thank you for asking. aggressive tweeting. maggie, great to have you on. thank you. thank you. now to a cnn exclusive on the escalating tensions with iran. cnn learned the uk commander who dismissed u.s. intelligence on iran got it wrong. now the brits are looking for a way to correct the record. michelle kosinski is live at the state department with the exclusive details here. what have you learned? this caused a stir this week. it seemed to be the top british commander who is part of the coalition against isis disagreeing with u.s. intelligence. listen to what he said this week. there s been no increased threat from iranian-backed forces in iraq and syria. so the question is if the brits don t believe it, they are the u.s. s closest ally. they were fully briefed by the americans. why is that? now we are learning from multiple sources and confirmed by a u.s. official that this was
intent in the past to depart iraq. you weren t consulted before that decision was announced? i was not consulted. reporter: he is emphasizing he is carrying out the president s orders. this morning he stressed military pressure must be maintained and success relies on the u.s.-allied syrian democratic forces. when they are capable of handling the threat on their own that will be another key criteria indicating to me that we have accomplished our mission of defeat of isis. as you sit here today? we are not there. we are not there on terms of that. reporter: adding that he believes iran still remains the biggest long term threat to the middle east. he sees indications that iran s advanced ballistic missile technology could be a precursor to a more significant weapon. it shouldn t be lost on anybody that an advanced
out a couple weeks ago and she watched a concert. she hasn t been back at the court shiince she made that announcement. do we have a sense of her health status right now? we know that this was caught very early. she had this cancer surgery and they only found it after she fell in her office back in november and she cracked a couple of ribs. when they were looking at that they found this very, very early. that s what we know now. we will see if we see her on the bench next tuesday. she is at the court today. perhaps the most closely watched supreme court justice. we know you will stay on top of it. thanks very much. this is first on cnn, the top u.s. general fighting isis disagreeing with president trump on the withdrawal of troops from syria. the commander of central command warning that icesis far from defeated. he said u.s.-backed syrian forces are not ready to handle the isis threat on their own.
reporter: the top u.s. commander in the war against isis flatly disagreed with president trump s decision to pull out of syria. in an exclusive interview the general says it is too soon to bring u.s. troops home. i would not have made that suggestion. reporter: president trump announced in december he would pull more than 2,000 remaining troops from syria. we have won against isis. we have beaten them and we have beaten them badly. reporter: aligning himself with the u.s. intelligence community assessment that despite significant advances, there are tens of thousands of isis fighters spread across syria and iraq. and the decision to pull out of syria leaving defense secretary james mattis to resign last year. last week he made a stunning revelation that the president did not consult him on the decision to withdraw. certainly, we are aware that he has expressed a desire and
tomorrow you will have people running through the country screaming and robbing you. that is simply not the case. one other question i would be curious about is what kind of barrier does he now envision? does he plan to go back to the idea of a concrete wall? that i think would be a huge turn off for the country. if it is more like the kind of fencing we have heard about with the previous administrations, i think he has it s potentially going down better. we have a lot more questions. please stay with us as we wait for the president s announcement coming in moments from the rose garden. a split over the decision to pull u.s. troops out of syria. why the top general leading the fight against isis says he will carry out the president s order though he disagrees with it. this just in to cnn. cnn learning that supreme court justice ruth gader ginsburg is