how iraq, lebanon, lebanon mirrors iraq and so on. but i think the healthy thing that i had seen emerge in iraq is that suddenly. and all the slogans and billboards and flags that carry the iraqis like as opposed to any other flag, and that declare no to secrataraism, no to fear, that this really shows that an iraqi identity exists and that it's trying to break out from the chains or the pressures that have been put on it in order to fragment it. and i think this is an extremely healthy sign here and if there's anything i am really encouraged by is, it is that. i'm also encouraged that christians have also shown support. some kurds have shown support. people, yes, they haven't come out and protest that i tried to explain that i believe in, but there is a national solidarity in the name of this. >> actually this question is for rend and majid, as joey is my boss twice removed. rend and majid, do you think >> actually this question is for rend and majid, as joey is my boss twice removed. rend and majid, do you think there will be a mome

to work with iraq. and so the iraqis are asking the same thing, but it is to disentangle the religion from politics and from militias. all armed groups need to be under the control of the central government, and that is a fact. and everyone agrees with that, i think between the u.s. government and the iraqi government. the disentangling of religion from politicsk and we heard majit talk about it earlier how some of the coalitions and the parties are now cross sectarian, and there needs to be more of that so that the people won't look at a particular party leader and say they are only for the shiaer to kurds or the sunnis or whatever, and we want a central government in iraq, and that is what we want to support. >> thank you. right here? >> thank you very much. wonderful discussion. i have a quick question to majit jaffir. the iraqi protesters have been not violent and particularly in najif. and i am sure that you are watching every single detail in iraq, and just two days ago i heard that somebody in bu

for iraq. and i think what you're seeing iraqis ask for now is the same thing, but also disentangle religion from politics from malicious. all armed groups need to be under the control of the central government, that's a fact. and everyone agrees with that i think between u.s. government and the iraqis government. the disentangling of religion from politics, we heard try to talk about earlier how some of the coalitions and parties are now cross sectarian. there needs to be more of that so the people to look at a particular party or party leader and say they are only for the shia are the only for the sunni arabs or the kurds or whatever. that's what iraq will have evolved into a much more representative democracy and that's what you want to support. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. wonderful discussion. i have to my questions to majid. iraq you protesters have been nonviolent, particularly in -- [inaudible] just to make days ago following, i'm sure you're watching every detail and iraq, jus

what happens in iraq to what extent is what happed what's happening in iraq today does does iran accept that it that it's it's false. and it's just totally exaggerated if iran had that much power maybe they could have. secured their own consulates in niger so exaggerating iran's influence in iraq is of a of the losing parties in iraq elections to accuse the winners of elections of some foreign connection when you accuse the iraqi government you're basically insulting the iraqi people that voted for that government you know that iraq is one of the few arab countries that actually as representative government to be have monarchy is they have dictatorships we have a general that's come to power to work with its allies in the arab world and we have iraq that actually holds elections and they want to have leadership change and some some of these monarchies don't like to see democracy in iraq that's why the excuse that i see government of difference so how do you explain the anger in iraq at the moment particularly directed at iran. yeah that's a very good question the basic question is that

iraq. introduce our distinguished panelists and provide information before turning to them for discussion. michael. [indiscernible] >> is this on? >> ok good. i want to introduce our analyst. and al is a senior fellow senior intelligence office with 28 years of experience. he spent time working on iran's influence in iraq. iranians are interfering. [laughter] politicalassador is a activist. he is a founder of the iraq foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to the support and promotion of democracy and human rights. >> we need technical help. ok. is that good? >> that is better. 2019 --november [indiscernible] .epresenting iraq he is a senior fellow where he focuses on iran and iraq. resident and a fellow. before i turn it over to our panelists and i hope the mic is working, i want to make a few remarks. i hope this will friend the discussion today. that toy conviction is counter iranian power, we need to dismantle iranian soft power. with itso understand streams of messaging. power

