secretary, about yemen. the perception is that we are fighting in yemen for a reason that we'd have no objective or no goals. the perception was that this was an aggressive war. it was not. people forget how this started. saudi arabia and the gcc worked together to come up with the gcc initiative, which created the transition from the president. yemen was in a transitional period. they set up what they call their national dialogue, which includes elements of all walks of yemeni life and all regions of yemen. women, students, tribal people, different religious sects, and they came up with a blueprint, a vision for what yemen should look like going forward, a federal system, rights for everyone and on and on and on. and then they were going to codify that into a constitution. then the houthis staged their coup. they attacked the city, they seized the government and took total control of a country that is critically important to the security of the region. now we have a radical militia allied with iran and hezb

yemen has never been like this before.ven from people who just left since the 1960's, they set yemen has never been like this be or. it's a very hard situation at all levels. it's a crazy situation and something should be done to help people in yemen. you hopeful that following today's impassioned plea for help, something might now change? >> i feel positive that the opportunity is still there and the international community can push for something good in yemen and good for the sake of people, yes. the opportunity is there. laura: thank you very much indeed for talking to us. grande whoseariana concert was targeted by a suicide bomber last week will host a benefit concert in manchester on sunday. coldplay in justin bieber are also on the bill with proceeds going to the city's families. the victoria train station was arlie damaged in the blast and has now reopened for the first time. >> normal business resumes at victoria station in manchester eight days on from the suicide bombing which left 22 people dead inside the adjoi

your base is in yemen. yeah. what is the right word to describe the situation in yemen today?right word "famine" the right one? well, famine will come if the current conditions continue. i think the war, the conflict, the insecurity, and the collapse of the economy, all of that is lending to a situation where there is no other choice but to slip into that. you know, there are 7 million people in the country already who are in a very fragile situation in terms of the security. if we cannot respond with medical support and support in food and nutrition, those people will turn to famine by the end of the year. 7 million? yeah. i always feel that when we start to talk about famine and we start to talk about these sorts of numbers, there is a danger people around the world will feel that perhaps you are exaggerating. the idea of 7 million people facing the very immediate and real danger of starvation to death is almost unimaginable. yeah. but it doesn't happen overnight. i mean, it doesn't happen all at once. it happens incrementally. measures we have taken in communities in 59 dis

andink the rebels in yemen those who have taken over the knownment in yemen have to they cannot sustain this fight. they will never prevail militarily but they are only going to feel that when they feel the resistance militarily so it is important to keep the pressure on them and many of the armaments we are providing to saudi arabia will help them be much more precise and targeted with many of their strikes but it is important that pressure be cap on the -- pressure be kept o n the rebels in yemen. we are actively engaged to see advancennot invent -- to bring this to a halt politically. >> rids regard to the reelection , does it matter what president they have, we judge iran by its actions and not by its words. they want to have better relations with us but then they assassinate our diplomats, they plant terrorist cells in my country and in countries allied to us and they supply militias that would destabilize countries. they intervene and meddle in the affairs of arab countries like iraq, syria, lebanon and yemen. they created the world's most foremost terrorist organization hezbollah

yemen was in a transitional. which includes elements of all walks of life and all regions of yemen. different religious sex. they came up with a blueprint for what it should look like going forward. they were going to codify that in straight constitution. then they staged their coup. they seized the government. isy took total control that important to the security of the region. militiahave a radical in possession of the listed missiles and an air force that has taken over a friendly government that asked for support. we intervened. there is no military solution. the solution is political. they have to implement the outcomes of the national dialogue in yemen. in a country of 28 million, it is unacceptable that they would be allowed to seize power and get away with it. we have been fighting to restore the legitimate government of yemen which is in control of 80% of the territory. we have made mistakes and acknowledged those. we have been charged with things that we didn't do. we were supposed to have bombed the city which has never taken place. these charges were leveled at the coali

homeland, and isis, which is growing inside yemen. they have taken advantage of this civil war to fill in the ungovernable spaces. recently with the help of the u.a.e. we have begun to hit back against al qaeda and isis. but for a time they controlled a sizable amount of territory and revenue inside that country. isis is growing as well. and as a group of yemeni americans told me in my office a year ago, to yemen the bombing campaign is not perceived as a saudi campaign. it is perceived as a u.s. bombing campaign, or at the very least as a u.s.-saudi bombing campaign. so when responsibility inside yemen is attributed for this starvation campaign, it is placed upon the united states as well as on saudi arabia. and we have to think about what that means given the fact that there is the potential for millions of yemenis to be radicalized in a place with very sophisticated radical infrastructure. that's a real national security concern for the united states. and so i think it's time for us to draw a hard line with this coalition and that

