At 202 7488003. You can join the conversation by texting us at that same number, also going to twitter cspanwj or facebook. Com cspan. The acting defense secretary outlined the president s decision yesterday. [video clip] by january 15, 2021, our forces, their size and afghanistan will be 2500. Iraq will alsoin be 2500 by that date. With ouronsistent established plans and strategic objectives. Supported by the American People. It 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 month past. Including ongoing discussions with me and my colleagues across the u. S. Government. I have also spoken with our military commanders and we all will execute this repositioning in the way that protects our fighting men and women, partners in the Intelligence Community, diplomatic corps, and our superb allies that are critical to iraqiding afghan and Civil Society. Secretaryacting of defense yesterday. In the headlines, republican leader Mitch Mcconnell because the drawdown a mistake. Here he is on the senate floor yesterday. [video clip] host we will get to that in the minute. Lets go to joel first in florida. You oppose the president s decision. Caller absolutely. Another will have isis will become worse. History will repeat itself. It is a big mistake. Host ok. So what do you think should happen . This is a promise the president made. Caller yes, but i mean, come on, lets be real. Trump promised many things and never delivers. He is a liar. A pathological liar, simple as that. Host joels opinion in florida. Heres the majority leader yesterday. [video clip] sen. Mcconnell let me start by saying, as i indicated yesterday, i think it is important in the next couple months not to have any earthshaking changes with regard to defense and foreign policy. I think a precipitous drawdown in either afghanistan or iraq would be a mistake. I have said so publicly that isy and i hope precisely where these discussions in the host the majority leader yesterday repeating what he said before. Yous in south carolina, oppose this decision. Tell us why. Believe it is a detriment to National Security. Host in what way . I mean, what concerns you about this . Caller it concerns me because of me being a veteran myself. I know the support veterans need overseas and this would harm. Hem over there, needing additional support. So it makes no sense to withdraw just for a holiday when we have National Issues at stake here, and that is upholding the front over there that we have already established. Host are you worried about al qaeda . Caller yes. Real. Host chris in south carolina. Here is the acting defense secretary on americas goals in afghanistan and the decision to drawdown. [video clip] we set out to accomplish three goals in 2001. First, go abroad and destroy terrorist, their organizations, and their sanctuaries. Two, strengthen our defenses against your attacks. And three, prevent the continued growth of islamist terrorism, to include by working with allies and local partners to take the lead in the fight. Today is another critical step in that direction and a result of President Trumps bold leadership. With the blessings of providence in the coming year, we will finish this generational war and bring our men and women home. We will protect our children from the heavy burden and told a perpetual war heavy burden war. Oll a perpetual and celebrate all those who helped us secure freedom over oppression. Host do you agree or disagree with the white houses decision to withdraw, draw troops down, not withdraw, in iraq in afghanistan iraq and afghanistan . Yvonne, in kentucky, you oppose. Why . Caller we put the rest of the and foughtarms way so long to stabilize the place and now we are going to destabilize it. I am against that. Host you are concerned about the troops that are left behind. Caller yes, i am. Host ok. How long do you think, though, we should stay in afghanistan . Unless wedont know are there and know exactly what the consequences would be one way or the other. Host do you trust military leaders, numbers of congress to make this decision . Caller i would respect our military leaders. Host ok. Post this morning in their story this morning notes you only saw the acting defense secretary at the lectern yesterday. They note the chief of staff army general the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, general mark milley, did not appear alongside him at the lectern, leaving the views of taught military officials in question. He has been seen opposing cuts. And when National Security advisor Robert Obrien announced in october that the president planned to withdraw 2500 service bers from stan this year from afghanistan this year, general mark it milley called it speculation. Don, you support. Why . Caller it is about time. We have had 20 years to try to get it right. Apparently we have not been able to do very much. So what is the point . Host well, what do you say to those who are critical of the decision that we need to have a foothold there to prevent al qaeda from rebuilding . Caller again, i say why . Whats the point . We are not accomplishing anything. Afghanistan is exactly the same if not worse than it was when we got there. Having is the good of 5000 guys sitting in the desert waiting to go attacks and . To go attack something . Host 1 trillion in afghanistan over the last 20 years. Nearly 800,000 Service Members have deployed to afghanistan at least once according to the pentagons statistics. That does not include aid workers and contract workers. Glenn in florida, you oppose. Good morning. What do you think . Thisr yes, i oppose because i believe this is a last toch effort by trump complete promises for his supporters. There is no way in the world you will move that many troops out of iraq and afghanistan by inauguration day. It is logistically impossible to do so. And to move those troops out of those locations will be stabilize those areas because we cycles asad any new far as our troops. We do not know if it is safe or not. Because the military is not talking about it, they know this is wage and. Trustnot something i trump to do correctly because he just wants to make it worse for the Biden Administration coming in and make himself look good, so i do not think it will happen. It takes too much time to move troops out that quick. Host on that point, glenn, look at what they want to do. Net gain is, 4500 troops. In afghanistan, 4500 troops. They will reduce that to 2500. By january 15. 