desperation in iraq. violence bring the country to a state of unrest not seen since the overthrow of saddam hussein. mali's president claims the rise of islamist extremist groups threatens the very existence of his country despite the presence of french forces in the west african nation. live from moscow to the world this is r.t. international my names you know neil you're welcome to the program. a leaked video appears to cast doubts on the impartiality health america's a.b.c. news channel in it a network anchor claims the station quare her explosive interview with an accuser of the time geoffrey epstein back in 2015 who allegedly detailed a convicted paedophiles predatory behavior the following is part of the video obtained by transparency group project for it. with everything. i have i tried for 3 years to get it on to no avail and now it's coming out and thinking well of revelations that i had i was so pissed right now that every day i get more and more pissed because i'm just like. it was what we had

i understand why in talking about iraq, we are always talking about iraq. this is not always the best way to think of iraq. iraq is not a function of iran, as we often treat it in washington. and when we treated that way, we only reinforce an existing problem. i think we need to think of iraq separately from iran. there was no question that at the moment there is a strong link. u.s. policy seems to be more focused on iran and the byproduct. iraq is one of the byproducts of the focus on iran. i don't think it would be right to continue to think of iraq as a function of policies towards iran. that must have -- >> that must have resonated with people in the department of defense, the state department because they have not put them in the sphere of that influence. it is only recently that iranians have been put back in that conversation. it is a good thing we are talking about iran's influence. the narrative has been that of course they will have influence. canada is our neighbor, but doesn't pick our president. mexico is our neighbor, but they don't have prima

southern provinces and iraq. really all out of to try to contain this peacefully and to seek solutions to respond to the demands of the demonstrators because the whole region is boiling to be honest with you while mr zebari we have to leave it there thank you very much for sharing your perspective but that's today most of us most of our viewers can keep this conversation going in our social media pages ask me in the team we hold again same place same time one of the worlds apart. is your media a reflection of reality. in a world transformed. what will make you feel safe. isolation community. are you going the right way or are you being led. by. what is true what is right. in the world corrupted you need to descend. to join us in the depths. or a maybe in the shallows. i suggest is a call the reverse hunger games then we must understand our randomly pick $10.00 to $15.00 billionaires every year and strip them of everything get it down to 0 and course i'm out there make it into the world of commerce and see if they

vice-president pense visiting iraq and not visiting baghdad going to the kurdish region violating iraq is solid to have the saudis that have interfered in iraqi affairs for many years using petro dollars and pain anyone who was available to attack iran we had isis that's try to overtake baghdad and based on what we hear from our iraqi brothers if it was not for iranian help iraq would not be able to. resist against isis in starts and they even try to take over the core of this huge and based on what the core dish leaders say that it was iran's help that saved iraqi court the sun from isis so when you're attacking iran and you're entitled to it to do that that's ok iran is mature enough to be able to take this type of attack and are its forces how its forces on the ground that. are its forces involved on the ground in confronting the demonstrators in iraq or are advising iraqi security forces very briefly if you can please. the iraqi security forces capable of security in their country fight against isis there are key government does not have good relations with the united states that's

elsewhere desperation in iraq with mass protests and violence bring the country to a level and say this is the overthrow of saddam hussein. and mollie's president claims the rise of islamist extremist groups threatens the very existence of his country despite the presence of french forces in the west african nation. by their telly on wednesday morning moscow life from the us he will do centered kevin 0 in here with a half hour updates and she company 1st leaked video appears to cast doubt on the impartiality of america's a.b.c. news in it a network anchor claims the channel quashed her explosive interview with the accuser of disgraced tycoon geoffrey epstein back in 2015 allegedly detailing the convicted paedophiles predatory behavior this is part of that video obtained by transparency group project veritas. with everything. i have i tried for 3 years to get on to no avail and now it's all coming out and thinking well of revelations that i presume. i was so pissed right now that now this came to us from an insider within the network an insider who currently works at a.b.c. news leaked u