andink the rebels in yemen those who have taken over the knownment in yemen have to they cannot sustain this fight. they will never prevail militarily but they are only going to feel that when they feel the resistance militarily so it is important to keep the pressure on them and many of the armaments we are providing to saudi arabia will help them be much more precise and targeted with many of their strikes but it is important that pressure be cap on the -- pressure be kept o n the rebels in yemen. we are actively engaged to see advancennot invent -- to bring this to a halt politically. >> rids regard to the reelection , does it matter what president they have, we judge iran by its actions and not by its words. they want to have better relations with us but then they assassinate our diplomats, they plant terrorist cells in my country and in countries allied to us and they supply militias that would destabilize countries. they intervene and meddle in the affairs of arab countries like iraq, syria, lebanon and yemen. they created the world's most foremost terrorist organization hezbollah

we have distributed every area of yemen we can. the hospital that the kingdom built 30 years ago has been operating ever since in order to help the m&a's. we have no -- we will not allow iran to fall prey to a radical militia. we know what that ends up looking like. appreciate the position of the trump administration in terms of providing support. we appreciate their understanding of what is at stake here. support we will be able to put enough pressure and bring them to the negotiating table and make an agreement based on the outcomes of the dialogue. >> the vision we mow -- we both mentioned earlier, truly historic. signing a declaration that outlines a vision for how we want to elevate an already strategic relationship to an even higher level. we want to intensify the consultation whether it is counterterrorism or defense. whether it is education or trade. we want to create a mechanism that is headed by both a custodian and a president of whoever they designate that ordermeet periodically in to see how we can implement a lot of t

secretary, about yemen. the perception is that we are fighting in yemen for a reason or that we have no objective or no goals. the perception is that this was an aggressive war. it was not. people forget how this started. saudi arabia and the gcc worked together to come up with a gcc initiative which created the transition from president salah to president hadi. yemen was in a transitional period. the yemenis set up what they call their national dialog which includes elements of all walks of yemeni life and all regions of yemen, women, students, tribal people, different religious sects, and they came up with a blueprint, a vision for what yemen should look like going forward, a federal system, rights for everyone, and on and on and on and then they were going to codify that into a constitution and then the hue thises staged their coup and attacked the city, they seized the government and took total control of a country that is critically important to the security of the region. now we have radical militia, a

forces targeted a compound in yemen today. the first own bret baier texas inside -- >> deep inside a saudi airbase on the outskirts of riyadh, saudi officers run an operation more than 20 miles away. this is -- their neighbor to the south. it seen here is a serious threat to the kingdom, because they are backed and funded by saudi arabia's number one enemy. i run. iran. >> they are funded by the iranians, the missiles come across the border from yemen and strike at our towns and cities are a rainy and made, so at the next essential threat. >> absolutely. we cannot have iran involved in yemen, it is strategically important country, 28 million people on our doorstep. and it sits at the entrance of one of the world's most critical spots, which connects to another critical waterway. >> about two hours by prop plane from riyadh to the southern border of yemen, where in recent days the saudis have used artillery fire to repel militia attacks at watchtowers along the border. >> saudi artillery positions.the rocky borderline state, an

in talked about their use devastating yemen.e also have the example of them crushing the democratic uprising in neighboring bahrain using those weapons to fund al qaeda groups in iraq and in syria, and using those weapons internally to crush dissent, particularly in the shia areas, which is happening right now the saudi e that is getting absolutely no price and the united states. so congress does have the right to him and i would say the armsation, to stop these deals. it did not do it under obama. it is time they do it under trump. they will only do it if we the people put pressure on congress to say no weapon sales to the present regime of saudi arabia. amy: and the fact that these precision guided weapons that president obama, under enormous eace activistsp and others for selling this to saudi arabia, finally stopped -- the fact that trump has resumed these weapons? >> yes, he has resumed those weapons will stop again, congress could stop it. you will also probably beginning -- greenlightght where the majority of humanitarian

