Esper: U.S. Troops Withdrawing from Syria Headed for Iraq
WALKER: U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper says many of the U.S. troops pulling out of Syria will head to Iraq.</s>BLACKWELL: Esper also told reporters overnight that the cease-fire between Turkey and Kurdish forces in Syria generally seems to be holding, that's his characterization. Now, there are reports from Turkish officials that one of their soldiers was killed in an attack. Also, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, she is in Jordan with a bipartisan delegation of leaders. They're there to talk about the Syrian crisis with the king of Jordan. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has a deeper look at what is at stake here. And we have to warn you some of what you're going to see is graphic here.</s>NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what President Trump's amazing outcome looked like on the grounds in Ras al-Ain in northern Syria Friday. Bodies of civilians who Syrian Kurdish doctors said were killed by an air strike near the border town. These images backed up those claims although we couldn't conclusively verify them and Turkey called it disinformation. He was hit by a plane, he says. There is a lot of civilians hit by planes. Many dead since the morning. I don't know why. They were meant to stop. Around the town, the confusion over what the deal between the United States and Turkey actually meant, that Kurdish civilians and foreign volunteers flocking to the town hoping to bring relief.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hundreds will be hurt and we drive as far as we can and when we get shutout we just start walking.</s>WALSH: They began walking and seemed to turn back later. There is one avoidable reason that the deal announced Thursday wouldn't last. The fanfare of the announcement didn't spell out exactly where the cease-fire applies. Turkish officials said the deal means the Kurds must leave a long swath of the border, but American officials seemed to indicate only an area 20 miles deep where the Turkish already have control. However, pro-Turkish forcers deeper into Syria and unclear if that cease-fire applies here. Importantly, it's also unclear what will happen in two major Kurdish towns, Kobani, which Russian flags fly and which Pence said would not be attacked under the deal, and</s>BLACKWELL: Nick Paton Walsh reporting for us there. Nick, thank you. Let's bring in CNN military analyst and retired Lieutenant General, Mark Hertling. General, good morning to you. I want to start here with what we heard from Erdogan there, that after this five-day period ends Tuesday night, the question is what happens Wednesday morning? We've heard from Jomana Karadsheh last hour who's on the border there between Turkey and Syria and said she is not seeing the type of exodus that would suggest that the Kurds, the Kurdish fighters will be out of the zone by the deadline. So if this attack resumes Wednesday, what leverage does the U.S. have to get Erdogan to stop? He kept his end of the, quote/unquote, deal that they made.</s>LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes. I'm not sure there is a lot of leverage, Victor. And good morning to you and Amara. The thing that is concerning there are multiple reports of why the Kurds are not leaving the area. The first is that it's their home. You know, they don't want to leave their homes. It is their demographic area, the Kurds have been settled there for quite a long time. And second, it's reported by General Mazlum, the SDF commander who is a Kurd, is a said they aren't allowed to leave. They're being encircled by Turkish forces in an attempt to wade out the ceasefire or the pause, whatever it's being called, so they can be annihilated once Tuesday morning rolls around. So, this has become a dreadful situation. It's horrible. Reports from both sides, whenever you're dealing in this part of the world, as I have, you're going to get records from the Turks, from the Kurds, from the Arabs, from the U.S., from the Russians and everyone is going to be countering each other's information. Unless you're right there on the ground and know what's happening, it's difficult to ascertain what, in fact, is occurring and that is problematic.</s>WALKER: General, I want to play sound for you from Senator Lindsey Graham floating an idea that we have heard before about seizing oil in the midst of conflict in the Middle East. Here it is.</s>SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): They are guarding the oil fields in the south so Iran doesn't take them over is smart. Here is what I would advise President Trump to do and I think he'll do it. Do a deal, take over those oil fields in the south, share the revenue with the Arabs and Kurds who helped us fight ISIS and keep the money away from Iran and Assad. You could make money in Syria if you took those oil fields over and share the revenue with the people who --</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the --</s>WALKER: We have heard this before, right, from President Trump himself as a candidate, where he said, look, you know, I would take -- as my national security plan, I would take the oil in Iraq from ISIS and that we would use that money to reimburse ourselves. I mean, is that ever a good idea? This isn't even legal, is it?</s>HERTLING: In my view, Amara, this is another ridiculous approach to fighting. Again, you have to understand, we have military forces there for specific purposes, foreign and state. I would suggest that our country has never been known for taking over oil fields and selling things back to the nation that actually sits on that oil field. We have heard this before from President Trump, and I'm really somewhat disgusted by the fact that Senator Graham would also bring it up. We are there to do specific things. The U.S. military is not a mercenary force to get gains or bootie in order to resell to others. It just doesn't make sense to me. We are there to do specific things. The U.S. military is not a mercenary force to get gains or bootie in order to resell to others. It just doesn't make sense to me.</s>BLACKWELL: The reports are that there have been hundreds of ISIS fighters who have escaped the prisons there in Northern Syria. Now, the president suggests the Kurds led them out to make some political point, which is nonsensical, most people would agree.</s>HERTLING: Agree.</s>BLACKWELL: What does this -- what does this portend for a U.S. troop commitment in the future to this region now that reportedly these hundreds of ISIS fighters are no longer in custody?</s>HERTLING: Well, two things, Victor, and the Department of Defense has announced this and there have been several within the DoD who have said we are confused and we are scrambling to get the force mix on the ground the right way. There are some that are saying we're going to put a force as an over-the-horizon force which means it's close enough to conduct operations but not close enough to interact with the people. Remember, four years ago when we first entered Syria, we had no one on the ground and we could not conduct operations because we were not getting the intelligence to allow us to drive operations. The other thing that has been said by the Department of Defense is we are going to put these forces in Iraq. Iraq is already at a max capacity. The Iraqi government has said we will allow military forces. But the other thing, you know, watching the Secretary Pompeo's tweets the other day saying I got off with the president of Iraq and we are coordinating our efforts. The president of Iraq, a good friend of mine, is also an Iraqi Kurd. I'm sure that telephone conversation was a little bit sporty between our secretary of state and the president of Iraq about repositioning American forces in their country that have just left the Kurds.</s>WALKER: Important point. Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, thank you so much for joining us. We should mention the cease-fire expires on Tuesday, we should also be watching as Vladimir Putin and the Turkish president will be meeting to talk about the future of Syria, and as you know, the U.S. pullout is obviously putting Russia in the driver's seat of that.</s>BLACKWELL: They're filling that vacuum left.</s>WALKER: Exactly. Well, a new report reveals that 95 percent of baby foods have toxic metals in them. The head researcher on that report will join us next with her alarming findings.