>> first of all i am found of my service in iraq. i think most veterans who served in iraq honorably who served without committing any war crimes or engaging in any type of dishonorable behavior would say the same thing. airmen the marines and and coast guard men that served in these conflicts are on the ine level those that fought normandy. in myare the marines that gaze of the marine corps trained me and i look up to them and yet it always and they should be proud of what they accomplished. i don't think anybody can say with a straight face that the iraq war was a good thing for our foreign policy and national security. it has indisputably made us less led to the expansion of radicalism across the middle east. we are talking about celia in many ways. what's going on in celia is directly linked to our decision to invade. al-baghdadi is a very conservative muslim and was radicalized by the iraq war. powerddam still been in it's very unlikely he would have emerge.roup like isis not a lot of people around town still defend that decisio

how iraq, lebanon, lebanon mirrors iraq and so on. but i think the healthy thing that i've been seeing emerge in iraq is that suddenly [inaudible] and all the slogans and billboards and flags that carry the iraqi flag as opposed to any other flag, and that declare no to sectarianism, no to fear, that this really shows that an iraqi identity exists and that it's trying to break out from the chains or the pressures that have been put on it in order to fragment it. and i think this is an extremely healthy, healthy sign here and if there's anything i'm really encouraged by is, it's that. i'm also encouraged that christians have also shown support. some kurds have shown support. people in him on have -- in him on have shown support. yes, they haven't come out and protest that i tried to explain that i believe in, but there is a national solidarity in the name of this. actually this -- the name of this. >> actually, this question is for rend and for majid, as joey is my boss twice removed. rend and majid, do you think there will be a moment

that has helped the people of iraq at all you know either before or after the invasion. it's $114.00 moscow time we've got much more. clued in this more twists and turns of a trumpet. but the key witness now but tracking on his words and needed released e-mails exposing even more intrigue. the good news if you like and use the term deep state you are no longer deemed a conspiracy theorist the bad news the deep sea is very real and powerful and dangerous democratic process the deep state as the 4th branch of government as it counts. key witness in president trumps impeachment inquiry has backtracked on his previous statement the us ambassador to the e.u. has now acknowledged telling that financial aid would likely be withheld until ukraine agrees to a certain quid pro quo. also i now do recall a conversation on september 1st 21000 and warsaw with you mr your mac this brief conversation followed a larger meeting involving vice president pants and president selenski in which president selenski had raised the issue of suspension of u.s. aid to ukraine directly with vice pres

and desperation in iraq has protests and violence gripped the country on a scale others seen since the overthrow of saddam hussein. a very warm welcome to you you're watching r.t. international with me nicky erin 1st up this news that just in a convoy invicta victim to an armed eastern booking a fast so reports suggest that the 7 people were killed and 16 more injured the incident happened some 40 kilometers from one of the firm's mines it was being escorted by local security forces will bring you any further developments to this story as soon as we get it. i mean lection campaigning in the u.k. has got off to a bad tempered start this wednesday with boris johnson launching a series of scathing attacks on the opposition leader the prime minister appealed to the public to vote for his conservative party rather than jeremy corbin's labor which he claimed has failed to take a tough enough line of russia. come with us a government that believes britain should stand in the world or go with generally could be in the labor party who sided with putin when russia poisonings the streets. the pri

iraq's relations with iran have strained aspects of u.s.-iraq relations. but it's more important for us to work together as partners. as we saw for example during the mission last week that resulted in the death of the isis leader al-baghdadi. the u.s. operation was one key ingredient for the success of that operation. we don't espn a lot of time on individual bi-lateral operations in the atlantic council across our 13 programs and that act on issues in all regions of the world. what we do is we focus on the bilateral relations that we think have outsized importance and there's no doubt that that's the case in iraq and therefore our iraq initiative. today our expert panel will help us understand these dynamics and more. before i turn the floor over to moderate with our panelists, i would like to briefly introduce we are always happy when someone can break loose of their government offices. we know how demanding your jobs are. he is the principal deputy in the state department euro of near eastern affairs. he spent much of his career working in the middle e

