry, and why it's in trouble. "talk to al jazeera". only on al jazeera america. >>> top stories for you once more on al jazeera, austria opens the border to refugees. more than 4,000 crossed. they expect the number to govern in the next 24 hours. germany talking about 10,000. e.u.'s foreign ministers meeting in luxembourg to discuss. france and germany pushing for an asylum system and a permanent quota. looking at another aspect of the refugee crisis in europe, in greece. 25,000 refugees on the greek ilted alone. the -- island alone. the port is crowded. people keep arriving every day. >> let's look at the sport from hoda abdel-hamid who is in a refugee camp ther

we will do so mindful of the lessons of the past, not just the lessons of iraq, but the example of libya, where we joined an international coalition under an u.n. mandate to prevent a slaughter. even as we helped the libyan people bring an end to the reign of a tyrant, our coalition could have and should have done more to fill the vacuum left behind. we're grateful to the united nations for its efforts to forge an unity government. we will help any legitimate libyan government as it works to bring the country together, but we also have to recognize that we must work more effectively in the future as an international community to build capacity for states that are in distress before they collapse. that's why we should celebrate the fact that later today the united states will join with more than 50 countries to enlist new capabilities, infantry, intelligence, helicopters, hospitals, and tens of thousands of troops to strengthen united nations peacekeeping. [applause] these new capabilities can prevent mass killing and insure that peace agreements are more than words on paper. but we have

we've taken, again, thousands of strikes in iraq. we're working me ththodically t build it up. >> there's a new bipartisan congressional investigation. there are reports that only a handful of moderate syrian rebels were -- stood up with an appropriation, at least, of half a billion dollars, and reports that war fighters are joining the terrorists as fast as we are -- the air force strikes them and kills them. more recruits join in. we are losing this battle on the ground. >> look, i think what you see is you see a mixed record on the ground. you see some areas where there have been progress. i think the most important point we see is there's progress when there is a partner on the ground who is fighting and getting into the fight. in the north of iraq, where the kurdish forces have gone on the offense, they've been able to take territory. in syria, even as we've had significant differenti tdifficu standing up, they were able to drop weapons to syrian fighters, kurdish fighters, who were able to make gains against isil in the north th

we visit a corner of iraq. local tribes now included in the wider fight against i.s.i.l. >>> and i have the sport, including a shock at the u.s. open as rafael nadal blows a 2-set lead to stumble out of the grand slam. >> starting with the latest of the refugee crisis. german police expect 10,000 asylum seekers on saturday, across the border from austria into hungary. 4,000 crossed the border saturday morning into austria. as they continue their journey west across europe, some of these people are meeting in luxembourg. e.u. foreign ministers looking for a more unified response. let's start with john howard at the meeting in -- jacky rowland at the meeting in luxembourg. we use the word unified response. difficult for the parties involved. >> yes, really, they are trying to develop a policy in response to the crisis, generally things can move slowly. there's a way in which decisions are reached through consensus, meaning everyone has to agree, and these things can take days and days or weeks and months. on this