Syria and iraq with the command of the u. S. Central command, i am pleased to have him on the program. Welcome. David thank you. Charlie tell me about the trip and what you saw. This, as you suggested, the first time a centcom commander has done this in six years. This is a very unusual opportunity for me and other reporters to travel with the general, the commander of centcom, in that role as overall of the war in syria and iraq against isis. This is the First Time Since i think 2010, roughly, that a centcom commander has taken press with him. Under general austin, a predecessor, that was out. They did not want the press tagging along. He decided the American Public needs to know more about the wars, if people are going to understand and support them, so he decided to take a salon, not just take us along, not just to baghdad or kurdistan, but into syria. We were not allowed to disclose going. E were we were not allowed to file anything until we had gotten out of the country, and we were in jordan. It was a rare chance, and their unique chance, to see u. S. Military advisers on the ground in syria, working with the opposition, trying to build and launch against the Islamic State in its capital. Charlie there are few journalists and colonists who write about Foreign Affairs as well as you do. The notion is, understanding the patient of information and context you have from that point, what did you learn . What was surprising and what was new . David i have been covering the middle east off and on since 1980. I have been looking at this part of the world for a long time. It is the frustrations of trying to move forward in the middle east, familiar to me as all your viewers. What i saw on this trip first was the overwhelming power that the u. S. Military can bring to bear, once it really gets organized and gets authority from the president. This campaign against isis has had i think a slow start, but you could see on the trip, it is finally really beginning to gear up. There are daily operations. I was into huge operations rooms, where the screens, the display, the feeds from surveillance drones, monitoring of airstrikes, every operation theater. Ace across the that was the first thing, sense of u. S. Military power. The second thing was the chance when we were inside syria at a u. S. Training facility inside the country, to see the military advisers at work. These are just remarkable men and women. We are not allowed to see them. I cant really say that much about them, or even where they were, but these are amazing People Living off the land. They are living rough. In simple places. They are working with tribal fighters. The Syrian Kurdish militia, the white pg ypg. Over the lastho six months to a year have begun to really push i suspect. It was pushed isis back. It was a chance to see this and see the people who are doing it on behalf of the country. The final take away the mishmash between the military part of this strategy and the political side, which i just found so many contradictory elements as i. Raveled through iraq, syria, we are working on basing this military campaign is Political Fix and. Those of quicksand. Those were the three things. Looking at the power, the people doing this, and trying to think through the politics. What is possible before the Obama Administration ends in january . The obamahink administration has been accelerating its campaign in raqqa,against rocca mosul. Inst there are very few people who think the clearing can be accomplished before obama leaves office. , in part is aama legacy issue, and as role in commander in chief, wants to push hard using the tools he has at hand. That is what i was able to see. The most interesting thing i found in iraq we will talk more about syria, but in iraq, i was just there on my own three weeks ago looking at the campaign against most of mosul. I was able to see, in the euphrates valley that stretches towards the, jordanian border, there has been a lot ofmosul progress made. A lot of progress made. Sheiks were very pragmatic. They are beginning to think isis may not be the winning bet. In classic fashion for tribal leaders, they are beginning, but our experts listed it for me. I know some of these tribes are beginning to flip. I thought that story in the euphrates valley was interesting. The battle for falluja that has been launched is some ways the trickiest. Shiite militias, with the sunnis who are the primary residence of falluja, hated, but it will also involve sunni militia and the Popular Militia forces. Watching how that plays out is going to be really interesting. It will tell us a lot about whether the campaign will work. Charlie and that is a political issue obviously. David it is a political issue. All the tricky issues on which depends, areess political. The machine is cranked up. It is powerful. If it has a solid enough political foundation, it will get the job done. I dont know if it will be by the end of the year, who can say what the precise timing is . You just know this overwhelming power, once started, will push forward. As long as there is a proper political basis of support, looking at the events of the last week in baghdad, you have had essentially riots inside the green zone and the heart of the government. It shows how fragile it is. Is outsider a government who cannot control its capital is very fragile. If it crumbles, all the power operations i had the chance to look that will become difficult. Charlie when i saw the president in germany when he was going to saudi arabia and britain, and then germany, one of the things he said to me was he was making a strong effort to bring support for the Prime Minister of iraq among the european allies, to give him as much help as they possibly could, so that he could go through this. He was facing not only challenges from outside and isis, but challenges from inside. David what has happened interestingly in iraq is that the Shiite Coalition has begun to really fracture. Iransay that enron is having as much trouble as we did. The