iraq or help remove iraq from that sphere of influence. not the united states but by helping the iraqis do it, the iraqis had to do it and they are doing it with their lives. >> thank you. i'm going to open it up for a discussion, at least for questions from the audience. is there a microphone? >> , so you are come wait for the microphone to get to you and keep it to a question was in a statement. you can do a short statement of the question. >> thank you for hosting this. i am from kurdistan 24. as you know, rubble, that are -- and iraq now demanding the reduce of kurdistan regional government's role by demanding an amendment to the constitution. its focus on a couple articles there along to the right and earnings of krg. and the kurdish leadership, the kurdish people asking about they have, raising just one question now. they do feel, they do know there's a kind of agenda that's been playing political games, but to what extent that's related to the demands of the fate of iraq? it's the right thing to have articles -- [inaudible] what you

from developing prevented iraq from having a successful political democracy people in iraq today are protesting against the sectarian regime you are not protesting against that from an ideological perspective they're protesting against that from an institutional perspective they're fed up by being governed as sunni's shias kurds they want to be they want to be governed in an equal way as iraqis were through a government that focuses on providing them the right education infrastructure security glower your thoughts on this the iraqi public fed up with tech tarion politics and looking for a leader that can unite the country who could this leader be and if not this sectarian based political system then what replaces it. well they will never find a leader who's beyond that we never had those father figures in iraq but remember iraq is ethno religiously diverse different sects this could have been a richness of the community and the country could have been good for politics community as well as economy however the decades of division polarization and dictatorship brought us here this far

from developing prevented iraq from having a successful political democracy people in iraq today are protesting against the sectarian regime you are not protesting against that from an ideological perspective they're protesting against that from an institutional perspective they're fed up by being governed as sunni's shias kurds they want to be they want to be governed in an equal way as iraqis were through a government that focuses on providing them the right education infrastructure security glower your thoughts on this the iraqi public fed up with sectarian politics and looking for a leader that can unite the country who could this leader be and if not this sectarian based political system then what replaces it. well they will never find a leader who's beyond that we never had those father figures in iraq but remember iraq is ethno religiously diverse different sects this could have been a richness of the community and the country could have been good for politics community as well as economy however the decades of division polarization and dictatorship brought us here this far an

and desperation in iraq as protests and violence gripped the country on the scale unseen the overthrow of saddam hussein. this is our international i'm john thomas certainly glad to have you with us general election campaigning in the u.k. got off to a bad tempered start on wednesday with boys johnson launching a series of scathing attacks on the opposition leader the prime minister appealed to the public to vote for his conservative party rather than jeremy corbin's labor which he claimed has failed to take a tough enough stance on russia. come with us a government that believes britain should stand in the world or go with generally could be in the labor party who sided with putin when russia ordered poisonings on the streets. prime minister there in the grab that years referring to the script poisoning case back in march 28th seen of course russia did get the blame for this consistently denied all the allegations ever since because the prime minister they're bringing up the scandal to basically discredit jeremy corbyn as part of the campaign going forward and it wasn't the only anti

in iraq is no stranger to turmoil the country's seen little piece and even less the billet since the us led invasion of 2003 mass protests and violence of regulating gulf the state of these though are the worst since the overthrow of saddam hussein 16 years ago. hundreds killed dozens in just one week by live ammunition many thousands injured amid a heavy crackdown by security forces other governments to provide special forces imposed curfews and an internet blackout across the whole country but that's just anger to crowds even more roads and bridges have been blocked by demonstrators who have also try. the takeover of buildings both in the capital baghdad and across other cities and why is this happening to some these protests address years of grievances corruption unemployment poor public service is there a source of anger across many countries but in iraq things should be different iraq should be thriving the country's oil revenue has exceeded 850000000000 in the post saddam years with production nearly doubling despite the internal strife with iraq estimated to hold almost 10 per

