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This to "the daily beast," the security gains while very hard fought are indisputable, we clearly reverse the momentum they had on the battlefield. there were endless frustrations out among them the sanctuary that they had in pakistan. at that site, undeniable progress on the security front and i stand by what i told congress on national security team during that time." given your experience and also your committee assignments here, what do you make of all of this? >> it is incredibly difficult place and that's why they stopped there and we also have to make sure we are there and presenting pr...

To draw down prematurely has devastating consequences. when we see what happens, when they withdrew from the obama administration, despite warnings from iraqi leaders on the ground, at the time they withdrew from iraq, u.s. officials were saying publicly, they believe the iraqi security forces could hold on to security gains. that's exactly how it was phrased at the time. we saw iraq slowly disintegrate and take advantage of the situation and emerge stronger than it ever was. >> arwa damon in istanbul, turkey. also ben weedman pointing out the defeat of isis, this last sliver. we appreciate yo...

Secretary james mattis or secretary of state mike pompeo, that administration official we mentioned a moment ago declined to comment. but we should note, he did push back, or she, did push back against a suggestion that administration officials were caught unaware. still, it's hard to imagine this was the process of anything resembling a robust interagency debate. here's the state department's official in charge of fighting isis just last week, suggesting u.s. troops were in syria for the long haul. >> and if we've learned one thing over the years and during defeat aftof a group means you can'...

Can't defeat their physical space and leave. you have to make sure the internal security forces are in place to ensure that those gains, security gains are enduring. we have obviously learned a lot of lessons in the past. once the physical space is defeated, we can't pick up and leave. we want to stay on the ground to make sure stability can be maintained in the areas. >> that's a top official eight days ago saying the official policy of this country is to stay in syria and the course. and john bolton, the former ambassador to the united nations, the current national security adviser, said bac...

Now it's time for our troops to come back home. >> reporter: the move flies in the face of what many of his own advisers on syria were saying just days ago. >> if we've learned one thing over the years, enduring defeat of a group like this means you can't just defeat their physical space and then leave. you have to make sure the internal security forces are in place to ensure that those security gains are enduring. >> with regard to stabilization, we still have a long way to go. >> reporter: as a candidate, donald trump said the decision to withdraw all u.s. troops from iraq in 2011 created a ...