WEBVTT 00:00.267 --> 00:01.100 - Good morning, everyone. 00:01.100 --> 00:03.528 Joining us today from Baghdad is Colonel Christopher Garver, 00:03.528 --> 00:05.806 who is the spokesman and public affairs officer 00:05.806 --> 00:08.587 for Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve. 00:08.587 --> 00:12.754 Sir, would you like to start with an opening statement? 00:15.244 --> 00:16.365 - I do, thanks, Adrian. 00:16.365 --> 00:18.466 And good morning to Pentagon press corps. 00:18.466 --> 00:20.119 Good to see everybody today. 00:20.119 --> 00:22.306 As per usual, I have an opening statement, 00:22.306 --> 00:23.954 and then we'll take your questions. 00:23.954 --> 00:26.727 I want to start today in Iraq, and then I'll move to Syria, 00:26.727 --> 00:28.858 and then come back to Iraq at the end. 00:28.858 --> 00:31.210 First, I'd like to start with the environment here. 00:31.210 --> 00:32.692 The last three days here in Iraq 00:32.692 --> 00:35.815 have seen temperatures reaching 120 degrees Fahrenheit. 00:35.815 --> 00:37.590 The government of Iraq has declared 00:37.590 --> 00:39.602 the last two days as heat days 00:39.602 --> 00:41.864 and minimized the number of officials here at work. 00:41.864 --> 00:43.866 But despite the brutal heat and the increased dust 00:43.866 --> 00:46.165 in the air, the Iraqi security forces 00:46.165 --> 00:47.979 have continued offensive operations 00:47.979 --> 00:50.608 in both the Euphrates and Tigris River Valleys. 00:50.608 --> 00:53.852 And while the ISF continues operations against Daesh, 00:53.852 --> 00:56.397 the coalition continues support with strikes, 00:56.397 --> 00:59.490 with training and equipping, with advice and assistance. 00:59.490 --> 01:01.252 In the last seven days, the coalition 01:01.252 --> 01:04.252 has conducted 73 strikes inside Iraq 01:04.309 --> 01:07.642 in support of the Iraqi security force operations. 01:07.642 --> 01:09.800 In the Tigris River Valley in Northern Iraq, 01:09.800 --> 01:11.456 shaping operations in preparation 01:11.456 --> 01:14.173 for the eventual liberation of Mosul continue. 01:14.173 --> 01:17.100 Iraqi security forces continue clearing operations 01:17.100 --> 01:21.267 in the vicinity of Qayyarah, which is star one on the map. 01:21.339 --> 01:24.141 The 71st Brigade recently isolated the town 01:24.141 --> 01:27.803 of Aswaja Gharbi on the east side of the Tigris 01:27.803 --> 01:30.133 and has commenced clearing the town. 01:30.133 --> 01:32.753 Daesh still control, on the Western side 01:32.753 --> 01:35.965 of the Tigris River, the two largest being Qayyarah itself 01:35.965 --> 01:39.154 and Sharqat, which is just to the south of Qayyarah. 01:39.154 --> 01:41.066 The ISF continues offensive operations in 01:41.066 --> 01:42.733 and around the area. 01:44.667 --> 01:47.994 To date, we have conducted more than 450 strikes 01:47.994 --> 01:51.537 in support of the operations along the Tigris. 01:51.537 --> 01:54.972 Moving South to the Euphrates River valley, at star two, 01:54.972 --> 01:57.878 the Seventh Iraqi Army Division completed clearance 01:57.878 --> 01:59.551 of the Dulab peninsula. 01:59.551 --> 02:02.403 The Dulab peninsula is the area on the South side 02:02.403 --> 02:05.389 of the Euphrates River, approximately 15 miles north of Hit 02:05.389 --> 02:08.613 and approximately 10 miles east of Al Asad airbase. 02:08.613 --> 02:10.844 Pockets of Daesh fighters controlled the peninsula 02:10.844 --> 02:13.784 until the Seventh IAD and the counterterrorism service 02:13.784 --> 02:16.061 cleared the peninsula and gained control 02:16.061 --> 02:18.425 of all the terrain South of the river. 02:18.425 --> 02:21.887 The area North of the river is still controlled by Daesh. 02:21.887 --> 02:24.980 The ISF is now consolidated and holding defensive positions 02:24.980 --> 02:27.861 in Dulab and the surrounding villages. 02:27.861 --> 02:31.848 Moving now to Syria, at star three, on the Mara line, 02:31.848 --> 02:33.512 the vetted Syrian opposition 02:33.512 --> 02:34.679 continues counter-Daesh operations, 02:34.679 --> 02:37.693 while retaining their line of resistance. 02:37.693 --> 02:40.612 VSO forces recently captured the town of Dutyan 02:40.612 --> 02:43.008 with the support of coalition airstrikes. 02:43.008 --> 02:45.478 During that operation over the past 72 hours, 02:45.478 --> 02:49.645 the coalition provided five strikes in support of the VSO. 02:49.849 --> 02:53.680 At star four in Manbij, the Syrian Arab Coalition 02:53.680 --> 02:56.454 and other members of the Syrian Democratic Forces continue 02:56.454 --> 02:59.515 to push the fight forward slowly and deliberately. 02:59.515 --> 03:02.251 The Syrian Arab Coalition captured a Daesh headquarters 03:02.251 --> 03:04.834 on July 17th in Western Manbij. 03:04.924 --> 03:06.757 The Daesh headquarters was located in a hospital 03:06.757 --> 03:09.504 on the West side of the city and was being used 03:09.504 --> 03:12.442 as a command center and a logistics hub. 03:12.442 --> 03:14.651 The SAC has also seized just under half 03:14.651 --> 03:17.305 the city so far during the operation. 03:17.305 --> 03:20.062 Daesh continues to fight hard within the center of Manbij 03:20.062 --> 03:22.489 with machine guns, well-placed snipers, 03:22.489 --> 03:24.941 and improvised explosive devices. 03:24.941 --> 03:26.793 We have seen Daesh collapsing back 03:26.793 --> 03:28.231 into the center of the city. 03:28.231 --> 03:30.340 Daesh is also mounted local counterattacks 03:30.340 --> 03:33.780 against SAC forces and used civilians as human shields 03:33.780 --> 03:37.282 and as bait by sending them into range of SAC weapons, 03:37.282 --> 03:41.162 trying to draw the fire of the SDF towards the civilians. 03:41.162 --> 03:42.454 In spite of these tactics, 03:42.454 --> 03:45.089 the SAC is maintaining their deliberate forward momentum 03:45.089 --> 03:47.072 with support from coalition strikes. 03:47.072 --> 03:50.065 Since the beginning of the offensive on May 21st, 03:50.065 --> 03:52.497 the coalition has conducted more than 500 strikes 03:52.497 --> 03:54.914 in support of this operation. 03:55.346 --> 03:57.191 We've mentioned recently the significant amount 03:57.191 --> 03:59.865 of intelligence about Daesh that has come out 03:59.865 --> 04:01.459 of the Mara operation so far, 04:01.459 --> 04:03.493 or the Manbij operations so far. 04:03.493 --> 04:06.507 More than 10,000 items, including more than four terabytes 04:06.507 --> 04:08.625 of digital information, have been seized 04:08.625 --> 04:11.289 and are being examined to exploit the information. 04:11.289 --> 04:14.405 We are learning more about Daesh at all levels from this. 04:14.405 --> 04:17.065 On a broad scale, we see Daesh has plans 04:17.065 --> 04:19.245 to insert their personnel into every facet 04:19.245 --> 04:21.152 of people's lives, as one would expect 04:21.152 --> 04:23.402 a totalitarian state to do. 04:23.610 --> 04:25.258 We have learned about how they organize 04:25.258 --> 04:26.534 their governance structures to ensure 04:26.534 --> 04:29.822 they can completely control all aspects of daily life, 04:29.822 --> 04:32.613 from religious practice, to education to tax collection 04:32.613 --> 04:34.912 and management of central services. 