00 go ahead. Caller why would you reduce to that amount when you dont even know if it is safe . The key question is it safe enough to do so . We would not be there if it was not, because you would reduce them over a period of time gradually if it is safe, not that many at a time. You dont know that and only the people in the pentagon and on the ground know that. I dont think the white house knows that because this is just in the attempt to get people out before he leaves. Just an attempt to get people out before he leaves. I know about logistics. You cannot move that many people and equipment. It is going to cause more problems for the president. Host as you are talking comment we were starting to show these numbers. Total u. S. Military casualties in iraq. Deaths, 4505. Military casualties in andanistan, 2447 have died 21,000 have been wounded. And we told you a hundred thousand have been deployed we told you 800,000 have been deployed in afghanistan at least once. Marking woodstock, connecticut, your turn. In woodstock, connecticut, your turn. Caller i support his takeout. I want to ask you people who oppose this how many of your sons and daughters have been there . How many have come back with diseases, ap tatians, ptsd . Amputations, ptsd . 2500 people, thats nothing. The whole thing to keep them there is to keep the gravy train going for the industrial complex. You need to wake up and find out what your supposedly leaders are doing for your country. This ridiculous. It is ridiculous. Host can you hang on the line . I want to show you and others senator Tammy Duckworth, a purple heart recipient for her service in the iraq war. [video clip] President Trump has upended any sense of stability in the department of defense. Aside from reports that he wants to attack iran, we can our military, betray our allies, he also fired to secretary esper and replaced him and other top pentagon officials with a series of unqualified loyalists who seem to have been chosen for their loyalty to this one man in the white house rather than their own competence. This up people represents a dangerous escalation at one of the most fraught moments possible. Let me give you a little historical background. Our enemies historically have tested us within the first year of each administration. Less than six weeks into bill clintons term, a truck with explosive detonated in the world trade center. Within six months of barack obama taking office, north korea rattled sabers twice, launching a rocket over the pacific and conducting a nuclear test. Four months after trump was testedn, Bashar Alassad american commitment against the use of chemical weapons. I must add to George W Bushs presidency the 9 11 attacks. Our troops will always do everything in their power to keep us safe. I have confidence in their proficiency and professionalism. Unfortunately, the commander in chief is making a harder for them to do their job. Host mark in woodstock, connecticut. In aor Tammy Duckworth wheelchair because of her service to this country. What do you think after listening to her . Caller i think it is crazy. She of all people should know. She went over there, now she is in a wheelchair, what has changed . Nothing. Not a single thing. If the American People did their homework, look what happens when we went into iraq. Like 200 something acres of poppy fields. Now how many poppy fields are there . Thousands. We are over there to protect the poppy fields. We are not over there to make democracy. Feed theer there to industrial complex. That is all it is. How many congresspeople and collect can go in and 174,000 a year and come out 10 years later millionaires . They are taking you for a ride, people. Host samuel in tennessee. You oppose. Tell us why. Caller thank you for your excellent work, greta. I would normally want the troops to come home as soon as possible. We have been over there for so long. But once i watched the movie the last outpost a few months maybe the gist of the movie was maybe not follow every order, maybe to question authority. Made soink glenn many good points about the situation a couple callers ago. I just implore people to watch the last outpost to see where our defense dollars are spent and how the soldiers sacrificed so much. I will get off here, greta. Thank you. Host ok, daniel. The navyw you what secretary had to say about the president s decision. The price of leaving too soon for in an accord native way could be high. Or in an uncoordinated way could be high. Ice is good rebuild in afghanistan. Isis could rebuild in afghanistan. We went into afghanistan together, and when the time is right, we should leave together and coordinate it in an orderly way. Nato allies to uphold this commitment. Patricia, good morning. Caller good morning. Host what do you think about this, patricia . Do you support it . Caller i support bringing troops home, yes. The caller before me made every point i was going to make. The only thing i believe is that if it was Vice President biden making the decision, it would be graded with all kinds of praise making the decision, it would be greeted with all kinds of praise. I think because donald trump is making the decision, so many callers have just called in and say they disapprove. I believe it is a matter of politics. The point about the poppy fields was excellent, just excellent. Host patricia, what do you think about republicans on capitol hill, who, some of them, disagree with the president . Caller there will always be disagreers in any political organization. That is why