but also in here how tall govern iraq leave iraq. but they give iraq to iran and to iraq like this. if not the americans here knew jeff. he says his forces have made great strides to rid his city of al qaeda. i thought the he a shape that he had in the when the men knew how would and your show and mahalo of all what applied to him was a war. and what's up a notice on that all day. but with armed police, a school to last time, next destination. it's clear, the fear still remains. mosul streets are airily quiet. and this is a sense that the violence for which the city is notorious is never far away. the family i'm about to meet, protected me from that violence, and this is the 1st time out of seamen since their youngest son and the reuters photographer, whose work is on exhibit here, was killed by u.s. soldiers. who say i want to hear what you feel when you hear that right. i mean it's still very sad still here. that's why this in doha we saw the story. ok on the reuters wire. so i called you, i think at that time and i asked you to call not be able because i couldn't get through to i

troops from iraq. now that did not happen, the reduction to $2500.00 is not with these groups were demanding. and tonight's rocket attack at the u.s. embassy was probably a way to voice their disapproval with this latest announcement. ethiopia's government says its troops have achieved significant victories in the conflict with forces in the northern tier, a region and strikes have been launched at the regional capital. it's a main base for the people's liberation front or tee. p.l.f. which governs there to grant fighters, have refused to comply with government demands to put down their weapons. we have a bit o. is in ethiopia's capital and says the government believes it can end the conflict quickly. the european prime minister ahmed, is promising a crucial and decisive face in the fighting that to grow more from ethiopia. he says, his forces are now ready to take the city of mechanic up with all of the to go. we didn't. he made that announcement of to the expiry of a 3 day that he had given to degree

troops home from iraq? >> let me first tell you that the best way for iraq to be secure is to train them for the job. we have 120,000 trained by the end of this year, 220,000 by the end of next year. that's the best way. we'll never succeed in iraq if the iraqi citizens don't want to take matters into hetheir own hands to protect themselves. i believe they want to. the prime minister believes they want to. so the best indication of when we can bring our troops home, which i really want to do, but i don't want to do so for the sake of bringing them home, i want to do so because we've achieved an objective, is to see the iraqis step up and take responsibility. so the answer to your question is when our generals on the ground and the ambassador tells me iraq is ready to defend themselves from these terrorists, that elections will have been held by then, that there is stability and that they're on their way to a nation that's free. that's when. and i hope it's as soon as possible, but i know putting artificial

troops home from iraq? bush: let me first tell you that the best way for iraq to be safe and secure is for iraqi citizens to be trained to do the job. and that's what we're doing. we've got 100,000 trained now, 125,000 by the end of this year, 200,000 by the end of next year. that is the best way. we'll never succeed in iraq if the iraqi citizens do not want to take matters into their own hands to protect themselves. i believe they want to. prime minister allawi believes they want to. and so the best indication about when we can bring our troops home -- which i really want to do, but i don't want to do so for the sake of bringing them home; i want to do so because we've achieved an objective -- is to see the iraqis perform and to see the iraqis step up and take responsibility. and so, the answer to your question is: when our general is on the ground and ambassador negroponte tells me that iraq is ready to defend herself from these terrorists, that elections will have been held by then, that their stability

but also in the open here how tall government in iraq leave iraq. but they give iraq to iran and iraq like this. if not the americans here knew jeff. he says his forces have made great strides to rid his city of al qaeda. i thought than the 11 he and me had been the one that the men knew. how would any a show and mahal of a, with a high def, and mostly one a. what's up a notice on that, but with armed police a scolding us to our next destination, it's clear that fear still remains. most all streets are air really quiet. and this is a sense that the violence for which the city is notorious is never far away. the family i'm about to meet, protected me from that violence, and this is the 1st time i'll have seen them since their youngest son and the reuters photographer, whose work is on exhibit here, was killed by u.s. soldiers. who say i want to hear what you feel when you hear that right. i mean it's still very sad still here. that's how this in doha said. we saw the story. ok on the reuters wire. so i called you, i think at that time and i asked you