iranians used to be able to keep the shiites on the same page. That over the last month or so has clearly begun to blow apart. A bodys government is very his government is very fragile. He has made a lot of changes. His problem is one we should have sympathy for. The iraqi people are fed up with the gross overwhelming corruption. I says he will try to fix we and this warlordism, and will see if he has the political muscle to do that. For now, he has reached out to al sadr, the radical popular shiite leader, as kind of an ally in anticorruption. Charlie he is close to the iranians as well. David the iranians are close almost everyone in iraq. They work hard at play every side of the street. That said, they are having trouble. It is not a near interest writing in the green zone of the government that they are working with. I havent had firsthand reports, but people who talk with the religious leadership that many leaders are fed up. They think the country is corrupt. Effortey bought into the to build a new shiite led iraq, they have backed the government. One person said to me an interesting fact, that the religious leadership no longer delivers political sermons on fridays. Hey have pulled back the tradition has always been not so political. They got more involved in supporting the government. They may be pulling back. It is hard to know exactly what they think, except for they are fed up with what they are watching. Charlie i hear you talking about the americans. It is interesting that he will have questioned the president and suggested he was not in the fight. He clearly is now, as you suggest. Is their criticism he has been too much a victim of incrementalism, and all of a sudden realized there is more at stake and he had more of an interest in providing a stronger effort . David i think that the white this campaignled for a long time. It has taken them a long time to authorize the level of commitment, the level of special Operations Forces in syria and iraq, the advisors on the ground, the forward the point of people, that they resisted that for a long time in terms of numbers and authorities. That is now changing. I think in ways that we dont fully understand or know about, there are very aggressive operations now to go after and capture, kill operations, to go after isis. They are going after networks that could threaten the u. S. Homeland and europe. Charliei lowest thought the pret is better as a covert commander in chief i have always thought the president is better as a covert commander in chief than a overt commanderinchief. Heres a president who can say i killed osama bin laden, and he had of the taliban. Those were very tough operations, in pakistani territory. On that level, the president has been aggressive. He is allergic to syria. He has not wanted to do syria from the beginning. He found a level of commitment he is now comfortable with, which is training and a playing these furnishes Syrian Kurdish fighters that i have met ferocious Syrian Kurdish fighters that i have met. They are really the match for isis. I met the womens militia of the g,rian kurdish group, the yp women who i was told by the military advisers, where suicide belts when they go into combat, because if they are taken prisoner, they know they will be turned into sex slaves, and so they would rather blow themselves up. They are remarkable fighters. I have spoken to these women and it was a relation revelation. In that part of the world to see the women in trenches alongside the men, it is different. Charlie the coalition. How engaged is the rest of the coalition other than the United States and the kurds . David the last stop on our trip was the airbase in turkey, where the turks have allowed the u. S. And other Coalition Forces to operate. I was told by the commander of those are theron, sort of workhorse planes that are used to do targeting in , i was told there is a roughly equal Coalition Commitment there. I did not see the evidence of that, but i was told that on the record by the commander. They are there. The pattern of daily air operations over iraq and syria is pretty intense. When you go to these command display you can see the and combat information across the theater, you can see it is a 24 7 operation operation. They are targeting these people everywhere. It is very tough and dangerous to be in isis right now. Charlie and the russians . David the russians anddavid remain the interesting ex factor here. Xfactor here. There have been attacks this week, they have managed to blow up car bombs. To damascus. The situation is chaotic. The russians have been trying to forces president assads in pushing back the islamic on the almost refund a l musra front. That battle space is very conflicted. I think both the u. S. And russians now are playing for some kind of diplomatic resolution. I think the russians are looking at this and realize what a bramble bush this is, and would actually like to see the diplomacy work, if they could find a way. Charlie and what is the way . David in syria, the way is the geneva process that secretary of state john kerry and the russians have been working on, which is to get the opposition with elementsle, of the Syrian Regime and the support of saudi arabia, iran, turkey, and all the feuding neighbors, and her more out some kind of process for a political aansition hammer out process for political transition. The problem is, out beside bashir allah said thinks he is winning assad thinks he is winning. Secretary kerry can do this, it is yet to be said. I dont see a strategy or a four four military success. Area, thereeast seems to be a more Clear Strategy led by the kurds, who the turks hate, but they are letting operations go forward. Charlie thank you so much. Who justatius, returned from syria and iraq. Back in a moment. Stay with us. Charlie we now turn to politics. Recent polls show donald trump is competitive in the general relation election. He has escalated his Campaign Tactics against clinton, attacking bill clintons character and raising