someone from the audience has asked about yemen. how important is it to resolve yemen?w important are the military operations and how important are the diplomatic efforts, in terms of dealing with the threat that's coming out of yemen from al qaeda in the arabian peninsula? what can we do together on that front? >> well, the conflicts of yemen poses numerous threats to the security of the region. first of all, we should almost 2000 kilometers of borders with yemen. most parts of these borders, they are open borders, so they allow for smuggling of people, of drugs, of weapons, of all sorts of things. now, it's very important for saudi arabia to have a government in yemen that is capable of maintaining royal order -- loyal order throughout yemeni territories. this is also very important for the yemeni people, because without such stable and secure government and involvement in yemen there would be little scope for development and peace in that country. secondly, we have seen that when al qaeda was pretty much defeated in saudi arabia they relocated part of their forces in

support for the efforts in yemen, the u.s. is an ally of saudi arabia has been supporting the effort from the beginning. i think what we're hearing from this administration is a stronger commitment to this effort. and i think we're liable to see a greater commitment of forces and resources alongside the saudy efforts as well as the emiraty effort in yemen. that's something to watch for. >> all right. in 2016, you know especially in the summer, i noticed a real increase in negative articles about saudi arabia and the in the american media. and a number of leading members of the congress spoke about public perceptions of saudi arabia and perceptions on the hill being a problem. of course, a lot of this occurred before the -- the legislation on jasta -- justice against sponsors of terrorism act. but the large question that is in the media and on the hill and coming from some of these people in the audience is, how do you respond -- you've touched on it a little bit -- but how do you respond to the accusations that wahabism is one

secretary, about yemen. the perception is that we are fighting in yemen for a reason or that we have no objective or no goals. the perception is that this was an aggressive war. it was not. people forget how this started. saudi arabia and the gcc worked together to come up with an initiative. yemen was in a transitional period and the yemenese have their walks of life, women, students, tribal people, different religious sects and came up with a blueprint, what yemen should look like going forward, a federal system, rights for everyone and on and on and on and they were going to codify that into a constitution. and then there was a coup. they attacked the city. they seized the government, and they took total control of a country that is critically important to the security of the region. now we have a radical militia with iran and hezbollah, in possession of ballistic missiles and air force that has taken over a friendly government. the friendly government asked for support and we intervened. from day one we

secondly, we have seen they relocated part of their forces in yemen, al qaeda in yemen peninsula there. in that regard, they have been working very closely together and i believe that these countries have achieved substance success alongside the united arab emirates as well during the recent past few months in eliminating many of the bases of al qaeda. so the peace and security of the entire region is integrated. we cannot have permanent peace in saudi arabia unless we establish the same in yemen and we cannot have peace and security in yemen if there was lack thereof in other sparts. the whole region is integrated together in that regard. >> just to comment on u.s. support in yemen, the u.s. has been supporting the effort from the beginning. i think what we're hearing from this administration is a stronger commitment to this effort and i think we're liable to see a greater commitment of forces and resources alongside the assad p saudi effort and that's something to watch for. >> in 2016, especially the summer, i noticed a real increase on negative articles on the american media. a num

yemen is a country broken by war and hunger.st victims. it's always been poor, but two years of fighting has left it unable to cope with this emergency. translation: the war has meant that everything is deteriorating especially the health system. there are no medicines, no access to clean water, it's catastrophic. outside, the patients keep coming. but without spare beds they're treated in the courtyard, with over 200 new cases arriving each day to this hospital alone, makeshift tents have been set up to deal with the numbers. cholera is cheap and easy to treat, but the un says the delivery of aid has been slowed down by both sides, which means supplies don't reach the people in need. so far the outbreak has killed over a00 people. this man's wife is the latest victim. he buried her here just yesterday. she was so malnourished her body wasn't able to fight the disease. she was 21 years old. translation: her situation deteriorated, so we rushed her to the hospital. they couldn't help her. we took her to another hospital, but by t

i want to bring you the latest on the humanitarian situation in yemen.newest development comes in the form of a second outbreak of cholera in a year, we know a state of emergency has been declared in the capital. that is controlled by houthi rebels. the number of reported cases nationwide is now over 8000, close to 200 people have died since the end of april. the director of operations for the red cross working on this is describing hospitals that are overflowing. he shared this image to prove it. this is one patient on the bed and another sleeping under the bed. the bbc russia presents on bbc arabic, she has been helping me with the story. this is part of the bigger picture of the main thing. there are 27 million people living in yemen, there are actually 2 million internally displaced people. those who are considered food insecure 70 million and those without access to drinking water are a0 million. cholera is a bit too dangerous, because of the situation in yemen at the moment, and travelled in one week to reach the number that you have just mentioned

