 Good morning everybody. Good morning. I'm Nancy Lindbergh. I'm the president here at the U.S. Institute of Peace and I'm delighted to welcome you here this morning for an important conversation. And I also want to welcome everybody who's joining us on Facebook. You can tweet questions for us during the audience Q&A using the hash hashtag Ernst Duroc, USIP. As many of you know, USIP was founded by Congress in 1984 as an independent nonpartisan federal institution dedicated to reduce and violent international conflicts that pose a threat to U.S. national security. And we do this by working in conflict zones around the world providing partners with the tools, the approaches and the training so that they can manage conflict so it doesn't become violent and resolving it when it does. And we also host conversations like this here in our Washington Global Headquarters on critical policy issues of the day. So this morning we are honored to host Senator Joni Ernst to join us this morning to discuss U.S. policy options following the defeat of ISIS in Iraq. Senator Ernst brings true front-line knowledge to this issue. She served as a company commander in Kuwait and Iraq. She led over 150 army National Guardsmen during Operation Iraq Freedom in 2003 and she retired as a lieutenant colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard after 23 years of service. Last fall Senator Ernst led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Iraq where she met with U.S. troops and senior military and diplomatic leaders in the region. She's been a leader on these kinds of discussions focused on stabilizing Iraq and meeting the challenges of evolving global threats. In her role both as a member of the Armed Services Committee and as chair of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threat and Capabilities. She is the kind of leader we want and need in Congress today. And so we'll have a chance to hear her thoughts on how to sustain the military gains we already have made in Iraq once again at this pivotal post ISIS moment. This is an important topic for us here at USIP. We're especially pleased we can have this conversation today as it is one of our priority countries. We've been there continuously since 2003 working to strengthen the institutions and communities in their efforts to resolve conflicts. And I had a chance to see our USIP programs in February when I traveled there with our board chair Stephen Hadley who's here with us today and we met with partners from our network of Iraqi facilitators who we've supported and trained for over a decade and together a decade ago in Makhmudiyah known as the Triangle of Death we helped broker a peace agreement at the request of the US military between Sunni and Shia leaders that at the time stopped violence and lasted for a decade and helped that community withstand ISIS when it overran Iraq and more recently we focused our efforts with those same facilitators on supporting peace agreements in areas that have been liberated from ISIS and these have enabled more than half a million Iraqis to return home. We also visited Nineveh Plains where we partner and support the Alliance of Iraqi Minorities which advocates for political and social inclusion of religious and ethnic minorities like the Christians, the Shabbat, the Yazidis who are fighting to regain their lives in their communities after the brutal ISIS occupation. But in our conversations throughout the country we heard how fragile the country it still is and how the security threats persist. So we applaud congressional leaders like Senator Ernst who are keeping these issues at the forefront of the National Security Dialogue. We look forward to her thoughts today on the challenges and with that please join me in giving a warm welcome to Senator Joni Ernst. Thank you everybody and thanks for the great introduction too. I really appreciate it and it's it's good to be amongst so many friends and and thank you again. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about obviously a topic that's important to me which is U.S. policy in Iraq. As many of you know and as we just heard I did spend time in Iraq as a National Guardsman. Iowa Army National Guard and I deployed to Iraq where my company provided logistical convoys from Kuwait on up into Iraq and I can vividly remember those days the the sounds the smells the feel of the sandstorms coming in and that experience instilled in me a desire to facilitate peace and prosperity in that region that has been so devastated by war for so many decades. During our operations women and children would often come up to our trucks as we were pushing up into Iraq and they would literally beg for help. They would come to us seeking water or oftentimes food and many of my my soldiers would get very upset about the fact that we could not give them water or food and as we told our soldiers because if you start handing food or water out the windows of your trucks in a convoy you will bring more. They if you have it and you give it they will come and understanding then that we had to stay in our vehicles we couldn't hand out food we had to continue the mission. The more people that get into the roadways and into those villages into those areas the greater our our vulnerabilities would be out on the road so as we experienced that and it was especially some of my younger mothers too that had left children back at home when they saw young children that were hurting or that were hungry they wanted to stop. The American soldier is drawn to stop and assist and we were not able to do that because of our own vulnerabilities. We did not want to be at risk of ambush or attack. Now in my current role as a United States Senator from