00:00In the case of Syria, actually, let me point something out.
00:02Number one, and we met with the foreign minister of Syria.
00:06You know who else was there?
00:07General Muslim.
00:08They came together.
00:09The Kurdish leader was there.
00:10We put that out.
00:11I don't know why that wasn't reported.
00:12Interestingly, by the way, I read, and I knew this was going to happen.
00:15I told my people to tell you this because I knew this was going to happen.
00:19We couldn't go to a Ukraine meeting that they were having one of the, you know, multiple
00:23Ukraine meetings that we attend.
00:24We couldn't go to one of them.
00:26And the reason why we couldn't go to that one with four other European countries is
00:29because we were meeting with Syria and the Kurds.
00:31I just, I couldn't figure out a way how to be in two places at the same time.
00:34It's a problem many people face.
00:36You can't be in two places at the same time.
00:38So we met with the Syrian foreign minister and with the General Muslim on behalf of the
00:45Kurds, a historic meeting, okay, together in the same meeting.
00:49Now, let me say that no one here has ever disputed that the challenge of Syria was going to be
00:55a very significant one, a very significant one, okay?
00:58We are dealing with elements that, as we've said in the past, you know, we have, you know,
01:02concerns about things that they have done in the past.
01:04But the bottom line was we had two choices in Syria.
01:08Choice number one was to let the place fall apart into 18 different pieces, long-term civil
01:13war, instability, mass migration, playground for terrorists, ISIS running all over the place,
01:19Iran getting back in.
01:20That was choice number one.
01:21Choice number two is to try to see if it was possible to work with these interim authorities
01:27and president, with al-Shara and with his team.
01:30Guess what?
01:31We chose number two because it was made sense.
01:33Now, is it going to be easy?
01:35No.
01:36Is it going to be difficult?
01:37Absolutely.
01:37Is it going to have ups and downs and good days and bad days?
01:40No doubt about it.
01:41Here's the fact, okay?
01:43And I'm not saying that this tells you that we should claim victory and start a parade,
01:46but here's a fact.
01:48The fact is that when this situation erupted in the northeast of Syria, we went, the president
01:55engaged personally, not once but twice with al-Shara, and he said, stop the fighting so
02:01that we can move the ISIS prisoners that are there.
02:04Thousands of ISIS prisoners who, by the way, could have broken out and created havoc and
02:08chaos.
02:09Stop the fighting so that we can move these ISIS prisoners and so that we have more time
02:15to work on this reintegration, the integration of the Kurds into the national Syrian forces.
02:21And you know what?
02:21Al-Shara did it.
02:23Now, he's kept his word up to this point.
02:25Obviously, he has to keep doing that.
02:27But that's what we've been able to achieve.
02:28We've been able to at least get him to agree to do that.
02:31And that's been important because we've been able to move those prisoners into Iraq and
02:34out of harm's way so that we don't have a massive jailbreak and four or five thousand
02:39ISIS killers running crazy all over the place and threatening us in the future.
02:42And it's given us time to work on this integration agreement, which they have agreed to between
02:48the Kurds and the Syrian authorities in Damascus.
02:51Now, you have to implement that agreement.
02:53That's not going to be easy.
02:55And there are other such agreements that they need to reach with the Druze, with the Bedouins,
02:59with the Alawis, with all the elements of a very diverse society in Syria.
03:03But we think that outcome, as difficult as it's been, is far better than a Syria that
03:10would have been broken up into eight pieces with all kinds of fighting going on, all kinds
03:14of mass migration.
03:14So we're very, very positive about that.
03:16And as far as members of Congress are concerned, we've worked with them on this.
03:19We've kept them informed.
03:20We've invited them to many of the means.
03:22In fact, Ambassador Barak was in Washington last week briefing the congressional committees,
03:28always very blunt and very honest about the challenges involved in executing on this very
03:33difficult situation.
03:34But we think it's headed in a positive direction, even though it's been tested.
03:38There's been some difficult days.
03:40Frankly, there's been some days that have been, you know, very concerning.
03:43But we like the trajectory.
03:45We have to keep it on that trajectory.
03:47We've got good agreements in place.
03:48The key now is implementation, and we'll be very involved in that regard.
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