A successful outcome. James jeffrey welcome thank you the sake of context here we go back to december last year the announcement by President Trump. He had won basically over isis in syria and little u. S. Troops would be coming home from syria was costly and misleading was and it was misunderstood by everybody it was misunderstood person and made it clear at the time to us and to other leaders that he wasnt losing the bubble as we say on the fight against isis which he recognized could really. Constitute itself nor was he. Losing interest and he said that the. Im a that the United States would maintain its air cover over the not be that u. S. Special operations personnel he made this point very clear publicly and all the all Assad Air Base in the gulf and the president and secretary of defense are you going to meet with an issue so. That we would continue to deploy special forces troops into northeast syria to go after isis if they started showing signs of a threat it did cost him the resignation of his secretary of defense and my predecessor in the office that deals with the computer combating of this. Because they disagree with the policy and quite a lot of blowback from the congress senator Lindsey Graham said it was a stain on the owner of the United States added that it was disastrous to u. S. National security how could a clever man like that in the u. S. And so this is going to be a good its a rove the issue is that the president after listening to people including Lindsey Graham decided that he would keep a residual force on so there was a road back to the president after listening to people that he trusted decided that. And his eye was involved in these discussions including with Lindsey Graham and the reason is the president didnt want to have the syria advantage he thought that. As part of his overall. Strategy of burden sharing that as the United States did the heavy lifting with at times 15000 Ground Combat forces in iraq and syria im not talking about the air power talking about helicopters helicopters we had a major force and they were involved in considerable combat that the follow on our. Stage 4 we call it the. Stabilization phase could be done by perfectly competent forces from other Coalition Countries many of whom a nato countries we know the quality say through my eyes thats what he wanted he told us to go out and find a country why couldnt they come up with say 500 or 600 or few more numbers of troops not a bad question however the answer we had to tell him was they would not commit to forces unless there were some American Forces it looks the statement in december we have won against isis weve beaten them and beaten them badly and hasnt been borne out by defense and it was left last month to the lead Inspector General of your anti isis in the havent result of operation to inform congress of an altogether different reality you know in the history of 50 years roughly that ive been involved in wars ive really seen a statement by any victorious Political Force that is more close to the truth than what donald trump said isis was unique in a way that focused the internationals attention from 2014 until about march of this year where as we all forgot about al qaeda why because al qaeda had gone away no all kiter is actually quite active in many different places and terrorism experts are worried about because isis created a state and an army of 35000 troops commanded a population of 8000000. 00 people with a budget of billions of dollars and now has resurgent cells in areas controlled by you going to let me finish some of the same views about the end. So that simple isis. As a state in the unique threat that isis presented by its ability to project power into paris and berlin and other places 7 attacks in turkey. And that isis has disappeared in the us some of the very specific concerns we had particularly about the stability of iraq and the region as a whole we now have isis as a terrorist im. Going to say sion not all that different from al qaeda that is something that we worry about something that we focus on something that were working on which is why were keeping troops on which is why the Coalition Including some i cant tell you exactly how many but its in the many thousands of some thousands of u. S. Troops still in iraq to defy. In iraq and syria so it isnt that we thought the problem is gone away the problem just changed dramatically because we achieved a victory over isis as a Political Force trump was right in saying that whats been particularly damaging for us suit syria now lies with the timing of this with drooled the report from the Inspector General said the reduction has decreased the support available to Syrian Forces at a time when they need more training and equipping to respond to the isis was. Combined joint task force also said the drawdown could cause those forces to look for routes and since none of that is good is it if it were true it wouldnt be good comes from the Inspector General does that mean its true. Do you know him to be putting out false i know Inspector Generals would not ever deliberately put out a false statements but they often put out in their statements based upon a misinterpretation of one sided information that they get from one or another source had they asked me which they probably should have is a state Department Official responsible for the political side of the fight against isis you would think that i would have been a reasonable person to chat with they didnt i would have told them you know. G. Ive talked with these very same forces 8 times in the last miner 10 months and i havent gotten any complaints about the level of american support even though we have in conjunction with president decision conducted a very significant deliberate drawdown of a large percent of the forces we had there back in march period thats the 1st thing the 2nd thing is. I do not see a surge in isis i look at the actual