04:34.912 --> 04:36.732 We also see indoctrination of the young 04:36.732 --> 04:39.705 by rewriting text books with the language of hate 04:39.705 --> 04:41.313 for those not following 04:41.313 --> 04:44.275 the prescribed Daesh way of life written into it. 04:44.275 --> 04:45.799 Finally, we have a better understanding 04:45.799 --> 04:49.287 of how Daesh facilitates foreign fighter movements into 04:49.287 --> 04:52.478 and out of Syria and Iraq, which gives us valuable insight 04:52.478 --> 04:55.812 into stopping the flow of foreign fighters into the region. 04:55.812 --> 04:58.627 The exploitation of all that information continues. 04:58.627 --> 05:01.086 Additionally, you are all aware of the amount of attention 05:01.086 --> 05:02.754 that has been given to the allegations 05:02.754 --> 05:04.223 of civilian casualties caused by 05:04.223 --> 05:06.435 a coalition strike near Manbij. 05:06.435 --> 05:08.747 The incident is being looked into to determine 05:08.747 --> 05:10.716 what we can about that strike. 05:10.716 --> 05:12.117 During that portion of the fight, 05:12.117 --> 05:14.063 our SAC partner force observed a large group 05:14.063 --> 05:17.298 of Daesh fighters in a convoy who appeared to be readying 05:17.298 --> 05:19.938 for a counterattack against SAC troops in the area, 05:19.938 --> 05:22.412 and a strike was called in on Daesh. 05:22.412 --> 05:25.515 The strike was against both buildings and vehicles. 05:25.515 --> 05:28.132 Afterwards, we received reports from several sources, 05:28.132 --> 05:29.875 both internal and external, 05:29.875 --> 05:31.928 that there may have been civilians in the area 05:31.928 --> 05:34.621 who are mixed in and among the Daesh fighters. 05:34.621 --> 05:36.455 As per our procedure, we are reviewing 05:36.455 --> 05:38.668 all available evidence to determine 05:38.668 --> 05:40.692 if the information we have is credible enough 05:40.692 --> 05:43.244 to warrant a formal investigation. 05:43.244 --> 05:44.863 As we have discussed many times, 05:44.863 --> 05:47.120 we apply an extraordinary amount of rigor 05:47.120 --> 05:49.016 into our strike clearance procedures 05:49.016 --> 05:51.524 to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties 05:51.524 --> 05:53.579 or unnecessary collateral damage 05:53.579 --> 05:55.857 and to comply with the principles of the law 05:55.857 --> 05:57.076 of armed conflict. 05:57.076 --> 06:01.243 We will update you as more information becomes available. 06:01.843 --> 06:03.653 I'd like to move back to Iraq to discuss 06:03.653 --> 06:05.704 our building partner capacity line of effort, 06:05.704 --> 06:08.127 as we call it, the training and equipping we do 06:08.127 --> 06:10.020 to make our partner forces better. 06:10.020 --> 06:10.853 To date, we have trained 06:10.853 --> 06:14.542 more than 23,750 Iraqi Security Force troops, 06:14.542 --> 06:16.205 which includes Iraqi Army, 06:16.205 --> 06:18.596 counterterrorism service and police. 06:18.596 --> 06:20.564 On Wednesday, we completed the first class 06:20.564 --> 06:23.069 of the border guard police training program. 06:23.069 --> 06:27.152 The first battalion of six planned, comprised by, 06:27.366 --> 06:30.693 of approximately 300 border guard police officers 06:30.693 --> 06:32.636 completed the inaugural four-week course 06:32.636 --> 06:35.505 that is focused on tactical defensive training 06:35.505 --> 06:37.957 at the individual and collective task level, 06:37.957 --> 06:40.171 all the way up to the platoon level. 06:40.171 --> 06:42.592 Additional iterative training courses are planned 06:42.592 --> 06:45.874 to provide forensic police training to these officers. 06:45.874 --> 06:48.427 The training was conducted at Al Asad Airbase, 06:48.427 --> 06:49.832 which is star five on the map, 06:49.832 --> 06:52.108 and is primarily conducted by Danish trainers. 06:52.108 --> 06:54.503 The government of Iraq will deploy these forces 06:54.503 --> 06:56.206 along their borders in order to protect 06:56.206 --> 06:59.747 the country once Daesh has been defeated within it. 06:59.747 --> 07:01.910 The border guard police training complements 07:01.910 --> 07:04.677 our national and local police training efforts, 07:04.677 --> 07:06.171 led by the Italian Carabinieri 07:06.171 --> 07:08.454 and supported by several other nations. 07:08.454 --> 07:10.660 Finally, you've heard us say repeatedly 07:10.660 --> 07:12.182 that we want to keep the pressure on Daesh 07:12.182 --> 07:14.309 by attacking them across the breadth and depth 07:14.309 --> 07:17.608 of their territory and formations in both Iraq and Syria, 07:17.608 --> 07:19.845 and that is important to break this idea 07:19.845 --> 07:23.296 of the so-called caliphate as we defeat them militarily. 07:23.296 --> 07:26.509 We also strike against the functional elements of Daesh, 07:26.509 --> 07:28.410 their ability to generate revenues through illicit oil 07:28.410 --> 07:31.994 and gas activities, their ability to bring foreign fighters 07:31.994 --> 07:35.347 into Syria and Iraq, their ability to finance 07:35.347 --> 07:38.173 their activities, their ability to plan operations 07:38.173 --> 07:40.118 and their ability to communicate, 07:40.118 --> 07:42.047 including the propaganda they send out to the world 07:42.047 --> 07:45.280 and use to influence and control their own people. 07:45.280 --> 07:47.656 We have seen Daesh use media kiosks throughout 07:47.656 --> 07:50.560 the so-called caliphate as platforms 07:50.560 --> 07:52.801 to push out their propaganda. 07:52.801 --> 07:55.215 On July 19, we targeted and destroyed 07:55.215 --> 07:57.815 a number of these media kiosks inside Mosul, 07:57.815 --> 07:59.482 star six on the map. 07:59.631 --> 08:02.631 These kiosks were used by Daesh to distribute propaganda 08:02.631 --> 08:04.311 to the local population. 08:04.311 --> 08:06.543 The last time we did strikes like this were back in April 08:06.543 --> 08:09.034 of this year, and it demonstrates our dedication 08:09.034 --> 08:11.243 to defeating Daesh, not just physically, 08:11.243 --> 08:15.026 but defeating the message and the idea as well. 08:15.026 --> 08:17.927 And with that, I'll be glad to take your questions. 08:17.927 --> 08:20.378 - And we'll start with Lita Baldor, Associated Press. 08:20.378 --> 08:22.100 - Hi, Chris, it's Lita. 08:22.100 --> 08:25.271 Can you give us a little bit of more detailed update 08:25.271 --> 08:29.104 of Qayyarah, how many US forces are there now? 08:29.172 --> 08:32.442 And have additional teams gone in to evaluate the runways 08:32.442 --> 08:35.362 and the condition of the, of the base? 08:35.362 --> 08:38.195 And can you give us a better sense 08:38.417 --> 08:39.854 of what shape it's in now? 08:39.854 --> 08:43.437 Have any improvements or any repairs begun? 08:49.020 --> 08:51.137 - Well, that's a great question, Lita, thanks. 