think of perception as drawdown and neither afghanistan or iraq would be a mistake in iraq. the u.s. military presence was greatly reduced after the defeat of isis in 2017. this has increased the sway of neighboring iran and militia groups aligned with as u.s. soldiers head home. they could risk leaving the field to america's adversaries. let's bring in our correspondent in brussels, teri schultz, terry, i understand the head of nato has also expressed concern about trump, administration's troop withdrawal plans in iraq and afghanistan. tell us more. that's right, terry. secretary general stoltenberg was speaking before this announcement that the decision had been made and that implementation of these plans would begin. but this is the closest you come with a norwegian secretary general in charge of 30 nations to being criticism of one allies, decision secretary general's tolson. burke said look, no one wants to be in afghanistan or iraq longer than it is necessary. but we have to do it when the time is right. and for all reasons for all other countries who are there with th

can i ask you quickly as well about iraq? because we focus so much on afghanistan, they will be the same number of troops left in iraq as well. but, i mean, as soon as this announcement was made, you had 4 rockets hitting the green zone, and i read reports as well that might pump a. actually one of the poll embassy stuff out of iraq as well. clearly the situation there still incredibly follow us home. absolutely, i think iranians, they wouldn't, they would want very much to show they would throw in a few strokes from iraq as a dictator and to iran and its allies in iraq as if didn't force the united states to withdraw from iraq, especially they made the promise after that, as, a nation of gotham's very many, early this year by the u.s. by the u.s. forces in that and, and by the drug airport. and we all know that they go on. ian's get made a very strong actually statement, and i guess they are not just yes and one thing that medicare has to withdraw from iraq and ordering even their allies, the militias, the shuttle missions i

but joe biden himself has a rather fraud track record in iraq he voted in favor of the iraq invasion in 2003 he also under obama's administration in 2009 when he came into the office he was charged with with drawing the 150000 troops that were based here at that time and of course that resulted in the security vacuum which eventually enabled the rise of eisel so if biden were to win certainly many see it as you know he should be departing from the obama era policies to try to come up with a new approach towards iraq to tehran and to of course one. this is a very crucial election for the iranians in fact speaking to iranian officials and experts many of them on the show the iranian foreign policy towards the u.s. seems have been frozen it's like well let's just wait till november to see what happens here we are in but what the iranians hoping for. very much has been let's wait and see as the united states under donald trump has increased pressure on iran with more sanctions and try going to the united nations to try and reimposed those knighted nations sanctions now the iranian positi

david served in iraq. the headlines in the papers this aek, this from usa today -- withdrawal of troops in trump's waning days. in his opinion piece, donald trump cannot figure out whether he wants to start wars or end them. graspresident does not that there is a contradiction in boasting of exiting endless wars while starting new ones, or boasting about his success in fighting terrorism while pulling troops from the countries where terrorists operate." opposen connecticut, you the drawdown. good morning to you. caller: thank you. i felt compelled to call in today after hearing a number of callers erroneously stayed that the poppy fields being protected are in iraq. the poppy fields i am familiar with, having spent three years in afghanistan, were in afghanistan. while i oppose the methodology for withdrawing troops from iraq and afghanistan, i don't disagree with the intent. i don't believe that we should be having any of our troops in places where they are not welcome. and it appears from the recent info

our force size in iraq will also be 2,500 by that same date. this is consistent with our established plans and strategic objectives, supported by the american people and does not equate to a change in u.s. policy or objectives. moreover, this decision by the president is based on continuous engagement with his national security cabinet over the past several months including discussions with me and my colleagues across the united states' government. i have spoken with our military commanders and will re-execute this repositioning that protects r fighting men and women and diplomatic corps and our allies that are critical to rebuilding iraq and afghanistan for lasting peace in troubled lands. just this morning, i spoke with key leaders in congress as well as our allies and partners abroad to update them on our plans. we went in together, we adjust together and when the time is right we will lead together. i met with the attorney general and president general of afghanistan who expressed his gratitude who fought for peace and extended the long sta

there will be be same number of troops in iraq. as soon as the announcements was made, you had rockets hitting the green zone. mike pompeo wanted to pull embassy staff out as well. clearly the situation is volatile. >> the iranians want to show the withdrawal as a victory between iran and its allies. as if they forced the united states to withdraw. they made the promise after the assassination by u.s. forces in baghdad airport. we all know the iranians made a strong statement against the united states, wanting americans to withdraw and ordering their allies to put pressure on the americans. if trump is pulling troops now out of iraq, they want to make sure -- this is going to, this might lead to a return of isil one more time. an agreement led to the emergence of isil. that turned al qaeda into isil. we will start this vicious circle one more time. isil fights back. the united states will fight isolate and so on. >> johnny, i am going to leave it with you. fast-forward, president biden is in office. the troops may be have come home