questions about Hillary Clintons record on women. Meanwhile, the long primary battle with Bernie Sanders has hurt clintons standing in the polls. On monday, donald trump met with senator bob corker amid rumors he might be a possible running mate. Join me is bob costa of the Washington Post. Thank you for doing this. Tell me where you think each campaign is at this moment, in terms of their assessment of the general election to come . Bob the Trump Campaign manager campaign at the moment is in a moment of transition, but surprising ease. There is a sense from trump tower that the money is coming in. The Party Leadership is on board. They see the party base reflected in the polling. They are full board right now into the general election campaign. Charlie at the same time, they are launching these really escalating attacks against bill clinton. Bob they are. That comes from donald trump himself. I sat down with him a few days ago, and has been in touch with his top advisers. Donald trump has for many Years Associated with people like roger stone, who dabbled in conspiracy theories. A few weeks ago, donald trump had lunch with edward klein. These are the people in his circle at this time. Donald trump believes he will go really with no limits in the general election campaign, bringing up things from the 90s. Some of the ugly political chapters that many people have forgotten or shelved. Charlie what does that say about donald trump to you . Bob what it says to me about trump is that this is a candidate who sees the general election and keep victory on the horizon but believes he has to battle to get there,. He needs to bring up things that are not part of normal political conversation. 1993 death about the of vince foster to see where he was on that, and he said it was very suspicious. He said he will not make a central case in his campaign about it, but it is striking we have a Major Party Nominee who edges toward consideration some of these things. Charlie these kinds of opinions are held by roger stone and others, but not the vast majority of the political community. Bob they are not. And the republican party, talking to consultants in washington, are already uncomfortable. But they sense trump has a strategy. It is just not just an argument on populism, but it is to destroy the clintons, sully their brand, bring up her negative numbers. Charlie will they go deeper and nastier . Bob i think trump has a lot of things on his radar. You look at all the accusations of sexual impropriety, and different relationships, even one need of broderick who accused bill clinton of rape in the 70s, these are part of a conservative conversation in the country. This is just a rising conversation, a bubble on the right that i think is about to burst into the heart of the general election campaign, because trump is encouraging it himself. Charlie right now, the Clinton Campaign and the former president and former secretary sense,e, are both in a not ignoring it, but not trying to attack every attack against them. Thats right. They are not trying to relitigate it. They dont want to get in a position where they have to respond. Speaking to clinton advisers and allies, they believe they have to show he is unqualified, and hes not ready for the white house. But they also dont have a candidate ready to engage moment by moment on social media on the cable airwaves,. Their only concern on my is that the saturation by trump on cable, facebook and twitter could be a problem in the long run, because it dominates the national narrative. Charlie is that part of what trump understands about media . Bob he is running a media campaign. This is not a candidate who is he is having fun raisers, but he is not planning an allout assault on the air. Grassroots organizing does not matter so much. This is the first time we have ever seen a true media candidate, someone who is every day calling into reporters, going on social media, going on cable as much as possible. Its a totally different paradigm. Charlie and tweeting about everything before he goes to bed. Bob everything. All hours a day. Does every day, he reads every article about him. Of course you can argue it is narcissism, and it is but at the same time it is, part of his strategy where he wants to be in the ecosystem of everything trump. Charlie are you primarily covering him . Is that your responsibility in the campaign . Bob im not a trump beat reporter. Charlie i know. But you are doing revealing articles along with bob woodward, in some cases about trump, not clinton. Bob clinton is not as accessible. I have always told clinton sources and advisers, i would welcome a phone call from her every day. Trump just makes himself accessible. If you put in a request, and if he is game, it may take under one hour to get him on the phone. With trump, i have been covering him for two years, and even further than that. This is a candidate who lives on media. If you can come to him with the news of the day, he is usually willing to have a conversation. Charlie hes absorbed by media. Bob obsessed. This is someone who grew up politically and professionally in the tabloid culture of new york in the 1980s. This is someone who knew then how his public image with everything. It was everything for his companies and that is how he sees his brand. Charlie what else do you think he understands about media . Bob i think he understands as bad as one day can get, it is only a day. He is not rattled by something that consumes the new cycle on wednesday. He thinks thursday, he can have a tweet or call in and change the whole context and debate, within hours. He really sees media is something not always going to be focused on one specific story, but can move quickly. He understands that instinctively. Charlie i assume choosing a Vice President ial nominee is one of the Big Decisions that he faces. Can you tell us what his thinking is about that . On i think on cbs, they had hit on what is happening. Trump wants an insider. If he wins, he doesnt have experience. I thin