08:51.137 --> 08:54.970 The air field, the air strip itself is damaged 08:55.728 --> 08:57.744 and many of the buildings have been damaged in 08:57.744 --> 08:58.791 and around the site. 08:58.791 --> 09:00.671 Now, we've done an initial assessment and I think we've, 09:00.671 --> 09:04.504 we've talked about that recently and we've got 09:04.766 --> 09:08.425 a more detailed assessment is going on right now. 09:08.425 --> 09:12.164 There are, there's at least one Iraqi battalion sitting 09:12.164 --> 09:14.487 on that, that base right now. 09:14.487 --> 09:18.654 And there's multiple Iraqi brigades in and around the area, 09:18.791 --> 09:22.943 both the East and the West side of the, of the Tigris River. 09:22.943 --> 09:25.113 But what's important to realize about that base 09:25.113 --> 09:28.830 is the base itself is more important to us right now 09:28.830 --> 09:30.663 than the air strip is. 09:31.215 --> 09:34.860 We will repair the air strip and we will get that, that, 09:34.860 --> 09:37.725 that back working, and the 560 additional troops 09:37.725 --> 09:39.513 that the Secretary of Defense talked about 09:39.513 --> 09:41.635 a couple weeks ago will be a part of that effort 09:41.635 --> 09:43.472 to repair that, that air strip. 09:43.472 --> 09:46.649 But more importantly is the build-out of that base 09:46.649 --> 09:50.195 as a logistical hub to support the Iraqi security forces, 09:50.195 --> 09:53.117 just as we used Makhmur for when we were 09:53.117 --> 09:55.411 on the East side of the Tigris. 09:55.411 --> 09:57.831 So we will prepare that for Iraqi forces 09:57.831 --> 10:00.930 to live and train and rehearse and plan. 10:00.930 --> 10:03.517 We will, we'll prepare that as a logistics hub 10:03.517 --> 10:06.101 to bring in supplies and push 'em back out. 10:06.101 --> 10:08.359 We don't need the air strip to be able to do that. 10:08.359 --> 10:11.385 We can do all that with, with what we have available now. 10:11.385 --> 10:13.692 But eventually, they will complete that air strip, 10:13.692 --> 10:16.429 repair that air strip, and that will be used as well. 10:16.429 --> 10:19.916 But the base itself is more important right now 10:19.916 --> 10:22.052 than the air strip itself. 10:22.052 --> 10:23.686 That's why it's the first priority 10:23.686 --> 10:26.597 and the air strip is the second priority. 10:26.597 --> 10:29.209 - That there's an assessment going on right now, 10:29.209 --> 10:32.095 that's a US, another US team that's in there, 10:32.095 --> 10:34.935 and when I asked General Votel the other day 10:34.935 --> 10:37.430 if any US troops have started to flow in, 10:37.430 --> 10:41.597 he said the, the large groups of troops haven't gone in yet, 10:42.531 --> 10:46.698 suggesting there are some there, can you say how many? 10:50.573 --> 10:53.656 - There are no US forces there today. 10:54.642 --> 10:57.125 I don't want to talk specifically about when they will, 10:57.125 --> 10:59.652 but there is another assessment team that is part of all 10:59.652 --> 11:02.338 of that, of kind of building out the base. 11:02.338 --> 11:05.487 And when we get folks in place and doing their mission, 11:05.487 --> 11:06.640 we'll be in a better position to kind of talk 11:06.640 --> 11:07.535 about what's going to be there 11:07.535 --> 11:09.299 from a coalition perspective, 11:09.299 --> 11:13.216 not just the Iraqi Security Forces perspective. 11:13.459 --> 11:15.042 - Dave Martin, CBS. 11:16.092 --> 11:19.151 - Could you talk a little bit more about the airstrike 11:19.151 --> 11:23.318 and the claims of civilian casualties up around Manbij? 11:24.801 --> 11:28.848 You said that you now have I think you said internal 11:28.848 --> 11:32.181 and external sources that some civilians 11:32.824 --> 11:34.741 may have been mixed in. 11:37.086 --> 11:40.836 One, do you have any estimates of the numbers 11:40.841 --> 11:43.505 of civilians who may have been mixed in? 11:43.505 --> 11:47.672 And two, was that possibility known before the strike, 11:50.920 --> 11:53.837 and a decision made that, you know, 11:55.479 --> 11:58.729 a military objective was worth the risk 11:59.764 --> 12:01.681 of civilian casualties? 12:06.895 --> 12:11.062 - In terms of the size, David, I've seen different estimates 12:11.725 --> 12:13.479 in the initial reports that came in. 12:13.479 --> 12:16.423 I think the largest we've seen in a while, 12:16.423 --> 12:19.814 in the open press, it was kind of a wild speculation 12:19.814 --> 12:23.981 towards 73, I think was the number that I saw in one report, 12:24.801 --> 12:27.884 all the way down to perhaps, 10 or 15 12:28.132 --> 12:30.483 in different reporting as well. 12:30.483 --> 12:32.525 So that's part of what the investigation is going to be 12:32.525 --> 12:34.358 because the estimate was pretty wide. 12:34.358 --> 12:36.662 The range was pretty wide in terms of 12:36.662 --> 12:40.797 who we think might have been a civilian in that strike. 12:40.797 --> 12:43.985 And secondly, that's the part about whether or not 12:43.985 --> 12:46.324 somebody made a decision to hit that target. 12:46.324 --> 12:48.846 I don't know, that's part of the investigation. 12:48.846 --> 12:50.922 They're going to figure that out. 12:50.922 --> 12:52.993 And so, I can't talk about that yet, 12:52.993 --> 12:56.743 that'll be part of the investigation process. 12:57.382 --> 13:01.549 - Everybody has seen the estimate of civilian dead 13:02.786 --> 13:04.592 from the external sources. 13:04.592 --> 13:07.759 What do your internal sources estimate 13:08.893 --> 13:11.226 the number of civilian dead? 13:15.774 --> 13:18.755 - I'll just say that it was much less than 13:18.755 --> 13:20.119 the high end like we saw. 13:20.119 --> 13:22.022 Like I said, 73 was the high end of what I saw 13:22.022 --> 13:23.101 in the open source. 13:23.101 --> 13:26.434 It was much less down, down lower toward 13:27.057 --> 13:31.224 the left end of the scale, the lower end of the scale. 13:31.859 --> 13:33.972 Approximately, you know, in the, in the, 13:33.972 --> 13:36.127 what they were concerned about was somewhere 13:36.127 --> 13:38.014 between 10 and 20 but I can't be specific 13:38.014 --> 13:41.764 and that's part of what the investigation is. 13:44.128 --> 13:48.211 - Can I just clarify with you, are you now saying 13:48.997 --> 13:53.164 that the US military, separate from open source information, 13:53.788 --> 13:57.955 separate from press statements made by outside groups, 14:02.968 --> 14:04.869 that the US military, itself, 14:04.869 --> 14:08.952 does have internal information suggesting to you, 14:10.148 --> 14:13.481 in fact, there were civilian casualties? 14:13.499 --> 14:15.749 You seem to be saying that. 14:18.668 --> 14:20.390 - What I specifically said Barbara, 14:20.390 --> 14:22.956 was there was internal and external reporting. 14:22.956 --> 14:26.373 The internal reporting may encompass some 14:26.909 --> 14:28.613 of the external reporting 14:28.613 --> 14:30.963 That we saw where people were suddenly concerned 14:30.963 --> 14:34.100 because of external reporting that we saw. 14:34.100 --> 14:37.109 The specifics of an internal report that says, 14:37.109 --> 14:41.276 yes, we think there were civilians on, in that strike, 14:42.072 --> 14:43.500 I haven't seen that. 14:43.500 --> 14:45.173 And that's again, part of the investigative process 14:45.173 --> 14:46.567 that we need let work through. 