again, i go back -- in iraq there are two things happening. one to avoid the war with iran because that would be disastrous. the second thing is, how do you pressure the iranians to take away some of the malicious -- we have two states in iraq at the moment. we have those run by militias and the mainstay. how do you convince the iranians to assure the iranians that they don't need to defend themselves, don't into arm militias because they do all these things to defend themselves against any possible american aggression. the examples are so wide and many in the region from an iranian perspective. anxiety.e is there is the mistrust to the biden administration in terms of the policy for iraq,i, and the middle east. we have to see to the trump case the middle east was cut almost halfway. you of the gulf countries coalition and i would include israel coalition cpany have iran coalition. the yemenis, the iraqis, the syrians -- everyone of us is squeezed between these two gigantic military powers in the region. t saudi arabia more, but the united ara

and we didn't do it in iraq. i worked for president obama, but i'm critical of how it was handled last time. and this time we've accelerated even further, and what it doesn't do is allow us enough time to ensure, as the acting defense secretary was saying, that the afghan and iraqi troops we've been training are ready, that civil society, that the government itself can stand up. it just is reckless. >> brett, thank you so much for being with us. brett bruin joining us to discuss this very important topic today. >>> republican senator ted cruz calling one of his colleagues a complete ass because that colleague asked another to mask up. >>> plus, former president barack obama speaking with oprah about republicans, sarah palin and about how norms are being broken in society. we'll have that ahead. >>> senator lindsey graham of south carolina is on defense. he's facing tough questions after he reportedly called up georgia's secretary of state and asked him to toss out legal ballots. the chair of the senate judiciary

forces in iraq and afghanistan with respect to afghanistan. and u.s. forces will be reduced from 4 and a half 100228 half 1000, and this is set to take effect before he leaves office. well video, contra furry is live for us in the afghan capital kabul, as i've been much of a reaction that there are 2. there isn't because it's almost midnight here in kabul in the afghan capital. so afghans will be waking up to the news tomorrow morning and it's something that it has been largely input has made it here because all the signs and the indicators were there for days. now, a lot of people here that he knew it was a decision that was coming, but there were still so many who are trying to also warn the trumpet, ministration against the citizens here. and it could come of that shock that it happened so abruptly and specially after were hard on nato comments earlier today. also warning against hasty withdraw otoh. there should be a lot of reaction here tomorrow, both from a government also probably thought from ah, but hard done. and i can tell you that this day,

afghanistan or iraq would be a mistake. the head of need to has warned of a quick, uncoordinated withdrawal. seeing it risks lives. but it's clear donald trump wants to leave office, claiming another campaign promise has been delivered. alan fischer al-jazeera at the white house. well, let's not get the view from iraq. al-jazeera is and about that. the reduction of u.s. troops in iraq to $2500.00 is not that significant in light of the drawdown that already took place earlier this year. in january, there were $5000.00 troops present in country that number was reduced to 3000 as of september. and of course, the political and security context that precipitated this reduction was rather complex. back in january, we had the u.s. assassination of iranian general custom still in miami, as well as other iraqi officials, which prompted the parliament here to vote to oust foreign troops. and we also saw a rise in rocket attacks against u.s. interests here in iraq. and in that context, the u.s. and iraq began renegotiating the presen

troops from iraq. now that did not happen, the reduction to $2500.00 is not what these groups were demanding. and tonight's rocket attack at the u.s. embassy was probably a way to voice their disapproval with this latest mint. fresh from firing his secretary of defense, donald trump has now dismissed his cyber security chief trunk, took issue with chris krebs after he rejected the president claims that there'd been widespread election fraud krebs and his agency are directly responsible for election security. but our correspondent allan pressure is at the white house for us. not a huge surprise here on lodging. no, we had chris chris tweet here last friday that he said the election was the most secure in american history. there was a statement that came from the watchdog as well. he was telling friends at that point he believed because it contradicted the president's unfounded claims of electoral fraud that he expected to be fired. he stayed in the job until tuesday this morning. he also tweeted out tha

