Forces loyal to libyan warlord 25 to say theyve seized parts of the strategically important city of sirte. And the wall of red facing firefighters as they try to tackle the blazes in australia from the air. Holes who. Made racist chaunce towards Mario Balotelli but on the field kristie all the rebuilding storks the new year in store with a hat trick for your insights in city of. Hello a very warm welcome to the program out top story this hour the u. S. Army has told iraq that it is preparing to move out of the country they say in a letter to iraqs ministry of defense from the u. S. Brigadier general William Seeley stating that the u. S. Will be repositioning forces over the course of the coming days and weeks he says they are doing so in jew deference to the sovereignty of the republic of iraq of course this follows the assassination of the Iranian Military commander money in a u. S. Airstrike and iraqs call for foreign troops to leave that country. Of aid is live for us in baghdad and of course this comes hot of the heels of that vote in the Iraqi Parliament what is reaction likely to be that of this. Well mary im in its been a very interesting 24 hours because the morning started with a threat from the u. S. President donald trump saying that if iraq forces us to leave it will. Shut down its bases it will have to pay compensation it will have to face sanctions and now we see this letter which has been confirmed by a few sources in the Iraqi Government that u. S. Forces are being relocated on their way out as a sign of respect to the Iraqi Parliament again a decision which was nonbinding a decision which was not attended by many in the Iraqi Parliament but it is interesting that weve been hearing helicopters in the last 2 hours helicopter flying over the green zone which had stopped after the killing of customs for the money but they were flying quite frequently after the u. S. Embassy attack and now they seem to be in the air again and this letter refers to the movement of a number of types of helicopters as troops will be relocated for their move on birds what does this mean well there are more than 5000 troops in iraq in any given time and this letter talks about a few 100 troops so it is going to be significant in terms of its symbolism but does it mean that the u. S. Is prepared to pull out of iraq well i think it is it is a bit premature to say that but this does signal what iraq wanted all along this is what iran wanted all along and that was something that we heard from the iraqi Prime Minister just 24 hours ago at the Iraqi Parliament where he said that now the u. S. Forces are no longer facing the threat of ice and that theyre being hunkered down into their own bases because they face threats from within and outside iraq and it would be not possible for Iraqi Security forces to protect them and less than 24 hours later you see the statement and we hear the helicopters in the air signaling that there is some shift that is happening but it is going to be clearer as the day breaks in iraq on how many troops will be moving out are they moving out of iraq are they being relocated to other bases because the u. S. Has a number of bases. Which we have seen in the course of the last few the fight against lies. Of course that there is much that needs to be clarified from this letter. But what about concerns on the part of some iraqis and some iraqi policy politicians about what they could mean for stability in the country about what a departure of the u. S. Could mean absolutely mary because this is an issue like many others which divides iraq iraqis on ethnic and sectarian grounds as i mentioned that the kurdish and sunni m. P. s did not attend this session of the Parliament Just joint statement come out which the u. S. Is respecting and there have been concerns from them because they have to trust one iraqi forces are capable of protecting them against a threat like i said they werent able to do so in 2014 now iraqi forces they say that they are battle hardened and they can take on challenges like that the 2nd question is do they trust these forces because that trust deficit as weve seen in mosul have been problems in other areas where forces which are loyal to iran forces which are backed by iran are not welcome by the local communities there we saw it include cook weve seen it in mosul and other parts as well so it is going to be a difficult question for these communities and then again there are protesters who have been calling for all sorts of foreign influence to end theyre not they dont want american influence to be replaced by iran these are the protesters who forced out the Iraqi Government the iraqi Prime Minister is a temporary one he is an interim Prime Minister and hes been emphasizing that the government needs to be formed as soon as possible so there are multiple voices here inside iraq which are off concerned that this if there is a good draw of corelation troops it will leave a vacuum and theyre afraid that that fracking will be filled by forces which do completely do not trust. All right a some a binge of a thank you very much all the latest from baghdad and joining us now is john hendren from washington and just saying a line here from the u. S. Defense secretary mark as for saying the United States has no intention of pulling out of iraq. Thats right that is from an off camera briefing that has just occurred at the pentagon that means theres a lot of difference theres a big gap between what the pentagon is saying and what this letter purports to say so were going to have to get some more explanation