his re-election also has implications for the wars in syria and yemen. joining me by skype from tehran to discuss this is journalist reza sayah. reza, president rouhani won decisively, and this is especially interesting because his biggest challenger was a very conservative candidate. why did he win this way? >> yeah, i think for the voters who came to the polls yesterday, this election presented two very different candidates. on one hand you had hassan rouhani, the moderate reformist. he, of course, is the president who in 2015 signed the historic nuclear deal. his approach, his sales was just let's continue down this path. we're on the right path, and even though the economy hasn't improved, we're on the right course. and then you had his leading challenger, ibrahim raisi, the hard-line conservative. he essentially accused mr. rouhani as failing to dliver on the promise of benefits of the nuclear agreement, of being part of the financial elite, the welwealthy elite, ignoring the poor. and his message was iran needs to look back within its own resources

topics include iranian relations with iraq in civil wars in syria and yemen. this is one hour. >> good evening ladies and gentlemen. thank you so much for coming to the american enterprise institute. i'm fred kagan, the direct of the critical project here at aei. and if it is my great honor and privilege to lead this panel, discussing report which is just been released by my colleagues, matt mcinnis, the future of iran's security policy, available online at aei.org and where these beautiful copies as well if anyone would like one of those. we have a magnificent panel today. we are thrilled to have lieutenant general tom trask, vice commander of headquarters u.s. special operations command in washington, d.c.,, and vice admiral retired mark fox, formerly deputy commanding general of the nested central command along with matt to talk about the report. without further ado i will turn it over to matt. >> thank you, fred. thank you, general trask and admiral fox and fred, for frankly every thing here at aei yourself put this event together. as well as all the peopl

air strikes against aqap targets inside yemen. so as the saudis around the border are concerned about the houthi for less, iran, the u.s. is concerned about the terrorist threat, we will have a complete story, giving the back story on special report, 6:00 p.m. eastern time. >> julie: thank you so much for that report. >> leland: president trump went from saudi arabia to israel, now to rome after wrapping up his mideast visit. they are, he reaffirmed our commitment to protecting israel while also reaching out to the callused demand palestinians. >> hopeful future fruit children in the middle is requires them to recognize the viable of the state of israel. and on behalf of the united states, we pledge to stand by you. ♪ ♪ ♪ i'm dr. kelsey mcneely and some day you might be calling me an energy farmer. ♪ energy lives here. >> hamas and hezbollah launch rockets into israeli communities where schoolchildren have to be trained to hear the sirens and determine to the bomb shelters with the fear with speed. isis targets jewish neighbors, s

yemen is a country broken by war and hunger.t's always been poor, but two years of fighting has left it unable to cope with this emergency. translation: the war has meant that everything is deteriorating especially the health system. there are no medicines, no access to clean water, it's catastrophic. outside, the patients keep coming. but without spare beds they're treated in the courtyard, with over 200 new cases arriving each day to this hospital alone, makeshift tents have been set up to deal with the numbers. cholera is cheap and easy to treat, but the un says the delivery of aid has been slowed down by both sides, which means supplies don't reach the people in need. so far the outbreak has killed over 400 people. this man's wife is the latest victim. he buried her here just yesterday. she was so malnourished her body wasn't able to fight the disease. she was 21 years old. translation: her situation deteriorated, so we rushed her to the hospital. they couldn't help her. we took her to another hospital, but by then it was to

yemen is on the verge of famine.rteur accused saudi arabia of failing to investigate accusations that its forces carried out war crimes. the bbc‘s chief international correspondent, lyse doucet is in riyadh. she's been speaking to salman al—ansari, a political analyst who says this visit is of unprecedented strategic importance to saudi arabia. you are following this trip with great interest. a lot of talk about shared interest and economic co—operation, is that what young saudi arabians want to see? exactly. despite the san storm we are experiencing at the moment, there is a huge positive vibe in the kingdom. the people in the government, you can tell everybody is content with the fact that the us administration chose saudi arabia to be their first foreign visit. that has unprecedented strategic importance, not only to the region, but to overall global security. because we really need the united states to be backin really need the united states to be back in the game. we need them to be helping their partners to com