troops from iraq. now that did not happen, the reduction to $2500.00 is not what these groups were demanding. and tonight's rocket attack at the u.s. embassy was probably a way to voice their disapproval with this latest announcement. now fresh from firing his secretary of defense, donald trump has now dismissed his cyber security chief. trump took issue with chris krebs after he rejected the president's claims that that been widespread election fraud krebs and his agency are directly responsible for election security . and that trumps legal efforts against the u.s. election outcome have had another setback. pennsylvania's supreme court has rejected the trump campaign's arguments. the republican party observers didn't get close enough access to vote counting. president elect joe biden is projected to have won that state by more than 74000 photos. but donald trump has been contesting the result there and in other battlegrounds more now from what is your caster in a 5 to decision. the judges there ruled

troops from iraq. that did not happen. the reduction to 4500 is not what these groups were demanding. and tonight's rocket attack at the u.s. embassy was probably a way to voice their disapproval with this latest announcement. quite ethiopia's government says is troops have achieved significant victories in the conflict with forces in the northern region. airstrikes have been launched at the regional capital. fighters have refused to comply with government to man's to put down their weapons. mohammed is in if the opiod capital. >> the prime minister is promising a crucial number of things in the fighting in this region of northern if the appeal. he says forces are now ready to attack the capital of the growing region. he told the fighters to come themselves to the ethiopian national defense houses. the next 48 hours will be crucial. this as forces launch attacks from multiple fronts. the sources say that the fighting is expected to get more intense as the if the open forces leave the mountainous areas surrounding the capit

says it's pulling out additional troops from afghanistan and iraq by mid january. that'll leave around 2 and a half 1000 soldiers in each country just before president the office. but senior figures in the military and the trunks, republican party, say it's a mistake and a risky move. al-jazeera has an official reports from the white house. donald trump campaigned in 2016 on ending america's wars abroad. in the final days of his presidency, he's acting to cut numbers in both iraq and afghanistan. from 4500 in afghanistan, the number will drop to $2500.00. it will be the same number in iraq, but it will come clean more than $3000.00 times. so now this is consistent with our established plans and strategic objectives supported by the american people and does not equate to a change in u.s. policy or objectives. in the stern is the us is longest war. it's lasted 1000 years, more than $2300.00 soldiers have died. it's cost more than $193000000000.00. earlier this year, the u.s. with the help of qatar, negotiated a deal with the afghan taliban to bring a permanent cease

troops in afghanistan and iraq. by mid january, just before president donald trump leaves office 2000 will withdraw from afghanistan and $500.00 from iraq leaving 2 and a half 1000 in each country. military leaders, u.s. allies and even senior figures in trump's republican party of warned of the dangers of pulling too many troops out before conditions are right. minutes after the announcement was made, several rockets hit by god's green zone. some landed near the u.s. embassy. others were intercepted by air defense systems. a child was killed and at least 5 people injured. if europeans government says its troops have achieved significant victories in the conflict with forces in the northern tier, a region as strikes have been launched at the regional capital. it's the main base for the tea. great people's liberation front or t.p.s. left, which governs that to grant fighters have refused to comply with government demands to put down their weapons. mohammed out there is in the ethiopian capital and says the government

troops from iraq. now that did not happen, the reduction to $2500.00 is not with these groups were demanding. and tonight's rocket attack at the u.s. embassy was probably a way to voice their disapproval with this latest enough mint fresh from firing his secretary of defense, donald trump has now dismissed the cyber security chief. trump took issue with chris krebs. often he rejected the president's claims, that they had been widespread election fraud krebs and his agency. i directly responsible for election security. let's go straight to hell and fish out the white house. and so this news just out in the last hour or so, how much of a surprise is it? it's been expected since friday when chris cuomo initially tweeted out the he said there was no problem with the election. in fact, donald trump was quite glad to grab on to that with another tweet, saying that the reason it was super secure from foreign interference was because of his administration. but then he went on to see that the democrats had actu

troops have been stationed in afghanistan since 2001 and in iraq since 2003. to get more on this, i am joined by our washington correspondent, oliver. how is trump's orders for true productions, how is that going over with the defense community in washington? oliver: he is receiving a lot of criticism. even from within his own party. a look at bringing american soldiers home has been one of the core promises donald trump made, even back in 2016 when she rant -- when he ran for election. he delivered on this promise in 2019, last year. basically strengthening russia and the turks there and of course, weakening his allies in the fight against isis. it is happening again in afghanistan and in iraq. analysts call this a huge gift for the taliban. we also heard the nato secretary saying that afghanistan could become a platform for international terrorist. essentially throwing the country back for years. we have to be careful because as you know, it takes a long time to prepare such a troop withdrawal. we will have to see if it is possible to withdraw all those troo