invasion and occupation by statistics iraq having 10 percent nearly 10 percent of the. all reserves this should be a wealthy state yet we're seeing something quite different here how much of this is about that inequality about the wealth which is not trickling down with shoes being lost going down the drain to a corrupt system there were large state owned companies that that was the very basis of the iraqi economy and they supported this you know mixed mixed economy beyond that that was all completely destroyed unemployment under the u.s. occupation at one point breached at least 60 percent essential leave the sort of. you know pyramid of of power in you know occupied in post occupation iraq where you know this tiny group of u.s. and iranian backed exiles has you know with u.s. and iranian support created a monopoly on power that the vast majority of the disenfranchised alienated people of iraq have never supported the u.s. who really has completely discredited itself from start to finish it has done nothing that has helped the people of iraq at all you know either befo

southern provinces and iraq. we all out of try to contain this peacefully and to seek solutions to respond to the demands of the demonstrators because the whole region is boiling to be honest with you while mr zebari we have to leave it there thank you very much for sharing your perspective but that's today most of us most of our viewers can keep this conversation going in our social media pages as funny in the team we hope to see again same place same time one of wilde's a part. of . time after time to repeat the same mantra sustainability very important. transition to sustainable transport sustainability. a more equitable and sustainable. they claim their production is completely harmless. it. companies want us to feel good about buying their products while the damage is being done far away and this is a this. is a tense situation in venezuela is still all over the news the problem in venezuela is not that socialism has been poorly implemented but that socialism has been a holy temple in the inside venezuela th

iraq is the 4th largest has the 4th largest oil reserve in the world and yet iraq doesn't have electricity enough electricity so the corruption is huge in iraq and this political class i mean this is what made these protesters actually decide to go out and decide to bring not only the government this is just one step in a very long way towards achieving their objectives they want to bring down the whole political class which have actually made iraq a very poor country because of this corruption and because of the lack of services because of the lack of reforms i think so i demand is just one figure out of flaws that most iraqis would like to see goal. as a but we appreciate your insight thank you so much for joining us here on al-jazeera thank you. we move on to the other top stories today informal talks have resumed between the afghan taliban and american officials the taliban telling al-jazeera that some initial meetings have been taking place here in doha and those discussions could pave the way for the resumption of formal peace talks president counseled to go see asians in september a

southern provinces and iraq. we all out of try to contain this peacefully and to seek solutions to respond to the demands of the demonstrators because the whole region is boiling to be honest with you while mr zebari we have to leave it there thank you very much for sharing your perspective but that's today most of us most of our viewers can keep this conversation going in our social media pages as for me and the team we hope to see you again same place same time one of the world's apart. because my. point it's not that. i want. the west. the so-called individual. a strong. society and the freedom of. at least a little. college student goes on a shooting rampage and rushes far east today killing one and injuring 3 others before taking his own life. also. supporters of the president clash with police to. see is under pressure to explain convincingly why it pulled an explosive story on convicted. stead the broadcast is apparently.

top story of the anger in iraq against iran and its fallout so anti-government protests in iraq's predominantly south have exposed resentment iranian influence and the grievances go back iran became a power broker off to the us invasion of iraq in 2003 it backed the political factions militias which have dominated iraq since iran also supported she has that mobilized in 2014 in the battle against isobel they gained influence became a powerful political faction in parliament and integrated into the military for many protesters blame the militias for violence against protesters and last year security forces have killed more than $150.00 people in less than a week in protests in early october let's bring in the head of policy analysis of arab center for research and policy studies is joining us here in doha thanks for being with us on the al-jazeera news hour and we come to the events of just under 24 hours ago where we saw iraqi protesters burned the consulates in what do you to read into that with this is not the 1st time in iraq you've got this sort of. attacking iran the in consulates and iraq