14:46.567 --> 14:49.788 But there were reports that come into the command 14:49.788 --> 14:52.301 both internally and externally, that said, 14:52.301 --> 14:54.086 we may have cause for concerns, 14:54.086 --> 14:56.023 there may have been civilians involved in the strike. 14:56.023 --> 14:59.480 And some of that was generated from, internally, 14:59.480 --> 15:03.647 we saw some of the external reporting that was going on. 15:04.441 --> 15:07.608 - In a minute, I'm even more confused. 15:07.772 --> 15:11.939 Do you have any US military information, intelligence, 15:14.098 --> 15:17.982 that suggests to you there may have been civilian strikes, 15:17.982 --> 15:21.899 or is your only source of reporting essentially 15:22.312 --> 15:25.312 still outside open source reporting? 15:33.149 --> 15:36.184 - I have nothing to give you today on whether or not 15:36.184 --> 15:40.351 there was any internal coalition military information 15:41.213 --> 15:43.559 that said there may or may not have been civilians 15:43.559 --> 15:45.130 in that, in that strike. 15:45.130 --> 15:47.139 I just don't have anything to give you on that right now. 15:47.139 --> 15:48.515 I don't know, and it's with the unit 15:48.515 --> 15:50.107 that's conducting the investigation. 15:50.107 --> 15:52.591 - Could I also just clarify, I'm very sorry, 15:52.591 --> 15:54.768 are we talking, there were multiple numbers, 15:54.768 --> 15:58.501 but there were also strikes in Manbij over two days, 15:58.501 --> 16:02.589 and some suggestion that there were civilian strikes in, 16:02.589 --> 16:05.232 on both, civilian casualties on both days. 16:05.232 --> 16:08.421 Are you simply talking about the first day of strikes 16:08.421 --> 16:10.088 against that convoy? 16:10.252 --> 16:14.419 What missions exactly are under investigation review? 16:20.484 --> 16:23.187 - That, that strike is the one I'm talking about right now, 16:23.187 --> 16:25.020 the one on the convoy. 16:25.730 --> 16:29.313 That's the strike that we're talking about. 16:30.498 --> 16:31.440 - Chris, good morning. 16:31.440 --> 16:34.068 There's a report out this morning that suggests 16:34.068 --> 16:37.901 the June 16th bombing of a garrison at at-Tanf 16:37.972 --> 16:41.085 in Southeastern Syria, that there has been US 16:41.085 --> 16:43.958 and British troops there within 24 hours potentially. 16:43.958 --> 16:45.268 Can you confirm that? 16:45.268 --> 16:49.117 And I guess in light of that, can you shed any light 16:49.117 --> 16:52.253 on where the coalition is and where the commanders are 16:52.253 --> 16:55.003 in terms of Russian intervention, 16:55.404 --> 16:57.235 Russian involvement in that area, 16:57.235 --> 16:59.520 and how the communication is at this point? 16:59.520 --> 17:02.368 It sounds a lot more potentially troublesome 17:02.368 --> 17:04.785 than we had heard previously. 17:09.272 --> 17:11.988 - All right Corey, I'm not going to discuss the specifics 17:11.988 --> 17:15.325 of either US or other coalition SOF operations. 17:15.325 --> 17:17.911 So I'm not going to confirm that one way or another. 17:17.911 --> 17:22.078 As for the negotiations with the Russians in regard 17:23.604 --> 17:26.171 to operations inside Syria, I can tell you 17:26.171 --> 17:29.067 that today we are doing exactly what we've been doing. 17:29.067 --> 17:32.217 We're not cooperating in any way other than communicating 17:32.217 --> 17:35.740 through the one channel for safety of flight 17:35.740 --> 17:38.911 through the memorandum of agreement that we have. 17:38.911 --> 17:41.755 The negotiations are being conducted at a higher level 17:41.755 --> 17:43.557 than the Combined Joint Task Force. 17:43.557 --> 17:45.306 You can ask the folks in the building there 17:45.306 --> 17:46.736 if there's been any change. 17:46.736 --> 17:49.427 But where we are today as we're conducting operations, 17:49.427 --> 17:51.249 it's the same way we have been. 17:51.249 --> 17:55.416 And there's no cooperation with Russian forces at this time. 17:56.115 --> 17:57.993 - Lucas Tomlinson, Fox News? 17:57.993 --> 17:59.329 - [Voiceover] Colonel, there's a report 17:59.329 --> 18:01.790 that an American vigilante fighting ISIS 18:01.790 --> 18:05.957 was killed in Syria, do you have anything on that? 18:08.737 --> 18:12.042 - I saw the headline, Lucas, just on Twitter, 18:12.042 --> 18:14.797 but I haven't gotten any other information on that. 18:14.797 --> 18:17.547 I saw some open source reporting, 18:17.613 --> 18:20.546 but don't have anything specific about that. 18:20.546 --> 18:21.988 - [Adrian] Carla Babb, VOA? 18:21.988 --> 18:24.163 - Hi, Colonel Garver, thanks for doing this. 18:24.163 --> 18:26.830 Back on Manbij, you were saying, 18:26.966 --> 18:29.256 and I think Secretary Carter had said on Wednesday 18:29.256 --> 18:32.509 that you were still seeing if it warrants, 18:32.509 --> 18:36.676 the civilian potential killing warrants an investigation. 18:36.979 --> 18:38.118 Where are you? 18:38.118 --> 18:39.670 Are you still in the review to see 18:39.670 --> 18:41.120 if it warrants an investigation? 18:41.120 --> 18:42.614 Or is the US military actually 18:42.614 --> 18:45.697 in the investigative stage right now? 18:49.172 --> 18:51.686 - So we're in the first phase, which is we determine 18:51.686 --> 18:53.795 what we call a credibility assessment. 18:53.795 --> 18:57.317 Does the information we have warrant a formal investigation? 18:57.317 --> 18:59.213 The unit is conducting that credibility assessment 18:59.213 --> 19:00.046 right now. 19:00.113 --> 19:03.114 At the end of that, the commander will either say, 19:03.114 --> 19:04.940 you know, as the unit completes that, 19:04.940 --> 19:06.806 the unit will say either we don't think it warrants 19:06.806 --> 19:09.335 a formal investigation, or we do, 19:09.335 --> 19:11.838 and then they'll launch a formal investigation. 19:11.838 --> 19:15.338 So they've got some time to complete that. 19:15.862 --> 19:17.485 It's less than a week and a half now to complete 19:17.485 --> 19:19.735 that internal, that review. 19:20.329 --> 19:23.553 And then they'll recommend to a higher commander that says, 19:23.553 --> 19:26.039 yeah, we think we need to do a formal investigation, or not. 19:26.039 --> 19:27.569 And I don't want to get in front of that investigation, 19:27.569 --> 19:28.701 in front of that review process, 19:28.701 --> 19:30.224 in front of the credibility assessment, 19:30.224 --> 19:32.521 to figure out one way or another or predict one way 19:32.521 --> 19:34.362 or another where it's going to go. 19:34.362 --> 19:36.050 - And just so I'm clear on the timeline, 19:36.050 --> 19:39.287 is it less than a week and a half from the reporting 19:39.287 --> 19:41.447 of the incident, or less than a week and a half 19:41.447 --> 19:44.447 from today that you're referring to? 19:47.974 --> 19:49.755 - It's less than a week and a half from today. 