troops from iraq. now that did not happen, the reduction to $2500.00 is not with these groups were demanding. and tonight's rocket attack at the u.s. embassy was probably a way to voice their disapproval with this latest announcement. well, donald trump has now fired to the top u.s. election security official who had refuted the president's claims of fraud. chris krebs was the head of the department of homeland security agency that monitors election security. ethiopia's government says its troops have achieved significant victories in the conflict with forces in the northern tikrit region. airstrikes have been launched at the regional capital mckelway. that's the main base for the t great people's liberation front which governs their 3, former pro-democracy politicians have been arrested in hong kong. ted, who he edits through and read chan, are suspected of disrupting a legislative meeting back in june. the palestinian authority says it will restore coordination with israel on the eve of a visit by u.

our size in iraq will also be to a 500 by that same date. this is consistent with our established plans and strategic objectives, supported by the american people and does not equate to a change in u.s. policy or objectives. moreover, this decision by the president i is based on continuous engagement with his national security cabinet over the past several months, including ongoing discussions with me and my colleagues across the united states government. i have also spoken with our military commanders and we all will execute this repositioning in a way that protects our fighting men and women, our partners in the intelligence community and diplomatic corps, and our superb allies that are critical to rebuilding afghan and iraqi security capabilities and civil society for a lasting peace in troubled lands. just this morning, i spoke with the leaders in congress as well as our allies and partners abroad to update them on these plans in light of our shared approach. we went in together, we are just together, and when the time is right, we will

those are definitely the main concerns for iraq. but it is also to help the country emerge out of a long-lasting economic crisis that has only been made worse by the global the kind -- declining oil prices. many look toward the united states to help the country recover, to help get access to finance and to open up more opportunities for the youth. host: those things that you mentioned, particularly when it comes to the role of iran, that is not going to really change if joe biden gets in. is there concern that they will just be reprising one u.s. leader with the same policies that another u.s. leader will have? reporter: it is unclear what direction the biden administration will take if joe biden wins and many iraqi officials what the strategic dialogue to continue which started earlier this year between the united states and iraq. but joe biden cell has a rather fraught track record in iraq. he voted in favor of the iraqi invasion in 2003. he also, under obama, in 2009, he was charged with withdrawing the 150 thousand troops that w

as well now in iraq because what 30000 u.s. troops i think and you have a massive u.s. presence within the. goal shocks as well but it's also a counterbalance by the iranian one is also where does iraq fit into all of this when it comes to the us foreign policy well unfortunately iraq have been caught in the crossfire between iranian and us escalation sickly military escalation that we've seen from general this year air attacks against that u.s. embassy being retaliated by an assassination against their top iranian and iraqi ministry think air and since then we have had these periodic into them of military activity the past relation between u.s. forces and those backfired on the ground in iraq edition leni and the u.s. has lost in my view well a lot of political ground in iraq although there has been a new iraqi prime minister in recent months that has vowed to bring in more of the balance of foreign policy the maximum pressure campaign need to be met by president bush and senior team has in my view backfired in times of isolat

shipping, as drawdown and a, there are afghanistan or iraq would be a mistake in iraq. the u.s. military presence was greatly reduced after the defeat of isis in 2017. this has increased the sway of neighboring iran and militia groups aligned with children. as u.s. soldiers head home, they could risk leaving the field to america's adversaries. for more now, i'm joined from from herat afghanistan by journalist. what's the reaction been enough data sent to the announced u.s. troop withdrawal. it's not unexpected. i think it's just a matter of, at this point, the government really just wants a clear answer. they want to know what the u.s. is doing. if they're going to pull out their troops, obviously pulling out all of their troops in a quick manner is almost impossible at this point. but they just want some clear direction. they want to know what's going to happen and what they can do to move on without having to rely on foreign forces. are all of the government. they were live much us on foreign forces. but at the end of the day, what they need is a clear answer of what specifica

