Yeah, we were trying to develop our understanding of the area and that includes the people as well as other materials.

Joseph Votel

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The Iranians can talk to the Russians, we have a well-established professional communication channel with the Russians.

When I say,' we have defeated them,' I want to ensure that means they do not have the capability to plot or direct attacks against the Joseph Votel or our allies, they still have this very powerful ideology, so they can inspire.

Recent observations by our men and women on the ground highlight that the ISIS population being evacuated from the remaining vestiges of the caliphate largely remain unrepentant, unbroken and radicalized. We will need to maintain a vigilant offensive against this now widely dispersed and disaggregated organization that includes leaders, fighters, facilitators, resources and, of course, their toxic ideology.

In terms of the withdrawal ... I think we're right on track with where we wanted to be, moving people is easier than moving equipment and so what we're trying to do right now is again (to) kind of clear out those materials, that equipment, that we do not need.

This isn't just wholesale — 'Everybody in Syria move over. to Ira... by Joseph Votel

This isn't just wholesale — 'Everybody in Syria move over. to Iraq.' That doesn't make sense.

I was not aware of the specific announcement. Certainly we are aware that he had expressed a desire and intent in the past to depart Iraq, depart Syria, so you weren't consulted before that decision was announced ?

I am not under pressure to be out by a specific date, the fact the President made a decision and we are going to execute his orders here to withdraw forces from Syria and as we do that we're going to do that in a very deliberate manner.

If something hasnt been completely eradicated, there is a risk of... by Joseph Votel

If something hasnt been completely eradicated, there is a risk of it returning.

Today, we have liberated virtually all of that territory from the grip of these bloodthirsty monsters.

Iran has layered capabilities here that include mines, that include explosive boats, that include coastal defense missiles and radars and other things.

We routinely focus on demining exercises in the region and we maintain forces and readiness, as do some of our partners in the region that are well trained, well prepared to deal with these types of situations.

It's pretty clear to us that they were trying to use that exercise to send a message to us that as we approach the period of the sanctions here, that they had some capabilities.

The purpose of any messages that we would send would be to highlight to them that we are paying attention, we are very vigilant, we are aware of what's going on.

I'm not privy to any kind of grand bargain discussion or anything... by Joseph Votel

I'm not privy to any kind of grand bargain discussion or anything like that.

I think the principal way that we are addressing this is by entrusting and enabling our very well-experienced and trained leaders on the ground. They are the best guard against this, the key thing that we do emphasize to them is we ... go to war with our values. We hold ourselves to a higher accountability, a higher standard with respect this.

I am looking for indicators of incompetence, poor decision-making or bad judgment throughout all of this, i was satisfied that none of those indicators that I identified to you were present.

We haven't seen a significant change in their behavior, just as we've kind of been talking about here, with the agreement, to me …that remains a concern.

We want to be able to work within a very secure environment to focus on the very (particular) mission we have there - which is principally focused on al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), we will try to posture the force where we can best do that.

If we can continue to better understand what al Qaeda's doing, regain the situational awareness that we lost when we all had to depart Yemen here some time ago, that's what I'm interested in doing.

Their general activities that we see out here in the Gulf have not changed as a result of the [nuclear agreement]... and really as we’ve seen much more broadly around the region.