Iowa I am working to be part of a solution to the needs of the Iraqi people who desire to live in a prosperous nation they want that separate from the devastation and the humanitarian crisis that still plagues the country. Following the declared defeat of ISIS in December of 2017 the U.S. must now find ways to support Iraq's development as a free and democratic society while also ensuring that Iraq has the training and resources necessary to defeat any reemergence of ISIS or any similar type terrorist organization. We also need to work with our international partners to ensure the safety and well-being of the religious and ethnic minorities who have suffered the greatest burden of the violence in Iraq and finally the U.S. must work with Iraqi institutions to prevent Iran from poisoning the Iraqi transition to fit their regional goals rather than those of the United States or of Iraq. Our first and our highest priority must be to ensure that the Iraqi government has the equipment and the training to conduct sustained and resilient counter-terrorism operations. As we saw during the height of ISIS's gains in Iraq our efforts and those of the international community failed to prepare the Iraqi security forces to defend themselves adequately against ISIS. Reports and footage of Iraqi security forces abandoning U.S. provided arms and vehicles in their retreat from ISIS should serve as a reminder that unless we are confident in Iraq's capacity and ability to defend themselves U.S. presence in Iraq will remain necessary to protect our interests. The consensus to date is that the U.S. train, advise and assist mission has taken the lessons learned from the rise of ISIS and the Iraqi forces being trained today are considered much more capable than those that we saw trained in 2012. And as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the chairman of the Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee I've worked with my colleagues to provide consistent resources for this mission. Now that ISIS violence levels are down to their lowest level since the U.S. pulled out of Iraq we must buckle down and continue to bolster Iraqi security forces rather than becoming complacent and seeing some of the mistakes of the past. Secondly we must ensure that our stabilization efforts in Iraq do not overlook the most vulnerable and highest impacted communities which are those religious and ethnic minorities. Rather than providing blanket stability funding to Iraq I believe that the U.S. should in fact prioritize aid to those who have been most affected by food shortages violence and persecution. To accomplish this the U.S. must work with groups and partners such as the U.S. Institute of Peace thank you so much who have the relationships and the access that's necessary to reach into those communities and areas that are still being plagued by violence. The reality of the situation in Iraq is that some U.S. diplomatic and government personnel are unable to travel around the country due to security concerns. If we ever hope to support marginalized groups in Iraq we must improve our ability to move throughout the country so that we can reach those groups and provide the services necessary for them to prosper. To this end I would like to commend the current administration especially kudos to Vice President Mike Pence for pushing the United Nations to increase funding to these minority groups. Additionally I support the administration's efforts to provide direct relief to these groups through USAID rather than waiting for the UN and others. It is clear that Vice President Pence and others are committed to bringing these desperate people relief and I will continue to use my position in Congress to facilitate these efforts. Now the final point I would like to discuss is the need to counter Iranian influence in Iraq's government institutions. There is a school of thought out there that because the U.S. and Iran both seek to defeat ISIS that our strategic interests are therefore aligned in Iraq. And I categorically reject that premise as we have seen Iran's true regional goals in Syria and through their support for terrorist organizations that have killed United States and allied personnel across the Middle East. And we need to look no further than the constant Iranian call of death to America to realize that we are not and will never be strategically aligned with the Ayatollah regime. Iran's goal is to manipulate Iraqi development to allow its extremist fighters and weapons to have better access to Iraq and Syria where they can continue to support undemocratic governments such as the Assad regime. Iran's strategic goals would be significantly hindered by a free and prosperous Iraq with a with their strong western allies which is reason alone for the United States to continue countering these efforts. To do this the United States must remain a partner of choice for Iraq as it develops into a young democracy. We must continue to provide the Iraqi government as well as U.S. aligned groups in Iraq with the necessary security assistance and aid for them to transition into a prosperous nation that supports U.S. principles and values. So if we are giving up our hope or turning our backs on Iraq they will seek help elsewhere. We have already seen Iraq look to Russia for some of their military equipment which is counter to our goal of limiting Putin's influence over our allies. While there have been instances of U.S. arms falling into the wrong hands and the U.S. should make every effort to prevent those occurrences, Iraq will seek this aid regardless of our willingness to provide it. When we provide this aid rather than our adversaries we are more able to ensure that the employment