we went in there, four-star generals, we said, hey, we have a common enemy, it s isis and we want to work with you to root them out, particularly of their capital, and we re going to give you, you know, military support and advice and counsel but we re going to need you on the front lines. we shook their hands, they accepted and they went and fought. and while americans lost their lives in syria, the number is less than ten. i believe it s six americans, which is tragic, but they lost 10,000 people, or upwards of 10,000 people. so to me, the next time we go to fight somewhere, and we don t want american men and women on the front lines. we want to work with a partner force, what is that partner going to say when we reach out our hand and say, come with us, fight with us, let s do this together. if you re that partner, you re thinking twice now because you ve seen what happened in
kurds and arabs and said we have a common enemy, it size and we want to root them out larly of the caliphate and we re gooing o give you advice and counsel but we re going to need you on the front lune 378z and we shook their hands and they went and fought. and while americans lost their loves in syria the number is less than ten. i believe it s six americans, which is tragic but comparathat to them. they lost upwards of 10,000 people. so the next time we fight somewhere and we don t want american men and women on the front lines. we want to it work with a partner force, what is that partner going to say when we reach out our hand and say fight with us. llt let s do this together. you re thinking twice because youv you ve seen what happened in northern syria. taafter the president did th, he s making calls sayinging all our boys and girls are in line.
mean for them. you know, it s an excellent question, poppy. right now question marks are really all anybody has because the truth is that this was really a by, with and through, a partner force, a policy that has been a real success story. a fragile, endangered, but very real success story for the trump administration. i met one shopkeeper in raqqah who talked to me about how this was a new time for women in raqqah, that they were coming out. local security forces were the ones providing security. and as you say, 10,000 local forces died. and while every gold star family is a tragedy, isis. retaking a territory the size of britain. so you see that people are trying to figure out what comes next. you have talked to the administration. you ve been to the white house. you know, you have lent your expertise. have you talked to the white house in the last week about
force on the ground to call them in. just in the last three days, the president has heard that the isis is a threat from the heads of the intel agencies, now from this pentagon report and from a vote in the senate 68-23 that says isis remains a threat in syria and afghanistan and will if we withdraw our troops from there. it s always good talking to you. joining us now, national political reporter for axios, jonathan swan. you re looking at tuesday s state of the union address. what s the president going to focus on when he finally gets up there after a delay? president trump, his advisers have been telling people his speech will be uplifting. that s in the eye of the beholder. i don t know if that will be carnage january 17. i expect he ll pick a big fight over border security because that s been the issue he s privately most animated and he s
are in turn protected by the united states. i went to a school in raqqah that i had visited in april and the teeacher said that we are o the front lines of the fight against the extremism, and truly, we are asking for some measure of stability, and she was asking me what i thought that the policy decision would be, and another shopkeeper who i met who had a perfume shop opening up in april where there was only rubble on the street, and in august, he was still there, and last week, he said, you know, we are really seeing more customers and things are coming back to life, and we are fighting for our own future, but we need to know that there is going to be a tomorrow, and not another force is going to be coming in to invade. so to me, it is the moms and dads on the front lines of the fight against extremism, and they are doing the work. the partner force is really, and i went to the opening of the raqqah women s council in august and a city where the women had been bought and sold months