in iraq, pulling those troops out of the iraq, you have iranian-backed militias in iraq that have considerable strength, power and influence, iran is increasing its influence in iraq. if you don't have the u.s. troops there, are you weakening the iraqi regime, the iraqi government that the u.s. fought so half to put in place. in both countries, it's a question of, is it right? is it the time right? is the president taking the best military advice from the generals and commanders in charge? it does not appear that he is. is he making a decision based on some of his own political statements, that seems much more likely to be what he's doing, and much more likely this is the fundamental reason he cleared out the pentagon leadership last week. this now leaves him the ability to do as he chooses. >> yeah. >> the orders will be fold. as you say, what are the ramifications? >> the orders will be followed. i want to bring in our senior military analyst, retired general mark hertling, as well as vivian salama. i want your reaction on what is happening here, what we expect to happen, but certainly, look

troop levels in iraq and afghanistan to 2,500 by january 15th, five days before the inauguration. do you believe that the drawdown is justified by the facts on the ground in those two countries? >> i don't believe that this is an orderly drawdown. i think it's impntulsive rash, shoot from the hip that this president is so famous for. let me put this in perspective a minute. a family in illinois who has brother and son mark feyerick who is a prisoner of al qaeda. they believe his only chance of survival is this negotiation that the president is withdrawing from and walking away from. i hope they are wrong and i hope we can save his life. >> some believe the president is taking what has been described as i say as the scorched earth approach to the pentagon. other federal agencies as he purges senior leadership on the way -- on his way out the door. does it look like the president is trying to box in the incoming biden administration before the inauguration? >> well, people have told you that, believe there is some design or strategy behind these tantr tantrums. i'm not sure that. i

troops from iraq. now that did not happen, the reduction to $2500.00 is not with these groups, were demanding. and tonight's rocket attack at the u.s. embassy was probably a way to voice their disapproval with this latest announcement. well, ethiopia's government says it is soldiers have achieved significant victories against rebel forces in the northern to grier region. on tuesday government as strikes targeted, the region's main city of macallan, the primary base of the tick white people's liberation front. but rebels are still refusing to lay down their weapons. if you appears prime minister ahmed says the conflict will only end once the t. p.l.f. is brought to justice. and his forces are preparing for a final attack. the united nations and a growing list of foreign leaders are still calling for mediation or quest. it's gone, largely ignored. and as more soldiers move and civilians continue to flee, the un has called it a full scale humanitarian crisis with an estimated 27000 people crossing into ne

war in 2003, iraq war. we went to iraq, invaded the country, hundreds of thousands of people are dead, trillions of dollars wasted. you name it. we gave a new birth for al-qaeda. al-qaeda was dying before the 2003 war in iraq and ultimately we gave birth to isis. huge disaster. at the time they wanted evidence that saddam and al-qaeda were working together. everybody in the cia and the fbi and the pentagon who knew these things we know there were not working together. but that was not good enough, right? so they took a guy who worked with al-qaeda. they tortured him and he said yes, they are working together. absolutely they're developing wmd program together. we took this information to the united nations security counsel, i think everybody remembers. secretary holding that small little too with the george kent behind talk about how al-qaeda and saddam are working together to develop wmd which would be devastating to any american city or any city around the world once we got iraq we knew everything was a l

with isis you have to think about iraq, the division iraq about what happened after saddam, but getting rid of all of that security that leaders of saddam and say you're part of the party that destruction of that and iraq. so many things that became a sectarian collapse. many like that. and then the monarchy government that had support and did not support and some are basically standing up for the extremists. so many things led to that. al qaeda in yemen a lot of the conditions that allow them to grow today, or very similar were very different sometimes at the conditions that allows it to grow. happening in mali what's been happening and how they're getting together in order to establish some kind of an area of control. it's a geopolitical fight between iraq and iran. it's the only coin being used in currency. with al qaeda shaping itself to be beneficial of this divide. so with the white supremacist here unfortunately it always existed in the west. willie said supremacy in the united states. but what we see today camp to something a little different. we see is most of the conditions a