of those articles is in line with our standards of combat and to conclude I would like to reemphasize that our top priority in Iraq should be to bolster the Iraqi security forces capacity to stamp out any reemergence of ISIS or the rise of any similar terrorist organization in Iraq. Our greatest security interest in the region is to defeat terrorist organizations before they gain the capability to project attacks against the United States. For decades U.S. service members have risked their lives to protect the freedoms that we hold so dear and during my own deployment there were even and I love this but there were even Iowa Army National Guard cooks that volunteered to join our logistical convoys as drivers in order to contribute to our overall cause and we owe it to those men and women especially the ones who have given the ultimate sacrifice as well as our Iraqi partners to complete the transition of Iraq into a prosperous and democratic society. While there is still much to be accomplished I am confident that our will to succeed is greater than our enemy's desire to see us fail. Again I want to thank you very much for allowing me to be here and I look forward to our question and answer session so thank you very much thank you for being here. Thank you very much. Now we're going to turn to the chair. Thank you again for joining us. My pleasure. Great to have you here and I'm going to take the prerogative of asking you a few questions before we open it up to our audience and I want to start you mentioned several times the importance of working to train and equip the Iraqi army and you also mentioned of course what we saw happen at the beginning of the ISIS invasion. What gives you faith that we'll be able to do so differently this time and and leave a stronger Iraqi army behind? Well I I do think through the trained advice and assist mission we have come a long way and we have taken through through our after action reviews we have taken some valuable lessons learned so the Iraqis truly do want to do better and I think that's key to their successes just that that they have that desire to overcome now and they have seen the leadership coming from the United States for many years now so we are seeing those those forces that are coming up having witnessed American leadership and gain knowledge from it and now they are in positions where they can project that strength forward so I do think that we need to continue pressing very hard with those trained advice and assist missions it's not something that we can let go but we are starting to see some of that leadership develop throughout those ranks and I think that that will be key in the future so many times I've heard from different units or different organizations that are doing the trained advice and assist missions that at first they were very hesitant unless they had an American that was with them leading whatever activity they were engaged in now the Americans are able to just truly do that advise portion and they are letting their Iraqi counterparts really provide the leadership necessary so again we have to push very hard in that area but I think we've come quite a long ways and in the past five or so years we heard when Steve and I were there we heard from a number of Iraqis that there was a sense that their military that the Iraqis had played a strong role towards the end of the defeat of ISIS does that does that give a different runway for working off of basic confidence right I was going to you said confidence I was going to say empowerment but certainly once you start to see success you feel success you see yourself as a successful leader and so again developing those those fighters through the ranks as they develop their skills and rise up into those leadership positions you will continue to see more of that that is what we are hoping for but again we have we have to keep our foot on the gas pedal with the trained advice and assist mission this is not something that I think that we can back off on right now at some point I think there's a lot of folks out just we were talking a little bit ago about across America what are people saying there is a bit of weariness when it comes to whether it's Iraq or or Afghanistan but we have a role to play there and we do not want to see what we saw occur with the rise of ISIS we cannot we cannot afford that and you alluded to this in your speech Iraq is in a tough neighborhood there's a lack going on and so what do you see in terms of you know critical issues in the region that affect our interests and also affect Iraq's ability to move forward well I I think there's the the typical discussions of Syria and so forth but I would say from my perspective to another area that we really need to spend some more time on and in a really solid discussion is the issue of Turkey I have had some some issues I know others will as well understanding that Turkey should be a close ally of ours they are an ally but they're supposed to be an ally so it is very tough when when you see Erdogan holding Americans prisoner in what is an allied nation we look at Andrew Brunson Pastor Brunson was just on on the news he's been released under house arrest now so that's a step forward but the fact that he has been imprisoned for so long is a serious issue that that should be dealt with so there's so many so many other issues whether they are attempting to purchase Russian made military equipment that doesn't work with NATO equipment there are just so many issues there that are complicating that region even more and I go back the issues I have with Turkey going back to when I deployed when I was a young Iowa Army National Guard captain my power projection platform for my transportation