there's been interdiction of force and flow into yemen, for example. were seeing a lot of postal missiles. iran, from my perspective, has been devoted to proxies and to asymmetry and they are the masters at keeping it just at or below the boiling point. it's a home game for them and we have rotational forces that come through and so it's always important that we get the commanding officers and the action officers on board a ship's and an aircraft to make sure they understand how to handle the situation and always been a place for your prepared. as was previously mentioned, we have a very, dominating ability to escalate and to control a situation but at the same time in international waters and in international airspace and in the case of the navy, they have every bit much right to be at sea as we do. so, this is something you watch very carefully, when i was asleep he would challenge me to argue that boyle frog are you the guy that's been in the hot while longer not that it's now the norm so it's something that you have to make sure you're not complete

two years for war have left yemen in the grip of a humanitarian crisis.an 2 million young children are malnourished. now a cholera outbreak has become the latest deadly threat. hospitals are overwhelmed. has become the latest deadly threat. hospitals are overwhelmedlj has become the latest deadly threat. hospitals are overwhelmed. i could see myself how difficult the situation has become, to provide services in a country that is suffering from conflict and lack of income and there is an increasing number of patients, including many cholera patients, that we see in the ward. it is completely full. the disease is spread through contaminated food and water and can kill within hours if left untreated. but the ongoing conflict between the government and the rebels means that half of yemen's hospitals had closed while exports have been bombed, making it difficult to get aid in. the speed of this cholera outbreak has been described as unprecedented. almost 250 people have died in the last month and the charity save the children is warning that more than 65,000 c

cholera sweeps war—ravaged yemen, claiming 250 lives this month alone.dreds of suspected cases are being reported every day. battling depression — british scientists say an overactive immune system could be to blame. and the changing face of afghan tv — the new channel championing its female staff. hello and welcome. on his first foreign trip as us president, donald trump has called on muslim countries to take responsibility for tackling extremism. during a speech in riyadh, attended by dozens of arab leaders, he insisted the fight against extremism wasn't a war between different faiths — but a battle between good and evil. the president also used strong language against iran, saudi arabia's biggest rival. our north america editor, jon sopel, was there. the president has been on a deep immersion into middle east politics today, and a charm offensive, meeting a host of arab and gulf leaders from across the region. and one central geopolitical subject, the fight against islamist extremism, and how to make good on his pledge to destroy so—called islamic sta

it's going to happen in yemen, in syria and in iraq first. i don't think there's a chance of a direct confrontation between the two countries because their military capabilities are quite mismatched. the saudis have a great deal of air capability, missiles, whereas the iranians have much more of an on the ground capability. they're not likely to invade saudi arabia, and i don't think the saudis are planning an air campaign against iran any time soon. >> we should remind our viewers that the iranians have ground forces very active in iraq and in syria. a lot of them losing their lives. the king has finished his comments. this is the time when we expect president trump to make his own comments there. as vali noted, a big portion of the king's speech targeting iran. iran is the source of instability in the region. that a message that is certainly similar to what president trump has said both on the campaign trail, but since he's become president, one that i imagine he will agree with and perhaps echo in his comments. president trump about to giv

completing the nuclear agreement that he ignored iran's nefarious behavior in syria and iraq and in yemen. what has been very satisfied for the saudi government is that, you know, president obama, didn't see he came into office, surrounded himself with very experienced generals who have fought in the middle east and who have been on the ground and who understand how iran operates. general mattis, general mcmaster, and others who have had to deal with that revolutionary guard on the ground in iraq, who saw that the revolutionary gaus revolutionary guard was responsible for killing a lot of u.s. soldiers there. they they didn't have a naive view of iran's behavior. and i think that has been the fundamental change in policy, that this administration has been very clear about didn't see it came into office it put iran on notice when iran launched a ba lichtic missi ballistic missile test, for example. and, again, america took a very strong stand. so i think the whole understanding on behalf of this administration that iran is the key disrupter in the middle has been very well received by saud

in news on yemen, the human rights group reprieve says u.s. navy seals killed five civilians during a raid tuesday night on a village in marib governorate. the pentagon says the raid targeted al qaeda, and that seven militants were killed. but residents of the village say the navy seals actually shot and a 70-year-old civilian, a partially blind civilian who had come out of his house during the raid to see what was going on. at the sound of gunfire, four more civilians reportedly came out of their houses, only to be gunned down by the seals. reprieve says another six civilians were injured, including an elderly man. this comes after navy seals killed up to 25 civilians, including nine children, during a botched raid in yemen in january that also left one navy seal dead. meanwhile, in more news on yemen, nearly 400 people have now died in a spiraling cholera outbreak as the u.s.-backed, saudi-led bombing campaign has devastated the country's health, water, sewage and sanitation , systems. in brazil, president michel temer has authorized the dep

