this isn t about making yourself look good. this is about it has to change. or more people will die. if you ve been affected by any issues raised in nikki s film, you can contact the bbc s actionline. details are on the screen. a decade on from a domestic british political earthquake that had worldwide reverberations perhaps to this day the syria vote. it felt significant enough that david cameron became the first pm since lord north to lose a vote on military action. assad is now firmly entrenched in damascus. in a moment, we will discuss the consequences of that vote with a former mp and a syrian expert. first, here s our insight editor joe pike, and a warning there is some upsetting content in his report. a step forward for parliamentary power. the ayes to the right, 272.
and that was all the talk i m told on the floor of the senate when members of congress came back. and, again, the whole reason for this blow-up is because the president got his head handed to him with a major and very important vote yesterday. in the house of representatives where the majority of his fellow republicans rebuked him on his decision in syria and what it has done to the u.s. allies there in the fight against isis, the kurds, as we ve been talking about. that is at the core of all of this behavior. jeffrey, can i tie this together a little bit with the impeachment inquiry? because the president lost on the floor of the house yesterday, 2-1, on the syria vote. and it also seems he s losing a little bit in the process here on impeachment. the white house is trying to stonewall. they re trying to utilize the strategy with the mueller investigation and the congressional inquiries. but the wall is crumbling
the men and women who risk their lives. we should be on the record if we support the men and women being on the ground in syria. it s not there. there s no authority by congress to do this. and we act stronger, chris, when congress backs our troops up going on the record. nobody wants to take that vote because that s politically taxic. men and women who are on the ground. you ve seen the stories about how betrayed they feel. i m not talking about the kurds. i m talking about the americans. this was a chance for you and congress to say, mr. president, i don t know what s going through your head. but this isn t the way that america behaves. you sent the opposite message. i sent the message i owe my primary duty to our men and women in our military. if we send them into harm s way, we better be on the record supporting that action as a congress. what these guys did today was duck that responsibility. and they were able to say, we re going to contend trump. at the same time, when the
save himself but i think that will be good luck because that man seems like he s in deep trouble and thoroughly incompetent. especially with this syria vote, 354-60. are you kidding me? that is a stunning rebuke of donald trump. even lindsey graham who functions like donald trump s boot hill for the past year has been very vocal, very public called into fox and friends and talked about what a decision it was to withdraw the troops that led to the massacre of kurds and gave a second lease of life to isis and only helped enemies. it s helped syria, iran, isis and wait for it, russia. and russia was the buzz word at the meeting that allegedly triggered donald trump and forced him to call nancy pelosi a third grade politician but i think he made third rate. that s what set him off, apparently. reportedly. so michael, the president
our allies, congress is backing up their commander in chief. did you say, i want you to understand what my vote is. but what you did with the kurds was cowardly and un-american and we look terrible. we don t have any guarantee of allies to fight against isis. i guess you approve of men and women being in syria under our military banner and doing that without congressional authority. i was asking you to do your job. you dent speak out when he domed in syria. i don t know where this belief is in consistency. you can t double the wrongs. you did a double-wrong here. chris, i appreciate that judgment. when you re bombing, seeking intelligence, that s different than putting men and women on the soil, boots on the ground. true. but use of military force. and you re supposed to do both. the only time the president can do it himself, as you know, is imminent threat, our people or our foreign interests.