company was Turkey and for those of you that remember going back to 2003 Turkey denied the United States the ability to use their country as a power projection platform and so because of that then my company ended up rerouted into Kuwait where there were thousands and thousands and thousands of other Americans waiting to get into Iraq because they were supposed to go through Turkey too and so we had this backlog of movement trying to get into Iraq and it was a very difficult time because Turkey didn't want to enable the assault into Iraq so it increases the stakes in Iraq yes it does given all of these multiple influences you of course mentioned Iran as a competitor for Iraqi interests as well absolutely and that's a really difficult situation as well when we talk about our our big adversaries Iran is one of those one of the top countries that we will look at and they complicate the issue as well and I don't have much good to say about Iran as well I mean it's just really very complicated and you throw in a little bit of Russian influence too and it's very complicated and that's one of the issues that we were discussing earlier how we have we used to have Rex Tillerson as the Secretary of State we have Secretary Mattis at the Department of Defense and we would have Dan Coates come in and talk intelligence and they would give briefings in the skiff under the capital and they talked about so many of the different relationships that exist in that region and how you have some certain countries aligned with other countries but they are not friends of this country and Secretary Mattis he said you find that your enemy one day is your partner the next and he said it is extremely complicated and it is ever changing you you mentioned of course the difficulty of the religious minorities in Iraq and we have going on this week the U.S. hosted ministerial on international religious freedom where this is among the many topics being discussed what what do you see as the priority assistance that we can and should provide to help the Christians the Shabbat and the Yazidis try to try to gain I mean it's a talk about complexity it's a terribly complex and heartbreaking situation it is and and that's why we do have to rely on international partners as well I think that that is very important and then other organizations that we have our non-governmental organizations that can go in and provide that assistance pushing the U.N. I think is very important and that's why I said kudos to the vice president for engaging in that discussion because it was absolutely necessary we just can't throw a blanket of money at a country and expect that money to get into the populations that need it the most so when you're talking about those persecuted minorities we have to ensure that they are getting the medical supplies they are getting the food necessary that they have clean water all of that is required we just have to make sure they get that so working like with folks at USAID and others I think that is the best way to do that and of course mark green the aid administrator was just over there one final question then we're going to open it up but when Steve Hadley and I were over there we heard from a tribal shake who leaned over and said you know we've won the war three times now what do we need to do to win the peace oh gosh and so the question is how do you answer that question what do we need to do and the three wars big the saddam the the awakening and then ices okay and ices yes we fought the military has fought one right three times right and again it's so difficult because they have so many different ethnic minorities and different religious groups across iraq but we can't win the peace for them and I think that's the key to any region where we're engaged we can't want it more than they do and so we have to build or foster that desire with the iraqi people to find peace and we can help them collaborate as groups we can foster discussion amongst groups we can provide guidance but we can't we cannot do it for them if we are doing it for them we won't see a lasting peace so that's why with the going back to the train advice and assist missions it's all well and good if you have an american soldier that is leading the charge but the iraqis are not learning the leadership unless they're actually engaging as a leader in that charge so we really do need to to bring them together help them collaborate guide that discussion but it ultimately is up to them and it takes a much longer time than most americans imagine right which is one of the challenges of course the time horizon after the kind of change i'm going to open it up for questions we have a couple of mic runners um and yeah we'll start right there and then go to kurt second good morning thank you for doing this my name is rafael salido from fnews they wanted to know your opinion with the recent elections now you have that also there do you think that the situation has changed there because me in the past he was not precisely friend of the u.s that's how it's going to change things there but the well we still wait for their yes and time time will tell and no not exactly a friend to the united states however we do have to continue working with the established government once once everyone is in in place we continue working that's the way we are as the united states we have our objectives within iraq we need to make sure that those are fulfilled that means working with whoever the iraqi people have elected whether it's our choice or not if that's who they have elected we will work with them again because we can't afford just to step back from this such situation as nancy said this is going to take a long time and i think back to