about that i think osama had some good analysis there in saying it could be a matter of a certain number of troops not all u. S. Troops leaving iraq or it could simply be a formality a required response to that iraqi vote yesterday the nonbinding vote that u. S. Troops should leave iraq but i think we can take it authoritatively from the u. S. Defense secretary when he says the u. S. Has no plans to withdraw from iraq that that is exactly the message from the pentagon itself and of course we heard president on all trump just a day earlier on sunday saying as he as he left more lago talking to reporters on his plane saying that the u. S. Would not withdraw from iraq unless the iraqis paid for the u. S. Air base it belied which has already been turned over to the iraqis themselves and he said that the u. S. Would then levy heavy sanctions on iraq sanctions that made the iranian sanctions pale in comparison to what we need now is to get a little more explanation we hope to get more of that came out of that press briefing with the u. S. Defense secretary but apparently things are not as they initially seemed and that makes sense if you listen to what President Trump has been saying yes some very bellicose comments as you are saying about the prospect of sanctions against iraq if they try to move forward on this initiative to expel foreign troops of course it doesnt mean that the u. S. And particularly president with the Campaign Campaign pledges that he has made doesnt want to remove troops from the region but present presumably they want it to be on their terms. Exactly ultimately President Trump campaigned on pulling u. S. Troops out of these foreign wars and that is something you want to do but this is certainly not the way that he would want to do it but just to put this all into perspective i was there in 2003 in iraq after the invasion when the u. S. Troops are there and spent a lot of time in that region since then and i can tell you the force thats there now 5000. 00 u. S. Troops is a mere fraction of what initially was there there were 177000. 00 Coalition Troops that invaded iraq initially and then for a 130000. 00 of those were u. S. Troops and so there were just massive numbers of foreign troops there many of them u. S. And those numbers were multiplied by the contractors and others who came there the people came for catering from other countries so there is this massive presence and it is really doing build significantly so what you have there now are largely special forces and other troops whose job it is to train iraqi forces and to engage in the fight against isis so a very small number of troops there and the but the u. S. Is now saying they are not going to pull all of those troops out and we need to get a little more reporting on exactly what this letter signifies indeed we do thank you very much for now from washington john hendren meanwhile huge crowds packed the streets of irans capital full at the funeral of qassam seller money pres were led by the Supreme Leader ayatollah ali home and i was promised revenge against the United States for the strike that killed salim mani as i beg reports from tatiana its provided a shell of a national unity. A nation in mourning and tears from the Supreme Leader for irans top military general assassinated in the u. S. Drone strike in iraq many a friend of customs in the money lead the Funeral Service at the university outside the streets of the capital were packed with the iranians who considered for the money a hero a man who defended his country crowds like this have not been seen since the death of the founder of the republic Ayatollah Khomeini 30 years ago so the on his daughter addressed the crowds you know its hard but hardly hi yeah i would see anwar for 2 ha ha today the philosophy and struggle of my father has made the resistance front into a principled and victorious velocity. So the money and iran have long supported palestinian groups a senior hamas leader Ismail Haniya paid his respects us were here to express our heartfelt condolences to the leader of the Islamic RevolutionAyatollah Khomeini general solomonic family and the flag bearers of the resistance against the zionist regime and the us the crowds chanted sang and cried the feeling here that this is a moment of change not just way run for the entire region but here for president on the front porch of the fascination of boston for the money would result in people coming by celebration but coming out against the political establishment in iran well the number of mourners here i think is the one so that he was greatly mistaken there were a chance of death to america and an expectation that iran must respond with we should take revenge the feeling that i had towards the digital its unique i dont have this feeling towards anyone else in government and thats not my heart theres no one is valuable as the general level on some blood with blood residual that whatever since i heard the news ive been crying and its a weird feeling but at the bottom of our hearts we want revenge revenge revenge but not everyone agrees on what action to take and they are intended political struggles in parliament if roger arabic or your eyes the best response is to expel us forces from the middle east and make efforts to liberate palestine but the specific response of iran should be hasty and should be well considered an important body called the assembly of experts condemned the killing of said the money and said silence in the face of assassination would make iran weaker they called upon young people to mobilize and prepared