why. it turned into something of a phone call. but the reason offered according to the iraqis was that it was due to here s what the statement said. a variation of views. why wasn t this ironed out ahead of time and how big of a deal is this? i worked for two years at the state department, i can t figure that diplo speak out. i do think it was a missed opportunity for the two to get together and talk because iraq very much still is in this fight. cory is right. it isn t just about iraq, there are 74 countries involved in this coalition and his decision to pull out really caught everybody off guard. remember, kate, that there was just parliamentary elections in iraq about a third of the parliament now are aligned with the shiia minority and are not in favor of american-continued presence in iraq. so the new prime minister has
opponents, kind of strikes me as odd. and i guess it strikes the saudis as odd. then again the president s had a history saying other countries is going to pay for other things the united states wants, mexico is going to pay for the border wall. they re not doing that and now apparently saudi is going to pay for syria to be rebuilt and to be happy. we re going to have to wait and see. general kimmett, what is it for saudi? why would they pay? i don t see that distinction between shiia and sunni has been as significant as mark is saying. they re arabs, there s a long-term relationship between saudi arabia that goes back years and years. as you remember syria was part of the united arab republic between egypt, syria and baghdad at that time years ago under nassar. yes, he is aloite, yes it s a sect of shiia and one of the
there are strategic interests that we need to stand by saudi arabia as a buffer between, you know, iran and israel, which is the ultimate end goal for all of the shiia in that region. neil: general, thanks very much. thank you, neil. neil: general tata. the president telling harris faulkner in just made news left and right that what his personal lawyer is facing now has nothing to do with anything that he did when they were friends and were closely. after this.
certainly deteriorating. when the orb, president trump went with the leaders of the arab states? it s not looking so hot right now. this relationship that the administration has worked hard to use this to try to find some resolution of the israeli palestinian conflict and do something there, all of that is on the line here because of this human rights concern. and the impact and the force over iran. very much so. to rebalance the obama administration had tried to tilt the balance towards tehran and the shiia side in the world of islam and the trump administration tilting it back to riyadh. the senate, when it comes to protecting journalists and these folks around the world, the united states has an interest because that s how we maintain transparency. the administration has a lot on the line here. in the senate, there will be more good sentiment towards turkey because brunson has been released and now they re on the
israeli part. they have been kind of holding back and letting isis and the sunni extremists fight it out with assad and hezbollah and the shiia extremists. it got to the point now where they had to step into a big way and they did so and did so incredibly effectively. my feeling now is what does iran do in kind? we can t answer that right now. but on monday, the u.s. embassy moves from tel aviv to jerusalem. there will be a u.s. delegation in jerusalem for that moment. you know the unrest its caused along the gaza strip the past month. what is next then? the trump administration is fully engaged with them not only