when we first went into iraq in 2003 a lot of the soldiers that were there with me had also deployed for desert storm desert storm was a very quick in and out conflict war okay and what we saw going into iraq in 2003 was very different so there was a preconceived notion that this is going to be quick and easy it's going to be over with la di da but those older wiser more senior members of our military said and at that time they had said we'll be here a decade well we've been there 15 years now so um we have a long ways to go yet but we will work with whoever is in place we have to can i just note i mean we it really does feel like a different moment uh in terms of the iraqi's own desire to forge peace in their country your comment that we can't want it more than they do but when they do want it our support absolutely absolutely and and that is key because now that they are tasting tasting that little bit of peace they do have people that are advancing into leadership within their own forces they are able to take ownership of their situation and that's what has to happen in order to be successful we are getting there are we there yet we are not there yet and the weariness that we're experiencing just as we're talking sitting in this senate arm services committee through our meetings people are asking when are we going to get out of iraq when are we going to get out of afghanistan we've been there too long what what gains are we seeing um under understood i get that we have expended a lot of lives in iraq but we can't just let go and expect that all will be well and the united states will not be another target at some point in the future uh kurt senator kurt boker executive director of the mccain institute any member of nancy's international advisory board and uh and uh special representative for ukraine negotiations oh i'm not going to ask you about ukraine i actually want to come to um just what you are talking about uh which i think is a critically important thing first thank you for your service and your leadership and for the position that you're taking uh which is articulating a very strong case for robust american leadership uh to address an issue that is of critical importance to our country and also globally um but what i'm curious about is how do you see the trends in the american public is that a position that you can sell to people can you explain to people um can you sustain support for that can we all do that because i do believe it's critically important but i think we're we're facing a time and and i'll even say even you know particularly within the republican party we're sustaining that level of international leadership and commitment is getting difficult you're right and we just had this discussion before we entered the room about what what does the american public think and what are we hearing and it it used to be a time especially when i first entered the united state senate because we saw the eyes or the rise of isis it was on everybody's minds but now that we have seen isis um pushed out of iraq now the public's not talking about it how many of you've heard media stories in the last couple of days about iraq just a couple folks um what we're hearing is trade and tariffs and the e u and nato meetings and putin meetings and and so we're not focused on on where we are engaging our troops and and that does disturb me because if we don't have the support of the american people those of us that are elected to represent those folks back home we're not going to put the emphasis on it either so every night i get a tally sheet of what people are calling in about and from each of my iowa offices as well as what they're calling in about at my dc office and i review that i can't remember the last time i saw somebody call in or talk to me about iraq for or against for or against not it's just none it's it's not the topic of conversation right now i bet you could walk out into the streets here in washington dc and just ask random joe on the street hey do you know we still have troops in iraq and they'd probably be like no we're not there so um so it it's really difficult for those of us that serve in the senate to continue supporting when we're not hearing that level of support coming from back home and therefore the the weariness why are we spending so much money there when it's not a top priority for our constituents it's why those of us that see that bigger picture in the global impact it's why we have to communicate with those other members why it is so important because we're not hearing it from constituents we're not hearing about it through the media so it does make our job harder but as i said before we came in i said in in iowa we have a very high percentage of of veterans we have nearly seven percent of our population our veterans in iowa and we have no active duty installations we have reservists and national guardsmen and then we have the the active duty folks that will leave iowa and go somewhere else to serve um but we have those members in every community and so when you talk to people in the communities they're familiar with the war in iraq they know someone who has served in iraq they get it but we're just not talking about it and we need to do more of that um the mic is coming right there hi um only back here from the consulate for relations and the high university senator we talk about the post icis to that but in fact icis is still very much there and in fact last week there was a big article in the washington post about how the road between kirk and bagdad is not safe um right because icis is essentially blocking very often and people have to fly instead of driving and but icis is not just an iraq problem it's a regional