troops in afghanistan and iraq and considering a strike in iran before president-elect joe biden takes office the fears the rocky transition could leave the u.s. open to aggression and just as the announcement is made the rocket attack in baghdad's green zone biden meantime receiving a national security briefing today but not from government officials and the moment on the senate floor the fist bump caught on camera. is it a sign the gop is accepting biden's victory? just in, the top republican senator third in line to the presidency testing positive for covid the staggering surge now in all 50 states the new crackdowns ohio ordering a three-week curfew. mobile morgues manned by inmates in texas. and our interview with the u.s. testing chief. we ask why are the lines so long this far into the pandemic? hurricane iota carving a deadly path after making landfall as a monster category 4 the new trend amid the pandemic for chains like mcdonald's and chipotle and in dark times the holiday tradition still shining bright >> this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >>> good evening everyon

forces out of iraq at the beginning, i think, of 2011. and i was down talking to a squadron of seals, and it was a seal senior chief petty officer who was a little upset. -- at oneint in time point in time, he said, hey admiral, wtf, we are going out on missions every night, risking our lives, and we are pulling out of here in four months. why are we continuing to go on these missions? and the missions, at the time, were to try to stop this network of suicide bombers that was coming into baghdad, hit the markets and those sort of things. and it was a great question. and the only answer i could give the senior chief was, look, we came here, we have a responsibility. and let me tell you something -- you have no idea about how your missions can change the outcome of the war history. so if you stop a suicide bomber from blowing up a market in baghdad today, will there have been a young man or woman in that market who was going to find a cure for cancer, who was going to be the prime minister of iraq in 20 years, who was going to do something

you we have the smaller combat related options in iraq and syria. a little bigger in iraq. those are primarily focused on the specific problems inside of those countries or pieces of those countries. we have forces in saudi arabia, which was not true for most of the obama period, but is true as . the iranians has rebel threats -- have leveled threats against saudi facilities and saudi airfields. then we have smatterings of capability going as far south in the region as djibouti, which will be in the africom military theater in the united states. it still in the central command theaters. with all of that in mind, as well as afghanistan, could you give us a couple of examples of where you like to cut, but also where you think we should stay. over to you. >> i think we need to differentiate between a steady permanent u.s. overseas presence. and that additional increment of presence that is connected to the post-9/11 wars. the united states has had forces in some number for various missions going back to the carter doctrine since the late 1970's in the persian gulf and in the r

afghanistan or iraq would be a mistake. the head of need to has warned of a quick, uncoordinated withdrawal. seeing it risks lives. but it's clear donald trump wants to leave office, claiming another campaign promise has been delivered. alan fischer al-jazeera at the white house is someone who has reaction from baghdad. the office of the prime minister here in iraq published a statement saying that the prime minister spoke to secretary of state mike pompei o over the phone and that the 2 sides continued to cooperate in the future. but that the troops were being reduced in light of the growing capabilities of iraqi security forces to address terrorism in the country. and of course, eisel was officially declared seated in 2017. but the coalition has still been engaged in fighting an insurgency and trying to contain sleeper cells that remain operational in that country. but of course, it's much more complicated than that. if we go back to earlier this year, there was this parliament vote to oust all foreign troops. and that vo

same troop reduction will also take place in iraq. the decision was announced by the new acting defense secretary. >> this is consistent with our established plans and strategic objectives. supported by the american people and does not equate to a change in u.s. policy or objectives. mo moreover, this decision by the president is based on continuous engagement with his national security cabinet. >> senate republican leader mitch mcconnell who has shown his willingness to say and do anything for donald trump spoke out against this decision. >> it's extremely important here in the next couple of months not to have any earth shaking changes with regard to defense and foreign policy. >> the troop reduction sets a kind of foreign policy and military booby trap for joe biden already forced to come up with workarounds because trump isn't allowing a transition to take place. biden still not getting the classified intelligence briefings that he's now entitled to as president-elect. so today his team put together his own briefing with experts o

troops from iraq. now that did not happen, the reduction to $2500.00 is not with these groups were demanding. and tonight's rocket attack at the u.s. embassy was probably a way to voice their disapproval with this latest meant. donald trump has sacked, the head of the federal agency, the vouch for the reliability of the presidential election. in a tweet, trump announced that he had fide chris krebs, the director of the cyber security infrastructure security agency, because of those statements. the agency had called this year's election the most secure in american history. in all the news, ethiopia's government says its troops have achieved significant victories in the conflict with forces in the northern tier, a region strikes have been launched at the regional capital. it's the main base for the people's liberation front which governs that to grand faces, have refused to comply with government demands to put down their weapons. the us has agreed to drop drug charges against mexico's former defense min