19:49.755 --> 19:53.142 The standard within CENTCOM and within Central Command 19:53.142 --> 19:56.054 is you have 14 days to complete the assessment 19:56.054 --> 19:57.626 from being told to do it. 19:57.626 --> 19:59.205 The unit was told to do it a few days ago, 19:59.205 --> 20:02.692 and they're in the middle of doing that now. 20:02.692 --> 20:03.979 - Corey Dickstein. 20:03.979 --> 20:08.061 - Yes, sir, can you, just following up on Carla's question, 20:08.061 --> 20:12.228 after these 14 days, if it, if they do recommend a, 20:12.966 --> 20:15.993 a formal investigation, can, can you talk at all 20:15.993 --> 20:19.084 as to how long that kind of investigation would take? 20:19.084 --> 20:21.909 And can you talk at all about what goes 20:21.909 --> 20:23.962 into that investigation, how that's, 20:23.962 --> 20:27.045 how that's done from, from your side? 20:33.029 --> 20:34.887 - Well, I could tell you that the time it takes 20:34.887 --> 20:36.537 is the time it takes. 20:36.537 --> 20:39.092 They're in our timelines and what, 20:39.092 --> 20:42.259 it's what we call an Army, an AR 15-6, 20:42.440 --> 20:44.109 which is a command investigation. 20:44.109 --> 20:47.609 You can look it up in the Army regulations 20:47.658 --> 20:49.241 about what that is. 20:49.257 --> 20:51.274 There are timelines that are built-in. 20:51.274 --> 20:55.249 I'm certainly not a lawyer, so I would, I would say, 20:55.249 --> 20:58.176 I think they have a short amount of time to get back 20:58.176 --> 21:00.959 to their commander who assigned them that report. 21:00.959 --> 21:03.499 In this case, General MacFarland is interested, 21:03.499 --> 21:05.576 General Votel clearly is interested in this, 21:05.576 --> 21:06.796 in this as well. 21:06.796 --> 21:08.526 But I don't want to talk to specifics, 21:08.526 --> 21:09.966 because I don't have it off the top of the my head, 21:09.966 --> 21:12.427 and I get, I said I think it's a couple of weeks 21:12.427 --> 21:13.999 to complete the investigation. 21:13.999 --> 21:16.640 You can apply for additional time if you need it 21:16.640 --> 21:18.254 as the investigating officer. 21:18.254 --> 21:21.154 Or you take the credibility assessment information, 21:21.154 --> 21:24.506 and then that becomes part of the evidence. 21:24.506 --> 21:25.940 And then you'll go forward to, 21:25.940 --> 21:27.367 the investigating officer would go forward 21:27.367 --> 21:30.995 to figure out what, what can we determine, you know, 21:30.995 --> 21:33.281 in this instance, the determination will be, 21:33.281 --> 21:37.448 do we think we killed civilians accidentally in this strike? 21:37.892 --> 21:40.472 And that is the end result of, of this. 21:40.472 --> 21:43.972 And then any recommendations towards what, 21:44.072 --> 21:45.935 was it a procedural error? 21:45.935 --> 21:48.068 Did somebody not do something right? 21:48.068 --> 21:50.246 Was it fog and friction of war? 21:50.246 --> 21:52.922 Was it something that Daesh had done as a tactic that, 21:52.922 --> 21:55.048 that we were not paying attention to, and therefore, 21:55.048 --> 21:57.610 we need to inform our units in the future 21:57.610 --> 21:59.574 to watch out for this tactic. 21:59.574 --> 22:02.872 The investigating officer's recommendations 22:02.872 --> 22:05.297 go to the commander, the commander can makes changes 22:05.297 --> 22:07.425 to our procedures along the way. 22:07.425 --> 22:10.924 And at the end of all of that, we would at some point, 22:10.924 --> 22:14.133 publish a release from either CJTF or Central Command 22:14.133 --> 22:16.097 that said that we acknowledge that we killed civilians, 22:16.097 --> 22:18.930 if that was the end of the result. 22:19.092 --> 22:20.302 - Paul Shinkman, US News. 22:20.302 --> 22:21.135 - Ah, yes, good morning Colonel Garver, 22:21.135 --> 22:22.454 good to see you again. 22:22.454 --> 22:26.287 There is a, a news report yesterday afternoon, 22:26.525 --> 22:29.177 I think it was from Reuters that the forces 22:29.177 --> 22:31.697 on the ground surrounding Manbij had given 22:31.697 --> 22:34.899 the Islamic State fighters 48 hours to leave. 22:34.899 --> 22:38.216 Can you talk about what, what that plan is, 22:38.216 --> 22:40.549 what happens after 48 hours? 22:40.739 --> 22:42.058 And have you seen any indication 22:42.058 --> 22:44.320 that there are Islamic State group fighters 22:44.320 --> 22:45.820 leaving that area? 22:51.346 --> 22:53.180 - Yeah, I saw that report from Reuters. 22:53.180 --> 22:55.637 I don't have anything from, our advisers 22:55.637 --> 22:57.226 with those units are from the chain of command 22:57.226 --> 22:59.906 on the ground, the SAC chain of command on the ground 22:59.906 --> 23:01.462 that, that confirms that. 23:01.462 --> 23:03.430 So, as of right now, I'm not confirming that. 23:03.430 --> 23:07.434 I don't, I haven't talked to anybody who, who saw what, 23:07.434 --> 23:09.739 saw, you know, any kind of ultimatum like that. 23:09.739 --> 23:12.058 I, I can't confirm that it even exists, 23:12.058 --> 23:14.686 and the, the attack is still going forward today. 23:14.686 --> 23:16.574 So, I don't know, you know, what somebody thought 23:16.574 --> 23:18.723 they were going to, to buy with that. 23:18.723 --> 23:22.402 But the, the SAC is fighting inside the city, 23:22.402 --> 23:24.250 and actually moved a little bit more towards 23:24.250 --> 23:25.940 the center of the city after they had seized 23:25.940 --> 23:27.485 that hospital, they're still moving forward. 23:27.485 --> 23:30.152 So, I can't confirm that report. 23:30.309 --> 23:32.264 - And can you talk about, we've heard about 23:32.264 --> 23:34.847 with previous towns in, of Iraq 23:37.538 --> 23:40.127 that have been liberated that there is some sort 23:40.127 --> 23:41.649 of formal process, some sort of formal plan 23:41.649 --> 23:43.611 that goes into it to allow for the fact 23:43.611 --> 23:46.909 that people will likely be fleeing from the town 23:46.909 --> 23:49.202 that could include fighters who were based there 23:49.202 --> 23:50.744 and there's need to be some sort of avenue 23:50.744 --> 23:53.860 to allow them to do that so the coalition forces 23:53.860 --> 23:55.499 can focus on the fighting. 23:55.499 --> 23:58.114 Is the same true in Syria, where there are sort 23:58.114 --> 24:00.829 of fewer coalition fighters on the ground 24:00.829 --> 24:03.636 and it's more about grouping local fighters together? 24:03.636 --> 24:07.430 Is there a plan in place to, to allow for the movements 24:07.430 --> 24:11.347 of people when, when campaigns like this begin? 24:17.667 --> 24:19.062 - So the short answer is yes. 24:19.062 --> 24:20.443 And now, I'll give you the long answer. 24:20.443 --> 24:23.776 The long answer is that there is a plan. 24:24.375 --> 24:28.246 They initially had a plan, the Syrian Democratic Forces, 24:28.246 --> 24:31.528 the SAC, Syrian Arab Coalition, as part of the SDF. 24:31.528 --> 24:33.256 All these forces had a plan to leave 24:33.256 --> 24:35.923 a corridor out towards the West 24:36.570 --> 24:40.737 so if anybody was escaping, they could go out that corridor. 