number of attacks incidents and i saw ansels we would you listen again i did this for a living for 3 years in iraq every day excluding in parts of the time when i was a target and i wanted to every single attack that we were getting in iraq and i have a good idea of what an insurgency or a terrorist operation looks like in syria looks nothing like that its a handful of attacks a week with almost no lethal casualties it is very few people are dying this is in an area of 30 percent of all of syria the heartland of isis in 20132014 with. A population of several 1000000 people and were getting 34 attacks 5678910 attacks a week you know is that more than weve got in the immediate aftermath of march absolutely and in terms of needing much training those forces and our people who are training them were fighting a heavily armed conventional force that was dug in incredibly well with artillery with heavy moniz with minefields and Everything Else that is really an extremely difficult military mission what theyre dealing with now is not easy its counterinsurgency in a way its counterterrorism it requires a different skill set and some new training but i would really deny that that is more difficult than fighting isis when isis was filling an army should the top general in the middle east commander in chief and his senior generals have known what was being. Because commander of u. S. Forces in the middle east general joseph otel confirmed to congress in february he was neither informed or consulted about the president s message is correct and thats a glaring omission on the glaring omission is too harsh thats the kind of thing that i see happening all the time in my government and every other government i deal with unfortunately people make decisions and it doesnt get out to the people in the field in time but the fact that it doesnt come through a tried and tested chain of command is that not worrying the chain of command the United States starts with the commander in chief he took the decision therefore its a tried and true chain of command and yes but its not communicated to the people who have to carry it out it was communicated to the people who carried out what youre saying is shouldnt they have provided their advice to him before hand should they have been asked for the advice they. Probably should have been asked for their advice their advice was that they would continue on with a residual force as i said once the dust settled from the december decision the president listened to them and decided that he would go with a residual force. Ambassador jeffrey view of views on how this war will end seem very different than disastrous war in syria and were also now were talking about not the fight against isis which was anything but it will be about syria but the syrian internal conflict yes you have views on how this war will end a very different from those of you picture trumpeting president i mean in may you told congress experiences in any god might excuse me well probably see several other pathetic sorry and much broken ceasefires that will eventually slow down the conflict that for us is what victory looks like in this war but its its worse than that isnt it because the people you would see as the bad guys are winning but. They continue to announce cease fires and. The ceasefire has continued to be broken down but in the last 13 months the regime has taken almost the bad guys if you will has taken almost no territory other than the area around. Khan shake in and just south of it live now were very unhappy about that because we think it indicates that the regime is thinking again about a military victory and is being supported by the russians so thus this will be a major theme at the u. N. General assembly the russians can deliver that victory no the russians can deliver an advancement in the it live period the problem is you have a Turkish Forces also went in live to the north of there the russians do not have an answer to that and you have your Turkish Forces in what we call the Euphrates Shield area around. And in the afternoon and of course we have forces and we have other Partner Forces in that not least 30 percent of the country i dont think the russians have an answer and we have a residual force in tom from the south i dont think the russians have an answer to any of that and the russians tell us themselves and state publicly that there is no military only a political solution however its on that side of the war so they did turn the tide of office as i could and will continue to do so if they were continuing if they can get away with it to try to yes isnt the enduring lesson in this whole tragic who if you can get away with mass murder torture and the repeated use of chemical weapons against your people what are the chances that president assad will have a stand trial in the war crimes tribunals pretty close to 0 as Navy Secretary general Just Announced a board of inquiry were expecting new reports from the o. P. C. W on chemical weapons use in 2017 as you know we twice the 2nd time supported by the french and the british to military action on the basis of chemical weapons. And i think the regime we know the regime has taken that seriously hes used them 32 since and since. We struck him twice hes been very careful. With only one possible use that were still looking into. And thats been over a year and a half so i would say thats an improvement the assad regime has been denied all reconstruction funds from the International Community and from essentially every single nation state there under a very strong u. S. And e. U. Sanctions and theyre going to continue to be put under a lot of pressure whether assad ever stands trial for his walk crimes of which there are many and he certainly deserves to thats not a question but we dont see assad as having won this what we see assad as having. That it is not possible for the opposition militarily to win the war as this point