problem and in fact my question really has to do with the administration's policy or the white houses policy with respect to icis because on the one hand we have troops in syria fighting icis and and the president wants to pull them out and he actually would like to have pulled them out months ago if it wasn't for general matters so what would you be your advice in terms of to the administration and whether or not you would like to push back the administration in terms of being much more active in terms of fighting icis because if you pull the troops out of syria icis is going to come back right and icis is and the thing about icis is like it's it's a virus it will spread and if you don't keep the pressure on them that's what they will do yeah and that is a great way to describe it and i would say that we do have to push back on the administration and it's it's not just with icis it's you know pulling troops out of south korea i think there's just so many instances of we want to bring our men and women home and and that's great i would support that as well you know i'd love i'd love to have a peaceful world but we know that's not true so we have declared victory over icis in iraq but we still know that they exist many of them have just dismantled they have they have gone back into general population so it's almost like what we would call whack-a-mole one pops up here you slap them back down and then another one pops up over here and that's why we have to have that continued trained advice and assist mission in iraq because we have to be there we have to assist with that leadership um we have to make sure that icis doesn't redevelop and i think your description of icis being like a virus is spot on it is perfect uh and how we should be describing icis because the minute you take your eyeball off of it it is going to multiply and you are right so in syria icis is a big issue and that's why we have our american men and women in that region in syria and fighting um the president again would as you said would love to pull them out of syria and that is not feasible that is not feasible and secretary mattis does have the president's ear and i'm very thankful that that the president does listen to that he does listen to the secretary and so we still have troops there we will continue to push against that i think those of us that understand how volatile the situation could be if we pull our our troops out we will continue to be pressing very hard to make sure they they remain um so thank you it's a it's a great point and of course senator as you mentioned earlier it's the it's the military plus other capabilities of NGOs and and others and international partners yeah that's uh right here thank you for being here today senator uh charlie rogan artist international in all research outside of mozo two weeks after the east bank had been cleared we actually found among Sunni Arabs that the Kurds and the Peshmerga were the most respected talking about how today there seems to be a different climate in iraq and the officer corps and the nco seem you know more likely and more determined to actually carry out their mission what do you think's changed from today compared with 2011 well again i think it's it's the leadership opportunities that have been afforded but the Kurdish Peshmerga and just from from my experience and and those that i have worked with are are very highly respected and they will always be highly respected they have been such great partners to our u.s. servicemen and women but i i do think it's the leadership opportunity and the fact that they have been able to grow in their ranks develop those young officers and nco's as you stated they have had the opportunity to serve in those positions now they know their tasks it's just like any young nco or officer in our armed armed forces the more you are rehearsing the more you are completing a task the better you are going to be at that task and the way i and i should have described this earlier but leadership when you define leadership the way the army the united states army defines leadership or a leader is someone who can inspire others towards a common goal or objective for the good of the organization or the unit that's a leader and so the fact that we now have those in roles where they can inspire others to follow them follow their example they are becoming a much a much better force thank you senator we have a question from facebook wow asking what is the threat presented by the iranian forces present in iraq and is there anything we can do to remove them well we need to keep keep pushing against the iranians and their threat is no matter where they are there is a threat they enable the killing of so many u.s. service members during our time in iraq through the development of ied's and other types of of bombs and and so forth they want americans gone they want americans gone and that poses a security risk a stability risk to iraq because their interests are not our interests in iraq and so what is the ultimate path forward in getting the iranians out of iraq i can't detail that to you today and again it goes back to that interesting web that secretary mattis was trying to describe to us and who's partners with who and and who's the adversary of who and it it just becomes extremely complicated but you know as i always say russia's is not our friend iran is not our friend either um we have a question over here hello uh laura kelly from the washington times thank you for being with us today um i think what we saw in the fight against isis was this unprecedented unity among the iraqi forces and they did gain a great deal of skill with the training assist program from the u.s. and international partners