24:41.079 --> 24:44.645 But what we had seen in Iraq and what seemed to work well 24:44.645 --> 24:47.578 was instead of leaving a corridor open 24:47.578 --> 24:51.745 which Daesh potentially could, could capitalize on, 24:51.821 --> 24:55.063 could exploit, is that as, as long as your troops 24:55.063 --> 24:57.665 are aware that people are going to be fleeing the area 24:57.665 --> 24:59.978 and as they come to the forward lines, 24:59.978 --> 25:02.993 if you identify what you think is a civilian and, and, 25:02.993 --> 25:07.160 not a member of Daesh, we pass those, those civilians back 25:07.820 --> 25:09.073 through the lines. 25:09.073 --> 25:11.121 The people in the back of the formation take them 25:11.121 --> 25:12.947 and move them to safety. 25:12.947 --> 25:16.126 And so based on recommendations from the coalition, 25:16.126 --> 25:18.773 that's what the Syrian Arab Coalition 25:18.773 --> 25:22.940 and the SDF have been doing, and we have had people 25:23.017 --> 25:25.930 coming out of the city and we think there are still 25:25.930 --> 25:27.207 a couple thousand more in there. 25:27.207 --> 25:29.049 I've seen some, some wide range, again, 25:29.049 --> 25:30.643 wide range of estimates of how many civilians 25:30.643 --> 25:32.691 we think are still inside Manbij. 25:32.691 --> 25:35.428 But we have had several thousand that have come out 25:35.428 --> 25:38.026 and have been moved through the lines 25:38.026 --> 25:41.026 and sent back to a more secure area. 25:42.038 --> 25:43.960 - Back to Lucas Tomlinson, Fox News. 25:43.960 --> 25:47.045 - Is this new tactic of ISIS putting civilians in vehicles, 25:47.045 --> 25:50.045 is, does that slow down the air war? 25:55.773 --> 25:58.321 - Well, as we saw, Lucas, on the strikes 25:58.321 --> 26:01.287 that we did on the convoys a couple weeks ago, 26:01.287 --> 26:03.956 if we're not sure what's inside those vehicles, 26:03.956 --> 26:06.231 we will not pull the trigger until we know. 26:06.231 --> 26:09.301 And so there was a portion of the convoy 26:09.301 --> 26:12.645 that was North of Fallujah that, as that started to form, 26:12.645 --> 26:14.993 we thought a portion of that convoy may have civilians, 26:14.993 --> 26:17.757 may have family members or may have women and children. 26:17.757 --> 26:20.577 So we did not initially strike that portion of the convoy. 26:20.577 --> 26:22.516 But as we watched it with ISR 26:22.516 --> 26:24.240 and with our intelligence platforms 26:24.240 --> 26:26.234 and we developed an intelligence picture, 26:26.234 --> 26:28.466 we got to a point where we think that they had left. 26:28.466 --> 26:30.403 We were able to kind of check to see yup, 26:30.403 --> 26:31.622 everybody's holding a weapon 26:31.622 --> 26:33.449 or everybody's manning a machine gun 26:33.449 --> 26:36.101 or looks like Daesh and we were able to then go in 26:36.101 --> 26:37.271 and strike those portions of convoys. 26:37.271 --> 26:41.166 So it doesn't hold up the air war any more than 26:41.166 --> 26:43.644 we already hold ourselves up in trying to ensure 26:43.644 --> 26:45.944 that we're, we're not hitting anything but Daesh 26:45.944 --> 26:46.947 when we shoot at it. 26:46.947 --> 26:49.374 Those are the same normal procedures that we go through. 26:49.374 --> 26:51.851 Now clearly, if we know they're operating that way 26:51.851 --> 26:55.768 inside a certain area, as we see inside Manbij, 26:55.941 --> 26:57.874 the fight inside Manbij has been very intense. 26:57.874 --> 27:01.200 And as, as it collapses in, it gets, it gets more intense, 27:01.200 --> 27:03.102 which is sort of different than what we saw 27:03.102 --> 27:04.850 in Ramadi and what we saw in Fallujah. 27:04.850 --> 27:07.478 And I talked kind of before about punching through the crust 27:07.478 --> 27:09.018 and into the gooey center. 27:09.018 --> 27:11.867 The gooey center's getting, there is no gooey center yet. 27:11.867 --> 27:13.348 The gooey center is still a tough crust 27:13.348 --> 27:15.341 as it collapses back in on itself. 27:15.341 --> 27:18.944 So we're, so we, yes, as you're about to strike a vehicle, 27:18.944 --> 27:20.941 you want to make sure you know what's inside it, 27:20.941 --> 27:22.797 and if you're not sure, you're not going to pull 27:22.797 --> 27:24.867 the trigger until you're absolutely sure. 27:24.867 --> 27:25.955 - Are you concerned the command, 27:25.955 --> 27:27.302 following the successful strike 27:27.302 --> 27:28.745 outside Fallujah against those hundreds 27:28.745 --> 27:32.003 of vehicles that ISIS has adopted this new tactic 27:32.003 --> 27:36.086 of putting civilians in vehicles when travelling. 27:40.795 --> 27:44.027 - We actually saw their use of civilians in Manbij 27:44.027 --> 27:47.053 this way prior to that strike, outside of Fallujah. 27:47.053 --> 27:51.220 So the Daesh leaders in Manbij were using the civilians, 27:52.006 --> 27:55.315 we talked about human shields, but using them as bait 27:55.315 --> 27:57.923 trying to draw us into shooting civilians as well, 27:57.923 --> 28:00.262 trying to draw the SDF into shooting civilians as well. 28:00.262 --> 28:03.344 But that was happening before the convoy strike. 28:03.344 --> 28:05.880 So that was clearly, whoever was in charge of Manbij, 28:05.880 --> 28:08.892 that was a decision that they made to use those civilians 28:08.892 --> 28:10.925 in that way before they saw the results 28:10.925 --> 28:12.965 of what happened in Fallujah. 28:12.965 --> 28:17.132 - Over to Incirlik Air Base, how many soldiers were lost 28:17.212 --> 28:18.846 in the week when the coup was over 28:18.846 --> 28:22.179 and the power was turned off externally? 28:26.938 --> 28:30.426 - I would tell you, Lucas, I want to let the specifics 28:30.426 --> 28:32.343 of that go to the CAOC, 28:32.538 --> 28:34.505 Contact Lieutenant Colonel Chris Karns, 28:34.505 --> 28:38.005 or to the base itself is run out of EUCOM, 28:38.863 --> 28:42.366 Captain Danny Hernandez at the EUCOM public affairs. 28:42.366 --> 28:44.391 What I can tell you is that the impact on the ground 28:44.391 --> 28:48.558 was exceedingly minimal because we were able to shift, 28:49.056 --> 28:53.223 there's enough flexibility built into the air plan, 28:54.153 --> 28:56.269 and airplanes and can fly from one point to another 28:56.269 --> 28:57.229 if you need 'em to. 28:57.229 --> 28:59.119 They can fly as long as they need to 28:59.119 --> 29:01.138 because we just give them more gas in the air. 29:01.138 --> 29:03.202 So that just becomes more of a logistical problem 29:03.202 --> 29:05.060 to get them to point a to point b. 29:05.060 --> 29:07.083 Before we were flying out of Incirlik, 29:07.083 --> 29:09.239 we were flying from other parts of the region 29:09.239 --> 29:11.072 and we had to give them more gas to get them up 29:11.072 --> 29:14.674 in the Northern edge of Syria and the Northern edge of Iraq. 29:14.674 --> 29:16.196 So we can do that again. 