that is what the russians and the iranians have provided assad but im busted if the taliban who continue to blow up you can almost make it camp david and the saudis who chop up the political opponents in the lie about it can have business as usual with washington that doesnt have much to boy thats. I would not compare him with either taliban who is a 2nd the saudis. You know i have a very simple. But tried and true. Attitude towards who you really worry about in this world. There is basically an International Water however flawed that we in the u. S. Are associated with as leaders much of the rest of the world particularly. Your. You is and western europe and britain and elsewhere are all part of the beneficiaries of and then there are people who are trying to overthrow that order isis is one. Among the others and weve listed them in the National Security strategy is a rant that puts arena in a totally different category as syria has allied itself with iran we see this in the introduction of iranian long range weapon systems of the sort that struck the saudi. Petroleum installations over the weekend into syria. Threatening israel and the us provoking Israeli Military responses which is further complicated the. Environment in syria that is you have several was happening simultaneously but the core of all of these wars is a rainy and expansionism in assads facilitation of the county stabilizing do you think those attacks on saudi oil is that they see as well for the region well im not responsible for the region im responsible for syria in the fight against i say this is that which is why i say its destabilizing for the region this is not this is a serious step in the wrong direction. We just in the woods where this was going to Richard Haass senior state Department Official. This is a step in the wrong direction destabilisation in the middle east again if i were responsible Foreign Policy or middle eastern policy and im not responsible for either i would be more clear cut but ill leave it at that you talked about the. New trying to have this right part of that will who should include justice shouldnt it and if if People Like Us who you say were not committed to any personality were not trying to get rid of us i mean look you know any of us i believe. Personally as someone spent much of my life. That a world order to be truly effective and to be. Truly accepted around the world should include justice. But. I recognize that. That is not shared by everybody including much of the American Public because once you accept that that is part of it thats. Right to intervene our need to intervene this was very popular than the 1990 s. I was involved in the concept when i worked on bosnia the problem with that is that it gets you involved in every internal conflict because typically and every internal conflict there are major and serious abuses of justice whether that is necessary for world order a not i would just say thats to be debated as the administration has been enduring interest in this just as it says it supports the international and costs of an independent mechanism to see if it does why did it hold up money for this mighty criticize to do it. Whether you fund something or not and whether you support something politically it 2 Different Things funding requires prioritization. Stephen rapp full misstate Department Ambassador at large for war crimes that the actual amount of the funding is only a fraction of the organizations budget but the symbolism of america reneging on its pledge to help was devastate. The United States including this administration for syria long as provided 10000000000. 00 in humanitarian assistance and that is far more than any other country has done again one very important part of americas view in this administration and at least in theory and prior administrations and i really here too is the idea of burden sharing for example the president before his decision to pull troops out of syria decided that we wouldnt be doing reconstruction funding in the northeast anymore and asked us to turn to other countries and weve been fairly successful. Collecting it but we have been criticized by the u. S. Congress and by some of our partners but again this is a question of if you 100000000. 00 look at how much money weve put into humanitarian assistance President Trump but weve stat. As part of a Global Coalition against isis Global Coalition in nato and several other coalitions with many of the same members whose total g. D. P. Is roughly double that of the United States that we should not be paying the burden that were paying and that is simply a view of his it was a view expressed for example in the nato troops are sent by the Obama Administration before him and its a view that is held by the American People the American People do not like the deal in which we have to pay a disproportionately high percent of the costs as well as be a most of the military risk. And losses in these International Conflicts thats simply the way it is done i just go back to the issue of justice charges. Is there a similar willingness to look at allegations of war crimes committed by the coalition in syria im a student a National Report that was primal facie evidence that several coalition attacks killed and injured civilians may flouted international humanitarian. Be investigated as well 1st of all im not a lawyer but. International humanitarian law is not law. It is a political theory. If its international what is International Law is the geneva conventions thats where you define walk crimes we look very carefully at every Coalition Strike we have seen no example of war crimes. Absolutely not absolutely not but you would take part in any investigation truth defined investigation find a best of case and by the mechanism for syria to go to the independent mechanism to see the u. N. Has looked at this the i. A. M. Has looked at all. These attacks they raise questions weve