he flew into irbil in kurdistan in the north of the country. you'll remember us troops withrdrew from kurdish areas in neighbouring syria last month. that withdrawal was criticised by syrian kurds who say it was a betrayal. after the us military left, turkey moved into the border area around tal abyad and other kurdish—controlled towns. here's what mr pence had to say. i don't think there was any confusion now among the leadership here in the kurdish region that president trump's commitment to our allies here in iraq as well as to those in the syrian defense forces, the kurdish forces who fought alongside us, is unchanging. issam ikr—mawi from bbc arabic told me why mr pence chose to deliver his message in irbil. i think the whole point of the visit is to send a message to the kurds that their interests in northern iraq will be taken care of, following criticism of the united states decision to withdraw its support to the kurds in syria. although the kurds in iraq have got different interests, however, there are some sympathy with the kurds

vice president pence went to iraq, visited a militarized and went to irbil. he did not go to baghdad and that since a good message also. >> it's pretty hard i think, we don't have perspective to know whether we have reached the tipping point and iraq. i'm always very partial to study modern history. i would take a wild, wild guess and say 2019 has been a very bad, bad year for the islamic republic. i think you do see in lebanon and iraq, and iran most importantly, you do see a certain shiite distemper, a certain distaste for iranian, the clerical regimes. i don't think that's going away. now, the speed of acceleration, the regime strikes back, you know, i think the shiites, the sectarianism, the card that iran has larger plate which is distinctly different from its old ecumenical revolutionary approach, which actually try to seek out sunnis more than shiites, i think they have obtained a great deal of success from flying the sectarian card but it might have reached its apex and now it has to do with the aftertaste of that. so on that note i'm optimistic, and

charlie d'agata, cbs news, in irbil, northern iraq. >>> coming up on "cbs this morning," tony dokoupil has an exclusive interview with top security official christopher government is doing to prevent hacking and month information from disrupting the 2020 campaign. >>> plus, we'll speak with one of the president's sons, donald trump jr., about his new book "triggered." >>> and anthony mason talks with comedian jenny slate about her new selection of essays and netflix special. >>> that's the "cbs morning news" for this tuesday. thanks for watching. i'm anne-marie green. have a great day. ♪ a great day. ♪

he flew into irbil in kurdistan in the north of the country. you may remember us troops withdrew from kurdish areas in neighbouring syria last month. that withdrawal was criticised by syrian kurds who say it was a betrayal. after the us military left, turkey moved into the border area around tal abyad and other kurdish—controlled towns. here's what mr pence had to say. i don't think there was any confusion now among the leadership here in the kurdish region that president trump's commitment to our allies here in iraq as well as to those in the syrian defence forces, the kurdish forces who fought alongside us, is unchanging. issam ikirmawi from bbc arabic told me whether the kurds in iraq were reassured by what mike pence had to say. i think the whole point of the visit is to send a message to the kurds that their interests in northern iraq will be taken care of, following criticism of the united states decision to withdraw its support to the kurds in syria. although the kurds in iraq have got different interests, however, there are some sympa

he flew into irbil in kurdistan in the north of the country. you may remember us troops withrdrew from kurdish areas in neighbouring syria last month. that withdrawal was criticised by syrian kurds, who say it was a betrayal. after the us military left, turkey moved into the border area around tal abyad and other kurdish—controlled towns. here's what mr pence had to say. i don't think there was any confusion now among the leadership here in the kurdish region that president trump's commitment to our allies here in iraq as well as to those in the syrian defence forces, the kurdish forces who fought alongside us, is unchanging. jeremy corbyn has defended his decision to adopt a "neutral" stance in the event of a future brexit referendum, calling it a sign of "strength and maturity." he told friday night's bbc question time leaders' special he would not campaign for leave or remain, if his party wins power, in order to allow him to credibly carry out what voters decide. his opponents have questioned his position, as our political correspondent,

he flew into irbil in kurdistan in the north of the country. you may remember us troops withdrew from kurdish areas in neighbouring syria last month. that withdrawal was criticised by syrian kurds who say it was a betrayal. after the us military left, turkey moved into the border area around tal abyad and other kurdish—controlled towns. here's what mr pence had to say. i don't think there was any confusion now among the leadership here in the kurdish region that president trump's commitment to our allies here in iraq as well as to those in the syrian defence forces, the kurdish forces who fought alongside us, is unchanging. a little earlier i spoke to steven cook, who's a senior fellow for middle east and africa studies at the council on foreign relations. i asked him why vice president mike pence was compelled to make a surprise trip to iraq. it was a surprise trip. and if the vice president was going to the kurdistan regional government iraq to reassure the kurds, he was talking to the wrong kurds —— region of iraq. the issue has been o

the vice president was asked about the criticism during a second stop to irbil, the capital of iraq and afghanistan. >> i don't think there was any confusion among the leadership that president trump's commitment to our allies here in iraq as well as to those in the syrian defense forces, the kurdsish forces that fought alongside us is unchanges. reporter: the aircraft carrier the u.s.s. abraham lincoln arrived in the persian gulf. it had been sitting outside the gulf. without knowing the vice president was secretly in iraq. france's minister cite sized the united states for disengaging in iraq. pence said he spoke to iraq's prime minister about the issue. eric: we are thankful for those who serve. arthel: we certainly are. hong kong braces for another day of violence as voters prepare to head to the polls. it's time for the ultimate sleep number event on the sleep number 360 smart bed. you can adjust your comfort on both sides, your sleep number setting. can it help keep us asleep? absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessl

withdrawing, calling it a betrayal the vice president was asked about the criticism, during second stop to irbil the capital of iraqi kurdistan. >> i don't think any confusion now among leadership here in the kurdish region that president trump's commitment to our allies here in iraq, as well as, to those in the syria defense o forces kurdish forces fought alongside is unchangeing. >> with eye on ir, earlier this week the aircraft carry uss abraham lincoln entered persian gulf first time since arriving in the region in may past six months aircraft carrier had been outside the gulf without knowing vice president secretly in iraq, france's defense ministers creativitied trump administration for disgageing from middle east. >> iran uran nearly 500 killed in widespread protests pence said he spoke to prime minister about the issue. >> discord among leaders over president trump's involvement in discipline of navy seal gallagher the secretary did threaten to resign if white house blocked military review despite denials earlier today, gallagher was acquitted this year of murdering a wounded ices fighte

that's one of the reasons we are building a state-of-the-art facility for a new consulate in irbil. were not going anywhere, but right now we can't talk about taking the consulate off of the suspension of operations, but we hope to be able to have that conversation soon when there's peace, there's stability, there's a strong sovereign government that's in charge of security throughout all of iraq and not other actors. >> and rend, do you see a finish of the term of the government roadmap in hist speech accomplished by the -- or the protesters will have their way? >> the roadmap is designed to meet the protesters' demands but it doesn't go far enough and is not specific enough. so, if that is developed, and if the president can actually get the protesters going then i think there is a possibility of comforting the protesters. but all i can say is i don't know. it's because things are dynamic. they're changing and we don't know. >> that's one step far away from joey's maybe. >> but i think we have to be honest. >> it has been a fascinating discussion. thank you for our panel. they do

courtney kube joins me from irbil. bring us up to speed on what appears to be a reemergence of isis here. >> reporter: isis found a safe haven. it's an area called mock moore. there's a mountain range there. isis is basically exploiting decades of regional tension in this area. on one side of the mountain up towards the top, it's controlled by the kurdish peshmerga forces. the other side of the mountain, the flat valley area is supposed to be controlled by the iraqi army. these are -- it's a split between their two territories. at some points along that border, there's areas as wide and deep as five miles wide where neither side patrols. isis has figured that out. now they essentially use this with freedom of movement as one of their rat lines or lines of communication, as the military would call it. they've dug tunnels and caves. they're coming out mainly at night to roam freely. we had the opportunity while we were up at the top of this outpost yesterday to talk with the kurdish general who is in charge of this whole

joining me now from irbil, iraq, courtney cuby. courtney, what do you have? >> hey, katy. so we had an opportunity to go to this very remote outpost in makmor to see where isis is now in iraq. they're dug in at the bottom of this mountain range in makmor and they're exploiting this -- this regional rift that's -- that's decades in this area. the kurdish on one side of the mountains. the iraqi army on the other. but there's essentially this no-man's land in the middle that no one patrols. well, isis has learned that and they're now using that as a route line. they've dug in there. they have caves. they have tunnels. and they're moving freely along there. we had the opportunity when we were up on this outpost at the top of the mountain looking out over this isis held area and we had the opportunity to speak to the kurdish commander general barzoni. he leads the kurdish troops in this area and he explained exactly what they see. >> they have some tunnels. they have some caves. you can say that isis are there. they are moving. >> so isis basically has free reign to move along

that's one of the reasons we are building a state-of-the-art facility for a new consulate in irbil. were not going anywhere, but right now we can't talk about taking the consulate off of the suspension of operations, but we hope to be able to have that conversation soon when there's peace, stability, a strong sovereign government that is in charge of security throughout all of iraq and not other actors. >> and rend, do you see a finish of the term of the government are -- [inaudible] roadmap in his speech accomplished by the protesters will have their voice? >> the roadmap is designed to meet the protesters demands but it doesn't go far enough and is not specific enough. so if that is developed and if they can get precision going and so, then i think there is a possibility of comforting the protesters. but all i can say is i don't know. because things are dynamic. they are changing and we don't know. >> one step far away from joey. >> but i think we have to be honest. >> a fascinating discussion. thank you for our panel. they do all for attending. i i appreciate it. thanks a lot. [a

that's one of the reasons we are building a state-of-the-art facility for a new consulate in irbil. were not going anywhere, but right now we can't talk about taking the consulate off of the suspension of operations, but we hope to be able to have that conversation soon when there's peace, there's stability, there's a strong sovereign government that's in charge of security throughout all of iraq and not other actors. >> and rend, do you see a finish of the term of the government roadmap in hist speech accomplished by the -- or the protesters will have their way? >> the roadmap is designed to meet the protesters' demands but it doesn't go far enough and is not specific enough. so, if that is developed, and if the president can actually get the protesters going then i think there is a possibility of comforting the protesters. but all i can say is i don't know. it's because things are dynamic. they're changing and we don't know. >> that's one step far away from joey's maybe. >> but i think we have to be honest. >> it has been a fascinating discussion. thank you for our panel. they do

that is one of the reasons that we are building a state-of-the-art facility for a new consulate in irbil, and so we are not going anywhere. right now, we cannot talk about taking the consulate off of the suspension of the operation, but we are hoping to have that conversation soon when there is peace, stability, and a strong sovereign government that is in charge of security throughout all of iraq and not other actors. >> and rend, do you see a finish of the term of the government or the president salis in the roadmap of the speech accomplished or the protesters will have their way? >> the roadmap of burrham salah is designed to meet the protesters demands, but it is not far enough or specific enough. so if that is develop ed and if he can actually get the processes going and so on, then there is a possibility of you know, comforting the protesters, but all i can say is that i don't know. because things are dynamic and changing. we don't know. >> and that is the one step away from joey's maybe. >> yes, but i think that we have to be honest. >> it has been a fascinating discussion, and th