29:16.196 --> 29:17.833 And they started doing that again. 29:17.833 --> 29:20.320 Then we had kind of gone back and forth with whether the, 29:20.320 --> 29:22.686 the, the, we were gonna be allowed to fly 29:22.686 --> 29:26.782 when all of military flight was stopped inside Turkey. 29:26.782 --> 29:29.623 We were able to shift responsibilities 29:29.623 --> 29:32.373 and air plans around to make sure 29:32.649 --> 29:34.316 that it was absolutely a minimal impact 29:34.316 --> 29:35.795 to the fight on the ground. 29:35.795 --> 29:37.743 And now, we are flying again, 29:37.743 --> 29:40.491 and they're allowing it, and there's power again. 29:40.491 --> 29:43.741 So we expect the operations to get back 29:44.025 --> 29:45.858 to normal at Incirlik. 29:45.932 --> 29:48.063 And I'd like to just say, we want to thank everybody 29:48.063 --> 29:50.943 who was involved in getting this resolved, 29:50.943 --> 29:53.693 getting the power turned back on. 29:53.941 --> 29:57.803 The troops there have been, they have been eating, 29:57.803 --> 29:59.740 they've had showers, they've had WiFi, 29:59.740 --> 30:01.371 but things are starting to get uncomfortable 30:01.371 --> 30:03.110 so it came back on just at the right time. 30:03.110 --> 30:06.076 So everybody who was involved in that from the Turks, 30:06.076 --> 30:08.432 the other coalition partners, up to the folks 30:08.432 --> 30:10.300 in the building where you are right now, 30:10.300 --> 30:12.379 and Department of State, everybody who was involved in that, 30:12.379 --> 30:14.344 you know, we appreciate that, that's turned back on. 30:14.344 --> 30:18.261 As the end user of the strikes in Northern Iraq 30:19.030 --> 30:21.982 and Northern Syria, but the actually airplane stuff, 30:21.982 --> 30:23.773 I would ask you to talk to Chris Karns 30:23.773 --> 30:25.533 or to one of the other folks over there. 30:25.533 --> 30:28.735 - And finally, this purge of Turkish officers 30:28.735 --> 30:30.472 from the military inside Turkey, 30:30.472 --> 30:32.761 did the US military lose some allies 30:32.761 --> 30:35.928 in the fight against ISIS as a result? 30:40.821 --> 30:43.434 - Yeah, I'm not gonna be able to talk to that, Lucas. 30:43.434 --> 30:45.752 I'm not going to talk about what's going on 30:45.752 --> 30:46.890 inside Turkey right now. 30:46.890 --> 30:49.249 Clearly, they've got some internal issues 30:49.249 --> 30:50.872 that they're dealing with right now. 30:50.872 --> 30:54.683 I can't imagine if it happened in our, in our own military. 30:54.683 --> 30:56.848 I don't know how I would react personally either. 30:56.848 --> 30:58.830 But I can't talk to what's going on up there 30:58.830 --> 31:00.202 in Turkey about that right now. 31:00.202 --> 31:01.507 We are focused on fighting Daesh here. 31:01.507 --> 31:03.776 We're gonna stay focused on fighting Daesh here. 31:03.776 --> 31:06.761 And we may have been able to keep doing that 31:06.761 --> 31:10.011 in spite of our Turkish allies' issues, 31:10.012 --> 31:11.889 they had over the weekend. 31:11.889 --> 31:13.722 - Over to Dan Lamothe. 31:14.106 --> 31:15.767 - Chris, Dan with the Washington Post. 31:15.767 --> 31:17.782 One follow-up and one question, 31:17.782 --> 31:21.204 on the American who was fighting with the YPG, 31:21.204 --> 31:23.211 I spoke with his mother yesterday, and they said, 31:23.211 --> 31:24.354 they had no idea how they were going 31:24.354 --> 31:25.691 to get his remains home. 31:25.691 --> 31:27.923 Is that something that the US military in light 31:27.923 --> 31:29.712 of the relationship with the Kurds 31:29.712 --> 31:32.212 could potentially assist with? 31:39.986 --> 31:41.852 - Dan, that's a great question. 31:41.852 --> 31:43.716 I will push that back into our chain of command 31:43.716 --> 31:46.028 to kind of see if, if there is a way 31:46.028 --> 31:48.474 that we could potentially assist in that. 31:48.474 --> 31:51.792 Eventually, if remains were returned to us, 31:51.792 --> 31:54.538 we certainly have the ability to do things like that. 31:54.538 --> 31:56.238 I can't sign us up for anything yet 31:56.238 --> 31:58.364 until we know some details, but, 31:58.364 --> 32:00.466 and I'm way outside of my lane here as it is. 32:00.466 --> 32:03.485 Certainly, we have the, the capacity to do that, 32:03.485 --> 32:04.577 the capability to do that. 32:04.577 --> 32:06.831 But I'll, I'll address that to the chain of command, 32:06.831 --> 32:09.787 and see if that's something that we can assist with. 32:09.787 --> 32:12.238 - Did the, the secretary mentioned earlier this week 32:12.238 --> 32:16.405 that the JIDA director had been in country this week 32:16.498 --> 32:19.642 in Baghdad, probably with some of his staff, 32:19.642 --> 32:22.196 discussing the bombings in Baghdad, 32:22.196 --> 32:24.836 how to present, prevent that sort of thing in the future. 32:24.836 --> 32:26.897 Do you have an initial readout on what happened? 32:26.897 --> 32:28.617 There any equipment or anything 32:28.617 --> 32:32.784 that was discussed during the agreements that were reached? 32:36.286 --> 32:40.371 - Lieutenant General Shields is here in Baghdad, in fact. 32:40.371 --> 32:41.638 And I don't want to talk about the specifics 32:41.638 --> 32:43.124 of his travel plans. 32:43.124 --> 32:45.200 But he has been meeting with leaders, 32:45.200 --> 32:47.942 both coalition and Iraqi leaders. 32:47.942 --> 32:51.942 He's gonna need to get back to, to back to JIDA, 32:52.819 --> 32:55.238 and give a readout to his chain of command. 32:55.238 --> 32:56.824 And then they're going to have to look at 32:56.824 --> 32:59.058 what types of solutions they can offer the Iraqis. 32:59.058 --> 33:01.766 And remember, in the end, the Iraqis have to agree 33:01.766 --> 33:03.882 to whatever support we offer. 33:03.882 --> 33:07.473 My boss, General MacFarland is, is, has said on, you know, 33:07.473 --> 33:09.888 in the past, you can't inflict support on somebody. 33:09.888 --> 33:12.743 And so, even if we come up with potential solutions 33:12.743 --> 33:16.910 to help with the, the bomber network issue here in Baghdad, 33:17.494 --> 33:19.102 the Iraqis have to agree with it. 33:19.102 --> 33:21.364 So, there's going to be some negotiations along the way. 33:21.364 --> 33:23.300 But I know General Shields' team. 33:23.300 --> 33:25.493 I talked to him yesterday, as a matter of fact. 33:25.493 --> 33:27.081 They're, they're here. 33:27.081 --> 33:29.504 They're doing what the Secretary of Defense told them to do. 33:29.504 --> 33:31.026 And then he's gonna get back, 33:31.026 --> 33:33.296 he's gonna out-brief his chain of command there. 33:33.296 --> 33:35.129 And then his team has got to do some, 33:35.129 --> 33:37.630 some thinking about what they can do to influence that 33:37.630 --> 33:39.543 and then help out the Iraqi Security Force, 33:39.543 --> 33:42.327 because ultimately, JIDA's mission is to stop people 33:42.327 --> 33:45.113 from being blown up, be it coalition forces 33:45.113 --> 33:46.194 or Iraqi civilians. 