it is called politics. Host patricia in nevada. Lets listen to roy blunt, part of the Republican Leadership in the senate from missouri. [video clip] the troop i think in somalia anda in iraq and afghanistan, none of those places are nearly as secure if we leave as they are if we are there. I think there is some room, butding on the discussion particularly in afghanistan, if we want to continue to move forward with the peace discussion with the taliban, i think we have to have a presence. And if we want any chance of enforcing a Peace Agreement that involves the teleman, we have to have agreement that involves the taliban, we have to have a presence. And we have to look carefully at the number you have to have for their presence to be meaningful in those three places and anywhere else in the world we are thinking about repositioning. All of these things have significant longterm consequences and my advice would be to remember that an american presence does matter and does make a difference and has made a difference. And none of those places would be safe would be as safe if we arent there as they are if we are. Bluntsenator roy yesterday. Emmanuel in jacksonville, florida. Your take on the decision in the white house to reduce troops. What do you think . Caller i agree he should bring the troops home. I have to give kudos to mark in connecticut, who made some excellent points about poppy fields. I did not know how true that is, but getting back to the core, the principles of American Government is that we are supposed to stay out of foreign table months. This country has been involved in foreign entanglements since the end of world war ii. Look at vietnam, korea, and the other wars we are in, but most of all vietnam and now iraq and afghanistan. I mean, the whole purpose of these people being in these regions is to make money. It is not a reason. Weean, how can you say that are protecting america, National Security, against afghanistan . It just makes no sense to me. In that theater is long enough and it is time to bring the troops home. I think it should be a full withdraw rather a full withdrawal rather than a partial. Buthould give them weapons, they should defend themselves. Host the New York Times this morning in their peace note that in the february 29 agreement between the u. S. And the taliban that started the troop with drawl, the taliban agreed to publicly separate itself from al qaeda, which was under taliban Government Protection when it launched the september 11 terrorist attacks, and to deny their use of afghan territory as a haven. The withdraw has the withdrawal has continued and there has been no evidence of any decisive severing of ties between the groups. Supposed toawal was be contingent on the taliban agreeing to sever ties from al qaeda. Florida, youaton, are a veteran of both afghanistan and iraq, is that right . Caller yes, i served with the 10th mountain division. I am a 20 five year veteran. I believe we should come home. We have spent too much time and money. These are contractor wars. We could fight them with special ops on the ground. In the technology we have, we could put a missile in your front door. So there is no reason for people to be on the ground flipping for i. E. D. s getting blown up. It makes no sense. It is time to bring the soldiers home and the airmen and the rest. I dont believe it, i dont like it, and i think we should get out of it. Host 10, how long were you in afghanistan . Tim, how long were you in afghanistan . Caller three tours there and three in iraq. It has been a nonstop rotation. You go from one to the other to the other. Obama did his withdrawal , let all the fighters come in. They were out in the open. It was ridiculous. They drop their weapons, all the people we trained in iraq, all that time and money was wasted. They walked off the battlefield. You are not going to solve a religious war going on for thousands of years. You cannot change them. We are just out there guarding the fields, like the guy said. Host why was it an error by president obama but not now by President Trump . Caller it is a different situation. We have pretty much knocked them out. With technology today, there is no reason to be on the ground. You do not need boots on the ground, going outside the wire every day and getting blown up, or sitting there when they have the hi ground shooting at us. It is just general playing word games. Host how long is each tour . Caller it started out longer and then they cut it back. Tours stillf the has an impact on your mind and body, you know . Served, your body is torn up, your mind is torn up. Host jim, thank you for your service. We will go to richard in minneapolis, who also supports the president s decision. Go ahead. Caller yes. Good morning. I think they should take some of the troops out and let nato or europe go in there. Why do we have to do the heavy lifting . Another thing, i think they should drop a bomb, a bunker buster bomb on the Nuclear Facilities in iraq. Aden is just going to send bunch of cash in an airplane. Shouldther thing, we send the Minneapolis City Council over there because they are turning minneapolis into afghanistan. We are going to have a war on the streets here. Host all right. In new york, david, an iraq veteran. When did you serve and what were you doing . Caller i would rather not go into it. However, i served in the first phase of the iraq war. Basically i would support President Trumps withdrawal and orderlyy withdraw in an fashion, bring everyone home, our veterans, because it is a futile war in both laces and the situation at the local level is far worse than we arrived there. And we have created too many enemies. As my colleague said earlier, we have the technology. We also have a very fast, Rapid Deployment if necessary of force in the region that we can deploy anywhere within 2440 hours. 2448 hours. There is no need to remain there. Them, theis, for people in the region, to come to their senses through education and self empo