using iraq right now as a pawn in the in their regional strategies well unfortunately of course iraq the. playing field since the nation 2003 inches an insult to anyone's intelligence to suggest that iranians are the iranian government not many fucking about the iranian people we are all simply each well oh my present age. i am directly talking about the iranian government here since the american invasion it open. in your archy politics since of course the dismantling of iraqi infrastructure i est including the army and the security says that opened the door or iranian trained proxy used went to their country and ceased didn't even to come and seen since then they have been building up their credit quite successfully a and into a political infrastructure in order to control the country and to make. their neighbor in iran and they have in as i said successful now what has happened is that the americans also must control on the ground because the iranians have been airing this for years and now i'm going to examine all because what happened in the our pricing in getting saddam hussein

and lebanon the demonstrators were holding banners saying get what we salute the protestors in iraq and so the other way around also in iraq there was no we salute the protesters and love and so when the people i love and saw that the people in iraq are on the streets actually burning trying to burn the iraqi the iranian embassy because they feel that iran is interfering in their affairs and is one of the reasons why it's holding the country back so the people who support hezbollah and lebanon and it's fast and the south thought ok if they're doing that well maybe we can also voice our our opinion and go in the street and demand you know better better living for for for us i mean the situation in iraq and lebanon is there's a lot comparable in terms of violence that has seen as iraq has seen but you know that there's always this danger that things can cancel out out of control but that finitely there's this link that people see each other especially in the social media age where everything is supposed to do immediately and people can you know send each other pictures of what's happe

in these uprisings these protests you know hong kong well i've been on catalonia chile for example iraq for example i could go on with an endless almost a list there are a lot of people who think that these movements and these protests have something in common that they overlap that. they have something in common let's stick with that do you agree. well they do have something in common actually more than one thing maybe firstly it's led by young people and it's leaderless i mean in all those places we have now or most of those places we have not seen protests led by leaders or led by people who are telling those young people to demonstrate to go on the streets and to demand each one maybe are demanding different things but they're all on the streets and be wanting the political elite to listen to their demands but hear that all young they all want better future for themselves and they're not following any leader of the unrest is spreading in the arab world to reminiscent of the arab spring nearly a decade ago to what extent do you see this as something new and different possibly somethi

occupation and invasion of iraq. is one of then targets of these protesters, it is important to remember thahata lot of the signs and placardrdsf protesesters have in tahrir sque turkey,ywhere say no to no to israel, no to the united dates. but united states, because of its geopolitical interest and its onongoing confrorontation wh iran and 70 cocountries focuses only on thisis one dimension, which is iran. no one denies iran backs many of these parties in iraq financially and otherwise has infiltrated iraqi society and so many ways. but there are all of these other dimensions. sadly, it may seem meager in this country and even in europe, it is very myopic and only sees in these protests there against iran and a threat to iran and butregime, of course, iraqis want to reclaim the country and they want sovereignty and there against all types of intervention. 2003, the state is very weak in a way. we have turkish trips in the north, american troops. are reallyesters very conscientious of all of this and really have a de

more mass demonstrations in iraq the biggest since the fall of saddam hussein. and police turn on government protesters gathering in the capital. saving the snow look at how technology is helping conservationist in kyrgyzstan make a difference. champions for a 1st time south africa beat england 2 with the rugby world cup. in syria a car bomb has killed 13 people in the town of it's controlled by turkish backed opposition fighters 30 others were injured in the attack. some of the heaviest fighting since turkey launched a military offensive against kurdish fighters last month ankara wants the man in the kurdish syrian democratic forces to withdraw from border areas to create a so-called safe sun and in northwestern italy a province syrian government is strikes a pounding rebel positions residents fear that a 4 blown military offensive may be imminent to capture the last opposition stronghold he has had with the day's developments from sandler for you the turkey syria border. the car was packed with explosives and placed in a crowded market in the other this explai