sanitary conditions in yemen are very concerning. the disease is spreading in an unprecedented manner. if we can get enough aid and support, the situation will improve. we will be able to control the epidemic. reporter: cholera is caused by a found in contaminated food and water. it can be easily treated by replacing fluids and salts but many of those infected don't symptoms. if the disease isn't treated, it can kill within n hours and itin spread rapidly. the health care system and has beencture in yemen devastated by wars. the world health organization than halfthat less the country's medical facilities are fully functional. vital medicines aren't getting to those who need them. the organization is warning there could be as many as 300,000 cases of cholera in year.by the end of the launchingance is europe's sustainable development week, which kicks off today, this monday. aimed at building on the goals set at the paris climate talks back in 2015. getting consumers and individuals to take responsibility for their impact on the envir

in yemen, an important part of the culture is to share. now, let us share the work, fight, the accountability. how healthy can you be if you are not extending arms to the sick, the hungry, the thirsty, the existing? to care is to offer partnership, teamwork, it invest in the lives we are already living. don't wait to support the ones that will come after us. the drought isn't over until every cup at the table is full, overflowing. now is the time to be intentional about our abundance. i pray that we are rich in compassion, rich in joy, rich in support. peace has always been within our reach. we cannot afford to waste anymore time reaching our arms out to the sun, the sky, eachother. the time is now more than ever. [applause] other girls in the world, i used to have dreams of exploring the world, supporting others, studying and having a better life. away.eams have been blown survival is always think about every day. this is right in yemen, a country a lot of people don't know about, where thousands of women and children are dying every day

with no peace inside, yemen's war will continue to tear the country apart.anguish now's compounded by cholera. you are watching "bbc world news america." still to come, 2 very different men with 2 separate lives, yet their work shares a common thread. the story of churchill and orwell, just ahead. the 70th cannes film festival has drawn to a close with the coveted palme d'or one by a swedish star. won best actor. whereer: cannes is celebrity meets creativity. this is a place that takes still making very seriously. -- take filmmaking very seriously. year's winteris such a surprise. a swedish comedy causing something of an upset. the filmmaker thrilled to bits. >> it is fantastic, and i'm so happy that they chose a film dealing with this content. movie ando do a funny at the same time dealing with important questions. "the square," a satire about a museum pr stunt that goes somewhat all right, was described by the jury as a rich masterpiece tackling the horrific dictatorship of lyrical correctness -- political correctness. >> diane kruger. reporter: other winn

we had enough of its hostile practices and interference as we witness in yemen and other countries inespect and appreciation for the iranian people. we do not hold the people responsible for the actions of the regime. the kingdom of saudi arabia has long suffered from terrorism and has been the target for its because saudi arabia is the centre of islam. terrorist ideology is spread through targeting the centre of the weight of muslims. we have succeeded in confronting terrorist actions, following many terrorist actions, following many terrorist attempts. we have also helped our brothers and friends around the world to avoid plots targeting the security and stability. dear brothers and friends, in our continued efforts in confronting terrorism, the gcc states concluded today a historic agreement with the united states of america to adopt stricter measures to target financing terrorism by establishing a centre in riyadh to target terrorism financing. we look forward to more countries joining the centre in the future as this agreement will be a model to follow based on air existing effor

this is a false narrative, we should not be in the game of proxy wars, and to bomb yemen. we should not be selling arms and enabling people, clean hands in the region. which country active in afghanistan to pakistan, everyone has blood to their elbows. what we are seeing, there is a population of 80 billion people, we want diplomacy, and this is an important message to take back, the approach of the united states in the last 15 years has been like the cat in the hat comes back. we go to clean it up and there is a bigger mess. this is not working anymore. we have to try something else. i agree with you, the notion of who we are supporting or has more power. >> if i could add something. uranian influence in the region goes back because iran has been there thousands of years. you can somehow separate the arab and persian, completely unrealistic, iran was active in lebanon before the uranian revolution, the shah started building up the shia population in lebanon because they had been historically discriminated against by the sunnis and christians even though they were a plural