33:46.194 --> 33:48.041 So, if they're able to help with that, 33:48.041 --> 33:49.691 I know they'll be glad to do that. 33:49.691 --> 33:51.586 But there's still some negotiations 33:51.586 --> 33:54.641 that will have to take place before we get JIDA help in here 33:54.641 --> 33:56.224 to help the Iraqis. 33:57.159 --> 33:59.468 - All right, go to Carla Babb, Voice of America. 33:59.468 --> 34:01.349 - Hi, just a quick follow-up on Manbij, 34:01.349 --> 34:05.407 how much does the SAC forces control in the city? 34:05.407 --> 34:08.157 Is it more than half, two-thirds? 34:12.869 --> 34:15.086 - It's, it's just about half. 34:15.086 --> 34:18.919 It's, again, tough to, tough to kind of parcel 34:18.983 --> 34:20.612 it out specifically. 34:20.612 --> 34:22.300 But it's different than the fight, 34:22.300 --> 34:24.193 the fight in Manbij is different than what we've seen 34:24.193 --> 34:26.473 in Fallujah, what we've seen in Ramadi, 34:26.473 --> 34:29.355 what we've seen in some of the small towns in Qayyarah, 34:29.355 --> 34:30.438 in that area. 34:30.953 --> 34:33.126 This is the SAC, or excuse me. 34:33.126 --> 34:35.720 This is Daesh falling back in on itself, 34:35.720 --> 34:38.877 and reinforcing its positions and making it tougher 34:38.877 --> 34:41.478 to fight in towards the city, to, to fight into towards 34:41.478 --> 34:43.301 the, the center of the city. 34:43.301 --> 34:45.051 Now, we talked before, when this started, 34:45.051 --> 34:48.384 about the importance of Manbij to Daesh, 34:50.122 --> 34:53.428 that open corridor from Raqqa to the outside world, 34:53.428 --> 34:55.728 out through Turkey, out into Europe, 34:55.728 --> 34:57.531 out into the rest of the world, 34:57.531 --> 35:00.017 both in and out through Manbij. 35:00.017 --> 35:01.482 And they are fighting like it is 35:01.482 --> 35:03.523 of that strategic importance to them. 35:03.523 --> 35:06.440 So, they also control, like I said, 35:06.540 --> 35:08.819 we think at least a couple of thousand civilians 35:08.819 --> 35:10.591 inside the city as well, which was why the fight 35:10.591 --> 35:12.807 is being very slow and very deliberate, 35:12.807 --> 35:16.414 and moving forward very specifically and very deliberately. 35:16.414 --> 35:18.309 It is not a fast rush into the city. 35:18.309 --> 35:20.572 They're being very careful about how they fight this. 35:20.572 --> 35:22.534 And when you, when you realize Daesh 35:22.534 --> 35:25.467 is sending civilians out towards the lines trying 35:25.467 --> 35:27.745 to draw fire, so that they can use that either 35:27.745 --> 35:30.999 as a propaganda tool, or in some way get a benefit 35:30.999 --> 35:34.488 from the SAC accidentally killing civilians, 35:34.488 --> 35:36.740 that, that keeps that very deliberate. 35:36.740 --> 35:37.775 That keeps it very, very specific 35:37.775 --> 35:39.211 and very, very deliberate as you're working 35:39.211 --> 35:40.044 through the city. 35:40.044 --> 35:42.212 So there, about half is what I think the reports 35:42.212 --> 35:45.197 from the command on the ground has said. 35:45.197 --> 35:47.083 It's generally, I think the Western half, 35:47.083 --> 35:50.409 but the circle is tightening around the entire city itself. 35:50.409 --> 35:52.302 But as Daesh falls back in, this is a fight 35:52.302 --> 35:53.818 like we haven't seen before. 35:53.818 --> 35:57.226 One could be a tough fight and take a while longer 35:57.226 --> 35:59.226 to clear everything out. 35:59.931 --> 36:01.181 - Jim from NBC. 36:01.683 --> 36:04.081 - Push back to Baghdad, what specifically 36:04.081 --> 36:07.001 could the U.S. military offer the Iraqis 36:07.001 --> 36:09.834 in terms of combating the bombings 36:09.884 --> 36:14.051 and would it require a visible US military presence 36:15.970 --> 36:17.387 there in Baghdad? 36:24.111 --> 36:25.950 - Well, Jim, I'm not the spokesperson for JIDA 36:25.950 --> 36:27.947 and I don't want to talk about what, 36:27.947 --> 36:29.972 what they can bring to the table. 36:29.972 --> 36:31.681 They bring technological solutions, 36:31.681 --> 36:33.813 they bring intelligence, they bring information, 36:33.813 --> 36:36.028 they bring tactics, techniques and procedures. 36:36.028 --> 36:37.787 All of those would be something that General Shields 36:37.787 --> 36:39.593 looks at when he gets back to his headquarters 36:39.593 --> 36:41.574 and he figures out what they can offer. 36:41.574 --> 36:43.156 I don't want to get out in front of that. 36:43.156 --> 36:44.535 He's still, as I said, he's still right 36:44.535 --> 36:45.791 in the middle of his trip. 36:45.791 --> 36:47.521 He's still kind of formulating his ideas 36:47.521 --> 36:49.096 and he's going to have some time to do that, 36:49.096 --> 36:50.945 go back and talk to his chain of command. 36:50.945 --> 36:52.200 And as I said, it's going to have 36:52.200 --> 36:55.367 to be a negotiation back to the Iraqis 36:55.928 --> 36:57.541 for them to approve whatever it is that we do 36:57.541 --> 36:58.874 to support them. 36:59.001 --> 37:01.418 So it's a wide range options. 37:01.764 --> 37:04.720 I would direct you toward JIDA about what some of those are. 37:04.720 --> 37:06.569 Clearly, you know we don't talk too often 37:06.569 --> 37:10.035 about what we're doing in the counter-IED fight 37:10.035 --> 37:12.276 because we're very careful about informing our enemy 37:12.276 --> 37:14.421 about counter-IED operations, 37:14.421 --> 37:16.073 counter-explosive operations. 37:16.073 --> 37:19.563 But there's a wide range of possibilities available 37:19.563 --> 37:22.730 to the coalition, specifically to JIDA 37:22.899 --> 37:25.232 to offer back to the Iraqis. 37:28.193 --> 37:29.943 - Any more questions? 37:30.108 --> 37:30.941 Thank you very much. 37:30.941 --> 37:31.774 Colonel Garver, sir, would you like 37:31.774 --> 37:34.107 to make a closing statement? 37:37.503 --> 37:39.949 - Well, I appreciate everybody's attention today. 37:39.949 --> 37:43.616 Like I said, the, the Iraqi Security Forces, 37:43.774 --> 37:46.545 in spite of the heat, in spite of everybody else 37:46.545 --> 37:49.590 getting the heat day or two heat days here in Iraq, 37:49.590 --> 37:51.263 they are out still fighting in the front lines. 37:51.263 --> 37:52.709 They are out still clearing. 37:52.709 --> 37:55.625 They are out still conducting simultaneous major operations 37:55.625 --> 37:58.177 in both the Euphrates and the Tigris River Valley. 37:58.177 --> 37:59.757 We talked about progress and we talked 37:59.757 --> 38:01.917 about the Iraqi Security Forces developing 38:01.917 --> 38:05.395 as a force, developing in its ability to beat Daesh. 38:05.395 --> 38:08.040 And they're demonstrating that right now. 38:08.040 --> 38:11.069 And of course, we're continuing to provide the things 38:11.069 --> 38:12.218 that we do to make them better, 38:12.218 --> 38:13.799 to help them with that fight. 38:13.799 --> 38:16.191 But in spite of the challenges here, 38:16.191 --> 38:18.763 they're driving on and they're continuing that fight. 38:18.763 --> 38:19.596 Thank you. 38:20.288 --> 38:21.121 - Sir, thank you, everyone. 38:21.121 --> 38:22.871 Have a great weekend.