but i think now what we're seeing is they're taking that leadership and skill and they are coming into their own groups and they're separating and they're protecting their own interests and of course iran is involved in this as well with the shia militias so how what is the role of the u.s continuing going forward in promoting unity um and also balancing all of these different self interests and absolutely and that's um why we were talking earlier about the collaboration and the leadership that needs to be provided by the united states whether it's through our military organizations or through other non-governmental organizations and international partnerships we have to be the ones fostering the discussion amongst the different groups uh it is really important that we are leading the discussion and again we can't solve the issue for them they have to find that path forward and take ownership of their own destiny again they have to want it more than than we want it so it is really providing providing the the necessary steps to work forward in a in a discussion and working with those groups well that that is a discussion that i think in a debate that would need to happen up the hill there there again are just so many different interests involved and so whether it's promising arms to a certain group or deciding not to arm a certain group those are some of the discussions that that we can have um and then there can be other discussions with our international partners as well um so that's one method carrot or stick um but yes we just have to be able to pull them together though and they they have got to figure this out they have got to figure this out quickly goes to the complexity that you've that you continue to mention um we'll take uh two final questions here oh and then on the aisle hi senator thank you for your service i'm phil Schrafer i'm a retired international healthcare worker and spent three years in active duty in the marine corps uh the complexity of iran um i believe general matt has actually thought that we should have stayed in the nuclear agreement i believe i've never heard ruhani or the foreign minister saying anything about death to america way back ack mcdinejad said something about death to americans but so i i don't know where that where that comes from i mean is it more of a Shiite Sunni struggle that isn't that part of the complex it is part of the complex as well again going back to that very same web that we've been talking about there are so many different interests so many different factions so many different groups and they're all competing to be that alpha leader uh so it it is very complex and the nuclear agreement is another level or layer of complexity now with iran as well so we do have a number of international partners that are still engaging and the united states now is not so again finding our way forward and working between congress the administration department of defense uh we have to speak with one voice and we have to work with our international partners as well to find a path forward the path forward is not clear it is not clear and last question yeah senator thank you very much chef selden from voa you mentioned earlier the lack of focus on us troops in iraq in syria in afghanistan do you think leaders at the pentagon like secretary madis need to be more vocal invisible and also very quickly how effective do you think russia's been in picking off u.s allies across that part of the world well to the the first point having certain leaders be more vocal and and visible i if we could clone secretary madis i think we could make him a lot more visible and and vocal if you look around around the globe with what we have with north korea with um with russia i mean there's just so many other areas of interest right now that he is also working on so i wish we had i do wish we had more of him because he is a very good communicator and i think we need to raise the level of iraq syria and afghanistan and we need to keep that out in the news so people are paying attention and so that we do have the support of the american people unfortunately we can't clone secretary madis so we have got to find other leaders that are going to inspire out there as well so that will fall on some of us that are in the united states senate and the house uh other leaders throughout the do d that can be kind of a voice of reason out there as well so that's that that piece we just have to have the right people inspiring others as far as russia picking up uh or picking off our allies in the region is that they they make some interesting promises and and we know they try and you know voice their their systems off their military systems off on on folks in that region too and they make big promises but i think the partner of choice is the united states of america and many of those countries will understand and many of those groups will understand that if you are working with the united states there is an opportunity for peace in the future there is an opportunity to advance there is an opportunity to align yourself with the west um if they choose russia they go on a totally different path and again the partner of choice would be the united states of america there's just so much more opportunity presented by partnering with the united states senator i know you have a busy day on the hill uh we thank you for taking the time to come down and talk to us about this issue um i want to really thank you for the strategic focus that you bring on this critical issue as well as so much heart and humanity that you bring to the conversation we thank you for being up there working this hard thank you for joining us this morning please join me and thank you senator