sheeting in london in just a few minutes but the other major breaking story this hour coming out of iraq where the prime minister abdullah bill martin says he will resign that's in the face of a growing protests against his government's no viewers will remember up to much of the martinet in charge last year said he would submit his resignation to parliament's that protest is who have been calling for political change in iraq for several weeks now they've been celebrating of course one of $400.00 people have died same 2 months of government protests now dramatic announcement comes just shortly after iraq's top shia cleric ayatollah ali sistani condemned the use of lethal force against protesters and cold for a change in leadership. in legislation or the parliament from which this current government is drawn is asked to reconsider its choice in this regard and to act according to iraq's interest and preserve the blood of its children to prevent their country from slipping into violence chaos and destruction we confirm again that attacks against peaceful protesters are forbidden as well as

dollars at stake and yet reality for most of the rockies is bleak last year iraq was ranked 168th out of under an 80 by corruption index but for people surviving on a day to day basis that's one of the smallest concerns the world food program reveals more than half of iraqis are at risk of food insecurity with unicef figures last year showing one in 4 children living in poverty so what happened former u.s. defense secretary robert gates stated on a visit to baghdad that a new era was just around the corner more than ever i believe the goal of a secure and stable and democratic iraq is within reach almost 12 years on things couldn't be further from the truth to make sense of post intervention in iraq and where exactly the grievances of lawyer let's speak to nicholas j. davis author of blood on our hands the american invasion and destruction of iraq mr davis thanks so much for joining us today good to have you with us now these protests they've been going on since mid october where they show no sign of slowing down indeed there's been a government crackdown condemned by many organizatio

. >> iraq is an interesting case, because iranians have gotten a lot of power in iraq. iranians are not well liked in iraq. often make the mistake somehow theyhat are close to the iranians. they forget that eight years of the iran, iraq war with thousands killed. the foot shoulders -- the foot soldiers were mostly she. they never went against their own government. , it waserved in iran not good for in a rocky politician to be seen as too close to the iranians. now, there is a lot of pushback and the iranians do best in iraq when the country is unstable, because then they can work the different power centers for their own interests. they always had the risk with a stable iraq being a threat to iran again, as it was all the way back to the eighth century. it is not a new thing. right now, they have a hard time. one could say that things one should not do our much clearer than exactly how to affect it. of foreignersed messing about in their lives and their wars. gotright now when you have backlash against iranian pressure, it is a good time for us to shut up and sit down a

from developing prevented iraq from having a successful political democracy people in iraq today are protesting against the sectarian regime you are not protesting against that from an ideological perspective they're protesting against that from an institutional perspective they're fed up by being governed as sunni's shias kurds they want to be they want to be governed in an equal way as iraqis were through a government that focuses on providing them the right education infrastructure security glower your thoughts on this the iraqi public fed up with sectarian politics and looking for a new leader that can unite the country who could this leader be any if not this sectarian based political system then what replaces it. well they will never find a leader who's beyond that we never had those father figures in iraq but remember iraq is ethno religiously diverse different sects this could have been a richness of the community and the country could have been good for politics community as well as economy however the decades of division polarization and dictatorship brought us here this fa

presence in iraq. are there plans to set strengthen the security of the u.s. embassy in iraq? tell me where that stands. >> this is something i spent a great deal of time on, actually. iraq, in particular. i don't want to get into the details of how we came to discussions. i think the security at the embassy is adequate. actually, better than adequate. >> sufficient for the return of personnel? to enable the resumption? >> to accomplish the mission, yeah. we've got a number of diplomats we think is appropriate and i can brief you about this in another setting, but we are committed to the mission. >> i would like to do that, if we can arrange that had finally, on the topic of iran and syria. you said if we curtail our presence, it would be more difficult to prevent effectively the land bridge asked about earlier. did i understand you correctly, and you say if we curtail our presence the way we are doing, beyond what we are doing? what were you referring to? >> as ambassador jeffrey said during i believe his testimony to you. our presence is a stabilizing force and to the degree