to oust American Forces from iraq as the world awaits irans response the government here will find it hard to ignore the calls for revenge and when its revenge for a man of course and so the money standing it would appear this Popular Support for whatever action may follow assad based aljazeera that run. Well u. S. Senate majority leader republican Mitch Mcconnell has urged american lawmakers to wait for the facts before criticizing President Trumps decision to order the assassination of us in santa monica now it is completely appropriate this decision will generate interest and question from this body we can and we should learn more about the intelligence and thinking that led to this operation and the plan to defend american personnel and interests in the wake of that unfortunately in this toxic political environment some of our colleagues rushed to blame our own government before even knowing the facts rushed it to split hairs about intelligence before being briefed on it and rushed it down blazed alimony as evil while presenting our own president as the villain. Well how did you castrate joins us now from capitol hill so Mitch Mcconnell that defending the president against criticism about the timing on the attack on us im still a money did do we know is that it has learned any more about the informational the intelligence that prompted this strike. Well we know that on wednesday the senators of both parties the full senate is expected to receive a briefing on that intelligence behind closed doors and for once if you listen to what mcconnell just said he did say that the senator should receive that information for once something that leaders of both parties in the senate appear to agree on we also heard from Chuck Schumer the top democrat in the chamber a little earlier and he said that yes everyone should learn more about the intelligence with the president claiming that there was an imminent attack being planned by silly money which justified his executive decision to kill the iranian general but schumer also accused trump of careening from one in polls to another that was the schumers words and having a complete lack of strategy and leaving global hotspots worse off than when Trump Took Office 3 years ago earlier i also spoke with another democratic senator ben cardin of maryland he is a democrat and a top member of the Senate ForeignRelations Committee and a cosponsor of one of the Senate Resolutions now that would seek to end the military intervention regarding iran without congressional approval he said that the u. S. Policy toward iran took the wrong turn when president trumka cited to withdraw the u. S. From the Iran Nuclear Deal and that last weeks drone strike killing sulaimani only made things worse. It was clearly provocative theres no question that the accelerates the danger between iran and the United States from point of view of a military action we need a diplomatic solution and the president s actions makes much more difficult he based it on the end of the threat we now need to know what that and the threat was all about and thats i hope that briefing this week will clarify. Meanwhile president obama has been speaking out as well today not backing down and threatening further retaliation in the face of any response from iran thats right he spoke on conservative radio earlier in the day saying that silly money should have been taken out long ago by previous u. S. Administrations and theres still backlash coming out about what the president said over the weekend when he said that if tehran retaliates then the u. S. Could strike at 52 Cultural Heritage sites within iran now that would be considered a war crime under International Law and democrats have been outspoken in criticizing the president s rhetoric but president not backing down and this morning also his president ial counselor kelly one Kellyanne Conway defending threat though massaging it a bit saying that perhaps some of these Cultural Heritage sites in iran was disguising military assets that were also in place but certainly as a whole the white house the Administration Standing behind the president s hard line threats merriam thank you very much Heidi Joe Castro of course said in plenty of International Reaction as well with the head of nato warning iran against further violence and provocations after an urgent meeting held in brussels the alliance has put on hold an anti eisel Training Mission in iraq since saleh moneys death. Nato is prepared to continue our training and Capacity Building when the situation permits we remain strongly committed to the fight against international terrorism. After the meeting today the United States also briefed on the regional situation following recent attacks on Coalition Forces in iraq on the strike against generals for the moment. For years all our allies have expressed concern about 2 wrongs do you stay abroad singer to it is in the why the middle east region. We agreed iran must never require a Nuclear Weapon we shared concern about irans missile tests. Well United Nations has also been speaking out calling for maximum restraint from wild leaders without naming any countries that are general intent of the terrorists that tensions were at the highest level in the century ive been following the recent rise in global tensions with great concern i mean Constant Contact with living officials around the world and my message is simple and clear stop escalation exercise maximum restraint restart dialogue re new International Cooperation let us not forget the terrible human suffering caused by war on mike ha