provided answers. Your policy which shoot to kill 82 with syria has 3 strands doesnt enjoy ensure the enduring defeat devices with which youve said its turned into a terrorist organization so that its going to keep you busy for a very long time 2nd priority to ensure a political process that will produce a different kind of government that will encourage people to come back and be a decent player in the international arena. Has very little chance of that happening with outside remaining in power hes never going to be a decent the. U. N. Security Council Voted 15 to 0 for exactly that result and resolution 2254 in december of 2015 its not irresponsible of the United States to have as a political and diplomatic goal something that the Security Council has unanimously industries that are going to happen this is fine this guy well we hope it will but until it happens were going to continue our unrelenting pressure on their regime 20 months of bickering over 150 Member Committee to write the country a new constitution and the prospect of years of high dealing walkouts fights stretching into the distant future is that it terry you just described the average diplomatic process that i get involved in. A 100 times worse when you in doing it after a war of this nature i would say that every time you get people together saying in geneva which is the plan to Start Talking about a solution to a military conflict as opposed to allowing this fighting to continue yeah thats a step in the right direction again we have seen only one change in libya and it was a limited offensive its an offensive a very unhappy about were working on a u. N. Security Council Resolution condemning it right now but thats been the only case in the last 13 months of fighting breaking out so i would say that weve had more success. Yes from 2018 to the present then we did from say 2015 to 2017 for example free and Fair Elections and i was always with the rich he was and when you have that in the arab world apart from tunisia its just beginning well when they are booked as you have you on their rations. Thats. Free and Fair Elections is a standard that we apply that the u. N. Applies certainly if you would ask the u. N. Which managed i think now 5 or 6 elections going to last in iraq they would basically give them fairly good. Marks in terms of free and fair so they can do in iraq why cant they do in syria 3rd priority here on the removal of all of the rainy and cmon dude forces from the entirely to syria that he did hes not going to happen that bill to that integrates with the soon to be its forces. Theyre not integrated to define integrated forces integrated in nato yeah they Work Together to the Defense Intelligence agency iran continues to field Islamic Revolutionary guard soldiers support the Lebanese Hezbollah command the shia foreign Fighter Network that includes militia from iraq pakistan and iran all true but they could leave tomorrow if there was a cease fire that everybody believed in and if there was a political solution to the water there would be no reason for these people to stay on and you think the policy of maximum pressure on them is going to bring that about maximum pressure on iran. I think that. It is. A fundamental tenet of our policy that if we do not find solutions to these issues that weve raised the 3 goals that i have different political solution in syria the withdrawal of all reigning Commander Forces and a enduring defeat of isis that we are going to be on the road to a much bigger and far more dangerous war in syria not only. Involving internal forces fighting the government and various terrorist groups but potentially any one of the 6 armies counting the syrian that is present in our over syria today has a policy towards iran going to change now since john bolton has left i dont doran and i certainly know that i dont know of anybody in the u. S. Government at any level that does not think that our ranch encroachments on the region. And sees its use of asymmetrical warfare as for the region as we just saw this weekend is not at the very top of the stretch to. Regional security and we act accordingly and best of the James Jeffrey thank you very much. Ok thank you. Farm land has been called ethiopias green gold the country has an abundant supply and leases it to international preferred giants the government is after high export revenues and the corporations high Profit Margins but not everyone benefits from the booming business of the selling out of a country that dont use no high notes in 15 minutes on d w. O. O. Instead of 1st girls took it over now live from the shit out of us are there also some who are going. In support of whats a big whats able. To deliver. About this issue when i arrived here i slept with 6 people in a room as room. It was hard i was for. I even got white hairs that. Learning the german language help me out of this keeps me and could help us maybe to in trouble lets say you want to know their story for my kids her writing and reliable information for margaret. Olley cream. My milk and im getting a list of the brand new delusions violent books its personal its divisive and its about topics that. Such as old solution to Climate Change in the turn. Slowly in such account. When your family scattered across the globe. To. Turn back to the roots get a minimum of. The charge family from somalia live around the world the money needed urgent assistance of. The family starts october any on t. W. This is the w. s live from berlin those in charge of the Fukushima Nuclear power plant that went into meltdown in 2011 are found not guilty 3 former executives were accused of failing to mitigate the disaster which came in the wake of the tsunami in 2011 it was the only criminal trial resulting from that Nuclear Catastrophe also coming up. Desperation in israel Prime Minister netanyahu calls on his main rival to join him in forming a Coalition Government following in conclude