government gone we in iraq. receiving refugees coming across the board as a result of the turkish military incursion so far we have nearly $15000.00. who have crossed into northern iraq now mr zebari there's a lot of talk right now about the u.s. so-called betrayal of the kurds but their merican decision to rely more heavily on the kurdish military units in eastern syria grew out directly of what some see as the american betrayal of the turks it's no secret that the obama administration actively sought to draw and correct into the syrian war only to abandon its slavery was it realistic for the kurds to expect the dam mary can split have their backs for longer than it suited washington. american themselves u.s. leaders congressional leaders diplomats told the this is an arbitrary. this has created. a mistrust. with the united states. mainly because of this. abundant. greenlighting the turkish army to intervene. so far through. russia. we are encouraging some kind of a dialogue between the. syrian regime for the s

iraq you authorities are holding talks on constitutional amendments and they don't go in violence and the country around $260.00 people are believed to have been killed there since anti-government demonstrations started a month ago protesters are demanding a major overhaul of the political system which was established after the u.s. led invasion back in 2003 ati's daniel hawkins it's been delving deeper. iraq is no stranger to turmoil the country's seen little piece and even less the billet since the us led invasion of 2003 mass protests and violence of regulating gulf the state of these though are the worst since the overthrow of saddam hussein 16 years ago 'd. hundreds killed dozens in just one week by live ammunition many thousands injured amid a heavy crackdown by security forces or the government's deployed special forces imposed curfews and an internet blackout across the whole country but that's just angered crowds even more roads and bridges have been blocked by demonstrators who have also tried to take over buildings both in the capital baghdad and across other cities why is

well, the kurds in iraq have been autonomous since 1990, so, what support do the kurds in iraq want from the us? well, the kurds in iraq have been autonomous since 1990, following the ousting of saddam hussein from kuwait. if you remember, there was a no—fly zone in northern iraq and the kurds took advantage of that situation and managed to establish themselves as an autonomous region from baghdad. during this time, we are talking about a period of almost 20 years, 30 years, even. the kurds they have managed to establish themselves, they've also got relations going on with the outside world, including the united states turkey, and other countries. so, the message is that america will take their interests into account. ok, let's move on now with the other big, big story happening right now in the country, of course, these protests, anti—government protests. people have been killed, did mike pence did have anything to say on that? well, according to american sources, he had phone conversation with the prime minister of iraq and he expressed concern about the rising number of casualties

desperation in iraq because protests and violence gripped the country on a scout unseen since the fear of a throw of saddam hussein. a very warm welcome to you you're watching r.t. international with minichiello top story this hour general election campaigning in the u.k. has got off to a bad tempered start this wednesday with boris johnson launching a series of scathing attacks on the opposition leader the prime minister appealed to the public to vote for his conservative policy rather than jeremy corbin's labor which he claimed has failed to take a tough enough line on russia. come with us a government that believes britain should stand in the world good with generally keeping in the labor party who sided with with russia who did kill easily the streets. the prime minister there in the crowd that you use referring to the script called poisoning case back in march 28th seed of course russia did get the blame for this consistently denied all the allegations ever since records the prime minister they're bringing up the sky. well to basically discredit jeremy corbyn as part of the campai

you know occupied in post occupation iraq where you know this tiny group of u.s. and iranian backed exiles has said you know with u.s. and iranian support created a monopoly on power that the vast majority of the disenfranchised alienated people of iraq have never supported the us who really has completely discredited itself from start to finish it has done nothing that has helped the people of iraq at all you know either before or after the invasion and staying in iraq now the dutch defense ministry has admitted for the 1st time that airstrikes it conducted there in 2015 led to civilian casualties. we have announced the location date and time of 2 bombings by dutch sixteen's in iraq the dutch government established civilians was certainly over every probably killed here are the 2 airstrikes in question the 1st took place in june 2015 when i saw a bomb factory was targeted it caused secondary explosions that killed more than 70 people including civilians 3 months later in mosul a civilian house was wrongly identified as a terrorist headquarters that that strike le